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.

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.

Film Review - Ballerina (2025)

Ballerina is the new John Wick spinoff directed by Len Wiseman and stars Ana De Armas as Eve, a young girl who is trained by the Ballerina assassins headed up by the director (Anjelica Huston) but one night she kills a man with an X mark on his wrist and it reminds her of the men who killed her father and she wants payback against those responsible.

Ballerina is a perfectly good Wick spinoff but it isn’t as good as the mainline Wick films though De Armas does a good job as Eve and her action scenes are fun to watch with some creative uses of weapons like flamethrowers, grenades, ice skates and guns and when those scenes are on screen its hard not to get bored while watching them.

The other cast members equip themselves well also, Keanu Reeves has a small supporting role as the Baba Yaga and is as good as always plus he has some memorable action moments of his own, Anjelica Huston and Gabriel Byrne are good as well and I always enjoy seeing Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick together in the Continental Hotel scenes (RIP Lance Reddick.)

But where this movie does fall down is that it has too much action and not enough storytelling, Chad Stahelski’s John Wick movies (he also serves as a producer on this movie) had a good balance of storytelling, action and world building especially in the sequels whereas here Wiseman pours on the action so much that after a while I wanted more of a story and some more of the world building as you would get into a story point and then BANG! Here comes a big action scene.

And also Len Wiseman just cannot replicate Stahelski’s stylish look for these movies, its not that he does a bad job per se but that look requires specific tools needed to pull it off and Wiseman simply isn’t that kind of director, he’s the “come in and get it done quickly” kind of guy and Stahelski is more meticulous in his crafting of the Wick films and the difference between the two becomes apparent after a while.

And so that was Ballerina and it’s a perfectly enjoyable action romp that relies a little too much on the action to carry it but still I enjoyed myself, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Karate Kid Legends (2025)

Karate Kid Legends is the newest Karate Kid film and this time concerns Li Fong (Ben Wang) who moves from Beijing to New York with his mother (Ming-Na Wen) as she has taken a job at a New York hospital but one night he comes afowl of Conor (Aramis Knight) and though he has promised not to fight in NYC the cry of the warrior comes calling and he needs masters old and new to help him (Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio.)

Karate Kid Legends is a movie that I enjoyed more than I thought I would and firstly that comes down to the cast, Wang is a good young lead and he handles himself very well in both the martial arts scenes and playing against veterans like Chan, Macchio and Joshua Jackson who plays the head of a local pizza shop and he is a lot of fun in this movie as well and I also liked Sadie Stanley as Mia who befriends Li and Wyatt Oleff as Alan who becomes Li’s tutor in school.

As for Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio both are fun to watch as well and have good chemistry together as well and I swear to god Ralph Macchio has found the location of the Fountain of Youth and is refusing to tell anyone so he can drink from it for all eternity because that man does not look like he has aged a day over 40 (and he was in his early 20s when he first played Daniel-san in the original movie and he looked like a teenager.)

And secondly the film has some good martial arts fight scenes in it as well even if at times they go by a little too quickly be it in their editing or as part of various montages throughout the film though the final climactic fight was cool to watch.

Where this movie does fall down is its villains as Conor and the Demolition Gym not only feel like a poor copy of the Cobra Kai school from the first movie but their being a MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) school is a huge missed opportunity given the popularity of MMA nowadays and it would’ve made for a great contrast between the new MMA style and the old Miyagi-san Karate/Kung Fu style but instead it isn’t touched upon at all and it is a real shame.

And so that was Karate Kid Legends and sadly it is a mixed bag as it has some good fights and a good cast but it doesn’t develop its villains enough to make this a memorable new entry in the series, 2 and a half out of 5.