Welcome back to Flick Picks, your twice-monthly movie fix. This edition spans guilty pleasures, zombie horrors and cinematic farewells – so let’s dig in.
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Movie critic Roger Ebert once used the phrase “guilty pleasure” to describe lowbrow films he secretly enjoyed. Over time, though, he came to loathe the term, dismissing it as a “yellow-bellied euphemism that revealed more about the viewer’s insecurities than the movie itself.”
Well, call me yellow, because my guilty pleasure – “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” – is in theaters, and I enjoyed every frivolous, contrived, sentimental moment.
The television series and its three films are set at the titular estate during the waning days of the post-Edwardian era. The overarching story traces how the aristocratic Crawleys and their servants contend with the challenges of progress as the glory of the British upper-class fades.
It sounds like prestige BBC fare, doesn’t it? Perhaps it was, initially. But as the show went on, it grew increasingly soapy – trading subtlety for melodrama and depth for manipulation. Who can forget: “Matthew will never walk again!” quickly followed by “Wait, no, Matthew is walking!”
And yet, none of that mattered because Downton excelled at what counts: characters who felt alive – who practically dared you not to care about them. When my now wife nudged me to start the show last year, I binged all six seasons in six weeks.
“The Grand Finale” offers more of the same. Robert wrestles with the prospect of handing over the estate to Mary, his heir apparent. Mary, meanwhile, contends with the social stigma of divorce and the fallout of a drunken indiscretion. The best laugh comes when she confesses to Edith, who blurts, “Was he Turkish?” Longtime fans will know why that lands. Well played, writers.
Still, most conflicts are shrugged off too easily, and the film doesn’t give the ensemble much to do. Thomas, for example, spends his entire screen time smiling and insisting on his happiness. But like saying farewell to family we might never see again, I was grateful to spend time with them.
That’s not to say the movie lacks substance. One of its sharpest images shows Robert cramped inside a modest flat he and Cora must buy after leaving the expansive halls of Downton. The once-mighty lord, hemmed in by narrow corridors and noisy neighbors, grouses, “It’s a layer cake of strangers!” – one of the film’s best lines.
Of the three movies, this one comes closest in tone and spirit to the series. “Downton Abbey” isn’t high art, but it’s been a pleasure to watch these stories unfold. As farewells go, “The Grand Finale” is a fitting end.
New on streaming
It’s been 18 years since “28 Weeks Later” picked up the story of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland’s terrifying “28 Days Later,” but you don’t need to rewatch the earlier films – or dust off a calculator – to dive into “28 Years Later.” The movie opens with an epilogue set during the original outbreak: adults frantically failing to keep Rage Virus-infected humans at bay while a cluster of children sits glued to a “Teletubbies” tape.
It’s a biting metaphor: Children are the most fragile in a world that seems to be burning everywhere you look. In “28 Years Later,” though, the flames aren’t slow, moaning zombies but supercharged, frothing-at-the-mouth predators. (Think “The Walking Dead” cranked up to fast-forward.) Garland and Boyle lean into that vulnerability by making the protagonist a 12-year-old boy named Spike, and by steering the story toward something larger than gore – toward who we are as a species and the path we seem to be on.
Once the film settles into its present, Spike’s father leads him away from their island haven – a waterlocked community that has remained virus-free and well-fed – and into the English mainland, where the boy gets a brutal taste of what lurks beyond and his first, all-important kill. They leave behind his mother, who appears deathly ill. Along the way, Spike catches whispers of a doctor living in the woods and clings to a desperate hope: If he can get her there, maybe the man can save her.
Boyle and Garland don’t sugarcoat this world, so I won’t either – it’s savage, grotesque and relentless. And with Boyle’s kineticism behind the camera, the violence hits harder than ever. I know plenty of adults who’d rather watch “Teletubbies” on a loop than sit through this movie – and I wouldn’t blame them.
But those who can stomach the carnage will find themselves rewarded. The film builds to a finale that’s unexpectedly moving, like squishing through a handful of zombie brains and pulling out a glistening jewel. Boyle has always had a knack for finding visual beauty in rot and ruin, but the payoff also comes from the way the coming-of-age story at the film’s heart lands with such emotional force.
“28 Years Later” isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – English or otherwise – but don’t be surprised if it ends up being one of the best films of 2025.
(Rented on Prime Video.)
From the vault
When news of Robert Redford’s death surfaced, I realized it had been a decade since I last watched one of his films – “A Walk in the Woods.” That realization sent me back into his filmography in a personal act of remembrance.
I didn’t want to revisit the obvious landmarks – “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting” or even “The Natural.” And having already seen “Ordinary People,” the Oscar-winning drama that proved Redford’s talent behind the camera matched his work in front of it, I looked elsewhere. My choice landed on 1969’s “Downhill Racer,” inspired by Jamie Lee Curtis’ praise for the film during her Criterion Closet visit on YouTube.
I could have chosen better. Much better. The movie follows Redford as an ambitious but self-destructive skier chasing Olympic gold. While it boasts striking stunt work and a terrific closing scene, its potential is consistently undermined by jarring edits and a shrill score that feels painfully out of place.
But I didn’t watch “Downhill Racer” for the film itself. I watched it for Redford. It was a way of saying goodbye to a cinematic force who left his mark as an actor, director and advocate for film and filmmakers. On that level, the choice was fitting. Still, I think “The Natural” might be next on my list.
(Rented on Prime Video.)
Rolling out the snacks
For a night of guilty pleasures, scares or Redford retrospectives, whip up a bowl of stovetop popcorn tossed with melted butter, a sprinkle of smoked paprika and a pinch of sea salt – then scatter in a handful of dark chocolate chips so they melt against the warm kernels.