This week I’ll continue my coverage of 2025 at the movies, rounding up some of the titles that didn’t make my top ten. But first, I wanted to post about an interesting trend I noticed in last year’s films: actors playing multiple roles in the same movie.
At first it was just a few high-profile examples, but the more movies I saw the more this emerged as a real pattern. Eventually, I identified at least 16 actors doing double (or even triple) duty. I’ve broken them out by category below.
Nancy Sinatra owned the #1 spot the week of February 22, 1966, with her anthemic ode to getting the hell out of there, ‘These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.’
The song was written by Lee Hazelwood, who intended to record it himself, but Nancy convinced him it would sound better coming from a woman. The song’s title was inspired by a line spoken by Nancy’s father, Frank, in the 1963 film 4 for Texas.
Throwing back to the week of February 21, 1956, we find a quartet of repeats atop the Billboard hits chart: ‘Rock and Roll Waltz’ (Kay Starr), ‘Lisbon Antigua’ (Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra), ‘The Great Pretender’ (The Platters), and ‘Memories Are Made of This’ (Dean Martin).
That brings us to #5, where The Four Lads show up for the second time on Throwback Weekends. Back in October, their ‘Moments to Remember‘ was featured, coincidentally also on a week it occupied the fifth spot in the chart.
Continuing my personal 2025 Oscar nominations, today I will be writing about the race for Best Director.
Barring a major upset, Paul Thomas Anderson is on his way to winning this award for One Battle After Another, and I couldn’t be happier. His competition is strong — Ryan Coogler (Sinners), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value), and Chloe Zhao (Hamnet) — but Anderson has been racking up precursors, including the all-important DGA a couple of weeks back.
Anderson and Coogler would make my personal nominee list for this category, along with three of these directors:
Continuing my personal 2025 Oscar nominations, today I will be writing about the race for Best Actor.
This year’s Best Actor race is one of the best in years, featuring five phenomenal actors doing some of their best work. I’ll be happy no matter which of these guys takes home the trophy: Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another), Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners), and Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent).
Meet Me In Montauk 