For It Is Man's Number

Friday, 25 September 2026

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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Thursday, 24 September 2026

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

Wednesday, 23 September 2026

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

Tuesday, 22 September 2026

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

Monday, 21 September 2026

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

Sunday, 20 September 2026

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

Saturday, 19 September 2026

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

Friday, 18 September 2026

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

Thursday, 17 September 2026

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

Wednesday, 16 September 2026

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

Tuesday, 15 September 2026

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

Monday, 14 September 2026

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

Sunday, 13 September 2026

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

Saturday, 12 September 2026

Shudder Saturday: The Irrefutable Truth About Demons (2000)

The best thing going for The Irrefutable Truth About Demons is that it has, to use an accurate description, a good dose of Clive Barker mixed through it. The worst thing working against the film is that it has, well, a good dose of Clive Barker mixed through it. I rarely say this, but this is a film that might have worked better if reworked to be a part of the sprawling and uneven Hellraiser franchise. There's definitely something worthwhile here, but it's hampered by the fact that it cannot show some truly horrific visions of a dark underworld running parallel to our own everyday lives.

Karl Urban stars as an anthropology professor, Harry Ballard, who becomes the focus of attention of a satanic cult. Harry has spent a long time denying the existence of powers and demons that the cult believes in, which may explain why they have some very specific plans for him now. The cult leader (Le Valliant, played by Jonathon Hendry) is a powerful foe, but Harry receives some unexpected assistance from a troubled young woman named Benny (Katie Wolfe).

The first full feature from writer-director Glenn Standring, who followed this up with the mediocre Perfect Creature, this is an admirable attempt to present some old-fashioned and traditional horror movie tropes with fresh coat of paint on them. Let's face it, the core of the plot is very much in line with the likes of The Devil Rides Out and Night Of The Demon, as well as something like Lord Of Illusions (funnily enough), but it doesn't quite manage to be as good as any of the tales influencing it.

Urban is a big plus in the lead role. It may be a few years before he would become a fully-fledged movie star, but the talent and charisma is all there. He's a good lead, and he tries his best to sell even the silliest moments. Wolfe doesn't do too bad alongside him, although she's asked to be consistently twitchy and quirky while viewers quickly get to figure out just why she's such a bag of nerves. It's a shame that Hendry isn't as good as the main villain, and he's not helped by the fact that a number of his minions are ripped from the pages of "spiky loonies dressed by Hot Topic in the year 2000".

I kept wanting this to impress me, but it sadly failed to manage that. Instead of building up to anything spectacular and impressive, it stumbled from one weak sequence to the next after an opening that had me hoping for something smarter and wittier. The character played by Urban showed a lot of promise, especially if given the kind of intelligence and attitude that exemplified other sceptical heroes of horror/sci-fi (I'm thinking of people like Quatermass and Kolchak here), but that's all undone by Standring making the mistake of removing ambiguity far too early in the runtime.

The Irrefutable Truth About Demons ends up being distinctly average, but who has time to watch a horror movie from the year 2000 that doesn't manage to be more than distinctly average? Okay, there's me, but most people are much more discerning than I am.

5/10

Friday, 11 September 2026

Mayday (2026)

It's the 1980s. Top Gun is a huge hit at the box office. The Cold War continues to make the USSR a very hostile place for Americans. That's what you need to know when you start watching Mayday, a buddy action comedy movie that feels as if it wants to sit alongside a number of great movies released in the decade that it's set in.

Ryan Reynolds plays Troy Kelly, a hotshot pilot who ends up on a top secret mission in enemy airspace. It shouldn't be too difficult though. It all ends badly, of course, and Kelly is wounded and behind enemy lines. He ends up in the care of Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), a formidable Russian with a dark and deadly past. Thankfully, Nikolai is a big fan of all things American nowadays, and he hopes that helping Troy can help him to relocate. Many others will be trying to find and stop them, and they're working for the determined Alexander Volkox (Marcin Dorocinski).

Although it's enjoyable enough while on, and there are a few fun action moments throughout, Mayday is never quite as much fun as it should be. It steps up a notch when Branagh appears onscreen, Russian accent and all, but it's almost as if nobody involved in making it really knew how far to push things. This should have had some better fights, and it deserved a lot more comedy, although there aren't any major complaints about what is actually here.

Co-written and co-directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who have given us wonderful entertainment in the shape of both Game Night and the Dungeons & Dragons movie, Mayday is clearly a love letter to some of the all-time mismatched buddy flicks, and the third act kept a big grin on my face for the majority of it, but a couple of details hold it back from being truly great.

One thing holding it back is Reynolds. I like Reynolds, I tend to like his usual schtick, but it's not something that works as well when he's sharing lead duties with someone else (unless that person is rolling eyes at him in his Deadpool persona). Mayday is weak when Reynolds is being Reynolds, making the earlier scenes a bit of a chore to get through. It's too familiar, and it's not what viewers will be tuning in for. Branagh is actually much more fun, for the most part, but another thing holding the movie back is the way that his character ends up not being right in the thick of more fights. The first small-scale action beat is a doozy, and I was looking forward to seeing how Branagh's character would upscale his deadly skillset in the face of larger numbers of enemies, but he sadly ends up finding a way out of bad situations more than finding a way through them. Dorocinski is a fun and menacing villain, and there are good moments for David Morse (as Troy's father) and Maria Bakalova (as Nikolai's daughter).

I enjoyed this. I would watch it again. I'd happily watch a sequel. But I know that I will also revisit some excellent 1980s action comedies multiple times while this starts to fade from my memory. And not just because it was sorely in need of a much better selection of '80s hits on the soundtrack.

7/10

Thursday, 10 September 2026

One Night Only (2026)

A raunchy rom-com based in a society that only allows single people to have pre-marital sex on one night of the year, and protection must be used, One Night Only is as ridiculous as that sounds. Well . . . it would be if it actually tried to be raunchy and fun. What you actually get is something relatively tame, something that also delivers the standard rom-com tropes, and something that forces you to buy into the concept that both Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro are two attractive people who just cannot find themselves a willing sexual partner on the one night of the year when sex is on the cards.

Turner plays Owen, a pizza shop owner who finds himself at a loss when his girlfriend (Malika, played by Maya Hawke) decides to use this special one night to try sleeping with someone else. Barbaro's character, Allie, has a plan, but it requires her to find someone who she is sexually available AND a genuinely nice guy. As the clock counts down what should be a night of pleasure and sexy time, Owen and Allie find themselves on parallel paths, often helping one another, but insisting they won't have sex. I think you can tell where things end up heading.

Written by Travis Braun, who seems to have a bit of TV work to his credit already, this is silly and implausible fluff. It's not entirely unenjoyable though, thanks largely to the nice interplay between Turner and Barbaro. Director Will Gluck knows his way around a rom-com by now, having delivered a decent handful of them, but this isn't anywhere near his best work. It's hampered by the central premise, one that would seem perfectly fine if mentioned in a rambling conversation between friends, but fails as a viable movie concept, and also hampered by the inability to lean fully into the sheer sex of it all. The sweetness helps to make up for the shortcomings elsewhere, but I'm not sure most people will hear what this is about and then look forward to something sweet.

Aside from the leads, who are both doing very well with the weak material, there are enjoyable supporting turns from Hawke, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton, Julia Fox, Andrew Burnap, Michelle Hurd, Charlie Gillespie, and Ella Loudon, as well as a number of amusing cameos.

A couple of set-pieces work well, but the film peaks quite early on when people start to battle one another over ownership of a condom that has become ridiculously expensive thanks to an opportunistic vendor and surge pricing. There are a disappointingly low number of good laughs, and I have to suspect that the surprisingly tame approach to the subject matter is at least partially responsible, but at least you get a consistent amount of mild amusement throughout. Your enjoyment of the film will ultimately depend on how you respond to the charm of the leads though.

5/10

Wednesday, 9 September 2026

Prime Time: Scared Shitless (2024)

The story of a plumber (Don, played by Steven Ogg) and his germophobic son, Sonny (Daniel Doheny), Scared Shitless is the kind of horror comedy you can easily imagine being pretty good when you think about the main elements. It has decent lead cast members (including Chelsea Clark and Marcia Bennett in main roles), it largely keeps all of the action in one location, and there are some decent practical effects bringing the central creature to life.

Everything starts when Don and Sonny head along to an apartment building for a standard job. Don is trying to get Sonny to conquer his germophobia, and he thinks having him as his apprentice might just help. It turns out that their job isn't actually your usual plumbing job though, not when a creature seems to be moving around some of the pipes. Patricia (Clark) works in the building and wants discretion, but she may end up helping Don and Sonny when they all realise just how big a problem they might have on their hands.

Written by Brandon Cohen, expanding his short from a few years ago, Scared Shitless isn't helped by the fact that it's just a bit too under-written. Cohen has a fun idea at the heart of things, and benefits from the casting, but there's nothing here that's as funny or gruesome as it could be. Director Vivieno Caldinelli does well enough with the material, but what was needed was a much bigger selection of disposable characters and some more moments of bloody mayhem. Or maybe even some excessive amounts of fecal waste.

Ogg is a lot of fun in his role, being amusingly dry and dour for most of the runtime. Doheny plays his part well, being squeamish and jittery without spending every other minute fainting at the sight of anything that could contaminate his safe personal bubble. Clark is very easy to warm to, Bennett is a sweet and lovely resident who you don't want to see come to any harm, and the few other main characters are played by Lorna Wilson, Marty Adams, Donald Tripe, Mark McKinney, and Brynn Godenir. You may think that presents a decent selection of victims, but the film needed more bodies to be put in serious danger.

Undemanding horror comedy fans will find enough to enjoy here, especially when it comes to the presentation of the creature effects, but those who have seen a lot of films in this vein (and I count myself in that demographic) will be disappointed by the lack of creativity and style on display. Everything is okay, but nothing ever becomes more than okay. You can pick something better for your first choice when lining up an evening of viewings. If you're in a good mood then you could pick this as a secondary option. It might turn out to be a decent number two.

5/10

Tuesday, 8 September 2026

Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma (2026)

I have to start my review of Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma by reminding people that I didn't love Censor as much as most people. Why bother saying that? Well, the two films have a hell of a lot in common, although they're also easily set apart by the differences. Both features have a very firm foundation built upon the wild years of the '80s VHS horror boom, making use of a nostalgia that I said years ago was already wearing thin, both have numerous moments that play around with reality, and both do a very good job of recreating some fun period details.

The big difference, however, is that Prano Bailey-Bond, the co-writer and director of Censor, for me, felt detached from, and somehow looking down upon, the horror genre works that she was referencing. Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun, threading a needle here that mixes meta fun with complex identity and sexual journeys, feels like someone who is happy to be immersed in this world, and spends almost every minute of the runtime referencing horror tropes and observations in a way that feels equal parts authentic and slightly bonkers, in the best way.

The main plot here concerns a hotshot young director, Kris (Hannah Einbinder), who has been tasked with resurrecting and rejuvenating a tired slasher movie series. To really get things right, Kris decides that she should seek the blessing of the reclusive actress, Billy (Gillian Anderson), who played the final girl in the original movie. Billy now lives at the camp that provided the setting for that film, ensuring that Kris soon starts to become fascinated by just how thin the fabric can be between movie moments and reality. And that fabric certainly won't protect anyone if the movie killer, Little Death (Jack Haven), manages to slash their way through to our world.

I really don't have all the words available to me when it comes to the many ways I want to praise Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma. While Schoenbrun has made personal statements with her previous two films, and certainly inserts enough details and moments here that feel autobiographical at times, this feels like a huge step up, in terms of the scope and the conversation it has with viewers. Because, as with all Schoenbrun films, this is a film that relies on viewers actively responding to how things play out.

Einbinder is fantastic in her role here, even if it feels like she's only a step removed from her character in Hacks at times, but it's Anderson who has the most fun, helped by an over the top Southern drawl and a selection of enigmatic speeches. She's not only the most important character in relation to Einbinder's entry point to her potential upcoming movie, she's someone who can help to explain what power and positivity can remain in many horror movies that are often reframed and re-contextualised by modern viewers. This feels like the thread that Schoenbrun is most interested in pulling at, especially when it comes to how representation and acceptance of sexuality on a spectrum have changed so much in the past few decades, but there's also something worthwhile in the way that horror movies would still, for better or worse, give prominent roles to characters you wouldn't often see in other genres.

There's a lot more to enjoy here, whether it's the obvious brilliance of the potted history we're shown that presents the Camp Miasma series as an obvious Friday The 13th proxy or the supporting performances from the likes of Kevin McDonald, Patrick Fischler, Zach Cherry, and Amanda Fix (playing the younger version of Anderson's character), but it's the layered and rewatchable nature of it that will ensure satisfaction for so many viewers, whether they're moved by the journey of the main characters or amused and entertained by the slasher movie moments, or both. Although she has her very own style, her very own perspective, and her own relationship with the movies referenced here, Schoenbrun uses her platform to give others a safe space to explore their own emotions and histories. Problematic creatives and problematic content can still become part of the fabric of who you are, part of everything that you grow to love and vouch for, without those problems necessarily having to be erased or excused by those with different views. And, if we're being as honest with ourselves as the film wants us to be, sometimes those problematic elements can be part of the appeal. It doesn't make fans bad for wanting to spend some time immersed in a fantasy.

Others may think I have completely misread this film, and they could be correct, but I'm happy to have had my own personal reaction to everything it served up. And I'll be happy to read the different interpretations of it from other people. That's the beauty of it, and it aligns perfectly with the multi-faceted nature of horror fandom, and indeed the multi-faceted nature of us humans and our messy sexual explorations.

10/10

Monday, 7 September 2026

Mubi Monday: Group Marriage (1973)

I initially thought that I hadn't seen any other movies from director Stephanie Rothman. I was wrong. It turns out that I have seen two of the films she made before this one. Whether or not they could be considered better examples of work remains to be seen (I'll be checking out another couple of her movies in the near future), but I am happy to now try to keep her name stored somewhere in my foggy memory banks.

Group Marriage is basically summed up by the title. I'm not going to go through every character onscreen, but the main ones are Chris (Aimee Eccles) and Sander (Solomon Sturges), Dennis (Jeff Pomerantz) and Jan (Victoria Vetri), Phil (Zack Taylor) and Elaine (Claudia Jennings). Each of these individuals ends up finding something attractive in someone other than their primary partner, which leads to them eventually settling on the idea of living together in one house and creating one unusual, but effective, group marriage unit.

As well as taking on her directorial role, Rothman also helped to co-write this screenplay with Richard Walter and Charles S. Swartz. Although it may be difficult to point to the elements added by each individual writer, it feels as if Rothman was happy to use the potential sex comedy premise to make some important points about consent, the gap between love and sex, and the ways that society judges and mistreats those who don't conform to a set of apparent norms that were established by people who probably didn't want to have sex unless it was scheduled and purely for the purpose of procreation. There's still some comedy here, especially in scenes that show people figuring out boundaries, and dealing with others who may assume that the situation gives them a free pass to do whatever they like, but it's smarter and sharper than the "ooh, I've tripped and my clothes have fallen off" nonsense that could have been scattered throughout.

The males do well to avoid being too irritating, and it helps that they're often a step behind the women when it comes to planning some consensual non-monogamy, but both Eccles and Vetri are constantly captivating. Not only are they both obviously appealing to the men around them, but their attitude is pleasantly interesting and fluid. They're allowed to become cautious once they decide to open up the parameters of their relationships, they're allowed to still feel jealousy and resentment, and they're allowed to push back at others when being side-eyed for simply allowing themselves to add more pleasure to their lives.

Entertaining, sometimes titillating, and certainly progressive during the moments that have characters figuring out how to balance their personal harmony with everyday living, Group Marriage is the sort of fascinating curio that should make you keen to check out other features from the film-maker. That's how it affected me anyway.

7/10

Sunday, 6 September 2026

Netflix And Chill: The Whisper Man (2026)

I get it. I want to start this review by clarifying that I totally get it. A crime thriller that stars Adam Scott and Michelle Monaghan doesn't seem like a great prospect. And when you have credited roles for both Robert De Niro and Michael Keaton, it's safe to assume that neither of those bigger names will be breaking a sweat. Add to that the fact that this was released straight to a streaming platform with little to no fanfare and you may have already decided to give it a miss.

Despite everything going against it, The Whisper Man isn't actually that bad. It's all about a series of child abductions and deaths that replicate the M.O. of the titular killer. The odd thing is that the killer (Michael Keaton) is in prison. He was put there by Peter Willis (De Niro), a retired cop haunted by that case. But Willis ends up back in action when his grandson (Jake, played by Acston Luca Porto) becomes a target. This leads to Willis struggling to repair some broken bridges with his own son, Tom (Scott), as they work hard with the lead officer on the case, Amanda Beck (Monaghan), to find Jake before the clock runs out.

While I haven't read any of his books so far, I am aware of Alex North, the writer of the source material used here. I've also seen a few other things written by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer, who have both had varying degrees of success with some big properties. A lot of people celebrated director James Ashcroft for his previous outing (The Rule Of Jenny Pen), although I was a bit cooler on it than most, but he somehow feels like a much better fit this time around. He clearly knows his way around the tropes of the crime thriller, he introduces one or two supernatural elements in a way that doesn't unbalance the whole thing, and he's happy enough to occasionally pay homage to the title that arguably casts the longest shadow over the modern examples of this sub-genre (The Silence Of The Lambs, of course).

Scott and Monaghan both do fine in their roles, but they're both very much a step down from the bigger names they sometimes have to share screentime with. Scott suffers a bit more, considering how this role hews very close to someone he played in a much better movie from earlier this year. Keaton gets to swagger and exude the kind of menace and confidence that he can do so well, and his Whisper Man is an interesting addition to the overstuffed collection of movie serial killers we've had throughout the decades. It's De Niro who proves to be a pleasant surprise though, giving a performance that at least feels as if he's not just sleepwalking through something that has been pinned on the coat-tails of his past glories. He's both vulnerable and determined throughout, and his complicated relationship to the case, and the killer, provides a number of the more interesting moments in the film. Young Porto does well enough, Hamish Linklater gets to overact in a couple of main scenes, and Owen Teague is impressively unnerving when he finally gets to be front and centre in the tense and dark third act.

If you think you might like this then you're probably right. The 111-minute runtime goes by quickly enough, it tries hard to distract you from the more implausible moments, and there's a feeling of real threat to the main characters throughout. This isn't a cosy and slick thriller that you know everyone will survive. It's nothing new, but it does well with the familiar trappings of the sub-genre, and it might even win over those who, like me, skimmed some of the plot and casting details and assumed the worst.

7/10

Saturday, 5 September 2026

Shudder Saturday: Penny Lane Is Dead (2025)

This feature debut from writer-director Mia Kate Russell is a bit of a mess. In fact, it's only when I checked on some details before writing this review that I saw it was described in some places as a comedy horror. While I could recognise some moments that work in darkly comedic ways, the biggest problem here is the tone, which needed to be handled much better than it is handled here.

It's 1986. A trio of young women head to a quiet beach house to have one last fun time together before parting ways, but they're soon joined by an unwelcome fourth, Kat (Sophia Wright-Mendelsohn). Think of mid-1990s Fairuza Balk and you get the essence of Kat. Kat soon invites in some extra uninvited guests, the night turns dark and deadly, and the whole thing becomes a bloody battle between a plucky potential final girl and those being manipulated by Kat.

There's just nothing about Penny Lane Is Dead that is actually good, sadly, and it just feels a bit lazy and ill-conceived. Why is it set in 1986? No reason (none that I could figure out anyway, aside from the obvious mobile phone issue that could have been resolved some other way). Why does Kat come up with such a wild plan? Because the movie requires it. Why do the girls even allow Kat to join them for a while and add tension to their night of fun? Again, just because the movie requires it. It's hard to care about any of the characters, it's impossible to even view Kat as a fun psycho villain, considering how erratic her mood swings are, and any fun to be had is offset by the genuine unpleasantness of the central premise.

Wright-Mendelsohn isn't good in her role, but it's hard to pin down how much of that is down to bad writing and how much of it is down to her performance. I'll wait to see some more acting work from her before I really make up my mind. Considering Ben O'Toole (playing a dangerous idiot named Angus) is also quite bad, and I've known him to be good in other features, this wouldn't seem to be a showcase for any of the main cast members. Tahlee Fereday, as Toni, and Steve Le Marquand, as Merrick, both do much better than anyone else onscreen though, but they benefit from not having to play people who are as dumb as they are vicious. Alexandra Jensen and Fletcher Humphrys are both just fine, and Bailey Spalding, as the titular Penny Lane, makes a good impression, but is understandably not given too much screentime.

The more I think about it, the more bemused I am by how bad this is. It completely mishandles things, and I think that mishandling is summed up by the nastiest and darkest moment being presented in a way that stops it from making any impact, mainly because viewers have yet to be shown just how awful some characters are as soon as they appear onscreen. Russell might have amused herself while making this, and there will be others who will find this blend of violence and stupidity just right for them, but she certainly didn't create something that amused me. Hugely disappointing. Although it proves how important it is when you're aiming to balance dark deeds and dark comedy.

3/10

Friday, 4 September 2026

Super Troopers 2 (2018)

The gang all return for this comedy sequel that pits our titular troopers against some hostile Canadian counterparts. If you enjoy the shenanigans of the Broken Lizard comedy team then you'll find enough to amuse and entertain you here. If you don't then this won't convert you.

Having been removed from the force due to a ride along incident involving Fred Savage, the troopers have a shot at redemption when asked to help a small Canadian province transition to America. It's on the border, you see, and the border marking was wrong. So all they have to do is keep order, avoid upsetting locals who don't want to be forced into "becoming Americans", and generally avoid making any major mistakes. Oh dear.

As well as co-starring and co-writing with the rest of the team, Jay Chandrasekhar once again sits in the director's chair for this Broken Lizard feature. He's a very experienced pair of hands by now, and he's always done well enough with handling their own material anyway, which means you get a well-paced comedy that knows how to pack extra laughs into every main sequence.

Alongside Chandrasekhar is Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, and Paul Soter, all reprising their central characters with ease. There's also time to allow Brian Cox, Lynda Carter, and Marisa Coughlan to return, and a number of the main Canadians are played by Rob Lowe, Hayes MacArthur, Tyler Labine, Will Sasso, and Emmanuelle Chriqui, most of them leaning hard into the "sorry, eh" and "that sounds aboot right" comical exaggeration of the Canadian accent.

The plot works well enough, particularly when it starts to become about more than just the rivalry between the Americans and Canadians, but it's also, like the first film, slight enough to allow more space for jokes and skits. It suffers a bit, in the way that most sequels do, but it's surprisingly good, especially when you consider that the guys decided to revisit these characters over 15 years after the original proved to be such a cult comedy success.

This is all being said by someone who really likes almost everything that Broken Lizard does though. Even Quasi. They may not be the most sophisticated, or cine-literate, when it comes to their movies, but they tend to maintain a consistently satisfying gag rate. And I'll continue to reference a number of my favourite lines from their films, even if nobody else tends to get my references. I rewatched this now to get myself primed and ready for the upcoming Super Troopers 3, and I'll be very happy if that manages to be as good as this.

7/10