Sky High Cinema

Fasten your seatbelt, the film is starting.

Photo by Leonardo Yip on Unsplash

Good morning friends,

It’s non-stop snow in NYC, so I hope you are somewhere else, somewhere tropical, somewhere dry. I can’t feel too bad for myself because in the last month I’ve taken five flights, each to somewhere at least a bit sunnier than here.

My favorite part of flying is having some uninterrupted time to watch movies. I always bring a book, but I generally find the people around me distracting, and prefer to sit, wrapped in a scarf with my headphones in, eyes trained on the seatback in front of me. My tolerance for plot, character development, and technique declines in direct contrast to my altitude, and my ability to weep increases, which allows for a much different viewing experience than when I’m grounded.

Here’s everything I watched from best to worst.

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Oh, Hi! (2025)

I may be obsessed with Molly Gordon. She really stood out to me in the small part of Bear’s girlfriend in The Bear, and also for her stereotype-defying character of a popular girl in Booksmart (the one whom the main characters thought they were better than, but they find out is also going to Yale). If that wasn’t enough, she co-wrote and starred in one of my all-time favorite recent comedies, Theater Camp. And so it’s no surprise that I loved this movie about a romantic weekend trip that goes awry, when the boyfriend admits he didn’t think the relationship was serious. His girlfriend proceeds to hold him hostage until he sees the light. Why aren’t more people talking about this hysterical, surprising, and dark? Judge for yourself- it’s streaming on Netflix.

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Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)

I watched this one somewhere over the Midwest, teary and unembarrassed, which feels exactly right for saying goodbye to the Crawleys. The film leans heavily into its traditional mood, with less plot than procession. But we’re here for the ritual, the closure, and the impeccable restraint. I dare you to keep a stiff upper lip when the Downton door finally closes for good.

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The Mastermind (2025)

Kelly Reichardt sure can make a movie, and this one is no exception. Each shot is incredible, crafted in a 70’s world that looks more real than living through the decade. Josh O’Connor is an amateur art thief-slash-dad in Massachusetts, and like any good heist, everything that could go wrong does. But since this is a Reichardt film, don’t expect any action. It’s a slow burn, snail’s pace actually, towards the understanding of a complicated character.

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Caught Stealing

This is a great companion piece to The Mastermind, but opposite. It’s also a period film (but this one takes place in East Village in the ‘90s) and instead of igniting slowly, this one burns, baby, burns. A scrappy Austin Butler runs around NYC getting his face beaten into smithereens in a chaotic, loud, and fast film that feels more like a video game that no one is controlling. It barrels forward, half caper, half nervous breakdown, daring you to keep up. I did mostly, though the tone felt off, and all the momentum didn’t end up earning meaning.

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Eden (2025)

This might have been one of the worst films I’ve ever seen, and since I saw it on an airplane, that’s saying something. Ron Howard directed this Oscar-baity, wannabe prestige drama that stars so many celebrities you’ll wonder if there was a fire sale. Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney, and Ana de Armas move to an island to get away from it all, and find that their biggest threat is each other. The setting is beautiful, the cast is stacked, but the script is really, really, really bad. This could be an example of what happens when no one has a vision, a million cooks in the kitchen, or a studio run by soulless corporations. Not sure, but stay away.