Just fucking brilliant.
Rian Johnson delivers the murder mystery marvels once again. Mega smart, gripping, and hilarious, but also far more moodier than previous installments and most surprisingly, quite emotionally complex. Josh O'Connor, though, steals the entire show. What an incredible actor.
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Relatively enjoyable slasher that kicks into gear with a third act bloodbath, some decent jokes, and a slight queer subtext.
It's shame the first hour is a bit of a slog and that Chikdren of the Corn-vibe role reversal twist is so fucking lame and lands like shit in a toilet.
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That first scene of Kevin Costner drinking his own piss wasn't the wisest of creative choices to open a $175M blockbuster, and 30 years since its spectacular belly flop at the box office, not much has changed.
It looks great. You can see where all the money went but unfortunately none of it went into the script. Apart from the sonewhat cool concept, Waterworld is still a water-logged, carbon copy shiite of Mad Max at sea. The action is passable, but the logic and storytelling here is utterly amateurish, even when it tries to embrace camp, it's boring. And even though its nightmare production is Hollywood history, it completely reads on Kevin Costner's face. He's fucking awful in this film: bland, uninterested, but all the while, still taking this crap all too seriously. It's a legendary bad performance that should be studied, and manages to be even worse than his work in The Postman.
And for those who keep trying to make Waterworld a cult classic, you need to chill. It's awful and will always be.
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It's fine.
It's fine as in it's not great but not tedious either. I didn't know who Mark Kerr was going into this, and honestly, after watching it I didn't really care who he was afterwards. Benny Safdie's direction is also fine, hardly compelling enough to make the subject matter essential to recommend The Smashing Machine. The Rock buried underneath a lot of prosethics tries his best to act his ass off and Dwayne is not a bad actor.... he's just... fine at what he does. But, there's no electricity here, no narrative oomph to grab the audiences attention, and thus, it's all a tad forgettable.
The Smashing Machine is watchable and is probably a more meaningful experience to those with an affinity for UFC, but to an outsider the endeavour feels underwhelming - solid, lukewarm filmmaking dressed up to be prestige cinema and most annoyingly, designed as easy Oscar bait.
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Swings BIG and pays off beautifully.
A refreshing and authentic piece of queer cinema that has so much to say about the universal need to feel loved as it does about the sheer thrill of kinky sex.
It's adventurous, hopeful, and smart filmmaking, something we rarely get to indulge in these days but director Harry Lighton doesn't let its subject matter make this niche cinema but instead he has crafted a gorgeous love story that reveals itself as a total crowd pleaser.
In a fair world. Pillion should be riding high come award season mainly in turn to a truly revelatory Alexander Skarsgård and an extraordinary poignant performance by Harry Melling.
Unmissable.
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I could watch Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons act on screen for hours and hours on. They are truly some of the most magnificent actors of today and when you mix them up in the maddening, absurd mind of Yorgos Lanthimos you get fucked up, brilliant, and jaw-dropping cinema like Bugonia.
It's been a very long time since I gasped out loud whilst watching a film, but Bugonia's gonzo and bonkers approach to the most human of themes such as trauma, loneliness, and grief mixed the our inherit obsession with the toxic online world and empty-headed conspiracy theories makes for an uneasy, grim, but undeniably hilarious adventure that only Lanthimos can conjure.
And that audacious third act is fucking unforgettable. I'll be discussing it with myself for days.
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Anyone else cheer out loud when the house was dropped on that geebag in the wheelchair?
So satisfying x
...but, Cynthia and Ariana absolutely knock it out of the park again for a mostly entertaining conclusion to what is arguably one of the best Broadway adaptations ever made. Even if the songs aren't the bangers that made Part 1 so wonderful, it's heart, charm, and Jon. M.Chu's magical direction more than make up for it.
What keeps it from greatness though, is its bloated running time and new unnecessary plot strands that lead absolutely nowhere in a race to get the climactic third act. Simply, the first sixty minutes is utter fluffy filler, created to justify turning the story into a two-parter. Luckily, Jonathan Bailey's chest hair is a lovely distraction.
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Too gorgeous to resist.
Tilda Swinton, the way Luca Guadagnino moves and angles the camera, and that wonderful score by John Adams are simply superlative.
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Twenty-five years later and Kinji Fukasaku's adolescent nightmare hasn't lost any of its potency.
It's a fucking weird mix of über-violence, coming-of-age melodrama, social satire, and the bleakest of humour, but it's beautifully made, searing carnage. Especially love the contrast of the classical music against all the splatter. An unique viewing experience.
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Oh, dear! It's all a bit too melodramatic to be swept away by Branagh's well meaning, but oddly lifeless adaptation of Shelley's classic novel.
Robert DeNiro is perfectly cast as the monster, but the script is in too much of a rush to get to the gruesome third act to really give him anything to work with, and Branagh worst misstep is casting himself in the title lead role in a woefully overcooked, soap-opera performance who seems to be more interested in getting on with Helena Botham Carter and being wet and topless.
There are some great gothic moments and the set-design is impressive, but the whole endeavour is lacking passion or heart.
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Though the editing and narrative choices seem constantly at odds with each other and a tad frustrating, Plainclothes succeeds in landing an emotional punch thanks to Tom Blyth's committed and heart-pounding performance.
Carman Emmi's exploration of closeted homosexuality, identity and self-opression through the lens of a paranoid thriller is a bold move but it veers dangerously close to melodrama especially in rhe third act, and you'd wish Emmi would've kept the course a bit more steadily. He's a talent to keep an eye for, though.
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It doesn't really indulge in its cool concept because the actual "Running Man" action only takes up a third of the films running time, and its supposed dystopian, totalitarian future America doesn't seem all the oppressive or frightening.
Still, it's 80's campy and trashy aesthetics, a synthy score, and Schwarzenegger's blockbuster energy and charisma keep this throughly enjoyable enough for a Friday late-night shot of nostalgia.
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Badass, brutal, and most surprising of all, it's a beautifully shot piece of action, sci-fi cinema.
It's a shame that Disney didn't grant this a theatrical release because Dan Trachtenberg has given this franchise a gorgeous cinematic gloss, and turned the Predator universe into something far more epic and expansive, that the other sequels failed to deliver on.
Also, introducing a female-led protaganist in the shape of the phenomenal Amber Midthunder is an absolute game-changer. She gives Naru an emotional, relentless toughness to her that you totally invest in throughout, and most of all, can't wait to see again the franchise.
Along with the terrific world-buidling of Killer of Killers and Badlands, I can't wait to see where Trachtenberg takes us next.
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Five stars is probably too generous but I don't give a fuck because Badlands is the most exhilarating blockbuster of the year.
Dan Trachtenberg has created a Predator film like no other. Proving that Prey was no fluke, his universe is expansive and unexpected, It's gorgeously shot, the action and pace is breathlessly exciting, and most unexpected of all, it's very funny and it comes with a load of heart - not something you usually associate with this franchise, but Trachtenberg orchestrates it effortlessly in a stunning IMAX lense. If he and Disney hold their nerve going forward, this franchise could easily become essential as Stsr Wars or even the likes of MCU.
Oh, and don't fret about the PG-13 rating... there's splatter, guts, and severed limbs aplenty. None of it may be red but Trachtenberg does not hold back with rhe Yautja violence. This still has it's adult-edge just slightly calibrated to introduce a younger, newer audience to the franchise. So, the genius casting of Elle Fanning in a dual role of ying-and-yang synthetics works so well. Fanning is fantastic. She brings the smarts, the giggles, and the charisma that you really catches you off-guard, and her on-screen chemistry with a motion-captured Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamantan gives the story a nuanced kick which leads to Dimitrius pitch-perfect portrayal of exiled Dek the Yautja. He's utterly fantastic, the brutality and the towering threat we expect from the iconic cinema icon is still intact but this time with a soul.
And that's why the new Predator works so well, because Trachtenberg is not interested in what came before, he's building a new universe from the threadbare bones of the past underwhelming sequels and creating something truly epic and brutal. The slight re-introduction of the AvP crossover (relax, there's not a xenomorph in sight) is so tantalising too, along with an intriguing last scene, that this franchise can go absolutely anywhere and I can't fucking wait.
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Josh O'Connor is outstanding. As The Mastermind, he's both sad and loathsome, most especially when everyone around him is a whole lot smarter than he is, and O'Connor keeps you hooked throughout.
No one paints or writes about the mundaness of working class Middle America better than Kelly Reichardt. This being her most accessible film to date, with a slight narrative shift to a male perspective, she perfectly captures a character who has really nothing to offer anyone but makes O'Connor's Jamie Blaine Mooney oddly and frustratingly compelling in his lack of empathy, especially when she's painting her tale of greed against the background of America's youth being conscripted to the Vietnam war.
It's darkly funny, it takes it time, and it's beautifully shot. With this being Reichardt, most will find the auteur work too meandering, but I think that's the point - we're meant to feel ordinariness of life and the wait for that superb final shot is totally satisfying. Frustrating yes, but an original, singular voice of indie cinema? Without a doubt.
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Still one of the best slasher sequels ever made.
Sticks-to-the-basics, short, and scary. Jamie Lee is fantastic, and is the final, third-act showdown with Michael Myers is fucking brilliant, with superb final shot.
Chills.
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Trash, but that's not surprising coning from someone like Eli Roth.
It's also very dumb.
Hostel and Hostel: Part II are beginning to feel like a very long time ago.
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Wherever you can, go watch this on the biggest screen possible.
Guillermo del Toro's take on the Mary Shelley's classic is a lush, grand, gothic romance. It's a gorgeous piece of cinema and Del Toro's passion for the source material is on every inch of celluloid. It is romantic and tragic, as it is scary and bloody - a love letter to the grand type of horror filmmaking we're so little afforded these days. This Frankenstein has also a heart, and it's mainly thanks to Jacob Elordi's astonishingly empathetic performance as the monster. What's so great about it, is that it's so unexpected. Elordi could've easily fallen into the genre tropes and clichés with this type of role, but instead we get a poignant and cathartic central performance that finds the humanity in all the horror.
It's not a Del Toro masterpiece, though. His changes from the original novel might and rightly frustrate purists, as it should because not all his narrative choices land, and his tendency for awkward dialogue sometimes gets the better of him. Also, some of the characters are terribly underwritten. Poor Mia Goth is so underused that she at times looks utterly bored and Christoph Waltz appearance is simply.more of a plot device which is never really explored or explained. Though, you can tell Oscar Isaac is having an absolute blast. Dr. Frankenstein's energy, charm, and inevitable descent into obsession and bitterness is wholly entertaining to watch simply because, like del Toro, Issac has such affinity for the source material. Yet, his constant accent change is ridiculously obvious. Did they forget the additional ADR in post-production.
It's a shame that this is a Netflix production, because this Frankenstein deserves to be seen by everyone, everywhere alà Weapons and Sinners to appreciate del Toro's epic vision, and while it may not be his best work, it's still beautiful horror cinema.
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A complete and utter cop-out.
The first forty minutes are stellar, a masterclass in building tension in a minimal set-up but heightened by current, real-life fears and geopolitical tension and a great performance by Rebecca Ferguson. This is Kathryn Bigelow's greatest strength as a filmmaker and her signature urgent, kinetic camerawork reminds us of why she's one of the greatest filmmakers working today.
Unfortunately, come the middle-act, anchored by an underwhelming script and some terrible dialogue, A House of Dynamite reveals itself to be nothing but a dud. It's becomes too talky, too repetitive, and the tension Bigelow superbly structures in the beginning dissipates because there's also too many characters introduced in the too short running time. The point is to imagine the coming horror, but Noah Oppenheim's script is so saddled with unrealistic, and somewhat silly, dialogue and odd character moments (some that lead absolutely nowhere) that it obliterates any real-life tensions were meant to be feeling. Even some of the performances fall flat - Idris Elba's POTUS is a complete non-starter but it's doesn't help when Elba has the emotional range of a tea cup.
Then comes that frustrating non-ending. I know Bigelow wants to leave us with a debate and using our imagination to feel the horror that could actually happen to humanity one day, but there's such an emotional dissonance to the narrative and performances that whole film lands with an utter "who cares" kind of vibe and as an audience, left wanting a lot more.
It's not one of the worst films but probably it will be more known as one of 2025's most disappointing films.
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This installment is the stand-out of a very ho-hum franchise.
When not serving a splatterfest of nostalgia, it's being bloody bonkers, disgusting, funny, and pant-wettingly scary. I would love to see any of these shorts remade into feature-length flicks, with Safe Haven being some of the most fucked-up, horrifying shit I've ever seen.
Tape 49: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Phase 1 Clinical Trials: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Ride in the Park: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Safe Haven: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Slumber Party Alien Abduction: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A smart and scary retooling of slasher film tropes.
The allegories of promiscuity and the decaying suburban working-class of mid-west America filtered through Gen-Z apathy and David Robert Mitchell's restaint of using typical jump-scares, and instead building a claustrophobic sense of dread and paranoia makes It Follows all the more effective.
Maika Monroe makes for a refreshing take on the Final Girl, and it's synth soundtrack make the frights all the chilling. The concept, whilst original, does sometimes get the better of itself as some scenes feel a bit silly in execution but it's great to see filmmakers proving that the sub-genre isn't dead just yet.
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Probably the most notorious video nasty of all, but it was and probably still is unfairly maligned due to its nihilistic and violent content.
Abel Ferrera's splatterfest acts better as exploitative grindhouse, but this is also Ferrera expressing his own internal fears of mental health whilst attempting to be a commentary on 1970's New York when there was clear and unjust divide between the upper class and those on the poverty line and on the streets. It's also a middle-finger to the bourgeois pretentious art scene of the era, too.
It's just far too grungy, amateurish, and experimental for its themes to be taken very seriously, and Abel casting himself as the lead doesn't help. Yet, it is a striking and memorable work that deserves an audience even if it just the legendary shock value.
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Kudos for Oz Perkins for applying his beautiful signature sppoky visuals to this female-empowered update of the Brothers Grimm fairytale but its a tedious exercise in style with a thredbare plot, and at 87 minutes long, it's too long.
The gorgeous Irish filming locations look absolutely stunning, though.
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Liked it even less than the last time.
Far too glossy, boring, and that third act was just plain stupid - was that a fucking UFO or wha?
Adam Wingard should've really known to leave this alone and a noisy sound design does not a good horror film make.
The first half of this film is incredibly realised. A triumph of direction, emotional storytelling, astonishing post-apocalyptic production design and scope, and brilliant performances from Will Smith and his dog.
Unfortunately, come the third-act, it succumbs to nonsense spiritual and religious allegories, noisy and flashy blockbuster spectacle, and some of the most silly, unscary and ludicrous looking CGI zombies ever committed to celluloid - eviscerating any mood and emotional resonance the first half built so well.
If Francis Lawrence just've kept his nerve, I Am Legend could've been a genre masterpiece.
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Francis Lawrence's career-best film so far.
The Long Walk is an exceptionally made thriller with a cast giving it their all, deep emotional beats, and sheer visceral horror that will stick in the mind, and even though this material is nothing new for Lawrence, his decision to focus on the characters pathos and dynamics provide the film with its most compelling and harrowing moments.
While it benefits from an intelligent script by JT Mollner, it's unwillingness to really embrace and dissect it's political themes with urgency keeps it from being a truly great film, especially in the third act where you expect the film to go in hard as a mirror to the current political shift in real-life America, it instead cops out for a safe, soft landing that's a bit predictable and not having much to say. Also, I found Mark Hamill's lead villain too cartoonish to make a viable threat.
Though, as a whole, The Long Walk is still a too well-made dystopian drama for it to suffer much for its forgivable shortcomings as it remains a rewarding watch with Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson delivering stellar, Oscar-worthy performances.
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"TINA! TINA! TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNAAAAA!"
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
It's so bland and boring, and very annoying.
Danielle Harris one-note panicky performance grates and Donald Pleasance being nothing more than an absurdist pest is really distracting. And I also hate the fucking filming location. It totally sucks! Like, the producers didn't even find a house even remotely similar to the Myers house in the original, and then the The Shape in this one looks totally goofy. And don't even get me started on those two cops that's meant to serve as "comic-relief". Ugh! It's all so shite.
Even the plot stinks - killing off Rachel was a big mistake and then introducing the Pagen cult storyline is just drivel.
Halloween 1978 is the ultimate classic but the franchise as a whole, really goes down the crapper.
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There's one or two spooky moments and it starts off pretty strong, and the final girl is likeable, but Halloween 4 is pretty much DOA.
It looks cheap, it's virtually gore-free, and some of the best stuff happens off-screen. Take the police station scene, it would've been badass to see Michael Myers dispatch a whole police force but nope, instead The Shape spends almost two-thirds of the running time off-screen.
And why does the mask looks so bad?
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It's a mammoth task to orchestrate a sequel to arguably the greatest horror film of all time directed by one of greatest filmmakers of all time but it makes Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep all the more admirable.
It's a huge improvement over Stephen King's original but bloated and rather boring novel of the same name, and Flanagan is far more interested themes like trauma, guilt, and battling our own internal fears to elicit a far more textured and layered, and poignant, film. And, it has moments of pure dread and terror that cements Flanagan one of the finest horror storytellers in cinema today. The cast all do fine work, too, but it's Rebecca Ferguson's Rose the Hat who's an utterly indelible and frightening menace far the ages. She steals scenes effortlessly and with aplomb.
Unfortunately, what keeps Doctor Sleep from greatness is that it struggles to be self-contained and Flanagan is clearly conflicted between making a sequel of his own, a love letter to Kubrick's seminal work in The Shining, but also trying to be respectful to King's source material. It's a difficult juggle and an even bigger swing, and it times it works beautifully, at other times, it can be a slog. The Director's Cut is needlessly long at 180 minutes and those scenes recreating moments of Kubrick's original with new actors is bordering on sacrilege and the ho-hum.
Still, the film remains expertly crafted and deserves your patience as it's an rewarding horror film experience.
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Yeah, yeah, it's cool as fuck but its also a bit boring.
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It's 20 minutes too long thanks to Tarantino's propensity for self-indulgent, often pointless, dialogue but it's worth it for the incredible (and flawlessly edited - Sally Menke forever) carnage that Tarantino orchestrates. Kurt Russell's gives us the role of his career, the girls are fucking awesome (with Zoë Bell stealing the entire film - you'll see), and the third-act car chase is breathless.
And it has one or the most satisfying endings you'll ever see. It may not be a Quentin Tarantino masterclass, but it's him at his most fun.
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An utter triumph.
The way Guillermo del Toro crafts and yields fantasy and horror with history is pure cinema magic and still remains his best film. It's horrifying, tense, and exhilarating, poignant and while somewhat tragic, there's still hope and joy in the world del Toro has imagined.
No other filmmakers crafts stories of innocence and adolescence in times of such human horror better than del Toro, and in turn, cements Pan's Labyrinth as a masterpiece in Spanish cinema and genre filmmaking.
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This film has aged beautifully, and in hindsight, way ahead of the curve. We just didn't get it.
It's the third act massacre and surprise killer reveal that really sets Scream 4 apart from the others.
Emma Roberts' Jill is now a horror film villain icon: "How's those stitches, Sid?"
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Unhinged, gruesome monster madness.
Love every second of this chaos. The soundtrack rocks, the gore is relentlessly gooey, (un)intentionsly hilarious, and leading man, Urbano Barberini, is a sweaty, muscled top who I want to carry me to safety during the inevitable undead demon apocalypse to come.
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"...THE HUMAN HYPOTHALAMUS!"
If you can stomach the somewhat preposterous dialogue and plotting, there's a hugely entertaining monster B-movie to be found here. Setting all the gory action within the walls The Field Museum of Chicago is an absolute doozy especially in the films third act where all hell breaks loose. Stan Winston's creature design is fantastic but Peter Hyams horrid cinematography and some dodgy CGI makes it almost impossible to appreciate and it is given, most likely due to budget limitations, very little screen time. In fact, The Relic is screaming out, and deservedly so, for a full 4K restoration and home media release because it is a lost gem from the late 90's thar deserves a new audience.
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There are now SIX P.T. Anderson masterpieces in the world:
Boogie Nights (1997)
Magnolia (1999)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Master (2012)
Phantom Thread (2017)
...and now we have One Battle After Another (2025).
This is Paul Thomas Anderson operating at the peak of his powers. There are filmmaking techniques, camera shots, incredible seamless edits, and visual and storytelling nuances here that I've never seen in cinema before - it's truly a triumph in the dying art of original cinema.
Relentlessly paced as it is a powder keg of ideas - it's a trip into America's dark heart where pure white priviledge oppress the weak, those in the minority and those of colour. Those who seek truth and those who seek to manipulate it, but also it a crushingly funny satire that exposes the sheer contradictions of the Republican Far-Right and Trumpism, and it's all painted across a cinematic canvas of genres. As an action cinema auteur, Anderson pacing is breathless and tense, his craft at orchestrating the films chase scenes feels effortless and varied - either made of a collection of quick edits, aerial POV shots, and off-kilter wide-lense zooms - each moment is designed to be palm-sweatingly exciting, drawn-out and intense, and at times almost abstract in its unique cinematic style, and Michael Bauman's complimentary and crisp cinematography looks glorious on celluoid and 70mm IMAX.
The cast is also at the top of their game, too, and I'm sure I won't be the only one echoing these sentiments who like to see Leonardo DiCaprio get his second Oscar for Bob. A blistering concotion of humour, physical comedy, neurosis, and plenty of heart - this is his best performance since The Wolf of Wall Street with echoes of Jack Nicholson ala Seth Rogen. Sean Penn, finally remembering how to act again, is both gross and ludicrous, and clearly dogging real life politians such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth to great effect but twice as uncomfortable. But it's Teyana Taylor who steals scene for her surprisingly limited screen time. She an indelible and powerful actress but gives Perfidia a complex icy exterior especially when using her sexuality as a weapon but also as a way to survive, and in her fight to somewhat save humanity, she looses her own. It's a stunning performance that should win her the Best Supporting Actress trophy come Oscar night.
And, oh my, Benico... the coolest fucking actor to ever grace the silver screen. In essence, despite it's melodies of genres, themes, politics, and references, One Battle After Another is just one fucking cool film. Wickedly smart, funny, and but bracingly modern too with an ending that's a honours this generations power of protest, and the true revolutionaries of the past. A cinematic American epic for the ages, and one that is most urgent.
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This is a bizarre mix of slasher and domestic drama with clashing undertones of homoeroticism and homophobia, incest, psychological trauma, and jealousy that make for somewhat an uncomfortable yet compelling watch thanks to Susan Tyrrell utterly committed performances that borders on both brilliant and unhinged.
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David Twohy's maritime chiller remains an undiscovered little gem. Originally screwed over by its distributor during its theatrical release where no one went to see it.
It's a shame and despite some pacing issues, Below is a superbly crafted mood-piece that values atmospherics and well orchestrated chills, rather than empty jumpscares and lashings of gore to engage the audience. An intelligent and refreshing spin on the ghost story, Twohy proves that he was once a filmmaker of considerable talent and style.
Yearning for a revival and a newer, more apprective audience too.
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It's a wise move from David Twohy and Vin Diesel to backtack on the gloss and pomp that was The Cronicles of Riddick and return the franchise to its meaner, low-budget roots.
But this is no Pitch Black and Riddick mainly exists as a reminder that the original was lightening in a bottle that can't be caught again. Saying that,if you can stomach the piss-poor green screen and CGI work, and it being 30 minutes too long, there's some decent R-rated sci-fi action to enjoy here and it's always great to watch Vin Diesel relish his career-best role.
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Poor Anthony Mackie, he finally gets leading man status in the MCU and he's saddled with this generic, lifeless, and underwritten blockbuster.
It's the actual lack of ambition from director Julius Onah and the films five writers (FIVE, really!?) that really sink Brave New World and a reminder how stagnant the franchise has become.
There's nothing here to get excited about, the whole production seems a bit cheap, and there's that ridiculous third act climax that borders on the cringe. Mackie keeps you watching, but this is one entirely forgettable superhero slush.
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CRAPLOPOLIS.
If Francis Ford Coppola's name wasn't above the title card, this film would receive the universal animosity it deserves.
It's not a call-back to a style of filmmaking from a bygone era of cinema but instead its a bloated, confused vanity project that's neither passionate nor visionary. Megalopolis is a narrative nightmare with confusing plot stands, bizarre character arcs, detestable political and ethical undertones that pretty much paints Coppola as a former cinematic master out of talent, restraint, or subtlety. The whole endeavour just reeks of pretentiousness with some of the most cringing and laughable pieces of dialogue I've ever heard in a film. Laurence Fishbourne's irritating and overbearing narration tops off a film that should've stayed as an ambitious idea rather than a complete film.
Worse still, at 120 million dollars, why does the film look so damn cheap? The shite green screen work is embarrassingly cheap as it oddly basic set design... I couldn't help be distracted by the plastic champagne glasses and the terrible costume design. It all looks like day-time soap opera than prestige filmmaking its pretending to be. And then finally, to cap off a truly terrible film, there's the performances of the cast. By God, either it's all off a whim or they were just confused by Coppola's directing style, but the acting is inspiring for its total horrendousness. After this and Ferrari and House of Gucci I'm beginning to think Adam Driver is going to play the same character with the same nuances for the rest of his career - it gives me Marlon Brando in The Island of Doctor Moreau vibes with added camp. And camp is an adjective that endures with the rest of the cast, from Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman stumble around the place with odd incoherent line of dialogue, but it's Shia LaBeouf's spectacularly awful and just plain weird performance that really hammers the final nail into Megalopolis coffin to be remembered as one of the worst films of the 21st century.
The ideas are mushed, unrealised, and often, unintentionally hilarious. Even Coppola's attempts at abstract visuals look silly. It feels like the final, rambling, unchecked thoughts of a once-great autuer. Nothing flows with heart or emotion, it's mechanical storytelling is unrewarding and constant shifts in tone jarring. Maybe it's a vision best left untold.
If there's anything to salvage from it, it's Aubrey Plaza's unhinged performance and the film itself, so proud of its pomposity, it's rarely boring, and maybe in a few decades we might look back at it in earnest and label it a cult pr misunderstood classic, but for now, it should be studied for how not to make a film.
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It doesn't really flip the MCU formula as much as it likes to think it does but what I did unexpectedly love about it was the deft handling of heart and humour, and themes of loneliness and depression, with intelligence and nuance.
It's also helped by a superb cast firing on all cylinders, with Florence Pugh and Lewis Pullman being particularly great.
Maybe there's some life left in the MCU after all.
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Creepy, bloody, and imaginative, and brings life back to this corpse of a franchise.
You'd just wish the cast was a bit more interesting and it somewhat plays it safe in it's approach. It could've taken far more risks and seriously misses a certain Julia.
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Leigh Whannell's decision to flip this remake from horror to a psychological thriller with modern-day paranoia and urgent sexual politics is an ace move.
It hits home, it's relentlessly tense, superbly directed by Whannell on a shoestring budget (the simple practical FX is so damn effective), and it feels all the more relevant thanks to Elisabeth Moss' stressful, nuanced, and highly emotive performance. She's an incredible actress.
It's a tad overlong and some of the twists don't land too well, but it's worth forgiving for that truly satisfying ending.
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A favourite from my childhood.
There's not much going on plot-wise and it deserved a better leading man than Ted Danson, but Loch Ness has oodles of charm and magic, a superb supporting cast including a gorgeous Joely Richardson, some beautiful cinematography of the Scottish Highlands, and a warming, feel-good climax full of heart.
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To discuss in detail the dark treats that dwell deep in the devil's heart of Weapons would be devastating.
So take note, like most horror films which have been marketed in such mystery, know as little as possible going in. The ride will be ever so much more delightful.
Weapons is a bonkers, serpentine, unnervingly hilarious, brutal, and frightening fairy tale that descends into the darkest realms of everything Americana. Its grip on your attention is relentless, every frame feels urgent as it forces you to try make the labyrinth puzzle pieces fit. Director Zach Cregger, proving Barbarian was no fluke, ingeniously orchestrates a terrifying ride like nothing you've ever seen. It's a scathing takedown of America's inability to learn from it own trauma, inherit violent nature, and how, behind closed doors, evil is born in the family home.
It's another masterclass in genre filmmaking and every second is breathlessly and gorgeously realised. It echoes the likes of Wes Craven and George A. Romero, but never feeling derivative. It's also beautifully acted with Amy Madigan giving a gloriously unhinged, Oscar-calibrated performance for the ages.
Even at it's most scariest moments, it's at its most perversely comic. A concoction of storytelling trick 'r treats that will haunt your nightmares.
Can't wait to sit down and watch it all again.
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This is how you craft an incredible sophomore effort.
The Philippou Brothers have orchestred a terrifying horror with a dark heart. It explores the deepest realms of oppressed past, grief, devotion, fractured families, and while it's bleak, almost nihilistic, and very gruesome that echoes the very best of French New Wave Extremity Horror, it packs an unexpected emotional punch..
It's ambitious and mature work, and difficult to shake off long after viewing with a both frightening and stunning central performance by Sally Hawkins on par with Toni Collete's career-best in Hereditary.
The Academy, you better be paying attention.
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The older I get, the more I love it.
The first two-thirds of ID4 are fucking brilliant. The tension of the approaching mother ship and the city-sized attack ships shadowing iconic skylines is masterful and still looks incredible, and the ensuing fiery destruction and arial alien dogfights are pure blockbuster spectacle. He may not be Kubrick or Spielberg, but no one could've pulled this off but Roland Emmerich.
Yes, the third is flabby and cheesy, bit this a blockbuster unmatched.
And David Arnold's score is one of the greatest of all time.
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Blockbuster Bayhem at its best.
It's stupid, loud, and embarrassingly patriotic but also spectacular, funny, and when Bruce Willis sacrifices himself to save young Ben Affleck and humanity, I cry.
Fuck the haters x
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A cold, needlessly complex labyrinth, and mostly a geniune bore.
The cast is worthy but their performances are somewhat vacuous but the main culprit here is Christopher Nolan himself. The first film of his career where he has both over-reached and under-delivered on his narrative and technical ambition. Tenet exists simply because Nolan could. It's easy to just imagine studio executives seeing Nolan's on the script and throwing 200 million dollars at it.
The terrible, and admittedly dumb dialogue reveal how undercooked his story is and a very, very loud soundtrack fails to mask how oddly, thrill-less his action setpieces are.
A rare misstep, yes. But it's hard to forgive Nolan for this one.
]]>Don't come at me!
Dan Trachtenberg has evolved the franchise into some epic and detailed, whilist keeping the brutality and the breathless action the orignal is so well-remembered for.
And Prey should be given an IMAX re-release.
]]>- Halloween
- Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
- Halloween
- Halloween III: Season of the Witch
- Halloween II
- Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
- Halloween
- Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
- Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
- Halloween Kills
...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
]]>But, really though... this franchise needs to go extinct.
]]>The greatest slasher franchise of all time.
#JusticeForMelissaBarrera
]]>Not high art, hardly essential cinema but $2.5bn in ticket sales in a decade is nothing to be sniffed at.
- Kong: Skull Island
Global Box Office: $568,652,812
- Godzilla vs. Kong
Global Box Office: $470,116,094
- Godzilla × Kong: The New Empire
Global Box Office: $567,650,016
- Godzilla
Global Box Office: $524,976,069
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Global Box Office: $370,300,138
Let's all face it, Prometheus was undercooked and did not deliver on its promise. The sooner y'all realise this the better off you'll be.
And I will fight whoever says Aliens isn't the pinnacle of the franchise.
All love, though.
- Aliens
- Alien
- Alien³
- Alien: Romulus
- Alien Resurrection
- Alien: Covenant
Extra bonus for the two Fassbenders kissing.
- Prometheus
- AVP: Alien vs. Predator
- Aliens vs Predator: Requiem