One Battle After Another (2025)

At the start of One Battle After Another, the main character, Pat (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), is shown helping to free immigrants from a detention centre. He is part of a revolutionary group, The French 75, but it's soon revealed that he became part of the cause because of his love for Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). The group make a powerful enemy in Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), but the Colonel also becomes immediately infatuated with Perfidia. Things go wrong, years pass by, and Pat is now going by the name of Bob, and is now raising his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti) as a single father. He's often busy drinking or smoking weed, and he's paranoid about the past catching up with him. Being paranoid doesn't mean he's wrong though. The past soon starts catching up with him, and Lockjaw uses all of the military resources at his disposal to target Willa.

Before I get into some of the substance of the film, I'll mention all of the main cast members. DiCaprio gives another performance that taps into his talent for comedy, although it's different from the comedy he's done in other movies from the past decade. He's a burnt-out loser, but he at least had one or two shining moments in his past. Infiniti is so great in her first film role that I wouldn't hesitate to call this a star-making turn. And as for Penn, he gives what could well be his best turn in a very long time, somehow making his character buffoon-ish, but also constantly dangerous and threatening. Taylor makes a hell of an impression in her role, as powerful and majestic as she needs to be, and there's also time for brilliant work from Regina Hall and Benicio del Toro, the latter a calm and smart operator nicely juxtaposed alongside the frantic shambling of DiCaprio.

The tenth narrative feature film from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, and his second developed (loosely?) from source material written by Thomas Pynchon, One Battle After Another shows a film-maker absolutely confident in his abilities to juggle tone, explore some interesting themes in complex ways, and deliver moments of cinematic joy. This is a long film, the runtime is 161 minutes, but anyone who finds it pressing the right buttons for them won't be bothered. In fact, I was happy to spend as much time as possible revelling in this mix of madness and mayhem.

Despite taking a hell of a long time to finally get to the screen, Anderson had wanted to make this for years, this is a film that feels very much of the here and now. It shows the huge divide between the strong and the vulnerable, shows the ripple effect emanating out from acts of political violence, and also takes time to show that those with the real power and money will ultimately do their utmost to seek ideals of racial purity that would be laughable if it wasn't so deadly. While Anderson appears to plant his own flag very much in territory that would try to fend off the likes of Lockjaw and co., he has both a protagonist and an antagonist who end up as extremists due to dishonest motivations. But whatever the reasons, when you make major decisions based on either love or hate then you have to deal with the repercussions of those decisions for the rest of your life. It's not enough to be an occasional tourist in the kind of lives that we're shown. Commitment is necessary, for better or worse.

Taking time to let us know all of the main players, and the stakes, Anderson then has fun with a premise that keeps the characters constantly on the move. Accompanied by another great Johnny Greenwood score, there's an ongoing pursuit of our addled hero, gorgeous Michael Bauman cinematography and camera moves that you'd expect (although it never feels as if it is calling attention to itself), and at least one cracking car chase sequence in the third act. I've seen many rush to praise Anderson for his ability to handle action though, and I would warn potential viewers not to expect too much. But when you do get some unadulterated adrenalin-pumping moments then, oh boy, it IS good stuff indeed.

The more I think about One Battle After Another, the more I am impressed that the end result feels so completely satisfying. This is a film that features both pratfalls and a sequence showing Americans being executed by military personnel, it has horrible racists shown to be as absurd as they are deadly, and it paints a bleak picture of modern American scenarios we can see unfolding on the news daily while somehow also pointing out the characters and tactics that should give us some optimism. 

I came away from this first viewing thinking that I really REALLY liked it, but didn't think it was quite the masterpiece some were already calling it. I'm already not so sure about that, and I can see myself considering this another slice of cinematic perfection from PTA whenever I get around to a rewatch, which I could happily indulge in right now. 

9/10

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Mubi Monday: Moon (2024)

Sarah (Florentina Holzinger) is a former MMA/cage-fighter who is looking to make a living from personal training. Things aren't looking too good for the future of her career, but that looks set to change when she's made an offer to work for a rich family in the Middle East. She can make some good money doing what she loves, but it soon becomes clear that the young women she has been hired to train aren't all that interested in learning exercises and fitness.

Written and directed by Kurdwin Ayub, an Iraq-born film-maker who has been making features for about a decade now, Moon is a low-key and intriguing film that keeps viewers fairly comfortable until things start to close in around the main characters. But that's all down to the distractions provided by Ayub. Because these are characters who are closed in from the very first time that they're put together. Moon looks at complicity, it looks at the systems put in place by powerful people to maintain control of the environment, and the people, around them, and it looks at ways in which desperate people can struggle to fully convey their situation to others.

Ayub does as much with the dialogue as she does with what's unsaid. Glances between characters tell of necessarily silent communications. People with everything they could apparently ever want yearn for some of the simple mod-cons that we all take for granted (such as wi-fi and mobile phones). Are we being shown a paradise or a prison, and how much does the distinction matter for those who are observing as an outsider?

While there's a very good supporting cast here, with the main young women to be trained by Sarah played by Celina Sarhan, Andria Tayeh, and Nagham Abu Baker, Holzinger holds the screen in a way that keeps you focused on her situation, and keeps you right alongside her as she slowly starts to figure out the full complexity of her situation. Sarah is the confounded visitor, and Holzinger portrays her as someone walking a tightrope between sensing something not being quite right and hoping to do enough to keep earning her pay, which may mean looking elsewhere to avoid certain truths.

Ayub looks at a specific situation here, but it's another case of something specific being used to show something that many others can identify with, whether that is the need many women feel to always be ready to defend themselves and physically fight off danger or the various bad situations that are allowed to continue because too many people do nothing to help, either because of fear or because of how much they can benefit from those in power. This has face-to-face personal interactions in every scene, but could easily be a comment on the many politicians and business leaders who rarely keep human rights and personal freedoms as a priority ahead of business deals and ambitious international ventures.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

Okay, let me state this very clearly from the beginning, books and movies are very different things. You have to accept that they just cannot deliver the same experience. Liberties need to be taken when it comes to adapting something from the page to the screen. Having said that, I believe I made a mistake in rushing to read The Thursday Murder Club, a very successful murder mystery novel that started the lucrative fiction writer phase of Richard Osman's long and healthy career in the world of media and entertainment.

Let's get to the film anyway, and what it gets right. The Thursday Murder Club is set in a fairly luxurious retirement home, in which a few residents work together to see if they can find solutions to various cold cases. The club used to include an ex-PC named Penny (Susan Kirkby), but she is currently barely hanging on to life in the hospice wing. The main members are now Elizabeth (Helen Mirren), Ron (Pierce Brosnan), Ibrahim (Ben Kingsley), and, relative newcomer, Joyce (Celia Imrie). Each brings their own set of skills to the group, but Elizabeth appears to be the one with a past that has her most prepared for anything that can be thrown at them. And what ends up thrown at them is a new murder, a lot of suspects who seem very bleeding obvious, and ties between the past and present that recontextualize friendships and relationships. Oh, and then there's another murder.

Turned into screenplay form by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote, The Thursday Murder Club would seem to be a hard film to get wrong. Chris Columbus is in the director's chair. The cast includes the four leads just mentioned, as well as Naomi Ackie and Daniel Mays as a couple of investigating officers, Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Tom Ellis as younger men who find themselves entangled in the creeping spiderwebs that the murder creates, and Jonathan Pryce, David Tennant, Geoff Bell, Paul Freeman, Ruth Sheen, and Richard E. Grant. It's a real pick 'n' mix of delightful performances.

So why does it feel like such a slog?

The dialogue generally works well, helped by the fact that it's being delivered by people who feel almost perfect in their roles (let's just not mention the accent that Brosnan uses), but the mystery feels half-baked and hard to care about. Having said this, I wonder if I feel that way because I just read the book. While I still stand by my opening statement, there are choices here that feel very odd, including a detail revealed in the very opening scenes that is actually held back in the book until a finale that shows all of the pieces finally falling into place. I can understand some things being omitted, one other plot strand would have required the runtime to have at least 5-10 minutes add on to what already pushes up close to the 2-hour mark, but that just makes it a bizarre experience for those who know the material well enough to know that certain characters and moments are only being hinted at while never being given the time and attention that they deserve.

Both the direction and writing feel trapped by a prison of their own design. They're either too beholden to the book, or they make strange decisions to veer away from elements that could have made the film a much more rewarding experience, for both readers and non-readers alike. And, as much as I complain about it as a new standard, would anyone be bothered if the runtime had been just over, instead of just under, two hours? Those ten extra minutes could have given us a very brief overview of two whole other lives, and those whole other lives feed into the main themes of aging, regret, and the repercussions of different choices made at crucial junctures.

Still, it's easy enough to forget the many mistakes and mis-steps made here when any scene revolves around Imrie having a twinkle in her eye and Mirren having a glint in hers. The cosy and easygoing feel of the whole thing will certainly appeal to those after something that feels like the movie equivalent of a comfortable pair of slippers. I just wish we'd been given nicer slippers. Slippers that stay warm and comfortable for the duration. Not the cheap kind that fall apart after one month of regular use. 

5/10

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Shudder Saturday: Medusa (2022)

There's a lot going on in Medusa, but it can be easy to think otherwise as strands are stretched out throughout the 132-minute runtime. I'm also going to start this review by saying that I'm only, as ever, providing my own interpretation of the thing. Others may get something very different from it, and I would love to hear from anyone who has a different view on the whole thing.

Mari Oliveira plays Mariana, a young woman who is part of a religious group that believes in confrontational action. They sing nice songs and dress up for formal events, but the evenings can be spent looking for "sinners" they can attack and frighten into apparently seeing the error of their ways. One of those attacks went too far though, even by Mariana's standards, and there's a whole lot of guilt to be dealt with and questions to be answered. Sometimes Mariana tries to discuss the situation with Michele (Lara Tremouroux), but it's hard to really communicate with people who are keeping themselves permanently ready to receive the words of Pastor Guilherme (Thiago Fragoso).

The second feature directed by Anita Rocha da Silveira, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Éri Sarmet, what you get here is a fantastic melting pot of ideas being explored. The push and pull, and hypocrisy, of organised religion is one, but also the ways in which those unsettled by their own feelings can take out their frustration on others, and it's surely no coincidence that all of the women onscreen are still caught up in a structure that has a man in charge of the whole thing.

The screenplay is helped by composer Bernardo Uzeda and cinematographer Joäo Atala, as well as editor Marilla Moraes, while Da Silveira has the main characters weaving between neon lights and dark alleyways, from grim reality to surreal visions, all tied to the constant ebb and flow of their own self-confidence and perception.

Oliveira is fantastic in the lead role, able to handle the toughness and complexity of the material. Tremouroux may have a slightly easier job, but she does just as well. It's also essential to mention Bruna Linzmeyer, playing Melissa, a woman who didn't submit to the onslaught when confronted by the religious mob. Melissa may be recovering from major injuries somewhere, and her absence has a big impact on the characters. Fragoso does well with his scenes, and Felipe Frazão makes a strong enough impression to throw another spanner in the works.

Calling to mind some other fine directors, Da Silveira makes use of some gorgeous and memorable imagery, some impressively grotesque body horror, and a lot of the danger and tension that comes from simply being a woman in a world that is still very dangerous for, and scared of, them. Some will find this too bizarre, and I certainly wouldn’t label it as a horror movie ahead of a social commentary piece, but it’s quite brilliant, and I appreciated it even more while mulling it all over for this review.

8/10

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On Falling (2024)

I know that I am part of the problem. There are many of us who will already know this. Convenience and low cost has taken precedence over everything, locking us in to a spiral of consumerism as the algorithm continues to monitor what we might like, or need, at any given moment. Meanwhile, the workers who have to work harder, for low wage, to meet our needs continue to be locked in their own situation, one of exhaustion, isolation, and disappointingly low wages. I could be talking about a big company like Amazon, but let's assume that I am on about any company that keeps huge amounts of stock in vast warehouses where staff are constantly timed as they aim to fulfil orders.

On Falling stars Joana Santos as Aurora, a young woman working for a big company that keeps huge amounts of stock in vast warehouses. She spends her time picking orders and then simply existing in a home that she shares with others in a similar situation. There are moments of happiness, but they're snatched in between the many hours of exhaustion, isolation, and relative poverty.

The first feature from writer-director Laura Carreira, who has already given us a few shorts looking at the struggles of individuals trying to maintain a work-life balance while also ensuring they have enough money to live, this is a timely reminder of the real price of the convenience, choice, and budget options offered by online shopping. It may seem as if nothing much happens, but the main character has a lot going on beneath the surface as she continues to spend her time tied to a job she would obviously rather not be doing. Which is the way of things for so many of us.

Santos is fantastic as Aurora, emanating a sadness and loneliness even during the moments that have her smiling or interacting with others. She's going through the motions during many scenes, and her performance is so good that you can almost see every thought running through her mind as she wanders around on auto-pilot while at work. While nobody else stands out, that's more to do with Santos being so riveting in her role. There are others onscreen, with both Inês Vaz and Piotr Sikora doing very good work, but every scene revolves around Santos, who works through a full range of emotions with great skill and grace, allowing Carreira to easily show the correlation between Aurora's environment and her headspace.

There are obvious similar films I could point to here (particularly a couple of well-known Ken Loach features), but it feels like a disservice to make too many comparisons. Ths is a look at a modern life that sketches out a painful kind of limbo in something akin to pointillism. Every small detail is another reminder of the dire situation, every little distraction undermined by the encroaching dark clouds. It's the kind of life in which a very busy and demanding day at work doesn't lead to any pay increase or substantial bonus . . . it's a choice from some chocolate bars laid out in the office. And yet, thankfully, Carreira makes all of this clear without making the whole thing unrelentingly grim and unwatchable for viewers.  

8/10

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Kickboxer 3: The Art Of War (1992)

If you're as equal parts bemused and angered by the burning dumpster fire of the world around us then you can seek to find answers in many different places. Art can be one of those places. Films can often provide insight into human nature while maintaining a comforting layer of artifice. Sometimes there are answers, but sometimes it's just enough to see other people struggling with the same questions that we all have. Oh, and sometimes you need to escape reality by watching people kick each other in the face. Kickboxer 3: The Art Of War is here for those who need that last option.

I watched this a couple of weeks ago, and spoke about it on my podcast, but I am not going to pretend that it made any strong impression on me. It was fun though, a distraction that I was happy to experience ahead of numerous, more sophisticated, alternatives. I knew what I was in for, considering I also recently enjoyed Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, and it gave me what I wanted, more or less.

Sasha Mitchell is back in the role of David Sloan, and Dennis Chan returns as Xian. The two characters end up in another country, and it's not long until there's the opportunity for some fighting to happen. There's a man named Lane (Richard Comar) who wants to present audiences with an impressive spectacle, but Lane might have his fingers in some other business interests that make him a lot less pleasant and accommodating than he appears.

Kickboxer 3: The Art Of War is very silly stuff. Dennis A. Pratt may not be the best writer, and Rick King isn't a top-notch director, but both do enough to make this a fun and entertaining, if tame, action movie. There's a crime ring to be busted, some youngsters to be protected, and (of course) faces to be kicked.

Mitchell has a bit more fun this time around, due to the fact that the screenplay isn't trying to add extra weight and importance to the fighting (beyond allowing our hero to be heroic), and Chan also seems even more playful than he was in the previous movies. Noah Verduzco and Alethea Miranda are there to be threatened by the villain, which they do, and Comar does well in a role that is the best in the film. His character is atypical when compared to so many other action movie villains, and that's something I will credit to both the writing from Pratt and Comar's performance.

I admit that before being reminded of the existence of this film I had completely forgotten how many sequels Kickboxer has. Now I'm ready to eventually get through them all, especially when needing a face-kicking distraction from the madness of the real world.

6/10

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Prime Time: The Client (1994)

Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Renfro, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, J. T. Walsh, Anthony Edwards, Will Patton, Bradley Whitford, Anthony Heald, Kim Coates, William H. Macy, Ossie Davis, William Sanderson, and Dan Castellaneta. That list of names covers almost everyone you might recognise in yet another John Grisham adaptation making use of a stacked cast and a star director. The star director this time around is Joel Schumacher, which allows The Client to feel like a pleasingly different beast to the Grisham-based blockbusters of the previous year.

Brad Renfro plays Mark Sway, a young boy who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's a man about to kill himself, but he decides to confess one or two disturbing details to Mark before he does the deed. This puts Mark in a very difficult position when the DA figures that they can use his testimony to take down a powerful crime family. Trying to figure out how to avoid getting his family, and himself, killed, as well as avoiding any charges himself for obstruction of justice or perjury, Mark ends up hiring an attorney named Reggie Love (Sarandon). Reggie wants to do her best by Mark, but Mark expects all attorneys to be untrustworthy and manipulative. Like the team headed up by Roy Foltrigg (Tommy Lee Jones).

Adapted from page to screen by Akiva Goldsman and Robert Getchell, The Client is a decent mix of legalese and standard thrills, especially in the second half. The premise is very familiar, but the fact that the main witness is a street-smart kid who automatically distrusts most adults helps to make it a bit more compelling than many other films in the same vein. It also helps that Renfro is so good in his first film role (and he would build up one hell of an interesting filmography before his untimely death in 2008).

It's easy to forget how good Schumacher could be at the old directing lark, especially when his more memorable works aren't always memorable for the right reasons, but, like it or not, he would often let his directing style be dictated by the material. This is a restrained and straightforward tale (well . . . compared to some other Schumacher films anyway) and he treats it just so.

LaPaglia isn't restrained though. Neither are Coates or Patton. They're almost ridiculous in how the act around the young lead at times, but that adds some fun to what could have otherwise been a bit too dull and earnest. The heart of the film is Renfro and Sarandon, and both work so well together that they make it hard to be critical of the fact that Jones, Parker, Edwards, Davis, and a number of other great talents have relatively little screentime. That's not really a problem for Jones anyway, who can make use of the smallest amount of screentime to create an unforgettably strong impression, and every one of the supporting players benefits from the glow reflected from the stars shining as brightly as possible.

I wouldn't be disappointed if I never watched The Client again, but I certainly wasn't disappointed to spend a couple of hours rewatching it this week. All I could remember about it were the leads and how well they worked together, which turns out to still be the most memorable thing about it. It's a perfectly enjoyable and polished thriller, but it doesn't do enough to be anything more than that.

7/10

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Summer Of 69 (2025)

I know this may seem like a strange thing to say, especially coming from someone as far away from their teen years as I am now, but there have been some absolutely fantastic teen comedies released over the past few years. One or two have been noticed, but a couple of them seem to have been sadly overlooked or ignored. Incoming is one that I tried to bring some attention to a few months ago. Summer Of 69 is the one I am recommending today.

As the school year comes to an end, Abby (Sam Morelos) decides that it's time to get what she wants. And what she wants is Max (Matt Cornett). She figures she can get Max by giving him what he wants, which is the sexual pleasure of a 69, apparently. The only problem is that Abby is not experienced in sexual matters, at all. So she hires a stripper/escort (Santa Monica, played by Chloe Fineman) who she believes can teach her all she needs to know. She's going to offer $20,000, which will give Santa Monica the money she needs to stop her workplace being sold to a sleazy new owner (Charlie Day).

The feature directorial debut of Jillian Bell, who has spent most of her career in a variety of comedy roles in films covering an entire range from awful to great, Summer Of 69 has a great cast of characters, a load of references to other teen movies (and, considering the main premise, it has particular fun with Risky Business moments), and, most importantly, plenty of laughs. Bell also co-wrote the screenplay with Jules Byrne and Liz Nico, and the end result is a very clever use of teen movie tropes to create that strangely brilliant blend of the lewd and the sweet that some of the best teen movies have.

The cast all help a lot, particularly Morelos in the lead role. She may not have been in the business long, relatively speaking, but this is the kind of performance that should have her actively pursued by those wanting to make use of her comedic skills. She's great at delivering the dialogue, keeping a straight face in the middle of a load of absurdity (the film has her character often disappearing into daydreams as she considers her plans), and fully committing to the moments that are all about physical comedy as her awkwardness clashes against her attempts to learn how to be sexy. Fineman is very good alongside Morelos, and she's allowed to be a mix of strong exterior and vulnerable interior, allowing her to embody the standard teacher who also has to learn a lesson or two of her own. Cornett is allowed to play his desirable male without being a complete pig, helped by the fact that he spends most of the movie unaware of how Abby feels about him. Day is a lot of fun as a sleazy pig, Paula Pell is very funny as Betty Spaghetti, Natalie Morales is decent as a woman who seems to be everything that Santa Monica isn't, and Fernando Carsa is very amusing and entertaining as someone who can offer advice to everyone at the school while he's hidden underneath a large team mascot outfit.

I smiled all the way through this, even though here were some minor things I could pick at (look, I'm not being a perv, but it's strange to see films that feature strippers, or a strip club, in so many scenes without having any of the strippers actually looking as if they take their tops off . . . but that's what you get when the film isn't all about indulging the male gaze, which is as understandable as it is unbelievable). The 101-minute runtime feels perfect, the soundtrack has some excellent choices (including a track at the end of the film that references another classic teen movie), and it's heartwarming to see the lessons being learned by the two leads, especially when viewers are often one or two steps ahead of them.

I really cannot think of who would dislike this. It has clever gags, it has clever dumb gags, it has an entertaining ebb and flow between sexual honesty and naivety, and Morelos and Fineman work as well together as any other two comedy leads I can think of. Get to it when you want a good laugh. If you end up disappointed then I'll throw out my fluffy animal costume and refrain from offering any more movie advice to those who metaphorically sit down beside me.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: The Wrestler (2008)

I'm pretty sure I have said this when reviewing every other Darren Aronofsky movie, but it's pretty safe to assume that nobody has ever taught him the meaning of the word subtle. You can get a lot from his movies, but subtlety is nowhere to be seen.

The Wrestler is the story of Randy 'The Ram' Robinson (Mickey Rourke), a wrestler who is battling age and his aches and pains to keep making a living that might afford him a very basic life. He is quite smitten with Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), a stripper who is pretty much in the same situation. As he tries to take a step away from the wrestling ring, perhaps also rebuilding some bridges with his daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), Randy struggles to live a life without that rush he gets when playing to the crowd.

Written by Robert Siegel, who has built up an impressive selection of projects inspired by real events and characters, The Wrestler is an impressive character study that is as hard to watch as it should be. Randy seems to be someone that truly believes he is best in the ring, but also may believe that the injuries and the bloodshed are all very much due to him. There's sometimes a huge difference between the man inside the ring and the man outside of it, but trouble happens when Randy blurs elements of his two different personalities.

Aronofsky makes the most of a very committed leading performance from Rourke, and he keeps the camera close and intimate for many of the interactions between his lead and the other people in his life. He also gets up close in the ring, especially when showing a couple of the tricks used to sell the hits and the wounds, but remembers to move around enough to show the crowd and the bright lights. 

Enough has been said already about what an amazing turn this is from Rourke, so I'll just say that I agree with all of the praise he received for this. The fact that both Tomei and Wood acquit themselves so well alongside him, particularly without feeling that they have to overact or shout to hold your attention, says everything you should need to know about their performances. Both have done consistently great work over the years, but both find just the right way to be believable and impressive in roles that could have easily been overshadowed by the large shadow cast by Rourke.

While it's very much about the life of a wrestler, and the toll that can take on the human body, this is also a film about anyone who has given their all to something, even as the rewards seem to dwindle while the losses grow. That might be a hobby, a trade, a sport, a relationship, or even a standard career. We don't always get back what we put in to things, but sometimes the crumbs that can be scavenged are as temporarily satisfying as the most sumptuous feast. Even as the dinner table starts to look more and more like it's being prepared for a last supper.

9/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Wrong Paris (2025)

Once I'd finished watching The Wrong Paris, I checked out a few of the credits. I was unsurprised to see that director Janeen Damian has a filmography that lists a lot of producing credits on Christmas TV movies, and her previous two features were two of the Lindsay Lohan movies made as part of her Netflix deal. The Wrong Paris is a film that should have been given the Christmas wrapping. It's absolutely on par with many other films in that vein, albeit with a few compromises made to some more modern sensibilities, and it's another Netflix film that feels like what it is, content.

Miranda Cosgrove plays Dawn, a young Texan woman who hopes to travel to Paris and study at an art school there. She has been saving up for that dream for years, but recently had to spend the majority of her money on some medical expenses incurred by ger grandmother, Birdie (Frances Fisher). Her sister, Emily (Emilija Baranac), convinces her that she should audition for a TV show called "The Honeypot" (think of The Bachelor and you're close enough). It's even going to be set in Paris . . . Texas. After the disappointment of realising that she's still a long way from France, Dawn figures that passing a couple of the main challenges could get her enough money to help boost her savings. So Dawn joins the show and starts to act as if she really doesn't want to be there, as per her aim. But things change when she starts to have very obvious chemistry with the handsome "prize" of the show, Trey McAllen (Pierson Fodé).

Cosgrove is a decent lead, although she's served better by the comedy moments when her character isn't interested in being in the show than when she has to resort to the typical loved-up act. Fodé has clearly based his character entirely around his abs, and he supports those abs with enough charm and warmth to make himself seem worthy of being a TV show prize. Yvonne Orji does well as Rachel, a producer on the show who is often the only one aware of the reason for Dawn's behaviour, and Madison Pettis convinces as the main competitor, Lexi, an online influencer who knows the best way to play to the cameras and potentially win the show. Elsewhere, Christin Park, Madeleine Arthur, and Veronica Long are fun contestants, and both Fisher and Baranac are perfectly fine in their few main scenes.

Damian directs with a degree of competence, but no desire to lift the film above anything other than a mild distraction. Nothing feels believable once we get to the show being produced, and there are too few moments making use of the language of "reality TV". It's all just about pairing up the leads, keeping them together for a while, presenting a seemingly-insurmountable obstacle, and then having things ready for a finale that will satisfy those who picked this to revel in the cheesiness and romance. 

Writer Nicole Henrich has one other writing credit before this (something tagged as both comedy and documentary online, and I cannot find out anything else about it), but this is their first solo effort. They have an idea of the template, as we all do, but they don't have any idea about how to really season their everyday recipe.

I won't hate on this, despite not really enjoying it. Cosgrove and Fodé feel like a decent match, and that helps a lot. It's not good though, unless you're just after something to play in the background as you switch your brain off and relax. Hey, maybe that is the point. In fact, we KNOW that is how some of these Netflix features are planned. It's just not always so painfully obvious and tiresome. 

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Perewangan (2024)

I was one of many people made very happy a few years ago when Bong Joon Ho tried to encourage all film fans to "overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles". Cinema certainly doesn't begin and end with the features available in the English language, and exploring the delights of various territories can be akin to sampling a menu in a new restaurant offering cuisine from somewhere you've never before experienced. I know that may make me sound like a pretentious asshat, but I also know that I keep that in my mind as I constantly add more and more titles to my ginormous viewing list.

This brings me to Perewangan, an Indonesian horror film that I knew was about a woman being terrified by something that had cursed/haunted her family. That was all the advance information I had, but it was enough to have me looking forward to seeing it. That feeling lasted until the opening credits, where I saw that this was based on an online thread by someone named "JeroPoint". Maybe that's just an unfair prejudice on my part, and there have been other Indonesian horrors based on online stories in recent years (although I don't think I have seen them, unfortunately), but it didn't seem to bode well.

Davina Karamoy plays Maya, the main character here, who believes that she and her sister, Wulan (Beby Evelyn), are in danger from an evil that has plagued her family for years. Others seem to be aware of the situation, yet there are no clear and consistent rules in place when it comes to whatever the central tormentor/victim dynamic is supposed to play out.

Perewangan is a good idea stuck in the middle of a big mess of a film. Director Awi Suryadi doesn't even deliver more than one or two really good scenes, both being deaths that occur during the first half of the film (I think, although I didn't double-check the timings), and writers JeroPoint, Andri Cahyadi, and Baskoro Adi Wiryanto wholly fail to add anything of substance to a film that at least has a good vein of spooky atmosphere running throughout it. The 109-minute runtime should be enough to contain more scares and interesting plot developments, but nobody puts in more than the minimum effort.

Karamoy does well enough, as do the other cast members (Evelyn, Ully Triani, Shanty, Septian Dwi Cahyo, etc), but I cannot single out any one person. In fact, none of the supporting characters are really given enough to do, which reduces the impact of anything that may happen to, or because of, them. I'll eat my hat if anyone else has watched this and can tell me anything different. 

I'll continue to explore Indonesian horror movies when I can, there are certainly many other intriguing titles to check out (and I'm always open to recommendations), but this one was a big disappointment. Atmosphere without substance means that you may as well watch some spooky dynamic screensaver on your computer, but I'll be generous to it because of the visuals and that lead performance from Karamoy.

4/10

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The Pelican Brief (1993)

I remember when I first read The Pelican Brief, another John Grisham "thriller" that was adapted into a slick Hollywood movie. I wasn't a big fan. And I was bemused by the fact that it did actually revolve around a plot point that concerned penguins. I had the same reaction when I got around to watching the movie.

Julia Roberts plays Darby Shaw, a young law student who comes up with a hypothetical link between some recent deaths that turns out not to be as hypothetical as she may have first thought. Denzel Washington is Gray Grantham, an investigative reporter who could be a great help to Darby, if she can really trust him. Politicians are nervy, but a chameleonic hitman (Stanley Tucci) remains calm as he looks to tie up a lot of loose ends.

Adapted and directed by Alan J. Pakula, a man who would seem to be as good a fit for the material as Pollack was for The Firm, the biggest thing working against The Pelican Brief is the weak source material. It's a decent idea, but the actual details are a bit too dull to hang the plot on, and the tense set-pieces are hampered by the fact that viewers will have a hard time thinking that the entire chain of events has a decent risk to reward ratio.

Roberts and Washington give the star turns they are paid to give, both doing well with roles that need their charisma to make the film even remotely watchable, and Tucci is sadly underused in a role he doesn't really fit. There's the usual great supporting cast though, including Sam Shepard, John Heard, Tony Goldwyn, William Atherton, Robert Culp, Hume Cronyn, John Lithgow, Anthony Heald, Cynthia Nixon, and Jake Weber. Whether you like them or not, many of these performers have very recognisable faces, even if you have to later search online to remember where you last saw them.

I was hoping that this rewatch would give me something else to mention. Me being a bit older, and sometimes a bit more patient, could maybe allow me to appreciate aspects of the film that I completely ignored when younger. But no, nothing here feels worthy of praise. The cinematography feels as dull as the material at times, I have already forgotten every part of the James Horner score, and, as rude as this may seem to say, even the wardrobe choices and production design, and other technical aspects, come across as a bit . . . lethargic and uninspired. It's almost as if the screenplay was putting everyone to sleep, leading to them throwing everything together as quickly and cheaply as possible.

I doubt I'll ever go back to this. Although there are a few Grisham adaptations I have yet to see, I'd put this one very near the bottom of the pile. And that is coming from someone who didn't mind Christmas With The Kranks. 

4/10

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Nobody 2 (2025)

I had an absolute blast with Nobody when it was released. The fact that I haven't rushed to rewatch it in the intervening years is just a sad reminder of how packed my viewing schedule is for the foreseeable few decades (at the very least). I couldn't bring myself to rush to the cinema to see Nobody 2, but I knew I'd want to give it a whirl when it came to home viewing platforms.

All of the main characters are back, with the main plot concerning Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) trying to enjoy some family holiday time with his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen), and children (Brady, played by Gage Munroe, and Sammy, played by Paisley Cadorath). The holiday is soon soured, unfortunately, when Hutch stumbles into the middle of the best-laid plans of the dodgy Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks), who does a lot of dirty work for the powerful and ruthless Lendina (Sharon Stone). As Hutch tries to keep his family safe and aims for a showdown, he once again has to utilise the talents of a couple of family members (played by Christopher Lloyd and RZA). 

With all of the main players returning in front of the camera, it's comforting to see that Derek Kolstad has also returned for the writing duties (joined this time by Aaron Rabin). The only main change is Timo Tjahjanto taking over the directorial duties, and that feels like a big plus, considering the fantastic and savage action that he's delivered throughout his career.

Let's start with the good stuff. Odenkirk and co. are all still great in their roles, and the film feels better for keeping the family all in the loop this time around. RZA and Lloyd still get to shine in third act moments that super-charge their presence, but Nielsen must have been very happy to see that the screenplay made her capable of handling the unexpected pressure, as well as a gun. Hanks is a pretty good villain, John Ortiz is a middle man who could go either way, depending on who he trusts to protect him and his son (played by Lucious Hoyos), and Stone is enjoyably willing to chew some scenery in her few scenes. It's just a shame that she isn't in the film for longer. I would have liked more of her, even if that meant just watching the growing shadow of her character looming over everything from the earliest scenes.

There are decent fights throughout, and the runtime is a zippy 89 minutes. I also quite liked the humour, largely tied to the exasperation of Odenkirk's character when forced to do what he does best.

That's about it for the good stuff though. Tjahjanto really falters when it comes to the fights, disappointing with repeated moves and numerous coincidences ensuring that our lead survives until the big final battle. It also doesn't help that, despite the family holiday premise, Kolstad and Rabin are happy to have written a screenplay that comes very close to just rehashing everything from the first movie. The wrong people get upset, assets are destroyed, and the third act is full of booby traps, even more overwhelming odds, and some vital support from other experienced killers. 

I could watch this again, Odenkirk almost ensures that I could rewatch pretty much anything he's involved with, but I doubt I would ever pick it if it was sitting right alongside the original. That's a much better film, and this suffers in comparison to it. It should have been much better, and it's easy to see where improvements should have been made (giving Stone more screentime, making better use of the amusement park, varying the fights more). There's still some fun to be had with it though.

6/10

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Prime Time: The Mouse Trap (2024)

I've been around a bit. Which means I'm old, but also means that I have learned many lessons. Most of those lessons are visible in my online writing. I used to try and tag movie titles all over social media, whether the review was good or bad. Then I discovered that was a bad thing, particularly when the review is bad and the film-makers see it appearing in places they may not want to see it. I used to be a bit more free and easy with my insults, although I am pretty sure that I still did my best to avoid getting personal. And I used to live in a world in which many of the horror movies looking to make a quick payday seemed just a bit less cynical.

The Mouse Trap is another of those recent movies that is cashing in on an expired copyright (this particular one belonging to "Steamboat Willie"). It's written by Simon Phillips, an actor and writer involved in some very poor genre movies throughout the past two decades. It's directed by Jamie Bailey. The last thing I saw from this duo was Deinfluencer, a film so bad that it makes The Mouse Trap seem wonderful in comparison. And The Mouse Trap is decidedly not wonderful.

There's a wraparound that shows two detectives interviewing a young woman (Rebecca, played by Mackenzie Mills) who has just survived a massacre at an amusement arcade. The killer was wearing a very familiar mask, and may have the power of teleportation. This makes it much easier for him to carve his way through everyone who has turned up after hours to celebrate the birthday of Alex (Sophie McIntosh). Simple, eh. So you should expect a cheap film that keeps a focus on gratuitous violence, and maybe also some gratuitous nudity. That's not what you get though. 

There's an amusing opening scroll that allows the film-makers to acknowledge their cheek at (mis)using something simply based on the availability of it, but that's the only thing here that is worth your time. I don't want to be overly harsh on the cast members, despite nobody being all that good, so I'll just say that nobody manages to deliver a character with any depth, or worth caring about in the slightest. A large part of that is to do with the writing, of course, but Mills, McIntosh, Madeline Kelman, Ben Harris, Callum Sywyk, Mireille Gagné, James Laurin, and Kayleigh Styles are only being mentioned here because I can check the cast list online. I couldn't pick any of them out of a lineup if my life depended on it, and I only just finished watching the film.

I blame both Bailey and Phillips equally for this mess. At best, this could have been a silly bit of murder and mayhem. If there's no need for logic then there's no need to limit the creativity. Sadly, this is a tame and, worst of all, boring slasher movie that barely delivers enough bloodshed, let alone anything else that could have made it more entertaining. The 80-minute runtime feels much longer than that, and I guarantee that there are dozens of other cheap slasher movies that do a much better job without making use of some misappropriated iconography. 

Yes, I'll watch every other movie like this. I'm going to check out Screamboat, I'll eventually check out that second Winnie The Pooh horror, Popeye's Revenge, Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare, and Bambi: The Reckoning too. I doubt I'll enjoy many (if any) of them. But I can now hope that they're at least more fun than this dull dreck.  

2/10

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All About Steve (2009)

Yet another film that I only became aware of due to the Razzies, All About Steve is a notorious stinker (allegedly) that I always wanted to see because of Sandra Bullock having the good grace and humour to turn up at the ceremony "rewarding" it and doing her best to entertainingly defend it. And, hey, maybe it wouldn't be THAT bad.

All About Steve really IS that bad. Sandra Bullock plays Mary Horowitz, a young woman who creates crossword puzzle for a newspaper. She then goes on one date with Steve (Bradley Cooper), a news cameraman, and becomes absolutely obsessed with him. This leads to her pursuing him across the country, much to the amusement of his colleagues. Mary has a way with people around her though, thanks to her good nature and eccentricity that people respond to. Apparently.

Writer Kim Barker has three projects to their name. This is the second. Director Phil Traill, on the other hand, has managed to create a body of work that provided much more distance between himself and this travesty. And it is a travesty, although it's hard to figure out what else it is meant to be. If it's a twisted rom-com then it lacks both the rom and the com. If it's a dark comedy then it lacks both the darkness and the comedy. If it's supposed to be some commentary on what happens when people without a filter are thrown into the middle of the general population, presenting some kind of "idiot savant" able to teach others a la Being There and Forrest Gump, then it also fails in that regard. No good points are made here, and we're left with a character study of people who are poorly-written and completely uninteresting, once you get beyond the "quirkiness" of someone who is actually on the spectrum of autism.

As unlikely as it seems, there may have been some way to make this a good movie. I think the screenplay would have needed a complete overhaul though, with Bullock and Cooper constantly thrown together more by coincidence than any scheming. It might also have benefited from different leads.

I really like Bullock. I would consider myself a full member of the Sandra Bullock fan club. How dedicated am I to her career? Well . . . I just watched All About Steve. This is easily one of the worst performances I have seen from her though, and the way she portrays Mary is almost offensively bad. There are times when she's only a couple of steps away from being the female equivalent of Simple Jack (see Tropic Thunder for that reference point). Cooper can do cocky and smarmy, but he doesn't have the extra softness required to offset the mean side of his character. At least there's some fun to be had with Thomas Haden Church (a smug TV reporter), Ken Jeong, DJ Qualls, Katy Mixon Greer, M. C. Gainey, Holmes Osborne, and, as Mary's parents, Beth Grant and Howard Hesseman.

Despite my overwhelming criticism of this movie, I will say that it's almost saved by the supporting cast and the third act moments that try hard to show some kind of closure for both Mary and Steve. Some lessons are learned, I think, and it would work in a standard movie way if viewers had grown to care about the central character. Very few will care though, which kind of undermines the ending.

Like so many similarly maligned films, this is far from the worst of the worst. It's also deserving of a lot of the mockery and disdain it has received though. 

3/10

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Mubi Monday: Minari (2020)

Although Minari is an American drama, it is all about the experience of South Korean immigrants trying to establish their life in the USA. Which means I may well get some of the name formatting wrong, once again, despite trying my best to double-check the details available to me.

Steven Yeun is Jacob Yi, Han Ye-ri is his wife, Monica, and they have two young children, David (Alan Kim) and Anne (Noel Kate Cho). They will also soon be joined by Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung), Monica's mother who will hopefully be able to look after the children while the hard work is done that should turn their house into a home, and also hopefully turn their land into something able to grow produce on. It won't be a smooth journey, but it will hopefully be a journey that the whole family experience together.

Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, based on his own childhood, Minari is one of those films that makes use of specifics and personal details to deliver something that feels universal and identifiable. While it's about the immigrant experience, and about the challenges facing them, it's also just about parents doing their best to ensure that each subsequent generation has a better starting point in life than the previous one. 

While the cast all do fantastic work, with young Kim being an absolute delight, and Yeun showing once again that he is yet to be given due credit for his many brilliant performances over the last decade or so, this is all about the delicate exploration of people who have to consider the value of the sacrifices made in pursuit of a better life. While there's a monetary cost involved, the more difficult moments come when loved ones may be negatively impacted by choices seemingly made for the greater good. 

As well as those mentioned, Will Patton delivers a great performance, portraying a Korean War veteran who believes that it's a great sign that he has been placed to potentially help the family. His character helps to highlight the ways in which the world keeps changing, and how it's very easy to find commonality with people simply hoping to make a good life for their family.

There's a lot of strain and stress here, and it's always clear that Jacob has gambled everything on this one place, and his plans for it, but Chung shows that the risks are, despite moments of doubt, worth the reward. The family is together, there are happier times lying ahead for them, and they can feel as if they have made some progress as soon as they decided to make their home in America. Whether sexing chickens, trying to find a good spot for a water well, struggling to sell any produce, or figuring out how to deal with health problems, Jacob and Monica are always motivated by family and love. And that counts for a hell of a lot, even in the face of overwhelming odds trying to fill them with doubt. 

9/10

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Netflix: Robin Hood (2018)

AKA Robin Begins. This is an attempt to make the character of Robin Hood cool and modern and sexy. If that appeals to you then you should find enough to enjoy here. If you would much prefer your Robin Hood to be more like either Errol Flynn or the fox from the Disney animated version of the tale then I would suggest you move along.

Taron Egerton is our Robin here, accompanied back from his time at war by "John" (Jamie Foxx). Upon his return to England, Robin finds that his beloved Marian (Eve Hewson) has started another relationship with Will (Jamie Dornan), believing that Robin died overseas. He also finds the people being forced into poverty by the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn). Thus begins a campaign that turns into "rob from the rich to give to the poor". Robin makes many enemies, but he also maintains a few valuable allies, including Friar Tuck (Tim Minchin).

Although director Otto Bathurst has no other theatrically-released features to his credit, there's nothing here that shows him unsuited to this kind of thing. Whatever criticisms you might have about this film, and there are many things to be critical of, it at least makes decent use of a good cast to stop it from being anywhere near the actual nadir of blockbuster entertainment. The same can be said of writers Ben Chandler and David James Kelly. They may not be as sharp or clever as they think, but they're far from the worst offenders when it comes to the plotting and dialogue (although I could have really done without the narration basically telling us "you think you know the story of Robin Hood, but here's the REAL story as you've never seen it before").

There are a few decent action set-pieces, enough to make the 116-minute runtime feel just right, but your opinion of this may very well depend on how you feel about Robin Hood being given the bombastic style usually used with more modern action heroes. I'm still not sure if that in itself is a bad idea or if I was irritated by the times that overused the same tricks and effects.

Egerton is a good choice for the lead, having shown us before how well he can do the charming rogue figure. He's a great fit, and always believable, even as the stunts become wilder and more dangerous. Foxx is a fantastic partner for him, and seems equally capable in the inventive action beats. Hewson is an appropriately lovely Marian, Mendelsohn is an appropriately nasty Sheriff of Nottingham, and they complete a central quartet good enough to make up for the lethargic Dornan and a sorely mis-cast Minchin.

Arguably too old-fashioned in content for younger viewers and too modern and flashy for older viewers, I'm not surprised that this didn't set the box office alight when it was released. I wouldn't have minded if it did better though. I may not rush to rewatch it, and I'm not sure who in my friend circle I would recommend it to, but I'd prefer to watch a sequel to this than watch yet another Sony superhero movie.

6/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Whip And The Body (1963)

A '60s gothic horror movie from director Mario Bava, this has pretty much everything you might expect, and want, from this kind of thing. Christopher Lee has a pivotal role, everyone involved seems to be credited under a different name from when the film was marketed for international distribution outside of Italy, and there's a fine atmosphere of lust and kink running throughout it.

Lee plays Kurt Menliff, a nobleman who returns home just in time to congratulate his brother, Christian (Tony Kendall), on his upcoming marriage to Nevenka (Daliah Lavi). Nobody really wants to welcome Kurt back. It's especially difficult for Giorgia (Harriet Medin), a housemaid who believes that Kurt helped driver her daughter to suicide. Others made unhappy are Count Menliff (Gustavo De Nardo), a butler named Losat (Luciano Pigozzi), and a cousin (Katia, played by Ida Galli) who wouldn't mind being kissing cousins with Christian. There's soon another death, and there's always time for one or two people to be whipped, whether for pain or pleasure.

This may not be one of the very best from Bava, but that's a high bar indeed. It still looks gorgeous for many of the key sequences, has admirable consistency in the atmosphere and tone from start to finish, and explores some twisted darkness with a fine balance of restraint and growing hysteria. Although that's me saying that after viewing it through a modern lens. It's worth noting that it was deemed problematic by Italian censors, due to the themes of sadomasochism intertwining with the central mystery. Ernesto Gastaldi, Ugo Guerra, and Luciano Martino are the credited writers, although Gastaldi claims to have received no input at all from the latter, and the screenplay continually dances between the chilliness of the gothic castle setting and the heat (sexual and/or angry) between a few of the main characters.

Lee excels in a role that makes the most of his imposing figure and sheer magnetism, Kendall tries hard as he plays a character who always has to be a step behind unfolding events until the very end scenes, and Lavi does well as she grows more and more nervy and unbalanced throughout the film, not without good reason. Galli is a welcome inclusion, and Medin, De Nardo, and Pigozzi each get at least one moment that places them as a potential prime suspect or victim in the murder mystery.

I'm not sure how others view this one, but I wasn't a huge fan. It's a nice enough way to pass 92 minutes, but I can easily imagine myself forgetting that I've even seen this if asked about it in a year or two (which is one of the reasons I write and review everything I see). I can't fault the cast or the production design though. It just lacks a truly memorable set-piece, and it lacks anything that feels specifically . . . Bava-esque.

6/10

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Juror #2 (2024)

Two days in a row for legal thrillers on the blog. I could have planned things a bit better, but what the hell . . . my blog, my rules.

Written by Jonathan Abrams and directed by Clint Eastwood, Juror #2 is very entertaining for most of the 114-minute runtime. You have to work hard to keep suspending your disbelief though, especially when it comes to some of the moments engineered to specifically ratchet up the tension.

Nicholas Hoult plays Justin Kemp, the juror of the title. He's being asked to decide the guilt or innocence of a man (James, played by Gabriel Basso) accused of murdering his partner (Kendall, played by Francesca Eastwood) after a drunken argument witnessed by many people. What those people didn't witness was Justin also in that bar, looking at a drink that he was tempted by, before he drove home, hitting "something" in the road on the way. Justin thinks he can maybe convince the rest of the jury that James is innocent, but that will have people looking harder for someone to arrest for the crime. It's not just a criminal case. It's a political hot potato for Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), who wants to prosecute this case successfully before bagging a DA role.

It's easy to see why this screenplay would appeal to Eastwood and his cast. Every minute of the runtime seems to see the stakes and drama increase, and the leads barely get to catch their breath as they get swept up by the tide taking them towards a finale that should, at the very least, prompt a bit of conversation between people about what they would or wouldn't have done in Hoult's situation.

Hoult is a big plus for the film, and he's good enough to get through even the more ridiculous sequences without embarrassing himself too much. The same can be said of the other main cast members, but it's Hoult stuck with the worst plot points to work around. Collette and Chris Messina do the usual movie lawyer schtick, playing the prosecuting attorney and defence attorney, respectively. Basso has to spend a lot of the movie trying not to be too expressive, J. K. Simmons is good fun as an ex-cop on the jury who starts to smell a rat, and Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb, and Kiefer Sutherland get to make very little impact.

I'm not going to say that I didn't enjoy some of Juror #2, but I cannot recall the last time I watched something with such a strong premise go downhill so quickly. What I hoped was going to be a knotty and thought-provoking riff on 12 Angry Men turns into something so laughable and contrived that it's impossible to keep caring for the main character for the entire runtime. 

If you can watch this without thinking about the absurd lack of logic then you may end up enjoying it, and I'm sure many can be carried through it all by the leads. Abrams and Eastwood make things very difficult though, the former not doing good enough with the writing and the latter not adding anything to distract from it. It may not be criminally bad, but it's not very good.

5/10

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The Firm (1993)

One of two movies released in 1993 that kick-started an extra-lucrative time in the career of writer John Grisham, The Firm is an enjoyable thriller that focuses on the legal hoops the lead character needs to jump through, while also adding one or two more visceral moments for those wanting immediate thrills in their thrillers.

Tom Cruise is Mitch McDeere, a brilliant young lawyer who is given an offer he can't refuse from a prestigious law firm. He and his wife (Abby, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn) have to relocate, and there are long working days in his near future, but the rewards seem well worth the investment, especially as he is taken under the wing of Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman). Things seem a bit too good to be true though, which means they are. It turns out that the law firm has one or two secrets, and someone may be willing to kill to keep them secret.

There are very few movies adapted from John Grisham novels that don't benefit from having a stacked cast, but The Firm remains a high watermark. Alongside Cruise, Tripplehorn, and Hackman, you get Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brimley, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, David Strathairn, Gary Busey, Tobin Bell, and Dean Norris. There are also two main supporting roles for Terry Kinney and Barbara Garrick, people you will know by sight even if you can't put a face to their names right now. This is a Grisham movie, but it's also very much an actor's movie, and there's nobody here who disappoints (although Bell and Norris are very much locked in to the role of the "deadly stranger" required to add the proper physical threat alongside the legal wrangling, which is saying something in a film that also brings in Paul Sorvino and Joe Viterelli before the end credits roll.

Adapted from the novel by David Rabe, David Rayfiel, and the legendary Robert Towne, things are paced really well as viewers are introduced to the onscreen world, start learning some of the jargon, or at least have enough context clues to get the gist, and can then share the unease as some characters start to become suspicious about the way business is being conducted by the firm. The cast are all very capable of selling the dialogue, and Sydney Pollack once again shows himself to be one of the best in the business when it comes to presenting some potentially dry and dull material in a way that feels impressively engaging and propulsive.

It's hard to pin down why this works as well as it does, and those familiar with the novel may disagree (I know many were unhappy with how the ending changed from page to screen), but the main thing is a feeling of quality, as well as the way in which the plot has been made easily understandable without seeming too patronising. There are a few elements I can point to as being sub-par, maybe some of the score and some of the make up being used to show how tired and strained Cruise is in the second half, and some may be put off by the fact that the runtime is 154 minutes, but I would generally recommend this to anyone after blockbuster entertainment that focuses on the cast ahead of any random explosions and special effects.

8/10

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Prime Time: Deep Cover (2025)

Tom Kingsley has a fair bit of directorial experience in the world of TV, but this is the first feature that he has helmed solo. He's done himself a favour, however, by getting a good group of writers together and a central cast all eager to have a lot of fun. The end result is a very entertaining comedy that works due to everyone leaning into the silliness of it all.

Bryce Dallas Howard is Kat, a young woman spending her time teaching improv. Some of her students are moving on to successful careers. Kat isn't. She's stuck with people like Marlon (Orlando Bloom), an actor who always needs to find a darkness in every character he plays, and Hugh (Nick Mohammed), a nervous young man just hoping to develop some confidence that will help him avoid being ignored and/or used at his workplace. When Kat is asked to do some absolutely safe, and not due to escalate at all, undercover work by a cop named Billings (Sean Bean), she ends up heading along with Marlon and Hugh to an encounter with Fly (Paddy Considine). Fly is a criminal, but he's not at the top of the chain. That would be Metcalfe (Ian McShane), and our trio end up becoming entangled with him in an increasingly messy situation that they may struggle to escape alive.

It's a testament to the performances of the leads here that you wouldn't think it took four people to write this. While I can't help feeling that the nature of some scenes may have allowed some of the performers to improv in line with their characters, credit goes to Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow for the story, and Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen for the screenplay. The premise is great for comic potential, and everyone works hard to make the most of it.

Kingsley may not show any great ambition or creativity in his direction, but he does enough to keep everything rolling along nicely. It's not all that cinematic, but there are moments when it throws in some gags or stunts that are impressive enough to remind you that it's a movie with some money behind it. Even if a lot of that money may have been used to secure the stars.

As for the stars, Howard does well acting as if trying to control the two problematic men alongside her, but it's both Mohammed and Bloom getting to deliver more of the laughs. I expected Mohammed to do well as someone slightly shy and awkward, but Bloom shows a real talent for comedy with his hilarious arrogance and thick-headed attempts to add unnecessary backstory to every character he portrays. Considine is a convincing crook, as he's shown us in other films, Bean does very well with what he needs to do, and McShane is so good as a powerful heavy that even his ill-advised attempt at a Scottish accent doesn't make him any less intimidating. There's a good selection of supporting cast members, all in line with the tone, but they're all elevated by sharing scenes with the leads.

It's very predictable, very much in line with a number of straight-to-streaming movies that have that, sometimes indefinable, straight-to-streaming movies feel, but saved by the fact that it's also occasionally very funny. Most of the biggest laughs come from Bloom, but everyone gets a chance to shine, and the 100-minute runtime is perfect for the material.

7/10

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