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The Surrender is directed by Julia Max which is her directorial debut.

The Surrender is one of those films where it takes it’s sweet time to get going, right from the beginning the film establishes a quite thrilling and haunting atmosphere that helps establish the characters, setting and overall themes of the film. 

Without the performances from Colby Minifie and Kate Burton the film would not have worked nearly as well as it did, the two bring these natural performances that really match the film’s dark atmosphere and really bring the viewer front and center into what is exactly going on here. Although some of the character choices can be questionable and some of the writing does have a few hiccups, the performances from Minifie and Burton feel natural and quite relatable enough to keep the film on its feet. The mother and daughter bond between Burton and Minifie feels raw and does a really solid job of establishing their relationship early on, Minifie is definitely the emotional core of the film where there are some quite devastating scenes that heavily make the second half of the film all the more worth it.

The script from Julia Max is quite strong, the first half  of the film is more of a family drama with a haunting atmosphere. The film takes a bit to set the stage for what’s to come during the second half which is where the horror kicks in, Max does a really solid job of balancing family drama and horror. When she needs to, she combines the two together incredibly well to create something quite haunting and surprisingly quite sad. 

There’s this theme of trying to make sense that loved one is gone as well as going through grief. Which although the theme of grief has been done quite a lot, The Surrender manages to make things a bit more interesting. It brings this desperation to the table and question of “what if you can bring a loved one back from the day?” the catch is you have to destroy the personal possessions of said person which is where things get really hard for Megan (played by Colby Minifie)  and Barbara (played by Kate Burton) It’s hard to let go even when you are supposedly promised your loved one will return and you can feel the pain through the characters. 

Overall The Surrender is a well directed and well written film that has two fantastic performances from Minifie and Burton. Julia Max takes the themes of grief, letting go and relationships of mothers and daughters and really explores them in this devastating and haunting way that is sure going to stick with the viewer as the credits roll. 

The Surrender releases tomorrow on Shudder!

8/10 B+

The Ballad Of Wallis Island is directed by James Griffiths who previously directed Cuban Fury (2014). The film is based on the 2007 short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. 

The Ballad Of Wallis Island is a pretty straightforward story about the relationships with art we both make and ire, the film does have its hiccups particularly in the character writing department but there is so much ion felt here especially through the acting and flow of the film. 

The acting all around is quite great, Tim Key, Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan all give beautiful performances that are genuinely meaningful especially as the film goes on. While the character writing is a bit lacking as we don’t really get some critical answers to some of these characters and are kind of left in this unknown area, what makes them work is the acting. It’s raw, beautiful and striking which is more than enough to bring the viewer along for the ride. 

The direction from James Griffiths is earnest and gives this beautiful look at Charles (played by Tim Key) looking up to Herb McGwyer (played by Tom Basden) and Nell Mortimer (played by Carey Mulligan) and inspiration for music, it’s genuinely touching and displays tons of beautifully done moments that you can really feel their bond growing through the screen. 

The cinematography combined with the music is beautiful as well, the mountain town and folk music aesthetics really add a lot of flavor to the film and build the atmosphere it needs to really deliver. The cinematography from G. Magni Ágústsson really brings the whole beauty of the film together in the end with tons of shots that stay with you until the credits. 

Overall The Ballad Of Wallis Island is a beautifully acted and done film that really inspires you especially when it comes to its theming. 

The Ballad Of Wallis Island is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

Minecraft is directed by Jared Hess director of Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006), Gentlemen Broncos (2009), Don Verdean (2015), Masterminds (2016) and Thelma The Unicorn (2024). Minecraft is based on the 2011 video game of the same name. 

Minecraft is the type of move that truly has to be seen to be believed, it’s a terrible movie yes but there are points where I have to give some credit to Jack Black and Jason Momoa for absolutely not caring and deciding to act completely insane. It reaches “so bad it’s hilarious” territory which did get a few laughs out of me. Having that said this is still a mess of a movie that mostly falls flat on its face. 

As I said earlier, Jack Black and Jason Momoa give completely insane performances that really makes you wonder “what on earth are they doing?” I’m not even sure if they know either to be quite honest. It’s going to vary from person to person whether these performances are annoying or they are so bad they are hilarious. Jack Black explaining the basics about Minecraft and announcing it like he made a new discovery is completely unserious it’s almost baffling. Unfortunately everyone else is given very little to do, Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks who don’t actually give terrible performances are given so little to do they may as well have not been in the movie at all. Sebastian Hansen fairs a bit better in the relevant to the script department but his character also does not leave a lasting impression. Jennifer Coolidge is in this for some reason and is mostly regulated to a gag where she likes a Minecraft villager…the less I say about that the better. 

The writing is not only terrible but chaotic and not in a good fun way, rather than exploring some creative points of the Minecraft world or trying to explore what makes this world so interesting. We instead get a lot of shouting from Steve (played by Jack Black) explaining very basic rules of the world with none of it being interesting. One moment that has quickly become a meme online is when he says “Chicken Jockey” and you know what? That moment in particular really sums up this whole movie, it’s loud, obnoxious and has no sense of thought. I hate using the term but this is the prime example of brainrot at it’s worse. It’s nothing but easter eggs constantly thrown at the viewer, which might be fine enough for some fans. But for others who are looking for an actual story you are straight out of luck. 

The CGI is also unappealing to look at, it takes so much away from what made Minecraft so interesting. It’s supposed to be a world where you feel creative as well as being…well you know fun? Here it all feels very corporate like this was a bunch of business executives idea of what Minecraft looks like, the world looks inconsistent and none of it gives off this creative atmosphere. It’s a complete and total mess that does not result in anything visually appealing, this does not want to make the viewer explore this world at all. 

The closest thing we get about creativity in this movie is how creativity defeating evil, it’s a half-hearted message that ultimately does not really mean anything especially when you take a look at the rest of the movie and how lifeless it truly is. 

Overall Minecraft is a terrible movie, it might please some younger fans but for everyone else this is an endurance test to sit through. 

Minecraft is available on all VOD platforms.

2/10 F

Nonnas is directed by Stephen Chbosky director of The Four Corners Of Nowhere (1995), The Perks Of Being a Wallflower (2012), Wonder (2017) and Dear Evan Hansen (2021). Nonnas is based on the life of Joe Scaravella the owner of Staten Island restaurant Enoteca Maria who risks everything to honor his late mother by opening a restaurant with grandmothers as chefs.

Nonnas is exactly what you expect it to be, a heartwarming film that really touches your heart incredibly quickly. The cast is incredibly likable and even at times manages to elevate the material into delivering some great performances, there’s even some themes of love, grief and healing going on here (even if they aren’t executed in a very deep way.) 

The performances are the best part of the movie, Vince Vaughn actually gives one of his better performances here. It’s not anything groundbreaking but this is one of the rare occasions where you can feel the ion is there, it helps that the script from Liz Maccie while not anything incredible still gives Vaughn something to work with. In the end he comes off as incredibly charming and really does a solid job with bouncing off of the rest of the cast.

Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Branco, Talia Shire and Brenda Vaccaro are all just fantastic, each of them brings this certain level of charm to the movie that really brings the viewer along for the ride. The disagreements and remarks they throw at each other gives the movie some decent laughs and the performances from all of them in general is really solid. It helps that they all are fully committed to their performances, which is mainly what keeps the movie afloat. 

The rest of the movie is decent, the true story is told in this straightforward way that does not harm or really benefit the movie. The writing is filled to the brim with charm, there’s some moments of tackling grief with Joe Scaravella (played by Vince Vaughn) trying to move on from his recently deceased mother, even if these moments are not anything incredibly deep it’s nice that they are here in the first place. 

Overall Nonnas is a movie that’s pretty straightforward and is incredibly charming, there might not be a whole lot going on here theme or writing wise. But it is undeniably a cute and heartwarming story that the cast manages to make work. 

Nonnas is available on Netflix. 

6/10 C+

Clown In A Cornfield is directed by Eli Craig director of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) and Little Evil (2017)

Clown In A Cornfield is a slasher film that starts out how you would expect the traditional slasher to but then the film takes a turn that makes it standout quite well. Combine that with some fun kills, solid acting and some darkly comedic writing and you have yourself a very fun film. 

The performances are all around solid, Katie Douglas is definitely the standout of the main cast. She nails the part of this new girl in a new town, she’s charming and connects well with the rest of the cast. Some of the character development of Quinn (played by Katie Douglas) comes off as genuine and the interactions she has with her father Dr. Glenn Maybrook do end up being meaningful. Kevin Durand is also quite great here, he plays his part well even if he’s not in the film all that much. 

The writing is darkly comedic which I was honestly not expecting. There were moments here where I bursted out laughing, I do like that the film did not heavily rely on being meta to be funny. Often times being way too meta can easily backfire, but here it was a nice mix of meta humor and other types of humor to keep things interesting. 

The film has this dark yet comedic atmosphere that almost feels like the classic horror comedy feel, there is also some Goosebumps DNA and I mean that in a good way. The film is able to play off a ton of silly moments in this dramatic way which in turn makes said moments even more hilarious, it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel by doing this as other films have done this and ittedly better. However Clown In A Cornfield has the charm to back it up which gives the film the energy it needs to execute its comedic tone well. 

As I said before the first bit of the film is a very traditional slasher film which the film does a great job at. The rest of the film turns the story on its head and goes for some pretty neat ideas that are actually executed quite well. There definitely could have been room for a bit more development in some areas however with how the film pushes the story at a nice pace and does not overstay its welcome it mostly works wonderfully. 

Overall the charm of Clown In A Cornfield is what pushes it to the finish line, the film is not going reinvent the slasher genre even with its third act. Having that said it’s an incredibly fun film that any fan of the slasher genre will love. 

Clown In A Cornfield is currently in theaters.

8/10 B+

Snow White is directed by Marc Webb director of (500) Days Of Summer (2009), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Gifted (2017) and The Only Living Boy in New York (2017). Snow White is a live action remake of the 1937 animated film of the same name. 

For a movie that has had so many “controversies” this felt like a huge nothing burger, it’s no secret that most of the live action Disney movies are terrible and Snow White is no exception. Everything terrible that a lot of these live action remakes are guilty of Snow White multiples that by ten. 

The one thing I can give this movie is Rachel Zegler, she’s undeniably a great singer and she really works with what she can here. Due to the script she’s unfortunately not able to utilize her full talent, but there are a few moments during the songs where I was actually impressed. She’s the only one here that walks out of it who leaves a great impression, everyone else is either forgettable or flat out terrible. Zegler absolutely deserved a far better script and movie in general.

Gal Gadot is terrible there’s just no other way to describe her performance, look the Evil Queen was not exactly a deep character but Gadot is still horribly miscast, her singing pales in comparison to Zegler’s and she does not add anything to the character. There’s even times where it almost feels like she’s acting like she’s in a completely different movie, it’s a completely bizarre performance that truly feels empty. 

The movie itself is just not appealing to look at either, between the bland CGI and the horrifying CG dwarfs that are nightmare fuel (not in a good or fun way) it’s an absolute pain to watch due to how lifeless it all looks. The sense of wonder and magic of the original film is not present here at all, it’s replaced with a bland and terrible style that completely defeats the purpose of the whimsical feel of the story. 

The writing is terrible, the dwarfs who in the original film were charming and fun crack unfunny jokes here and have very little going for them. Andrew Burnap who plays a new character named Jonathan (partially based on the Prince in the original film) is about as bland as you can get when it comes to love interests, he doesn’t give a terrible performance but it’s most certainly one that does not leave a lasting impression. Even Snow White as a character really does not get a whole lot of interesting developments, as I said earlier Rachel Zegler tries her hardest to make it work but in the end very little comes together. 

Overall there really is not a whole lot to Snow White it’s a terrible version of the 1937 original, it’s truly one of the laziest of the live action Disney films. It fails to do anything interesting with the story and instead focuses on terrible decisions that ultimately cost the movie.

Snow White is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

A Breed Apart is directed by Griff Furst and Nathan Furst both of which directed Nightmare Shark (2018) while Griff Furst also directed Lake Placid 3 (2010), Starve (2014), Cold Moon (2016) and a bunch of made for TV Shark movies. A Breed Apart serves as a remake of The Breed (2006) 

A Breed Apart is one of those movies where you sit and ask yourself “why? Why does this exist?” A remake of a film that was already not very good and somehow made even worse due to a lack of originality and horrendous execution that wishes it could be a fun movie. 

The performances from the cast are terrible but they are about what you expect, so there isn’t exactly a huge surprise. Hayden Panettiere is unfortunately regulated to more of a cameo which is a shame because she’s the one who gives the best performance. The idea of making her into a in universe action actress named Hayden Hurst is goofy yet had potential but unfortunately this movie’s humor is unfunny and comes off more like a dog version of Sharknado (2013)

The writing is about as terrible as you would expect, it very much feels like they are trying to recreate Sharknado (2013) in all of it’s goofiness and capture the “it’s so bad it’s funny” type of feel. Unfortunately for this movie it fails to even do that, the writing is painfully unfunny with some memes thrown in, horribly written characters and painfully uninteresting dialogue that the viewer will check out of within 5 minutes. A lot of the dialogue is if you took poorly voice acted lines from early PlayStation games and put them into a movie. 

The CGI dogs are more funny than they are scary, combined that with clear as day fake looking forests and barking soundboards you have yourself at least some entertainment to laugh at. But sitting through a poor attempt of trying to tackle influencer satire and a bare bones Jurassic Park (1993) creature feature copy is just not worth it at all. 

Overall A Breed Apart is horrendous and at times feels like an elaborate bit, but instead of a punchline you are left with a terrible movie that has very little going on. Outside of a few moments that are decently funny the rest of the movie is a chore to get through, which in turn makes this movie one to skip. 

A Breed Apart releases Friday in theaters and on all VOD platforms.

1/10 F

The Friend is directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel directors of Suture (1994), The Deep End (2001), Bee Season (2005), Uncertainty (2008), What Maisie Knew (2012) and Montana Story (2021) 

All that I knew about The Friend going in was the dog Bing and well it just so happens that Bing is the best part of this film and I don’t really mean that in a bad way. The way the film goes about tackling grief and companionship in times of loss is genuinely touching and what really brings this together is Apollo the dog (played by Bing.) 

The performances are solid, Naomi Watts is really great here without her most of the film would not have worked nearly as well as it did. Her connection with the rest of the cast is genuinely touching, the conversations she has is where you can really feel her pain and frustration. It quickly gets to you and really brings out her incredible talent as an actress, it’s just a bit of a shame that the writing does not go far enough and does not really do anything that really stands out.

Bing is one of the best dog actors I’ve seen in a while, he works incredibly well with Naomi Watts and the rest of the cast and there’s tons of genuine moments where you can really feel that Bing is connecting with the story. Which I know is silly to say since Bing is a dog but that is truly felt here, it helps that he perfectly fits the story being told here and captures this daily life atmosphere the movie goes for. By the end of the movie you will see how much Bing connects with the story.

The script has some elements that are a bit too thin, particularly the ing characters who we barely learn about, they get introduced, have a few scenes and then never get expanded upon. That seems to be the problem with a lot of the character interactions in this movie, while there are some bright spots a lot of the time there’s just so much missing that really holds this movie back from greatness. 

The movie also goes on for far too long, this is an example of a movie that did not need to be 2 hours long. It feels like the movie ends five different times but keeps going for the sake of it, which is incredibly frustrating because there were so many moments that could have been a very nice ending. 

Overall The Friend is not a bad movie, it has the right ideas and works for the most part. It’s just the script that completely holds it back from being anything other than “able” which is a shame.

The Friend is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

The Luckiest Man In America is directed by Samir Oliveros who previously directed Bad Lucky Goat (2017). The Luckiest Man In America is based on the true story of Michael Larson an ice cream truck driver who won a record-breaking amount of money on the game show “Press Your Luck” in 1984.

I actually never heard of the true story when going into The Luckiest Man In America and after watching the film and then doing a bit of research it’s most definitely a very interesting one. The film does a pretty solid job of telling the story even if we don’t get a whole lot of information about Michael Larson himself, but the film does make up for that in several other categories. 

The acting is overall quite great, Paul Walter Ha is by far the standout here, he brings this exciting performance where he knows he’s playing a liar and a cheat but in this incredibly strange way you find yourself wanting to root for him just so he can show how flawed the system really is. The information we do get on Larson about his life and the issues he’s dealing with also contributes to the viewer rooting for him, by the end he definitely won me over with these moments. Granted there are not that many of these moments and I do wish the movie spent a bit more time putting some of these sort of moments in the film. However with what we got it was more than enough for Ha to take advantage of and really deliver them in this powerful and fun way. Which is not surprising given how great of an actor he truly is. 

The script is quite fun as well, the dialogue can be hilarious at times with the staff trying to figure out how Larson keeps amassing money and playing beyond the point any reasonable contestant would stop out of fear of losing it all. We get some great bits from the ing cast like David Stratharin who is very solid and gets into his role quite well. The writing also does have some heart at times, particularly when Larson mentions his family. As I said before these are genuinely sweet moments that while I do wish the film expanded on a bit more, they are still super sweet and help move the movie forward. 

The vintage style the film goes for is quite neat, combined with the costume design which is simple yet matches the classic game show feel it’s going for. Really helps build this wonderful atmosphere that captures the feel of watching the film on a old tv, although some of the filming looks nothing like a vintage style it’s the feel of it and what is exactly happening on screen that brings the vintage feel to the viewer. 

Overall The Luckiest Man In America does a great job of telling this story, it’s a fun watch that I recommend giving a look. 

The Luckiest Man In America is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

Summer Of 69 is directed by Jillian Bell which is her directorial debut. 

I was not expecting all that much from Summer Of 69 it starts out as a very traditional raunchy sex comedy but slowly turns into something surprisingly heartfelt, personal and actually quite honest at times. There’s a lot here that could be easily dismissed however I think there was just enough here to push this movie above the finish line. 

The performances were not too bad here, Chloe Fineman easily steals the show, she’s able to surprisingly give a grounded performance at times that even brings the viewer into certain scenes. Her chemistry with Sam Morelos is also quite beautiful as well, speaking of which Sam Morelos makes for a charismatic and very likable lead even when her character makes mistakes which is to be expected for someone her age. Watching the two’s bond grow over the course of the film is genuinely touching and does make you really buy their friendship. 

As far as writing goes it’s decent, some jokes ittedly fall flat and the movie does wrap up quite conveniently. However it’s the exploration of self discovery and self worth in this very relatable manner that makes the film worth the watch. Sure there’s raunchy scenes during the first half but there’s truly something quite nice here with the rest of the film, it’s not anything mind blowing but it does have this genuine warmth to it. 

Overall Summer Of 69 is a fun little movie that does not overstay its welcome, it has its flaws but it’s a sweetly written film that gets its point across rather well. I’m unsure if this is something I will ever return to but it was still a fun watch! 

Summer Of 69 is available on Hulu.

6/10 C+

Juliet & Romeo is directed by Timothy Scott Bogart director of Touched (2005) and Spinning Gold (2023) 

Romeo & Juliet a story that everyone has heard at least once and here we have another adaption. What does Juliet & Romeo do differently than the rest? Well two things, for one Bogart tells us the “true story” that inspired the play and second he makes it a pop musical…which goes about as well as you would expect. It would be one thing if at the very least the performances were well acted and the songs were memorable which is sadly not the case here.

To start with the leads Clara Rugaard (who plays Juliet) and Jamie Ward (who plays Romeo) are the weakest of the cast. This is one of those movies where the ing cast are actually far more interesting than the leads, which in some cases it could be debated that’s a good thing. However it’s most definitely not in this case, Rugaard and Ward don’t do a terrible job as the pair, they really try their hardest with what they have but the script is just not giving them an opportunity to make these characters exciting. Rupert Everett, Jason Isaacs and Derek Jacobi have some great moments but unfortunately don’t have a whole lot to do.

Then we have the songs which are hard to sit through, the best way to describe these songs is thinking of the most cliche portrayal of pop music you can think of. Whatever you just imagined is not far off from what’s in this movie, there’s some occasional neat set pieces and the movie itself is colorful which helps pop out at times. But these are small bits that do not overall really help this movie standout all that much. The music itself is also auto-tuned and a lot of the time feels very out of place, there’s times where you can really tell they tried to go for the feel of Jesus Christ Superstar but without any of the energy the play had. 

I’m not entirely sure what the goal was here with Juliet & Romeo if it was to make the most dull adaption to the play then I guess it succeeded. Because with a runtime of 122 minutes this is an absolute chore to sit through and there’s very little to entertain the viewer with or bring interest. 

Juliet & Romeo releases tomorrow in theaters.

3/10 D-

Kryptic is directed by Kourtney Roy which is her directorial debut! 

Kryptic is one of those movies where it never becomes more interesting than the idea itself, it’s not all bad as there are some strong moments that at least hold some of it together. But it mostly ends up being incredibly forgettable. 

The performances are not bad here, Chloe Pirrie is by far the standout as she’s given the most to work with and her commitment to the role is genuinely solid. She’s able to have this haunting stillness with some moments of intensity that really put in the work during certain moments, she’s able to carry the movie’s weight during times where the movie desperately needs to be lifted. Having that said due to the movie jumping around a lot between myth, memory and hallucination Pirrie’s character Kay has very tangled writing making it difficult to leave a connection to the viewer. 

The dreamlike feel the movie goes for is irable and every now and then you do get a moment where it does genuinely feel like you are in a dream. But often times it’s a complete and total mess, filled to the brim with way too many metaphors that the writing can’t seem to give the push they need to ultimately matter in the end. 

The filming is ittedly pretty neat and the atmosphere is definitely there, it’s just a shame that the thrilling atmosphere is rarely given an opportunity to actually creep on the viewer. It’s stuck in this weird spot between concept and execution where there are some great scenes, nothing really comes of them and is ultimately written off by the viewer. 

Overall Kryptic had an interesting concept of tackling memory loss, lore and hallucinations, but ultimately doesn’t build on its themes or ideas. There is a lot missing here of what could have made for a decent movie. 

Kryptic releases tomorrow on all VOD platforms. 

4/10 D+

Sinners is directed by Ryan Coogler director of Fruitvale Station (2013), Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Ryan Coogler is one of those directors that I always look forward to see what he has to say with his films, which is why I was incredibly excited to see Coogler tackle the horror genre with Sinners but not only does he do such a great job with the genre but he also nails tons of themes as well as other genres such as thriller, a bit of crime, action, drama and even some period piece western type of feel that transports you back to parts of the classic cinema era. 

To start with the performances are all top notch, everyone here is really bringing it their all. Michael B. Jordan throughout his career has shown how much he’s grown as an actor and here feels like the end result of that. Jordan gives a fantastic dual performance as Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore twin brothers who return to their hometown to start a juke t for the town. Jordan is able to give both these brothers different personalities and really make them fun characters, the back and forth between the two is natural and Michael B. Jordan’s charisma as an actor is present throughout the film. He completely fits the atmosphere and pours so much power and energy into the performance, it’s by far one of the most striking performances of the year that completely feels natural from beginning to end. 

Miles Caton gives an unbelievable debut performance, not only is his acting filled with ion but his singing voice is one of the film’s highlights. There’s a theme of music going on here and how it brings people together and how powerful it can be. Caton’s singing voice does just that and delivers one of the film’s best moments that is incredibly memorable (his singing voice really gave me chills at times) he also works so well with the rest of the cast and truly delivers a breakout performance that is absolutely going to put him into stardom.

Hailee Steinfeld gives one of the best performances of her career, she may not be in the film incredibly long but much like everyone else in the film she goes all out here, Jack O’Connell is given one scene in particular that’s a lot of fun, his singing voice matches the atmosphere of the scene taking place and he truly makes for such an excellent villain. Wunmi Mosaku, Omar Miller and Delroy Lindo are all fantastic here. Miller and Lindo provide some great comedic moments while Mosaku’s bond with Jordan is genuinely touching and her character Annie is very well written! 

As I said one of the themes at play here is music and that is shown with a certain moment that I won’t spoil, but just know it’s one of the many moments where you see how powerful Ryan Coogler is as a director. It’s a very well done scene that kind of feels like the the heart of the film and I mean that when it comes to importance, it’s a look of just how grand in scale this film really is and as well as how beautiful done the film itself is. 

The direction from Ryan Coogler is top notch, this is quite possibly the best direction of his career which is really saying something. He combines so many different types of genres together and they all fit naturally, this just isn’t another vampire film, it takes the idea of vampires and does something unique with it. You have the thriller, drama, action and some western elements thrown in here that all blend together to create a beautiful fun ride from beginning to end. 

Overall Sinners is a brilliant film, from the cast, to the direction, to the large in scale feel. Sinners has everything that makes for a fantastic blockbuster and hands down my favorite film so far this year.

Sinners is available in theaters.

10/10 A+

Another Simple Favor is directed by Paul Feig director of Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), Spy (2015), Ghostbusters (2016), A Simple Favor (2018), Jackpot (2024) and a few others. Another Simple Favor serves as a sequel to A Simple Favor (2018) 

A Simple Favor (2018) is a film that I actually quite liked, I may not like it as much as when I first watched it but it’s still quite fun, has this humorous yet thrilling atmosphere and has some pretty solid performances from Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively who really sell the movie incredibly well. So I was interested when a sequel was announced mainly because I wondered where they could exactly go from here…this is not what I expected at all and not really in a good way. 

Much like the first movie Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively steal the show here, their chemistry is just as solid as it was back in the first movie. The best moments always involved one of the two and the dialogue exchanges between the two are genuinely funny at times, Blake Lively actually plays a pair of twins with a dual performance (seems to be a common theme we are running into this year.) She plays Emily Nelson or Hope McLanden (from the first film) and Charity McLanden, Lively does a pretty solid job playing both performances here. There’s some genuinely entertaining moments that ittedly did give me a few laughs. 

The costume design is the other part this movie nails, costume designer Renee Ehrlich Kalfus sticks with the theme and setting of the film and manages to create some ittedly quite stunning works. Particularly with Blake Lively which really captures her characters incredibly well, combine that with the production design from Martin Whist and the cinematography from John Schwartzman and you have yourself a surprisingly beautiful looking film. Considering how a lot of straight to streaming films tend to really struggle with trying to bring out a certain style or be visually appealing, this was a surprise and solid accomplishment. 

Having that said what completely stops Another Simple Favor dead in its tracks is the writing, I actually thought the first bit of the film does a pretty decent job of setting up the atmosphere of the film then when we get to the third act that’s when things get incredibly ridiculous. This is like if you took Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) and instead of having the fun atmosphere you replace it with a very poorly written murder mystery that is nonsensical, ittedly there are times where it is so ridiculous that I bursted out laughing. But when it comes to a writing standpoint it’s a complete and total mess.

 I get why they did this, they clearly wanted to avoid just repeating the first film again. Whereas the first film was more grounded, creative and fun (not in a completely over the top way), Another Simple Favor really jumps the shark constantly and leaves the viewer with a “what on earth just happened” and not in a good way. Everything is lazily thrown at the wall to see what sticks with barely anything doing so, the movie for some reason decides to make itself more complicated when it does not need to be and the dialogue from the other characters is forgettable. 

Overall Another Simple Favor is a bad sequel, but you could do far worse. The third act for some can be a so bad it’s hilarious type of thing and in some cases it is. But when compared to the first film and when you take a look at the writing it’s a major step down.

Another Simple Favor is available on Amazon Prime Video.

4/10 D+

Quick Review

Fear Below is directed by Matthew Holmes director of The Biscuit Effect (2005), Twin Rivers (2007), The Legend Of Ben Hall (2017) and The Cost (2022) 

Going into Fear Below I was expecting just another shark movie that would be forgettable almost immediately. While the movie is not perfect, Fear Below manages to differentiate itself from the very crowded shark movie genre.

The performances are nothing particularly special here, but they get the job done. They do well with the atmosphere that’s presented here, as far as characters go they have a bit more going than some others within this same genre. Hermione Corfield is the standout here. 

I do like that the setting is 1940s Australia which is something we don’t usually get with these types of films, considering how low the budget was the movie does a pretty solid job of recreating the atmosphere of 1940s Australia. Between the weather and the bugs buzzing you can tell they did not just want to settle with the bare minimum 

The main criticism comes from the editing which can be a bit choppy at times and the movie does get a bit repetitive towards the end, having that said the movie is still decently fun. If you are a fan of shark movies check this one out! 

Fear Below is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Magazine Dreams is directed by Elijah Bynum director of Hot Summer Nights (2017) 

If you know anything about Magazine Dreams took a while to release, to summarize and keep this short after allegations came out about Jonathan Majors (which he was found guilty of misdemeanor assault and harassment charges) the film was pretty much stuck in limbo until Briarcliff Entertainment picked it up.

Magazine Dreams was a very well received film when it premiered at Sundance 2023 and it’s easy to see why, while the film runs for a bit too long and the ing cast are great but not deeply developed. Between Jonathan Majors’s terrifying performance, the acting in general, the very well executed theme of self-destruction and the script, the film manages to paint a pretty terrifying picture that is like a bomb ready to go off. 

Jonathan Majors gives a fantastic performance, it’s a performance that right from the start you know is going to be a journey. Seeing the self-destructing behavior from his character Killian Maddox is terrifying, there’s a few scenes in particular that really capture this behavior in a painting (the dinner scene is one of them.) As the viewer we really get to see inside the mind of Maddox and the way Majors goes about this is fascinating, he doesn’t hold back from his tone of voice, to his body language it’s all incredibly intimidating. It also captures the physical and emotional drain of trying to chase something that is completely unattainable, there’s a lot of dedication here from Majors that really makes his performance all the more interesting. 

The ing cast while solid particularly Haley Bennett and Harrison Page are not deeply developed, there’s some strong moments such as their reactions to Maddox’s self-destructing behavior but that is really about it. I think Haley Bennett’s character Jessie  gives a very raw reaction seeing Maddox absolutely lose it at the restaurant. A bit more development would have helped these characters.

The writing combined with the atmosphere is incredibly strong, the film takes influences from the whole theme of Eminem’s song Stan, Taxi Driver (1976) and Whiplash (2014) but manages to take these themes and make them its own. The atmosphere really captures this self-destructing behavior in a raw way that the viewer just can’t look away from, it constantly haunts the viewer throughout and really builds on Maddox as a character.

Through the writing we learn more and more details about Maddox and the more we learn the more it becomes clear that there is no return. Some paths are like brick walls ones you can’t go through, it’s devastating yet horrifying look at how self-destructing behavior such as what is portrayed here can not only hurt you but the people around you. 

Despite some pacing issues and lack of writing for the ing characters, Magazine Dreams is a very solid film that paints a terrifying picture of self-destructing behavior.

Magazine Dreams is available on all VOD platforms! 

8/10 B+

The Surfer is directed by Lorcan Finnegan director of Without Name (2016), Vivarium (2019) and Nocebo (2022) 

The Surfer is an odd duck, at times it embraces its weirdness and is actually executed decently well. While other times it goes for this “lol random” type of humor that I’m not exactly sure why some films seem to think is so funny, which leads to a pretty disappointing film that had the right material just not very strong payoff. 

Nicolas Cage gives a solid performance here, he’s one of if not the main reason to even consider watching this one, he has a few classic “Nicolas Cage” moments that are genuinely funny. I also do like that his character is just simply known as “the surfer” it oddly creates this mysterious atmosphere that is present throughout the film and builds intrigue towards his character. There’s not a whole lot going on character writing wise since the film opts for a more trippy direction (the filming and color palette really do a lot of the talking), but with what Nicolas Cage is given to work with he does a fine enough job it’s just not one of his best performances. 

The filming is undeniably very well shot, it matches perfectly with the location and makes for some great thrilling atmosphere especially when it comes to the whole one location idea. The color palette that’s used makes this one very dreamlike, while also feeling like a very weird acid trip. Although the trippy and fun feel wears off towards the end of the second act and falls apart afterwards, what remains consistent is the filming and how great it is. It really does bring the viewer into the film and gives a sense of exploration, we slowly start to understand why this particular beach means so much to The Surfer. It’s very neat to see the filming and color pick up the slack of the writing. 

With that being said The Surfer falls apart towards the middle of the second act and beyond, what started as a trippy and decently fun film starts to resort “lol random” type of humor. A lot happens for seemingly no reason at all, the plot really starts to become confused, the other characters such as the surfer gang/cult while an interesting concept at first they lack the necessary depth to leave the viewer with a lasting impression especially the leader. 

I think what director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin were going for here was interesting, I really like the simple idea of The Surfer wanting to do whatever it takes to take his son surfing but the locals torment him. The added acid trip element at least makes this one standout, but as I said before the middle of the second act and the third act as whole are just not interesting. There is clear some inspiration from The Swimmer (1968) but whereas that film remained interesting throughout and kept the viewer in the film with a strong atmosphere, The Surfer fails to keep the audience invested the whole way through and while the atmosphere is still decently strong throughout it’s not quite enough to save the movie.

Overall I would not call The Surfer a terrible movie, I would call it a disappointing one. It had the right material to make a great film but unfortunately has a lot of missteps. I do think there’s going to be an audience for this one so if it does sound interesting to you I recommend giving it a look, you might just like it. 

The Surfer releases on Friday in theaters.

5/10 C

Havoc is directed by Gareth Evans director of Footsteps (2006), Merantau (2009), The Raid (2011), The Raid (2014) and Apostle (2018) 

Havoc is a film I have been waiting to watch for a couple years now and unfortunately it’s a bit of a disappointment. While the action scenes are spectacular and Evans manages to recapture what made The Raid as it was when it comes to the atmosphere and action scenes. However it’s the character writing and story that really bring this one down quite a lot. 

The performances aren’t bad here, Tom Hardy gives a solid performance as does everyone else. The problem here as I said before is the character writing is severely lacking, there’s no character drama that brings the viewer in. None of it is interesting enough to make the viewer connect with these characters, it’s unfortunate because I do think the performances from everyone is not bad, without strong writing these characters are stuck in limbo unfortunately. Hardy’s character is a badass sure but what else? 

It goes without saying but the action scenes are very neat, Havoc is definitely a case of a movie trading in story with action scenes and at times it works fine enough. There is a few in particular that are quite spectacular which really makes you ire the choreography, filming and atmosphere that went into these scenes. The atmosphere really syncs perfectly with the action scenes, giving this giant scale of thrills where anything can happen. It almost feels like a first- person shooter video game (without the POV of course), it’s so much fun and really shows that Gareth Evans really knows his stuff when it comes to action and how to build thrilling action scenes. 

The movie does take a bit of time to get going which unfortunately puts you through the story, while the story isn’t necessarily terrible. It’s quite generic as action thrillers go it’s very one note and does not offer anything new to a very crowded genre, however you could absolutely do far worse and at the very least you get some decent acting out of it. 

Havoc might not have a whole lot going on story wise but it’s hard to ignore how great the action scenes and atmosphere really are, Gareth Evans is able to push the film just a bit above the finish line to make it work. The movie is a huge step down from Evans’s previous work but I still would not call this one bad. If you don’t care for story and just want really strong action scenes and a thrilling atmosphere this one is definitely for you, I actually recommend checking this one out! 

Havoc is available on Netflix.

6/10 C+

Neighborhood Watch is directed by Duncan Skiles director of The Clovehitch Killer (2018) 

Neighborhood Watch is a thriller that when hearing the premise out loud sounds like it’s going to be quite dark. While there are plenty of dark moments there’s also this darkly comedic side to it that unexpectedly works for the most part, this is a movie that is not going to break any new ground especially in the story department. But at the very least the movie keeps the viewer’s interest throughout and it has the atmosphere as well as acting to back it up. 

Jeffery Dean Morgan and Jack Quaid are both incredibly solid here, Morgan does ittedly still play his usual tough guy or cool character but in this case it feels a bit more grounded. You can feel his character Ed Deerman is acting this way out of desperation with him fearing that failure could strike at any moment, Morgan portrays this very well and works incredibly well with Jack Quaid. Speaking of which Jack Quaid plays Simon McNally a mentally ill man who can quickly lose it and turn it up to eleven, Jack Quaid does a really solid job here and the buddy cop dynamic of Morgan and Quaid is genuinely interesting. There’s this voice in Simon’s head that constantly mock him making him constantly doubt himself or telling him that nobody will believe him because of his history. Jack Quaid does such a good job of portraying someone suffering through this, it genuinely hurts to watch at times. 

The writing is solid, there’s this theme of your mind constantly telling you how much of a failure you are or nobody will believe you because of the way you are. It’s a bit surface level sure, but it’s there regardless and from what’s presented the film does a pretty solid job with the execution. The rest of the writing is a bit more on the generic side of things but nothing ends up being terrible, although the emotional pay-off in the end does not really come together in the end. The back and forth between Morgan and Quaid is genuinely interesting and even humorous at times, it helps that Morgan and Quaid are just two incredibly likable actors and have a lot of charisma which had the two not been here I don’t think the movie would have worked nearly as well. 

Overall Neighborhood Watch is a fun thriller that really does not have whole lot to it, the main reason to watch this is the performances from Morgan and Quaid. It does not overstay it’s welcome which is great and accomplishes what it’s sent out to do for the most part. 

Neighborhood Watch is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Fréwaka is directed by Aislinn Clarke director of The Devil’s Doorway (2018) 

Fréwaka is an Irish folklore horror film that does tackle generational trauma, ittedly there are so many horror films that tackle this theme. However the film is able to still stand as the performances are very strong, the film having a haunting atmosphere and the way the trauma is executed really works.

The performances are strong and always keep the viewer on the edge of their seat, Clare Monnelly in particular does a really great job of capturing the film’s atmosphere. Whether it be through the dialogue which is almost entirely spoken in Irish, the facial acting that tells the viewer all they really need to know in certain scenes. The generational trauma that is ed down from each generations is felt through the performances and is what gives the film it’s unique feel. 

The dialogue as I said before is almost entirely spoken in Irish, which benefits the film since after all it is about Irish folklore. At points it feels like Clarke is trying to tackle Ireland’s past and present cultural landscape which is quite fascinating, the way the film executes trauma is different than what we usually get. There’s a story going on here about generations going through some sort of trauma that are each quite haunting in their own right, when you combine that with the strong dialogue that slowly reels the viewer in you have yourself quite a solid film. 

Atmosphere is the part this film really nails, right from the beginning you can feel the haunting yet inviting atmosphere enter the film. We get a bunch of moments where we as the viewers feel lonely, it takes place in a small town that isolates our main character Shoo (played by Clare Monnelly), the interactions are filled with paranoia and even makes the viewer question what is really going on here? 

Overall Fréwaka might not be doing anything entirely new, but the way the film goes about the execution combined with the genuinely strong acting and thrilling atmosphere makes for a fun ride that I would recommend giving a go. 

Fréwaka is available on Shudder!

7/10 B

Warfare is directed by Ray Mendoza (which in his directorial debut) and Alex Garland director of Ex Machina (2014), Annihilation (2018), Men (2022) and Civil War (2024) the film is based Mendoza’s experiences during the Iraq War as a U.S. Navy Seal. In particular the film depicts an encounter he and his platoon experienced on November 19th 2006 which was in the wake of the Battle of Ramadi.

Warfare is a beast of a film, not only is it incredibly well directed, incredibly raw and very well made. But it has this anti-war sentiment throughout the film that shows the brutality of war and how disturbing it can really be. 

The start with the acting is incredibly raw, everyone here gives phenomenal performances and really captures the brutal and thrilling atmosphere that is taking place. But the two that really take this film home are Joseph Quinn and Cosmo Jarvis, these two are part of what makes this film so brutal and really help the film get its point across. A lot of war films tend to really gloss over injuries or the reactions of being shot, 90 percent of the time it’s a basic you are shot and dead or you are shot and there really isn’t this huge reaction. What Warfare does is very different, when Quinn and Jarvis are seriously injured from a bomb the two scream in agony and their performances are truly haunting. Especially Quinn who almost immediately sends chills down the viewer’s signs, combine that with the gore and the atmosphere reflecting how disturbing the situation is, you have yourself some very terrifying moments that stay throughout the rest of the film. 

Part of what makes Warfare work as well as it does is the sound, the screams of Quinn and Jarvis are so effective here as well the gunshots, explosions, rumblings ect. Ray Mendoza has said that for Warfare sound matters saying “Every Round Has A Purpose” and he’s absolutely right here, every single moment with the sound is intimidating simply because you have no idea what you are going to hear next. It’s the type of sound that immediately gets to the viewer and brings you in, you can feel the pain, screams, gunfire and such every single second. This is truly some of the best use of sound I’ve seen in a film in a while. 

The cinematography combined with the atmosphere is also thrilling as well as incredibly haunting. The cinematography from David J. Thompson manages to create this big in scale yet claustrophobic feel to the filming, the outside portions of the fight are bigger in scale with wider shots while the portions that take place inside are up close, personal and chaotic. This makes sense as to why they are up close since it is Mendoza’s experience after all, these close shots really depict a disturbing picture that has a lot of panic, desperation and rawness a lot of the time it’s jaw dropping simply due to how well edited and filmed these scenes really are. 

Finally the anti-war theme of Warfare is saying how the United States feeds these people into the meat grinder for absolutely no reason at all. It shows just how much life was lost, there’s a few scenes of this terrified Iraqi family whose home Mendoza and his men are in throughout most of the film and just seeing their horrified reactions is devastating because they know what’s about to happen, their reactions alone basically sums up this film. It’s terrifying and unlike some other war films where they try to make war look like this big spectacle that absolutely couldn’t be further from the truth. Warfare tells the viewer that so many people pointlessly died for no reason and this is the legacy that was left, so much death, trauma and pain that everyone goes looks back at and asks the simple one worded question “why?” 

Warfare is currently in theaters.

9/10 A

Winter Spring Summer Or Fall is directed by Tiffany Paulsen which is her directorial debut. 

Winter Spring Summer Or Fall is a romantic drama film that sure does exist, I did not go into this one with very high expectations and while it’s nowhere near one of the worst movies I’ve seen so far this year. That really does not make it a good one. 

The performances are fine enough here, Jenna Ortega (especially during the last 15 minutes) and Percy Hynes White in particular have moments where they really try to make the film work. The rest of the cast are given very little to do which is to be expected for what the movie is going for. As far as characters are concerned there is just really not all that much going on here, it’s very typical teen romance characters that are filled to the brim with cliches. 

The writing is what completely destroys this movie, the script from Dan Schoffer who previously wrote Not Cool (the Shane Dawson movie) goes about as well as a bad high school film project. The final act in particular repeats the exact same plot point twice within 5 minutes of each other, for example at one point after their breakup Remi (played by Jenna Ortega) wants to reconnect with Barnes (played by Percy Hynes White) so they meet up again and Remi realizes she still loves Barnes but doesn’t tell him. That’s simple enough…until they do the exact same thing but reverse only Barnes does not tell Remi that he still loves her it’s almost comical how badly it’s executed, I will it it this did get a laugh out of me simply due to how much of a baffling decision it was. 

I will say that I was not expecting the film to be this low of a budget, I knew it was an indie film obviously but this still caught me a bit by surprise. This does not really hurt or benefit the movie in any sort of way when it comes to how it was shot or other technical aspects because I do think there are some decent shots here and I kind of liked the soundtrack particularly the original song “What Are You Doing Later?” It’s not anything outstanding but it fits the movie decently well. 

I wish there was more to be said here but Winter Spring Summer Or Fall is incredibly bare bones especially for the romantic comedy genre, you could absolutely do far worse than this one but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. 

Winter Spring Summer Or Fall releases tomorrow in theaters and VOD platforms.

4/10 D+

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is directed by Pete Browngardt which although it is his feature directorial debut he has worked on many shows you would recognize such as Futurama, The Venture Bros, Chowder, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Adventure Time and is the creator of Uncle Grandpa. 

Believe it or not The Day The Earth Blew Up is the first fully animated and theatrical released Looney Tunes film, which is something that does not sound real but sure enough it is. If there’s one word to describe this film it’s charming, what Browngardt did with the Looney Tunes here is absolutely well done and incredibly imaginative. It has this sense of nostalgia without feeling like it’s trying to bait the audience and throw half a dozen easter eggs at you, it’s a film where long time fans and newcomers can really enjoy and walk away from the film loving the Looney Tunes all over again or wanting to get into them more.

The voice acting is top notch, Eric Bauza who voices both Daffy Duck and Porky Pig is the best he’s ever been, there’s so much charm to the characters and it’s all captured in the familiar voices of the characters. Having Daffy Duck and Porky Pig together is also quite neat, I grew up with Duck Dodgers a show that was on Cartoon Network that also had Daffy and Porky as the main characters. So it does bring a sense of nostalgia to see the two on screen together again and much like in Duck Dodgers they are both excellent here. The humor, their two personalities and the writing really brings out everything that we all love about these two characters. Candi Milo as Petunia Pig is a nice mix as well, Peter MacNicol as The Invader gives some great laughs over the course of the film. 

The humor is very well done and is pretty spot on when capturing the spirit of the Looney Tunes. Even when the film goes for more of the newer type of humor it still works, one particular scene of (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan Adams showing up is genuinely hilarious and works in this fun way. There’s some fourth wall breaking jokes that are actually pretty charming, I don’t think these jokes would have worked nearly as well had this not been a Looney Tunes film but due to the charm and the way they are executed they work well here and match the tone. 

The charm of the film is ultimately what makes the film, you can tell Browngardt and the many other writers wanted to make this special as well as a tribute to the Looney Tunes franchise as a whole. Not only does the film accomplish that it does its own thing, as I said earlier the film does not rely on nostalgia or easter eggs to bring the viewer in. It relies on classic Looney Tunes shenanigans, humor and energetic voice acting to bring it all together. The animation is also filled to the brim of charm with so much detail and so much to look at it’s incredibly pleasing to the eyes. 

Overall The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is such a fun film that any Looney Tunes fan will love, there’s so much ion put here and respect for the franchise. Definitely be sure to check this one out!

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is available on all VOD platforms.

8/10 B+

Black Bag is directed by Steven Soderbergh is director of Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, Magic Mike (2012) Logan Lucky (2017), Unsane (2018), Kimi (2022), Presence (2025) and so many others. 

Steven Soderbergh once again hits out of the park with his second film this year, as I said before in my reviews of his work I absolutely love that he takes on different genres. You are never really certain about what you are going to get with his films but most of the time it ends up being really great and luckily that’s the case with Black Bag! 

The performances all across the board are really great here, Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender and Marisa Abela in particular being the strongest. Blanchett and Fassbender both have incredibly solid chemistry between one another, it helps that the script from David Koepp adds so much engagement towards their characters that it almost immediately connects with the viewer. They both feel like they are straight out of the classic spy thriller film and Soderbergh’s direction only amplifies that. Marisa Abela gives a great performance here which I’m glad to see, after the disastrous Back To Black (2024) it’s great to see her talent being used here. What I said about Blanchett and Fassbender can be applied to Abela, a wonderful performance that oozes with style especially the classic spy thriller type. 

As I said earlier the writing from David Koepp adds so much to the characters, while not every single character is given a whole lot to work with. One similarity that they all have is they all feel like they are from a classic spy thriller film, there’s a lot more that adds to that (which I’ll get to in a second) but Koepp’s script really builds these characters which is part of what help builds the film’s atmosphere. It makes the film have this classic filmmaking feel that really is not present in a lot of the spy film genre anymore, what Koepp brings to the table might be straightforward but the way it’s executed and presented has this classic feel that’s filled with strength and confidence. 

The cinematography is absolutely beautiful especially when combined with the lighting, Steven Soderbergh (who is the cinematographer under the name Peter Andrews) goes all out and truly paints a thrilling picture. The beautiful lighting mixed into the atmosphere also builds these characters, when they are all together you feel the tension and their personalities clashing against one another, the light and shadows tell a lot of the story when the film wants to focus on showcasing certain shots. It’s incredibly well done and quite cleverly put together as well, the editing also from Steven Soderbergh (under the name Mary Ann Bernard) much like in his previous film Presence (2025) is incredibly well done. It’s beautifully done and compliments the cinematography perfectly, giving the whole film this personality that really feels alive. 

Finally you have Soderbergh’s direction which is phenomenal, Soderbergh consistently captures a thrilling atmosphere in his films and here is no exception. As the film goes on you can feel the thrilling atmosphere build over the course of story until it all clashes during the final act, the film does require patience from the viewer as the pacing is pretty slow. But the buildup and end results that Soderbergh manages to create is very much worth the wait! 

Overall Black Bag is another incredibly solid film from Steven Soderbergh, if you are a fan of the spy thriller genre I highly recommend giving this one a go, it has familiar ideas but is executed quite beautifully! 

Black Bag is available on all VOD platforms.

8/10 B+

A Working Man is directed by David Ayer director of Harsh Times (2005), Street Kings (2008), End Of Watch (2012), Sabotage (2014), Fury (2014), Suicide Squad (2016), Bright (2017), The Tax Collector (2020) and The Beekeeper (2024) 

A Working Man is essentially the yearly Jason Statham action film, there is nothing going on here that really differentiates it from Statham’s other films. With that being said I do not think this is quite as bad as some people are making it out to be, but I still would not call it a great movie. 

The acting is about what you expect, Jason Statham does a pretty decent job here and actually does have a few moments where his charisma as an actor actually shines. There’s a few touching scenes that are just enough to get you into some parts of the story, the rest of the cast are fine enough here. Nobody really lands a memorable performance, I like Michael Peña fine enough (although he doesn’t do that much) as Joe Garcia who is a father that desperately wants his daughter back. It’s very much the Jason Statham show as it usually is with these movies and honestly there’s nothing really wrong with that. 

The action scenes were solid, they were decently brutal and had this 80s and 90s feel going on that actually worked in some cases particularly during the last bit of the movie. There really is not anything mind blowing going on here, but the action scenes are ittedly satisfying especially in the context of the story with Levon Cade (played by Jason Statham) hunting down human traffickers which combined with the brutal style of the action scenes does make it work. 

If you are going into this one expecting the atmosphere of The Beekeeper (2024) then you are going to be incredibly disappointed. Whereas The Beekeeper (2024) did not take itself seriously and was pretty self aware about it as well, A Working Man takes itself incredibly seriously which I guess is not surprising given that the story here is that Statham is hunting down human traffickers. While yes there are some unintentional moments that you could consider a laugh those are very far and few in between.

The writing is ultimately what hurts the movie the most, while it is neat to see Statham hunt down a bunch of human traffickers. The journey to get to those great action scenes is a bumpy one, the characters really do not have a whole lot going on at all. The story itself is partly a Taken (2008) clone only without a lot of the atmosphere that made it so great, the script from David Ayer and Sylvester Stallone also lacks the meat of the story. Every once and a while you will get some moments that at least have some sort of depth (that’s being generous), but much like a lot of this movie that’s far and few in between. 

Overall A Working Man is going to satisfy die hard Jason Statham fans, for everyone else this is a movie you are more than likely going to immediately forget about after watching. 

A Working Man is available on all VOD platforms.

4/10 D+

The Ugly Stepsister is directed by Emilie Blichfeldt which is her directorial debut. 

The Ugly Stepsister is a pretty disturbing one, my only knowledge about this movie prior to watching it was that it apparently grossed out some people at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and it’s not hard to see why. This is a film that really does not hold back with its body horror and other themes, there’s bound to be comparisons to last year’s The Substance (2024) but the two films are going for two completely different things and execute their ideas much differently. 

The performances are spectacular especially Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss and Ane Dahl Torp who all give some of the best acting so far this year. Dahl Torp does a fantastic job of portraying the evil mother, she’s intimidating and you can really feel the haunting atmosphere follow her as the film goes on. Myren and Loch Næss have this excellent back and forth going on here between their characters Elvira (played by Myren) and Agnes (played by Næss) competing against one another, to some dialogue heavy moments that shine a light on the film’s themes and the brutality of it all really highlights the two’s performances. 

The Ugly Stepsister is not just another reimagining of a fairytale or Disney stories like Winnie The Pooh this film puts story, acting, writing and themes first before anything else. The whole theme here is horrifying body modifications women will do to themselves to earn male affection as well as being a brutal dissection of beauty standards plus how extremely vile they can really be. That’s where the disturbing nature of the film comes in, I’m not going to spoil anything as the many disturbing moments are a key part to the experience. But I will say that not once does any of it feel forced, unlike other disturbing films where the violence often feels slapped in just for the sake of it. The Ugly Stepsister focuses on incorporating its disturbing moments in meaningful and powerful ways that will leave an impression on the viewer. 

Director Emilie Blichfeldt never backs down either, she goes all in with the film’s themes and delivers some quite haunting scenes. Especially when you combine the eerie cinematography from Marcel Zyskind and the hauntingly beautiful music from John Erik Kaada, all three together truly make this a haunting and disturbing experience. They all complement each other flawlessly and really bring home the point of the film, Blichfeldt’s direction is also tight and quite confident. She knows how to tackle disturbing scenes and even shocking moments and turn them into something very meaningful.

There’s this other theme of fight for beauty being a fight for survival which at points is genuinely crushing to see witness happen on screen. It can even be argued that the disturbing scenes are in addition to being well disturbing are also sad, it’s rough to see the competition go on in this film and it’s done in drastic plus disturbing ways. Yet it works so well given where the story goes! 

Overall The Ugly Stepsister is a phenomenal film and so far my favorite film of the year, it’s not going to be for everyone. But if you love disturbing cinema this is something you should definitely see! 

The Ugly Stepsister releases tomorrow in theaters!

10/10 A+

Drop is directed by Christopher Landon director of Burning Palms (2010), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), Happy Death Day (2017), Happy Death Day 2U (2019), Freaky (2020) and We Have A Ghost (2023) 

At this point Christopher Landon has established this style he likes to go for, this suspenseful yet comedic tone that has been present in his last several films. Drop discards the comedic elements (although there are humorous parts in the film) and strictly focuses on building atmosphere, while not every single thing works and the movie kind of lands on a weak note there’s still a lot of great stuff going on here. 

Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar both give really strong performances, you immediately buy their chemistry as the viewer and genuinely root for the date to go well. There’s one particular moment towards the end where the two share a heart to heart moment that you can really feel, it’s actually quite emotional and it all comes from the two’s performances which sell this moment spectacularly. I wish the film had a few more moments like these, but from what we got and what Fahy and Sklenar did with their characters is truly great and makes for some fun dialogue exchanges. 

The writing is strong for the most part, it does get pretty outlandish during the third act where you really have to suspend your disbelief. But before that the blend of thrills and comedic moments work quite well, the film’s atmosphere is sharp and stays on the ball for a while. The film tackling the theme of domestic violence while not really having anything grand to say about it still works due to how the writing incorporates it into the story, Meghann Fahy’s facial acting especially with her eyes really brings it home and gives these emotional moments that are touching. The conversation between Fahy and Sklenar of how abs steal hope was quite beautiful and perhaps the film’s best moment. 

The direction from Christopher Landon is quite solid, he does a great job of keeping the thrilling atmosphere he likes to use in his films. When he needs to bring in some comedic moments they luckily don’t overstay their welcome, I do think the chaos during the third act that Landon tries to go for does not quite work mainly due to the huge amount of suspending your disbelief it requires, it also just feels like it’s going for a chaotic tone for the sake of going for one and it’s just not as strong as the rest of the movie. It feels like two completely different films, the first two acts are trying to (and succeed) be a thrilling ride that handles a heavy theme of domestic abuse while the third act is this chaotic ride that isn’t necessarily terrible but it is a huge whiplash from the rest of the movie. 

Overall Drop despite having a rough landing is still a solid film, it’s a great ride that has strong performances, a thrilling atmosphere and is actually quite a beautiful film visually. It’s not one of my favorites from Christopher Landon but still a solid one! 

Drop is playing in theaters.

7/10 B

Dead Mail is directed by Joe DeBoer and Kyle McConaghy both of which directed BAB (2020) while McConaghy also directed Sheeps Clothing (2024) 

Dead Mail heavily reminds me of one of those old midnight films you would watch on some obscure TV channel and I mean this as a compliment because this one is definitely an odd one. Dead Mail is going for a much different style here both with its filming and atmosphere and the movie really leaves it up to the viewer to explore on what exactly is going on here. 

The performances are incredibly solid particularly Sterling Macer Jr, John Fleck and Tomas Boykin all of them really capture this dark atmospheric ride that is taking place and really grab the viewer’s attention through their performances. It helps that characters have strong personalities that include endearing, tragic and some pretty scary elements, seeing a new character in this film is like opening a closed door you have no idea what’s on the other side. This film’s world really matches the tone of the characters and really builds upon them very well, even some of the minor characters who may not have a whole lot going on still end up leaving an impression on the viewer.

Something you will immediately notice when the film starts is the grainy filming style, it compliments the film’s world incredibly well and makes the film standout more. It has this very 70s feel to it even the sound compliments it as well, this is some really beautiful recreation that did not feel slapped together this oozes with ion. The classic thrilling atmosphere that was present in a lot of these grainy 70s films is also felt here giving the film a much more natural feel that you truly believe you are back in time. 

The score is also quite beautiful and matches the tone as well, the use of Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy is haunting yet beautiful at the same time especially when combined with the film’s atmosphere. These scenes are some of the film’s best moments and really highlight why the film is so interesting where you can simply just get lost by looking at it (in a good way.)

The film does ittedly go on for a bit too long and some of the emotional depth is not there unfortunately, however the film builds upon its mystery which leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. It’s a fun and dark film that manages to bring the viewer into the experience.

Dead Mail releases Friday on Shudder!

7/10 B

Hell Of A Summer is directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk which is their directorial debut. 

Hell Of A Summer is a classic 80s style slasher film, especially summer camp slashers. This is a prime example of a film where you know exactly what you are getting when you walk into it, while not everything here is great there is just the right amount of ion and charm in here that makes it work. 

The performances while not anything amazing are still a lot of fun especially from Fred Hechinger who gives a quite humorous performance and really connects with the rest of the cast quite well. He does a solid job of capturing this young adult who really tries to hold on to his youth in hilarious ways, although the character development is not really there (that can be really said for everyone in the film) from what’s presented it’s still a fun character arc mainly due to Hechinger being incredibly charming. 

Abby Quinn, Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk and the rest of the cast deliver solid performances but a lot of their characters are only there to serve as upping the kill count. Most of them have one personality trait and that’s really about it, to be fair that’s to be expected a slasher film that is clearly trying to capture the 80s slasher is not going to have this deep and rich character writing. So I guess in a way the film does a pretty decent job of capturing that element. Even with that in mind they were hinting at some plot points with certain characters like the bond Claire (played by Abby Quinn) and Jason Hochberg (played by Fred Hechinger) seemed to have, outside of some cliches it really does not go anywhere that interesting. It goes in the way you expect it to. 

The humor is quite solid even if not everything lands, the script (which is also written by Wolfhard and Bryk) has this charm that is felt throughout the film and it reflects with the humor. Granted there are not really any moments where you will be quoting the film, but they are nice bits that do help keep the film going at a nice pace.

Script also oozes with nostalgia and charm of the 80s slasher movies, it’s clear that both Wolfhard and Bryk are fans of the genre and the love put into the script shows. It almost feels like Wolfhard and Bryk are sharing their telling of how they saw 80s slasher films, we have seen plenty of throwback films that tackle different eras of the horror genre especially within the last couple of years. Some are definitely better than others, while Hell Of A Summer is not exactly one of the best in of quality, it is one of the most charming ones and has a huge heart that really benefits it. 

The kills are a bit of a hit or miss, unfortunately there are a handful of off-screen deaths that do take away from the film. I do like the kills that are shown even if they are very simple, you can tell the cast had a blast with them. The film also has this nice atmosphere that feels very much like you are at a summer camp, the atmosphere can have this parody feel that might turn off some viewers. But for what the movie is going for with being a horror comedy I think it fits decently well. 

Overall Hell Of A Summer is about what you expect from a summer camp slasher film. It’s not going to break any new ground, but I ire the charm, cast and love put into the film even if everything does not fully work. It’s a quick and easy watch that I’m sure will have its fans! 

Hell Of A Summer is playing in theaters.

6/10 C+

The Woman in the Yard is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra director of House Of Wax (2005), Orphan (2009), Non-Stop (2014), Run All Night (2015), The Shallows (2016), Jungle Cruise (2021), Black Adam (2022), Carry-On (2024) and a few others. 

The Woman in the Yard is a film that has the right materials to make something very interesting, but unfortunately there’s a lot holding it back from reaching greatness. I like seeing Collet-Serra return to his horror roots but unfortunately what takes this one down is the script. 

The acting is strong here, Danielle Deadwyler is the best part of the film and even the only reason I would suggest to give the film a look. What she’s able to do with such a limited script that unfortunately does not have a good balance of its themes and coherent storytelling is pretty impressive, it shows how strong of an actress she really is. When the film explores her character Ramona at first we are given a lot of great moments, she’s struggling with loss and grief which she’s trying to move on from. The balance of trying to move on while trying to be happy for her kids is genuinely touching and even quite heartbreaking at times, it’s all due to Deadwyler’s performance that most of the movie does not almost immediately sink. 

Seeing Collet-Serra return to his horror roots is always great, I think one major thing that he is quite great at is building an atmosphere which is very much felt throughout the film. Even when the third act drops the ball the thrilling atmosphere is felt, combine that with some strong cinematography from Pawel Pogorzelski and you have yourself a beautiful looking film filled with this sense of abandonment mainly due to the one location setting. It’s incredibly effective and does a lot of the talking when the movie drops the ball. 

As I said before what takes this one down is the script, especially during the third act where the movie trades in a coherent story for very overt metaphors that are basically telling the viewer what’s going on with no subtle at all. Which ends up hurting a lot of the movie’s emotional impact, there’s a lot of grief metaphors as well that really do not do anything differently than a lot of other films have done that have tackled grief. Even without the metaphors the writing is really not doing anything special, while it’s not exactly terrible, for a story like this it needed a much bigger punch to really work and sadly that punch never ends up arriving. 

Overall The Woman in the Yard has its moments and Danielle Deadwyler undeniably gives a strong performance. But there is just a lot missing here that really stops it from being something really great. 

The Woman in the Yard is available on all VOD platforms!

5/10 C

Dreaming Of You is directed by Jack McCafferty which is his directorial debut! 

Dreaming Of You is a cute one for sure this is a film that while flawed and loses itself at some points does in the end have a huge heart and ion on its side. The many styles the movie goes for with animation is quite honestly impressive especially given how low budget it feels. 

The performances are quite fun here and are part of why the film works as well as it does, Jack McCafferty (who also directs the film as I said before) it’s charming, fun and connects well with the rest of the cast especially Lauren LaVera and Ian Ross. Speaking of which LaVera once again hits it out of the park with another strong performance and really shows she has such beautiful screen presence, her chemistry with McCafferty is solid and the two are just a delight to watch as their simple yet engaging conversations continue through the film. Ian Ross brings the humor to the film and does a pretty good job at doing so, his character isn’t anything groundbreaking but much like the rest of the cast he’s charming so it works in his favor. 

The idea of the film is great, the many dreams we get put into is genuinely interesting and the different styles used as I said before are genuinely impressive. Some are definitely better than others but something they all have is a sense of charm, they don’t overstay their welcome and each has their own personality. ittedly the film does breeze through some of them a bit too quickly which does not give some of them a lot of time to speak for themselves, however the charm is still felt and they are all still quite beautiful to look at as well. 

The romance parts are genuinely cute, as I said earlier McCafferty and LaVera have great chemistry between one another, if you have seen any other romantic comedy film their characters aren’t going to be exactly anything new. However what makes them work is due to the ion and charm that’s held, the laughs the movie gives the viewer are genuine and the dialogue while at times corny actually do have some raw moments. 

Charm is the word I have been using throughout this review and I think it’s the best way to sum the film up. It’s filled with charm and ion, even when the film has its missteps it gets back up on its feet and still captures this beautiful atmosphere that a lot of romantic comedies seem to really miss nowadays. This might not be one of the absolute best films of the year but to say I did not have a great time with this one would be a lie! 

Dreaming Of You releases tomorrow on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

I’m sorry but when a movie that I watched only a few days ago completely exits my mind and I don’t a thing about it that’s an automatic short review.

I had to rewatch this one again and well I can see why this slipped my mind even if it didn’t slip my mind. I still would have probably gave this a short review. Outside of an ittedly interesting start that felt like it was going to do something different with the exorcism sub-genre. The movie immediately falls flat due to poor writing, goofy special effects that could give the viewer a laugh, an embarrassing level of plot holes and the film’s low budget holding it back. 

Just not an interesting movie at all, it reels you in with a promising premise but unfortunately never goes into detail with it all. 

Shadow Of God is available on Shudder 

1/10 F

The Alto Knights is directed by Barry Levinson director of Rain Man (1988), Sleepers (1996), Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), Wag the Dog (1997), The Bay (2012) and many others. 

There really is not a lot to be said about The Alto Knights, this is about as generic and cliched as you can really get with the crime drama genre. Everything here has been done better elsewhere leaving this movie to be a chore to sit through. 

Robert De Niro does a fine enough job with the dual performance but even then this is a role he’s already done in far better films. Fans of De Niro will get absolutely nothing out of this performance outside of a few moments that are genuinely great and at least attempt to try and move the story along. The rest of the cast however really do not have that much to work with, that mostly comes from the writing which fails to offer any interesting moments. 

The writing is terrible and repeats itself over and over again to the point where it feels like this is an elaborate bit. The editing is bafflingly awful with tons of scenes that go on for far longer than they really should, the movie itself fails to get the viewer engaged as it throws just about every mobster movie cliche in the book at the wall with none of it sticking. 

What more can I really say here? The Alto Knights is a chore to sit through and there’s very little going on here. There might have been a good movie here had the writing been anything of substance, but as it stands this is hands down one of the most forgettable movies of 2025 so far.

The Alto Knights is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

G20 is directed by Patricia Riggen director of Under The Same Moon (2007), Lemonade Mouth (2011), Girl in Progress (2012), The 33 (2015) and Miracles From Heaven (2016) 

I will give G20 this, it’s not as bad as expected and that’s mainly due to Viola Davis carrying this movie to the finish line. There’s some decent moments every now and then but ultimately this is just yet another Die Hard (1988) clone mixed with Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down (2013) 

The performances are not bad here, in fact they are probably the best thing the movie has going for it. Viola Davis gives a great performance that really keeps the movie rolling along, her role here as Danielle Sutton the U.S. President might not be one of her excellent roles. But it’s clear that Davis tried with what she could with such a generic script, Anthony Anderson is pretty decent here as well although much like Davis really can’t fully flesh out the role due to the script. 

Unfortunately what kills G20 almost immediately is the script, it’s a very basic Die Hard (1988) knock off that is not doing anything new or even exciting. There are some nice bits between the Sutton family but they are so far and few in between that it fails to get the viewer to engage with their bond. The lack of the emotional bond between the family is due to a lot of underdeveloped characters leading to a lot of one-dimensional characters who are only really there as plot devices or walking and talking cliches. 

 The action scenes are not terrible but they lack a lot of ion and very much feel like they were slapped together at the last minute, the movie’s focus on throwing in as many buzzwords such as AI and cryptocurrency into the plot without even exploring them is incredibly obnoxious and does not lead into anything investing. It’s all incredibly surface level discussion that really does not add to anything and the end result is an uninspired take on the political action genre. 

There really is not much more to say about G20 despite Viola Davis trying her hardest to really keep this one afloat, the movie sinks itself for being way too cliched and offering nothing new to the genre. This is once again another example of release date fodder.

G20 is available on Amazon Prime Video.

4/10 D+

Sacramento is directed by Michael Angarano director of Avenues (2017)

Sacramento does not reinvent the wheel when it comes to the road trip comedy genre, however it was one of the most genuine in recent years. Often times I find a big problem with a lot of road trip movies is they have tend to be more or less the exact same thing with humor that feels incredibly manufactured. Michael Angarano avoids that and brings something from the heart, while it does take some time to get going and not every single joke lands, there is still this genuine feel to it that brings the viewer along for the ride. 

The acting is strong here and is what really gives the film its heart. Michael Angarano and Michael Cera are both hilarious together and bring this nice balance of humor and more dramatic moments, in a lot of ways their bond is going to remind people of last year’s A Real Pain (2024) and while there are similarities the two films are going for very different goals. Angarano and Cera help the film reach the goal especially through the more quiet moments and when the film’s themes of vulnerability and emotional maturity come into play, the two really do a fantastic job of bouncing off of each other and really opening up to one another. There are some genuinely powerful moments here that could be incredibly relatable to the viewer, opening up and vulnerability is difficult which is something the film shows in great detail. 

Maya Erskine and Kristen Stewart are both solid here as well, even if they don’t have huge roles the two still do a really great job of balancing humor and drama much like Angarano and Cera. Both are humorous in their own ways and have this genuine connection with Angarano and Cera that is the heart of the film, the conversations are interesting and the performances from the two are just fantastic and beautifully done.

The writing from Michael Angarano and Chris Smith is genuine and heartfelt, as I said before the film’s themes of vulnerability and emotional maturity are done very well here. Both are shown through humor and more dramatic moments there’s a nice balance of the two, one never outweighs the other which keeps things interesting as it goes on. There’s even some meta commentary about Angarano and Erskine’s marriage which is pretty clever to include, it makes the film feel a bit more personal to Angarano like he’s telling the viewer his story and asking us to listen. 

Which leads me to the direction, Angarano does a wonderful job in the director’s chair. He takes this familiar feel but turns it around and makes it the story he wants to tell you as the viewer, it’s exciting to watch and you can absolutely feel the ion in the air with this film. As I said not every single humorous moment works but there’s so much charm here that it ends up working incredibly well. 

Overall Sacramento is a cute road trip movie with a big heart and a fantastic cast, this one is not going to reinvent the wheel as I said earlier. However it will leave you with a smile on your face and make you love the journey the film took you on! 

Sacramento releases tomorrow in theaters!

7/10 B

Novocaine is directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen both of which directed Body (2015), Stake Land II (2016), Villains (2019) and Significant Other (2022)

Novocaine is an odd one and I’m not saying that when it comes to story, it’s more in of how the film almost feels like it’s restricting its own premise and not going all out with it. When the film does focus on its premise it is a whole lot of fun and leads to some quite gory moments, at the very least the film has the charm of the cast and the action scenes to back it up especially since the plot is so simple.

The performances are what really make this one work, Jack Quaid is incredibly likable and filled to the brim with charm. This goes for most of his performances but it’s especially noticeable here, he just has strong screen presence that gets to viewer almost immediately which in turn helps bring the viewer into the film. His chemistry with Amber Midthunder is incredibly cute even if we don’t get to see them together for most of the movie, introducing the chemistry between the two early on is a smart move so we the audience can root for Nathan (played by Jack Quaid) to rescue Sherry (played by Amber Midthunder.) Quaid is not exactly doing anything new with his performance, however as I said sheer likability does a lot of heavy lifting and helps keep the viewer engaged. 

Amber Midthunder and Ray Nicholson are both solid here as well, Midthunder is unfortunately restricted to being kidnapped for most of the film. But as always she does a really great job with what she’s given and like I said before her early scenes with Quaid are incredibly cute and is the heart of the film. Ray Nicholson gives yet another great performance, although his character is kind of just a generic bank robber who really does not have a whole lot going on character wise. It’s his performance that makes the character work and ittedly does deliver some great lines as well as action scenes with Quaid. 

The gore and action scenes are a whole lot of fun, there are some pretty gory moments that actually do capture the movie’s premise well. There definitely could have been more of these moments and even go into a bit more detail about them, but from what’s presented they get the job done. The action scenes are a lot of fun as well, they are very energetic and the fight choreography is fun to watch. Nothing exactly groundbreaking going on here but at the very least it keeps the viewer entertained, the film knows its job when it comes to the action scenes and it accomplishes it just fine. 

The writing is where the film suffers the most, while it’s not anything terrible. For a movie that is about a man who cannot feel any pain it is shockingly simple, which there is nothing wrong with being simple let me be clear. But it almost feels like at times the movie is restricting itself like it does not want to go further on its own premise, the gore is great and fun here but there’s nothing absolutely crazy that you would expect. A lot of the writing also suffers from very predictable beats that we have seen in some of these action movies and the humor isn’t exactly all that great, I know Jacob Batalon is trying his best to be the comedic friend but a lot of the humor especially from him is very standard and something so many action movies have done already. 

Overall Novocaine is a fine enough action film that is pretty fun despite its flaws, as I said constantly charm and likability is what is keeping the film afloat especially from Jack Quaid. Without Quaid or the rest of the cast this would have absolutely been a very forgettable film that would have not worked as well as it did. Don’t go into this one expecting something that takes advantage of its premise you won’t get that here, but if you want a fun ride and have 110 minutes to kill I say give this one a look. 

Novocaine is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Paddington in Peru is directed by Dougal Wilson which is his directorial debut. The film serves as the third installment in the Paddington film series. 

Paddington in Peru had big shoes to fill, the first two films were widely loved and have become somewhat of modern classics for some people. That’s thanks to Paul King’s beautiful and quite magical direction that translated a classic children’s book character incredibly well to live action. Paul King unfortunately did not come back to direct this one as well as Sally Hawkins not returning as Mary Brown (Emily Mortimer was cast.) With that being said I do think Paddington in Peru still manages to capture a lot of what made the first two films so great, it’s by far the weakest of the films but the charm and humor is still intact. 

The performances are quite great here, as I said before Emily Mortimer replaces Sally Hawkins as Mary Brown and while she does a great job plus she had a ton of funny moments. The absence of Sally is incredible noticeable and really sticks out like a sore thumb especially since the rest of the Brown family remain the same, with that being said Mortimer does great here and interacts with the rest of the family incredibly well. They all do phenomenal in their respective roles and each get moments to shine, Olivia Colman is a ton of fun here and is the best performance of the film. Even if she is not utilized to her character’s full potential she still gets a decent amount of screen time and hits it out of the park with every scene she’s in. 

The script is definitely weaker than the previous two films…at least for the first half where it’s trying to find its footing, which ittedly has this very traditional family movie feel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing considering at the end of the day the Paddington films are family movies, it just does not standout as much as the other two films. However once the second half kicks in the film finds itself and brings the warmth and charm of the previous two films, the writing really brings your heart into the film at this point and the several charming moments are here in full force. Imelda Staunton voicing Aunt Lucy does such a fantastic job of really bringing the heart of the film, her scenes are easily some of the best of the film and really tie its themes together in a nice bow. 

As far as the humor and direction goes they are both quite solid, the direction from Paul King is very noticeably absent as I said before. However Dougal Wilson really does a great job of capturing the magic of the previous films, he isn’t trying to go for the bare minimum he’s giving it his all. While not every single moment works as some of the humor isn’t as fun as the previous films, there is still this feel of warmth, adventure and wonder. It’s not on the grand scale as the other movies but it’s absolutely there and that’s what really matters the most. 

Overall Paddington in Peru is a solid film, it’s not going to break any new sort of ground for the series or the family movie genre itself. But it’s an incredibly charming little ride from start to finish! 

Paddington in Peru is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

The Actor is directed by Duke Johnson who co-directed Anomalisa (2015)

The Actor is an ambitious film that I respect what it was trying to go for, but ultimately ends up being a misfire mainly due to the narrative just not being that interesting. Despite only being 98 minutes the movie’s pacing is incredibly slow and quickly takes the viewer out of the world that is heavily relied on throughout the movie. Having that said it’s not a terrible movie as the performances, cinematography and the dreamlike world are able to save it from not being a complete chore to sit through. 

The performances are quite great here André Holland in particular does a fascinating job of capturing the dreamlike atmosphere, the atmosphere also goes for this noir thriller feel and Holland’s performance just oozes with style and power he’s able to really bring. What would otherwise be scenes that look beautiful but don’t have the power, he’s able to make them standout and give the film its personality. While he can’t save every single scene due to the narrative failing to leave a lasting impression, he’s able to really turn the ship around in dire moments. 

Gemma Chan and the rest of the cast are solid here but don’t have a lot going on character wise, it’s mainly Holland’s show which is understandable given that he’s the lead. But it’s frustrating because the chemistry between Holland and Chan had potential but it’s incredibly uninteresting due to the lacking character work which in turn makes the audience not care about their chemistry, others like Toby Jones and May Calamawy are given almost nothing to do which is a disappointment. 

The dreamlike cinematography is undoubtedly beautiful, it gives the movie’s world a bit more of a personality and even captures some The Truman Show (1998) vibes. But that’s where the similarities end because where as The Truman Show (1998) has an incredibly interesting narrative that brings the viewer into the film and never lets go, The Actor has a narrative that never takes advantage of its dreamlike state nor is it interesting, scenes are often concluded abruptly without any sort of rhyme or reason which ends up contributing to the incredibly flawed storytelling approach. Which I guess you could look at it in a somewhat positive way since one of the movie’s themes is memory and while it does help in some cases, this ends up backfiring in the long run when it comes to actually telling a full narrative. 

Overall there really isn’t much else to say about The Actor it’s unfortunate because there is a good movie here it’s just surrounded by a lot of flaws that stop it from being good. 

The Actor is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Seven Veils is directed by Atom Egoyan director of Calendar (1993), Where The Truth Lies (2005), Chloe (2009), Devil’s Knot (2013), (2015), Guest Of Honor (2019) and a few others. 

Seven Veils is one of those films where I like it but I wish I liked it a lot more, for the most part the movie sticks the landing with the character building and Amanda Seyfried’s performance (which honestly the film feels like a Seyfried vehicle not that it’s a bad thing.) 

As mentioned before Amanda Seyfried is great here, she’s already a talented actress but there’s certain scenes here that really bring out her talent. She’s able to capture the movies atmosphere quite well and the character work surrounding her character Jeanine imposing her own trauma and abuse is incredibly fascinating. Not every single moment completely works, there’s a few voiceovers that are a bit questionable. But for the most part Seyfried is able to really dig into the movie’s themes and bring out a very solid performance along with it. 

Seven Veils is interesting due to incorporating footage and staging from Egoyan’s own 2023 Canadian Opera Company Production of Salome into the narrative of the film, it’s a swing that I really ire Egoyan for taking even if not everything works you can still feel the ion and creativity throughout the film. The use of opera performers from his stage production as the performers in the film not only makes a lot of sense, but adds to Egoyan making the film a bit more identical of how opera shows work. The rehearsal and performance scenes feel much more grounded, we can even hear the performances happening during dialogue heavy moments. All of this helps Seven Veils standout a bit more than other films in the genre. 

The writing does have its bumps in the road, as I said the voiceovers could have been executed a lot better (one in particular is quite questionable.) plus the conclusions the movie ends with are a bit of a hit or miss, it is less organized in the tradional sense which I do think just puts above the line of working due to what we have come to expect from Egoyan as a director at this point. But this can very easily not work for some people and understandably so. 

Overall Seven Veils is flawed but an ambitious film that I’m glad Egoyan shared with audiences, the writing might be lacking in the character department (outside of Amanda Seyfried of course.) But this was at least a very interesting ride from beginning to end that I do recommend giving a look. 

Seven Veils is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

In The Lost Lands is directed by Paul W.S. Anderson director of the Resident Evil film franchise (2002-2016), Event Horizon (1997), Mortal Kombat (1995), Alien Vs. Predator (2004), Pompeii (2014), Monster Hunter (2020) and a few others.

Paul W.S. Anderson is back and with his same old shtick, a terrible post-apocalyptic movie starring his wife Milla Jovovich. He’s done this multiple times with the Resident Evil films and Monster Hunter (2020) in particular. In The Lost Lands somehow ends up being far worse than any of the movies mentioned, mainly due to the movie having no personality behind it at all and being a complete and total mess. 

The performances here are mostly terrible, occasionally Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista will have moments that attempt to elevate the material. But unfortunately those moments are far and few between to even really matter in the end, the acting results in some incredibly awful dialogue that have the energy of NPCs from an early 2000s video game. The writing is incredibly poor, we don’t learn anything of note about the characters at all outside of cliched elements that you have come to expect. The movie’s world is about as bland as you can get from these post-apocalyptic movies, there’s very little atmosphere that drives the viewer into the movie. It’s all incredibly stale and lacking in personality, it feels a lot like any of Anderson’s previous movies just somehow worse. 

The movie itself right from the start is a jumbled mess, within the first few minutes it feels like the movie is throwing you in the middle of the second act. The viewer feels like they are missing a lot of context or wondering if there were supposed to be extra scenes here but were cut for some reason (I had these same thoughts as well.) This is exactly the sort of mess you would expect from one of these poorly rated action films that came out in the 2000s, you know the ones with barely a coherent plot, choppy editing and laughably bad filmmaking wise? Whereas those movies at least have some charm and could be laughed at, In The Lost Lands does not have any of the charm at all and only has a few moments of unintentional humor It’s a dull and uninteresting mess that does not have any sort of fun with itself at all. 

The movie itself is also incredibly ugly to look at, I get what they were going for here but none of it works. The desaturated colors are not appealing here at all and feel more like they are trying to replicate Sucker Punch (2011) only that while the movie itself wasn’t exactly great at least stylistically it made sense as to why it looked like that (and had story reasons as well.) In The Lost Lands just feels like it saw what Zack Snyder did and then tried to replicate without thinking as to why it for the most part worked for Snyder. 

There really is not much more to be said here, In The Lost Lands is yet another terrible movie from Anderson. As I said before it’s almost identical to his other films, even if you are someone who enjoyed his Resident Evil films you will not get anything out of this one. 

In The Lost Lands is available on all VOD platforms.

1/10 F

825 Forest Road is directed by Stephen Cognetti director of all the Hell House LLC movies!

I ire when a director steps out of their comfort zone which in this case Cognetti moves away from the found footage horror genre and takes on a more traditional horror film. Unfortunately it’s not a good one and leaves the viewer with the feeling of “what did I just watch?” and not in a good way. 

The acting is flat out terrible, you can tell the cast is trying their best with the script and the movie’s confused and messy layout but at most you get the occasional unintentional hilarious bit with the acting. The writing does not fare any better, it’s a jumbled mess with lots of confused plot lines that are poorly put together and is actually hard to follow at times due to how much this movie bounces around. 

The big problem here is the direction, as I said before I ire Cognetti for trying something different you can’t always stick with the exact same thing. But unfortunately 825 Forest Road shows the viewer that Cognetti struggles to adapt to the different style he went for here, the characters are just not well written (Cognetti also wrote the film) and the atmosphere that Cognetti usually does a pretty solid job at with the Hell House LLC movies is just not present here at all. 

The chaptered structure serves no real purpose here and feels more like it is placed here for a stylistic choice rather than any real reason, the paranormal ghost elements presented have been done far better in multiple other films and the movie heavily relies on predictable jumpscares that you don’t even need to be a fan of the horror genre to see coming.

Overall 825 Forest Road is a terrible horror movie that is ittedly very disappointing, it’s a movie you want to root for given that Cognetti directed the incredibly fun Hell House LLC franchise. But unfortunately this movie has so many problems that stick out like a sore thumb. 

825 Forest Road is available on Shudder 

1/10 F

Freaky Tales is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck both of which directed Sugar (2008), It’s Kind Of A Funny Story (2010), Mississippi Grind (2015) and Captain Marvel (2018) while Fleck also directed Half Nelson (2006). 

I knew very little about Freaky Tales going in, the only thing I knew was the incredibly large cast in the film which is only one of the main reasons why Freaky Tales works as well as it does. It’s anthology movie that is not afraid to be as bizarre as possible, a lot of what makes a great anthology film is present here. There’s a heavy Creepshow (1982) and Tales From The Hood (1995) feel here that completely works in the film’s favor. 

As always with these anthology films I’ll talk a bit about each segment and then give my final thoughts of the overall film at the end so let’s start with the first segment. 

The first segment is straight to the point, it’s punk rockers vs neo-Nazis. Subtlety is thrown out the window but in this case in a good way, the filming style is wild and the writing is loud, exciting and a blast of fun. Ji-young Yoo gives a strong performance here that really compliments the atmosphere being shown. The exaggerated violence, callbacks to grindhouse cinema and the score all blend together to create something truly exciting. The rebellious tone captures the theme of the segment incredibly well, some might argue that the segment lacks in depth and while that is true. All you really need here is the energy and atmosphere to really do the talking and it does that very well. Not anything mind blowing but a whole lot of fun that is a huge adrenaline rush.

The second segment dials things back a bit, we follow ice cream workers and aspiring rap artists Barbie (played by Dominique Thorne) and Entice (played by Normani), the main reason this segment works so well is due to the performances from Thorne and Normani. They both have such excellent chemistry and charm that they bring to the film, Normani should strongly consider doing more acting because she really stands out being one of the film’s best assets. The climatic rap battle scene is also one of the film’s best moments, not only is the battle itself so much fun and well written when it comes to songwriting. But there’s this theme of triumph and even some gender barriers in the industry, the segment might not break any new ground but it does capture the atmosphere the film is asking for which ends up letting this one reach the finish line! 

The third segment is an acting showcase for Pedro Pascal who does such an incredible job here, what we get here is this interesting noir type of short. A hitman named Clint (played by Pedro Pascal) is looking to exit the business after a tragedy at home. Where is the atmosphere for the first two segments were more exciting (different levels of it) this one is much more quiet, we get to see the mind of Clint and how guilt and grief are taking over him. Pascal shows this with his facial acting particularly with his eyes that look incredibly haunted from the events throughout the segment. The late Angus Cloud also gives a strong performance here (this was his final performance) even if it is not that long, he still leaves an impact and his conversations with Pascal help further segment in its theming. There’s this theme of what does it take to walk way from violence when it’s been apart of you for so long? It’s an incredibly haunting theme that really works with Pascal’s acting and the atmosphere, combined together it makes for an excellent segment. 

Lastly we have fourth segment, which has Sleepy Floyd (played by Jay Ellis) who is a NBA legend that turns into a sword-wielding vigilante after a huge loss. This is by far the most bizarre of the segments, delivering fight choreography that is very exaggerated and oozing with stylization. It’s a revenge fantasy that we do not get a whole lot of depth outside of why it’s happening, it very much feels like a bizarre Adult Swim show and for what the film is going for I would say it works. I will say it definitely is the weakest out of the four segments but that’s not entirely a bad thing when each of the segments all the “good” line. 

Freaky Tales is truly a blast of fun, I absolutely ire the decision of going for very different feels and styles. This is something a lot of anthology films mess up on most of their segments feel almost identical which makes a lot of them fail to standout by the time the movie ends. Freaky Tales avoids this and keeps each segment incredibly interesting with different goals, style choices and the atmosphere they want to capture. It leads to a lasting impression on the viewer and can form discussion on which story you liked the most. When you combine that with some fantastic acting and writing you have yourself such a fun film that really goes all out. 

Freaky Tales releases tomorrow in theaters. 

9/10 A

Wake Up is directed by Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell both of which previously directed Turbo Kid (2015), Summer Of 84 (2018) and We Are Zombies (2023). 

Wake Up on paper has a really neat idea, a slasher film that takes place in a IKEA like store. I’m actually quite surprised this has not happened up until this point and I will say that the movie does at least get some of that right. However it’s the rest of the movie that really drag this one down, especially with its attempt with trying to say something politically.

The acting is definitely not great, but it’s not the worst either. Everyone gives about as well of a performance as you would expect from a low budget slasher movie. There is ittedly some pretty entertaining moments of “so bad it’s hilarious” acting but there really is not much more to it. The writing really does not do the movie any favors, the introduction to the characters is quick and does not last for long. Which is good in the case that you just want to get straight to the slasher elements. 

The movie exchanges character moments with some pretty gory kills that are by far the best part of the movie, there’s a few thrilling sequences here that are a lot of fun as well. The atmosphere in the IKEA like store is thrilling and is almost able to make the entire movie stand on its legs. It’s somewhat visually interesting with limited amount of space to run, so turning every corner is a thrill ride and basically a coin flip of survival. This makes for some genuinely eerie moments that actually gets you on the edge of your seat.

Unfortunately the movie’s exploration of political topics is what brings this one down, the movie has this view on activism and how it’s meaningless plus how both sides are wrong. Yes the movie is incredibly centrist in its messaging and the way the movie goes about expressing how much on the middle ground it is becomes incredibly annoying. Which is mainly because it has absolutely nothing to say at all, Wake Up is the movie version of a person who barges into the middle of an argument and says that both sides are bad without knowing what the argument is even about. Because of this the movie lacks in political exploration and gives surface level information that the viewer is more than likely already well aware of.

Overall Wake Up is not the worst slasher movie out there, if you took away the movie’s terrible political exploration and wrote more about the characters. I think this would have been a half decent slasher movie that might have gained some sort of following. But unfortunately this is one of those slasher films where the kills are nice and the location is great, but everything else is severely lacking. 

Wake Up releases tomorrow in theaters

4/10 D+

Death Of A Unicorn is directed by Alex Scharfman which is his directorial debut! 

Death Of A Unicorn is an incredibly unserious film and I can’t help but love the film for it, I’m not going to pretend that there are not any flaws. I do wish some of the cast had a bit more to do, having that said the film does make up for it by having a lot of chaotic energy and just being an overall good time. 

Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd are the heart of the film, the father and daughter bond are genuine and the interactions between the two capture this strained yet affectionate relationship. These moments provide the emotional core of the film, while the rest of the film is much more bizarre it’s a nice balance and we get just the right amount of moments to really enjoy Ridley and Elliot as characters. Ortega has a few scenes in the final moments of the film that she gets to show her incredible talent as an actress (my minor nitpick is I do wish we got to see more of those, but in the end this is a film about a killer unicorn so I understand why there are not as many moments like that.)

Will Poulter is incredibly funny here, he absolutely delivers when it comes to providing comedy and to transition the serious (I’m not sure if that’s the right word) moments to the much more comedic ones, of the ing cast he absolutely devours each scene with Anthony Carrigan being a close second who may not be given a whole lot to do but still delivers some laughs. Richard E. Grant and Téa Leoni are both fun but I do wish we got a bit more from there characters. 

The film itself has the feel of the classic B monster movie, it’s incredibly unserious and isn’t afraid to let the viewer know that at all. The pacing can be a bit slow as it does take a bit to get going, however I think the parody feel of the film during the first bit of the film combined with the monster movie feel and cosmic elements just blend together quite nicely which really ends up being such a fun ride. There’s also some Jurassic Park (1993) spirit that the film captures quite well, the film is able to capture it an a much more silly light that is genuinely entertaining.

The unicorn designs combined with the kills are fun as well, it might not be as gory as some other monster movies and ittedly the lore of the unicorns is a bit on the basic side of things. However that does not take away from the fun aspect of the unicorns and how they act, there’s a lot of fun thrills here that make for some great magic moments. 

Overall Death Of A Unicorn is a lot of fun, it’s absolutely not going to reinvent the wheel when it comes to monster movies. Some parts are left vague which is frustrating but it doesn’t take away from the film being a blast and genuinely charming. If this sounds like your type of film I recommend giving this one a go! 

Death Of A Unicorn is currently in theaters. 

8/10 B+

The Assessment is directed by Fleur Fortuné which is her directorial debut! 

The Assessment really impressed me, not only because of how fantastic this was for a directorial debut. But how surprisingly grounded of a sci-fi story in a lot of ways, it also takes a somewhat high concept and goes all out with what it can with a low budget ($8 million.) There is so much attention to detail with this film’s world, to the point where I wanted to keep exploring this film’s world even when the credits rolled. 

The performances from the cast are some of the best so far this year, Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander and Himesh Patel are all fantastic here in each of their own ways. Elizabeth Olsen gives one of the best performances of her career, the many emotions she goes through during the film and how quickly she’s able to match the atmosphere is truly incredible to watch. She has great chemistry with Himesh Patel who’s just as great as Olsen. Patel and Olsen have strong chemistry between one another that you really do buy them as parents and hear them out with their issues.

Alicia Vikander however is the show stealer, she gives such a bonkers, wild and intense performance that really drives home the point of the film’s themes. This is by far the best performance from Vikander in a while, Vikander quickly going from acting like a normal person to a toddler as part of Mia and Aaryan’s assessment is comedic, disturbing and at times uncomfortable. The atmosphere compliments that well with it bouncing around between being comedic and uncomfortable, Vikander takes advantage of this and never holds back. It helps that the writing completely matches the actions of Vikander’s character Virginia who’s just such a fascinating and well written character that truly captures the film’s world. 

The film is a scaled down sci-fi film when it comes to production design and that was definitely the smartest move. Everything in this film’s world feels a lot more natural, as I said before it’s a much more grounded story than you usually see in sci-fi films. The film does such an excellent job of keeping it as natural as possible while also having a few out there ideas that still match the more raw tone the film is going for.

 The direction from Fortuné is what really makes this work, showcasing three incredibly talented actors going all out with their performances is an absolute recipe for success and that’s no exception here. The themes of parenthood and environment are well done, offering ideas that the viewer may have not even thought about. The film shows a lot of the dark side of these themes and how they could end up in the future which again the film manages to capture with its atmosphere and direction. 

As I’ve been saying throughout this review the atmosphere is always consistent and is a major key as to why the film works as well as it does. When the film needs thrilling and darker moments the atmosphere delivers (there’s a few scenes in particular that really showcase this) when the film needs some more happy moments the atmosphere will also give the film that as well. It especially helps the performances and just how fascinating they are, each character has their own path and you really feel that throughout the film. 

The world building is incredibly top notch, sure we are restrained to a house but just by looking at the background, the house itself and from what the characters tell us it’s more than enough to connect to the film’s world. It’s to the point where you really want to stick around and explore more even when the film ends. 

Overall The Assessment is a fantastic film, showcasing some of the best performances so far this year with some incredible world building and excellent direction! I highly recommend this one! 

The Assessment is currently in theaters. 

9/10 A

Ash is directed by Flying Lotus who previously directed Kuso (2017). 

Flying Lotus returns with his second film, Kuso (2017) was a wild and pretty insane film that has grown on me over the years. Even back when I first watched it I did wonder what Flying Lotus would end up doing next, Ash is a very different film and that’s definitely a good thing in this case. It’s much more mainstream and what you would expect from a sci-fi horror film, that’s not to say that there isn’t any surprises or Flying Lotus does not make anything his own because he absolutely does especially when it comes to the third act. 

The performances are quite great particularly Eiza González who hits it out of the park and makes for an incredibly fun final girl and Aaron Paul who works well with González plus matches the film’s atmosphere perfectly. González carries a lot of this film, we slowly learn more about her character Riya and what exactly happened that caused the situation she’s in, what happened to everyone and who she really is. All of this is done and shown through her strong performance that captures the film’s void like atmosphere the type where you keep guessing as to what is exactly going on here, we are put into the perspective of Riya slowly recovering memories as to what happened and we slowly learn the horrifying truth with her. All of this makes for a fantastic performance especially with her facial expressions and the more quiet moments. 

We do not get as much with Aaron Paul’s character Brion but his acting and conversations with Eiza González is more than enough to build his character. Some may already predict what the film does with Brion as a character, but the execution is still quite solid and at least has a lot of other fun elements to his character to back it up. The acting from Paul and González naturally bounce off of each other incredibly well which gives the atmosphere it’s much needed thrills and intrigue as it goes on. 

Ash takes heavy inspiration from survival horror games such as Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Outlast and Silent Hill. There’s also a mix of Alien (1979), Event Horizon (1997) and a lot of cosmic horror films. All of which blend well together and give the viewer a genuinely creepy experience. The practical effects with the monsters is creative and brings this classic sci-fi charm into the mix, the film is very immersive much like the survival horror games I mentioned. It does a great job of making you feel like you are there especially with certain camera angles the film opts to use later on which lead to some quite brutal and gory scenes. 

The visuals are absolutely stunning, some space themed horror films have this problem with a lack of identity when it comes to visuals. But Ash goes all out with it’s visuals and manages to create something truly beautiful as well as haunting, it’s use of color combined with the cinematography make for some of the most beautiful shots from a film so far this year. It’s a breath of fresh air to see a film like Ash really make the whole space theme a bit more unique with a lot of color and go all out with combining the color with the atmosphere. 

I will say that Ash takes a while to get going, if you are going into the film expecting a straightforward film about a monster hunting people down one by one then you are going to be left disappointed. Ash is a film that takes its time to build the mystery of what happened and explore its world, we get flashbacks throughout the film but we don’t get answers until later on. Usually this would heavily backfire for most films but this is a different case here, the film does such a great job of building interest from the viewer and rewards the patience with some incredibly fun gore, practical effects and an even more dark atmosphere. 

Overall Ash is a really solid sci-fi horror film, sure it does not exactly reinvent the genre. But the inspirations that Flying Lotus took are done well here, the performances are strong (I do wish we got to see a bit more from the side characters but that’s really not a huge deal) and the atmosphere is top notch. Definitely check this one out if you haven’t! 

Ash is currently in theaters.

8/10 B+

Holland is directed by Mimi Cave director of Fresh (2022). 

Holland is one of those movies where you just have to ask yourself “what on earth happened here?” I loved Mimi Cave’s directorial debut Fresh (2022) it was disturbing, had some strong dark humor and the acting was top notch as well. So I was excited to see what Cave would do next, I had a lot of hope for this one due to Cave in the director’s chair as well as the cast. Unfortunately this movie is a major step down from Fresh (2022) and is just a complete and total mess in every way possible. 

The best part of this is the acting, while none of these performances are anything groundbreaking. Nicole Kidman, Jude Hill and Gael García Bernal turn in decent enough performances that at least make some parts of the movie tolerable. Kidman does a lot of heavy lifting with a lot of scenes, it’s a shame the script is such a mess because Kidman fits in a movie like this and would deliver such a better performance had the script actually been coherent. It’s worth noting that Rachel Sennott appears for 2 minutes of the movie at the beginning of this mess and is never seen again.

Everything else about this movie is as I said before a complete and total mess and that mainly comes from the writing, the story is jumbled together like a Frankenstein’s monster type of mess. The twist is something you could predict within the first 15 minutes, the story leads to a thoroughly dull investigation that has absolutely no sense of tension or thrills. It’s the most bland route this movie could have gone and it unfortunately turned to that route. 

The movie attempts to explore this theme of revealing darkness hiding beneath the exterior of a suburban paradise, which is a fun concept but it’s been done so much better before there’s absolutely nothing different here that’s done with the idea. Some of the shots of the film and music try to create some sort of atmosphere to complement the darkness, but it just does not work at all due to the movie’s pacing being a slog which in turn takes away the viewer’s focus as well as the supposed darkness. 

It’s unfortunate because Holland could have been a really great film, but unfortunately the writing severely holds this one back from greatness and gives these talented actors very little to work with. This is by far the most disappointing movie of 2025 so far.

Holland is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-

Really can’t give this one a full review since it’s very much yet another Netflix romantic comedy and I’m not sure how many more times I have to repeat myself when it comes to these movies. 

Sofia Carson is decent here, the chemistry between her and Kyle Allen is genuinely charming as well. But the movie’s script and slow as molasses pacing (doesn’t help that this is 2 hours long) is what ultimately kills this movie, it’s unfortunate because there was a good movie here it’s just stuck in between a lot of bunk 

The Life List is available on Netflix 

5/10 C

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip is directed by Marvin Lemus which is his directorial debut. The film is a standalone sequel to the 2014 film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

This movie is a prime example of the classic streaming movie strategy, take a movie that was decently popular when it first came out but over the years has been mostly forgotten about and give it a sequel. I’m not going to sit here and say that Very Bad Day was a great film, it was a very typical family comedy movie but at the very least it had it’s charm mainly from Steve Carrell and the rest of the cast.

Very Bad Road Trip however does not have a whole lot going on here, it’s a movie that tries to recapture some of the fun beats from the previous movie. I will say that this movie at times has some cultural exploration that I do have to give the movie some credit for at least trying (even if it’s very bare bones.) But that’s not quite enough to really justify the end result of the movie and ultimately will leave audiences flipping through the Disney+ catalog on what to watch next making this one forgettable. 

The acting here is fine, it gets the job done Cheech Martin I guess is the standout here. But the acting and delivery is more of the fault of the script than anything else, the humor outside of a few chuckle worthy scenes really falls flat. There’s just not a whole lot of material here that’s very interesting or even that funny to really move the story along, it’s not that anything here is necessarily terrible it’s that the movie has the feel of a family comedy streaming movie that has little going for it. 

I can see what they were trying to do with the cultural exploration, heck when the movie focuses on that it’s a bit more of an interesting movie and a little more than just a family road trip comedy movie. But unfortunately those moments are not quite strong enough due to the movie’s humor and lack of real meat to the theme, I’m not asking for a full in depth exploration. But something with a little more substance would have been a bit more investing for the viewer. 

Overall there really is not a whole lot to comment on with Very Bad Road Trip you could have done so much worse, but this honestly just feels like the bare minimum and nothing more than release date fodder. Kids may like this one, but everyone else will forget it in less than 10 minutes after watching.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip is available on Disney+

4/10 D+

The Rule Of Jenny Pen is directed by James Ashcroft director of Coming Home In The Dark (2021).

I really liked the disturbing and incredibly dark atmosphere of Ashcroft’s previously film Coming Home In The Dark (2021), so I was excited to see what he would do next and luckily The Rule Of Jenny Penn continues to show that Ashcroft is a director to keep an eye on. While there are some writing issues with its characters and the movie goes on for a bit longer than it should, there’s some strong performances and really great atmosphere building that make the rest home setting incredibly chilling. 

John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush are what really make this film work as well as it does, this is yet another film from this year that has two fantastic actors going all out with their acting. Geoffrey Rush plays Stefan Mortensen a man who’s trying to recover from a stroke he had but John Lithgow who plays Dave Crealy who has a creepy puppet named Jenny Pen terrorizes this man as well as the other residents.

Geoffrey Rush does such a fantastic job at playing someone who is truly scared, his interactions with John Lithgow are filled with atmosphere and him being confined into a rest home with seemingly no room for escape is truly terrifying and it’s all shown through his body language and speech that gets more and more scared as the film goes on. His performance really does a fascinating job of capturing the atmosphere, I do wish we got a bit more meat character writing wise with Stefan but there is this sense of wanting to get justice against what it takes to protect himself from everything going on in the film.

On the other side you have John Lithgow who is both humorous and terrifying, it’s such a hauntingly well done mix of the two thanks to Lithgow’s talent as an actor. The scenes of him just talking to Jenny Pen as if she is another person in the room starts out as being funny and could be written off as someone being cuckoo, but as we see more of Dave’s actions and to the point where he genuinely believes what he is saying the more haunting it gets. Dave has this god complex that he uses to intimidate the other residents and Stefan, he uses Jenny Pen as some sort of enforcer to make demands some of which makes the viewer squirm. Lithgow paints the portrait of a man who is quite clearly off his rocker as well as a nasty man who has spent too long in one place.

The atmosphere combined with the rest home setting is very well done, much like what we got in Ashcroft’s previous film we get a thrilling and quite unsettling feel as soon as the movie gets going with its plot. The movie isn’t as disturbing as Coming Home In The Dark (2021) was but that’s not necessary here as the film does a great job at moving the story along and just having engaging back-and-forths between Lithgow and Rush, the rest home setting also have the dark feel of no escape something that is constantly felt throughout the film and ultimately builds into the final moments of the end result. 

The main flaw is mostly some of the writing as well as going on for a bit too long, the writing at times does ittedly feel a bit on the generic side of things. Mostly from the side characters who while also turn in some great performances don’t really have many strong moments and are very much overshadowed by Lithgow and Rush, there were also points where the film felt like it was reaching it’s conclusion only to continue going on which did make certain scenes feel more like padding rather than moving the story forward or reaching a natural conclusion. 

With that being said The Rule Of Jenny Pen is still a pretty solid film that I recommend giving a go! If you like one location films you will definitely like this one. I say check this one out for Lithgow and Rush’s performances alone! 

The Rule Of Jenny Pen is currently in theaters and releases on Shudder tomorrow! 

7/10 B

1. The Fallout
2. Hurry Up Tomorrow
3. X
4. Scream VI
5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
6. Death of a Unicorn
7. Scream
8. Miller's Girl
9. American Carnage
10. Finestkind

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Sinners

   10/10 A+

2. The Ugly Stepsister

   10/10 A+ 

3. The Assessment

   9/10 A 

4. Warfare

   9/10 A 

5. Mickey 17

   9/10 A 

6. Freaky Tales

   9/10 A 

7. Bring Them Down

   8/10 B+ 

8. Black Bag

   8/10 B+ 

9. Magazine Dreams

   8/10 B+ 

10. Death of a Unicorn

    8/10 B+ 

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 28 Years Later

  
  

• A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
• After the Hunt
• Anemone
• At the Sea
• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Blue Moon
• Bugonia
• Caught Stealing
• Deliver Me from Nowhere

...plus 41 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

When the movie gets a release date it will be removed from the list.

1. Acorns
2. Alpha
3. American Sweatshop
4. Ann Lee
5. Anxious People
6. Assassination
7. At the Sea
8. Bad Apples
9. Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo
10. Ballerina Overdrive

...plus 143 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• 28 Years Later
• A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
• After the Hunt
• Americana
• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Blue Moon
• Bob Trevino Likes It
• Bring Her Back
• Bugonia
• Caught Stealing

...plus 65 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Another Simple Favor
• Bring Her Back
• Caught by the Tides
• Clown in a Cornfield
• Fear Street: Prom Queen
• Final Destination Bloodlines
• Friendship
• Hurry Up Tomorrow
• Kryptic
• Lilo & Stitch

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Feel free to request films to add to the list!

1. Night and Fog
2. Eyes Without a Face
3. Lolita
4. Titicut Follies
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. Pink Flamingos
7. Deliverance
8. The Last House on the Left
9. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
10. Wedding Trough

...plus 231 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Fantasia
• The Game
• Ocean's Eleven
• Man on Fire
• Ocean's Thirteen
• Atonement
• Twilight
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
• The Purge
• Wiener-Dog

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Drop
• Freaky Tales
• Fréwaka
• Havoc
• Hell of a Summer
• Neighborhood Watch
• On Swift Horses
• Sacramento
• Sinners
• The ant²

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• A Different Man
• A Quiet Place: Day One

  
  

• A Quiet Place Part II
• A Real Pain
• Aftersun
• AGGRO DR1FT
• All of Us Strangers
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Annette

...plus 160 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora
2. Nosferatu
3. The Substance
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
5. Challengers
6. A Different Man
7. Sing Sing
8. Dune: Part Two
9. Flow
10. A Real Pain

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora

   10/10 A+

2. Nosferatu

   10/10 A+

3. The Substance

   10/10 A+

4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

   10/10 A+

5. Challengers

   10/10 A+ 

6. A Different Man

   10/10 A+

7. Sing Sing

   10/10 A+ 

8. Dune: Part Two

   10/10 A+

9. Flow

   10/10 A+

10. A Real Pain

    10/10 A+

...plus 300 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora
2. Nosferatu
3. The Substance
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
5. Challengers
6. A Different Man
7. Sing Sing
8. Dune: Part Two
9. Flow
10. A Real Pain

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora
2. The Substance
3. Dune: Part Two
4. I'm Still Here
5. Nickel Boys
6. The Brutalist
7. Wicked
8. A Complete Unknown
9. Conclave
10. Emilia Pérez

1. Mickey 17
2. Death of a Unicorn
3. Bob Trevino Likes It
4. Ash
5. The Assessment
6. The Actor
7. Holland
8. Borderline
9. O'Dessa
10. Opus

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Monkey
2. Bring Them Down
3. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
4. Love Hurts
5. Jazzy
6. Cleaner
7. Paddington in Peru
8. I Love You Forever
9. Timestalker

1. Sing Sing
2. Presence
3. Companion
4. The Last Showgirl
5. Hard Truths
6. I'm Still Here
7. Wolf Man
8. Better Man
9. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
10. The Room Next Door

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Nosferatu
2. The Brutalist
3. Flow
4. Nickel Boys
5. The Last Showgirl
6. Hard Truths
7. Babygirl
8. Juror #2
9. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
10. Queer

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Still continuously adding!!

• The Kid
• Nosferatu
• The ion of Joan of Arc
• Un Chien Andalou
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Dracula
• Frankenstein
• Freaks
• The Mummy
• King Kong

...plus 569 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora
2. Heretic
3. Bird
4. Flow
5. A Real Pain
6. Gladiator II
7. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
8. All We Imagine as Light
9. Queer
10. Juror #2

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora
2. Your Monster
3. Terrifier 3
4. The Outrun
5. Red Rooms
6. The Shadow Strays
7. Azrael
8. Nickel Boys
9. We Live in Time
10. It's What's Inside

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
2. The Substance
3. A Different Man
4. Rebel Ridge
5. Red Rooms
6. His Three Daughters
7. The Front Room
8. Azrael
9. Apartment 7A
10. Omni Loop

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Empire Strikes Back

   10/10 B+

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

   10/10 A+

3. Return of the Jedi

   10/10 A+

4. Star Wars

   10/10 A+

5. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

   10/10 A+

6. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

   9/10 A

7. Solo: A Star Wars Story

   8/10 B+

8. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

   6/10 C+

9. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

   5/10 C 

10. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

    5/10 C

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

   10/10 A+

2. Jurassic Park

   10/10 A+

3. Titanic

   10/10 A+

4. The Dark Knight

   10/10 A+

5. Avatar: The Way of Water

   10/10 A+

6. Top Gun: Maverick

   10/10 A+

7. Barbie

   10/10 A+

8. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

   10/10 A+

9. Joker

   10/10 A+

10. The Dark Knight Rises

    10/10 A+

...plus 43 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Cuckoo
2. Alien: Romulus
3. Strange Darling
4. Trap
5. Skincare
6. Mothers' Instinct
7. Hell Hole
8. Close to You
9. Girl You Know It's True
10. Watchmen: Chapter I

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. MaXXXine
2. Longlegs
3. Sing Sing
4. Oddity
5. Dìdi (弟弟)
6. Kill
7. Twisters
8. National Anthem
9. Mother, Couch
10. Deadpool & Wolverine

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• R♥️J
• Ninjababy
• Shadow
• Under the Influence
• Women Do Cry
• Young. Wild. Free.
• Girl
• A Little Prayer

1. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
2. I Saw the TV Glow
3. In a Violent Nature
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
5. The Strangers: Chapter 1
6. Robot Dreams
7. Babes
8. Wildcat
9. Ezra
10. The Idea of You

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• A Quiet Place Part II
• Barbarian
• Beau Is Afraid
• Birth/Rebirth
• Bodies Bodies Bodies
• Bones and All
• Censor
• Coming Home in the Dark
• Crimes of the Future
• Enys Men

...plus 46 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Lighthouse

   10/10 A+

2. Pearl

   10/10 A+ 

3. The Killing of a Sacred Deer

   10/10 A+

4. American Honey

   10/10 A+

5. Eighth Grade

   10/10 A+

6. The Witch

   10/10 A+

7. Midsommar

   10/10 A+

8. Aftersun

   10/10 A+ 

9. The Zone of Interest
10. X

    10/10 A+

...plus 125 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

End of the year lists will be announced towards the end of the year it honestly depends on how many movies I end up watching. Some films that i saw in 2021 that didn't get released but are being released this year will be counted as this year.

I’m not going to be watching every last little thing, however I will try to watch a lot of stuff. Just don’t expect like 700+ movies

Also I feel this needs to be explained...yes I realize some of these movies say 2020 or 2021 whatever BUT they were released at festivals which I'm not counting, I'm counting worldwide releases so if a movie says 2020 but was not released to the public that year and if it was released for everyone to see in 2022. It’s being counted as a 2022 movie!

1. Pearl

   10/10 A+

2. Bones and All

   10/10 A+

3. Crimes of the Future

   10/10 A+

4. TÁR

   10/10 A+

5. The Banshees of Inisherin

   10/10 A+

6. Bodies Bodies Bodies

   10/10 A+

7. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

   10/10 A+

8. The Whale

   10/10 A+

9. The Northman

   10/10 A+

10. Resurrection

    10/10 A+

...plus 555 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Poor Things
2. The Zone of Interest
3. Priscilla
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Oppenheimer
6. Infinity Pool
7. Anatomy of a Fall
8. Asteroid City
9. Beau Is Afraid
10. Monica

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Poor Things
2. The Zone of Interest
3. Priscilla
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Oppenheimer
6. Infinity Pool
7. Anatomy of a Fall
8. Asteroid City
9. Beau Is Afraid
10. Monica

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Going to be an ongoing list, going to rank every disturbing film I have seen plus more I can think of or I see in the future. I'm probably going to forget about some so if you see any missing feel free to leave a comment!

1. Martyrs

   10/10 A+

2. Requiem for a Dream

   10/10 A+

3. Oldboy

   10/10 A+

4. The Lighthouse

   10/10 A+

5. mother!

   10/10 A+

6. Irreversible

   10/10 A+

7. Titane

   10/10 A+

8. The Zone of Interest

   10/10 A+ 

9. The Neon Demon

   10/10 A+

10. Nocturnal Animals

    10/10 A+

...plus 193 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Arrival
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. Dune
4. Prisoners
5. Incendies
6. Enemy
7. Sicario
8. Polytechnique
9. Maelström

1. Dune: Part Two
2. Immaculate
3. Love Lies Bleeding
4. Godzilla × Kong: The New Empire
5. Problemista
6. Cabrini
7. Late Night with the Devil
8. One Life
9. Shirley
10. Spaceman

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Poor Things
2. The Zone of Interest
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
4. Oppenheimer
5. Anatomy of a Fall
6. Past Lives
7. Barbie
8. The Holdovers
9. American Fiction
10. Maestro

End of the year lists will be announced towards the end of the year it honestly depends on how many movies I end up watching. Some films that i saw in 2022 that didn't get released but are being released this year will be counted as this year.

I’m not going to be watching every last little thing, however I will try to watch a lot of stuff. Just don’t expect like 700+ movies.

Also I feel this needs to be explained...yes I realize some of these movies say 2021or 2022 whatever BUT they were released at festivals which I'm not counting, I'm counting worldwide releases so if a movie says 2021 or 2022 but was not released to the public that year and if it was released for everyone to see in 2023. It’s being counted as a 2023 movie!

1. Poor Things

   10/10 A+

2. The Zone of Interest

   10/10 A+ 

3. Priscilla

   10/10 A+

4. Killers of the Flower Moon

   10/10 A+

5. Oppenheimer

   10/10 A+

6. Infinity Pool

   10/10 A+ 

7. Anatomy of a Fall

   10/10 A+

8. Asteroid City

   10/10 A+

9. Beau Is Afraid

   10/10 A+

10. Monica

    10/10 A+

...plus 338 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Drive-Away Dolls
2. How to Have Sex
3. Lisa Frankenstein
4. Orion and the Dark
5. Fitting In
6. Lola
7. Cobweb
8. Suncoast
9. Out of Darkness
10. Bleeding Love

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Sound of Metal
2. Annette
3. Lovers Rock
4. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
5. One Night in Miami...
6. Time
7. Wildcat
8. Emergency
9. Mangrove
10. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

...plus 67 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Nomadland
2. Prey
3. Happiest Season
4. Palm Springs
5. Fresh
6. Run
7. Rye Lane
8. Plan B
9. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
10. Hellraiser

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Mandy
2. Violation
3. Host
4. Revenge
5. Better Watch Out
6. Mad God
7. Tigers Are Not Afraid
8. The Sadness
9. La Llorona
10. Impetigore

...plus 133 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
2. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
3. Echo
4. Secret Invasion

1. Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two
2. Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One
3. Justice Society: World War II
4. Superman: Man of Tomorrow
5. Green Lantern: Beware My Power
6. Justice League: Warworld
7. Legion of Super-Heroes

There is a few distributed by Netflix films as well!

1. Roma
2. Marriage Story
3. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
4. The Power of the Dog
5. The Irishman
6. tick, tick... BOOM!
7. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
8. May December
9. All Quiet on the Western Front
10. The Killer

...plus 456 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Orphan: First Kill
2. Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
3. Jerry & Marge Go Large
4. Three Months
5. Blue's Big City Adventure
6. Honor Society
7. On the Come Up
8. 6 Festivals
9. Clifford the Big Red Dog
10. The In Between

...plus 13 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Infinity Pool
2. Beau Is Afraid
3. Evil Dead Rise
4. Skinamarink
5. Scream VI
6. Enys Men
7. Birth/Rebirth
8. Huesera: The Bone Woman
9. No One Will Save You
10. Saw X

...plus 87 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Soul
2. Hamilton
3. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles
4. Luca
5. Howard
6. Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions
7. Turning Red
8. Loki
9. OLIVIA RODRIGO: driving home 2 u (a SOUR film)
10. Hawkeye

...plus 59 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. CODA
2. Causeway
3. Cha Cha Real Smooth
4. Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry
5. Wolfwalkers
6. The Tragedy of Macbeth
7. Finch
8. On the Rocks
9. Boys State
10. Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me

...plus 22 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

List completed! I’ll now only be adding as new movies get released.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

   10/10 A+

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

   10/10 A+

3. Guardians of the Galaxy

   10/10 A+

4. Avengers: Infinity War

   In My All Time Favorites A+

5. Spider-Man: No Way Home

   10/10 A+

6. Avengers: Endgame

   10/10 A+

7. Spider-Man: Far From Home

   10/10 A+

8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

   10/10 A+

9. Loki

   9/10 A

10. Iron Man

    9/10 A

...plus 32 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.