Netflix And Chill: Practical Magic (1998)

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

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

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

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

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

5/10

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Ocean's Eight (2018)

While it may not be as cool or witty as the first instalment of the series it is a part of, Ocean's Eight seems to have been yet another enjoyable slice of entertainment now reframed/erased by those who become enraged when women have the audacity to enjoy some more representation onscreen. It's silly and implausible, but the fantastic cast help to make it an easy pleasure from start to finish.

Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, related to a certain Danny (of course). We first see Debbie as she's being released from prison, and it's not long until she's hatching what she believes is a foolproof plan for a legendary robbery. It's going to take place during the Met Gala. She'll need the help of her partner, Lou (Cate Blanchett), and the plan will rely on various skills brought to the table by a fence named Tammy (Sarah Paulson), a nible-fingered pickpocket named Constance (Awkwafina), a fashion designer named Rose (Helena Bonham Carter), a hacker nicknamed Nine Ball (Rihanna), and a jewellery maker named Amita (Mindy Kaling). They also need to manipulate and make use of a vain actress, Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), and it would be a big bonus for Debbie if she could find a way to get revenge on Claude Becker (Richard Armitage), the man who was responsible for her being caught and sent to prison years ago.

Directed by Gary Ross, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Olivia Milch, this is a fine caper, absolutely in line with the other instalments in this movie series. A lot of the appeal stems from the charm of the leads, the big score is impressively audacious, and a couple of twists and turns on the way to the end credits will keep viewers on their toes without them feeling cheated. You get a lot of celebrity cameos, all helping to ensure that the Met Gala feels just busy and glamorous enough to make it believable, and there's a good attempt to replicate the energy and cool style of the other movies, particularly when it comes to the unflappable nature of our main character reacting to fluid and precarious situations.

Bullock allows her star power to shine bright in the lead role, and she's a fantastic lynchpin for the entire cast. Blanchett works well alongside her, equally calm, but also slightly more cautious as some of the risks are being calculated. Paulson and Carter both have a lot of fun in their roles, Awkwafina feels like perfect casting for her character, and both Kaling and Rihanna are just the right personalities to round out the core group. Hathaway seems to enjoy playing someone so egotistical and vain, Armitage is allowed to play his part in a way that makes it very easy to root for his downfall, and there are amusing little moments for Elliott Gould and James Corden.

As is the way with many sequels, the main thing working against this is the large shadow cast by the original. It still proves to be worthwhile though, and the way in which our main characters rely on women being ignored feeds nicely into the main scheme. It shows that there could be one or two extra features in this series yet, and I'd certainly be happy enough to one day sit down to watch an Ocean's Nine.

8/10

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Prime Time: Slotherhouse (2023)

It's quite ironic that I was very slow to get around to this horror comedy, but I'm happy to say that I finally made time to enjoy the sheer silliness of this. While written and directed by a bunch of people I am not familiar with, Slotherhouse shows how much fun can be had when people commit to some entertaining stupidity, especially when the technical side of things is done well enough to keep it looking professional and made with at least some small amount of care.

Lisa Ambalavanar plays Emily, a young woman who wants to become the president of her sorority. She has a major fight on her hands to usurp Brianna (Sydney Craven), but soon discovers that a cute pet can help to win over many fans. Which starts to happen after she takes ownership of a sloth. The sloth isn't always as slow and cute as it appears though, and it's not long until the killings begin.

Writers Bradley Fowler and Cady Lanigan do everything they can to encourage viewers to lean into the ridiculousness of this. They start off with little moments of sloth-induced murder and mayhem, provide a montage at about the halfway point, and then deliver a third act that is all the more entertaining for being completely implausible (by the time the sloth is posting to Instagram with niche hashtags and another victim then you're either laughing or ready to turn the thing off).

Director Matthew Goodhue keeps everything looking and feeling as it should. Shot choices and framing allow for a lot of enjoyable practical effects and puppeteering, overlaid imagery use social media snapshots to deliver main character traits and developing tensions, and there are a number of fun homages throughout (some much more obvious than others, but Gremlins feels like the biggest influence at times). 

While the cast is made up of lesser-known actors, I think they deserve some praise for being so game about the whole thing. They play everything pretty straight, with the humour coming more from their Mean Girls antics than the murderous sloth, and do well at either portraying a character going through a journey (Ambalavanar) or fully embracing their stereotype (Craven). Bianca Beckles-Rose is a lot of fun as the hyper Zenny, Olivia Rouyre is good as the young woman who warns our lead against the path she seems intent on walking, and Tiff Stevenson provides some extra laughs as Ms. Mayflower, the "house mother" who secretly wants another chance to have a better position in the sorority hierarchy.

If you've been as slow as me to get around to this one then make time for it now. I'm not going to say it's an overlooked modern classic, nor am I guaranteeing that you will chuckle as often as I did, but it's a lot of fun, and I would definitely watch Slotherhouse 2: Locked In The Zoo.

7/10

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Coyote vs. Acme (2026)

If you don't know the background to this movie, if you've somehow been buried in the earth after some huge boulder landed on you a couple of years ago and are only now just regaining consciousness, then it's well worth looking into. I'm not going to repeat it all here. Suffice to say that David Zaslav is a tasteless moron, and Warner Bros. Pictures are continuing to do a very good job of making themselves into strong contenders for the position of the least likeable and least ethical of the major film studios releasing blockbuster hits today. Maybe I am biased, having never liked them since they continued to keep the DVD of Batman Returns being sold here in the UK with incorrect information on the packaging about a commentary track that wasn't present, but I'm sure that I'm not alone. 

Anyway, let's get to the entertainingly simple, but brilliant, plot. Wile E. Coyote is fed up. He's never going to catch the Road Runner, and he has spent decades being hurt and humiliated by faulty ACME products. So he ends up hiring a lawyer, Kevin Avery (Will Forte), to help him sue ACME. Of course, if Road Runner ends up being called as a witness then it's a win win, especially if he can finally trap and eat his nemesis.

Based on an article by Ian Frazier, published in the February 26, 1990, issue of The New Yorker, a number of people were tickled by the idea of our put-upon cartoon creation finally heading down a legal path to find some kind of restitution. James Gunn, Jeremy Slater, and Samy Burch worked on the story, and the screenplay credit here is given to Burch. The film feels like something that could only have been made thanks to the co-operation and collaboration of various Loony Tunes fans, but Burch deserves credit for maintaining a strong central narrative strand that allows for various set-pieces full of expected cartoon anarchy.

Director Dave Green has a a few other projects to his credit, but not too many. This is easily his best work, and it's absolutely on a par with the film that casts the largest shadow over it, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Now that it's out in the world, and hopefully set to do some good business, I'd love to see everyone figure out how to come up with a sequel. And Green would be a very safe pair of hands for that, considering how well he does here at seamlessly blending the live action with the animation, and how he packs multiple great gags into every scene.

Forte is very good in the lead human role, portraying a cynical sad sack who can eventually see how the plight of Wile E. Coyote runs parallel to the plight of so many others unable to take on some of the giant corporations determined to keep screwing them over. He's supported well by Lana Condor, as well as Tone Bell and Martha Kelly, and the whole team feels like just the right mix of people to debate the various approaches to what many view as a hopeless case. John Cena is a lot of fun as Buddy Crane, the slick ACME lawyer, and his main assistant, Bill, is another chance for P. J. Byrne to deliver the kind of performance he can do so easily. Luis Guzmán is enjoyable as the Judge presiding over the case, but viewers will arguably be more excited to see cameos from the likes of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and a few other cartoon favourites (some of them being more pleasantly surprising because of them not being the obvious and expected choices).

While I laughed a lot at this, and laughed hard, I was also surprised by one or two moments that somehow managed to make me slightly emotional. Although I know I would be right in the target demographic for this, there's a part of me that hopes that this can do what other features haven't ever really managed: convert younger viewers into fans of the full-on brilliance of the Loony-verse. Whatever happens, I am beyond delighted that we have this to enjoy anyway. It's as close to a perfect Loony Tunes feature film as you could hope for. 

9/10

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