Film Review - Obsession (2026)

Obsession is written and directed by Curry Barker and stars Michael Johnstone as Bear a nervous young man who has a crush on his co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarette) but cannot bring himself to tell her how he really feels about her so one night in a store he buys a One Wish Willow ornament that is said to grant any wish the person wants granted so Bear wishes for Nikki to love him but as the Genie said to Aladdin you can’t make people fall in love with you.

Obsession is a movie I have mixed feelings about, on the positive side the film is well made by Barker who uses the night very effectively to help create a mood of dread and tension throughout the film and the horror moments are very effective especially some of the bed scenes where its so early in the morning the characters should all be sound asleep but it also helps to put Bear and Co on edge the next day like they could snap from a lack of sleep.

And Inde Navarette is fantastic as Nikki, she is asked to a lot of strange stuff in this role especially after the wish is used on her and she excels at all of it from the way she’s dressed as an object of Bear’s desires rather than seeing her for who she really is to the way she talks like a devoted wife with the loving smile that looks creepy at times would and even down to the highly strung out emotional moments of screaming and crying and obsessive behaviour and all of it is simply fantastic to watch, this should be a star making performance.

I also enjoyed Megan Lawless as Sarah, Bear’s co-worker in the music shop who secretly has a crush on Bear but doesn’t tell him.

And that leads into one of the problems I have with this movie, nobody talks to each other about how they really feel about each other, right from the first scene you see Bear talk nervously to a girl in a diner and I sat there thinking “For goodness sake just tell her how you feel, it’s not that hard” and that feeling never really went away for me especially when Nikki is changed by Bear’s wish as she never really felt loved by Bear for who she was but who Bear wanted her to be, an object of sexual desire that he could have all to himself.

And that leads me to Bear as a character, I hated this obnoxious little dweeb that I just sat there thinking as Bear tries to figure out what’s going on that everything that’s happening is all his fault, he didn’t tell Nikki how he really felt about her and when he used his One Wish Willow to make her love him he doesn’t realize for much of the movie that she is doing precisely what he deep down wanted her to do, be his and his alone and his friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) isn’t much better either as he comes across as the douchebag friend that says all the wrong things to Bear and I hated watching both of these obnoxious little shitheads.

And lastly the other main problem I had was with Nikki herself, we barely get to know her as a character in the early scenes of the movie before the wish changes her to make the impact of that wish really land properly and the movie I kept thinking about while watching this one was last year’s Companion with Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher which also dealt with an insular young man wanting a woman to love him but that film showed how insular and horrible the male lead was and gave the female lead a lot more agency in the story and I wish this movie had more of that.

And so that was Obsession and it’s a mixed bag for me, it’s well made and effective but the storytelling was not as good, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Backrooms (2026)

Backrooms is based off of the YouTube Videos and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark who runs the Captain Clark’s Ottoman Empire Furniture Store and has been kicked out of his house in a separation so one night while putting his feet up in the shop he notices a strange power fluctuation and goes to investigate and finds a series of rooms all empty under his shop.

Backrooms for most of its runtime worked pretty well for me and firstly that is because the film has a great premise and setup: The finding of strange empty rooms underneath where you might work or live and the design of these rooms is fantastic as is the camerawork because when Clark and others go to explore it it has an inherent spookiness and danger to it that feels real especially when people take cameras into empty and abandoned buildings which has that very same feel to it.

The film also has some good performances primarily from Ejiofor as Clark and Renate Reinsve as Dr Kline Clark’s therapist who begins to suspect her patient is losing his mind and both do very well in their roles.

But where this film lost me was in its payoff as I sat there in the cinema really intrigued by the setup and premise but I also thought as it went on “This better have a good payoff” and sadly it does not as the climax of the film ties itself up in convoluted answers and story resolutions that make very little sense and aren’t really built up that well that when it was over I thought to myself “That was stupid”

And so that was Backrooms and it’s okay, but I’ve seen better horror films, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Minions and Monsters (2026)

Minions and Monsters is the 3rd Minions spinoff film and sees the Minions making their way to 1920’s Hollywood where they become stars of the silent film era but when the industry transitions to sound and their dialect sees their career end Minions James, Henry and Ed decide to make a monster movie instead and travel to find the perfect monster to use but they should be careful what they wish for also.

Minions and Monsters is a pure delight that made me laugh a lot in the cinema and put a smile on my face for so much of it, those little guys still make me laugh with their unique way of talking/their physical comedy and inspired chaos that we used to see in comedies like Hot Shows, The Naked Gun and Airplane and while Gru isn’t in this movie I didn’t miss him all that much like I did in the 2015 Minions film.

The film also has a lot of great movie references ranging from famous voices (one in particular was lovely to see) to the Great Gatsby and Babylon to silent cinema in general as well as life on a studio lot as well as 1950’s Sci-fi cinema in one instance, some of these don’t 100% work but a lot of them do.

And lastly the monsters in this movie are great fun especially the monster that shows up towards the end of the film which is very memorable and good fun to watch on a decent sized cinema screen and the small green monster known as Goomi voiced by Trey Parker is good fun as well and acts as the equivalent of Gru from the 2022 Rise of Gru film and by that I mean the English speaking co-lead that helps to anchor the film.

And so that was Minions and Monsters and what can I say, I was delighted with its humour/monsters and cinema references, I had a great time here, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - Supergirl (2026)

Supergirl is the newest entry in the DCU now under James Gunn and Peter Safran’s control and this movie is the spinoff for Kara (Milly Alcock) who was briefly introduced in last year’s Superman movie and this story sees Kara enjoying her birthday off world in systems with a red sun so she can get properly drunk but on one world she and Krypto the Dog come across Krem (Mathias Schoenarts) who poisons Krypto and Kara has 3 days to find a cure.

Supergirl is not a terrible movie per se but its also a movie that did very little for me but the one thing I did like about this movie is Milly Alcock as Kara, she does a great job with the material she’s given and sells the tragedy of that character, the fun of the character and the action moments very well plus she has some great moments with David Corenswet who shows up briefly as Superman and he continues to prove himself worthy of that mantle in the role.

But apart from those 2 actors this movie doesn’t really work:

- The first reason is the films storytelling and tone which wants to have a more serious storyline about women being traded for information and to be brides for the Briggins (the race Krem belongs to) but on the other hand it also wants to have the “lets get fun and get on the galactic beers and get drunk” fun while also having the James Gunn trademarks of jokes in every other line and funky pop songs on the soundtrack and the two just do not mesh at all.

Its one thing to want to have this serious storyline but its another thing to mesh that with a Guardians of the Galaxy style of fun and Gunn as a writer/director can pull that off as he showed with Guardians 3 in 2023 but here Ana Noguiera and Craig Gillespie the writer and director respectively cannot and it shows.

- The second reason is Gillespie as director, frankly he should not have directed this movie as all he really does is want to copy James Gunn’s style of filmmaking which only Gunn himself can make work properly because he trusts his writing and directing instincts and because of that he has done great work in both DC and Marvel movies but Gillespie (who came to prominence with I, Tonya and Cruella) feels like he’s imitating that style and doing it badly which often is the case.

And so often especially nowadays these movies if they don’t have a specific style can feel very bland and samey which I am starting to get a little over, these movies have worked best for me when it’s had a strong hand at the helm like the late great Richard Donner or Tim Burton or Bryan Singer who were filmmakers that understood that yes the comics are the source but don’t be afraid to change that in the adaptation process of making a movie out of it and all too often nowadays that firm vision is missing so that the studio in charge can manage any kind of risk with these films as their too important to the bottom line.

- And lastly a lot of the casting didn’t do it for me either, Jason Momoa finally gets to play Lobo an arrogant loudmouth bounty hunter but instead he just comes across as annoying and his makeup work is lit so dimly you don’t really get a proper look at it and when compared to Brad Garrett who voiced that role in the Superman animated series Momoa’s take is nowhere near as good as Garrett was loud and arrogant and brash but never annoying.

And then there’s Mathias as Krem who too often sounds like he’s impersonating Tim Roth while looking like a cross between Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies and Zao from Die Another Day and the Briggins as villains on the whole feel like a rip off of the space pirates from Guardians.

And lastly there’s Eve Ridley as Ruthye and boy does her dialogue outstay its welcome quickly as she sounds like a character from Game of Thrones with her portentous dialogue that sounds like a mouthful coming out of Ridley’s mouth and her whole story arc about wanting vengeance is okay but not all that memorable.

And so that was Supergirl and both Milly and David are great as the last survivors of Kryptin (unless somehow General Zod returns in which case you’d better start practicing how to kneel before him) but this movie suffers from an inconsistent tone, boring villains and lacklustre casting, its not terrible but its not much either, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Disclosure Day (2026)

Disclosure Day is the new movie by Steven Spielberg and stars Josh O’Connor as Daniel Kellner a government cyber security contractor who goes on the run from the Wardex Corporation and its head Noah (Colin Firth) meanwhile Kansas City Weather Reporter Margaret (Emily Blunt) starts speaking a strange language while on air and soon enough she gets caught up in the mystery that Daniel is also caught up in.

Disclosure Day despite some wobbles with its ending is a movie that I really enjoyed and the first reason for that is Steven Spielberg’s direction, there are so few filmmakers that know how to move a camera like he does and by that I mean that it feels like a natural extension of his arm and that is on show here with many long tracking shots, energetic action moments and excellent camera blocking that makes you feel like your with these characters on this journey and feeling what they feel.

Januz Kaminski’s cinematography is quite good especially in the films night time scenes, there are so so so so many movies nowadays that make their night time scenes look like washed out pixelated messes where you can’t see a fucking thing but here you can see everything as your meant to in those moments and the streaks of light that sometimes come through windows or the flashes of police lights are used to great effect to add suspense and tension to the scenes.

The film is also littered with great performances, Josh O’Connor works very well here as a classic Spielberg everyman, someone who is good at what they do but have nothing special about them but we instantly feel that certain connection to them, Colin Firth is great as the chief villain and he has a very memorable scene with a table that is great to watch, Eve Hewson is also very good as Jane (Daniel’s girlfriend) and she has some great moments of her own while Colman Domingo is his usual charismatic self while also bringing a warm mentor feel to his character.
And then there is Emily Blunt who honestly deserves an Oscar nomination for her work here, she is much the lead of this movie as O’Connor is and she is simply superb here and she is asked to do a lot with this character and she more than steps up to the plate, sometimes the movies Blunt stars in can be hit or miss (hey it happens) but when she’s this good (and she has rarely let me down performance wise) I won’t complain.

But there is one more person that deserves some love and that is Courtney Grace as a news anchor who has one key scene in the climax but sells it really well and almost steals the entire film.

But if I do have a minor quibble it is in the storytelling, David Koepp isn’t the world’s best screenwriter but for so much of this movie I was intrigued by the mystery, invested in what was going on and wanted to know more about what the truth was Wardex were trying to hide and when that is all revealed I enjoyed it but then it cuts to black and that’s it the movie’s over and part of me can’t help feel that if that moment had been extended a beat or two then it would’ve landed better for me.

And so that was Disclosure Day and it is along with The Drama and Mortal Kombat II one of my favourite films of the year so far, I really enjoyed it, 3 and a half out of 5.

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.