Netflix And Chill: War Machine (2026)

When I saw War Machine pop up on the main page of Netflix I admit to being slightly confused. I remembered it being something I'd seen advertised some time ago, with Brad Pitt in a main role, but I didn't know why it was getting a renewed push now. Maybe it was to do with Alan Ritchson also having a main role, and his star being on the rise was reason enough to ensure some extra interest in something that has passed many people by when it was first released. Or maybe, as it turned out, this was just a new Netflix movie with the same name as a previous Netflix movie. You can still hunt around on Netflix to find War Machine (2017), which I still want to get around to one day, but it's a lot easier just now to find this War Machine (2026), a sci-fi action movie with Ritchson in the lead role.

The premise may sound very familiar to most of you. A group of soldiers on a mission (albeit a training mission) end up being noticed by a deadly alien. That's all there is to it, and that's all it needs. These people are looking to complete their training to become U.S. Army Rangers. Most of them will struggle as they reach their limits, but Ritchson's character already went beyond that point a few years ago, when he was in Kandahar with his seriously-wounded brother (Jai Courtney). Once they realise that their training mission has turned into something very real, and very deadly, the squad must work together to try to survive, and hopefully warn others of a potential invasion.

This is predictable and cheesy entertainment, but it's also a good bit of fun. In fact, I'd argue that it's the best thing Patrick Hughes has done since his excellent film from 2010, Red Hill. It's certainly good enough for me to try not holding his past few films against him any longer. Hughes also worked on the screenplay with writer James Beaufort, delivering something that unabashedly works through a number of military movie tropes while adding an impressively deadly antagonist into the mix. It helps that the cast is based around Ritchson as the central lynchpin, a man who looks as if he could do everything that the movie requires of him, no matter how difficult or far-fetched.

Certainly more suited to this kind of material than his ill-judged attempt at comedy, Ritchson keeps a straight face while delivering a performance that ticks off everything you might write down on some kind of stoic war hero bingo card. He's good enough to root for nonetheless, and any scenes with him trying to outwit the enemy are easy highlights. Stephan James, Blake Richardson, and Alex King are the other main squad members to get decent screentime, although James spends a lot of the film incapacitated, and all of them do well enough, Courtney makes a strong enough impression in his few scenes, and stereotypical military leaders are portrayed by Esai Morales and Dennis Quaid, just as happy as everyone else to accommodate every cliché you might expect from this sort of thing.

The special effects and sound work are impressive, the action is generally shot well (although one sequence with a vehicle being chased gets a bit too frenetic and hard to watch), and there are some surprisingly gory wounds and deaths filling up the screen. This is not for the faint-hearted, certainly not when it introduces the main threat anyway, and those after something that seems to epitomise a "no guts, no glory" attitude should be easily placated by this.

It's not great, especially when you consider how derivative and stuffed full of tropes it is, but it is a solid viewing choice that at least feels, and looks, better than many other movie choices that often feel like content instead of proper movies. 

6/10

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Mubi Monday: The Substance (2024)

Please note, in a slight change to the usual format, I have scheduled this review AHEAD of time. The Substance lands on MUBI on October 31st, making it a potentially perfect viewing choice for your Halloween evening.

As many people already know, The Substance is the second full feature from writer-director Coralie Fargeat (who made an impressive debut with Revenge back in 2017). It’s a hell of a move away from her first film, in terms of both content and the level of film-making on display, and I am pleased to say that it’s going to be battling near the top spot whenever I try to list my favourite films of the year.

Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a celebrity/fitness instructor who is about to be thrown onto the scrapheap by her shallow and selfish boss, Harvey (Dennis Quaid). Desperate to find a way to prolong her time in the spotlight, Elisabeth signs up to use The Substance, a material that leads to her birthing the younger and beautiful Sue (Margaret Qualley). All should be well if the two women remember that they are one, and abide by the rules. They have to switch every seven days, without fail, and properly schedule their ongoing dosage of materials to keep up the ruse.

A full-on body horror that isn’t for the squeamish, The Substance is also a pitch-black comedy and an unsubtle commentary on the horror of unrealistic beauty standards, the aging process, and the hunger people can have for celebrity status. Some musical and visual cues also remind viewers that this is sci-fi that could have easily been sub-titled An Innerspace Odyssey (or perhaps A Face Odyssey).

Fargeat moves through every main sequence with admirable precision, helping the 141-minute runtime fairly fly by with audio and visual choices that positively affect the energy levels and help maintain the momentum en route to a wonderfully delirious finale.

Moore and Qualley are both pretty flawless in their performances, the former required to closely inspect every perceived flaw in her physique and face while the latter gets to dazzle with the apparent knowledge of what lies ahead of her. The two feel believably sourced from the same genetic material, yet also separated by the years that can provide some wisdom and caution. Quaid is enjoyably monstrous in his role, filling up his few scenes with his big grin, fast negotiations, and a steady stream of bullshit for those he deems a lucrative enough proposition for his time.

There will be people who wish that this was handled with a lighter touch, but I think this is one walnut that deserves to be smashed with a sledgehammer. The consistently excellent special effects (seemingly largely practical, but with some good VFX work mixed in) help to make this an unforgettable, and scathing, commentary on a problem that isn't new, but has certainly been exacerbated by the proliferation of cameras, filters, and a constant need for new faces to turn into branded content. Unlike my own reflection in the mirror, wrinkles and lumps and bumps and all, I cannot find fault with this, and I wouldn't want to make any changes.

10/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

While it is a silly and entertaining blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow also does a good job of showing idiots why global warming is still a major problem, even if it feels like our weather is generally getting colder and wetter. Climate change deniers like to point to bad weather as an argument against global warming. It is, in fact, actually a strong indicator of the way things are headed.

Things get very bad for us humans as the weather gets a lot worse and temperatures plummet. This is an exaggerated scenario, of course, but it’s all done to show humans trying to overcome overwhelming odds to survive a snap ice age. Dennis Quaid is the scientists who has been warning about this kind of thing happening for a long time, and Jake Gyllenhaal is his son, stuck in New York City with a mixed group of people all trying to stay warm and stay alive. There is some very bad weather, there is a need for penicillin, and there are some escaped zoo animals adding to their problems.

Few people, if any, have enjoyed destroying our world as much as Roland Emmerich. He used to be content with aliens and monsters, but has now used the environment numerous times to create tales of humans struggling to survive in increasingly inhospitable conditions. Having co-written this screenplay with Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Emmerich delivers a fantastic mix of spectacle and human interest. It's cheesy, it's ridiculous, it's increasingly unbelievable as we head to the big ending, but it's damn entertaining.

The special effects, mostly created using CGI, hold up surprisingly well, even the wandering and vicious wolves that I used to point to as the weakest part of the film. If there's one thing that Emmerich is good at then it's creating at least one unforgettable movie moment/image, and this film has more than one. Whether it's a tidal wave looking to flood a major city, a major bit of tornado damage, or the Statue Of Liberty covered in snow and ice, The Day After Tomorrow fills out the 124-minute runtime with one great movie moment after another. 

Quaid and Gyllenhaal are both very good as they take turns carrying the film on their shoulders. Both actors have an innate appeal, and both give performances that never seem to be winking or implying that they are "slumming it". There's also some decent support from Emmy Rossum (who ends up in need of that penicillin), Austin Nichols, Dash Mihok, and Jay O. Sanders, even if you suspect that not everyone is going to make it to the end credits. Elsewhere, familiar faces like Sela Ward, Adrian Lester Sasha Roiz, Kenneth Welsh, and Ian Holm (a real highlight here) do their bit to sell the unfolding apocalyptic scenario.

You will see many people dismissing this as a spectacle movie that hasn't aged too well, but I would strongly disagree. I think it is, quite frankly, a brilliant blockbuster that takes the standard Emmerich template (small set-pieces interspersed with character moments on the way to more and more spectacular destruction) and applies it to numerous weather anomalies that are as well-utilised as they are well-realised. Maybe not as good as the director's high point, Independence Day, but it's only a step or two behind it, in my opinion.

9/10

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Innerspace (1987)

An updated version of Fantastic Voyage, but with some better special effects and a fair amount of comedy added, Innerspace is another film from director Joe Dante made in the middle of a period where he could do no wrong (from the late '70s all the way through to the early '90s) . . . unless you were someone always wanting to see a decent, or indeed any, financial return from his films. Because as beloved as many of them are today, many Joe Dante movies only found a fanbase when they were discovered on VHS. The director himself perhaps views the underwhelming box office performance of this one with particular disappointment, having said that positive test screenings were followed up with a poor marketing campaign that didn't clarify exactly what kind of movie it was. An image of a tiny vehicle, and tiny pilot alongside it, being held between someone's finger and thumb may show the miniaturisation at the heart of the plot, but it doesn't reassure people that they will get a lot of laughs and entertainment.

Dennis Quaid plays Tuck Pendleton, a pilot who has volunteered to take part in a groundbreaking experiment. He will be placed in a small vehicle, miniaturised, and then injected into a bunny rabbit. But there are some villains who want the technology, which leads to some chaos, leading to Tuck actually being injected into the butt of hypochondriac Jack Putter (Martin Short). So now everyone wants the tech that is in Jack, and they’re not too bothered if Jack and Tuck survive the process. Once Tuck figures out where he is, he communicates with Jack and helps him avoid danger, also enlisting the help of Tuck’s on-off girlfriend, Lydia Maxwell (Meg Ryan).

Written by Chip Proser and Jeffrey Boam, Innerspace is a wonderful adventure that makes inventive use of the premise to blend a lot of comedy with many family-friendly thrills. Simply focusing on the voyager inside the human body could have been a showcase for special effects, but may have also become quite dull after the initial excitement died down, so having Tuck able to communicate and help Jack is the masterstroke that elevates this above the film it most closely resembles.

Whether you tend to love or hate the films of Dante, and I fall firmly into the former camp, there’s no denying that he excels at creating films that satisfy a wide audience demographic, with younger viewers impressed by FX work, laughs, and thrills, and older viewers also able to appreciate the many references to the history of cinema, and Loony Tunes cartoons.

The other thing that Dante so often does is cast well, and Innerspace certain benefits from superb casting. Quaid is at his cocky, charming, best as Tuck, and this is one of many fine comedic performances from Martin Short that serve to highlight what a superb actor he is. Ryan is at the start of a run of performances that would mark her out as a female lead that everyone fell in love with for a number of years. Robert Picardo, Kevin McCarthy, and Dick Miller all appear, of course, playing The Cowboy, a main villain, and a taxi driver seen in one scene, respectively, and all are as great as ever, with Picardo having the most fun of the three. Fiona Lewis is also a villain, working in tandem with McCarthy, and Vernon Wells is a menacing “henchman” who could easily be part of any James Bond movie (his fake hand providing one of the more amusingly risqué gags in the film). There are also great little turns from Henry Gibson, Wendy Schaal, and a number of other familiar faces.

Arguably the most straightforward family film from Dante during this period of his career, Innerspace is everything you could want from a polished blockbuster. Lots of fun ideas, a cast of memorable characters, great set-pieces, and an ending that is so enjoyable I end up watching the footage that plays out over the credits every single time. There’s also another great Jerry Goldsmith score, and great use of the song “Twistin’ The Night Away”. The only main issue is the pacing of the first half, which could have been tweaked to get to all the fun stuff a bit quicker. 

Sometimes the best things do come in the smallest packages.

8/10

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Sci-Fi September: Enemy Mine (1985)

Some movies have production problems that lead to them never being completed. Some movies have production problems that lead to them being completed, leading to audiences often wishing that they hadn't been completed. And some, although it's a very small amount, have production problems and come out the other end as a great film that more people should have some fondness for. Enemy Mine falls into the last category.

Dennis Quaid and, a pretty unrecognisable, Louis Gosset Jr. star as, respectively, a human named Willis Davidge and an alien named Jeriba. The two crash land on a planet after chasing one another through space in a dogfight. Because they're enemies, you see. Hence the name.

Using the sci-fi trappings to tell a story steeped in familiarity - adversaries having to work together to survive - Enemy Mine could have easily been transformed into a Western, a crime movie, or any other number of genre choices. There's certainly enough here to make it a great movie, but I'm not sure if those wanting more tech and shiny sci-fi gubbins will come away without at least a small amount of disappointment.

Wolfgang Petersen is the man who ended up in the director's chair, after Richard Loncraine was fired, and he does his usual good work. The film may move at a rather sedate pace, after the narration setting up the universe, and the opening scenes, there's about an hour just focusing on Davidge and Jeriba, but that's no bad thing when the characterisations are so good.

The rapport between Quaid and Gossett Jr. is fantastic, lifting the film to much greater heights than expected. The film is a two-hander, for the most part, and both men make it work perfectly. When others do pop up, even the mighty Brion James, they don't make much of an impression, simply because viewers want to enjoy more time with either of the two leads.

Based on a story by Barry Longyear, the script by Edward Khmara does what needs to be done before revelling in the fun stuff - the bickering between the two main characters. There isn't THAT much depth to either character, yet that's an easy flaw to overlook while enjoying the rest of the film.

Unsurprisingly, considering the troubled production that sent the budget up and up, and the fact that it was deemed "a hard sell", Enemy Mine didn't fare well at the box office when it was released. On the one hand, that's a great shame because it deserved to find a receptive audience. On the other hand, that's not the worst thing to happen because it's now one of those films that people who really like can claim for themselves. I know that's how I view it now, and I'm happy whenever I find other fans of the film praising it (either online or off).

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Nation-Enemy-Double-Feature/dp/B000KGGIV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1410125034&sr=8-3&keywords=enemy+mine