Y2K (2024)

I admit that I expected the worst when I pressed play on Y2K. I hadn't heard many people saying good things about it, and I wasn't sure I could trust the praise that came from some people who seemed to revel in the nostalgia inherent in the premise. Thank goodness I never let such things put me off though, and now I can be one of the few other people encouraging others to give this one some time.

It's a very certain New Year's Eve. The new century is approaching, and the news has a lot of talk about the millennium bug, with some people warning about it and others reassuring everyone that all will be well. Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison) are two high-school friends who are more concerned with spending some time at a cool party, where Eli can hopefully spend some time in the company of the cool and gorgeous Laura (Rachel Zegler). The partying and celebrations end up rudely interrupted, however, by a "glitch" that causes all computers, and any piece of tech, to rise up and attack the humans, aiming to ultimately enslave them as a power source.

The directorial debut of Kyle Mooney, who already has years of acting experience under his belt, this is a horror comedy co-written by himself and Evan Winter that can be nicely summed up as the result of people rewatching Maximum Overdrive far too many times before then wondering how it would play out if the laughs were intentional. It's very light and silly from the very first scenes, setting up an onscreen world akin to any seen in John Hughes movies of the 1980s, and just gets sillier when the robo-carnage begins, which is all well and good when the film-makers themselves know how wonderfully absurd the whole thing is.

Martell and Zegler are decent leads, and Dennison delivers another performance that ensures he'll keep being cast as the young man who can be relied upon to deliver a healthy dose of fun and self-confidence. Daniel Zolghadri and Lachlan Watson play two supporting characters who start off feeling a bit too underdeveloped and mildly irritating before turning into people you don't mind spending some time with, Eduardo Franco continues to be someone I now enjoy popping up in anything, Mason Gooding cements his "scream king" reputation with another solid turn, and there's a fantastic cameo appearance I won't spoil here, despite the fact that most of you will already know all about it.

The pacing works well, especially as the characters desperately try to escape one threat after another, the soundtrack is full of some great tracks from a quarter of a century ago, the practical effects are entertainingly lo-fi and absolutely in line with the tone of the whole thing, and this is entertaining fun for those who go into it with an open mind. I laughed more times at this than I have laughed at some recent outright comedies, and the third act delivered a level of cheesiness that will work on those who retain any fondness for the music and memories of the turn of the 21st century. In fact . . . I kind of loved it. 

8/10

This week - a film guaranteed to not get top Marx from Tyler, and Dave gets a pleasant surprise from the fact that not one but TWO of his co-hosts have actually read the source material for one of the movies discussed. Wild times. Here we are - https://raidersofthepodcast.blogspot.com/2025/06/synaptic-rotation.html We're also here - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/raiders-of-the-podcast/id1250657197?i=1000711988462 And everywhere here - https://linktr.ee/raidersofthepodcast

 

Netflix And Chill: Spree (2020)

The more I see of his work, the more I think that Joe Keery may be the only one to have a major career ahead of him once Stranger Things is all wrapped up. Like some of the older cast members, he doesn't have to navigate his later teen years as if it's a minefield. Unlike some of them, he actually has a great screen presence. He also seems to have a good nose for material (or his agent does).

Keery plays Kurt Kunkle here (aka @kurtsworld96 on his social media channels). He's been trying to get some decent traffic for years, often making videos to post online that end up with only a couple of viewers. But he keeps on at it. It's almost as if it's the only thing he wants in his life. Which gives him a plan. He kits his car out with a number of cameras and sets out to capture an audience with his latest shift as a Spree driver (think Uber, but definitely not Uber, if any lawyers ask about it). He is determined to go viral with a livestream that he will call "the lesson", all about helping people boost their viewing numbers, but it soon becomes clear that "the lesson" will be a deadly one. Except it's not clear to people who are checking in, assuming it is all as staged as so many other big moments on the internet.

As well as providing a lead role for Keery that may well open doors for him to a number of other projects (although, to be fair, he seems busy enough already), director Eugene Kotlyarenko, who also co-wrote the screenplay with first-timer Gene McHugh, appears to have taken this opportunity to fully expand on ideas he has been playing with in some of his previous work. And while we've seen this done before, someone looking to commit more and more extreme acts as they chase internet fame, the commentary here is arguably better than many other examples I can think of.

Keery plays his character perfectly, always trying to hard as he interacts with people while trying his best to deliver great content for his viewers. The other main character is Jessie Adams, a comedian teetering on the brink of being very famous. Played by Sasheer Zamata, Jessie shows the other side of the coin, to a degree. She is someone who knows how to play the long game, she knows the real impact of her actions, and this creates a third act conflict that both takes things towards a dark and twisted conclusion, while also proving to be a slight disappointment (only because I was hoping for one last plot reveal that never happened). Zamata is excellent, portraying the kind of successful and smart woman who can easily intimidate anyone who underestimates her. You also get some decent performances from David Arquette (playing Kurt's father, a DJ who often spends his time getting high), Sunny Kim (a much more famous DJ who keeps promising to tag Kurt in her social media channel), and Joshua Ovalle (Bobby, someone with a large internet following).

You may dismiss Spree as a film taking easy shots at an easy target, but that's not all it does. Kotlyarenko has made something that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, and the third act effectively ramps things up to show just how many more people will tune in when they get wind of a moment of madness being caught live and on camera.

8/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews