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.

Film Review - Captain America Brave New World (2025)

Captain America Brave New World is the 35th Marvel Studios movie and the first with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as the Captain and this time President Ross (Harrison Ford) wants to spear head a treaty over Celestial Island from 2021’s Eternals but sinister forces in and out of his circle have plans of their own.

Captain America Brave New World is not a bad movie but its also a movie that wears the scars of its troubled production and if you look close enough you can see the stitches of the various amounts of retooling this movie went through before release but before I delve into those I want to mention the positives and first and foremost is Anthony Mackie as Captain America, he inherits the shield well and the film works well when it plays to his characters core strengths such as his nobility and his time as a veterans counsellor, if this movie underperforms (and I feel it will) then I sincerely hope Mackie is not made the fall guy because in no way is any of this movies problems his fault.

Also good is Harrison Ford as President Ross taking over from the late great William Hurt and he does well when he’s not a raging Red Hulk monster but when he does become the Red Hulk which has been shown in the previews for this movie well I just sat there going “What the Fuck” as it just looked weird to see an early 80s Harrison Ford turned into a CGI Hulk character.

And there is where I will now go into the problems for this movie and those stem from a sense of storytelling that is not only messy but feels stitched together, I mean you have:

- The Government Conspiracy regarding President Ross

- The Celestial Island storyline

- The Serpent Society as its own storyline

And none of these feel cohesive in any meaningful way I mean Giancarlo Esposito’s scenes feel like their inserted because he’s either in scenes by himself or in scenes with just one or two other people at most and there is a big element named in this movie that I felt was unearned because of the connections it hints at that come at too high a price for me personally and a character comes back that feels like they did a Zoom call and they inserted it in post-production.

As for the action its fine but at times the CGI looks very pixely and the film in sections looks very dark like you can barely see what’s happening on screen and some of the hand to hand combat scenes are pretty good but not as good as what has come before.

And so that was Captain America Brave New World and its not terrible but its also not much of a movie either and those who were hoping Deadpool and Wolverine might have signalled a turning of the tide for the MCU are going to find it to be more like an oasis in a sea of sewerage, if you’re a diehard fan you might like it but if your not I wouldn’t be in a hurry to see it.

And on this final point Avengers Infinity War and Endgame felt more and more like the end of the MCU and those films like the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi did for Star Wars wrapped everything up so well that it made justifying future movies/shows that much harder and ever since that feeling has become more and more prevalent for me and I’m sure for many many others, 1.5 out of 5.

Film Review - September 5 (2025)

September 5 takes place in Munich during the Olympic Games in 1972 and concerns the tale of the ABC News Crew that first covered the hostage situation that took place during those games.

September 5 while it goes over some familiar territory that other films like 21 Hours at Munich and Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film Munich covered, this movie is more about the news team who first got wind of that horrific situation and is also a great tribute to how hard news crews work when faced with a breaking situation that is unfolding live and in real time.

The film also has a slew of good performances, Peter Sarsgaard is very good as the head of the sports team bureau as is Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch and Zinedine Soualem as the core news team at the heart of this story, I also enjoyed seeing the late great Peter Jennings used here as well.
And so that was September 5 and it is a well made tightly focused news thriller that worked for me, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - We Live in Time (2025)

We Live in Time stars Florence Pugh as Atmul, a chef who accidentally runs over Tobias (Andrew Garfield) and the two fall in love and have a child together but just as Atmul’s life begins to come together she is diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer and it puts a great strain on her relationship with Tobias and her dreams and goals for the future.

Florence Pugh is easily the best thing about this movie and she delivers another great performance as a young woman trying to find her way in the world only to be hit with the worst possible news, though some of the characters decisions are questionable at times while watching the film you can see where her character is coming from and Pugh sells all of these choices very well.

The rest of the film around her however doesn’t have the emotional resonance it should have, the story of a young person feeling the wind of life flowing in their veins and wanting to make their mark on the world by doing what they love only to be told they have cancer and their time left is potentially limited should be a powerful and moving story but instead for so much of the film I felt cold and distant from it.

And the main reason for this is the use of a non linear narrative, filmmakers like Christopher Nolan can do this structure and make it work very well but here John Crowley who made Brooklyn in 2015 cannot and because of that the emotional resonance which he delivered so well in Brooklyn feels missing here and it is really disappointing.

Also Andrew Garfield feels a little miscast here, now he is a good actor for sure but here he talks very softly a lot of the time and his chemistry with Pugh is hit and miss at times, a better choice would’ve been Taron Egerton who is similar to Pugh in age and would’ve delivered the emotional beats better than Garfield does here.

And so that was We Live in Time and this overall did very little for me, Pugh is great but the film she’s in isn’t and given the potential of this story and Crowley’s work on Brooklyn it feels all the more disappointing but as they say in the classics you win some, you lose some, 1.5 out of 5.