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.

Film Review - Bring Her Back (2025)

Bring Her Back is the new horror movie by the Philippou brothers who broke out with their debut feature film Talk to Me in 2023 and this one sees Andy (Billy Barratt) and his Sister Piper (Sora Wong) being placed into foster care after the death of their father courtesy of Laura (Sally Hawkins) who is mourning the death of her daughter Cathy after a drowning accident but Laura is now all that she seems.

Bring Her Back is a movie that I have some degree of mixed feelings about, its not in any way shape or form a bad movie but its also a movie that I am struggling to recommend in my movie discussions but firstly the Philippou brothers (good South Australian kids by the way) do a good job directing the film, it is sick and twisted in all the best ways and during those moments I had a big devilish grin on my face.

The film also has some great performances, Barratt and Wong work well together as a brother and sister pair and you understand where Andy is coming from in terms of protecting his younger sister, she has low vision and has lost her parents so he has to step up to help look after her and help her navigate the wider world around her, Wong makes for a good young actress and she is asked to do quite a bit here and she does it well, Jonah Wren Phillips is also great here as Oliver another of Laura’s adopted kids who doesn’t talk but his presence with his eyes makes him a memorable character.

But Sally Hawkins is the real MVP here and I really really hope she is given an Academy Award nomination next year but given the Academy’s reluctance to nominate horror movie performances I will sadly not be surprised if she misses out but that doesn’t change the fact that she is fantastic here, finding when to be warm, when to show the unease under the surface and when to embrace the darkness growing inside her that her grief over her daughter’s death has helped to create and the lengths she will go to make her a great villain.

But sadly this movie as well made and performed as it is is at times too bleak to sit through, there is so much discussion and setup about grief and trauma and loss that after a while I just got tired of it because it was so grimdark as they say nowadays that I began to find it off putting, okay we get it your all hurting but you all are just wallowing in it so much throughout this movie and the more this movie has sat in my head since seeing it the more that feeling has come to my mind the most.

And I am not someone who dislikes dark movies or shows, I generally enjoy them for the most part but having a dark and bleak tone is a fine line to walk for me and if filmmakers aren’t careful it can either feel like it is dark to the point of parody (Matt Reeves’s The Batman was a good example of this) or it feels so bleak that you feel uncomfortable sitting in your cinema seat watching it unfold.

And also this movie has a really interesting use of a VHS player in a key sideplot that sadly doesn’t get the payoff I wish it got as those parts of the film had me really interested in them and I sat there after a while thinking “I hope this has a good payoff” and it kind of does but this sideplot in particular is only revisited every now and then and I wish we got more to it but these things happen.

And so that was Bring Her Back and sadly it is a mixed bag the more I have thought about it, it is well made and has some great performances but its overt bleakness and lack of a proper sideplot payoff weigh it down for me, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning (2025)

Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning is the newest and supposedly final film in the MI series and once more Christopher McQuarrie is on writing and directing duties, the story here picks up from where 2023’s Dead Reckoning left off and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell) still hunting down the Entity AI program as it threatens nuclear Armageddon on the world.

Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning is a good way for this series to exit if this is supposedly the final film in the franchise because while it has a big storytelling issue I still had a good time watching this movie and Cruise and Co still commit to their roles and Atwell has been a memorable addition to the series in the previous 2 films.

The film also has 2 great action setpieces, the first of those is on a downed submarine which is starting to flood while Cruise has to retrieve something from it and the whole time watching that scene play out I was reminded a lot of the Abyss (a very underrated film by James Cameron) in terms of being down in the depths of the ocean with the clock racing against you and hoping you don’t run out of breath and die all alone down there and the tension was very apparent in that sequence.

The other involved the films climax with a race against the clock on the ground and in the air and the editing by Eddie Hamilton is excellent generating maximum amounts of tension and counting down plus vintage Tom Cruise daredevil stunt work though you could see this time around that it was starting to take a toll on him.

But this movie also has a big storytelling issue and that is the convoluted ways it tries to tie together all of the previous movies so that it all feels like one big story and more than once did I not only think to myself “what the fuck” but I was also reminded in all the worst ways of Spectre which I consider the be the worst James Bond film ever made and one of the reasons why is its pointless attempts to tie together all of the Craig era films up to that point and it was totally unnecessary there and here.

And lastly this movie is also very long, it runs just shy of 3 hours but it sure felt like 3 hours and at one point my bottom did start falling asleep in my cinema seat and the opening segment could’ve easily dispensed with the pointless tie ins for a more straightforward “Hello Mr Hunt” exposition dump and we all would’ve been much better off.

And so that was Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning and I enjoyed it for the most part and it delivers a good enough finale but its also too long and too needy to tie everything together when it didn’t need to, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Final Destination Bloodlines (2025)

Final Destination: Bloodlines is the newest film in the series and concerns Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) who has horrible nightmares of an incident concerning the Skytower restaurant and wants to talk to her grandmother Iris (Gabrielle Jones) about the incident but her family is weary as Iris was there the night of that fateful accident and it has haunted her ever since.

Final Destination: Bloodlines is a lot of fun and more than once I had a big smile on my face watching the film and those moments come mainly in the grizzly death scenes that have always been pretty creative in this series (though I’ve only seen the first 2 films I will admit) but here there’s a lawnmower, a high rise tower and a very memorable one with a fan in a tattoo shop and though the film at times throws you off in terms of how and when people will die but that’s part of the fun.

As for the storytelling itself, its okay but sometimes you just sit there thinking “okay stop talking just hurry up and die already” and the cast are pretty good though Juana did remind me a little of Melissa Barrera from the recent Scream films (before that series foolishly got rid of her) while Richard Harmon, Teo Briones, Owen Joyner, Anna Lore, Gabrielle Jones and Rya Kihlstedt are good in their roles as well.

This movie was also sadly the final film of Tony Todd and seeing him here so thin and frail was sad to see as I always enjoyed seeing him pop up in movies like this series or the Rock or Candyman and also as Worf’s brother Kurn on Star Trek the Next Generation (his exit from the franchise on Deep Space Nine however deserved far better)

And so that was Final Destination Bloodlines and it is a good time on a dark night at the cinema, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Thunderbolts* (2025)

Thunderbolts* is the newest Marvel Studios movie and sees Florence Pugh and David Harbour return from 2021’s Black Widow and this time their joined by Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and this group is brought together by Valentina Allegra Di Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and a mysterious man named Bob (Lewis Pullman)

Thunderbolts* is not a bad movie and certainly a better movie than the previous Marvel movie Captain America Brave New World but the more I’ve thought about it the more I find myself putting it in the same basket as Black Panther 2 and the Marvels in that while I don’t hate it I also don’t think its all that much either especially as my overall fatigue with this franchise has grown more and more over the last few years.

Now that isn’t to say that this movie isn’t without any merit, certainly not as this movie definitely has some good ideas at its core especially around mental health and wanting to be recognised as the hero they were meant to be and the toll of pain and fighting over many years that it takes on some of the characters especially Yelena and Pugh is great in this role but for all of the talk of pain I just kept thinking of “I don’t want my pain taken away I NEED MY PAIN!!!” from Star Trek 5 the Final Frontier and that film was willing for all of its many faults to explore that in a more sincere way.

And the cast is good as well, Pugh as I mentioned above sells her Pain very well as does Harbour who was trumpted so much as the Soviet equivalent of Captain America but was never given the chance to properly prove it (and unfortunately this movie doesn’t really give him that chance either which is a shame), Sebastian Stan is good as well but he can do Bucky well at this point and I enjoyed seeing Hannah John-Kamen again as Ghost and Wyatt Russell was good as well.

As for Julia Louis-Dreyfus I thought she was okay as Valentina but this franchise really needed to make her the new big bad after Thanos in order to make the arc this movie had in mind for her all the more impact to work properly and also at times it feels like she is playing Evil Elaine from Seinfeld and as for Lewis Pullman he was fine but doesn’t do an awful lot save for the third act.

And given the positives here I also had a feeling while watching this movie that I’ve now become so fatigued by this universe and the lack of direction and glut of movie and streaming shows without any real purpose or drive or forward momentum to them that I’ve just become tired of it all now and that feeling has intensified for me as the next movie coming up is Fantastic Four: The First Steps and I can’t help but feel that that movie exists at the expense of losing 20th Century Fox as an independent movie studio as so many die hard Marvel fans essentially didn’t care if Fox was bought by Disney if it meant F4 and the X-Men went into the MCU.

And it is very clear to see that the loss of Fox has left a large hole in the industry post Covid which has struggled to get back to the kind of numbers both box office and attendance wise that it enjoyed before the pandemic and as much as Amazon reviving MGM and streamers like Netflix and Co have tried they just cannot fill that hole left behind by Fox’s absence.

And this isn’t to let Fox off the hook in their treatment of Fantastic Four either as they utterly failed in the mid 2000’s to learn the lessons from the success of X-Men and X-Men 2 those being hiring a strong creative mind to oversee those characters and deliver great films with them in the same way that Bryan Singer (considerable baggage aside) did with his era of X-Men save for Apocalypse in 2016 but these things happen I suppose.

And so that was Thunderbolts* and its an okay film that many Marvel fans will be happy with as it isn’t a dumpster fire but it also can’t escape the fatigue I feel with this series post Infinity War and Endgame, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Drop (2025)

Drop is the new horror film by Christopher Landon who also made Happy Death Day and Freaky and stars Meghann Fahy as Violet, a widow with a young son who goes on a first date with photographer Henry (Brandon Sklenar from 1923) but during their evening she gets mysterious air drops on her phone telling her to kill her date or her young son will be murdered.

Drop shows once again why Chris Landon for the most part does great horror movies, he doesn’t just couch them in the usual “evil person with a metal blade” running around and carving up young teens like their animals in the wild their couched in a fun concept at their core be it repeating the same day in HDD, body swapping Captain Ginyu style in Freaky or “Kill your Date or I Kill Your Son” in this movie and Landon does a great job generating tension and suspense throughout the film and its single location of a Chicago high rise restaurant and the way he moves the camera around also won me over as well.

The cast also deliver the goods as well mainly Fahy and Sklenar who have great chemistry together even though at times I was thinking of Julia Schalepfer from 1923 and the chemistry she and Sklenar had in that show and how once again he is romancing a young blonde woman and as someone who was a big fan of 1923 it was hard for me not to want to make that comparison.

Where this movie does sadly fall over somewhat is its use of domestic violence in a key sideplot, this issue is far too serious to be in what should be a fun high concept horror movie and it could’ve easily been removed with only some minor tweaks to the script and I think the movie would’ve worked just as well if not better without it.

And so that was Drop and once more another movie comes along that shows 2025 as an overall movie year off to a strong start with a fun concept well executed with a great duo of leads, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Accountant 2 (2025)

The Accountant 2 is the long delayed sequel to the surprise 2016 hit the Accountant and once more Ben Affleck returns as Christian Wolff who is tasked by financial officer Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to find a lost child but dark forces are also looking for him so Christian has to reach out to his estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) to help him.

The Accountant 2 was a sequel idea I had mixed feelings about as I really liked the first film in 2016 for its action, its heart and a compelling lead character in Christian Wolff who was an assassin but also lived with Autism and my fear with any potential sequel was that that core aspect of his character would either be stripped out or toned down to appeal this series to a wider audience like the John Wick films have had.

Thankfully that isn’t the case as the Accountant 2 is well worth the wait and is as good a movie as the first one and huge kudos has to be given to Ben Affleck, director Gavin O’Connor (who should be considered for the MCU X-Men movie) and writer Bill Dubuque as they have firstly and most importantly kept Christian as who he is, yes he’s done work for bad people but he is also on the Autism spectrum and that is given more focus here in terms of his social interactions which were there in the first film but not to this extent and I am very thankful for that.

Also boosted is Jon Bernthal’s role as Braxton and he and Affleck have great chemistry together as both brothers trying to bond together as well as action heroes, both are well trained in the deadly arts and their combat experiences are shown well in the films action scenes which have the same precision that they did in the first film.

The storytelling here is also improved as it feels not only more focused but doesn’t get bogged down in a big exposition dump which happened in the first film and really hurt that movie especially towards the end, here the storytelling is cleaner/more focused and also makes time for humour and surprisingly this movie is very funny at times one scene in particular got a big laugh from my cinema audience.

And so that was the Accountant 2 and this sequel does not disappoint, it hasn’t forgotten who Christian Wolff is as a character, the storytelling is improved and it has good action and humour, another big recommendation, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - The Correspondent (2025)

The Correspondent is based on a true story and stars Richard Roxburgh as Peter Greste, an Australian journalist who is asked to fill in for a colleague at Al Jazeera news over the Christmas 2013 period as unrest builds in Egypt but after doing a news story there, he finds himself arrested and thrown in prison causing worldwide outrage over his treatment.

The Correspondent was a movie I was looking forward to as movies about journalists doing what they do more often than not make for compelling narratives and here is no exception, the film works best when you see Greste as the victim of a monstrous injustice, thrown in prison for no real reason except for the fact that he was simply doing his job and yes he has made mistakes in his past (something the film highlights) but he did not deserve to be so horribly treated in the way that he was.

But what sadly doesn’t work as well is Richard Roxburgh’s performance, don’t get me wrong he is a very good actor and has doen great work in the past but here I felt he was a little miscast, for starters he looked way too old to be playing Peter Greste who was only in his late 40s when he was arrested in December 2013 and Roxburgh looks much older and also Greste in real life has a very expressive face and here Roxburgh’s just doesn’t capture that very well, it feels like your looking at the same stern expression most of the time he is on screen.

And so that was the Correspondent and its an okay movie for the most part but it would’ve been better if someone else who was closer in age and appearance to Peter Greste in real life had played that role instead, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Sinners (2025)

Sinners is the new movie by Ryan Coogler and stars Michael B Jordan as Smoke and Stack, a pair of twins who come home to Mississippi in 1930’s America from Chicago and want to open up a Juke Joint but elsewhere a great evil lurks in the shadows.

Sinners shows once again why Ryan Coogler is a great talent of a filmmaker and the first reason why is the sense of history that permeates throughout this movie, the world of the early 30’s American South and the Jim Crow era laws that were part and parcel of that time is fully realized here and you really feel enveloped in that period and what people of colour who lived there had to go through be it the cotton fields or the sense of danger that lurked around every corner.

Secondly this movie is very well crafted in a lot of areas, Ruth E Carter’s costume design, Hannah Bleachler’s production design, Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s cinematography and Ludwig Goransson’s score are all top notch and all of these people deserve Oscar nominations and even wins for their work here, the costumes are beautiful to look at, the production design is excellent, the cinematography is nice and the score is terrific with its mix of original cues and songs on the soundtrack.

And then there are the performances, Michael B Jordan plays both the Smoke/Stack twins here and does a really good job creating distinct personalities with each brother, Delroy Lindo is a lot of fun as a boozy harmonica player who is hired to play at the Juke Joint while Hailee Steinfeld is magnetic here as Mary one of the twins’s love interest and she has never looked more beautiful than she does in this movie.

Also good is Jack O’Connell as an Irish Folk music player who gets wind of the Juke Joint and wants to play there and has sinister intentions of his own.

But where this movie does fall over a little bit is its transition from the historical blues musical drama to vampire horror movie and as good as both sections of this movie are (and they are definitely very good) the transition between the two sections felt a little jarring to sit through at first but once the second half kicks into gear and finds its groove it works very well and delivers some fun bloody effects work.

And so that was Sinners and despite a slight storytelling stumble this is a really good movie with a great sense of history, impeccable craftsmanship and good performances, this is a movie well worth watching, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - The Amateur (2025)

The Amateur stars Rami Malek as a CIA Analyst Charlie who is happily married to his wife (Rachel Brosnahan soon to be Lois Lane in James Gunn’s Superman) when she goes to London for a business trip but sadly she is killed in a terrorist attack there and Charlie wants to find the people responsible for her death.

The Amateur is a good old fashioned steak, mash and peas style thriller that I liked for the most part and the first reason why is Rami Malek, he has always been a good actor and here is no exception as the determination to avenge his wife’s murder begins to show more and more as he devises more and more ingenious ways to hunt down the killers and evade the CIA at the same time begins to show more and more as the film goes on, Lawrence Fishburne is also very fun in a supporting role and its good to see him as well.

As for Rachel Brosnahan, watching her in this movie I thought to myself “She is going to be a damn good Lois Lane” (though whether she will be as good as the late great Margot Kidder remains to be seen) as she was very good in her small role here and had a lot of that sass and quickness and heart that you want in a Lois Lane portrayal, I also enjoyed seeing Catriona Balfe in a small role as well.

And so that was the Amateur and it’s a good solid thriller anchored by a good cast, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Novocaine (2025)

Novocaine stars Jack Quaid as Nathan Caine, an Assistant Manager in a San Diego bank who has a rare genetic disorder where he can literally feel no pain but he manages to fall in love with one of the girls Sherry (Amber Midthunder) who works at the bank but one day the Bank is robbed an Sherry is kidnapped so Nathan has to put his “I feel no pain” disability to good use to rescue her.

Novocaine is definitely one of my favourite films of 2025 so far and the first reason why is due to the unique storytelling concept of the film, sure you’ve had characters like Wolverine in the X-Men where they heal up after getting injured but Nathan isn’t like that this is a real disability he has and for better or worse he has to use it to his advantage to get the girl back and it makes for some very fun action scenes that make good use of his condition and the restricted rating the film has.

Secondly is Jack Quaid and this is the performance that should make him a movie star, at times you can see the sweetness from his mother Meg Ryan in his eyes and his smile while also being able to be sarcastic like his father Dennis Quaid could be in some of his roles and watching him here do these crazy action scenes while also being a romantic lead was very effective and he has good chemistry with Midthunder.

Speaking of Midthunder (who we first saw in 2022’s Predator film Prey) she is very good here as well and I really enjoyed seeing her again after she was memorable in that film as well and I really enjoyed her scenes with Quaid hopefully they get a crack at a proper rom com together some day.

But there are a couple of problems I have with this movie and first of those is the villains, don’t get me wrong their perfectly serviceable but I wish they were more memorable like you saw in movies like Die Hard or the Indiana Jones films or the best of the James Bond films but that has been a long documented failing on my part and Ray Nicholson is perfectly solid as the main bad guy Simon but he isn’t as memorable as he could’ve been.

And secondly I wish that the disability aspect of Nathan’s character had been played up more in the first act before he meets Sherry, sure he tells her about some of the pluses and minuses of his condition but I wish we saw more of it before Sherry comes into his life and accepts him for who he is and not some ideal version of what he could be as the brief scenes we did get really appealed to me and I wish we saw more of them.

That said however Novocaine is great fun, 3 and a half out of 5.

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.

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.

Film Review - Conclave (2025)

Conclave is the new movie by Edward Berger who did All Quiet on the Western Front for Netflix a couple of years ago and concerns the death of the Pope in the Vatican from a heart attack, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) must now lead the precession to select a new Holy Father and this will bring many secrets to the light.

Conclave is a flat out winner that had me from the get go and didn’t let up, Berger’s direction for a start is terrific, he knows when to increase the tension and make the selection of a new pope have as much intrigue and surprises as possible (and you do not want to know much about this movie before seeing it) and throughout the whole film I felt like I was near or on the edge of my seat wanting to know each twist and turn and surprise around the corner.

The film also has some terrific performances across the board, Ralph Fiennes deserves an Academy Award for his work here as he has to manage this secluded tradition with the political games being played around him as well as trying to find out why the Holy Father did certain things he did before he died, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow are also great in their supporting roles while Sergio Castillitto and Carlos Diehz shine in their roles as well.

Also the design of this film is great and really makes you feel transported to inside the walls of the Holy City where the outside world is a distraction and must not influence the Cardinals as they make this most important choice.

And so that was Conclave and this along with A Complete Unknown kick off 2025 as a movie year with gusto and this is very highly recommended, 4 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Nosferatu (2025)

Nosferatu is the new film by Robert Eggers who made the Northman and stars Lily Rose-Depp as Helen a young bride who years before swore eternal love to Count Orlock, now her husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) has to go to his castle in Transylvania to give him the deeds to a new home in Germany but the counts shadow is a long and terrible one.

Nosferatu is well made by Eggers and looks great on a cinema screen with deep blacks, use of candlelight, snow and very nice production design, on a purely visual level it is stunning to look at.

The film also has a slew of good performances, Rose-Depp at times reminded me of Emma Watson with her British accent but she is very good especially during some heavily physical moments, Emma Corrin is good as well in a small role as is Willem Dafoe while Nicolas Hoult and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are very good as well.

But where this movie lets itself down a little bit is in its storytelling, don’t get me wrong it isn’t bad in any way at all but at times it feels cold and distant not unlike other filmmakers who try to replicate Christopher Nolan’s style of storytelling which can also feel cold and distant at times but also not unlike the Northman felt at times and more often than not I found myself missing the high camp emotion of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula film from 1992 which had great horror moments but also good emotion in its love story as well and that balance isn’t as good here I’m sorry to say.

And so that was Nosferatu and it is worth seeing and well made but I prefer the Coppola Dracula film instead, The Blood is the Life after all and the Blood runs a little too cold here, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - The Wolf Man (2025)

The Wolf Man is the new horror film by Leigh Whannell who made the Invisible Man in 2020 (one of the very last movies I saw in a cinema before the dark times, before the cinema closures) and stars Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner as a couple who’s marriage has hit a rough patch when he gets word that his father has died and he has to go to his Oregon farmhouse to clean it up but in the woods lies a mysterious creature of legend, one called Face of the Wolf.

2025’s movie year coughs up its first hairball with the Wolf Man as this was a near total bore to sit through:

- First the movie looks cheap, now I get that Blumhouse (the production company that made this movie) tends to do their movies on the leaner side but a werewolf story is not one of those stories you can do on the cheap, you need a decent sized budget to pull this off and here the werewolf effects look like a cheap makeup job where there’s some face paint and a few facial strands pasted onto the actors and it pulls you out of the film

- Secondly the sense of horror is absent, going back to the Invisible Man which was Whannell’s previous Universal monster horror film that film fed on very real horrors that women have regarding abusive partners and how they lie/convince them into believing something else entirely and when they try to get others to believe their situation they find it hard and it really gave that film a genuine sense of dread, here that is gone and it so wants to be like the Fly by David Cronenberg and it is NOTHING compared to that film

- And lastly the storytelling feels like a big missed opportunity, the idea of someone getting sick mysteriously and how their loved ones and the world around them reacts to it could have been dripping with dramatic and horror potential in this post Covid world but instead it just plays out like a bottle show of a TV series where it all takes place in one location and it just feels like such a letdown especially when you have a talent like Whannell who is capable of so much better

And so that was the Wolf Man and honestly if Universal wants to bring the classic horror monsters alive for a new generation, they should hand the keys to Robert Eggers instead as this is nowhere near as good as it should have been, 1 out of 5.