Film Review - Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first Fantastic Four movie under the Marvel Studios banner after they got the rights to the characters back due to Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, this movie sees Mr Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Eden Moss-Bachrach) face off against the planet eater Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his herald the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) while also raising their newborn child.

I have had guarded hopes for this movie primarily because this movie is one of they key reasons that we lost 20th Century Fox as an independent movie studio as many Marvel fans were more interested in the MCU getting the right to these characters (along with the X-Men) than whether tearing away at decades of tradition was the right thing to do (then again Fox themselves didn’t help as they utterly failed to learn from their success with X-Men when they had the Fantastic Four rights) but could this movie overcome that feeling or not.

Well it’s a little of both as this movie is a mixed bag for me, first off the cast are really good especially Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm a character that the Fox era didn’t really know what to do with apart from cast Jessica Alba as she was a hot young sex symbol at that time (and those movies tried to get her naked as much as they could) or cast Kate Mara who was all at sea in the role thanks to inconsistent direction, that isn’t the case here as Kirby really shines in both the maternal and heroic parts of the character and she has good chemistry with Pedro Pascal.

As for Pascal as Mr Fantastic, he is okay in the role and does a good job but I prefer Ioan Gruffud from the earlier movies as he felt more believable to me as the smartest man alive and his stretching effects looked a bit better than they do here, the same also goes for Quinn and Bachrach in their roles and like Pascal they do a good job but I preferred Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis from the earlier films and Bachrach in particular felt more like a copy of Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk after a while.

And here is where I will transition to what I didn’t like as much about the film and first off the setting of this retro 1960’s type Earth began to put me off after a while of looking at it, again to go back to the earlier movies (which weren’t the best I know) but those did a great job establishing these heroes in a modern day setting whereas here we have this retro future feel complete with a Rosie the Robot/R2-D2 type character in HERBIE and it feels like its only really being done here so the filmmakers can have the retro technology and costumes and buildings.

And this feels apt in how the film treats Johnny Storm, again Quinn is good in the role but I really wish that the character was more of a Sean Connery James Bond type especially given the 60s inspired setting and something that Evans did so well with his portrayal whereas here he feels more like a cog in a wheel that the film doesn’t really know what to do with at times because it fears embracing that playboy part of his persona from the books.

Secondly the use of Galactus and the Silver Surfer as villains weren’t as good as they could’ve been, Ineson and Garner are okay in those roles but they don’t really do much apart from provide some action scenes, some exposition and background to their characters and then a glorified punching bag for the third act climax and Galactus in particular is a villain that you need to have real genuine stakes with as fighting him should be like when the X-Men face off against Apocalypse, a grand larger than life villain who threatens all around him and all the heroes can do is scratch him while he gloats about how eternal and all powerful he is.

Here Galactus says a few lines but doesn’t carry that grandiose weight that these villains can and should do in these types of movies and it’s one of the key reasons I have grown so tired of these Marvel Studios movies.

And so that was Fantastic Four: First Steps and I can’t help but think that if 20th Century Fox had bothered to learn from their success with X-Men they would still exist as an independent movie studio and we would have great movies with these characters like we do with the X-Men but we are where we are and this one has a good cast but its retro future look bored me and the villain doesn’t feel like the threat he should, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Superman (2025)

Superman is written and directed by James Gunn and is the first big movie under his and Peter Safran’s DC Studios label and sees Superman (David Corenswet) having to stop Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) from manipulating global events in his favor and also having to contend with the Justice Gang (Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Isabela Merced) as well as hide his romance with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan)

Superman is one of my 3 most anticipated movies of 2025 (the other 2 being Wicked for Good and Avatar Fire and Ash) and while I was excited to see the movie and kept my faith in James Gunn to deliver the goods I was also very nervous as both Bryan Singer and Zack Snyder had tried to reboot the character with their movies and had failed miserably and could this buck that trend or be yet another example of the DC migraine striking Warner Brothers once again.

Happily (very happily) this movie bucks that trend and James Gunn with this one movie lays down a good foundation for his DC universe despite some issues but first I must mention David Corenswet as like Henry Cavill before him he proves himself to be worthy of the mantle of Superman which Christopher Reeve embodied not just on film but in his life in the years after his horse riding accident and Corenswet is earnest, kind, humble and driven to do the right thing by the world around him and I sincerely hope that he becomes the Superman of this generation just as Reeve is Superman to my generation.

Also great here are Brosnahan and Hoult, Brosnahan was always going to be a good Lois Lane but she is great here not just as a gutsy reporter always wanting to chase a story but also in her scenes with Corenswet and the two of them have great chemistry while Hoult is deliciously evil as Lex Luthor and thankfully does NOT try to imitate the late great Gene Hackman like Kevin Spacey and Jesse Eisenberg tried to do only to fail miserably, Hoult’s Lex is manipulative, petty and without a shred of decency in his bones and it is glorious to watch.

Also good fun is the Justice Gang and firstly I have to give Gunn huge credit for making other parts of the DC Universe feel like a natural and organic part of the storytelling instead of being shoved in to show the audience “We’re building a Cinematic Universe here people” like Batman v Superman did and Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardiner the Green Lantern has single handedly redeemed that character after the dreadful Ryan Reynolds film in 2011, Gathegi is a lot of fun as Mr Terrific and gets a lot of the films more humorous moments while Isabela Merced was good as Hawkgirl but she doesn’t get as much action as the others sad to say.

And I have to mention Krypto the Dog who is a very good boy and deserves lots of treats for his work here.

However the film has some editing issues that bothered me while I was watching the film as this movie zips around from one scene to the next and what feels like one plot point to the next that it feels jarring in terms of how quick the edits are and the movie drops you right into the thick of things without much explanation either but thankfully this does not become a detraction from the overall film as Gunn makes this work very well, much more than I thought he might have.

And so that was Superman and it is terrific fun despite those editing issues and the future of DC on film is bright after this one go, if Gunn can keep the quality intact and sort out what to do with Batman plus make sure the audience doesn’t fragment between movies and shows then he and Safran will have given WB the Panadol Solubles DC has needed to cure that migraine, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

Jurassic World Rebirth is the newest in the Jurassic World series and Scarlett Johansson is the lead this time as Zora who agrees to go with an expedition led by Duncan (Mahershala Ali) to an island near the equator where Dinosaurs are still said to be roaming after dying off in other parts of the world to extract some of their blood for medical research but the journey will not be an easy one and joining them is Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey)

Jurassic World Rebirth is better than both Jurassic World Dominion and Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom but that’s not really saying much I’m afraid as this movie is pretty meh and while that means it isn’t terrible it also means it isn’t that good either.

The main problem with the movie is that its dull to sit through, the characters go to an island with Dinosaurs, see Dinosaurs and marvel at them and then run away from said Dinosaurs hoping to get off the island and after seven movies of this its getting pretty tiresome and after this movie it is high time Universal Pictures put the Dinosaurs into hibernation for a good long rest.

The best thing about this movie is Scarlett Johansson who is clearly having a great time in this movie and is very good as the lead of the film, Mahershala Ali however isn’t as good and his role of the boat captain feels like a waste of his talents, Jonathan Bailey fresh from Wicked is okay here but he feels like a nicer version of the uh Jeff Goldblum character from uh the first Jurassic Park film.

There’s also a side plot with a family on a boat trip that also gets stuck on Dinosaur Island and every time the movie goes back to them I wanted them to piss off as it always felt like they got in the way of the main storyline which was all we needed.

And so that was Jurassic World Rebirth and look its fine but honestly stay home and watch the original Jurassic Park instead and don’t bother with this one, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - M3gan 2.0 (2025)

M3gan 2.0 is the sequel to the surprise hit M3gan and once again sees Gerald Johnstone return to write and direct this sequel which sees a new killer robot Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno) on the loose and it falls to Gemma (Allison Williams) and M3gan to save the day before things get much worse.

The previews for this movie had me thinking “This is either going to be a lot of fun or absolutely terrible” and sadly the latter happened here as this movie is really bad and the more I’ve thought about it since seeing it the more I feel that it is a complete mess from top to bottom.

And first off the rack is the storytelling, more than once I sat there thinking to myself “What the Fuck” or “What is this” because instead of just another fun horror/comedy like the first one was this one wants to be like Terminator 2 so badly its ridiculous but unlike T2 this movie throws so much at the proverbial wall that very little sticks, there’s government espionage, lengthy scenes about the morality of AI, a killer robot like in the Terminator and a tech company up to no good ala Cyberdyne Systems as well as Gemma, Cady and M3gan’s storyline but all they get caught up is the proverbial script writing washing machine.

Speaking of the AI section, the messaging here is so muddled that it feels like its not really wanting to commit to any yes or no answer that it doesn’t really end up satisfying either side of the argument and given that AI brought the industry to a near total stop 2 years ago with the writers and actors strikes well how quick they forget because this non-committal attitude towards such a key issue isn’t good enough.

And lastly the cast is wasted here, Allison Williams is a talented actress but here she ends up just playing second fiddle to the plotlines and doesn’t really have a key role in the events like in the first film same with Cady who fares even worse here, M3gan is only really here to create memeable moments (even though such things are generated organically as opposed to replicated.) and Amelia is essentially the Terminator by another name and as for the Cyberdyne esque group well their just there to serve as background for the plotine.

And so that was M3gan 2.0 and well when you get a good sequel you feel spoilt and then one like this comes along to be the light on the train to remind you of reality and this year was going so well movie wise but as they say in the classics you win some, you lose some, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - F1 (2025)

F1 is the new movie by Joseph Kosinski who directed Top Gun Maverick and stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes a once promising Formula 1 champion who is recruited by his old friend Rueben (Javier Bardem) to his struggling F1 team APX GP as well as help a promising new recruit (Damson Idris)

F1 is a lot of fun on a big cinema screen and will go down well with a crowd and first the racing sequences are fantastic, granted their not as good as the flight sequences in Top Gun Maverick but that’s a high bar and this movie does a good enough job with its scenes to deliver the goods, there were multiple times where I was invested in the racing and the outcome of the race.

And also the cast is very good here, Brad Pitt is a lot of fun as Sonny the champion that could’ve been given one more chance to prove his worth, Bardem is memorable as well in the “scruffy yelling boss of the team” role while Damson Idris is good as well in the young rookie role and I also enjoyed seeing Kerry Condon from the Banshees of Inisherin as the fecking technical instructor trying to prove her worth.

But this movie is also too long, at just over 2 and a half hours it definitely feels it especially in the second half of the movie, granted it is not the “my bottom’s falling asleep” bad that Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning was but its not overly better than it either, if 20 minutes or so had been shaved off of the runtime I would’ve liked it more than I do and I like it very much.

And so that was F1 and it is a lot of fun and knows its lane and what it wants to be and drives in it fast and well, worth a watch on the big cinema screen, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

The Phoenician Scheme is Wes Anderson’s new movie and stars Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda a businessman who survives numerous assassination attempts and attempts to anoint his daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) a Nun to take over his businesses as he plans a new venture in Phoenicia which could be the deal of the century.

The Phoenician Scheme is honestly one of my favourite films of the year so far as I had a great time with this one as it feels like that Wes Anderson is actually telling a coherent story instead of just a series of vignettes and gags which his previous film Asteroid City felt like at times but here all of those moments weave together very well and tell a fun story of corporate espionage, family and business and family scheming and planning.

And this is anchored by a game cast for the most part, Del Toro is excellent here not just with his American accent but also in adapting to Anderson’s specific directing style which he does wonderfully well, Michael Cera is also terrific here as Bjorn a tutor with an interest in insects as is Benedict Cumberbatch as a ruthless uncle with a gripe of his own to pick with Korda complete with a Rasputin-esque beard.

But sadly Mia Threapleton isn’t as good here, don’t get me wrong she is a good young actress but at times she struggles with Wes Anderson’s direction and his style of performance and her thick British accent doesn’t help at times either as it sometimes feels like she’s trying to adapt her voice to the straight laced/fast pace of Anderson’s acting style and the two sometimes clash but Cera was in a similar situation with Edgar Wright in Scott Pilgrim vs The World in 2010 so this is far from now and Threapleton won’t be the last actor to face a struggle like this one.

And so that was The Phoenician Scheme and it is one of my favourites of 2025 so far combining great performances, a fun story and good humour, I liked this one a lot, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - The Materialists (2025)

The Materialists is the new movie by Celine Song who’s last film was Past Lives and this one stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a matchmaker who works to set people up with their potential life partner and one night she meets the brother of one of her clients (Pedro Pascal) and falls for him, she also reunites with an old acting friend (Chris Evans) and begins to get conflicted over who she will choose.

The Materialists is a very enjoyable film but this is definitely more of a romantic drama than a romantic comedy which the previews for the film tried to sell it as and I went with it, Johnson is particularly good here and sometimes she has been hit and miss but when she has a good director like Celine Song who will work with her she can give a good performance as opposed to Madame Web where she was more or less told to stand around, hit her marks, say her lines and drink cans of Pepsi which did nothing for her at all.

Also very good are Pascal and Evans and both have distinct character arcs that I found a little predictable at times I still got caught up in their stories and performances and Pascal in particular is very good at turning on the charm with his puppy dog eyes and dazzling smile.

And this movie has some interesting insights into romance as well with some scenes making me go “What the Fuck”/”Get the Fuck Out of here” and “THIS ISN’T A FUCKING BUSINESS TRANSACTION” and Lucy’s job definitely requires you to have a particular insight into people that sometimes Lucy either lacks or doesn’t quite take as seriously as she should especially when it comes to a key sideplot in this movie that thankfully Song handles very well.

And so that was the Materialists and I enjoyed it quite a bit, 3 and a half out of 5.