For It Is Man's Number

Sunday, 22 February 2026

Netflix And Chill: Runaway Jury (2003)

Note: I watched this film yesterday on UK Netflix, ready for thos review to be written today. Yesterday was the last day that Runaway Jury was available on the service here in the UK. Such is the fickle nature of streaming services.

Like many films from the '90s and 2000s, Runaway Jury now feels like a more comforting watch today than it did when first released. It's based on a John Grisham novel, coming along as seemingly the last major attempt to wring more money out of his legal thrillers (until they inevitably come back into fashion at some point), it has a fantastic ensemble cast anchored by two star turns from a couple of acting legends, and it delivers some tension and thrills without needing to shoehorn in any major action set-pieces.

Everything revolves around a trial that sees a woman trying to win a case against a firearms company. Nobody ever wins when they take on the gun industry, but some people hold on to the hope that this case could turn the tide. The one with the most hope is attorney Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), although that becomes harder to hang onto as he battles against tactics used by jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman). Fitch and his team are bemused by one particular juror though, Nick Easter (John Cusack), and it soon becomes clear how important he is when they are contacted by a woman (Marlee, played by Rachel Weisz) who claims that she can deliver whatever verdict is needed for a big fee.

Adapted into screenplay form by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Rick Cleveland, and Matthew Chapman, Runaway Jury is full of enjoyable lines of dialoge that are uttered with plenty of energy and power by leads clearly enjoying themselves in their roles. Director Gary Fleder may not put any stamp on the visual style of the film, but he does well to simply stay out of the way of his cast as they do their thing.

What can be said about Hackman that hasn't already been said many times over the years? The world of cinema was undoubtedly better while he was a part of it, and he's absolutely fantastic as the devious and relentless Fitch. Hoffman steps up his game for the scenes shared with Hackman, but he also spends a lot of the runtime focusing on his accent and trying to be almost childishly idealistic. Cusack is a lot of fun in what may well be the last film to make good use of the charm and wit that he used to have in every role, and Weisz enjoys herself in scenes that show her scheming and working hard to maintain an advantage against the powerful people she is dealing with. I won't go into detail on their characters, but the supporting cast includes the likes of Bruce Davison, Bruce McGill, Jeremy Piven, Cliff Curtis, Nick Searcy, Rhoda Griffis, Leland Orser, Nestor Serrano, Jennifer Beals, Gerry Bamman, Bill Nunn, Rusty Schwimmer, Orlando Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Dylan McDermott. If you don't recognise all of those names, trust me, you should recognise most of their faces.

Okay, it's not the best of the Grisham blockbusters (I think we all know that the "first wave" of movies adapted from his work gave us the best films), but this is a fantastic bit of entertainment. It's polished, it's intriguing, it has some obvious twists and turns that prove satisfying by the time everything is resolved, and the 127-minute runtime never drags, thanks in no small part to the feeling that you're never too far away from another great moment for Hackman, Hoffman, or Cusack. It's not one I think about too often, but it's one I am surprisingly happy to rewatch whenever the opportunity arises.

7/10

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Saturday, 21 February 2026

Shudder Saturday: Cloud (2024)

Writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is someone I am always happy to make time for. While I've seen the odd film from him that I didn't love, but still at least liked, many of his features are absolutely fantastic. The man is a master when it comes to unsettling atmosphere and off-kilter moments that show a main character being dragged further and further from the safety of their everyday life.

Cloud is all about an online reseller (Ryôsuke Yoshii, played by Masaki Suda). He often rips people off, whether it's low-balling those he buys his stock from or selling fake goods on to people who are then seriously angered by the fact that they were conned. Some people are so angered, in fact, that they start a campaign to doxx Yoshii, aiming to physically confront him, and maybe even take things to a deadly conclusion. As the threat looms larger around him, Yoshii finds himself becoming more and more isolated, having fired an eager young assistant (Sano, played by Daiken Okudaira) and stepped back slightly from his relationship with Akiko (Kotone Furukawa).

Whether you've offloaded some goods on ebay, experienced the many cheap offers and silly questions while trying to sell something on Facebook marketplace, or even made the mistake of ordering something from Temu without having read the small print, Cloud is focused on an interaction that most of us have tried at least once. That grounds everything in a way that allows the violence and extreme developments in the third act to feel surprisingly plausible. I am not on about any graphic or disturbing content when I say extreme developments, by the way, but rather the lengths that various people go to in order to satisfy an angry bloodlust that has been exponentially increased as they become emboldened while part of a large group.

Suda is very good as a lead character who isn't softened or made easy to like. He's an online grifter, but also constantly offering people a simple choice. Sellers can accept his offer for their goods or not, and buyers can spend time wondering about prices that seem too good to be true or just quickly click and see what arrives on their doorstep. Nobody is forced to do anything, even if the end result doesn't work out the way they want it to. Both Furukawa and Okudaira are also very good, the latter particularly enjoyable when his character barges back into the acting in time for an impressive and thought-provoking ending. Other excellent performances come from Amana Okayama, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Yutaka Matsushige, and Tetsuya Chiba, as well as others who make up the largely hostile group of people who do more than offer negative feedback to their least favourite online seller.

Intriguing, impressively mixing moments that feel a bit easy to dismiss with moments that feel all too plausible in a world that has given more information and power to those who can easily navigate their way around every dark and hidden corner of the internet, Cloud may not be up there with the best of Kurosawa, but it once again shows the ease with which he can tilt our world by just a few degrees to show people precariously balanced on a tightrope spanning a chasm that leads all the way to hell.

7/10

Friday, 20 February 2026

Death On The Nile (2022)

It took me long enough to get around to this, the second Poirot adventure starring, and directed by, Kenneth Branagh, and I was wondering if I should delay it any long as the earliest scenes played out (a sequence showing Poirot in wartime action that feels far too much like a superhero origin prologue). Things did not bode well. Thankfully, the rest of the film is much better, helped by a sprawling cast that has enough welcome performers to make up for those you may be less inclined to want on your screen.

Everything is basically summed up by the title. Poirot is invited to join the celebrations of a pair of newlyweds (Armie Hammer and Gal Gadot), as well as an assemblage of friends and acquaintances. There's trouble in the air though. An angry ex (Emma Mackey), who may be out for deadly revenge.

With Michael Green back for the job of adapting Agatha Christie's work into movie form, and Branagh very comfortable as the lead, there's very little here that should deter those who enjoyed Murder On The Orient Express. I would say that this is a more showy and beautiful film, helped in no small part by the setting, and Branagh has never been someone who could be accused of lacking confidence or the ability to add multiple cinematic flourishes to very traditional material.

Hammer is fine in his role, Gadot feels very much out of her depth, and Mackey is good fun, but the best moments come from many of the supporting players. Annette Bening and (returning) Tom Bateman are both on great form, a mother and son who both view Poirot in quite different ways. It's always nice to see Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders working alongside one another onscreen again. Rose Leslie does okay with a fairly anaemic role, and Russell Brand appears just often enough to make his inclusion feel unfortunate, but both Letitia Wright and Sophie Okonedo light up the screen with their presence. Branagh remains a lot of fun as Poirot, once the film moves beyond that unwanted opening sequence, and he's allowed, as usual, to showboat and relish his dialogue in the grand finale.

It doesn’t seem right to mention plotting in an adaptation of Agatha Christie, but fans should be pleased that this feels nicely in line with what you would expect from her. I haven’t read the source material (note to self, get back to exploring more Agatha Christie tales), but Christie is such a known institution that it would be very easy to tell when something felt . . . off.

Not great, not exactly cinematic throughout (despite Branagh trying his best), but comforting and enjoyable nonetheless. I may even get around to the next film very shortly, considering that has the bonus of Michelle Yeoh in one of the main roles. Or maybe I will take as long to get around to it as I took to get around to this one. After all, they don’t exactly set my little grey cells on fire with excitement.

6/10

Thursday, 19 February 2026

The Red Shoes (1948)

A film with a reputation that has seen it constantly hailed as one of the all-time greats for almost eight decades now. It wasn't exactly a huge success when initially released, but thank goodness we can all remember not to judge movies based entirely on their box office.

Moira Shearer plays Victoria Page, a young woman who eventually gets herself noticed by Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), the man in charge of a world-famous ballet company. Initially seeming to be unimpressed by her talent, Boris eventually sees her dancing in a way that suggests to him that she could be one of the very best. It will take dedication though, as well as some sacrifice and pain. Which is why Boris is displeased when Victoria begins a relationship with Julian Craster (Marius Goring), another huge talent.

Taking inspiration from the Hans Christian Andersen tale, it's layered throughout the second half of the movie, particularly when Victoria becomes famous for her lead role in The Red Shoes ballet, this is 135 minutes of wonderful entertainment, glorious visuals, and a real feeling of building hysteria. Page is driven to dance, it's a need that consumes her as she becomes more and more confident in her talents. Lermontov is also driven, mixing honey and vinegar in his interactions with those who are puppeted by his Svengali manipulations. Craster may be the only one who comes closest to contentment, accepting that some things just aren't worth the price to be paid.

Directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, both having also worked on forming the screenplay, with some additional work from Keith Winter, seem determined to push at the very boundaries of cinema, crafting a meta tale of artistry, passion, and the lengths that people will go to in order to feel the appreciation of an adoring audience. They don't care about making the main characters particularly warm or pleasant to be around, they don't care about viewers potentially getting impatient when they interrupt the narrative to showcase some highlights from the main ballet show, and they don't care about keeping things neat and tidy while illustrating the world being viewed through a fevered and damaged mindset. They only care about the full experience, and The Red Shoes is a phenomenal work of art that impresses now just as much as it would have impressed anyone back when it was first released in the late 1940s.

Shearer is an absolute wonder in her role, thankfully having more than enough ballet experience to make her convincing as the talented Victoria. Considering this is her feature film debut, however, it's very impressive that she does so well with the actual acting required alongside her flawless dance moves. Goring does fine in his role, but he's really there to facilitate the third act, where a very difficult choice must be made by our leading lady, and Robert Helpmann, Albert Bassermann, and a number of others provide excellent support. Walbrook is the one casting the largest shadow though, delivering someone who somehow manages to be both loathsome and captivating in equal measure. There's a straight line from his character to the one played by J. K. Simmons in Whiplash, and I only wish I knew that when I first watched Damien Chazelle's jazzy masterpiece.

The music matches the visuals, there are wonderful special effects used at just the right times to further blur the lines between reality and fantasy, and it's very hard to think of any other film that comes close to this for the intertwining of artistry and that sensation of developing a high fever. It may well be absolutely perfect.

10/10

Wednesday, 18 February 2026

Prime Time: Margin Call (2011)

Another film that I had heard praised often over the past decade or so, Margin Call is a snapshot of the very beginning of the 2008 financial crisis. Okay, maybe not the VERY beginning, which was actually far back when financial institutions started to get more carefree and cocky with their ability to repackage and resell major debts, but it's certainly the day that saw a shockwave ripple through the world of finance. As we call all see now though, no permanent change came from this, at least nothing notable to stop the rich exploiting the market to get even richer while the relatively poor majority get left to pick up the pieces whenever a bubble bursts. So Margin Call feels a bit more sour as a viewing experience because of that knowledge.

Just as he's being removed from his key position in an investment bank, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci) passes some of his work over to Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) and asks him to look into it. Sullivan does, and what he finds makes him talk it over with Will Emerson (Paul Bettany), who passes it up the chain to Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey), Jared Cohen (Simon Baker), and, where the buck ultimately stops, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons). Things are set to become very bad, and there will need to be a sacrifice. Will it be Eric, or will it be the tough and ready-for-a-fight Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore).

Margin Call works well by spelling out the circumstances that helped to create the perfect storm that upset everything back in 2008. Viewers may not get every nuance and detail, but there's always enough to at least get some tenuous grasp on (helped by one character specifically asking to have the whole thing explained to him as if he was a child). Writer-director J. C. Chandor knows how to convey the required information, and he also delivers a number of exchanges that reveal the motivations and environment that these main characters are used to, but he also seems to have delivered something that could easily be read as "won't someone think of the poor bankers?" Maybe I am misreading a number of scenes, but it's hard to find any sympathy for characters who are either due to be handsomely rewarded while the rest of the world falls into financial ruin or simply start whining because they won't stay on track to make the millions that they've been dreaming about for some time.

The cast are all very good, at least there's that. Quinto is particularly enjoyable, and his performance here reminded me of how much more I would like to see him do. Tucci is never bad, Spacey works well, and Baker, Moore, and Irons are all very believable. It's Bettany who steals the movie though, even outshining Quinto. Whether providing a running commentary on the unfolding situation or helping to prepare his colleagues for whatever fate might await them, Bettany is able to be mesmerising and charming without working hard to make his character particularly likable.

There's nothing I can really fault, not when it comes to the dialogue and the performances, but personal preference means that I would recommend a number of other movies ahead of this, movies that quite rightly point to those exploiting the situation and blaming them for making a bad time even worse for many other innocent (and not-so-innocent) parties.

7/10

Tuesday, 17 February 2026

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024)

I heard from someone recently that this has been hailed as the first fully-animated Looney Tunes feature film and I was ready to dispute that claim. Then I realised that the beloved features I was thinking of, films I watched repeatedly throughout my childhood, were actually the compendiums that simply stitched a number of their memorable cartoons together. So, yeah, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is the first fully-animated Looney Tunes movies. Which perhaps explains why I wanted it to be so much better.

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced here by Eric Bauza) have been brought up together by the kindly Father Jim (Fred Tatasciore). Sadly, Farmer Jim passes away in some of the earliest scenes in the movie, leaving Daffy and Porky to look after their home. That becomes tricky when their roof is damaged by a UFO. Trying a variety of jobs to raise money for the repair, it soon becomes obvious that Daffy is a bit more of a liability than Porky, but it's the former who stumbles upon an alien plan to control the human race via bubblegum. Daffy and Porky end up working with Petunia Pig (Candi Milo) on a plan to save the planet. But are they the ones we really want to trust with the fate of the world?

Written by about a dozen people, including director Peter Browngardt, this is a fun riff on many classic sci-fi movies from the 1950s. Eagle-eyed fans will be kept busy looking out for all of the references and homages (there's even an unexpectedly brilliant use of imagery many will recognise from John Carpenter's The Thing). Unfortunately, as much fun as that is, the sci-fi element doesn't make up for the fact that this is slightly lacking in the Looney Tuney department. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig are iconic enough, but the lack of other familiar faces is hugely disappointing. Would it have taken too much brainstorming to make use of Pepé Le Pew's particular . . . ability? Have Tweety Pie and Sylvester teaming up to explore dangerous territory? There's not even a Duck Dodgers or Marvin The Martian moment, and that doesn't sit right with me.

The animation style is pleasant and lively, as you'd expect for a Looney Tunes adventure, and there are enough gags thrown around that enough of them land in between the many that don't work quite as well, but there's something missing here. There's no outright anarchy, which was always one of the best things associated with Looney Tunes. Okay, there's one moment, the best moment in the entire film, that feels full-on anarchic. That's it though. One drop of water in an arid desert.

Bauza does well with his voice roles (and let's not understate how essential that is) , as does Milo, and Peter MacNicol is a great choice to provide the voice of The Invader. The entire voice cast are quite flawless, as is all of the foley work and the score. I wish they'd all been in a much better movie.

I've already heard a lot of praise for this, and I'm happy that other people have enjoyed it a bit more than I did. I enjoyed it as a bit of animated fun, don't get me wrong, but I didn't once feel that it came close to fully embracing the potential of the Looney Tunes "looney-verse".

6/10

Monday, 16 February 2026

Mubi Monday: Irma la Douce (1963)

I love many Billy Wilder movies. I love many Jack Lemmon movies. I also love many Shirley MacLaine movies. The three of them collaborated memorably on an all-time great back in 1960 so I went into this feature with no small amount of optimism. Friends did warn me though. Don't expect another The Apartment was the general advice. I like to think that I didn't go in with those kind of expectations. I certainly wasn't prepared for what I got though.

MacLaine plays Irma, a prostitute in Paris with a stellar reputation. Lemmon is Nestor, a young policeman who ends up losing his job after a very short time on the beat. With these two characters eventually falling for one another, it's not long until Nestor is in the tricky position of enjoying a good life afforded to him by his loving woman while also resenting what she does to earn her money. Without thinking of the full repercussions, Nestor comes up with an idea to approach Irma as a rich Englishman, one who will pay her so well for her company that she won't need to see any other clients. The major flaw, of course, is that Nestor then has to find a way to earn enough money to pay Irma for her time. As distance grows between them, Irma may well want to find out just how good a life she could have if she decides to head off into the sunset with her super-rich client.

Knowing that this was based on a French stage musical that originated in the mid-1950s helps to explain why some of the main names may have been attracted to this material, but it doesn't help to explain the many decisions made in adapting it from stage to screen. Not including any major song and dance numbers is one thing, but not doing enough to make the leads more sympathetic and amusing is something else altogether. Any major obstacles are of their own making, the whole thing is far too silly to even come close to being satisfyingly dramatic at any point, and, worst of all, the comedy often falls completely flat, soured by the central premise and the selfishness of the Lemmon's character. A couple of sequences in the third act work well, but they're too little too late in a film that greatly overstays its welcome with a runtime of 147 minutes.

Lemmon retains some likability, but that's more due to his own personality than anything written in the screenplay. MacLaine is good enough, but forced to remain oblivious to certain details that need to remain unknown to her for the unfolding plot to work. Lou Jacobi gets quite a few of the best lines, and the fact that he is the only other person to know about the ongoing scheme, and the problems caused by it, also allows him to comment on things with a level of insight and wit missing from the other characters. Other cast members worth mentioning are Bruce Yarnell ( a rival named Hippolyte), Herschel Bernardi (Inspector Lefevre), and Tura Satana (Suzette Wong, but mentioned here just for being Tura Satana). There's also a very small role for Bill Bixby, who will be easy to recognise for those keeping an eye out for him.

I might have liked this as a musical. That might have been enough to distract me from the many failings elsewhere, particularly when it comes to the lack of great dialogue and gags. It wasn't to be though. Maybe Wilder, who also wrote the screenplay with I. A. L. Diamond, knew that he wouldn't be the right person to helm this as a musical feature. Unfortunately, I don't think he was the right person to helm this at all. What it really lacks is a protective layer of whimsy and fantasy to cover up and smother the many jagged edges that make it impossible to warm to.

4/10

Sunday, 15 February 2026

Netflix And Chill: Sabrina (1995)

Although I like Harrison Ford, and have always been a big fan of his most iconic roles, I have overlooked many of his performances in "lesser"movies that I am only now keen to check out. This is all due to getting to see a bit more of Ford offscreen, and enjoying the droll and sardonic nature he often deploys in interviews. Age has allowed him to settle into the persona of an outright curmudgeon, but that has always seemed to be his preferred position.

Sabrina, a remake of a Billy Wilder-Audrey Hepburn-Humphrey Bogart film I am not familiar with, is the tale of a chauffeur's daughter (the titular Sabrina, played here by Julia Ormond) who has spent her life in love with the young playboy (David, played by Greg Kinnear) of the rich family that her father works for. Aiming to stay away from him when she is older, Sabrina starts life anew in Paris, but she is drawn back to David when she hears that he is finally looking to settle down and get married. His union with Elizabeth Tyson (Lauren Holly) will work in the favour of his older brother (Linus, played by Ford), who is looking to put together a very attractive merger package with Elizabeth's parents. As it quickly becomes clear that Sabrina may throw a spanner in the works, Linus sets out to distract her. Which is when he inevitably starts falling for her.

Written by Barbara Benedek and David Rayfiel, who I assume just had to tweak the source material to match their stars and the shiny modern world of the mid-90s, Sabrina is lightweight and surprisingly enjoyable throughout, mainly thanks to the casting. It's all a bit odd during the opening scenes, up until Sabrina returns and reconnects with a very impressed David, but things soon settle into a pleasing narrative that shows the ice cold and business-minded Linus being thawed out and reminded of how much more fun he could be having with all of his money and resources.

Director Sydney Pollack has always been reliable, if not always the very best choice for most of the films that he helmed, but he always had a particular knack for working with enjoyably varied casts orbiting one or two big names, which is why he does so well here. Ford may be the star, but Kinnear also gets to dazzle, and Ormond is allowed to give the kind of performance that feels like it's announcing her as a new shining star in the constellation of great leading ladies.

Ford gives the kind of performance I was hoping for here, very gruff and matter-of-fact while others act emotionally around him, and his ever-present charisma make the third act easy to buy into when people start to suspect that he and Sabrina have a connection. Ormond manages to delight and enchant without ever being turned into a complete "manic pixie dream girl"stereotype. She's just someone who was once an outsider, supported by a loving father to be able to do whatever she truly wanted to do with her life. Kinnear is sidelined for a lot of the runtime, but his main scenes, whether sitting down on some champagne glasses or reasserting his place in the family business, are highlights. Holly does well enough in her role, Richard Crenna and Angie Dickinson are a good choice to play her parents, Nancy Marchand is the mother of both David and Linus, and plays her part well, and John Wood, playing Sabrina's father, tries hard to stop you from wondering how much better someone like Tom Conti, James Fox, or Tom Courtenay would have been in his role. It's fun to see Paul Giamatti in a very small role, before he was being celebrated for his body of work, and Dana Ivey gets to deliver some of the best lines in the script as a very capable secretary/P.A.

It's easy to see why this wasn't a big hit when it was first released, and easy to see why it's one of many films destined to be forgotten by film fans seeking out more interesting fare, or just some of the many films that are much better than this, but Sabrina is full of performances and moments that should at least keep you smiling throughout. If you remain completely unmoved by any of it, I suspect you're actually the real-life equivalent of the character portrayed by Ford.

7/10

Saturday, 14 February 2026

Shudder Saturday: Swallowed (2022)

Whether you like or dislike his work, writer-director Carter Smith has been assembling an interesting filmography throughout the past few decades. The fact that he also directed the music video for what is arguably the catchiest and best song from S Club 7 is also a bit of a bonus, although I appreciate that few other people will agree with me on that.

Swallowed is the tale of two friends who end up getting involved in a perilous drug run. Benjamin (Cooper Koch) and Dom (Jose Colon) think they can make some good money with little risk, but the woman overseeing the operation (Alice, played by Jena Malone) quickly changes their mind, forcing them to swallow baggies that she warns them are very fragile and very valuable. If anything happens to them then it's not going to be a good time for our leads, and it may ultimately lead to death. It would also upset the man looking to make a lot of money from the deal (Rich, played by Mark Patton).

Starting off as a straightforward drama, turning into a dark thriller about people who get into a criminal plan that is way over their heads, and then adding some icky and impressive body horror moments in the second half, Swallowed is an impressive horror twist on a crime movie standard. Benjamin and Dom also have the additional risk that comes from their sexuality, especially when moving through the kind of territory that has them encountering a character credited as Randy Redneck (Michael Shawn Curtis), but that is also an important factor that directs and shapes the third act into something a bit fresh.

Koch and Colon are both very good, certainly when it comes to performing the physical stuff (both the placement and extraction of the goods being a key part of some sequences), Malone is enjoyably focused and determined to make the most of her hesitant mules, and Patton enjoys what may be the best role of his entire film career, although I admit to being unfamiliar with most of his work outside his (in)famous Elm Street instalment.

Despite not having any major set-pieces, and despite being much more restrained and more tame than you might expect, with more things implied than overtly shown onscreen, this does just enough to keep viewers interested and engaged for the duration of the 96-minute runtime. The opening scenes may have you getting a bit impatient, but everything is set up nicely for what is about to unfold. And when the danger starts to become apparent, the film is impressively dark and disturbing without having to lean as far into the grossness and discomfort as it could. A lot of that is down to Smith, for his main premise and handling of it, but this is also a film made all the better thanks to the entire team both behind and in front of the camera, with notable contributions from Dan Martin in the effects department and everyone involved with the impressive sound design.

7/10

Friday, 13 February 2026

Anaconda (2025)

If the world was crying out for a comedic reboot of the Anaconda movie series then nobody decided to mention that to me. There's a chance that the world wasn't crying out for such a thing, but then . . . why would this exist otherwise?

Jack Black plays Doug McCallister, a man stuck making wedding videos when he really wants to be directing movies. His long-time friend, Ronald Griffin Jr. (Paul Rudd), is an actor unable to really gain any momentum in his career. Ronald doesn't have much going for him, but he does have the rights to Anaconda, apparently, which leads to him convincing Doug, Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) to travel to the Amazon and rework a movie they all have a strangely strong connection with. They meet Ana (Daniela Melchior) once over there, a capable woman who ends up being added to the small cast of their movie, and eventually also meet a very real, and very large, anaconda.

Written by Kevin Etten and directed by Tom Gormican, who both entertained me with their last collaboration, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, this is one of the strangest and least satisfying mainstream movies I have watched in some time. Okay, I wasn't exactly hyped for this when I first heard about the tonal change in the series, but I still assumed that my appreciation of the main cast members would allow me to get some enjoyment from it. I was VERY wrong.

Jack Black can be very funny, Paul Rudd is someone I consider a bit of a treasure, Steve Zahn has been delivering delightful turns for decades now, and Thandiwe Newton has done enough good work by now to make me forgive her stilted performance in the second Mission: Impossible movie. I want to be clear about how much I like all of these people in the right movies. This is not the right movie. It's a tonal mess that doesn't do well enough with the jokes about film-making, doesn't deliver any proper snakey thrills, and doesn't have anything else going for it, with the exception of a couple of fun cameos. Zahn is a highlight, but Dan Silveira upstages everyone as a snake-handler named Timo who has the advantage of possessing a snake that he claims is friendly and obedient, despite the size of the thing. Melchior, and the entire sub-plot that she's involved with, feels completely unnecessary, and I would have much preferred the movie to concentrate on the other added conflict that is brought up at just around the halfway mark before being fumbled and discarded within the space of a few scenes.

Undemanding viewers should still find one or two chuckles here, but they're too few and far between throughout the 99-minute runtime. Other than those fleeting bright spots, nothing else works. At all. And it's saying something when you watch a 2025 Anaconda movie and start thinking fondly of the uneven special effects in the 1997 film.

Maybe not the worst mainstream movie I've seen this decade, but I am currently struggling to think of one I would rank below it.

3/10

Thursday, 12 February 2026

Song Sung Blue (2025)

I am happy to admit that I spent a lot of time thinking that Song Sung Blue was a very different movie. Having not been interested enough to look any further into it, unable to even muster enough enthusiasm to check out the trailer, I believed that this was a Neil Diamond biopic. I was quite wrong, and all of those already familiar with the story, presented in a 2008 documentary by Greg Kohs, would have laughed at my utter wrong-ness.

What you have here is the story of Mike (Hugh Jackman) and Claire (Kate Hudson), a pair of individuals who encounter one another while performing separate musical tribute acts. Once they begin a relationship, the two support one another in ways that help to lift them both up, allowing their double-act, Lightning And Thunder, to become a huge success in their Milwaukee home city. There are some clouds moving in to block the sunshine though.

This is a movie made by the central performances of Jackman and Hudson, with the latter particularly revelatory in a role that has quite rightly garnered her a good amount of praise already. Jackman can do the song and dance man thing in his sleep, he's arguably in his comfort zone when acting in anything that allows him to flex his musical muscles, but Hudson shows that she can easily match him, whether it's in the singing department or the emotional beats. Ella Anderson and Hudson Hensley are both quite delightful, playing Claire's two children who soon become happy to refer to Mike as their father, and King Princess works well in a couple of scenes as Mike's daughter (who lives with her mother, but seems to have a decent enough relationship with her father, considering the demons he has been battling over the years). There are also very sweet turns from Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, and Mustafa Shakir, all helping to create a supportive and loving core matching the supporting and loving couple at the heart of the film.

Director Craig Brewer has been drawn to music-infused stories a number of times throughout his career (and I highly recommend his sophomore feature, Hustle & Flow), but this is probably his most obvious attempt to deliver a crowd-pleaser that should satisfy most viewers. It has the two big names leading the cast, it takes you through some wild highs and lows (IF you are as oblivious of the true story as I was), and the soundtrack is unsurprisingly full of superb songs. Especially if you're a Neil Diamond fan, obviously.

There are problems here though. I don't want to give the impression that this is anything close to a perfect viewing experience. The opening scenes are a bit clumsily thrown together, rushing through various moments until Mike and Claire finally get together, and there isn't often a clear enough depiction of how much time is supposed to have passed in between major events. In a classic case of the truth being stranger than fiction, there's also at least one scene that feels like a cute contrivance, despite it being based on something that actually happened.

Really easy to enjoy while it's on, but another 2025 film that I'm not sure I'll ever rewatch (although I certainly want to check out that doc), Song Sung Blue is at least guaranteed to do one thing . . . it will have you listening to a number of Neil Diamond hits once you have been reminded of how bloody great they are.

7/10

Wednesday, 11 February 2026

Prime Time: F Valentine's Day (2026)

AKA F**k Valentine's Day.

It may not be an entirely new phenomenon, but there seem to be more rom-coms nowadays that try to push themselves as something pretending to be anti-rom-coms. F Valentines Day is one of those movies, as if you couldn't guess from the title.

Virginia Gardner plays Gina, a young woman who hates Valentine's Day. It's her birthday, but the day is given over to love and hearts and a multitude of ways to force people to spend extra money and engage in extravagant displays of affection. She explains that to Johnny (Jake Cannavale) when he delivers her a pizza that happens to be shaped into a heart for the big day. As an apology for ranting at him, she then gives him a holiday gift voucher valued at $5,000 (although Gina thinks it is just a $50 voucher). Then Gina meets Andrew (Skylar Astin). They don't seem compatible, but maybe that's what they both need. Maybe that's why Andrew plans a holiday after they've been dating for about a year, and maybe that's why he's planning to propose. Gina does not want that proposal, certainly not on Valentine's Day, and it's quite lucky that she's at the same resort as Johnny and his twin sister (Mickey, played by Sabrina Bartlett).

F Valentine's Day has a few decent gags here and there, but nowhere near enough for the 95-minute runtime, and certainly not enough to offset the fact that the main character isn't particularly easy to like. Gina is defined by two main traits: her hatred of Valentine's Day and her ability to lie with ease. Andrew may be what she thinks she needs, but he's hard to like in a different way, mainly due to being too bland and willing to settle with someone so clearly not suitable for him. Writer Steve Bencich may have thought that the mismatch would be entertaining and amusing enough, and he may have thought that the third act here is subversive and satisfying enough to keep most viewers happy, but that isn't the case. This is a film that feels mildly enjoyable for a few moments (particularly any scenes that feature Natasha Leggero and Lil Rel Howery), but then moves between irritating and simply mean.

Director Mark Gantt has too much faith in the material, especially when he doesn't even try to distract viewers with a good enough cast. In fact, he doesn't try to distract viewers with anything else. There's a disappointing lack of big laughs, no light and smile-inducing montage moments, no upbeat soundtrack selections, and certainly nothing I would consider a worthwhile set-piece. Aside from the aforementioned Leggero and Howery, the best moments have Gina just receiving some decent advice from her caring mother (Marisa Tomei). Those scenes work because Gina can't keep up the facade that she tends to keep up with everyone else in her life.

Perhaps I'm affected by how much I disliked her character, but Gardner doesn't work here in the lead role. The film needed someone with much more charisma to make up for the inherent character flaws. The same goes for Astin, who never once gets to have even just a hint of edge to his personality, and neither Cannavale nor Bartlett can do enough to overcome the limitations that the screenplay puts on them. I'll mention Leggero and Howery a third time, they deserve it, and Tomei is someone I will never complain about seeing in any role (even if it's not one of her best movies, and this is far from one of her best movies).

Although I didn't really enjoy this, it's probably an easy choice for people to pick if they're browsing their streaming services and hoping to find something that offers a bit of romance without too much of the sugar and schmaltz. It doesn't avoid those things completely, but it's like a Valentine's Day chocolate dessert with a surprisingly sour centre. Some will really like that contrast. I'll always prefer a straightforward molten chocolate cake with some cool cream or ice cream on the side.

4/10

Tuesday, 10 February 2026

The Housemaid (2025)

Considering the fact that the last film directed by Paul Feig was Another Simple Favor, I was not inclined to be optimistic about The Housemaid. Based on the tremendously popular book by Freida McFadden, I wondered if Feig could deliver something fun and trashy so soon after failing us so badly with something that should have been fun and trashy. Thankfully, he's helped by writer Rebecca Sonnenshine and lead cast members who are happy enough to revel in the silliness of the whole thing.

Sydney Sweeney plays Millie Calloway, a young woman who cannot believe her luck when she lands a live-in maid job with the seemingly-perfect Winchester family. There's Nina (Amanda Seyfried), the lovely and warm lady of the house, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), the devoted and gorgeous husband, and young Cece (Indiana Elle). Millie soon finds out that all isn't as it seems though. People in the house have some dark secrets. But, considering she's still on probation after serving ten years of a prison sentence, Millie has to tolerate more strange behaviour than most, considering she needs to stay employed and housed as part of her probation conditions.

Having not read the book, or any of the McFadden books, all I knew was that it was apparently quite dark and twisted. Well, this film is quite dark and twisted, which makes me think that it's a decent adaptation. Unfortunately, everything is so ridiculous and overblown that none of the twists and turns are surprising, especially when you start mulling over the different directions that the film could take. Feig knows how far he can push things though, and he works with the screenplay to deliver a satisfying mix of intrigue, thrills, nastiness, and occasional laughs.

Sweeney doesn't stretch her acting chops here, but she's fine in the lead role, and I like the fact that she has been involved in at least two erotically-charged thrillers throughout her acting career (reminder - check out The Voyeurs if you haven't seen it already). Whatever role she takes on, Sweeney seems to have good instincts when it comes to what she can bring to the table, whether that's tied to her acting range or just her obvious sex appeal. Seyfried gets to do much more with her character, and it's a lot of fun to see her move from the well-known sweetness of her usual persona to a whole lot of rage and nastiness. It's also fun to see Sklenar make use of the image that he has cultivated onscreen over the past couple of years. Elle is an entertainingly cold child, and there's room for a strong and silent turn from Michele Morrone and a "mother-in-law from hell" turn from Elizabeth Perkins, who does a lot with her very little screentime.

Despite the work of Feig and Sonnenshine, and despite the game cast, something here holds The Housemaid back from being as good as it could be. The 131-minute runtime doesn't help, especially when you notice how much time is still left after one or two of the earlier plot reveals, the soundtrack is also disappointingly insipid, in contrast to some of the wilder visuals, and the ending is just a bit too preposterous to be truly satisfying.

I still enjoyed it though, and I'll absolutely watch the sequel when it comes along. I just can't see myself ever rewatching this, and I suspect others may feel the same way.

6/10

Monday, 9 February 2026

Mubi Monday: Fists In The Pocket (1965)

Although I have labelled this as a drama, and although I found it uncomfortably dark and disturbing, there's certainly a vein of black comedy running through Fists In The Pocket that would arguably place it close to some famous Ealing titles, or modern British films influenced by those Ealing features, when it comes to making comparisons. An Ealing comedy mixed with something like We Need To Talk About Kevin. There's a combination for you.

Lou Castel plays Alessandro, a young man stifled in a home with his brothers (the eldest being Augusto, played by Marino Masé), his mother (Liliana Gerace), and a sister (Giulia, played by Paola Pitagora) he seems unhealthily in love with. Alessandro thinks that he has the answer to many problems created by his dysfunctional family, but that answer involves a number of deaths.

Having enjoyed a number of other films from director Marco Bellocchio, although I wouldn't call him consistent, I am always willing to at least go into his movies with an open mind. This film requires viewers to be a bit more open-minded than usual, considering how dark and twisted things get, but I couldn't say whether or not those viewers will feel rewarded enough once it ends. Not that it's a bad film, I didn't think so anyway, but it's a film that is happy to start and end in a way that seems to emphasise how much more there is to explore and experience at either end of the runtime.

Castel is very good as someone who is quietly psychopathic, and he even retains a vulnerability that makes him easier to keep watching as a lead character, while Pitagora is an intriguing mix of innocence and potential trouble. Giulia is not exactly Lady Macbeth, but she gets to show that she's not entirely turned off by Alessandro's ideas. While they're not kept in focus as often, both Masé and Gerace do well as the two people who loom largest over Alessandro, for better or worse.

I would recommend this, but be warned that it's not an easy watch. I think people will either love or hate it, there's very little reason to find it average. It's quite an ugly film, tonally, and none of the technical aspects work to hide that ugliness. This is a film that wants to drag people into a very dark and disturbing mental space, even if viewers are reluctant to go there. One to appreciate more than simply enjoy, but I hope there are others out there who will give it a go, and maybe appreciate it as much as I did. I never want to watch it again, but I have said that about quite a few films that made me feel equally unsettled and wanting to scrub myself clean in a hot bath. This may seem tame in comparison to others in the same vein, especially as I also mentioned Ealing comedies in the opening paragraph, but it worms under your skin and into your brain as everything creeps closer to . . . something that you have to call an ending simply because it's placed at the end.

8/10

Sunday, 8 February 2026

Netflix And Chill: Jay Kelly (2025)

George Clooney can convince me of many things. He can be a handsome doctor. He can make me think that I need a swish coffee machine in my kitchen. He can even be Bruce Wayne/Batman, occasionally. Hey, the film isn't great, but he is far from the worst part of it. Unfortunately, one of the things that he cannot convince me of is a message that basically says "oh, look at George Clooney, isn't it sad that he has had to make some sacrifices on his way to being a beloved global superstar."

Jay Kelly is the story of Jay Kelly, an actor (Clooney) about to have a bit of a crisis. His crisis doesn't necessarily affect him, however, as much as it affects people who once knew him in the past (mainly Timothy, played by Billy Crudup), his management team/handlers (Adam Sandler and Laura Dern), and his two daughters (played by Grace Edwards and Riley Keough).

Co-written by director Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, who also appears onscreen in a very small supporting role (aka blink and you can miss her), Jay Kelly may not be about George Clooney, specifically, but it is hampered massively by the fact that it has Clooney in the main role, which makes it feel as if it IS about his life, and that doesn't feel, from the outside, like a life full of struggles. Oh, Clooney put the work in for many years before he finally got his breakthrough, but those tough years have always seemed to have worked in his favour, keeping him well-adjusted and very appreciative of his success. Which makes this film so jarring. As much as I really like Clooney, he feels horribly miscast here. Maybe he has had the kind of introspective moments that are shown here, maybe not, but watching him calculate his gains and losses onscreen here is akin to watching some documentary about a monarch who is unhappy about having staff and adoring fans ready to cater to their every whim.

The rest of the cast work a lot better though, and both Sandler and Dern are superb, although the latter is sadly underused. Crudup has one fantastic scene that helps to start dismantling the tower of cards, Edwards and Keough are both very good, and there's a supporting turn from Patrick Wilson that reminds you of just how easygoing and enjoyable Wilson can be onscreen when not playing a ghoulish con-man pretending to be a record-breaking exorcist. Oh, there's also a surprisingly decent role for Stacy Keach, playing an unimpressed father.

There are good moments here, some of them are really good moments, but they are too few and far between in a film that clocks in with a 132-minute runtime. And you'll struggle to remember the highlights as the end credits roll and all you can think of is the air of smug self-satisfaction emanating from the thing. Maybe some would say that's exactly why Clooney should work well in the lead role, but the tone of the film fails to play to his strengths.

I was looking forward to this, mainly for Clooney, but also for the fact that Sandler has been on a great run with his dramatic roles recently. It turns out that Sandler is the best thing about this, and he effortlessly steals a number of scenes away from everyone around him. Sadly, I cannot recommend this to anyone but the biggest fans of those involved. And even they (considering I count myself among them) are unlikely to be impressed.

4/10

Saturday, 7 February 2026

Shudder Saturday: A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)

Another week, another landmark title that I am finally getting to see decades after so many others. A Chinese Ghost Story is a mix of horror, comedy, romance, and martial arts. There's a feeling that it shouldn't really work, considering how quickly it jumps from one genre to another, but the leads and the visual style help a lot.

Leslie Cheung plays a timid debt collector who finds his life irrevocably changed when he takes shelter one night in a deserted temple. It's there that he meets a beautiful ghost (Joey Wong), although he doesn't initially realise her non-living status. The ghost is in trouble though, and needs help, which leads to our hero finding previously-untapped reserves of bravery, as well as him finding assistance in the form of a powerful priest (Wu Ma).

I kept getting the feeling that I'd already seen this, but that's only because it's a film that I have seen celebrated and mentioned in a few different documentaries. Not only has it appeared in conversations about a wide variety of horror movies, but I'm pretty sure I saw clips from this in some martial arts compilation hosted by Chuck Norris. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it just falls in line with some other movies showcased there, but I certainly had a bit of déjà vu while this was on.

Leslie Cheung has a filmography littered with great performances (stopped abruptly by his untimely death after a lengthy battle with depression), and he's a delight in the lead role here, all nerves and good intentions. Wong is a delightful ghost, allowed to show a vulnerability and sweetness lacking in the other undead characters who populate this tale. Then you have Ma, entertainingly unflappable and powerful, and able to drag the story into even wilder territory. Lau Siu-ming is also very good, playing the big baddie of the film, a tree demoness with numerous spirits under her command.

It's a shame to think that the director of this, Ching Siu-tung, would one day have to helm a weak Steven Seagal film, but such is life. It's also a shame that I saw that over a decade before I saw this. At least I am not spending the near future making time for any more Seagal movies. I am, however, hoping to watch the next two films that were made after this one.

I encourage others to do the same, especially if you don't mind your horror leaning into the fantastical. Yuen Kai Chi does well to blend everything in a screenplay that maintains impressively high energy levels, yet also gives the love story time to bloom in between the fights and thrills. Recommended, but I wouldn't be surprised if everyone reading this had watched it long before me anyway.

8/10

Friday, 6 February 2026

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)

I, alongside many others, was shocked to hear about the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner at the end of 2025. As a comedy fan, Rob Reiner is a bit of a legend. As a movie fan, his run of directorial credits from the mid-1980s through to the early 1990s is considered an almost-unrivalled hot streak. The fact that his film career both started and ended with Spinal Tap is at least a teeny tiny silver lining to the massive cloud that is his untimely death.

I have not really been aware of the overwhelming critical consensus on Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, but I really liked it. REALLY liked it. Like many sequels, it suffers from the fact that it just isn't the original film. But this had moments that made me laugh just as hard as I laughed at some moments in the first film.

Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are aiming to re-unite Spinal Tap after a break of many years. There has been bitterness, there have been legal wranglings, and there have been a number of unexpected side ventures. The band are ready to rock though, but are there enough fans left eager to hear them?

Written by the leads and Reiner, and once again full of riffs and tangents that showcase the improvisational skills of the cast around the loose structure, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is pretty much exactly what Tap fans should want from a sequel. The reveals of what each character has been up to prove delightful, the reworking of classic gags is done well, and the newer additions (Kerry Godliman, Chris Addison, and Valerie Franco) fit in perfectly with the established team. I would also say that all of the celebrity cameos work in service of the comedy, as opposed to bringing things grinding to a halt to simply point and highlight the household name, but I know some others disagree on that point.

It seems redundant to praise Guest, McKean, and Shearer on their ability to portray such fully-realised comedy creations, considering they have been among the very best to do it for over four decades now, but there's certainly some extra magic sprinkled over them whenever they are showing us the highs and lows of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. And if you don't chuckle as Guest explains his bizarre store that trades in cheese and guitars then I feel sorry for you.

I was really tempted to fill this review with all of my favourite quotes and moments, but I have instead tried to show some restraint. That's why it's so brief. The best comedies make you want to simply repeat the best bits to other people, and this feels like one of the best comedies I have watched in some time. More importantly, it feels like a worthy sequel to one of the all-time greats, it feels like a fitting finale for Spinal Tap, and it feels like Reiner inadvertently bookended his directorial career with two giant monuments to comedy. Like two large upright stones, if you will, that cast large shadows over the landscape.

8/10

Thursday, 5 February 2026

Zootopia 2 (2025)

Whatever name it had when I saw it (I THINK it was called Zootropolis for a while here in the UK), I quite enjoyed Zootopia. It wasn't part of the cream of the animated movie crop from the past decade, but it was cute and enjoyable enough. This sequel is slightly better, although maybe that's just because I can't really remember much from the first film now, but it's nowhere near as good as you'd expect the new English-language box office champion of animated movies to be. I guess that's just a reminder that box office doesn't always represent the quality of the product.

After a short amount of time being celebrated for their work, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) soon find themselves on the wrong side of the law. They start to figure out that something is wrong as they attempt to capture an alleged villain named Gary De'Snake (Ke Huy Quan), which leads to them investigating a powerful family who may have stolen and reframed the history of Zootopia.

With most of the main names returning, for the acting roles and the many "behind the camera" roles, Zootopia 2 should be praised, first of all, for expanding the onscreen world without feeling as if it's changing everything already shown in the first film. Writer Jared Bush, who also co-directed with Byron Howard, has an excellent instinct for details that are fun and imaginative, yet also feel perfectly plausible for a world designed for many different species of animals.

As well as Goodwin, Bateman, and Quan, who are all great and feel well-suited for voicing their characters, there's room in the cast for performances from Fortune Feimster (playing the superbly-named Nibbles Maplestick), Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Idris Elba, Patrick Warburton, Danny Trejo, and Shakira, as well as a number of other familiar names you may recognise once you hear them speaking.

Everything is obvious and predictable enough from early on, but that's what happens when you have a mystery at the heart of an animated family movie, but there's still enough done to keep tension running throughout, despite the obviousness of the ultimate end point. There's a quirky character added to the mix every 10-15 minutes, most of the gags work well, and I admit that I laughed more than expected when I noticed that Ed Sheeran had a tiny cameo as Ed Shearin.

Amusing, cute, and nicely animated, Zootopia 2 should keep most viewers entertained. I'm still bemused by it being the most successful English-language animated movie of all time, but I guess I'm decades older than the target demographic nowadays anyway. Maybe I'm just slightly out of touch, despite my consistent immaturity.

7/10

Wednesday, 4 February 2026

Prime Time: The Wrecking Crew (2026)

Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa star as two estranged half-brothers who reluctantly reunite after the death of their father. He was killed in a hit and run, but it soon becomes apparent that there was more to his death, and James (Bautista) and Jonny (Momoa) start an investigation that turns parts of Hawaii into a warzone as they upset bad guys, destroy numerous vehicles, and work their way up the chain to face off against whoever is the head villain behind everything.

Simple and entertaining, and even managing to feel well-paced for the 124-minute runtime, The Wrecking Crew is sometimes a nice throwback action comedy that is happy to make the destruction ridiculous, the main villain obvious, and every pay-off predictable. Writer Jonathan Tropper is happy to make the leads enjoyably childish when it comes to the insults and competitiveness between them, and he does well to refrain from adding too many twists and turns that would get in the way of the fun.

Both of the leads are good in their roles, with Momoa having the most fun of the two of them (being sillier and more irresponsible for most of the runtime), and there's a great supporting cast that includes Temuera Morrison, Roimata Fox, Frankie Adams, Claes Bang, Jacob Batalon, Morena Baccarin, Stephen Root, and one or two others you may recognise.

While director Ángel Manuel Soto does well enough with the material, he fumbles things in a couple of ways. First of all, he overdoes at least one main set-piece. I enjoyed the ridiculousness and carnage of a sequence that has road vehicles and a helicopter targeting our heroes, but it's nowhere near as much fun as the moments that have more grounded and crunchy action. There's also at least one moment, a reveal, that would have worked better as a punchline to an earlier set-up, but it's simply presented without any other context to improve it. And don't get me started on the ill-advised Oldboy homage. These might sound like minor complaints, but they stand out more because of the other times that the film gets things just right.

Anyone after an easy bit of entertainment should find enough here to enjoy, even if it keeps slipping up every now and again. I suggest a sequel, if we get one, keeps everything much more grounded, maybe kills off, or seriously hurts, one of the main supporting characters, and gives us a moment or two when we can at least consider the possibility that one of our leads is in very serious trouble. It would definitely be worth pairing up Bautista and Momoa again though. They play off one another well, and they feel very capable when it comes to the physicality of their fight scenes.

6/10

Tuesday, 3 February 2026

Pillion (2025)

While Pillion has been referred to often as "the gay biker movie", and sometimes as the "sub/dom film with the lad that used to play Dudley Dursley", it's actually got a lot more going on than those short descriptors might suggest. Not that those descriptions are wildly inaccurate. Pillion IS a gay biker movie, to some degree, and it IS the sub/dom film starring Harry Melling (seeing his Harry Potter role shrink smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror as he moves, for better or worse, from one interesting project to the next).

Adapted from a book, "Box Hill", by Adam Mars-Jones, this is the tale of Colin (Melling), a young man who encounters Ray (Alexander Skarsgård). Ray can give Colin what he is seeking in a relationship, but maybe not everything. Colin, you see, has a real affinity for devotion. He enjoys being very submissive. And Ray is very happy to be dominant. As long as he sees that the dynamic is working for the two of them. Can it keep working though?

Directed by Harry Lighton, who also adapted the source material into screenplay form, this is one hell of a directorial feature debut. It's bold, in terms of the exploration of the relationship and the sex and nudity shown onscreen, it's interestingly nuanced, and it's surprisingly moving by the time all of the pieces fall into place for the finale. While the relationship shown onscreen isn't a great depiction (there are no important conversations about rules, boundaries, reciprocity, etc), it's arguably a necessary one for someone still trying to find out their own boundaries and self-imposed rulebook. The negatives are placed alongside the positives to show something that, while more extreme than most, puts the main characters in a very similar position to many other people (no matter their gender or sexuality). Every relationship can have aspects that seem odd to those looking on from the outside, but if things work and happiness is maintained then that's all that matters (as long as everything is legal, of course, and nobody else is being hurt).

And that's the thing about Pillion. While it will upset the homophobes, and maybe make more unprepared viewers gasp at some of the more graphic moments, it's basically about things that we've seen in many other movies. Self-discovery, what it takes to make a relationship work, grabbing moments of happiness. The sub/dom dynamic may make it all seem unique, but the journey will be very familiar to those who see beyond the assless chaps and symbolic padlocks.

Melling may be the one who goes through more of a transformation here, but both he and Skarsgård are equally good. The fact that the relationship can be so easily believed, even as one individual is being constantly tested, is testament to how good the leads are. It's also worth mentioning Lesley Sharp and Douglas Jones, playing the parents of Colin. They have a very good time playing generally understanding parents who find themselves a bit bemused when they see their son starting to become some kind of man-servant for a handsome stranger, and Sharp is especially delightful when dropping a well-chosen insult during a dramatic dinner scene.

I could say much more. I enjoyed the score from Oliver Coates. I thought the visuals and sound design were fantastic. There's not really any one element I would criticise, although things become almost unbearable for viewers at times. Thankfully, the third act delivers a very welcome silver lining after a sky full of gathering clouds.

9/10

Monday, 2 February 2026

Mubi Monday: 45 Years (2015)

If you have been in any kind of relationship with someone for 45 years then you may think that you would know everything there is to know about them. And you may think there's nothing that would ever make you feel less secure in that relationship. That's probably incorrect though. We all have things that we don't want to say to even our closest confidant, whether it's that bedroom fantasy that you've never been brave enough to discuss, the memories you made with someone else many years ago that can never be fully wiped away as they helped to make you who you are today, or even just the amount of times you examine the toilet paper after every attempt to wipe away the klingons hanging around uranus. Unsurprisingly, 45 Years focuses on that second option, but it could just as easily be about any of them, although I am not sure Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling would be as comfortable discussing their bathroom habits.

Having had to miss out on a celebration of their 40th wedding anniversary, Kate (Rampling) and Geoff (Courtenay) are gearing up to make a big deal of their 45th year together. The couple are rocked, however, by the death of someone that it turns out Geoff was in a relationship with before he ever met Kate. This takes Geoff on a journey through some reminiscences while Kate starts to wonder about how this revelation reframes their relationship to one another.

Based on a short story, "In Another Country", by David Constantine, 45 Years is written and directed by Andrew Haigh. Haigh has a filmography well worth exploring, but this is arguably his weakest film, despite the strength of the lead performances. It's the kind of film that feels as if it would be much better to see as a staged play, with very little added to the material to make it more cinematic or feeling as if it benefits from the medium.

Both Rampling and Courtenay ARE superb though, the former being clearly unsettled and concerned by a revelation that the latter considers to be a footnote in his own life. There's clearly love between the two main characters, but also a disparity when it comes to how they both start to act on the lead up to their big anniversary date. As is made clear in certain scenes, Courtenay's character doesn't even realise how his actions and attitudes are affecting his wife, but he tries his best to mollify her when it's clearly described to him. Both of the stars get to go through a great range of emotions, but it's Rampling who gets the best work, being more present and affected by everything than Courtenay's slightly (typically?) oblivious man. While there are few supporting cast members, Geraldine James gets a scene or two, and is always good to see onscreen.

I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed or appreciated this film if I'd watched it as a much younger man, but it's one that will be of interest to those who have been in any long-term relationship. Some things are taken for granted, whether they should be or not, sometimes the past looms up to cast a large shadow over the present, and sometimes the present needs to be shaken up slightly, just enough to get rid of any complacency and insecurity that may be clinging on to either party like a wet sweater. The longer the relationship, the stronger things can be, but there are still ways in which the rug can be pulled from under your feet. 45 Years shows one such scenario, and how one moment can create a ripple effect throughout an entire lifetime.

7/10