Film Review - Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up

Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up is the first Looney Tunes movie since 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy and also the first not to be released by Warner Brothers who instead sold it to Pinnacle Films a small indie company, the story here concerns Daffy Duck and Porky Pig who have to fix a hole in the roof of their house or face eviction but while that happens an alien invasion occurs using chewing gum to enslave the worlds population and Daffy and Porky have to fight them off and save the world.

Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up is an interesting movie, as a movie in and of itself it is good fun, it made me laugh/smile and gave me a good time but it also feels like a movie from a different era so to speak but before I delve more into that I first want to mention the animation here, this is a blend of traditional and computer animation and the mix is a good one for the most part and the facial expressions in the drawing are a welcome return as sometimes computer animation can look to realistic.

The film also has a brisk comedic pace with lots of jokes and gags and twists and turns and bright colours to look at, many of the gags here are a lot of fun though some did bother me at times and one needle drop on the soundtrack definitely made me a happy boy in the cinema.

But as I said this movie feels like the product of a different time, that time being the late 1990’s in the wake of the smash success of Independence Day and also the last real point of relevance for the Looney Tunes brand as a whole and watching this movie I wasn’t all that surprised that Warner Brothers did what it did with this movie as well as Coyote Vs Acme (which could finally see a release next year if the whispers are true) I mean you have:

- The 1950’s esque setting of a small town and chewing gum being a key plot point

- An Alien Invasion with some shots very much inspired by Independence Day

- A mix of hand drawn and computer animation as opposed to being entirely CG animated which began to become more popular in the late 90s and especially the early 2000’s

- The use of proper voice actors as opposed to an all star celebrity voice cast

And nowadays the Looney Tunes brand as a whole even though they are as much mascots for Warner Brothers as Mickey and his Gang are for Walt Disney Pictures just do not resonate with a more modern audience anymore as generations since mine haven’t really had a lot of exposure to the Looney Tunes as much as we did (though here in Australia their exposure was boosted by the What’s Up Doc? Block on the Nine/Win Network and Warner Home Video putting a Looney Tunes cartoon on almost all of their new release video rentals in the mid to late 90s.)

And I can’t help but feel that if younger generations after mine had more exposure to these characters and became fond of them like mine and preceding generations did perhaps WB would be more respectful towards them then they have been and this problem isn’t just confined to WB’s resident whack a mole David Zaslav, this problem goes all the way back to Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003 which became not only a troubled production but also a humiliating bomb at the box office not to mention 2021’s Space Jam A New Legacy which really only appealed to 90’s kids like me and not to today’s kids.

And this is a little saddening to see happen (same with Mickey and his Friends at Disney albeit to a lesser extent) because these 2 groups of characters were always fun to watch but that said kids today have a lot more options available to them like Bluey for example or other cartoons that are more geared towards them as opposed to older characters from the past and in this day and age where knowing who your movie and/or television show is for is more important than ever I can’t see a road back for either Bugs or Mickey.

And so that was Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up and as a movie I had a good time but it also felt like a movie from a different time for better and for worse, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - A Working Man (2025)

A Working Man is the new Jason Statham movie and here he plays Leven, a former UK Royal Marine working as a construction site supervisor or the Garcias (Michael Pena, Noemi Gonzalez and Arianna Rivas) but one night after a party the daughter Jenny is kidnapped and so Leven must use his former set of skills to save her.

A Working Man is one of those movies that does exactly what it says on the box in the video shop, the Stath is a retired serviceman working a normal life when circumstances force him to rip open the shirt and embrace his former life to do what he has to do and like last year’s the Beekeeper (also directed by David Ayer who directed this movie) it is a lot of fun, the Stath does what the Stath does as usual and it is good fun to see.

The action here is also good to watch as well and there’s plenty of hand to hand combat, knife slashings and gun fights and mysterious gangsters as well and all of it put a smile on my face and gave me a good time.

I also enjoyed Arianna Rivas as the daughter as well, she isn’t like Maggie Smith in Taken from 2009 where she sits around and does little except to wait to be saved, she feels more proactive and has a memorable moment or two of her own.

And so that was A Working Man and look if you’re a fan of the Stath your going to go and see this and if your not a fan of the Stath you won’t but for fans like me I had a good time, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin (2025)

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin is the new film released by Angel Studios and stars Jonas Dassler as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German man who goes to the US in the late 20’s and early 30’s to learn about theology and the church but returns home to see the Nazi’s rise to power and take the world to the brink of war, Bonhoeffer is appalled at the behaviour of his church and vows to do all he can to make things right.

Bonhoeffer was a movie that I was very much looking forward to as I like movies about historical figures and ones about where they fight Nazi’s but regrettably this movie was something of a disappointment for me.

The main issue I have with this movie is that I felt it focused too much at times on Bonhoeffer’s time as a Pastor in the Church, don’t get me wrong those scenes are good and were a big part of who Bonhoeffer was but at times it took too much of a focus on the film.

The parts that did work for me was when it went into how the Nazi’s did come to power (which had some discomforting parallels to events now) and how those in power are at times reluctant to fight back when those around them know in their bones that they have to do so and quickly before it becomes too late.

The film also uses a non-linear narrative and like so many times when others besides Christopher Nolan try to use this device it doesn’t end up working all that well because there were multiple times when I would get into a strand of the film and then it would cut away to another one that was less interesting and because of that my emotional interest in this story began to become scattered after a while.

There are however good performances, first of those Dassler who is good in the title role as is David Jonsson who became known to many after his role in Alien: Romulus last year and I can see why he became a name to watch after that film, Clarke Peters is also good as an American preacher in Harlem while Flula Borg, August Diehl and Moritz Bleibtreu are very good as well in their roles.

And so that was Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin and I would recommend Valkyrie with Tom Cruise instead as that film is a much better one about a similar period of time and has more emotional focus to it, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Black Bag (2025)

Black Bag is the new movie by Steven Soderbergh and stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as a married couple of spies and Katherine (Blanchett) is accused of stealing the Severus, a deadly weapon that could kill thousands of people if in the wrong hands and so the game is afoot for George (Fassbender) to find who stole it and clear his wife’s name.

Black Bag is a lot of fun and much of that comes down to Soderbergh’s direction, this is a tightly wound piece of filmmaking with little to no fat editorially on the film, Fassbender and Blanchett are also very good both in their individual scenes and as a couple and in those scenes the 2 have some great chemistry.

There are also a slew of good performances in the film as well, Pierce Brosnan/Tom Burke/Marisa Abela/Naomie Harris and Rege Jean Page (who would’ve made an excellent 007) are also very good here and each of them also have some memorable scenes of their own.

But what I liked most about this movie is how it looks into how a marriage can be affected by the same 2 people in the same line of work and how this can potentially create distrust between those people and it is a great credit to Fassbender and Blanchett that they play these scenes very well without it breaking the overall tone of the film.

And so that was Black Bag and it is a tight, well-made spy drama with great performances and between this movie and Mickey 17 2025 is delivering the goods movie wise, I just wish more people would see movies like these cinemas, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Spit (2025)

Spit is the sequel to the 2003 film Gettin Square and David Wenham returns as John Frances Spiteri (or Spit for short) who returns to Australia only to be locked up in immigration detention and mob boss Charles “Chicka” Martin (Gary Sweet) is none too happy he is back.

Spit is good fun mainly due to David Wenham’s funny performance in the title role, I hadn’t seen the previous film Gettin Square but you don’t really have to as this movie stands enough on its own while also giving you enough information to keep up and Wenham commits to the title role very well and delivers a lot of good laughs.

Also good is Gary Sweet as the mob boss and David Field as the detective who fears that Spit will take him down with Chicka if he spills the beans, I also liked Pallavi Sharda as Aria Sahni Spit’s lawyer who tries to help him get out of trouble.

As for the humour itself, it did make me laugh quite a bit throughout the film which is more than I can say for most comedies or attempts at humour I’ve seen in movies nowadays.

And so that was Spit and its good fun with a funny lead performance by David Wenham, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Mickey 17 (2025)

Mickey 17 is based off of the novel and is the new film by Bong Joon-Ho whose previous film was the Oscar winner Parasite, this story concerns Mickey (Robert Pattinson) who leaves Earth for the ice world known as Nifilheim where he is known as an “Expendable” meaning that when he dies his body is reprinted and he comes back to life, while there he meets Nasha (Naomi Ackie) who he falls in love with as well as Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) who is the leader and with some goals of his own.

Mickey 17 reminded me a lot of Paul Verhoeven’s satirical sci-fi efforts from the 80s and 90s Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers where society has descended down a certain path and the people are seen as expendable for the greater cause be it in cybernetics or fighting a pointless war against an alien civilization or harnessing the resources of another world to amass power for those in charge and Bong Joon-Ho doesn’t hide his feelings about the future world created in this movie.

Pattinson does double duty as Mickey 17 and 18 (who is created after Number 17 is presumed dead at the start of the film) and Pattinson finds a way (along with Bong Joon-Ho) to differentiate between the two, one is softer with more of a conscious while the other can be violent and angry at times and the dual performance works very well.

But there are a lot of other performances that are good as well, Naomi Ackie (one of the few people to be a bright spot about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) is very good as Nasha while Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Daniel Henshall and Anamaria Vartolomei are very good as well in their roles.

But the show stealer for me is Mark Ruffalo as Kenneth Marshall (the name at times kept me thinking of the actor of the same name who played Michael Eddington in Star Trek Deep Space Nine) and while its very clear who he is basing his performance off of it works beautifully as this is a great villain, a slimy bastard with no morals or remorse and oh so fun to watch every time he’s on screen, you’ll be wanting this guy to get what’s coming to him and its about fucking time we had a great movie villain again, its been far too long.

If there is a criticism I have of this movie its that it runs a little too long, the runtime is about 2hrs 18mins and it feels that mainly in the climax as I sat there during that part of the film wanting it to speed up a little bit so it could get to the end.

And so that was Mickey 17 and it is really good fun despite being a little long, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Companion (2025)

Companion is a new horror film that stars Jack Quaid as Josh, a young man who is taking his new girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) to his friends at a secluded lake house owned by a man named Sergei (Rupert Friend) but there is more going on here than meets the eye.

Companion is terrific fun and I had a big smile on my face throughout much of this movie, it takes the horror and romance genres and does a neat new spin on it that is best left a secret from you until you see the film (a secret that New Line Cinema/Warner Bros shamefully give away in one of the previews for this movie) and it made me very intrigued about the world this movie created and how it all worked.

The film also has some good horror kills and some good performances, Jack Quaid is very good here first off as Josh who is revealed to not be all he seems to be and Sophie Thatcher is very good as well as Iris, Megan Suri, Lukas Gage and Harvey Guillen are also good as well.

And so that was Companion and this is a really fun horror romance that worked for me a lot, 4 out of 5.