Thursday, July 10, 2025

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.

Saturday, June 28, 2025

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.

Saturday, June 21, 2025

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.

Friday, June 20, 2025

Film Review - Elio (2025)

Elio is the new Pixar Animation film and concerns a young boy named Elio (Yonas Ascunsion Kibreab) who has been orphaned and lives with his Air Force Colonel Aunt (Zoe Saldana) and dreams of being abducted by Aliens and one night his wish comes true but as they say in the classics, be careful what you wish for.

Elio is not a bad movie at all and it is certainly miles ahead of some of the movies I’ve seen it be compared to such as Wish, Strange World and Lightyear but it is also far from the best movie Pixar Animation has given us over the years, the film does have some good animation going for it especially with the various alien species Elio meets throughout the film though one creature will remind you of the creatures in Mickey 17 from earlier this year and there are some heartfelt moments in the film especially towards the end.

But where this movie does fall over is in its storytelling, on the one hand it’s a movie about a boy who is mourning the loss of his parents and trying to adjust to the changes in his life and then it turns into a wacky adventure with aliens and weird creatures and an evil warlord (Brad Garrett) who wants to take over the universe and a cuddly creature friend for Elio to bond with and at times the tonal streams of these 2 storylines clash and it hurts the movie as a whole.

And again this isn’t to say this is a bad movie but those tonal shifts at times are ones I struggled with from time to time and while it does give you some good emotional moments I do wish that these 2 story strands were better integrated.

And Pixar in the past has done this very very well be it the first 3 Toy Story movies or Monsters Inc or Finding Nemo to name as a few examples but sometimes Pixar becomes so focused on making you cry that they forget that the tears have to be earnt rather than manipulated which too often has been the case with a lot of the recent Pixar movies and it’s a little sad.

And so that was Elio and its fine, perfectly okay but it is far from Pixar’s best and their best years are now feeling like a longer and longer time ago as the years go by, hopefully they can get it back one day but we’ll see, 2 out of 5.