Film Review - In the Grey (2026)

In the Grey is the new film by Guy Ritchie and stars Eiza Gonzalez as Sophia, a lawyer who is chasing after a financial debt for a large company that is in the hands of a criminal known as Salazar (Carlos Bardem) but given he has his own private island and plenty of police and private army people to protect him she’s going to need some help which is where John and Michael (Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal) come in.

In the Grey is typical of Guy Ritchie’s work in terms of something bad’s happening, someone good wants to fix it so they get the team of people together to help them fix said problem but I had a good time with this one nonetheless, Gonzalez/Cavill/Gylenhaal make for a good group of heroes and one detail I really liked in the film is how Sophia’s team plans out every detail in terms of their mission and how it could go wrong and if it does they need to get Sophia to safety and there is a fair bit of time devoted to the planning and preparation on their part that I did enjoy.

As for the broader storytelling it does tend to tie itself in knots at times in terms of who’s working for who, who’s doing what, how is all of this going to play out, where everyone is at any given time and again it does feel a bit knotty story wise but it didn’t pull me out of the film thinking “how is this making any sense” it works fine enough that I still had fun.

And so that was In the Grey and it’s a fun watch if nothing remarkable, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

The Mandalorian and Grogu is the movie based off of the Star Wars TV series and Pedro Pascal is back as the Mandalorian with Grogu at his side as they are hunting down Imperial warlords but they are then tasked to find Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White) the wayward son of Jabba the Hutt.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is not a bad movie to watch but its also one that doesn’t really do all that much for you either, the opening action scene is fun with Mando hunting down a former Imperial officer and you see what feels like the kind of action scenes of Mando kicking bottom left right and centre that you would rarely see on the TV series and it gets you in the mood for the film.

But there are so many action scenes that after a while watching the movie feels exhausting and while watching it it felt like at one point that the movie was coming to an end and I felt pretty good but then whoopsie doodle there’s another hour of movie left on the homeworld of the Hutts and that section drags on and on and on with monster fights, Grogu doing cute things and an environment that looked very CGI heavy.

And speaking of CGI it is very obvious at times that your looking at digital environments because it never really registers as real to your eye (and the human eye is pretty good at knowing what is real and what is fake) and that second episode-sorry-second half of this movie just goes on for too long.

Which is another issue I have with this movie, at 132 minutes this movie is half an hour too long because the storytelling on the whole is so thin and stretched out that you could have gotten away with this if this was the 2 episode premiere of a fourth season on Disney Plus but cut together as a movie it just drags on and on and goes on for so long that I began to feel a little exhausted when it was all over.

As for the cast, Pedro is fine but it is clear that he was only really on set for a week or so to do the shots of him in the suit and an action scene in a pit and that was it he could then do all of his other lines in post production while someone else wears the suit to keep the production on schedule, Grogu is cute but it is high time this character started to grow up a little bit and get older and more assured of his Force abilities but we all know that won’t happen, Jeremy Allen White is okay as Rotta but nothing special while Martin Scorsese and Sigourney Weaver have small roles here because hey why not, pet the Grogu puppet and make a bit of money they do have bills to pay too you know.

And so that was the Mandalorian and Grogu and look its not terrible but that’s the nicest thing I can say about this movie because its long, exhausting action and thin storytelling lost me after a while, 1.5 out of 5.

Film Review - The Sheep Detectives (2026)

The Sheep Detectives stars Hugh Jackman as George Hardy a Sheep Herder in Denbrook England who reads Murder Mystery Novels to his flock of Sheep but one night he is found dead in his caravan and so his Sheep set out to find who murdered him using their knowledge of mystery novels.

The Sheep Detectives is a nice and cute romp that families will have a good time with as did I, Hugh Jackman isn’t in the film as much but I enjoyed his brief role here and the Sheep are a lot of fun especially Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Lily the main sheep and Sir Patrick Stewart as Sir Richfield.

The film also has a nice UK feel to it as well in terms of its Murder Mystery plot that reminded me of the many many shows that country made with the small town full of suspects and it deals with tough subjects with a nicely sensitive touch that older audiences will understand without frightening younger audiences as well.

And so that was The Sheep Detectives and it is a nice cute romp that many will enjoy, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Mortal Kombat II (2026)

Mortal Kombat II is the follow up to 2021’s Mortal Kombat film and Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) seeks to rule the Earthrealm through the Mortal Kombat tournament and now Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) must rally his fighters to save Earthrealm from Shao Kahn’s tyranny.

Mortal Kombat II was easily one of my most anticipated films of the year (only the Odyssey, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and Dune Part Three I anticipated as much) even though I was fairly disappointed in the 2021 MK film which was only watchable when Josh Lawson’s Kano (a great Australian) was on screen but MKII the game was a big step up from the first game so could the movie do the same.

HELL YES!! I had a great time with this movie and in almost every way this movie is an improvement and first off you actually have lead characters you give a shit about, Cole Young from the first film felt like a relic of an older time in terms of being the “mainstream outsider” lead and wisely his screen time is much reduced and this time Adeline Rudolph’s Kitana and Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage are the co-leads with Ludi Lim’s Liu Kang and Jessica McNamee’s Sonya getting larger roles and it makes a huge difference as those characters work much better in bringing you into that world and Urban is terrific fun as Cage bringing a smug smartassery with the fighting skills to back it up to the role and working well and one joke he has made me laugh out loud in the cinema.

As for Rudolph as Kitana she is a great find handling both the emotional moments and the battle scenes very well and I hope I see more of her in the future also Ford is a memorable Shao Kahn who was always a pain in the ass to beat in Mortal Kombat II and 3 and thankfully he is a formidable foe here.

Next up the fight scenes and arena locations are so much better than the empty lifeless arena the first film had and many iconic locations from the games are nicely recreated especially the acid pit from Game 2 and the Portal Bridge from MK3 and also the fight scenes are really good here especially when Shao Kahn fights plus Baraka (a very cool practical effect) vs Johnny Cage and Liu Kang vs Kung Lao not to mention the climax of the film in the Netherworld which makes great use of the ensemble cast.

And lastly the storytelling here is much cleaner and it reminded me a lot of the recent Mortal Kombat games where you would have the brief cutscenes before getting to the fights and the story scenes in this movie reminded a lot of those and while it doesn’t always work I didn’t hate it all that much.

And so that was Mortal Kombat II and this is a sequel that knows what it wants to be and does it very very well, this 90s kid is a very happy man, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - The Devil Wears Prada II (2026)

The Devil Wears Prada II continues on from 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada and this time Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) returns to Runway magazine to become its features editor after being fired from her journalist job but returning to Runway also means dealing with Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci)

The Devil Wears Prada II is an enjoyable sequel by and large but I preferred the first film mainly because that film knew what film it wanted to be whereas this sequel film doesn’t at times, Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs is easily my favourite part of this film and she plays the role like she never left it and she radiates this warmth and humour and ease of persona in a way that feels effortless and using her to commentate on the changes in Journalism in the 20 years between these 2 films was a very smart move.

And that storyline about the decline of print journalism (hell proper forensic journalism as a whole) in the last 20 years was my other favourite part of this sequel and watching those moments made me think of all my old journalist friends from Twitter and real life and on a couple of occasions I did find myself wishing that some of them were either sitting next to me or were still on my social media feeds so I could ask them about and/or talk to them about it afterwards.

Plus Stanley Tucci is a delight in this movie as he feels like that warm hearted father figure who hasn’t lost his fashion sense or his timing for a biting remark but then again it is Caesar Flickerman after all and I also quite liked Simone Ashley as Amari (Miranda’s suffering assistant) and I hope I get to see more of her in movies.

As for the rest of the film its okay but nothing you really got better from the first film, yes the fashions are good and the fashion shows are glamorous to watch but those were in the first film and I thought they worked better there plus this movie doesn’t really know what to do with Miranda Priestley that at times I did find myself wondering if it might have been better if she was written out entirely of this movie because on the one hand the movie wants Miranda to be her bitchy horrible boss self but on the other hand you can’t really do that Horrible Boss character much anymore.

But one character that really gets the short shrift and that is Emily Blunt who was so memorable in the first film that when I watched her in that film I thought to myself that not only was she going to go on to big things (which she has) but also she felt like she belonged on a great BBC Comedy series but this time she’s in so little of the film I find myself wondering why did they bother bringing her back as it feels like a waste of her great talents.

And so that was the Devil Wears Prada II which is a good sequel but the first film was better, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - You, Me and Tuscany (2026)

You, Me and Tuscany stars Halle Bailey as Anna a house sitter struggling to cope after the death of her mother who then decides to go to Italy after meeting an Italian man at a bar one night, while there she meets Michael (Rege-Jean Page) and sparks begin to fly.

You, Me and Tuscany is a perfectly fine and charming movie that works firstly because you can’t help but love the Italian countryside with its beautiful sunrises and sunsets, roaming hills, generous amounts of food and wine and lots of old towns and buildings to explore and like with Equalizer 3 a couple of years ago it will make you want to visit there on your next holiday.

This movie also works because of the chemistry between its leads, Bailey got a lot of muck and mud and sludge thrown at her for being Ariel in the live action Little Mermaid a couple of years ago and she didn’t deserve it (she was the only thing that interested me in seeing that pointless live action remake) and here she makes for a likeable romantic lead and Jean-Page is good as well and the two have nice chemistry together.

And so that was You, Me and Tuscany and its perfectly fine and charming for a rainy Sunday afternoon in a cold winter, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Michael (2026)

Michael is the musical biopic about the late Michael Jackson and his own nephew Jafaar Jackson plays Michael in this movie which concerns his initial rise to fame as part of the Jackson Five all the way up to the release of the album Bad in 1988.

Michael was at the start of this year one of my most anticipated movies of the year primarily because of the strength of the first trailer and how much it had me thinking I was looking at remastered archival footage instead of dramatized recreations but as the year has gone on it began to fade from that list and I started anticipating Mortal Kombat II and Minions and Monsters a whole lot more plus musical biopics can be very hit and miss but would this be a thriller, thrilling time at the movies or would it be bad, be bad, be pretty pretty bad.

Well actually it was neither, its not a terrible movie to watch but its also a movie that dramatically and storytelling wise falls flat and when it all ends you sit there feeling “Is that It?” but before I delve more into that I want to mention the main positive I have and that is Jafaar Jackson who does a great job bringing his late uncle back to life with his vocals, his dance moves and his physical acting, Michael was a man who brought a sense of movement to his music and when you listened to it you wanted to move your body to it and Jafaar captures that very well.

I also loved the Billie Jean segment in this movie but there is where I want to start mentioning the negatives and sadly that has to start with the musical numbers, again they aren’t terrible but only during Billie Jean did I want to move my body and sing along in my cinema seat (respectfully of course) the Thriller recreation (one of the most iconic music videos of all time) fell flat due to its bad editing (and trying to hide who that clip’s now infamous director is) and the concert scenes after a while started to feel repetitive.

Not to mention that during 2 of the films songs I was wanting to sing the Weird Al Yankovic parodies of those songs instead which is not a good sign for a movie of this kind.

And then there’s the films overall storytelling which feels flat and emotionless, so much of the dramatic weight of this movie is centred on Michael’s relationship with this domineering father Joe played by Coleman Domingo and Domingo’s performance is so one note at times you can almost see the scenery being chewed in his mouth and it all felt like a waste of a great talent who rarely gives a bad performance and this is one of the rare times and that story of the son learning to defy his father so he can go his own way felt very predictable.

And when its all over you just sit there thinking “was that it?” because it all ends in a very anti-climatic way that doesn’t feel earned in any way and say what you want about Bohemian Rhapsody from 2018 (also produced by Graham King) at least that film earnt its Live Aid climax that had you leaving that film on a real high note and also this is now the second musical biopic he’s helped to produce that has resulted in a messy production and while I’m sure he’s a nice guy I can’t help but question his judgement given this has now happened twice.

First was not cracking the producers whip on Bryan Singer after the first time he allegedly went MIA during the filming of Bohemian Rhapsody to pull him into line (Singer was later fired from that production with only 2-2.5 weeks left on the schedule) and now it’s the well documented mess regarding the production of this movie where scenes were filmed but then had to be scrapped because of a situation involving MJ’s estate now that part isn’t entirely his fault but its also a situation that could’ve been avoided much earlier than it was.

And so that was Michael and it isn’t a bad movie but its also a flat one with hit and miss musical scenes, a anti-climatic ending and a predictable storyline that feels like a waste of a great talent, 1.5 out of 5.