Entertainment Reviews: Movies and Music 2025

Holland

Amazon Prime, Rated R, Starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Macfadyen

I googled Holland before sitting down to watch it. I’d never heard of it, and the opening montage of imagery for this quirky thriller left me with the impression that the town was completely made up – perhaps a figment of Nancy Vandergroot’s imagination. In fact, during her opening monologue, Nancy (played by Nicole Kidman) ventures to tell us she was “rescued” by her husband Fred at a time where “she didn’t trust anyone, not even herself.” Talk about an eye roll moment, but I kept on watching, hoping for the best.

Another thing I looked up was the time period. Given the Vandergroots’ peculiar household, with its absence of technology and other signs of modern life, it was initially hard to tell.

Holland premiered at the South by Southwest Festival in March of this year and is directed by Mimi Cave, who’s known mainly for music videos and short films. Reviews have been wildly mixed, both from critics and the casual viewers whose comments I read online. People either absolutely loathe this flick or they appreciate its strangeness. I find myself somewhere in between.

Anyway, we follow our protagonist around while she pieces together mysteries about her husband Fred’s life – a dull-seeming guy who works as an eye doctor in their ho-hum suburban town. Could it be that Nancy is simply bored, digging for drama where no drama exists? She even recruits a fellow teacher from her school, Dave, to help her dig, innocently ignoring the fact that a man would only delve into someone else’s marital mystery if he thought something was in it for him. Unfortunately for Dave, Fred isn’t just having an affair – that would align too well with what everyone wants! Instead, the truth is far more ominous. Accolades for Holland, at least from my perspective, include the film’s surreal, eerie scenes (like the meatloaf and the dreams featuring oddly childish 13-year-old Harry) as well as nods to the Y2K era such as DMX, dinosaur-like desktops and Ask Jeeves being used as a search engine.

But the writing is bad, the ending isn’t believable and the real-life lessons to be found are naught. Here’s my suggestion: put this on for a group of people at a party. It’s a conversation piece, as well as a nostalgic slice of the earliest aughts.

MUSIC

Bon Iver

Sable, Fable

Jagjaguwar

Bon Iver has played live at a few festivals, and after listening to a few tracks from “Sable, Fable,” the latest studio album, it’s easy to see why. The feel-good tunes pair perfectly with driving over a bridge in the summer or sitting around a backyard bonfire or grill with friends. Download the aptly titled “Everything is Peaceful” or the swaying, psychedelic “If Only I Could Wait.”

Lana Del Rey

The Right Person Will Stay

Interscope/Polydor

In this column, I often review artists that I know are popular but that I’ve personally never been into. Take Lana Del Rey, for example. Still, her latest studio album, optimistically titled “The Right Person Will Stay,” features so much of what I do appreciate about her – gorgeous vocals and heavy lyrics – I might have to give it a try, or at least download the title track and “Henry Come On.”