For It Is Man's Number: tyriq withers

Showing posts with label tyriq withers. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Reminders Of Him (2026)

I don't quite know how it happened, but I think I have now seen all of the recent movies that have been adapted from Colleen Hoover novels. If you don't know the kind of tales that Hoover writes, think Nicholas Sparks, but with . . . ummmm, no, actually, just think Nicholas Sparks. That should be enough for you.

This one stars Maika Monroe as Kenna Rowan, a young woman who tries to restart her life after spending a number of years in prison. She was in there because of her involvement in the death of her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), and that makes it very difficult to try and find a way to connect with her daughter (Diem, played by Zoe Kosovic), who is in the care of her grandparents, Grace (Lauren Graham) and Patrick (Bradley Whitford), and is also doted on by Scotty's friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers). Grace and Patrick firmly believe that Kenna killed their son, and they have no reason to let her near her daughter, who was born near the start of her prison sentence. Part of Kenna agrees with them, but she eventually forms a connection with Ledger that allows him to learn a bit more about how the worst night of her life unfolded, and why she maybe shouldn't be judged so harshly.

The first screenplay by Lauren Levine, working with Hoover to adapt her novel, Reminders Of Him is a typical slice of tragi-romance, all presented with soft lighting, plenty of rainfall to keep the leads looking wet and ready to be warmed up, and an excessive selection of country music soundtracking it all. While I'm unfamiliar with director Vanessa Caswill, her filmography has a few other titles that would seem to make her a solid choice for this kind of thing. It's all very predictable stuff, and helped enormously by the casting.

Monroe is always welcome in a lead role, no matter how good or bad the movie itself is, and I wasn't as bothered as I otherwise would have been by the fact that her character had to spend most of her time onscreen looking sad and/or angry. Withers is decent alongside her, very much acting like a gentle giant in a way that I assume will keep many viewers happy. Both Graham and Whitford are good in their roles, although I wish they both could have had a bit more screentime. Elsewhere, there are enjoyable supporting turns from Monika Myers and Nicholas Duvernay. As for Kosovic, I wasn't a big fan, but try not to spend too much time being critical of child actors.

If you've seen the other major movies that this sits alongside then you'll find enough to enjoy here. The predictability is part of the comfort, everyone generally handles the material well, and it all ends in a way that should leave viewers satisfied. I can't say that I enjoyed it, personally, but I can see why others might. I thought it needed just a little bit more, but there are one or two good lessons at the heart of the narrative, and it's worth remembering that I am far from the target demographic.

5/10

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Thursday, 9 October 2025

Him (2025)

Everyone knows that sport is a serious business. People get so passionate about it that it's quite scary. There are a number of sports that could take top priority in your life, and many Americans absolutely love their American Football, whether they're supporting a team or spending some of their youth risking injury and pain for the sake of becoming a decent player. Him is a film about someone who could be more than a decent player. That person could be a new GOAT, but it's going to require a fair amount of sacrifice, of course.

Tyriq Withers plays Cam, a young football player who looks to have a bright future ahead of him. Then he's suddenly attacked, which leads to him requiring some rehabilitation and a reconsideration of his options. He still wants to play football though, and he wants to be the best. That's how he ends up being given the opportunity to be mentored by the great Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a quarterback who is due to retire from his team, the San Antonio Saviors. Has Cam got what it takes to make it? And will he want everything that comes with his potential superstardom?

If I told you that I'd already heard some mixed opinions on this film then I'd be lying. Most people I know disliked it. Some hated it. I couldn't help being intrigued though, especially with the cast including Wayans in that main role, and support from Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, and Jim Jefferies. I also enjoyed the fact that I both knew the kind of film that I was getting, yet also wasn't sure exactly where it was going to go before the end credits rolled.

Directed by Justin Tipping, who also co-wrote it with Skip Bronkie and Zack Akers, Him is an enjoyable trip into some truly bonkers horror territory. Things start off strange, and it only gets weirder and weirder with each subsequent sequence, but it's easy to believe that Cam would tolerate almost anything as he stretches further out over the abyss while ready to grab his golden prize. It feels very much like a case of someone being bemused, but also thinking "okay, this is how things happen when you can just do anything you want".

There's a great soundtrack and score accompanying the impressive visuals, with everything designed to be impressively cool and unsettling, and the lead performances are good enough to sell the main storyline. Withers is decent, although he's the least interesting character until allowed to have some fun in the third act. Wayans is superb, almost giving us two very different characters in one, a man who has given his all to something that has also given him everything in return, for better or worse. Heidecker is cast well, Jefferies equally so, and Fox seems to have been asked to play her character as a cross between a business manager and Lady Gaga. Which, to be clear, I am not complaining about.

While it may not work for those wanting something comfortably familiar, and less darkly comedic, Him absolutely hit the spot for me. It looks at pain, at sacrifice, at being pushed along a certain path through life that was plotted for you by others, and it felt like a genre-shaded mockery of the lengths that people and clubs will go to in order to tie a potentially great player into a contract. And it does it all in a decent 96-minute runtime. It may not be a complete blowout, but it's a convincing victory.

7/10

Tuesday, 2 September 2025

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

There's no point in providing a summary of the plot of I Know What You Did Last Summer. It's a slasher movie based around the title, of course, and it's another instalment in a horror movie series that began back in 1997. Teens regret being at/causing an accident when they are hounded for it a year later. That’s the starting point for the series. You will either have a fondness for the original movie, and the cast that included Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe, or you will just check this out based on the imagery of the killer holding a bloody hook.

Co-written by Sam Lansky and director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, this is a slasher movie that gives us a bland bunch of new characters, some satisfying plotting to bring back some old characters, and a bit more bloodshed than the 1997 film (which isn't hard, considering how relatively bloodless that was). It's decent, certainly in terms of the stalking and slashing, but the poor selection of new cast members ultimately drags everything down a bit.

Madelyn Cline seems to be the latest person that studios are trying to make into a viable star, but I am yet to be convinced. She was perfectly okay in The Map That Leads To You, but does worse work here. The fact that her character here is also given awful dialogue to utter that is supposed to add some unnecessary levity to things doesn’t help. Chase Sui Wonders is a bit better, but not by much. As for Jonah Hauer-King, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, and the rest . . . I couldn’t pick them out of a line-up if asked right now. As strange as it may seem, considering the limits of their skills back in the late ‘90s, both Prinze Jr. and Hewitt are the main people relied upon to deliver more than just the thinnest characterisations. They both do well, and both are in scenes that will surely please fans of the first two movies in this series. One or two developments might not go down so well, but they at least show some effort to make things interesting in the third act.

Robinson does pretty good with the actual direction. The visuals are clear enough, shots are blocked and constructed to maintain the mystery element until it’s time for the big reveal, and a couple of the kills even show some blood being spilled as pain is inflicted. With better actors and pacing this could have been a winner. Sadly, it fumbles those two key aspects. It’s a bad sign when the two best moments are a reprise of a famous line that has already been immortalised in spoof form and a dream sequence that allows for another cameo to be shoehorned in.

Overall, this I Know What You Did Last Summer is on a par with the old I Know What You Did Last Summer. But that is a statement coming from someone who never really loved the 1997 movie anyway. I was always a bigger fan of Urban Legend.

6/10