Disclosure Day (2026)

Although it's a very different type of movie, Disclosure Day feels very much like a film that partners up with The Fabelmans. It's a film from someone very much looking back. It's director Steven Spielberg playing some of his hits. Unfortunately, the hits have since been overshadowed by, well, different hits from himself, as well as hits created by people who were influenced by him. 

Josh O'Connor plays Daniel Kellner, a young man who is on the run. He has something, something so important that many agents, working under the direction of Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), won't stop until he is captured. Kellner has his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), on his side, and he is given a number of supportive phone calls from Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo). Meanwhile, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is a TV weather presenter who has an encounter with a red cardinal that lands on her table and then gains the power to communicate effectively with everyone around her, in any language. She can also know what they're thinking, which gives her a big advantage when it becomes apparent that she needs to connect with Kellner and help to enable Disclosure Day.

On the one hand, Disclosure Day is not very good. The 145-minute runtime is too long, there are a couple of characters sidelined who I would have preferred to see retained for more of the runtime, and a lot of the decisions made by people are quite inconsistent, to say the least. David Koepp's screenplay cannot keep everything balanced well, but that may stem from how much he has to twist himself in knots to develop the idea from Spielberg, which houses a number of his worst traits, but tries to cover them up with some action and tension in the first half.

There's certainly no blame to be put on the actors, with both Blunt and O'Connor doing absolutely fantastic work throughout. I'd even be tempted to say that this is one of Blunt's very best performances, certainly one of her best from the last decade anyway. O'Connor gets to stay quite wide-eyed and nervy throughout, which he does well, whereas Blunt changes in a number of interesting ways. Firth is excellent as the potential villain of the whole thing, although his character is notably restricted by the screenplay, almost like he's a videogame character only allowed into certain areas once enough time has elapsed. Domingo is very good, even if he's either facilitating, or delivering, a lot of the exposition, but he's also, as others have mentioned, very much an onscreen avatar for Spielberg himself aka the man putting all of the pieces into place and co-ordinating the action. Hewson is involved in a couple of the best scenes in the film, Wyatt Russell is very enjoyable in his supporting role, and Henry Lloyd-Hughes is impressively determined and threatening as the right hand man to Firth's character.

You get alien activity. You get a couple of good set-pieces. There's a John Williams score. There's more lens flare than even J. J. Abrams might feel comfortable with. To paraphrase a famous comedy skit from yesteryear . . . you get all the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order. Disclosure Day is a messy blockbuster, and the relative originality of it (compared to other recent blockbuster properties) and good intentions aren't enough to distract viewers from some inept plotting and numerous contradictions that are the result of either total laziness, temporary stupidity, or a mix of both.

Is it good to see a major release based around the idea that empathy is a super-power and that we shouldn't default to automatically fearing the unknown? Yes. But it would have been even better to see the messaging contained within a movie that had stronger structural integrity than a wet piece of tissue paper. Maybe the Spielberg of 20 or 30 years ago could have helmed that movie, or maybe we have to accept that thought-provoking sci-fi, whether optimistic or pessimistic, is now delivered better by those who spent years studying, and being in awe of, the mothership captain who will always cast a huge shadow over the sub-genre. 

5/10

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Cold Storage (2026)

Director Jonny Campbell has done a lot of great TV work throughout his career. He doesn't have as much success when it comes to feature films though, with his only previous theatrical release being the strangely mishandled Alien Autopsy, a film that tried (and failed) to capitalise on the popularity of the two leads. Cold Storage has more than just one or two gimmicks to help it along, and it's helped by a screenplay from David Koepp. It still manages to show that Campbell may be best suited to TV work though.

Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell play Teacake and Naomi, two employees looking after a self-storage facility. They don't know that the building also houses a secret lab area. Nor do they know that there's a dangerous and infectious fungus stored there. It's parasitic, it's very quick at spreading itself around, and it's just broken out of the sealed containers that held it for decades. Teacake and Naomi will face threats from a number of visitors, but if they can hold on long enough then they might get some major help from a grizzled miltary veteran (Liam Neeson) who has seen how dangerous the fungus can be first-hand.

This might be a fungus, it might try to keep a lighter tone throughout, and there are one or two quirks added to the lead characters, but it's otherwise business as usual. It's a zombie film, and it's not an especially good zombie film. It's certainly not terrible, thanks to some diverting sequences and a few good special effects scattered throughout, but it's not very good. Maybe I'm projecting, but Koepp's screenplay feels as if he thinks he's too good for a sub-genre that he can't quite get a handle on.

Keery and Campbell ARE good, and they deserve a better film that would make better use of their talent. Both are appealing leads on their own, but it's a big boost for the film that they have great chemistry together when sharing the screen. Neeson coasts along in his role, but it's nice to see him in something that isn't beating the dead horse that is his Taken persona (even if he retains a better skillset than most of us), and it's good to have a couple of fun supporting roles for Lesley Manville and Vanessa Redgrave. Ellora Torchia works well as someone who provides remote support for Neeson's character, Aaron Heffernan is a problematic ex, and there's even more varied characters in the shape of Gavin Spokes (a bad boss), Richard Brake (a bad military type), and a few random critters that help to spread the fungus.

All this needed was a bit of tightening up (the runtime may only be 99 minutes, but even that feels just a bit too long), a bit more creativity in the set-pieces, and some more characters to help boost any potential bodycount. That would have been enough to make this an easy one to recommend. As it stands, it's fine. Those after something easy to watch, and something that plays within the horror genre without being too intense or scary for adult viewers, should enjoy themselves. It's the cinematic equivalent of a fast food meal. But those wanting a tasty steak dinner should look elsewhere. 

6/10

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Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

We're at the stage now when a new Jurassic Park movie no longer inspires the awe and excitement it used to. That started when it became Jurassic World, but each subsequent instalment since the first movie has felt like diminishing returns as various directors have tried to recapture the magic of the original. I actually enjoyed Jurassic World Dominion, which many disliked, so I was someone especially miffed by the idea of them attempting to reboot the series yet again.

Anyway, let's cut to the chase. You don't need too many plot details. A group of people head to an island full of dinosaurs to collect some stuff. Things don't go well. There's also a family caught up in the dino crisis, and viewers will know that everything will lead to a finale that makes use of the biggest and baddest beasties around. All accompanied by a score from Alexandre Desplat that knows it needs to work with the familiar motif established by John Williams.

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Jurassic World: Rebirth is a strange mess of a film, unable to give us anyone to truly root for while also under-delivering on the expected dinosaur spectacle. Director Gareth Edwards does well behind the camera, quite rightly avoiding the coy approach to big monsters that he has used in previous movies, but he's saddled with a David Koepp script that doesn't quite do enough to fill out the 133-minute runtime. It doesn't help that the plot is perfunctory videogame stuff, with people having to collect samples of creatures from land, sea, and air, and one big set-piece completely works as well as intended . . . thanks to our old friend, the tyrannosaurus rex. 

Johansson seems to go through the motions with minimal effort, Friend is quite shiny and smug, and Bailey tries to exude charm throughout, but it's only Ali who feels like an actual star happy to have fun in a silly blockbuster. Which makes it a great shame that he feels relatively underused. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is locked in to his "concerned father" role, with nothing else to define him, and Luna Blaise, David Iacono, and Audrina Miranda do okay with what they're given, even if they're not given the greatest material to work with.

I guess it's difficult, at this stage, to deliver something truly unique and fresh in the Jurassic movies. So maybe they should stop making them.  If I'm feeling generous, I'll give credit to two exciting sequences here, both set on water. Again, as mentioned earlier, that's not enough for something with this runtime. Maybe newcomers will get more from it, but they would still get even more from first checking out the earlier films in the franchise. 

5/10

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Black Bag (2025)

Here's another film from the long-retired director Steven Soderbergh. Coming along so soon after Presence, which was also written by the writer of this, David Koepp, it would be interesting to consider just how many movies we would get from him if he hadn't decided to duck out of the industry years ago and spend time resting on his laurels. 

George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean (Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, respectively) are a married couple who are both in the spy business. Their marriage is enviably solid, but things may get tricky when it looks as if Kathryn has been up to some treachery. In order to get to the bottom of things, George ropes in a number of friends (played by Tom Burke, Marisa Abela, Regé-Jean Page, and Naomie Harris) to help him. He'll either ask them for favours or interrogate them with a polygraph attached, but he'll do whatever is necessary to untangle the whole messy situation.

One or two moments aside, and even those could be tweaked, Black Bag is the kind of film that you could easily envision as a stage play. The plotting is smart, yet also keeps things slightly confusing in a way that is nicely in line with the murky world of spycraft that we're dropped in the middle of. Keeping track of everything should show you how it all works out plausibly, but it's one that I think may well require at least one or two rewatches to fully unpick.

Koepp does well to deliver a mix of characters who feel enjoyably different from one another while also feeling capable of doing what their job entails. He also ensures that the dialogue feels authentic for everything that our protagonists are discussing. I'm not saying that it IS, but it feels that way to a layman onlooker like myself.

Soderbergh loves a challenge, which is what I assume drew him to both this and Presence (that one being a haunted house movie from the POV of the presence, this one being a spy thriller with the emphasis on conversations and a look at the mindset of those who take on such work), and it's a good job that he is often up to the task of meeting those challenges. He has times when he misses, and I am one of those people who really disliked Presence, but his hit rate is pretty impressive, and there's usually always at least something of interest in even his weakest features.

Fassbender and Blanchett are both as excellent as you'd expect, and there's a nice little role for Pierce Brosnan that allows him to lift the film momentarily with a perfect mix of menace and that typical Brosnan charm, but it's interesting to see how well the supporting cast do to hold their own alongside the two more established stars. Burke, someone who doesn't always impress me, is brilliant, providing some of the funniest moments of the film in a way that doesn't move everything too far away from the main tone of the whole piece, Abela projects the image of someone very capable, but perhaps trying too hard to disguise her own intelligence, and both Page and Harris sink their teeth into roles that could have easily been all-too-forgettable.

Low-key throughout, but no less thrilling for it, this is top-tier cloak and dagger stuff. It might not be the very best example of this kind of thing, and I suspect one or two loose plot points that I may or may not be satisfied with on a rewatch, but there are times when it comes very close. 

8/10

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Presence (2024)

While he has tried his hand at a wide variety of movies throughout his career, there was something that made me roll my eyes and say “of course he would do that” when I heard that Steven Soderbergh was directing a haunted house movie that was apparently presented from the POV of the spirit.

A family move in to a house. Some things start to move around, and some sensations are felt by the new occupants. Other things start to happen, complications in their lives and moments that create more danger for people, which makes it only a matter of time until we find out whether the presence is a friend or foe.

There is a screenplay here, and it’s one written by David Koepp, but you could be forgiven that this was an improv exercise used by Soderbergh to firm up an idea that would later be more fully developed. The biggest problem here is that it feels incomplete, it’s a schematic drawing that needs detail and colour added. None of the characters are interesting enough, the plotting is too little stretched too far, and it all leads to a finale that feels like some kind of parody of the genre. Maybe it is, and maybe that is what drew Soderbergh to the project, but it feels like a bit of a slap in the face to those not looking for the filmic equivalent of a shaggy dog story with a weak punchline.

Callina Liang and Eddy Maday are the teens at the heart of the story, Lucy Liu and Chris Sullivan are the parents, and there are roles for West Mulholland, Julia Fox, and Natalie Woolams-Torres, but they’re all asked to do little more than wander around the scenery until the gimmick is focused on them. There is no way to properly judge the performances that seem designed to simply fill the time in between specific camera moves.

No scares, no tension, not even any drama to feel invested in, Presence is a big bundle of nothing. It’s the kind of thing I would expect to come from a first-time director with misplaced confidence in his own skillset. The fact that it is helmed by Soderbergh is astonishing. He has made other movies that I haven’t liked, but I have always been able to appreciate his intentions. Not this time though. This time around it feels as if he has tried his hand at something he views as being a bit beneath him.

3/10

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Noirvember: Snake Eyes (1998)

Brian De Palma is a director not really known for his subtlety, which makes it all the more surprising that he has only made the one film starring the also-notably-unsubtle Nicolas Cage. Let's not mourn the films we haven't been given though. Instead, let's celebrate what we got. Snake Eyes is quite ridiculous, but I'll argue strenuously against anybody who tries to deny that it is also a hell of a lot of fun.

Cage is Rick Santoro, a dodgy cop who ends up with a chance to become a celebrity when he's attending a boxing match that is interrupted by the assassination of a major political figure. Working alongside a friend, Commander Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), Santoro needs to figure out what boxer Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw) has to do with the plot as he also tries to track down a mystery woman (Carla Gugino). And he does all this while being watched by some typically smooth and lively De Palma shot choices.

You know what you're in for almost as soon as Snake Eyes starts, quickly moving to a sequence that allows Cage to be as over the top and exuberant as usual while the camera seems to track through the onscreen environment with hidden edits that make it all seem like one huge tracking shot. De Palma wants viewers to have fun, but he also knows how to expertly ratchet up the tension in one or two key sequences. The screenplay by David Koepp (who developed the story with De Palma) is playful and energetic, despite the action mainly taking place in the one location, and there's a nice mix of subversion and tradition running through all of the key elements.

While he is always a divisive figure, Cage does his part to help make this as propulsive and energised as it is, delivering a typically robust turn that allows him to show a number of different facets of his character. Sinise isn't as well-rounded, but he does well with what he's given, particularly in the second half of the movie when things start to twist and turn more. Shaw convinces as a championship boxer, he certainly has the physique for it, and Gugino convinces as the kind of character who could be either a "damsel in distress" or a femme fatale. There are also moments for Kevin Dunn (a sports reporter who ends up in the middle of a big news story), Luis Guzman (the kind of guy who is forced to pay some money over to Santoro for a bit of peace), Mike Starr (working the security cameras), and John Heard (in a role that just feels like it was marked "get John Heard").

The score by Ryûichi Sakamoto, the work from D.P. Stephen H. Burum, the editing by Bill Pankow, everything comes together here to elevate a wonderfully pulpy bit of neo-noir into something eminently watchable and satisfying, from the audacious opening to a darkly comedic footnote. It might never deliver a knockout blow, and it's not quite top-tier De Palma, but Snake Eyes is a loud and dazzling spectacle for most of the 98-minute runtime.

7/10

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Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (2023)

The last Indiana Jones movie with Harrison Ford in the starring role (apparently) and the first Indiana Jones movie to be directed by someone other than Steven Spielberg (it's James Mangold at the helm for this adventure), Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny comes along with the advantage of simply having to be better than Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. I just wanted it to be on the same level as that film, another that I seemed to enjoy more than many other people.

This is a fun time at the cinema, thank goodness, and any tentative fears I may have had were assuaged within the barnstorming, extended, action sequence that opens the film. There has been a theme in recent years in these franchise instalments, something I have no doubt mentioned before, an idea that, in a world that looks to have passed them by and rendered them obsolete, it is the older “dinosaurs” (although that has been literal, as well as metaphorical) with the strength and ability to save us from some new threats. While this film gives us quite a bit of that, and a number of jokes about the age of our central character, it is also a loving send-off to someone who has been part of the pop culture, and part of our lives for over four decades. It reassures him, and audiences, that having time away from adventuring doesn’t mean life stops. It just means that you can realise how much you can help people in other ways. The fact that this messaging is couched in a script that still doles out a good share of very enjoyable dialogue, entertaining action scenes, and nods for the fans to smile at makes it a perfect conclusion to what has been, in my view, an amazingly consistent blockbuster series.

I suppose I should summarize the plot. After that opening sequence, featuring a de-aged Harrison Ford that sometimes looks like the best de-aging I have ever seen, and sometimes looks like a character was photoshopped in from one of the first couple of Uncharted videogame cut-scenes, we get to the main storyline. Dr. Jones is retiring. He is alone, and tired. Visited by his god-daughter (Wombat, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), he ends up dragged into an adventure to find both parts of a fabled device created by Archimedes (it has a different name onscreen, but it’s the titular dial of destiny). This leads to a number of chases as our heroes try to evade the henchmen of a very determined Nazi villain (Dr. Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen), who we saw being beaten by Indians Jones in part of the opening set-piece.

With no offence intended to him, director James Mangold does a decent job here, and has experience of directing a “hero walking into the sunset movie” with Logan, but I couldn’t help wondering just how well Spielberg might have treated this material. Perhaps due to the age of the star, or perhaps due to the complexity of the stunts, most of the big action beats are slightly over-edited, and there are not enough grin-inducing/fist in the air moments. No truly iconic hero shots, sadly, although some moments come close to giving off that indefinable aura of pure cinema magic (Wombat and Indiana looking around a tomb being the best, in terms of that shot composition and lighting combo). Mangold also helped write the script though, alongside David Koepp, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth (I though Waller-Bridge had also been asked to polish some dialogue, but I could be misremembering), and this is where the film excels. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is a perfect example of how to blend together a lot of fun and some serious themes (Nazism, obviously, but also regret and gradually losing a sense of purpose, as well as a few other key emotional touchstones). This is the Indiana Jones we have all known and loved for the lifetime of the character, but everyone is very much aware that he’s not immortal, or indeed infallible. His legacy will endure though, both onscreen and off.

Ford is great in the role, which seems like the most redundant thing to say. He has always been perfectly cast as Indiana, and he seems to enjoy embracing the chance to show the true age of the character, particularly when he gives a touching performance in one brief scene that stands head and shoulders above almost any other acting he has delivered in the past decade. Waller-Bridge is a decent foil, an antagonistic equal to our hero, although the character feels like it has been slightly reshaped to make her as essentially Waller-Bridge-ian as can be. And young Ethann Isidore plays Teddy, a boy with excellent pickpocket skills who makes our central pair into an even more plucky and resourceful trio. Mikkelsen is the kind of baddie you want, in line with other greats who have been before him. He’s cold, full of self-belief, and intelligent enough to think one step ahead of the heroes until he eventually realises that he actually hasn’t thought things through as thoroughly as he should have. Boyd Holbrook is a gun-happy henchman, and very good he is too, and Olivier Richters is a man-mountain also doing what he can to help Mikkelsen achieve his main objective. There are small roles for Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, both doing work that makes you wish they were involved in the adventure for longer, and a couple of people that fans of the series will be delighted to see onscreen, even if only for a minute or two (you may already know who joins in with the fun, but I am not spoiling any potential surprises here).

For those maybe a bit tired and jaded of vapid blockbuster entertainment seemingly designed just to connect other blockbusters together into a money-making blockchain, effectively, then Indiana Jones is here to rescue you. The film reminds us of how much fun a finely-tuned summer movie should be, and it also comes along at just the right time to say “it’s always okay to punch a Nazi”. Fare thee well, Doctor Jones. You may not have always (ever?) kept the spoils of your adventures, but you were festooned in fortune and glory.

8/10

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Prime Time: Stir Of Echoes (1999)

If there’s one thing almost guaranteed to happen nowadays when someone praises Stir Of Echoes it is that same person also saying that the film is actually better than The Sixth Sense (the supernatural blockbuster behemoth that unfortunately overshadowed this film back when it was released in 1999). People are entitled to that opinion. I disagree though, although Stir Of Echoes IS an excellent chiller that more people still need to check out.

Kevin Bacon plays Tom, a blue collar worker who is married to Maggie (Kathryn Erbe), the two living in a fairly comfortable new home with their son, Jake (Zachary David Cope). One evening, Tom’s sister-in-law, Lisa (Illeana Douglas) agrees to hypnotize him at a party, which is when his troubles begin. Tom starts seeing things, visions of a young woman (played by Jennifer Morrison) who went missing in the neighbourhood some time ago. His mind has become more receptive, allowing him to see the world around him in a different way. It turns out that his new perspective allows him to glimpse things that his son has been seeing for some time, but maybe things will go back to normal if Tom helps the missing girl in need of his help.

Adapted from a tale by Richard Matheson, Stir Of Echoes was written and directed by David Koepp (his second directorial feature), and it does a fantastic job of grounding the supernatural elements in something that keeps you caring about the characters and believing each stage of the plot development.

As hard as it is for me to say it, because I am a big fan of his work, the biggest problem with Stir Of Echoes is Kevin Bacon. He’s not actually bad, but I cannot help thinking that a number of other actors would do a better job in the main role, from the accent to the attitude. I am not sure who I would replace him with (my mind has considered the likes of Kevin Corrigan and Donnie Wahlberg), but he is the only one I would think of replacing. Erbe and Cope are both very good, with the latter particularly effective at portraying an innocent and playful child who hears and sees things he has become used to others being unaware of. Douglas only has a few main scenes, but she livens up the movie considerably, with her presence and her character being pivotal to the plot. Morrison is shot in a way that allows her to be a memorable onscreen presence, and there are a couple of solid supporting turns from Kevin Dunn and Connor O’Farrell.

Aside from some good performances, the main strength of this film lies in the script and the imagery. The title really sums up the central idea, and the “echoes” that we see are interspersed throughout the plot in a way that brilliantly builds the mystery and sense of intrigue all the way to a final act that is as enjoyable and satisfying as it is annoyingly formulaic. The finale is the least interesting part of the movie, but it works well enough at the end of the journey we have gone on with the main characters.

If you haven’t seen this one yet, do yourself a favour and check it out. The same goes for The Sixth Sense (of course). And then you can decide which one you like more.

8/10

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Inferno (2016)

Despite knowing how they are generally viewed by many other people, I am a BIG fan of the previous movies featuring the character of Robert Langdon. Having read most of the books written by Dan Brown, I knew the way he created the contrivances and characters, and the movies managed to move along at a brisk enough pace to make me forget the increasing incredulity of the set-pieces (almost). I was looking forward to Inferno, remembering the high stakes and the tense final act.

Sadly, this is the weakest of the cinematic trilogy, and it's easy to see why. The source material just isn't as easy to translate into cinematic entertainment, and there's also the small problem of each subsequent film highlighting just how many times Brown reaches for the same bag of tricks. Director Ron Howard cannot do much while tied to the novel, and writer David Koepp doesn't want to take any risks in his adaptation of the work.

Hanks returns once again to play the hero, who this time starts things by waking up in an Italian hospital with what seems to be a very bad case of amnesia. He barely has time to try and remember who he is before Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) is helping him to evade a deadly assassin. The two of them then race against the clock to hopefully stop a madman from releasing a virus that will cut the population of the entire planet in half.

It's hard to work up any enthusiasm for Inferno, it's such a mediocre and disappointing movie, especially coming after two much better films. Things start promisingly enough (there's the suicide of the madman who has already put his plan in motion, there's Langdon having a nightmarish vision of people burning to death around him), but that is all soon forgotten as the plot starts to trudge along from one weak set-piece to the next. Even the travelogue aspect isn't all that enjoyable, with the camerawork and visuals surprisingly dull throughout. How the hell do you make Venice look anything less than eye-poppingly gorgeous??

Hanks is yet again a comfortable fit in the role, and Felicity Jones is an enjoyable co-star for him, hampered by the material, but buoyed by the fact that she's Felicity Jones. Omar Sy is okay, but equally hampered by the material, and there are unmemorable supporting turns from Irrfan Khan, Sidse Babett Knudsen, and Ana Ularu. Ben Foster stands out, despite his limited screentime, thanks to his role in one or two of the most intriguing scenes.

Others might end up enjoying this more than I did. If you haven't read the books, or seen the other movies, then you may have a better viewing experience. I found it a big disappointment, especially following on from the two movies that preceded it.

4/10

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Angels & Demons (2009)

The pope must die . . . in order to kickstart the proceedings of this, the second cinematic adaptation of the implausible adventures of Robert Langdon. It’s a rip-roaring “treasure hunt” through Vatican City, and holds up as an equal to the first film.

Langdon (Tom Hanks) is called to Vatican City after a plan is put in motion that involves killing potential new Popes (I cannot recall the name of the ceremony, they really should just call it Pope Idol by now) in a manner tied to the four elements, branding bodies with special writing that may signify the work of the Illuminati, and having everyone do their damnedest to track down a vial of anti-matter that has been set to explode in mere hours.

With Hanks back in the lead role, Howard back in the big chair, and Akiva Goldsman back on writing duties (this time alongside David Koepp), Angels & Demons is very much a happy reunion for people who clearly enjoyed doing such a great job of things the first time around. While you could continue to complain about to the disparity between popular entertainment and great art (and the common ground), the source material from Dan Brown certainly stands high in the former camp, and both Howard and Hanks are used to delivering to people what they want.

The only downside of this film is the female thrown alongside Langdon for this particular escapade. Ayelet Zurer plays Dr. Vittoria Vetra, but she’s really not given much to do. Compared to the other onscreen allies that Langdon has been paired with, this woman is sorely undeveloped and redundant, for the most part (which is really saying something, considering how consistently weak Brown is when it comes to visiting the same well over and over for his stock of supporting characters).

Hanks is comfortable reprising the famous symbologist, Ewan McGregor is a treat, playing someone who was close to the previous Pope, and believes the church should attempt to be even more progressive, and Stellan Skarsgård is as dependable as ever, here playing a stubborn, no-nonsense, head of the Swiss Guard.

The end may become a bit too ridiculous (which you could arguably say about all Dan Brown tales), but this feels a bit more intense than The Da Vinci Code, and makes absolutely fantastic use of the gorgeous environment of Vatican City. For slick mainstream thrills, I think this is top-notch stuff.

8/10

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You Should Have Left (2020)

Although released in 2020, You Should Have Left feels very much like a film that could have easily been a 2000 option. In fact, it has more than a few similarities with a major 2000 hit, which I won't mention here, because that would spoil things somewhat. It's not a bad film, I actually really enjoyed it, but it is quite a safe and predictable one, ultimately.

Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried are the couple who move into a strange holiday home in Wales. It's just them and their daughter, Ella (Avery Essex). And whatever else resides in the house. Because the house definitely has something in there, be it a supernatural presence or just a constant disregard for the everyday rules of physics. Doors lead to other doors, leading to other doors. The house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside (not in a fun TARDIS way). And time moves in mysterious ways once you start wandering through the various corridors and rooms. It's not entirely unironic that Mr Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon stars in a film set in a house which keeps changing by many degrees.

Written and directed by David Koepp, based on the novel by Daniel Kehlmann, what you end up with is a very traditional tale of the supernatural that feels a bit fresh and unique because of the very modern home used as the main setting. Well, it feels that way until you get to the grand finale, which actually provides an explanation that you almost refuse to believe, because it's the most obvious of all possible explanations (in terms of genre plotting, not in terms of everyday life). That doesn't detract from how effective the rest of the film is, and doesn't in itself ruin the whole thing. It's just a shame that there wasn't a more interesting and unique way to bring everything to a close in the third act.

Bacon and Seyfried are both excellent in their roles, despite the latter being about thirty years younger than the former (something I thought would be used within the actual plot, but really isn't . . . so I guess that is still just mainstream movies being mainstream movies, right?), but it's hard to truly buy them as a loving, married couple. Viewers see them with some  strain already on their relationship, and it takes time to tease out the details. Unfortunately, the damage is already done by then. It's almost impossible to think of how they got together, how they connected, and how they have stayed together for as long as they have. Essex is a very good young actress, managing to show a balance between being afraid and having the kind of open mind that can allow children to accept more weirdness than adults would put up with.

This review seems more critical than I intended. The more I thought about the movie, the more I could think of that was wrong. But, and this is important, I didn't really think of all of these flaws while the film was playing. I enjoyed the strangeness, enjoyed the spookiness, even enjoyed predicting some of the third act beats. You Should Have Left is far from perfect, and there are many ways in which it could have been improved, but it's an enjoyable attempt to do something familiar in a way that feels slightly new.

7/10

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Mubi Monday: Death Becomes Her (1992)

Although you may worry whenever you hear the words "a film directed by Robert Zemeckis that also serves as an FX showcase", there's really no need. In fact, it's worth remembering that Zemeckis spent many years perfectly marrying entertaining concepts to the latest technology that would help him best present things. Then he got a bit carried away with himself.

Death Becomes Her is the tale of a man (Dr. Ernest Menville, played by Bruce Willis) who leaves his girlfriend (Helen Sharp, played by Goldie Hawn) to embark on a life with a famous and beautiful actress (Madeline Ashton, played by Meryl Streep). This changes all three individuals for the worse. Ernest becomes bitter, and drinks excessively while he works on dead bodies. Madeline is afraid of ageing, and seeks solace in the company of at least one younger man. And Helen is just miserable at what she lost, and wants some revenge. When the day comes for that revenge to take place, everything is complicated by the fact that Madeline has managed to get her hands on a potion that will give her immortality. But being immortal means you really need to look after the one body you have.

Written by Martin Donovan and David Koepp, this is a wonderful black comedy that blends The Picture Of Dorian Grey with no small amount of Sunset Blvd. Although these three characters could have been from any walk of life, the fact that one is a doctor and one an actress allows for some more pointed digs at the notions of vanity, the pressures on so many in the entertainment industry to have cosmetic surgery, and the attitudes and failings of people who cannot find themselves content with all of their blessings in life.

Zemeckis does a great job here. Using the first half of the film to weave lots of fun jokes in between the character development (there's not much, but it's there) before treating the halfway point as a turnstile into the FX-laden second half, which leads to plenty of superb visual gags working alongside the dialogue. The special effects, a mix of practical gags and computer work, hold up brilliantly. Almost thirty years later, this is better than even some major films released in the last decade.

Although she didn't enjoy the experience of working with all of the special effects, Streep is on top form in her role. All three leads are great, with Willis being atypically schlubby and Hawn a bit more calculating and sharp than usual, but Streep stays just a little ahead of everyone, thanks to it being quite a different role for her and the fact that she's the focus of many of the memorable effects. Ian Ogilvy also raises a smile in his brief appearance, and Isabella Rossellini is the mysterious and alluring woman who offers up the chance of immortality before belatedly adding words of caution.

Not entirely dissimilar to many short tales that have warned us against the perils of trying to gain immortality (from the many miserable vampires who have found the experience lacking to the kind of stories you get from Ray Bradbury and Tales From The Crypt, to name just a couple), Death Becomes Her is slick, macabre fun that also proves to be eminently rewatchable.

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Dark Angel AKA I Come In Peace (1990)

Although released towards the end of 1990, it's hard to think of a more brilliantly '80s action movie than Dark Angel AKA I Come In Peace. This has everything you could want from a Saturday night action film from that time, from the sharp fashions worn by our hero to the script that feels like an action movie cliche "greatest hits" mixtape.

Matthias Hues plays an evil alien, named Talec, who lands on Earth and starts leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake. He pumps his victims full of drugs and then harvests the chemicals via a large needle that is stabbed in their head, with the end result being unsurprisingly fatal. Dolph Lundgren is Detective Jack Cain, a cop who ends up crossing paths with the alien as he tries to bring to justice the drug dealers responsible for the death of his partner. Cain is now partnered up with an uptight special agent named Arwood Smith (played by Brian Benben), but he won't let that stop him doing things his way. He's unorthodox but, dammit, HE GETS RESULTS!

If you measure Dark Angel up against a selection of outright cinematic classics (e.g. Casablanca, The Godfather, etc) then it's going to come up short. The script, written by Jonathan Tydor and David Koepp (using a pseudonym), is full of dialogue and characterisation that would make many cinephiles roll their eyes and chuckle, and the direction by Craig R. Baxley is competent, if a bit more restrained in places than I wanted it to be.

But it's also those exact same qualities that make the film so much fun. The action starts up quickly enough, the stereotypical leads are put in the right places at the wrong times, and there are enough set-pieces (either action or just showing the bad alien working on his plan) to keep things perfectly paced.

Although it's the general premise of the film that makes it such a fun ride, the other major plus point is Lundgren in the lead role. He remains a great action star but there are definitely some standouts in his filmography (and this is one of them). His performance is the one that carries the material from start to finish, other than Hues with his villainous turn. Benben is decent enough, but stuck in the role of unwanted partner who tries too often to stick rigidly to the rules, Betsy Brantley is as poorly served as you might expect the lone female figure to be in this kind of film, and Sherman Howard is underused as the head human bad guy Dolph really wants to get his hands on.

If you somehow missed this when it was first released then make up for that error now. It remains a lot of fun, especially for fans of Dolph.

7/10

There's a DVD here for UK fans.
Americanos can get it here.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

Jack Ryan. At first he was played by Alec Baldwin. Then Harrison Ford took over the role for a couple of movies. And then Ben Affleck was given a shot. Now it's the turn of Chris Pine, having been handed the role for a film that plays out as a bit of an origin story for our main character.

The story isn't exactly complex. After an opening sequence that shows Ryan involved in a helicopter crash that seriously injures his spine, we see him work towards his recovery and fall for the woman helping him back on his feet (Cathy Mullan, played by Keira Knightley). He's then recruited by Thomas Harper (a decent supporting role for Kevin Costner) to work for the CIA. He is supposed to work as a covert analyst, a job that will allow him to inspect financial transactions and use the information to bust any criminal activity, but ends up out in the field, in Moscow to be exact, when he has to follow up a bad feeling he has about Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh trying on a Russian accent).

Data analysis may not sound like the most exciting thing to base an action thriller on, I agree. Thankfully, that's only the springboard to launch Ryan into an entertaining adventure. The script, by Adam Cozad and David Koepp, stays true to the central character, despite the youthful make-over, with the focus on intelligence rather than strength or fighting ability (although, it must be said, the first big challenge for Ryan when he enters Moscow is a physical one).

As well as portraying the villain of the piece, Branagh directs the film. He has shown over the years that he can work with popular entertainment just as easily as he can work with Shakespeare, and he puts together a nice slice of entertainment here for those who enjoy cat and mouse scenarios. The opening sequences aren't exactly full of promise, but that's only a minor wobble. Things improve considerably once we get past the obligatory detailing of just how much inner steel Jack Ryan has.

Pine is an actor I've enjoyed watching for years now, and he slips into the role of Ryan comfortably enough. Knightley isn't as well-served by the script, although she tries her best in a role that adds up to little more than "love interest who may need extra protection when things start to get more heated". Branagh is a lot of fun, even if he dances in and out of moments that feel like parody. His villain is the kind of cool, intelligent, cultured individual often seen mentally sparring James Bond, and that's no bad thing when it's done as well as it is here. Costner also has fun, just in a different way. He's the typical mentor here, giving Ryan the details without ever bullshitting him, and also helping the young man when he's struggling to deal with incidents that he remembers from his own past experiences.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit may not have set the box office alight, but don't let that put you off. In fact, we should all know by now that box office figures are no sure-fire indicator of quality. The only reason I mention the performance of this movie here is to say that I hope we still get another instalment with these characters in place. I'd definitely see it, and I hope that others feel the same way.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Ryan-Recruit-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B00AIBZMM2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1420666622&sr=8-3&keywords=jack+ryan

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Noir November: Bad Influence (1990)

"It's only a matter of time... get in bed with the devil... sooner or later you have to fuck!"

Bad Influence is your standard neo-noir/psychosexual thriller movie. One suave young man is caught under the spell of a gorgeous creature, starts to act out of turn, is transformed, and finds himself going down a very dark path. It just so happens that the man being transformes is James Spader, and the gorgeous creature bewitching him is Rob Lowe. Yes, Rob Lowe is, essentially, a femme fatale in this slick, enjoyable thriller from the very start of the 1990s.

Spader plays Michael, a young man who is just about keeping everything together. He has a good job, but it's one that sees him constantly being usurped by his main colleague (Tony Maggio). He has a lovely fiance (Marcia Cross), despite not being sure about the whole marriage thing. And he has a brother (Christian Clemenson) who keeps turning up whenever he needs helped. Basically, Michael is a bit of a doormat. That all starts to change when he meets Alex (Lowe), a young man who goes through life intent on breaking rules and doing whatever he feels like. As the two seem to grow closer, Alex decides to help Michael out. He just doesn't let Michael know in advance, and his methods are far from traditional. It's hard to imagine the two being able to stay friends. It's even harder to imagine Alex not being allowed to do whatever he wants any more.

Written by David Koepp and directed by Curtis Hanson, this remains a daft, glossy product of its time. I'm not going to pretend that it's an incisive, deep, intricate piece of work, that's not what it aims to be, but I will say that it sketches out everything nicely enough, has some fun taking potshots at the kind of people and lifestyles that would be so brilliantly targeted in American Psycho, and isn't afraid to get darker and darker on the way to a satisfying final act.

Spader does his slightly nervy act again, growing in confidence as the movie plays out, and he's as good at it as ever. Lowe gets to have the most fun, however, as he uses his perfect, handsome face to hide the cold, calculating mind of a dangerous sociopath. Cross does well in a pretty thankless role, Maggio is an enjoyable douchebag, Lisa Zane is an attractive woman who ends up caught up with Michael and Alex at a very unfortunate time, and Clemenson is fine in a role full of easy tics and beats.

It's almost completely predictable from start to finish, but sometimes that's the fun with movies that set out to simply entertain us. Watching how things unfold (and, don't get me wrong, there ARE one or two surprises) is no less enjoyable just because we know the main plot points that will crop up. Will you remember Bad Influence years after you watch it, and will it become a steadfast favourite? That's unlikely. You will, however, enjoy the movie while it's on, and perhaps even revisit it further down the line. Maybe.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Influence-Masquerade-Rob-Lowe/dp/B008FYZHDI/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415402397&sr=1-2&keywords=bad+influence

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Sci-Fi September: Zathura (2005)

A sci-fi journey through ground already covered by Jumanji (which isn't surprising, they're both adapted from books by the same author), Zathura is, I think it's fair to say nowadays, the better of the two films. The fact that it's often forgotten about, or even dismissed, is a great shame, and I hope that maybe this review will spur one or two people to revisit it.

The book of Zathura may have been a direct sequel to the book of Jumanji, but don't worry if you haven't seen the latter before checking this out. The movies both work on their own, even if people who have seen both can observe the obvious similarities.

Let me get to the plot. Two brothers (Walter, the older sibling, played by Josh Hutcherson, and Danny, played by Jonah Bobo) are forced to spend some time together, waiting for their mother to come and pick them up from their father's house. Dad has to head off for something work-related, so he leaves the older sister (Kristen Stewart) in charge. Danny ends up finding a board game, Zathura, and starts playing it. He wants his brother to join in, which becomes pretty essential when it becomes clear that the board game isn't your usual piece of kit. Everything that happens in the game also happens in reality, making for some hair-raising moments.

Directed by Jon Favreau, which makes this a perfect transition between the family fun of Elf and sci-fi/superhero action of Iron Man, this is everything that you want from a family sci-fi movie. It's got a great concept, a wonderful mix of impressive practical FX work and impressive CGI, some nice lessons that are illustrated in an obvious, although non-irritating, way, and Kristen Stewart being cryogenically frozen for a few scenes (allowing viewers to make jokes about her being more lifelike and expressive than usual).

Hutcherson and Bobo both do well as the young brothers trying to survive the game. Stewart is, joking aside, just fine in her role, even if she's the least of the main characters onscreen, and Dax Shepard comes in at just the right time, playing a stranded astronaut rescued by the kids as part of the game. Even the father, a character moved out of the picture for the majority of the runtime, is played by Tim Robbins, making his few scenes all the better, thanks to him being Tim Robbins.

The script by David Koepp and John Kamps really helps to keep things ticking over nicely. Yes, this is a film in which some kids face up to one or two main issues, but it's not the kind of film to drag everything to a screeching halt while that happens. That's not to say that anything feels rushed. On the contrary, this is pitched perfectly towards the children and parents who make up the target audience demographic. The retro stylings of the sci-fi elements will certainly appeal to anyone who has fond memories of classics from the '50s and '60s, for example, while younger viewers will always enjoy the idea of a board game that leads to very real consequences.

Whether more people end up agreeing with me or not, this will always be the best movie about a dangerous board game causing real-life consequences as far as I'm concerned. I hope more people either check it out, or give it a rewatch at some point.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Zathura-Special-Josh-Hutcherson/dp/B000DBHX4M/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1409729884&sr=1-2&keywords=zathura