Train Dreams, A House of Dynamite plus Short Takes on some other cinematic topics
A Couple of Post-Thanksgiving Snacks
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit this explanatory site.
I'm sure you’ve all been waiting anxiously for the return of Two Guys reviews after my short Thanksgiving break last week, during which my wonderful wife, Nina, and I also did our annual (Or was it semi-annual this time? I forget.) indulgence in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy (1972, 1974, 1990)—this time turning from the original … Part III to the re-edited The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (2020), one of my few 5-stars films (as the others would be if I ever officially reviewed them), where the story’s the same, just rearranged somewhat, with no aid for those who reject Francis’ decision to cast his daughter, Sofia, as Mary Corleone, as she still has roughly the same amount of screen time (although, over the years of repeated viewings I’ve come to more easily accept her in the role). So, with spaghetti and Tuscan wine for 3 nights and turkey, etc. for a couple more we had a nice quiet week which also included watching a couple of 2025 releases on Netflix (which, due to their procedures, prevents me from knowing if these new films are still in many theaters or how much gross they’ve taken in if so) which I’ll present briefly to you below as I’m still not quite in the mood yet for longer elaborations (as well as still catching up on some other stuff), as evidenced by the later-than-usual posting of this current blog even as I highly recommend seeing both of these (as well as the Godfathers, whichever version of ... Part III you might prefer [or both?]).
SHORT TAKES
Train Dreams (Clint Bentley) rated PG-13 102 min.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
This is the low-key (most of the time) story of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), set mostly in the U.S. Pacific Northwest in the early years of the 20th century as this once-aimless orphan works for a bit building the Spokane International Railway but mostly as a logger; along the way he meets and marries Gladys Oldling (Felicity Jones), they have a daughter, Kate (Zoe Rose Short). His work takes him from home for long stretches, but the marriage endures (despite troubled Robert seeing many deaths on his jobs) until a great wildfire destroys their town, separating the family, with no word from wife and child for years. There’s a good bit more to this exploration of a man’s life so you can get a better plot summary here plus this extensive discussion with Bentley, Edgerton, and others. Train Dreams opened in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on November 7, 2025, seems to still be in some of them, but your most-likely option of seeing it is through streaming where you’ll find it for free for Netflix subscribers (their cheapest monthly fee is $7.99, but that’s with ads; $17.99 without). The CCAL actively encourages you to do so with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at a high 95% while the Metacritic average score is a whopping (for them) 88%. Generally, it’s a slow, serious study of a workingman’s challenges roughly a century ago, tastefully done with meticulous acting, beautiful cinematography of the forest environments, which I think you’d appreciate if you can back off a bit from the upfront-intensity of films like The Godfathers. As always, I’ll close with a Musical Metaphor, this time Gordon Lightfoot’s "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" (1967 album The Way I Feel) which addresses grandeur and tragedy too, worth a careful listen on its own.
Here’s the trailer:
Here we have a marvelously-awful concept where a rogue ICBM has been fired from somewhere in the Pacific, bound for Chicago with U.S. government and military officials given only 18 min. to decide on a response which could include strikes on North Korea, China, and Russia to keep our country from being annihilated. To further intensify the situation, the film presents 3 versions of the same intense action and dialogue but from different perspectives each time: Duty Officer Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso), the unnamed U.S. President (Idris Elba); however, no Spoilers this time so I can’t say what happens, as I hope you’ll choose to see for yourself as Oscar-winner Bigelow (Best Director, a Best Picture Producer for The Hurt Locker [2008]) delivers another success. (If you do want to know more about this plot [with Spoilers], go here.) A House of Dynamite opened in domestic theaters on October 10, 2025, but, as noted above, as a Netflix flic I know little about its current theatrical availability nor its income (has apparently made $13.6 thousand so far in some international markets); of course, though, it’s available via streaming on Netflix, free to subscribers. I’m in a higher-response bracket than the CCAL, although they’re still quite supportive of it with the Rotten Tomatoes positives at 75% and, for a rare change, the Metacritic average score is at that same 75%, with me saying don’t be hesitant, watch this film even if you have to sign up at Netflix for a month because look at all of the other stuff in their vast vault you’ll also get to see—including my likely next 2 reviews, Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach) starring George Clooney, along with other notables, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson) with an even-bigger cast headed by terrific Daniel Craig.
Now, we come to the most odd choice by me for a Musical Metaphor that I’ve offered in quite some time, Vera Lunn’s 1939 hit, "We'll Meet Again" (written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles), odd because I’m using it as it was attached to the end of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964), a bitterly-dark satire about the insanity of nuclear war where a mistaken strike on the Soviet Union unleashes their Doomsday Device, likely destroying our planet, so the song’s used there for wicked irony. My use of it simply reaffirms the destructive uselessness of nuclear weapons which … Dynamite effectively explores in gripping fashion with my feeble attempt to lighten that dark mood a bit, with reference to a cinematic classic.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
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