Netflix And Chill: AfrAId (2024)

It's ironic that many of the techno-thrillers showing people being threatened by dangerous AI are made nowadays by studios who seem to be selling us on the inevitability and usefulness of AI. It may be inevitable, and there are times when it can be useful, but we're already heading too fast down a dark tunnel that doesn't have enough safeguards to stop people from crashing into a spike-covered wall hidden somewhere at the end of it.

In order to secure a lucrative business contract, a family is asked to spend some time testing a new home tech device, AIA. AIA is your standard super-charged Alexa/Siri device, able to entertain and educate the kids, order good shopping deals, and generally make life a bit easier. It can also create deepfakes, monitor all communication, and start to act autonomously in ways that seem just a bit psychopathic. That's when mum and dad (Katherine Waterston and John Cho, respectively) start trying to find a way to keep their family (Iris, played by Lukita Maxwell, Preston, played by Wyatt Lindner, and Cal, played by Isaac Bae) safe. It's very hard to find a safe space away from AIA though.

Written and directed by Chris Weitz, who has done much better work in other genres throughout the past quarter of a century, AfrAId is another film from the past few years that already feels somehow ridiculous and paranoid and outdated and naive all at the same time. Dressing things up with overt genre trappings would be fine if the end result was fun and worth your time, but it's not, which makes me wish we spent more time being shown the smaller and more subtle ways in which AI could cause problems, including the erosion of free-thinking and intelligence that stems from being minds being trained to rely on tech and trust it for answers and various tasks.

Cho does well in his lead role, even as things get more ridiculous on the way to the very last scene, but Waterston remains someone I can take or leave in most of her movie roles (and this is one I would have liked to see someone else take on). I really like Maxwell, who at least gets a lot more to do here than in her minor Backrooms role, Bae is very good, and Lindner, well, he does what his asked of him, if nothing more. David Dastmalchian and Ashley Romans have fun for their few minutes of screentime, Havana Rose Liu gets to play two parts (being a real person, Melody, and also the chosen voice for AIA), and does well with both, and Bennett Curran is easy to hate as the whining and sleazy Sawyer,  a young man trying to manipulate Iris into sending him some nudes.

There's zero tension throughout this, especially in a ridiculous third act that limps from one unbelievable moment to the next, and it doesn't lean into the ridiculousness of the concept in order to at least deliver some enjoyable set-pieces. It's a bloodless, toothless, pointless waste of time. 

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Above The Knee (2024)

Amir (Freddy Singh) has Body Integrity Dysphoria, and that's the main character we're stuck alongside for the duration of Above The Knee. In this case, Amir is obsessed with the idea that his left leg shouldn't be there, from the knee down anyway. He actually tries to sit with it tucked under his body a lot, and gets some pleasure and satisfaction from the times when it feels slightly paralysed. It really needs to go though, but how will others view him if they know that he plans to "solve the problem" himself?

Based on an idea created by Singh and director Viljar Bøe, Above The Knee is a dark and intriguing exploration of a very unusual psyche. I don't think I would have been able to stick with it if it had only given us Amir as an important character, but the fact that we also see how things affect his partner (Kim, played by Julie Abrahamsen), and how one other individual (Rikke, played by Louise Waage Anda) seems to flirt with the central concept without wanting to commit to it, really helps the whole thing to take viewers down some other dark alleyways without losing sight of the main road stretching through the runtime.

Singh plays his part with very little energy, but it's a performance that feels deliberate, and very much in line with his character. He's miserable, he's just killing time until something can happen to completely alter his life, and he won't feel like a complete person until, ironically, his body is as incomplete as he believes it should be. Abrahamsen has the least rewarding role, but the wild nature of the problems at the heart of their relationship help to keep viewing her as sympathetic and sorely ill-treated. In fact, the final scenes are more impactful than expected due to her involvement. Then we have Aanda, giving a great performance as the most fascinating character in the film. She is, to pick a movie analogy, very similar to the character of Marla in Fight Club AKA a tourist who makes another tourist uncomfortable by being so obvious in her attitude. The very best scene in the film has Amir and Rikke testing one another in regards to their ultimate goals.

Bøe may not do much to bring attention to his direction, but the structure of the screenplay and a number of inserted images work to keep viewers interested and curious about how everything will play out. We know what Amir wants. We know how society would view his behaviour. Will he be able to execute his plan, and, if he does, what will he face in the immediate aftermath?

Not a traditional horror movie, and probably not for those looking to fill their viewing schedule this month with easygoing October thrills and chills, but this is an excellent little film that starts from a very dark place and somehow keeps finding ways to get darker and darker all the way up to the incredible last moments.  

8/10

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Hungry (2026)

While the tagline says "this hippo isn't playing games", which should at least let you know that Hungry is a film about a killer hippo, this isn't a film stuck firmly within that one idea. Let's face it, it would be hard to make a horror movie with someone caught in the middle of a quartet of hippos all trying to eat as many snacks as possible before a timer runs out. What you get instead is a decent creature feature that tries to sell itself on a cute name and tagline. And that was enough to get me to watch it.

As per every successful creature feature, and it's a similar template already put in place by disaster movies from decades ago, viewers are introduced to a selection of characters who will all soon end up in jeopardy as they enjoy a riverboat tour in New Orleans. The main two, the potential leads, seem to be friends Sistine (Madison Davenport) and Hannah (Olivia Bernstone), but there's also a multi-generational family group, a busy businesswoman, and the tour guide himself to become endangered when they all inadvertently place themselves in the hunting ground of a hungry hungry hippo.

Written and directed by James Nunn, a man who started his feature career well with Tower Block, but has more recently given us the absolute awfulness of Wildcat, Hungry is a relatively fun and enjoyable slice of nonsense. There could have been a better mix of characters, and more time spent showcasing the practical effects ahead of any computer FX would have been appreciated, but there's enough here to make it exactly what you expect it to be, even down to the grizzled hunter character played entertainingly by Joaquim de Almeida.

Davenport and Bernstone are likeable in their roles, Tracey Bonner has to be less likeable as the woman who apparently causes the tour to be so far away from the usual safe waters, but she does well, and Jim Meskiman, Samantha Coughlan, and River Codack provide a good mix of family members who will suffer greater shock if one of their group is put in hippo-critical condition. Michel Curiel gets to play his guide character as someone pleased to receive some extra money, but not looking to deliberately screw anyone over, and de Almeida does well to avoid going into full on "Ahab/Quint" mode.

Nunn knows what he's doing when it comes to building up the tension, in terms of the creature activity that occurs before the main characters become fully aware of their situation anyway, but there comes a time when everything suddenly becomes much more volatile and dangerous, and that's when he falters slightly. There just isn't enough inventiveness, perhaps due to the fact that a hippo (although a very dangerous mammal) isn't easy to portray as cunning and deadly. It doesn't help that the finale is bogged down by exposition that could have been hinted at much earlier in the film, and the predictable one on one "showdown" is disappointingly anti-climactic.

If you're after some easy entertainment then this should fit the bill. I doubt we'll see a sharp rise in killer hippo movies after this one. It's much more fun to spend time with killer crocs, large alligators, or deadly sharks . . . when it comes to these kinds of films anyway. 

6/10

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Meatcleaver Massacre (1976)

While I wasn't initially aware of Ed Wood being involved in this (apparently taking over the directing duties and credited with an alias), the staggering ineptitude of Meatcleaver Massacre soon gave me a clue to their involvement. Not that I am a hater of Wood. Indeed, many of their clumsy failures have a charm lacking from a selection of more polished mainstream productions I could name, but it would be disingenuous to try and hail Wood as some kind of misunderstood great. An important part of cinema history, yes. A misunderstood genius, I think not.

Meatcleaver Massacre contains neither a meatcleaver nor a massacre, as far as I could tell anyway (it's not the sharpest picture quality I've ever seen). It instead contains a messy and tame horror film that in no way lives up to the promise of the title. There's also some footage of Christopher Lee bookending the film (and I encourage you all to investigate how that happened to end up there) with some dialogue that attempts to add some weight to the nonsense you're about to watch. The silly plot has Professor Cantrell (James Habif) left paraplegic and comatose after a group of abusive thugs break into his home and kill his family. That doesn't mean that Cantrell is powerless though. His years of studying the occult mean that he can still find a way to get revenge on the criminals.

Keith Burns and Ray Atherton are the two people credited with writing this, but it's not something that most people would put on their C.V. The dialogue is dire, there's no tension, and most of the characters blend into one another. There's the Professor, there's the detective investigating the situation (played by J. Arthur Craig), and there are the corpses-to-be.

If the writing and direction are poor, the acting generally matches them. There's nobody here (Lee aside) who you could imagine one day making their way through some big award campaign. I've seen a hell of a lot worse though, especially while sitting through many SOV and/or microbudget horror movies. Larry Justin plays the ringleader of the reprobates, and isn't actually terrible. He just cannot do anything with the material to make it better. 

There's not much else to say about this. It runs for 85 minutes, but viewers spend 8 of those minutes being spoken to by Christopher Lee, and there are no depths to explore and examine. The fact that it has been given a limited release on Blu-ray by a couple of different companies (Shout! Factory in the USA, 101 Films here in the UK), while I still eagerly await a collector's edition release of Screamtime, is just downright perverse.

2/10

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Prime Time: The Love Hypothesis (2026)

When I started watching The Love Hypothesis I was unaware of the fact that it was based on a story that started life as Star Wars fan fiction. All I knew about it was that it was a rom-com, it was directed by Claire Scanlon (who also helmed the enjoyable rom-com Set It Up), and it starred two people in lead roles that I wasn't very familiar with.

Lili Reinhart plays Olive Smith, a very smart student with a very bright future. She doesn't have anyone really close to her though, which is why her relationship with uni bestie Anh (Rachel Marsh) is so important. More important than her crush on Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay). When she realises that Jeremy actually has a crush on Anh, but knows that Anh won't pursue it if she thinks that Olive will have her feelings hurt, there's only one solution . . . pretend to be in a relationship. Events conspire to push Olive and the notoriously mean Dr. Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman) together, which could work out well for both of them, as Dr. Carlsen needs to show how settled he is in order to be rewarded with some vital grant money. The pretence has rewards, but it isn't without risks, including the development of some real feelings.

Once you know what (or who) Ali Hazelwood was writing about then The Love Hypothesis becomes amusingly obvious in how the leads are characterised, but Sarah Rothschild does good work in crafting a screenplay that keeps everything moving quickly from one satisfying rom-com moment to the next. There's a couple of "meet cute" scenes that work well, plenty of fun to be had with the initial awkwardness between our stars, and a believable development in the strength of the connection between them. Lessons are learned, obstacles are put in their way, and you will know how it is going to end as soon as it starts. But that's part of the appeal. If I don't want a formulaic movie then I will look elsewhere, but if I seek out a new rom-com then, dammit, I want enough rom and enough com, and director Scanlon delivers on both fronts here.

Reinhart does well in her role, and she's good enough to warrant top billing. Bateman also does well, and he provides a lot of the comedy with his stern and analytical approach to most interactions. Marsh is the kind of best friend that everyone wishes they could have in their lives, Duvernay does perfectly fine with what is asked of him, although that's not too much, and Jaboukie Young-White is more enjoyable when he's partying and neglecting his studies than when he has to face any consequences for partying and neglecting his studies. Arty Froushan is a very important secondary character, Dr. Thomas Benton, but the plot thread concerning Olive's research, and attempts to impress the likes of Benton and his peers, feels slightly undercooked until it becomes pivotal to the third act.

I'm not going to rush to recommend this to everyone, but you could do a lot worse if you're after some fluffy and (mostly) sweet fun. The more adult moments that are presented in the third act may put you off slightly, but it's all handled in just the right way by Scanlon, who allows her characters to maintain a vulnerability and/or defensiveness that, while part and parcel of the sub-genre, will be very familiar to those who have tiptoed through the early stages of any major relationship. 

And, hey, at least it didn't stick close enough to the source material to have our protagonists presented as two Death Star-crossed lovers. 

6/10

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Spa Weekend (2026)

Much like any other films aimed at certain demographics, comedies aimed at female viewers can't just rely on goodwill from those who end up watching them. We've made enough progress now that audiences can expect more than just the bare minimum. Spa Weekend isn't just the bare minimum. It doesn't reach that high.

Leslie Mann, Michelle Buteau, and Anna Faris are the busy and stressed friends who head for the titular planned relaxation. Unfortunately, they're soon joined by the one friend (Isla Fisher) who always seems to turn things completely chaotic. Inevitably, things soon turn chaotic, putting stress on the bonds of friendship and a lot of stress on the staff of the spa resort. 

Co-written and co-directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, a duo who have given us much more enjoyable comedies throughout the past two decades, Spa Weekend is a painful waste of talent, both behind and in front of the camera. I wouldn't mind if it felt like a film that just didn't work for me, but it's a film that I can't imagine working for anyone. While comedy is highly subjective, of course, there aren't any big laughs here, aside from maybe one or two moments used in the trailer, and the character played by Isla Fisher is made so annoying that she unbalances what should be a very standard and satisfying third act.

Leslie Mann is a great comic performer. As is Michelle Buteau. As is Anna Faris. As is Isla Fisher. You'd be hard pressed to view them that way while watching this though. Buteau and Faris don't fare too badly, and they're at least allowed to play some moments in line with their strengths, but Mann spends far too much time selling us on how tired and busy her character is, and Fisher is horrendous for almost every minute of her screentime. Adam Demos gets to be a dreamy hunk able to teach yoga, cook delicious meals, and provide great orgasms, Dominic Ona-Ariki is enjoyable as the ex-husband of Buteau's character, and Erika Heynatz is the glowing, but soon-to-be-seriously-irked, Shanti.

It may be surprising to see just how messy things get for our main characters, but that's about the only thing the film has going for it. It's just a shame that Lucas and Moore can't make the mess work, comedically. It soon becomes tiresome to watch everything play out, and I guess the film-makers are relying on the fact that most people will watch this with some wine or cocktails. This is where it's important to note, however, that my partner was enjoying some wine while we watched this, and she still turned to me as the end credits rolled and exclaimed how awful it was.

Watch any other film starring any of these women and you'd be making better use of your time. Watch Babes, which features Buteau working brilliantly with her co-star, Ilana Glazer, and you're likely to laugh more during the opening sequence of that film than you are likely to laugh at anything here.

3/10

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Mubi Monday: Carlito's Way (1993)

A rewatch that I have been aiming to fit into my schedule for weeks now, Carlito's Way is, to many, just another gangster film from a director who has done more than his fair share. That's how I thought about it, and that is why I didn't rush to rewatch it when the opportunity first arose. It's actually a more interesting film than that though, and generally looks at the struggles someone can have as they try to shed their past, as well as the reputation they once had, while also having undeniable benefits to being exactly who they are.

Al Pacino is the titular Carlito, giving a performance that veers between ridiculously over the top and surprisingly restrained. Released from prison after serving five years of a sentence, all thanks to a mishandled investigation, Carlito wants to go straight. And that's what he does. But a lot of people would rather get him back into his old line of work, including his own greedy and reckless lawyer, Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). 

Considering the iconic gangster movies that Brian De Palma gave audiences in the 1980s, two very different approaches to different eras being portrayed onscreen, it must have been a hell of a risk for him to take on this project, although perhaps the appeal was just how this would allow him to take another unique approach and show a slightly different era. Adapting material by Edwin Torres, writer David Koepp crafts a screenplay that allows Carlito to keep his moral compass pointing the right way, even as many others do their best to turn him around. This isn't a film interested in crime, not really. It's a character study, but the character is, for better or worse, surrounded by people and locations tied to different criminal factions.

Although not doing so well with his voiceover narration, Pacino has a number of expected great moments here, made all the better by the fact that his character is always trying to resist the easiest option. Penn is loud and ridiculous, and keeps everything lively as his descent into uncontrollable carelessness starts to create problems and obstacles for our lead. Penelope Ann Miller does well as Gail, a potential love interest, and there's a scene set in a strip club that plays out like a fascinating inversion of the way a certain Tony Montana would have reacted to what is revealed. Luis Guzmán is as dependable as ever, John Leguizamo steals one or two scenes as the up-and-coming Benny Blanco, James Rebhorn is the lawyer wanting to make up for messing up and allowing Carlito to be released back onto the streets, and there are a number of familiar faces in other small roles, including the likes of Viggo Mortensen, Ingrid Rogers, John Ortiz, and Rick Aviles.

Making use of numerous gangster movie tropes without letting the main character stay rooted in the archetypal persona that he clearly had in his past, this also has some typical moments of De Palma brilliance when it comes to the shot choice and composition (not to dismiss the cinematography of Stephen H. Burum). It's a shame that some of the editing and structuring doesn't work, I am one of the people who don't agree with the idea that the scenes shown at the start of this add to the tension or impact of the finale, but those are very minor criticisms for a film that almost keeps you riveted for the entire 144-minute runtime. Almost.

9/10

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Netflix And Chill: Best Of The Best (2026)

If you enjoy teen comedy dramas, if you enjoy dance movies, if you enjoyed the likes of Bring It On, and if you could easily find your ears pleased by some Bollywood-fusion tunes, then Best Of The Best might just keep you as entertained as I was. In fact, the only people who will probably hate it are those hoping for a remake of the 1989 martial arts competition movie.

Besties Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Priyanka Kedia) are looking forward to life at UCLA. Anjali may need a bit more help academically, but both will enjoy distancing themselves from an embarrassing incident from near the end of their schooldays (involving an onstage dance routine and some drones that went haywire). It looks like history may repeat itself, however, when the girls decide to join a Bollywood-fusion dance team, headed up by Ronak (Ankur Rathee). Anjali is liked and viewed favourable, whereas Maya is often viewed as too strong-willed and selfish. The team needs to succeed, it needs to win, and any attempts by Maya to break from some of the traditional and stuffy elements are met with great resistance. It's a difficult time, although things get a bit better when Maya gets involved with Arjun (Chaneil Kular).

Co-written by Prashanth Venkataramanujam and Hasan Minhaj (the latter also allowed a small supporting role onscreen, as well as both creatives shepherding this through from inception to completion via their production company, 186K Films), Best Of The Best is a familiar slice of teen fun, nicely in line with the many smarter movies we've had in that sub-genre throughout the first quarter of this century. The cultural plot points are inextricably woven throughout, and this is another film that recognises the apparent paradox of very specific touchstones working to make something that has universal appeal.

Director Lena Khan may not have many features to her name, but this might serve as a great springboard for whatever she wants to do next in her directorial career.  It's a perfect balance of fun, energy, emotional turbulence, and self-reflection, and she's helped enormously by her main cast members.

Ramakrishnan delivers a star-making turn here (after impressing in a few other film roles, and playing the main character in the popular Never Have I Ever TV show). She's smart, funny, very talented, and happy to mishandle things when weighed down by prejudices and negativity from others. Kedia has the easier role, but she plays it well, especially in a third act that requires some extra honesty from her character once she sees how life has been viewed a very different way by her best friend. She also keeps up with her co-star when it comes to the impressive dance routines. Rathee is suitably driven and stubborn as he engages in a battle of wills with someone who has some ideas he would really benefit from hearing out, Kular is as sweet and charming as he needs to be in his role, and Minhaj has fun in the couple of scenes that have his Professor character being much more aware than he'd like to be of the ongoing dance team drama.

A fresh and vibrant wander through some familiar territory, Best Of The Best is easygoing entertainment that should keep most viewers happy. It's also an excellent bit of representation for some viewers who probably wouldn't expect to see themselves in such a well-platformed mainstream teen movie.

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: Parasomnia (2025)

A few people may remember a film from almost 20 years ago called Parasomnia. That was written and directed by William Malone, it wasn't seen by many people, and I quite enjoyed it. As weak as it was in some ways, it had ideas and imagery that made it strong in others. When this film appeared on the Shudder streaming platform I just assumed that they had decided to platform the 2008 movie. Then I realised I was wrong. So I decided to give it a watch. Then I realised I was wrong again. This is a bad film that I would advise most people avoid.

Jasmine Mathews plays Riley, a young woman who sometimes gets night terrors, and those night terrors can allow an entity to cross through into our world and kill people. Riley believes that she now has things under control though. That's not quite right. It's not long until people around her are in danger, but it may not be Riley's fault. There may be people trying to force Riley to react in a certain way, hoping to make use of the power that flows from her condition.

Written and directed by James Ross II, Parasomnia is a small movie that needed a strong idea at the heart of it. Unfortunately, it doesn't have that. Arguably even more unfortunately, everyone involved with it seems to mistakenly believe that it does. The plot developments and minor twists and turns are delivered in a way that somehow feels very proud and self-assured when they should have been downplayed and obscured by a number of other simple pleasures (a bit more bloodshed, for example, and a much more playful tone for the majority of the runtime). Nothing here adheres to the general movie rule of "show, don't tell", and instead we get "tell, show, tell again" throughout many scenes.

Mathews isn't bad in her main role, but she's not given good material to work with. There are one or two moments in the third act that show how much better she could have been with a better screenplay, which is more than can be said for some of the people around her. Two of those people are RJ Brown and Sally Stewart (playing, respectively, Cam and Cam's mother). They're disappointingly weak, especially Stewart, who should have really been able to sink her teeth into things here, and that's harder to overlook when they're given so much screentime. Stephen Barrington does better with a much smaller role, Danny Brown is only around for a couple of minutes, and two other important characters are portrayed well enough by Simon Longnight and David Girard.

I can name you hundreds of movies that you should watch ahead of this one, and many of those movies will make use of very similar elements (whether you're after something with sleep demons in the mix, something twisting around and leading to what should be an impactful reveal in the third act, or something that has people being burned when they try to handle an evil energy that cannot be safely harnessed). One of those movies has the exact same title. You should avoid Parasomnia. But check out Parasomnia.

3/10

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Hope (2026)

Another week, another South Korean movie that has me worrying about which way round I will write the names in order to maintain the correct formatting. Such worries never stop me from diving in to review things though, especially when it's something that has already garnered some strong opinions.

The small village of Hope Harbor has been devastated. That's the only word for it. Ko Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min), the local police chief, starts his day by investigating a dead cow, but soon finds out that many human lives have been loft, and a lot of buildings have been destroyed by some kind of large monster. He's helped by some locals, some more enthusiastic than others, and a less experienced, but very capable, colleague (Im Sung-ae, played by Jung Ho-yeon), as he tries to track and destroy the beast. The good news is that it is possible to hurt it. The bad news is that there may be more than one.

Written and directed by Na Hong-jin, who already has a number of celebrated films to his name, Hope is 160 minutes of what many could view as tense and impressive action. I certainly enjoyed the first 30-45 minutes, which mostly consist of our leading man exploring the destroyed village while trying to find answers to the central mystery. It's when that mystery starts to become far less mysterious that the film starts to go downhill.

Almost everyone who has seen Hope seems to want to say that it's a fun time without a proper ending. While this is true, in some respects, it's also worth mentioning that it's an ugly film, and not for the right reasons. I was astonished to see some of the bad CGI in this, mainly because nobody else seems to mentioned it as something that really takes viewers out of some scenes. Okay, the second half tries to remain fast and frenetic, and there are some superb stunts, but it's still hard to sit back and enjoy something with such awkward and unpleasant imagery. It's maybe not PSOne era stuff, but it certainly doesn't feel as if it belongs in a 2026 feature film.

Jung-min and Ho-yeon are great in their main roles, and they maintain the right feeling of nerves and adrenalin throughout. Zo In-sung plays another character who ends up working with them, and he does a great job at being a bit more strong-willed and fearless for most of the runtime. While both Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander are credited, they are unrecognisable as they portray two of the main creatures laying waste to the village and village residents.

The trailer for this had me excited, and I was very much ready for another slice of greatness from Na Hong-jin. Sadly, this wasn't anywhere near as good as I hoped it would be (no pun intended). It needed trimmed down in places, it needed an ending that was either more satisfying or more of a tease for anything else to come, and it needed much more time and money spent on some of the VFX. There's good stuff here, but it's surrounded by a number of major errors.

5/10

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Practical Magic 2 (2026)

Having very recently revisited, and been underwhelmed by, Practical Magic, I must admit to being a bit hesitant to check out this very recent sequel. Being aware that the first film was aimed at a very different audience demographic, I was unlikely to be won over by anything attempting to appeal to the fanbase. But I ended up going along to see it nonetheless, and I guess I can review it here, with the proviso that those who loved the first movie can feel free to completely ignore my opinions on either film.

The Owens sisters (Sally, played by Sandra Bullock and Gillian, played by Nicole Kidman) continue to live their lives under the shadow of a curse that kills off any man they love. Gillian continues to take this as good reason to stay carefree and unattached. Sally takes it as a good reason to turn her back on magic and protect her children. Ignoring a major problem doesn't make it go away though, and death is coming for someone. It could be one of the lovable aunties (Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing), or it could be the young man that Kylie (played by Joey King) ends up falling in love with.

With Kelly Marcel and Georgia Pritchett joining (returning) writer Akiva Goldsman for the screenplay this time, Practical Magic 2 is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a slightly better film than the one that preceded it. It feels as if everyone came back because of a love for the characters, and director Susanne Bier has a better handle on the material, avoiding the uneven tonal issues that we got the first time around.

Bullock and Kidman are great in the main roles, both working well alongside one another, and I was happy to see Wiest and Channing returning. As for the newcomers, King gets to be the focus of the main storyline this time around, and she does well, but Maisie Williams, as Antonia, the other daughter of Sally, gets very little to do. Lee Pace shines in a supporting role that makes the most of his screen presence, and Solly McLeod comes along just in time to get involved in the expected third act shenanigans.

It's all light and charming, and everything is certainly designed to appeal to those who would rush to see what they might call a long-overdue sequel to something they have cherished for many years, but it's also enjoyably consistent with the messaging about sisterhood, parent-child relationships, and female empowerment. You get the callbacks to the first movie that feel essential, you get the kind of cosiness that makes it feel like one of the better seasonal Hallmark movies (and I am NOT meaning that as anything other than a compliment), and it's another in an ever-growing list of movies that provides very positive representation of witches in the modern world.

Will it be remembered in a year or two from now? I'm not so sure about that. It tries to weave a spell while you watch it though, and many others will be affected more than I was. I enjoyed it, and I think it's a very pleasant final chapter to a story that I didn't think needed any more added to it, but it's not one I'll recommend to anyone who wasn't already rushing to the cinema to see it. 

6/10

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Prime Time: The Runner (2026)

With the title giving you all you need to know, The Runner is all about a female attorney (Maia, played by Gal Gadot) who gets an unexpected call while out on her morning run. That call is from someone who claims to have kidnapped her young son (Rory Wilmot), holding him hostage while Maia is made to run from one location to the next, ultimately being ordered to kill a vital witness being kept in a secure location before a big upcoming trial.

That's all there is to it, but there's somehow even less to this film than what I've described here. It's dull, it's laughable at times (there's a sequence in which Gal Gadot is running and trying to figure out how to get around a group of chatting mothers that plays out like a parody of an action movie sequence), and there's a reveal in the third act that is both ridiculous and insulting to the audience.

Director Kevin Macdonald has been making feature films for a while now, but I would argue that he was much better when delivering fantastic documentaries. This is a star vehicle (and anyone wanting a film that focuses on Gadot in running gear should be kept happy enough), but that doesn't excuse how little effort Macdonald seems to make to cover up the weakness of Mark Gibson's screenplay. Okay, you can't fix a severed limb with a small sticking plaster, and Gibson (who doesn't have the best back catalogue when it comes to his writing) doesn't provide a strong foundation for everyone else to work on, but I was desperate for something, anything, to be done in a way that felt as if someone was trying.

Gadot is terrible in the lead role, and I assume she was asked to do the role because she could manage to run for multiple takes. It's just a shame that she is unable to run and act convincingly at the same time. That might not be so bad if she wasn't the focus of about 95% of the screentime, but she is. If you point your cameras at a vacuum for 95% of a movie then you're movie is going to feel like a vacuum. Wilmot isn't too bad for his few minutes onscreen, Damian Lewis gets paid for what I hope was a minimal amount of work, and one or two others appear in roles that are pivotal to the plot, but actually as unmemorable as almost everyone else in the movie.

I don't really know how this could have been improved enough to make it worth your time. A different lead? That might have helped. Some kind of self-aware tone that would have allowed the director to make use of action movie tropes while finding a device to ensure that the main character was unable to stop running (drop under 5mph and a bomb goes off or something, I am sure that concept has worked well elsewhere). Or maybe it couldn't be salvaged. Maybe this is a movie that should have been binned after the first draft. Because most viewers will find their patience wearing thinner than the soles on Gadot's running shoes.

2/10

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Resident Evil (2026)

Yes, it's another movie set in the world of Resident Evil, which means another trip to Raccoon City, this time directed by Zach Cregger, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten. But, as you may have already heard, this isn't the most straightforward adaptation of the source material. Cregger isn't interested in faithfully recreating locations or characters from the videogame world. That doesn't mean that he isn't interested in giving people a fun and scary Resident Evil/videogame experience though.

Viewers spend the runtime following Bryan (Austin Abrams), a courier who is qualified to transport medical supplies/organs. He's just finished his last job, just in time to get home and have a very important conversation with his pregnant partner, but is then offered a tempting bonus for one last delivery that is outside the standard delivery range. Unfortunately for Bryan, it's to be delivered to Raccoon City General Hospital, and something has just gone very wrong in Raccoon City. 

There are zombies here, there's at least one vicious dog, and there are a number of impressively huge and angry mutations. If you don't think the character design here is in line with the Resident Evil games then I would argue that you haven't really played many of the games. There's a lot here that feels influenced from elsewhere too (The Thing casts a big shadow over this), but Resident Evil itself has never been the most original property. It's scientists running before they could walk, it's lots of monsters, and it's a great blend of fun and tension. That's what Cregger and Hatten keep running throughout their screenplay. They're also very much aware of the videogame structure, in terms of upgrading weaponry, having areas locked off until certain objectives have been met, and moving from one small location through a number of bigger locations en route to the expected setting for the grand finale.

The propulsive score by Hays Holladay and Ryan Holladay helps to maintain the sense of urgency, the cinematography by Dariusz Wolski is impressive, perfectly keeping things in shadows when needed, but never obscuring anything that's meant to be seen, and many of the shot choices will help to remind you of the dark nights spent nervously directing your videogame character through a doorway or around a corner that could contain some new and challenging horror.

Abrams is excellent in the main role, and he's helped by the fact that he's playing someone who seems genuinely considerate and good-hearted. He makes a big mistake at the start of the film, but this weighs on him for the rest of the runtime, even as the main event takes precedence and makes it increasingly unlikely that he will ever reunite with his partner. I found this hugely refreshing for a horror movie, considering how often we're shown people with flaws and/or secrets that can make things more acceptable when the grim reaper is slashing ever-closer to them with their big scythe. Constantly moving, and constantly muttering or swearing at the madness around him, Abrams is believable and easy to stay alongside. Aside from some characters who appear towards the very end of the movie (which allows for a brief appearance from Zach Cherry), there are very few other characters who stick around for long. Kali Reis and Paul Walter Hauser appear in time to deliver some exposition that sets up the third act, but the latter suffers from being asked to act comedically in a way that doesn't work at all with the rest of the film.

I'm still not sure if I love or hate the ending, but it's one of a number of bold choices that Cregger makes, and comes along after a scene set in a maternity ward that is impressively wild. It also feels in line with the way things always pan out in the videogames. While the whole thing may not be a perfect film, it's almost a perfect horror movie to enjoy at the cinema, with Cregger really knowing how to move between the tension and the brief moments of light relief that allow you to laugh at your own nervousness. Gatekeepers may want to try telling others what does and doesn't count as a Resident Evil movie, but everyone else should just be happy that we have such a wide variety under the one big Umbrella.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: Solo Sunny (1980)

A film about the struggle to retain your passion for creativity when it is being stifled by others who don't necessarily appreciate your work, but also a film about how women have to work harder to have their contributions recognised when focused on anything other than placating men, Solo Sunny is also, superficially, a film about that difficult transition period for band members who find themselves without a band.

Renate Krößner is Sunny, the main character. She's an important part of her musical group, The Tornadoes, until the day when she suddenly isn't. That sudden shift in her life leads her into depression, and also forces her back into a life of everyday drudgery that those who know her know will not be a good fit for her.

Co-directed by Konrad Wolf and Wolfgang Kohlhaase, the latter also responsible for the screenplay, with input from Dieter Wolf, this is a fascinating mix of bleak melancholy and short bursts of great energy and happiness. It's almost like watching a truncated timeline of someone with severe bipolar disorder, in some ways, but maybe that just stems from the subject matter, and the particular aesthetic and tone of something made in East Germany at the turn of the 1980s.

The pacing feels a bit off, but that also feels in line with a character who finds her time either passing by too quickly while she holds on to some pleasure or slowing to a crawl as depression takes hold. Whatever is happening onscreen, it's captivating whenever Sunny is at the centre of things, which fortunately makes up most of the runtime.

Krößner is superb in her lead role. I'm not sure I've seen her in many (any?) other movie roles, but I hope to remember her name whenever she appears in any future film viewings. The other cast members orbit around her like stars being overshadowed by a major celestial body, but they all do well in their roles, although the only person I must namecheck is Alexander Lang, who plays Ralph, arguably the person who causes Sunny the most emotional turbulence.

This is the kind of film I love to discover. It was something I knew absolutely nothing about, but was intrigued enough to watch. And it felt impressively interesting and unique. It's not a new firm favourite, nor is it one I would necessarily rush to recommend to many others, but I am glad that I watched it, even if only to have "discovered" the talent of Krößner. Her performance makes up for the pacing issues and some of the scenes that aim for a deliberate air of stifling boredom.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Rainmaker (1997)

From the early to mid-1990s it would be fair to call John Grisham a very successful brand. His books were bestsellers, but he'd also been tapped as a lucrative source for some fine movie adaptations. I used to think that his movie "honeymoon period" ended just after the release of A Time To Kill, but now I'm not so sure. There are only a few movies adapted from his books that I have yet to see, but my enjoyment of The Rainmaker is making me wonder why I dismissed the others.

This is the tale of a young fresh lawyer, Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon), who thinks he can win an important case for Dot Black (Mary Kay Place). It's an emotional one, based around a denied medical insurance claim that could have saved the life of her terminally-ill son. It's also very important for the insurance company that they don't lose, which is why they put the very experienced and conniving Leo F. Drummond (Jon Voight) on the case. Baylor has the assistance of the smart and crafty Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito), and the judge (Danny Glover) seems to be trying to give him a fair chance. But is that enough, and will Baylor scupper his own chance at success by getting himself involved with a young woman (Kelly Riker, played by Claire Danes) suffering abuse at the hands of her husband?

Directed and adapted from the page by Francis Ford Coppola, with some additional work from Michael Herr, The Rainmaker is the kind of enjoyably classy and entertaining legal thriller that you'd hope to get from a John Grisham tale. It has some fun twists and turns, plays up the underdog nature of the tale arguably more than any other 1990s Grisham adaptation, and allows a stacked cast to have a ball with their screentime.

Damon may be a bit wobbly with his accent throughout, but he's typically earnest and easy to like, making him a great choice for the lead role. Voight is doing great work, somehow not hamming things up and chewing the scenery, at least not in a way that unbalances the film anyway, and he's a fantastic opponent throughout the legal proceedings. DeVito is wonderfully quick and sharp, his years of experience working for someone slightly less reputable (Mickey Rourke) teaching him how to look at every part of a case from so many different angles, and Place is very good as the broken-hearted human trying to be seen behind the walls of legal jargon being built around her. Danes is okay, although the plotting makes it hard to fully trust her for most of the movie, Glover gives a very strong performance as the professional judge offering some assistance when he can, and Virginia Madsen has a couple of scenes that serve as a reminder of what a welcome presence she is in movies. Elsewhere, Teresa Wright is the kind of sweet old lady who you suspect could one day own Tweety Pie, Dean Stockwell is a more cynical and easily-swayed judge, and Roy Scheider swaggers into the third act to put a face to the evil profiteering of the insurance company that has him as their CEO.

There's a pleasant Elmer Bernstein score, some unfussy cinematography from John Toll, and an interesting critique of the gap between the letter of the law and the lengths people will go to in order to exact, or escape, justice.

I guess I now need to make time for The Chamber and The Gingerbread Man, and a long-overdue rewatch of A Time To Kill. If they hold up as well as this one then I'm in for a good time. If not, at least I'll eventually complete my journey through the GCU (Grisham Cinematic Universe, of course). No, I haven't yet watched Mickey, but, yes, I have seen Christmas With The Kranks.

7/10

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Shudder Saturday: Dead By Dawn (2025)

If we're absolutely honest then it takes some courage to title your film Dead By Dawn. That's what a lot of people say when referring to Evil Dead II, it's the name of a long-running horror movie festival in Edinburgh, and it's an easy catchphrase to reel off in any number of different "evil" voices you want to try. But naming your film Dead By Dawn is also, arguably, a good way to get horror fans interested in seeing it. It worked on me anyway.

Written and directed by Dawid Torrone, his feature debut, this is a muddled and messy slasher that only really works when homaging some classics from yesteryear. Sadly, you'll spend time during those homages being reminded of better films you could spend your time watching.

The basic plot concerns a group of actors spending some time in an empty theatre as they rehearse a play that they're about to perform. There's a killer on the loose, of course, and people soon start dying from impromptu open artery surgery.

The cast may include Sylwia Boron, Monika Frajczyk, Adam Machalica, Piotr Nerlewski, Lukasz Szczepanowski, and Paulina Zwierz, but I would already struggle to identify any of those people in a line-up. That's partly due to them being unfamiliar to me, which is on me, but also partly to do with their characters being completely uninteresting, which is on the film. Nobody here gets to stand out, and none of the characters are given enough defining features to get viewers invested in their fate.

At least the killer is memorable and fun . . . is something I would say if the killer was memorable and fun. Okay, there's a decently strange look for the headwear, which is a plus, but the kills are as underwhelming and dull as they are bloody. Torrone doesn't seem to know how to make the most of his simple premise, and also doesn't seem to be able to decide which Italian director he wants to spend more time paying tribute to (Argento, Fulci, and Soavi all seem to be vying for his attention).

The 87-minute runtime shouldn't be a chore, especially when the kills start being properly showcased, but it is. Everything feels tired and slow, perhaps due to Torrone not having the confidence to lean into the more fun tropes of the slasher movie (the backstory, the convoluted motivation, the way things are ramped up to a final sequence that often has bodies popping out of temporary hiding places while the killer stalks one character that you've come to really root for). The sad thing is that it's clear that Torrone loves the movies that he's making reference to. He just can't blend everything together to make something that feels like a worthwhile descendant of them.

3/10

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Belfast (2021)

A personal film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, Belfast is, as if you couldn’t have guessed, all about Belfast. It’s a film about childhood, it’s a film about the particular charm of Northern Ireland, and, perhaps inevitably, it’s a film about The Troubles.

The year is 1969. Trouble is brewing, to put it mildly, and we’re shown things developing through the eyes of young Buddy (Jude Hill). Buddy lives with his mother (Caitriona Balfe), his grandparents (Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds), and his older brother, Will (Lewis McAskie). His father (Jamie Dornan) is away from home a lot, due to work, but the whole family may be preparing for a big change soon, particularly if they want to avoid being caught up in the violence and unrest that is encroaching on their everyday lives.

While there’s a lot to enjoy here, mainly due to the specificity of the experience translating to a universality for anyone who remembers moments of upheaval and tension unsettling some of their idyllic childhood moments, Branagh cannot help but undermine the authenticity of the tale with a number of artistic choices that get in the way of the emotional heart of every scene. Shot composition, minor set-pieces, and even the, admittedly gorgeous, black and white cinematography all work to make everything a bit too staged and artificial. It’s not aesthetically unpleasant, but I wish Branagh had gone for something with some rougher textures.

Young Hill is very good in his role though, and Balfe is superb as the caring and stressed mother. Everyone else does equally good work, even Dornan (which is always a surprise to me, considering how often I have watched him be horribly dull onscreen). There are two other main characters I haven’t yet mentioned, but both are equally important in shaping the world of our young central character, and both are perfectly cast.

I am sure that Branagh was happy with the final result here, and there will be many who will appreciate the choices made when presenting this tale. I appreciated the performances, and a few individual moments stood out as obvious highlights, but this is a film that ultimately let me down. It didn’t feel personal enough, nor was it able to make any bold moves through the sensitive landscape depicted. I thought Branagh would be able to do a bit more here, but perhaps there are some topics that don’t allow artists to have the full creative space they could find with much safer choices.

6/10

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Colony (2026)

When I heard that director Yeon Sang-ho was giving us another spin on the zombie movie, after impressing so many horror fans with the brilliant Train To Busan, I knew I would make it a priority. When I saw the trailer, highlighting a premise that had zombies working together with a collective intelligence, I knew I had to make it a top priority. So here we are.

In a standard zombie movie premise, a group of people end up trapped in a building when a major outbreak of zombie-ism occurs. That's just about the only thing this has in common with many other zombie movies though. Everything feels different from the very first moment, a scene in which a scientist (played by Koo Kyo-hwan) injects himself with a vaccine and calls the police to warn of a bio-terrorist attack that he's about to launch, and most viewers should be kept very happy by the way that this provides some expected zombie movie moments couched in something very atypical for the sub-genre.

Co-written by Sang-ho and Choi Gyu-seok, Colony is about as intelligent and enjoyably tense as you would want any horror movie to be. It's also full of some startlingly unusual imagery, especially when showing the zombie horde working together and making use of information that may have been processed without a full understanding of it. There's a good selection of main characters to root for, some being much more capable than others, and Kyo-hwan is excellent as the amoral "patient zero".

Jun Ji-hyun is very good as someone who quickly turns into the lead character. Although I wasn't familiar with her before seeing this, she does well enough to make me want to check out more of her filmography. Ji Chang-wook and Kim Shin-rok work very well as a brother and sister team, the latter being further disadvantaged by mobility issues that make things even trickier when speed and stealth become essential. Others also do good work, whether they look likely to live or die, but the other main character worth mentioning here is played by Shin Hyun-been, acting as a biotechnologist looking on, and trying to advise, from the relative safety of her position outwith the zone of infection.

Every time we think that there's no way to reinvigorate the zombie movie sub-genre someone manages to come along and do just that. Yeon Sang-ho has managed it at least twice now, maybe more than that if you've been won over by the other instalments in what we'll call "the Busan trilogy". I hope he does it again. Failing that, I'd absolutely love to see another film set within this world, and perhaps further developing some of the rules put in place here.

9/10

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Prime Time: Bone Keeper (2026)

Writer-director Howard J. Ford has given horror fans one or two gems throughout his career, but he doesn't seem to have ever returned to the level of potential he showed back in 2010 (when The Dead was released). I'm happy to keep checking out whatever he does, although I have quite a few of his features to catch up on, but Bone Keeper is not one of his better efforts. It's another British horror movie that feels as if it's trying to emulate the greatness that we got with The Descent. Unfortunately, all it does is remind you of how great The Descent is.

A group of young adults are exploring a cave system, trying to find out what happened to one or two people who went missing in the area. It soon becomes very obvious what happened. There's a big beastie in the cave system. Although he can't provide them with any immediate assistance, Professor Harrison (John Ryhs-Davies) takes part in a number of phone calls where he can provide exposition and over-emphasise the danger that should already be obvious to everyone.

It's hard to think of what to put here that could be positive. The weak script is delivered without any real energy by the cast, although Sarah Alexandra Marks isn't too bad as a nominal lead. There isn't any tension, nor are there any good jump scares for those after such simple pleasures. The creature design might seem initially appealing, considering how it changes and pulsates throughout, but there's a strangeness and clumsiness to it that may have viewers wondering until it's confirmed that, yes, this has been realised via the medium of AI. Urgh.

Derivative, cheap, and lazy, Ford just doesn't do enough to distract from the weaker elements. Even the way he uses Davies feels slightly disdainful, considering there aren't enough changes to the wardrobe and set to even pretend that it wasn't the most time-sensitive part of the shooting schedule. If anyone can watched this without thinking "I'd much rather just rewatch The Descent" then I'd love to hear from them. I'm sure at one point I even thought "I'd much rather rewatch The Cave."

As for others involved, I'll reel off the main cast members - Louis James, Tiffany Hannam-Daniels, Sophia Eleni, Danny Rahim, Tyler Winchcombe, and Sarah T. Cohen. There are others who show up in smaller roles, but I genuinely wouldn't remember those I just named if not checking back over the credits. I started this review thinking I might try to find some more positives, but I've grown more displeased with the film as I have spent more time thinking about what it served up. Not recommended, but I'll give it a bonus point or two for the decent lighting and production design.

3/10

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TRON: Ares (2025)

The best thing about TRON: Ares is the third act. It's stylish, it's gorgeous, and it has some excellent action and spectacle. The worst thing about TRON: Ares is that the third act play out before you actually get to another third act. This film peaks at about the 80-minute mark, but then has another 40 minutes that you have to sit through.

Written by Jesse Wigutow, the big draw here is the idea that the avatars and creations we previously saw in the online world, aka The Grid, are somehow going to enter into our own world. There are a couple of competing CEOs (Eve Kim, played by Greta Lee, and Julian Dillinger, played by Evan Peters) trying to figure out how to turn the programs into physical realities that can permanently reside on our side of the monitor, and a cyber-warrior named Ares (Jared Leto) starts to dream of a life in a more human world. 

Directed by Joachim Rønning, who has previously been handed the reins of some other big Disney franchise instalments, there's plenty to enjoy here for fans of the property. It's a gorgeous film, which is obvious from the very start, but a lot of the visuals work so well because they blend with, and update, the classic designs established in the very first film in this series (which will be 45 years old next year). There's also another fantastic soundtrack, this time from Nine Inch Nails, delivering something that both complements and contrasts with the Daft Punk tracks from the previous film. The main ideas are explained clearly enough, and a couple of action set-pieces are well-choreographed and as gorgeous as anything else in the film.

Sadly, the performances aren't as strong as they could be. I accept that this isn't a film to rush to if wanting to sample some powerhouse acting performances, but I hoped that the main players would be able to rise above some of the cheesy dialogue. They can't. Leto wanders around in a state of curiosity, seemingly content enough as he's allowed to play some kind of cyber-Jesus while he weighs up the humans, and both Lee and Peters are completely wasted in their main roles. They're just in the film to be opposing forces making use of Ares and co. between them, but it's a shame that they're not given many decent moments. Peters fares a bit better (baddies tend to have a bit more fun), but neither will be surprised to find this feature quickly forgotten whenever others run through their filmography highlights. The same can be said of Gillian Anderson, arguably even more disappointingly wasted than Lee or Peters. The only one who almost bulldozes their way through to a better place is Jodie Turner-Smith, playing another cyber-warrior named Athena, aiming for cracks in every scene like a lightcycle aiming to crash through the border of the main game area.

It's a testament to everything set up in that first film that the subsequent Tron movies have had such a great template to work with, from the main characters to the basic design of the computer world, and a thread of continuity running through them that allows everything to be kept simplistic enough in the plotting while allowing for more time to be spent on the details and world-building. 

If you like time spent in this world then you'll find enough to like here. It's a film for those who have had a love of the property for decades already, a love so strong that it can help you to overlook Leto giving a very standard Leto performance. Some newcomers might have fun with the spectacle, but it's really just text-to-speech preaching to the cyber-choir.

6/10

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Mubi Monday: Obsession (1976)

Although I haven't actually seen every film directed by Brian De Palma, even still missing out already on a few that I have owned for years, I am so familiar with his general style, and his biggest hits, that it's always a surprise to come across something from him that I had previously not watched. Such was the case with Obsession, a film that I finally made time for because I wanted to spend some time with the director fully indulging his love of classic Hitchcock.

Obsession will be very familiar to those who have seen Vertigo. It doesn't come close to that film, although you wouldn't know that if you just judged it by the superb Bernard Herrmann score, but it's impressively twisted and dark by the time things clash together in the third act.

Cliff Robertson plays Michael Courtland, a businessman who suffers a great tragedy when his wife (Geneviève Bujold) and daughter are kidnapped. The attempt to pay the ransom money goes wrong, leaving Michael quite distraught. Jump forward a number of years and things are relatively back to normal. Michael continues to be in business with his partner, Robert La Salle (John Lithgow), and the two have a chance to make some big profits. But Michael starts to refocus when he meets a young woman named Sandra (Bujold once again), someone almost identical to his dead wife.

Written by Paul Schrader, from a story idea worked on by himself and De Palma, Obsession is a fun and well-paced thriller that, like the best De Palma movies, really doesn't hold back during an ending that will have you thinking about it long after the end credits have rolled. It's surprisingly restrained in some ways, and I admit that I was hoping for some of that patented De Palma audaciousness, but as an exercise in sugar-coating an exceedingly bitter pill it takes some beating.

Bujold is quite fantastic in her dual role, although she doesn't have to do as much in the earliest scenes, and she's bold enough to trust the writing and direction when it asks her to commit to one or two moments that come very close to being absolutely ridiculous. Lithgow is a lot of fun in his role, and there's obviously a good actor-director relationship here that would allow them both to have a lot of fun in a number of better collaborations. The weakest link is Robertson, who lacks any energy or passion. He looks as if he's wandered in from the set of some nearby soap opera, completely unprepared for anything that requires him to display some strong emotions. 

It's not the best Hitchcock homage. It's not the best De Palma thriller. It's not even the best De Palma thriller that seemingly exists simply to be a Hitchcock homage. It's an enjoyable and enjoyably strange feature though. I expect most fans of those involved will have already seen it though, but anyone else could do a lot worse than setting aside a bit of time for it.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Practical Magic (1998)

I saw Practical Magic when it was first released on the home rental market, but never really thought about revisiting it since then. Now there's a sequel, however, and I wanted to refresh my memory. Oddly enough, my memory of the film hadn't faded as much as I thought. There's very little here that's memorable or impressive, and I remain bemused by the cult reputation this has gained over the years. I'm assuming it has been embraced by those who like to see witches depicted without them necessarily being evil, having parsnip-like noses, or being chased out of villages by angry neighbours.

Based on a novel by Alice Hoffman, turned into movie form by Robin Swicord, Adam Brooks, and Akiva Goldsman, this is the story of sisters Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman). Apparently cursed to be very unlucky in love, the Owens sisters take very different journeys through life. Sally tries to settle down and be happy, eventually becoming a mother and a widow (proving that the curse is real?), while Gillian likes to travel around and party with a variety of dispensable men. One of those men (Jimmy Angelov, played by Goran Visnjic) is big trouble though, and the Owens sisters work together to get him out of their lives, which eventually brings an inquisitive policeman (Gary Hallet, played by Aidan Quinn) to their home. 

Director Griffin Dunne (who has often done much better work in front of the camera than behind it) seems content to let this film coast along on the charm of the leads, but that's not quite enough for the 104-minute runtime. It helps enormously that both Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest have supporting roles as wise and caring aunties, but they're sorely missed from the middle section of the film (their absence seemingly dictated by the plot not wanting everything resolved too soon). Visnjic is far too unpleasant, making his ultimate fate more satisfying, but not helping the pacing and entertainment factor of a film that cannot ever get the tone just right, and Quinn is, I'm sorry to say, one of the weakest choices for a potential romantic lead at this time. At least Evan Rachel Wood and Alexandra Artrip are enjoyable as Sally's daughters, and there are decent smaller roles for Margo Martindale, Chloe Webb, and Lucinda Jenney, proving that perhaps everyone involved quite rightly ensured that all of the female roles were cast perfectly before then finding any of the required men. 

Practical Magic skirts close to real darkness at times, but then quickly pulls back. It also has some light comedy that works, which it also pulls back from. It doesn't seem to want to commit to any one thing, and doesn't seem to know how best to work the premise into something as entertaining and, well, magical as it should be. There are a few good moments, but none of them seem to flow together into any one extended enjoyable sequence.

I just don't get the appeal, beyond the obvious star power of the leads. But maybe that's simply down to me not being a woman, desperate to see some good witchiness presented onscreen alongside a message of positivity and female empowerment. Plus a sprinkling of romance mixed in for good measure.

5/10

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