The Mandalorian And Grogu (2026)

I guess I am what you would call a very casual Star Wars fan nowadays. I have seen all of the previous live-action feature films. Even those focused on the ewoks (hey, I was young, it was the thing to do before we had so much more content to enjoy). I've seen the first season of The Mandalorian. And I've even sat through the infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special. I couldn't name you every minor character though, and I certainly couldn't answer questions on the timeline and shifting politics of the Star Wars universe. So I went along to see The Mandalorian And Grogu with the hope that it wouldn't rely on me being some kind of expert on the main subjects.

Fortunately, this doesn't ask much of viewers. Unfortunately, you could argue that it's far too insubstantial. I've already seen other people comment (quite rightly) that it feels a bit flat and un-cinematic.

Co-written by director Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor, this adventure puts our titular characters in jeopardy when The Mandalorian (voiced, and infrequently given a face, by Pedro Pascal) is asked to rescue Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White). Doing that should gain him some information about the whereabouts of a valuable individual. He also has to look after little Grogu, of course. Or will things happen that require Grogu to look after The Mandalorian?

This looks okay, and it's an entertaining distraction, but that's the best I can say about it. Nothing really feels as if it's envisioned as spectacle on the big screen, some character designs really work against some of the action in the third act (Hutts are better as mob boss types than fighters), and none of the pretend peril ever really works. Let's face it, this is still a fillm aimed at younger viewers, despite the 12A rating here in the UK, and nobody wants to make a decision that would ruin any future adventures and merchandising opportunities.

Pascal is a comforting presence throughout, even if he's not often fully visible, and White delivers an excellent vocal performance, as do the likes of Stephen McKinley Henderson, Shirley Henderson, and even Martin Scorsese. Sigourney Weaver adds another huge sci-fi franchise to her filmography, doing well with her relatively small role, and Jonny Coyne is entertainingly untrustworthy when he's onscreen. Most of the humanoids are easy to forget whenever Grogu is in the middle of the action though. It's a good job that they're as cute as ever, because the film wouldn't work otherwise. I'll also mention composer Ludwig Göransson here, thanks to the score feeling like an important supporting character throughout.

I like Favreau. I believe that he would have made this with good intentions. Those seem to have dissipated quickly though. While The Mandalorian And Grogu certainly gives fans of the duo some more time in their company, which is the minimum you'd expect, it doesn't work as a film. Nothing feels majorly different between the start and the end of the movie, and I might have enjoyed this more if it was marketed and made available as a special in between seasons of the TV show, or maybe a special providing a nice way to end the TV show. Which is what it is, basically.  

Keep an eye out on my rating for this though, I may actually end up liking it more when I rewatch it in the comfort of my own home. 

5/10

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Eddington (2025)

It's very good to remember that films featuring immoral characters do not make the films themselves, or the film-makers, immoral. We can have stories featuring bad and unpleasant characters, and the best stories can use those characters to explore society and humanity in ways not always possible with bland, "good", heroes. I also have to note, however, that presenting those characters in a way that doesn't do enough with them, isn't good. And, as is the case here, it can sometimes feel quite irresponsible. I get exasperated enough with the news lately mistaking impartiality with equal screentime for opinions that are unequally-informed (or simply incorrect, which means giving equal time to truth and lies). Having to tolerate it for the duration of a 148-minute movie was not a great time for me.

It's 2020. A global pandemic is happening. In Eddington, New Mexico, this creates ongoing friction between a mayor (Ted Garcia, played by Pedro Pascal) who wants to abide by the rules and a sheriff (Joe Cross, played by Joaquin Phoenix) who believes that people should be allowed to maintain their personal freedoms. Everyone is forced to take a side on the issue, and tempers rise, especially when Cross decides to run against Garcia for the chance to be mayor.

There's plenty to laugh at here, and writer-director Ari Aster does enough to justify taking viewers back to the madness of 2020 in the first half of the film. Arguments about what is and isn't permissible, the rabbit holes that people went down when they had too much time on their hands and access to the global asylum that is the internet, and the clarification of the divide between the haves and the have-nots are just a few of the things that Aster explores well enough in the earliest scenes in the film. Sadly, Aster then throws more into the mix (including the ease with which people can try to win arguments by throwing out triggering words that stain others forever, but also looking at protest, counter-protests, false flag operations, agendas and agitation, and domestic terrorism) until it all boils over to create a huge mess that he cannot clean up by the time the end credits roll.

Phoenix is absolutely brilliant in the main role, as expected (considering his usual level of talent, as well as the fact that Aster seems to have placed a lot of faith in him for the two movies that have allowed them to collaborate). He's cowardly, smart enough to make him a dangerous idiot, and constantly pushing back against more powerful people without ever considering just how he is being manipulated by so many others. Pascal is also very good, although he isn't given enough to really sink his teeth into before the film moves beyond him to start reminding viewers of a bigger picture.  Emma Stone feels wasted, as does Austin Butler, but there's a turn from Deirdre O'Connell that makes up for that disappointment. Others caught up in the madness are Luke Grimes, Micheal Ward, Matt Gomez Hidaka, Cameron Mann, Amélie Hoeferle, and William Belleau, and none of them drop the ball.

The one dropping the ball is Aster. What could have been an effective skewering of a situation that turned so many people into temporary lunatics (and I count myself in that demographic, considering there's a big reason why I have now been sober since May 2020) becomes sadly neutered and defanged with each subsequent story beat. Cinematically, there are moments that work when viewed out of context. But none of this should be viewed out of context. The context is key, and the context should have been the target that Aster kept in his sights for the duration. He doesn't. Which means that viewers can, metaphorically, examine the target once the movie has finished to see that it retains the marks of only one or two lucky strikes.

5/10

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Materialists (2025)

The second feature film both written and directed by Celine Song, I was a bit worried when I saw the advertising materials for Materialists, suspecting it may just be a repeat of her previous film, Past Lives (which I still count as her debut, despite the fact that she is credited with "The Seagull On The Sims 4", a presentation of the Chekov play on The Sims 4 via Twitch). Anyway, Materialists looked as if it was something that might leave me a bit disappointed. Then I started to see it was being labelled as a rom-com, which didn't really make sense alongside what I got from the trailer.

Materialists is not a rom-com, nor is it a simple retread from Song. It's something a bit trickier than that, and ultimately a bit less satisfying. There's some comedy to be mined from the exploration of the modern dating scene, and the reduction of people to commodities, but it's slightly messy and a bit too cynical throughout to earn some of the optimism that is allowed to come through in later scenes.

Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a woman who works for a matchmaking website. She sometimes sees people in the street and approaches them with her marketing pitch. This is when I first started to worry. Look, I have no idea how the lives of rich and attractive New York City residents work, but the bespoke matchmaking service that we're shown here feels like an unsustainable business model. Anyway, Lucy meets the handsome and charming Harry (Pedro Pascal) at a wedding, where she also reconnects with an ex-partner (John, played by Chris Evans). John seems quite lovely, but has always been relatively poor. Harry is super-rich, and wants a chance to date Lucy, even as she tries to convince him that her employer could help him reach many other potential partners. 

I know what you're thinking. This IS Past Lives all over again. A woman torn between a lovely current partner and complicated feelings attached to an ex. Song isn't really interested in that though, although moments are shown that highlight who Lucy reaches out to when times get very tough. This is all about the unfair expectations that people put on one another when they enter the world of dating. It's about how often people put the physical and material side of things ahead of everything else, often leading to them missing out on the chance to really connect with someone who is perfect for them. You shouldn't seek out just another version of your projected ambition, nor should you look for someone too similar to yourself. Love grows out of differences just as much as it grows from shared interests and values. This would seem to be the point that Song is making, but it's not actually clear. What we get is a serious lack of actual romance, although one or two sweet moments will make people smile, and a real feeling of whiplash when the storyline crashes into a main plot point revolving around a horrible case of assault. 

Johnson continues to do well in movies that aren't tied to any Spider-verse, and she's a very good fit for this role, quick to roll her eyes and tell people the truth underlying their hopes and fears. Pascal has the tougher of the three lead roles, but does well, although he's involved in one particular moment that I am still trying to figure out if it was intended to be slightly absurdly comedic or not. Evans has the much easier job of being sweet and charming in a way that comes very naturally to him onscreen. Zoe Winters fares better when the script gives her something more to chew on in the second half, and Marin Ireland is just fine as Violet, the regional boss of the matchmaking service.

It's hard to strongly dislike this. Everything looks nice enough, and there are a lot of decent lines from characters commenting on the various pitfalls of dating in the modern age. It just ultimately doesn't come together into something really pointed or meaningful. Song seems to have had an idea that she wasn't able to shape into a full final form, but she gave it a try anyway, possibly spurred on by her recent success and her ability to put together three main performers who fit so well in their roles. I didn't mind it while it was on, but I doubt I will ever rewatch it. I'd much prefer to rewatch Past Lives. In fact, maybe one day I'll dig around the dark recesses of the internet to see if there's any way to check out "The Seagull On Sims 4".

6/10

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The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

Although they've never been my personal favourite superheroes, The Fantastic Four certainly hold a special place in the hearts of many comic book fans. They are, after all, often referred to as the "first family" of Marvel, and many other characters made their first appearances in Fantastic Four adventures. They've been ill-served at the movies though. In fact, most people can agree that the best Fantastic Four movie to date is actually The Incredibles. The Fantastic Four: First Steps hopes to change that though. It wants to be a fun slice of retro sci-fi adventure, establishing the main characters as new key members of the MCU.

So it's a shame that I left the cinema feeling more like shrugging than rushing to tell others to get along and see it. 

It's quite a familiar set-up, behind the camera anyway. The writing team (Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer) has a mix of old hands and newcomers. Director Matt Shakman has no other movies under his belt, but he has been honing his skills in the land of TV, and has clearly shown something that made him seem to be a good fit for this property. Maybe his handling of the family relationships explored in WandaVision.

There's no need to give a plot summary, but I will nonetheless. Marvel tries to pretend that we're not getting any origin story here, with a lot of the background related by Ted Gilbert (Mark Gatiss) on his TV show, but it still very much feels like one, considering the standard structure about our heroes coming growing into their roles as they face a new and major threat. The threat this time is the planet-destroyer known as Galactus (voiced by Ralph Ineson), and his coming is heralded by the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). The timing of this encounter would never be good, but it couldn't be worse as Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) prepares to give birth to a baby. Not only is Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) worried about the fate of the world, he gets very anxious as he tries to baby-proof their home. That means smoke alarms that go off whenever Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) flies by and safety gates that are far too easily broken by Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).

There's nothing really wrong with this movie. The cast are generally good, and a good fit for their roles (although I suspect Joseph Quinn must say a prayer every single day for the Duffer brothers taking his career to a whole other level thanks to his Stranger Things character), the retro look and feel is appropriate and sweet, and the grand plan is played out well enough. It just doesn't ever really impress. Maybe it's a case of superhero fatigue, although I didn't have that feeling with the other big superhero movie released this month, or maybe the central quartet are just a bit too bland in comparison to so many other options we've had in recent decades.

Pascal, Kirby, and Moss-Bachrach are wonderful casting choices. Quinn does okay, but is arguably the weakest Johnny Storm onscreen yet (and, yes, I am including the Corman-produced film from 1994). Ineson and Garner are both brilliant, and there are also fine moments for Gatiss, Sarah Niles, Natasha Lyonne, and Paul Walter Hauser. Oh, and there's a cute little robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. Unfortunately, you get the usual tease during the credits, which is perhaps another reason for me leaving the cinema without the spring in my step that I have had after some other big movies from this year. 

There's a suitably fantastic score from Michael Giacchino, a smattering of humour that felt a step removed from the winking punchlines that became the MCU standard for a while, and some genuinely impressive spectacle in the second half, leading to a super-sized finale. There are no surprises though, and no risks. Marvel wants to recalibrate, to get fans back on board with their cinematic outings, and this feels like a very safe and tame way to do that. I have no major complaints, but nor do I have any major compliments. 

7/10

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Freaky Tales (2025)

Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Freaky Tales is a film that I decided to watch this week with very low expectations. I hadn't really heard too much about it, and there was certainly nobody telling people to make it a priority. Maybe it was due to those low expectations, or maybe simply due to the movie itself, but I had a blast with it.

Set in Oakland in 1987, this is an anthology film showing four interconnected stories. You get some young punks who end up battling Nazis outside one of their clubs, a pair of young women who get a chance to show off their rap battle skills on a stage opposite a well-known star, a debt collector/killer renting a movie for his pregnant wife, unaware of the fact that they've been targeted by someone he caused pain to in the past, and a super-powered basketball player who goes on a killing spree after a robbery-gone-awry leads to things going really bad really quickly.

Boden and Fleck have been working together for about two decades now, and they have a filmography that refuses to be pigeonholed, but this may be their most enjoyable work yet. It's so fun and satisfying, partly down to the aesthetic and energy of the whole thing and partly down to the timing of it (because this is a perfect time to enjoy any film that features people beating up on Nazi scumbags). Jac Fitzgerald delivers some cool cinematography, straightforward stuff with just a few flourishes here and there, and the score by Raphael Saadiq is an excellent selection of synth work.

Pedro Pascal and Ben Mendelsohn are the biggest names in the cast, when it comes to the main roles anyway. The former plays that debt collector/killer, obviously perfect as the reluctant heavy who becomes quite morose and soulful when his world is irrevocably changed, while the latter is a horrible cop who is unsurprisingly connected to a number of the Nazis. The late Angus Cloud does well as a bad guy named Travis, Jack Champion and Ji-young Yoo are easy to like, playing the two main punks we spend time with, and Dominique Thorne and Normani are great fun as the rapping duo wary of being made a laughing stock while they have a chance to show what they can do in front of a big crowd. Tom Hanks appears for a cameo that lasts just a few minutes, and he's a hell of an addition to the thing, and Jay Ellis dominates the final section of the film, giving us a character who feels like Jim Kelly spliced with Cameron Vale.

Although it would seem to have a layer of grime and unpleasantness wrapped around everything, Freaky Tales works so well because it's a celebration. It celebrates love, it celebrates those who pursue their dreams, it celebrates a time and a place (and we can all think back to our own special venue that may have had a similar peak time many years ago, or maybe just seems that way through our nostalgia goggles), and it celebrates the joy of fighting back against truly despicable humans. The message couldn't be clearer, and there's some violence on display that is as satisfying as it is over the top, but that lack of subtlety feels like a refreshing drink of cool water in a time when so many others are considering compromise or ways to appeal to those who wouldn't appreciate such a message. 

If this was only a selection of tales that said "it's always okay to punch a Nazi" then I would have been fine with it, but it's got a lot more packed into it. I REALLY liked it, and I hope others have as much fun with it as I did.

8/10

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Gladiator II (2024)

While it's true that it may seem a bit too little too late when considering a sequel nowadays to Gladiator, there were a number of factors that could allow viewers some small sense of optimism. Ridley Scott back at the helm, and a cast including some hot stars of the moment, and a couple of people returning from the first film.

I couldn't really say whether or not that optimism ends up misplaced. Gladiator II is decent enough, there are some fun set-pieces and the focus is much more on the political scheming of one main character, but it pales in comparison to the 2000 movie that it is following. Maybe my opinion was tinged by watching both one after another, but what was I supposed to do when I wanted an excuse to work out my sound system while wearing a home-made toga (aka knotted bedsheet)?

Paul Mescal plays our hero this time around, a young man thrown into bloody battles after he has been enslaved during a Roman conquest of his home, in a sequence that shows him yearning for revenge after the death of someone very close to him. Pedro Pascal is General Acacius, the man who was at the head of that Roman horde, although we soon learn that he is weary of doing the bidding of Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), two twisted souls who seem to be leading Rome further and further way from the glory of what it once was. Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) is still trying to stay safe while positioned very close to the rulers, and there's a man named Macrinus (Denzel Washington) who will twist and turn around everyone I have just mentioned as he figures out a way to get himself into a position of great power.

Springboarding directly from the original movie, David Scarpa's screenplay does everything that everyone involved must have decided it needed. That's a bit sad, because what it apparently needed was plenty of callbacks to the first film, some unnecessary ret-conning that paints one or two people in an annoyingly different light, and fights that are all about entertainment and spectacle ahead of any sense of plausibility. Fair play though, the fights worked for me, but I can see why some would hate one or two of them.

As much as I like Mescal, and as good as he is here, he isn't quite good enough. There's some steely core missing, and he's not helped by the fact that the script doesn't give him much to work with. The same can be said about Pascal, another actor I tend to really like in the right roles. Washington gets much more to say and do, which at least makes everything easier to accept and enjoy as he steals scene after scene, and both Quinn and Hechinger are a lot of fun delivering a double dose of oddness (even if it feels a bit like someone went "Gladiator had one evil Emperor so we'll be twice as good because we'll have TWO!"). As for Nielsen. She's arguably more wasted than both of her male co-stars, and her journey, still intertwined with that of Gracchus (played again by Derek Jacobi), feels almost laughably overstuffed with coincidence and misfortune. 

None of the dialogue stands out this time around, apart from the lines that will make you either groan or laugh, the main arc for our hero feels more like a clumsy scribble than a satisfying straight line, and a bit too much obvious CGI gives it that problem that many other modern blockbusters have: a feeling of weightlessness and everything being of less consequence because so much of it is made up of computer programming. Sorry to sound needlessly snippy, but even the score from Harry Gregson-Williams fails to come close to the soaring Hans Zimmer music from the first film. 

Did I enjoy this while it was on? Yes. Did I feel the 148-minute runtime? Also yes. Will I rewatch this? Probably. Will I rewatch the original film ahead of this? Absolutely. That remains a bit of a modern classic. This is mildly diverting fun that may well be forgotten in a year or two (much like that sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon . . . remember when that happened?)

6/10

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The Wild Robot (2024)

I wasn't sure why I wasn't keen to make time for The Wild Robot, but the opening titles reminded me of my reasoning. This was a Dreamworks animation. As much as I enjoy a lot of their work, and I really love some of their stuff, they often feel like the kind of thing I have to be in the mood to watch. I assume that there will be lots of good gags, a certain visual style, and characters that will sell bucket-loads of merchandise for them. When I think of Dreamworks I think of Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda. They're all fun, and that doesn't begin to cover the range of Dreanworks Animation productions that you can, and should, check out, but I tend to know what I am going to get from them. I figured The Wild Robot would be the same, but then I started hearing more and more praise being heaped upon it. This is definitely not the same as many other films from Dreamworks, and I am already sorry that I didn't get to it even sooner.

A robot lands on a planet uninhabited by humans. That's how The Wild Robot begins. Wanting to be assigned a task, the robot (a ROZZUM Unit 7134, AKA Roz) tries to communicate with the many animals nearby, all of whom seem afraid of the thing that looks like it's been sent to kill them. Roz goes into a low power mode, listening to the many sounds around her and learning the languages of the many different animal species. Those language skills come in very handy when she ends up destroying a nest and then being imprinted on by a very cute, but also very vulnerable, little gosling. Roz gets advice from a fox, although whether or not she can trust this advice is another matter, and she ends up helping a lot of the animals around her as she aims to get her surrogate child ready to fly away before the weather becomes too inhospitable for the goose population. At least she won't have those pesky human feelings of loss and regret when her "child" leaves. Hmmmmmmm.

Based on a book by Peter Brown, this is written and directed by Chris Sanders, a man also responsible for helping to serve up three other animated movies I have loved (Lilo & Stitch, How To Train Your Dragon, and The Croods). If I had put two and two together sooner, and had a better memory for names, I would have had another bit of motivation to get to this before now. I really need to see his live-action feature, The Call Of The Wild, because Sanders is on 100% success rate with me so far.

The voice cast is worth mentioning now, before I get myself distracted by discussing the visual style, the music, and the ability this film has to reduce me to a blubbering wreck. Lupita Nyong'o is a fantastic fit for Roz, keeping her tone well-moderated throughout, with only the slightest inflections hinting at any possible changes in the way Roz views the world. Kit Connor is the goose who grows from the gosling, Brightbill, Pedro Pascal is the aptly-named Fink, the fox, and there is also some great additional work from Bill Nighy, Catherine O'Hara, Mark Hamill, Ving Rhames, Matt Berry, and Stephanie Hsu, as well as many others who aren't immediately familiar to me. 

Now I can once again allow myself to go on about the lovely visual style of the whole thing, the beautiful score from Kris Bowers, and the knack that Sanders has for pushing a button that seems to be directly attached to some tiny being that lives in my chest and is subsequently ordered to pluck my heartstrings like an expert harpist. I expect such emotional manipulation by the third act of many family films, but I was unprepared to be so fragile even before the halfway point. And once I'd been turned into a leaky-faced wreck, well, it was difficult to get through the rest of the runtime without at least feeling my lower lip quivering as I tried to keep myself composed.

I've used a lot of words here to praise this, and I am happy that I've now managed to compose my thoughts in a way that should be calm and understandable for all. This is beautiful, sweet, moving, and an essential new favourite for those seeking an evergreen family viewing choice. It's one of my favourites from 2024, and one of my new favourite animated movies of all time.

9/10

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Prospect (2018)

Sci-fi often feels like it only comes along in two forms, at least in the movies. You get the small-scale movies that allow people to make the most of one or two great ideas, and you get the big-budget spectacles. It isn’t often that you get something that seems to land between the two, especially something that actually succeeds in what it sets out to do. Prospect is one such movie though, and I was genuinely impressed by the world-building in this. It is all about ideas and people, but everything onscreen also presents a believable and well-realised future without ever feeling cheap.

It all starts with Damon (Jay Duplass) and his daughter, Cee (Sophie Thatcher), landing in a remote alien environment where they will spend time carefully harvesting gems from the dangerous environment around them. It’s not the easiest job, but the great risk offers great reward. Everything changes, however, when Ezra (Pedro Pascal) muscles his way into the picture. It soon becomes clear that Ezra and Cee will have to work together if they want to get things in order for a homeward bound journey.

Written and directed by Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl, expanding from their 2014 short film, this is a perfect mix of interesting ideas, good characters, and tech and alien life that is both believable and impressive. That doesn’t mean that the movie itself is perfect, which I will get back to soon enough, but everything is here in just the right proportions to deliver a tasty recipe for those willing to drink it all down.

The small cast is uniformly excellent, but both Pascal and Thatcher stand out, working so well together that it seems to solidify the notion of Pascal being the best choice for any story that requires a reticent father figure to help a youngster on a perilous journey. Both have good reason to mistrust one another, but both also choose to be surprisingly optimistic as they work together towards a common goal. 

Caldwell and Earl do what they need to do, focusing on characters and numerous small details to hint at the texture of a bigger and stranger universe onscreen, but there are a couple of small touches that stop this from being as great as it could be. A bit more time spent setting up the relationship between Damon and Cee could have helped, as well as some more context for the other characters that our leads interact with (e.g. how/why are they dangerous? what are the usual rules of engagement? etc). I enjoy not having everything spelled out for me, but I can’t help thinking that Prospect would have been improved with just a bit more information filling in some of the gaps.

Despite my nit-picking, this is a great bit of sci-fi, and a brilliant feature debut. I hope to see more from Caldwell and Earl soon, and it’s a shame that they haven’t already been attached to any other feature since this, although fingers crossed that we aren’t left waiting too long for whatever they decide their next feature will be. 

8/10

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The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (2022)

The film in which Nicolas Cage famously plays an onscreen version of . . . Nicolas Cage, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is a film that obviously depends on how much you like Nicolas Cage. But that is something you could say about almost every Cage vehicle. This just happens to be his best film in quite a few years.

Cage is in a bit of a rut. His stock seems to be low, he has problems staying on good terms with his ex-wife (Sharon Horgan) and his daughter (Lily Mo Sheen), and he seems to be in the midst of a crisis that has no end in sight. Then his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) offers him a gig that could turn everything around, a payday for visiting a superfan named Javi (Pedro Pascal). Nick and Javi start getting on really well, which makes it a tough break when two agents (Tiffany Hadish and Ike Barinholtz) collar Cage and ask him to help them. It appears that Javi is a MAJOR criminal, and he may well have a kidnapped girl hidden away somewhere in his compound. 

Although I was happy to see this film, and to see the positive reception it received, I must admit to also resenting those who seem to represent the majority viewpoint depicted here. There are a lot of people who dismiss Cage, who have viewed him as a bit of a punchline, who won’t watch most movies that he stars in. It’s their loss. Yes, his movie choices over the past decade have been a bit hit and miss, with quantity overshadowing quality, but Cage is always aiming to do what he does best, and any career renaissance being touted now is touted from people who have decided to selectively forget the gems that remain strewn throughout every period of his extensive filmography.

Putting that aside, however, this is about as good as it gets for a comedy crafted around the perceived persona, and key films, of a majorly divisive movie star. The affection for Cage is obvious, and the material, and gags, work brilliantly while weaving from the universal to the very star-specific. Comedy fans should enjoy this, film fans will love it, and Cage fans should REALLY love it. Director Tom Gormican, who also wrote the script with Kevin Etten, does a superb job of balancing the various elements, from the sheer Cage factor of Cage to the bromance that blossoms at the heart of the film, from the family problems that our hero is unable to face head on, to the brief action beats that are interspersed throughout.

The cast all do a great job, with Cage being the one most obviously deserving of praise. His performance taps into everything, good and bad, that people know, or think they know, about him. He has always had an interesting level of self-awareness, and this whole movie underlines that in a way that is impossible to dislike. Pascal is a lot of fun, being someone who can see no wrong in his idol, and he is amusingly oblivious to much of the plot unfolding around him. Horgan and Sheen do well in their supporting roles, as do Haddish and Barinholtz, and there are a couple of great cameos that I won’t spoil here. Paco León is also very good, playing someone related to Pascal’s character, and someone who may be more attuned to the covert mission that Cage is on.

It’s not any new cinematic milestone. Movie stars have played themselves onscreen before, and there’s more than a touch of something like ¡Three Amigos! about it, but this all blends together into something that feels wonderfully original and entertaining, with a lot of that simply being down to the Cage factor.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Bubble (2022)

If you wanted to be particularly cruel about The Bubble, a star-studded and overlong comedy from Judd Apatow, who simply cannot make a film under 2 hours nowadays, and has clearly been having a lot more fun than most viewers over the past 5-10 years (although I did really enjoy The King Of Staten Island), then you could quite easily say that it feels like the best way to deliver a huge dollop of nepotism. This is underscored by the moment in which the movie turns into one extensive, elaborately-choreographed, TikTok video for a character, Krystal Kris, played by Iris "daughter of Judd" Apatow. I don't want to be particularly cruel about it, but I don't want to be particularly nice about it either.

Because The Bubble is bloody awful. It's largely unfunny, feels very smug for a lot of the runtime, and doesn't give you any characters to really care about. And the saddest thing about it is the fact that it wastes a great cast, all of whom seem game to make fun of themselves, and all of whom are then given the most careful handling, as if they are too fragile to handle some actual digs and humour.

The plot is simple. A group of actors are set up in a large hotel to film the latest instalment of an ongoing blockbuster franchise, Cliff Beasts 6. Each star has their own set of issues, but most of those issues are either underdeveloped or just not that great, comedically. Oh, and there's ongoing social distancing in place, quarantine rules, and tests for COVID.

Co-written by Apatow and Pam Brady, it's really hard to view this as anything more than a vanity project that goes for some easy options at a time when film-making has become even more challenging than usual (BECAUSE of the kinds of measures shown onscreen). This feels like a film that was hastily written around what was viewed as a winning central concept, clearly sold to the stars as something better than it ended up being. .

The cast are often trying their best, and the familiar faces are people I have enjoyed in many other movies. Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Armisen, Peter Serafinowicz, and Kate McKinnon are highlights for me, while Harry Trevaldwyn, who I haven't seen before, was an absolute scene-stealer. There are a couple of fun cameos from John Cena and James McAvoy, but a less fun cameo from Beck, and everyone else varies between the poor (Pedro Pascal just isn't as good with the comedy, sorry) to the perfectly . . . okay. Leslie Mann and Iris Apatow aren't necessarily bad in their roles, but their casting feels like an excuse to make this a fun time for the family, rather than the best time possible for the viewing audience.

There's great stuff to be mined from this kind of scenario, from the actors feeling privileged enough that they don't think they should need to adhere to social distancing rules to the lengths a studio will go to in order to get more content out there after such a lean spell, but this doesn't succeed. Part of the problem, perhaps, is making the film being made such an obviously stupid one (seriously, it's maybe less substantial than Monster Trucks), but I think the biggest problem is Apatow, someone who continues to move further and further away from any place where he can be self-critical and disciplined. 

It gets one point for every time I laughed.

3/10

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Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Considering how many people still view Wonder Woman as the best of the initial wave of DC cinematic universe, it's no surprise that expectations were high for this sequel, set in the 1980s (as you may have gathered from the title). It's equally unsurprising that many have been disappointed by it, although I'm not sure whether the rescheduling of the release helped or hindered it with audiences.

Gadot returns to the main role, Diana Prince, and this time she's helping to defeat baddies in the 1980s. She dives in, rounds them up, and disappears again. Things are about to get quite strange, however, when someone discovers an artefact that can make your wishes come true. At a price. The quiet and clumsy Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) wants to be more like Diana, not realising exactly what she's wishing for, and Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) wants, well, everything. And he seems to know exactly what it will entail. Does Diana have anything she would wish for? Well, the return of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), taking over the body of another man, would strongly suggest that she does. Will she be able to defeat Lord, knowing that it may lead to her having to rescind her wish?

Patty Jenkins is back in the director's chair, and she's once again more than up to the task. Wonder Woman 1984 isn't a film that suffers from poor direction. It suffers from the writing though, which has Jenkins working alongside Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham. From a pointlessly lengthy opening sequence to a serious dearth of action set-pieces, Wonder Woman 1984 is a pale imitation of its predecessor. It's also not helped by the fact that the time period isn't used to just cut loose and have some more fun. There aren't even a number of easy needle-drops throughout the soundtrack. And let's not dwell on the way in which Diana and Steve get to have some more time together, a problematic scenario that isn't ever glossed over enough to make it seem any more palatable.

Lord is a weak "villain", and Minerva at times feels exactly like Catwoman in Batman Returns, which is even more of a shame considering how good Wiig does in the role, but there IS one big plus. The main thrust of the plot, and the moral lesson at the heart of things, is a timely one. Some people may view it as being a bit too nice and safe, without any feeling of major stakes being played for, but it's a nice antidote to the motives behind so many other comic book movie villains in recent years.

Gadot is still perfect in the lead role, and Pine works hard to make his shoehorned inclusion feel worthwhile. Pascal has to spend a lot of time being stressed and sweaty, which he does well enough. The highlight is Wiig though, giving a performance that present an impressive transformation of her character. I hope she gets to do something similar soon, but preferably in a film more worthy of her talent.

Despite the major script problems, I still enjoyed this. It has a lot of heart, and a sweet optimism that feels in line with the era it is set in. But it also has a multitude of problems that could have been easily solved by another couple of drafts of the script. And the confidence to go with the brash and bright stylistic choices used in the trailer and advertising campaign. I guess we'll just need to see if things are changed up enough for the inevitable third instalment.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Great Wall (2016)

The first English language film from director Zhang Yimou, who has given us some absolutely gorgeous films in the past few decades, The Great Wall is a film that I think I can best sum up as being, well, one I never worked up the enthusiasm to watch. I didn't want to see it in the cinema, I didn't pick up the shiny disc until I saw it in a sale selection one day, and I didn't watch it until now. And, here's the thing, my lack of enthusiasm seems to have been warranted.

The story sees a couple of European Mercenaries (played by Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal) encountering a monster while they rest en route to the Great Wall. Once at their destination, they are looking to somehow get their hands on a load of gunpowder stored there, they are taken prisoner. While trussed up and helpless, they witness the wall being attacked by a horde of monsters. Managing to get free and join in with the vigorous defence of the wall, the two men are then made to feel more welcome. They learn the story of the monsters, they help to figure out a plan to potentially defeat them, and they may find themselves being rewarded with much more than just gunpowder. If they can resist the urge to steal and flee.

There are enough separate elements that work here to make The Great Wall an enjoyable enough piece of entertainment. The acting is generally okay (although it's a rather weak turn from Damon, who seems as puzzled as most viewers as to why he should be the lead), the special effects do what is needed, the story is a fun creature feature that makes good use of one of the most famous structures on the planet, and there are sequences that contain such colour and grace that remind you Zhang Yimou is sitting behind the camera.

Sadly, it's never as good as it could be. Compared to other monster movies, or action movies, or even the past highlights from Yimou, this is just okay. And just being okay can be okay, but it's disappointing when it comes from a director with this eye, and this much talent.

The screenplay, by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, and Tony Gilroy, never does enough to underline the points it is making about culture and order, about the nobility of the sacrifices being made by The Nameless Order, those tasked with protecting the wall from the attacks of the monsters. You get some decent exchanges between the main characters, but they're like gasps of breath in between crashing waves of muddy water. None of the characters feel as developed as they could be, and every relationship dynamic feels unearned and simply there to tick off the checklist that the film is working through.

Damon, as already mentioned, seems a bit out of place here, in more ways than one, and it's not one of his better performances. Pascal fares better, helped by the fact that his character is set up in a way that doesn't require him to go through any major transformation. Jing Tian and Andy Lau are both very good in their roles, even if they are working with material that feels slightly beneath them (not in terms of the standard content, I mean in terms of the way their characters are sketched/treated). Willem Dafoe is the other name worth mentioning, although he also suffers at the hands of the script.

It's always hard when foreign directors transition from working in their own language to working on an English language production, and it's good to see the sequences here that Yimou uses to indulge in his usual mix of bright colours and grace, but this isn't anywhere near the disaster it could have been. It's a mediocre movie with a couple of standout set-pieces that make it worth your time. Or you could just pick one of the better, subtitled, movies that Yimou has directed in the past. Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, and Curse Of The Golden Flower are all good choices to start with.

6/10

You can buy the disc here.
Americans can buy the disc here.