With the release of Coyote vs Acme right at the end of August, it brings down the curtain on another summer blockbuster season in entertainment. But it does not mean it all stops there, as we now look to go into awards season that occupies the rest of the year, with some mid-budget projects to be released along with some winter blockbusters that has a decent-to-high amount of anticipation going into their releases. And not just for movies in my view, I do have some TV shows in mind that I am curious about that I’m looking forward to as much. In how I’ll be listing these projects, these will come in no particular order so no ranking or calendar listing here, but I will ensure to give my reasons why I’m both excited and share the slightest bit of scepticism. And if you’re excited or curious about any of the stuff I write on here(or just have another project or two in mind that you don’t see here), feel free to say so with your reasons too.

Resident Evil(2026)

Starting things off, we have a new fresh entry on the horror series of the same name. And I will also say this: while I acknowledge that this series is huge in the video game space, I never really got into it and maybe it’s because of how seriously unimpressed I was with the movie adaptations over the last 25 years. But I am very curious about this movie because, it’s actually a more original story away from the wider mainline one from the games, and Zach Cregger is writing and directing this. Cregger has become one of my new favourite horror filmmakers of right now, as I loved his recent projects, Barbarian and Weapons. So him being heavily involved in this has increased my interest, and I’m hoping to get a lot out of it. I’ll be going into it with little connection to the wider series(unlike fans who’ll have that more than me), but I’m going in hoping for a great infected-horror movie with all the usual bag of tricks, all done in the usual Zach Cregger fashion. I don’t know how it’ll land with everyone, but it’s gonna be interesting.

Primetime

At the time of writing this, this film doesn’t have a release date in Ireland so there is a possibility it comes out early in the New Year here. But if you told me on-paper: Robert Pattinson is playing Chris Hansen in a movie, you would have my full interest immediately. Following the real-life story of how the TV show To Catch a Predator was first produced and shown to viewers worldwide, Primetime seeks to show how huge the impact was in how it caught disgusting individuals of different backgrounds entering the homes of underage people thinking they could get away with it, all while getting thrashed by a ruthless Chris Hansen and his TV crew all at once. The film looks fantastic, Robert Pattinson continues to show his incredible versatility as an actor by embodying Chris Hansen as we know him by and it shows a lot of promise in telling a story about how a TV show first made for good intentions can take off and almost turn into something more or else entirely. The trailer alone had done so much to capture the attention of all of us and whenever it comes out here, I’ll be there first day hoping it delivers.

Digger

Ever since this film was properly announced 2 years ago, I have been all over it in absolute excitement. Now at first, this film doesn’t look ‘too special’ if you only read the premise: a satirical black comedy about how out of control the oil industry and politics with it can be for the world. But what elevates it to the next level is who’s involved in the film. Alejandro Inarritu(Babel, The Revenant, Birdman) is a filmmaker that I’ve always admired in having a fantastic balance in comedy and character drama, and since this is a passion project he’s held onto for years finally getting realised has my attention. But he’s gotten Tom Cruise out of all people as the lead character, and upon seeing him from the trailer, it’s astonishing to see him almost unrecognisable and as this Cruise’s first straightforward comedy in YEARS, I just have ‘that strong feeling’ that this isn’t just a wild idea, but secretly already it’s a masterclass all round. And the trailer promises a lot of great comedic satire all round that it further gives me that sense of optimism through and through. But the simple thing is that I just can’t wait until this drops in early October.

Slow Horses: Season 6

This is a TV show I only started watching earlier this year only after my Instagram kept showing me the ‘penguin grudge’ reels(which is still pretty funny), and in its five seasons so far, it is right up my alley to a point that I’m shocked I never got around to it earlier. British to its core, while adapting a series of spy-thriller novels all at once with a genuinely great cast, Slow Horses just immediately won me over in how it follows MI5 service agents within Slough House who are slow or incompetent at their jobs forced to investigate cases that endanger Britain in their own way. The show is intense with whatever thriller and violent action goes down, while also being very intelligently hilarious in some of its parts, it has most of what you’d hope out of a show like this. Now being fully caught up in it, Season 6 is about to drop and without giving too much away, things are about to ramp up for Jackson and River as things take a turn for the worst within Slough House. As I’m caught up, I can only hope what’s been teased ahead delivers another satisfying season in this space.

VisionQuest

If I may be so honest, I actually forgot this show was in the pipeline for Marvel’s release roster until I saw the trailer earlier this month. That being because this show is coming out I feel well after the time it should’ve been. For context, this is about White Vision coming to terms with his existence and adapting to what his new purpose is after the events of WandaVision. WandaVision came out in early 2021, and this show is coming out over 5 and a half years later, which showcases just how complex and messy the organisation of Marvel Studios had been regarding their MCU TV shows in the years in-between. Basicially I had no interest in the show because it was coming out so late and felt like we’re seeing a past expiry date passing by, until the trailer came out and I did have a small slight bit of interest reigniting. Vision has been one of my favourite heroes in the wider MCU so him leading another show does have the potential, as well as Paul Bettany is so good as this character. The general hook for me though is that James Spader is returning as past villain Ultron, so seeing how Vision tries to adapt with Ultron also living in his mind does open the door for some decent character drama and comedy on-paper. I’m not sure how this show will land in the end, but I am curious enough to check it out.

Animals

This is Ben Affleck’s latest film where he writes, directs and acts in it altogether. Affleck is a creative actor I’ve always loved seeing what he can do(even if things go wrong elsewhere, DCEU Batman comes to mind most there), so him doing another film where he multitasks in everything is enough to have my interest. This film follows a mayoral candidate and his wife being forced to get their hands dirty when their son is kidnapped and have hours to pay ransom to get him back. It’s a straightforward crime thriller, the cast all look very good and it looks like it’s all done in the typical Ben Affleck style of carrying out the intensity of the situation, and bigger character moments all round. There’s enough potential for it to be great, but it could be run-of-the-mill too, but we will only have to wait and see.

The Social Reckoning

The Social Network is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Capturing the story of how Mark Zuckerberg and his guys came up with the idea of Facebook and dealing with the consequences of their unlikeable and dodgy actions in creating it, it is a movie where at almost every opportunity whenever it’s talked about, I tell everyone it’s something that they have to see at least ONCE in their lives. It is that impactful and perfect of a film. And ever since that film was released in 2010, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have embroiled themselves into more controversies and legal disputes within the era of social media that have been catastrophic and eye-opening all round. And with the case of The Social Reckoning, it’s about the 2021 Wall Street Journal report about whistleblower Frances Haugen revealing that Facebook profits off of societal harms online rather than addressing them head-on, which would later put Zuckerberg into the political firing line. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has returned to write the script for this, but interestingly, he’s directing this as well rather than David Fincher did with Social Network. And with a cast like Jeremy Strong, Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White and Bill Burr etc, it’s a film really going for it in trying to recapture the dramatic vibe Social Network had. So it’s an interesting film to try take in because there is a lot of potential for this to be one of the best films of the year, but as it is Sorkin directing instead of Fincher, I’m a little nervous as Sorkin is more adapted in being a fantastic screenwriter and working with a more accomplished director usually(hence why Sorkin’s best written movies like Social Network and A Few Good Men were directed to perfection by others also). There’s only that going against the film in my view, but I am hopeful this might deliver all round regardless. Can’t be worse than what Facebook/Meta are doing these days(if you know, you know…).

Clayface

The next film in the DCU line of movies, and it’s not one you’d even imagine at all. After Superman and Supergirl, we are getting Clayface, one of Batman’s B-tier villains. What’s peculiar about it is that this film takes place years before the events of the other projects named above, it also follows the same strategy that DC has been doing ever since Joker was a hit in 2019, being making Batman villains have their own TV shows and movies that don’t have the Dark Knight in them, and it’s a straight-up body horror movie made on a much more reasonable budget compared to the others above. Practically, this could’ve been just a standalone horror film in its own right and be viewed as such. But I will say, I am very eager to see how this film is, promising to be a tragic story about a young man desperately trying to save his own acting career, put a chemical in him and slowly becoming into the clay monster we all know him as from the comics. And since it’s just contained to one space of time within the DCU, it likely won’t have the restraints from that universe and can focus purely on itself without any further pressure elsewhere. But I’m more excited for this because horror legend Mike Flanagan(Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep) has written the script for this, and in the trailer you can tell it’s him by the nature of how the body horror will come to be and how potentially gross and frightening it’ll all be(including a small moment involving ‘scissors’ did enough to have me shake in dread). But while this does highlight just how ‘strange’ the DCU’s strategy is in its early line-up of movies and TV shows, Clayface does show a lot of promise and it being a straightforward horror film in the comic-book genre, makes me hope that if it succeeds, it could open a new door for the genre to walk into more in future.

Wildwood

This is the latest stop-motion animation from LAIKA, the creators behind Coraline and ParaNorman. Given their reputation as being one of the best working stop-motion animation studios of today, Wildwood is adapted from the 2011 book of the same name about a teenager who travels into a forest to search for her kidnapped infant brother. While having that emotional hook to it, the film’s animation just looks absolutely stunning to take in when you look at certain frames in how they’re blocked or lit, it has a big cast involving Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson and Charlie Day etc, and it’s all done from the directorial eyes of Travis Knight(Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee). Even though our major glimpses of this film has mainly been with the trailers so far, this promises to be an animated winner for everyone all round and while unfortunately playing the comparison game with other projects in awards season, I already have that feeling this might be a hard winner in the animation category. Just hope it’s great for that to fully stick first that is.

I Play Rocky

Rocky Balboa is likely the greatest character in sports drama history, and the first movie, Rocky, is to me the quintessential sports movie. But the story of how that film was made and what lead actor Sylvester Stallone did in order to get it written and made in the best possible way is one of the greatest underdog stories in film history. And now finally, we’re getting that exact story in this dramatic biopic here. As I’m a massive fan of these types of movies, this would immediately appeal to me but I am hoping at least all the other minute details will be regarded along with the huge things that happened in the production of the first movie, because it is the story of an aspiring creative having one last chance to ‘make it in the big time’. And the trailer shows that the film is definitely within the vibe of the first movie in being taken seriously and it looks and sounds great from what we’ve seen so far. The Rocky/Creed movies always had something to offer(even when their quality can range all over the place), and I’m hoping I can get something out of this, let alone a great movie.

Ebenezer

It’s another take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, probably the 7 millionth one now. This book has been adapted like crazy in so many forms, whether if it’s Jim Carrey getting frightened by Disney’s motion capture animation, or Alastair Sim playing in the most straightforward and definitive version in the 1950s, or Michael Caine getting haunted and annoyed by the Muppets, it’s one of the biggest Christmas staples in all of film. But what’s interesting here is that as a fan of the book and whichever versions I go back to every year, I’m actually very interested in this. Ti West is directing this, and the X trilogy which was pure horror camp-fest, makes this look like it’ll be a take similar to that. But the film is not just feeling as such from the trailer alone, the general hook here is that Johnny Depp is making his huge acting comeback playing Ebenezer Scrooge. If you know me, Johnny Depp is one of my favourite all-time actors and given what’s happened to him in the last 10 years, I do have a great deal of sympathy for him(and if you want to debate anything on that, you can, but hard evidence in ‘that court case’ was clear enough for me back then). So him being here does suggest he’s ready to come back better than ever. There is potential that this version of A Christmas Carol could fall down the wayside like many others, but if it’s good enough, that’ll be grand I’d say.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

Another entry within The Hunger Games series, and given that I’ve been around on them since the books were first released and was the perfect age for them, this is a political-action series I’ve always loved throughout. And what’s better is that this is a series that has always been consistent when being adapted to the screen, paving the way for some great action, huge political and thematic ideas and interesting characters all throughout. And with usual director Francis Lawrence adapting this new book that takes place 24 years before the events of the first film, it will now follow Haymitch Abernathy’s story in how he got involved in the brutal spectacle and what shaped him in becoming the man we know him as in the mainline books/movies. I loved Haymitch in the original films(though mainly thanks to Woody Harrelson’s performance) and given what I read from this book so far, it’s shaping up to adapt a lot of tragic and hard elements here that is likely bound to shock anyone who’s only seen the films alone. But this film looks and feels very in-line with the wider series from what we’ve seen, the filmmaking is finely produced and the cast all look spot on(mainly curious to see how Ralph Fiennes is as main series villain President Snow in particular). So I have a lot of hope for this one, am hoping for a decent to great adaptation(even after by how well Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes was a few years ago).

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth

Now this was a film that just came out of nowhere. I’m actually someone who found Once Upon a Time in Hollywood quite solid within Quentin Tarantino’s filmography, but I know a lot of people in real life that have disliked/hated it extremely. But surprisingly, Tarantino has written a sequel following Brad Pitt’s stunt double actor Cliff Booth, and instead of him directing, it’s David Fincher(Social Network, Seven, Zodiac) out of all people. When you blend together both Tarantino and Fincher’s writing and directing talents altogether for this project, the expectations are sky high suddenly. Tarantino has shown that he is a celebrated and crazily good screenwriter and Fincher can make anything be fantastic to watch, so I’m hoping to get a lot out of this altogether. The things that hold this back a little is that Fincher’s recent works like Mank and The Killer hadn’t reached the greatness of his earlier films, and this is Tarantino’s first proper screenplay in years after playing with the idea of retirement for a while, and this film is coming out at a time where he’s made himself controversial over his past comments about Paul Dano(like calling him a ‘bad actor’ has to be completely unnecessary ragebait). Still though, I’m hoping when this film comes around, it delivers what I expect most out of both of those guys. And a lot of swagger from Brad Pitt, that will do nicely too.

Ray Gunn

Brad Bird(The Incredibles, Ratatouille) is my favourite animation writer-director. The man has barely missed whenever he’s made anything and this new film is one of his original passion projects that he’s always wanted to make. It’s about the last human private detective in a world inhabited by both humans and aliens, trying to solve a new case that could have big ramifications if left unsolved. While kept very simple and straightforward on a premise level, Brad Bird has always been able to find a way to make these types of stories mean more than they would be at first(and if unrestrained, go extremely dark in a respectable light). And the fact that this is an original project makes me hope that it can reach its full potential also. The animation looks about as nice and stylised in the way a typical Brad Bird movie would be, and having Sam Rockwell playing the lead is always going to make it look more interesting than usual. So a lot is going for this movie, I’m hoping it can be another big win for Bird in what he is capable of doing overall.

Harry Potter: Season 1

After the catastrophic failure of the Fantastic Beasts series and huge success of the Hogwarts Legacy video game, Harry Potter was in a strange position over what to do next. But the announcement to remake the books and turn them into an entire series of television was not what we all wanted, and it was quite polarising to take in. The movies themselves have stood the test of time and are still watched and beloved year-to-year by fans and newcomers alike. And while some of the movies are more greater than others, it was agreed among us readers that some things from the books shouldn’t have been cut out or be outright changed while being adapted on-screen(for example, too much about Tom Riddle’s character and backstory that I loved from the books were left out completely). This TV show is not just remaking things, but the showrunners have promised a ‘more faithful adaptation of the books’ being that everything is going to be covered book-to-book, season-to-season. So this show could be with us for the next 10 years as we know they’ve invested a lot of money into it and to give it credit, the show does look top notch production-wise and it does have a newer feeling in its own way compared to the movies. As it’s The Philosopher’s Stone novel being adapted for this first season, I feel it’d be difficult to get many big things wrong as it is the most simple story in the entire series. The whole cast look great as well(though I am reserving judgement on Papa Essiedu’s Severus Snape and Nick Frost’s Hagrid for now), so it will be interesting to see what the general first impression will be once December comes around(another tradition that I do appreciate as well, some do view Philosopher’s Stone as a Christmas movie in small regard in some online corners).

Avengers: Doomsday

And here is where my cynicism kicks in a bit. In an alternate light, I would be very excited about this because it’s another Avengers film, Doctor Doom is going to be the main villain and I’m a fan of Marvel and the MCU. But let’s take a step back first: this film was a last second change that was never planned to happen. In this dodgy multiversal storyline that Marvel has been doing for the last 6 years, there have been more bad projects than good(some you either just don’t care about, or were just egregiously bad), a complete over-reliance on fan service to try hold individual stories together, and the original villain of the wider storyline, Kang the Conqueror, had to be changed due to what the actor, Jonathan Majors, did in real life. It’s just incredibly frustrating because the potential was always there for it to be fully cared about, and I just don’t really on a story and character level like with the other Avengers movies in the past. But I would be lying however if I said I wasn’t curious at all to see how Marvel and the Russos(directors) are gonna try pull this off, paving the way for its follow-up, Secret Wars. And this film has practically called back everyone who has been in a Marvel film in the last 25 years, merging together different universes colliding together in whatever Viktor von Doom’s ultimate endgoal is(this is including the current MCU heroes, the original X-Men, certain Spider-Men etc). And while I don’t agree with this choice, they have Chris Evans returning as Steve Rogers/Captain America and Robert Downey Jr. playing Doom himself. It’s fan service type casting at its laziest really. The recent trailer that came out earlier this month did pique my interest a fair bit and maybe it’s the ‘fan curiosity’ in me doing that. So while I’m not as excited as say many others may be, I am keeping myself reserved for now. This is a film that could fully restore my faith in the MCU going forward, or could collapse completely, I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.

Dune: Part Three

If anyone knows me well, you’d be correct in that this is definitely my most anticipated film for the rest of the year. Dune: Messiah is a book that not only capped off Frank Herbert’s sci-fi trilogy in a satisfying manner, but it is one of the most thematically-rich and heart-wrenching things I’ve ever read(those who’ve only seen these movies, I suggest you all to ‘prepare yourselves’ if some scenes play out in how I imagined from the pages). But the first two movies have been absolute masterclasses by director Denis Villeneuve and the box office numbers showed that there was still an audience craving for intelligent sci-fi blockbusters in this current age of cinema. But these films have looked and sounded brilliant on-screen, the war and action sequences feel massive and consequential, it’s thematically-rich, the characters are well-defined, Hans Zimmer’s musical score is tremendous, and the entire cast all show up committed. But in seeing what we have from the trailers, this is going to be the darkest and most brutal out of the films and I have all the faith in the world that Denis Villeneuve is going to strike gold once again like he’s done so in the past. Everything just fits just right for me, I only wished I could see it now if I could as my excitement is through the roof for it. So as it is, this is the best saved for last and I can hope this film will be close to the very top of my final ranking come end of the year.

If you want to see my early thoughts on any of these projects when they come out, or just about anything in general, feel free to follow my Letterboxd here if you have one. I would greatly appreciate any support over there as well as here, thanks!

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Plot: After Acme products fail him one too many times in his dogged pursuit of the Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote decides to hire a billboard lawyer to sue the Acme Corporation.

Every now and then, a film of whatever sort comes out and is far more infamous for the stories behind-the-scenes. Whether the film is good or bad on a quality level, we tend to remember more about what happened on or off the set. You may not think so with this film at first because if you just take it at first glance, it’s just a typically wacky and fun idea for a Looney Tunes spin-off. It might pass the time for whoever sees it, give you some big laughs and spend time with the characters you’ve grown up watching in their respected animated shorts. But this story is far more different than usual. Because at one point in time, this film was fully completed and almost CANCELLED all at once.

This film had been in development since James Gunn pitched it in 2015, using the New Yorker magazine parody of Looney Tunes mute Wile E. Coyote suing Acme for selling him extremely faulty products that have failed him in his attempts of catching his rival, Roadrunner. Already the idea was there to make a wacky and fun project out of it, but while Looney Tunes has been widely successful over the years, their film slate has left a lot to be desired. While I’m personally a defender of Back in Action, I never got into the Space Jam movies at all and felt they were more like sports commercial opportunities than actual Looney Tunes movies(with the second film being quite repugnantly awful in every way, I’m actually amazed by how consistently ‘off-kilter’ Don Cheadle was in that). But I think that element might’ve played a role in how this film originally was fated to have.

While we may acknowledge and have a fair debate about who acquires Warner Bros. right now on the business side of things, there was a point in 2023 where they were really in the deep end financially. Because of their crippling debt and being thrown into more trouble thanks to the effect of the COVID pandemic, they turned to their own projects and considered them as ‘tax write-offs’ to try help themselves. And they likely considered the Looney Tunes’ theatrical track record when they came to this film and listed this as the third tax write-off for full cancellation, after a completed live-action Batgirl and animated Scooby-Doo project suffered the same fate. And the worst part? The entire cast and crew of Coyote vs Acme were informed only AFTER the film was fully finished and ready to be released. When word fully came out, those who had made the film(as well as others who had seen it in full firsthand), came out in full defence of it and pushed an online campaign to ensure the film wouldn’t get cancelled and lost forever. The controversy fully exploded then, and after a flurry of online responses and hashtags of #saveCoyotevsAcme etc, Warner Bros. had no choice but to instead of cancelling it, put the film up for sale with another distributor. An indie production company called Ketchup Entertainment would win the distribution rights of the film, and now we’re here talking about the film as it’s finally shown to us all.

But after all of that controversy, all of the talk of what the film may or could be, does it justify its own existence? Is this indeed finally a Looney Tunes movie worth passing the time on? Or should it have still been left on the chopping block and it’s revealed that it was all for nothing?

I’ll highlight my audience first in this. For a film like this, you’d tend to think the majority at the screening would be kids and the few adults that would be their parents/guardians and a few film bros/sisters seeing it on their own(me included). Quite the opposite happened actually. I think the general controversy this film had made more people have a general feeling of sympathy towards the filmmakers and cast that were wrongly screwed over by the studio, that it was an ‘obligation’ to see and support the film for what it was. Sure we were all exposed to Looney Tunes at some point in our lives(or still are if you’re on one side of meme culture online) and it has existed for nearly 100 years now, but in any other scenario, would we be all going out to see a movie involving them no matter how old we were? Likely answer, no. So imagine my surprise shortly after I seated in my usual spot at the screening very early, I saw so many adults and barely any kids come in afterwards. What we’ve known about the film had brought out everyone for what I’ve mentioned above, an obligation to support the film. But was it even good?

Thankfully, that answer is YES. This is actually a quite funny family film in many cases, and there’s an actual thematic purpose in it showing that genuine effort was attempted here. Is it perfect or one of the best films of the genre? I don’t think so, but when I see merit and know it, it has to be commended. But after seeing it, given how solid this film is, it is crazy knowing that it was indeed almost cancelled despite that.

I think the strongest aspect of the film is that all throughout, from both a screenwriting and filmmaking level, it’s made by people who have a genuine love of the source material and know why we all came to love the Looney Tunes in general. Director Dave Green really leans himself into the zany whackiness of the premise here, while also bringing forward what screenwriter Samy Burch had down from his script, bringing out all the big laughs you’d expect out of the adult, colourful and slapstick humour you’d expect from these characters. But it’s also a film that does much more on a thematic level that you wouldn’t expect here. While the general conflict is mainly Wile E. Coyote taking Acme to court for personal damages, there is a lot to be said about the worst aspects of capital corporatism, the ability to keep trying after failure, and knowing who your actual friends are etc. And all of that elevated the film a fair bit for me, giving way for a lot of decent drama and even have that emotional hook to it(there’s even a moment in the final act where a character says a certain line, and my audience were ‘very moved’ by it, it was oddly both very sincere and effective). But when the film is allowed to be a classic Looney Tunes cartoon at times with the visual gags and specific lines of dialogue it has, the film can be extremely laugh-out-loud funny. All the humour you’d think should be in a film like this, it’s all there and it’s an absolute blast(there is ‘one visual joke’ in the middle that had me and my audience in stitches, it was so good). But I appreciated that the film had a proper balance to it, knowing when to be funny while enabling its calmer and dramatic moments in-between, while also sticking to what it is, a courtroom comedy that treats the audience with respectable intelligence also in that aspect.

The whole cast are all having as much fun playing things up in-front of the camera too. Will Forte as Coyote’s clumsy lawyer Kevin Avery is surprisingly really funny and endearing here, Lana Condor as his niece Paige is surprisingly decent as the opportunistic and upstanding entry-level worker at their firm, John Cena continues to improve in each passing project in balancing out his villainy and comically-comedic version of himself here as rival and Acme lawyer Buddy Crane, and when the Looney Tunes characters are all on-screen to say or do something, they’re all voiced solidly by top voice acting talents in Eric Bauza, Jeff Bergman, Jim Cummings and Candi Milo respectively. The most I can say is that they all showed up to work here which is commended. And the whole film looks just really good to look at, there is nicely-polished animation amidst the live-action backgrounds at different points also, with some cleverly-blocked humourous shots in-between the fast and chaotic nature of things.

Basically in terms of negatives, there are a couple throughout. The film is perhaps ‘too simplistic’ as it is centred on one conflict so while the thematic purpose is all there in it, it doesn’t go as deep or thought-provoking as much as it is more humour-centric in how it looks at things in the majority of the runtime. And the film is oddly paced for a 100-minute movie. The first half is very fast in its progression in wanting to get to the courtroom as soon as it can, but after the midpoint hits, the film steadies itself and progresses all the way to the end taking its time then with certain scenes and story beats. And the pacing of the second half made me prefer that part of the film more as it did take its time with things then, giving them that extra effect to be felt which I appreciated. The first half just felt like it wanted to get to things very quickly after a funny introduction, so it can take a bit to settle overall.

But besides all of that, Coyote vs Acme is a very solid film to spend time with. Even with the faulty foundation and recovery it had behind-the-scenes, it’s a really solid Looney Tunes spin-off that delivers on the crazy, whacky and humourous shenanigans that you’d imagine you get out of a film like this, but does have enough heart in it that makes it feel genuinely sincere on a thematic level. It may not be perfect or will go down as one of the best of the year, but it is truly a film that has made a great turnaround from studio misfortune that it is very remarkable to take in, and the most important thing is that it makes you laugh, feel the emotions and make you remember why you enjoyed Looney Tunes in the first place. It’s a fun time all round. And you can’t cancel that out.

My Rating: 3.5/5

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Plot: After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighbourhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discover that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.

When the original Jurassic Park released in 1993, it adapted not only a famous novel of the same name, but director Steven Spielberg realised what people were going to be hoping to get out of it. The main attraction being dinosaurs, but make them feel like a real force of nature that can be scary and threatening to the main human characters as well. And along with the filmmaking in that film, Jurassic Park has been seen as one of the best and most intense creature-thrillers ever made, because you fear not only the dinosaurs, but you appreciate the nature of things and care so much about the characters as well.

And why do I bring this up? Take one look at the rest of the Jurassic franchise after the first film. None of the entries after the original film have even come close in making you fully care or feel the intensity of them overall, because it eventually lost its way and became just another franchise to fill out Universal Picture’s slots. Not to mention, the films have gone into dumber and more ridiculous directions, that you just don’t care about the human characters at all and the dinosaurs become just background noise that you don’t feel intimidated by anymore. And with Jurassic World: Rebirth being a tediously average film last year, I highlighted that ‘dino-fatigue’ was perhaps settling in completely.

Which we then come to The End of Oak Street, an original survival-thriller project coming from the mind of horror-thriller filmmaker David Robert Mitchell(It Follows). Pitched more so as ‘a surviving family trapped in the wrong timeline and place’ type of project, the elements there did show a lot of potential to finally make a film like this feel intensely thrilling and frightening to sit through again. And with a studio producing it like Bad Robot(who’ve overlooked Cloverfield and a few of the recent Mission: Impossible movies), composer Michael Giacchino(Rogue One, The Incredibles) musically scoring the film and a pretty decent cast in-front of the camera, the potential is all there to deliver a decent-enough survival thriller in the middle of August.

And for the most part, you pretty much get that. At just an hour and forty minutes, this film just gets to it and breezes by really. This film knows what people are gonna show up for and it mainly gives that, all professionally-done throughout. David Robert Mitchell does direct this film very well, there’s a lot of clever split diopter shots done as a way to characterise some people here, while also utilise them for when the film gets intense also. The cinematography generally makes this film look very interesting to look at. And speaking of intensity, it feels so refreshing to see that the dinosaurs here are treated as creatures accidentally placed in the wrong time and place, and they feel like dangerous forces of nature all throughout(like even ‘cute-looking’ dinosaurs are treated as dangerous threats in multiple parts). In some ways with that particular aspect, it embarrasses the Jurassic franchise where they nowadays have that annoying tendency to treat certain dinosaurs as either threatening or harmless, when these creatures from what we’ve known for so long in normal education have always had a ‘kill or be killed’ attitude to anything that helps them survive on their own. And The End of Oak Street rips that to shreds, making way for some really intense scenes that can end with a lot of brutal injuries or kills in-between.

Going with that, the main cast within the family that you follow throughout are likeable enough, though perhaps a bit underdeveloped in some things I wished we got more out of them. Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway as the parents Greg and Denise are quite solid as ever and they do have the element of having trouble in keeping things together, which can lead to some decent character drama at times(there is a scene in the middle where their acting prowess take the centre of things, and it’s a very strongly-acted scene, I wished there were more of that in the film). And their kids, played by Christian Convery and Maisy Stella, are just as decent for what they are allowed to do overall. The general vibe of the film does feel akin to paying homage to 1980/90s Spielberg films as well at different points in time. And Michael Giacchino’s musical score, while not as memorable as his other works, does enough to make you feel the emotions when necessary.

While I’m more siding with that the positives do outweigh the negatives here, I am however disappointed that this film is not as great as it maybe should’ve been. It’s a film that had a lot of promise in its premise and while it has its moments to show that(while finally being a film that makes dinosaurs feel scary again), it’s bogged down by a lot of moments of ‘sheer convenience’ to make this plot go further or having elements that simply didn’t need to be in the film. There’s a moment in the middle where the family are holed in and you think logically they’re gonna be fine, but one of the kids makes a quite stupid decision to make things go ‘out of control’ again and it’s like a domino effect for the rest of the film then. There’s those stupid and illogical moments that really hurt this film a lot of ways. Adding to that, there’s some characters in here that barely have a presence or leave zero mark that I think back on them now and wonder: “What was the point of them?” - it feels all very tacked-on like. There’s even a death in this that feels very sudden and is treated like an emotional moment at first, but due to the nature of it, it can feel like nothing afterwards and given the film’s ending, it is all the more amusing to see what the ‘final effect’ of it even was. And lastly, the ending itself runs on some flimsy logic and can be rushed in several ways that when you try feel the emotional impact of the resolution, it can feel very so-so, which makes it all the more disappointing.

I think with the passing of time, it’s going to look very interesting in how this film is going to be viewed by the majority of people. It’s got all the promise from a premise level, it moves very quickly and it does well-enough to serve itself as a decently intense creature-thriller. But on the logic that it runs on and some daft decisions taken by the characters as well as what the filmmakers were trying to do, it feels very ‘see-sawish’ on a quality level perhaps. I do believe there is more than enough here to have some level of entertainment with a film like this, but as a final product, it’s one of the biggest disappointments of the year. It is for sure better than some of the Jurassic movies, but there was a need for more bite out of these reptiles.

*Will end this review by sharing an interesting experience at my screening. This film was playing on the smallest screen out the 12 the cinema had. But at the start, the projector wasn’t working but the sound was. So basically for 15 minutes, me and my small audience were having an ‘Audible experience’ listening to whatever ads and trailers played until staff came in and asked to wait. By time the projector was finally working, it just went straight to the film playing from beginning and there were no issues then. I found that part of watching this very humourous, shoutout to those who were texting me during it also, gave me a bigger laugh as well. It’s funny writing this straight after I write about my best & worst cinema experiences, I’m not sure where this would fit compared to those, but it did make this memorable at least.*

My Rating: 3/5

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I love the cinema. I think anyone and everyone who knows me from this publication or personally can assume as much. It’s the best establishment in society where you can feel like yourself, away from the stress and drama of life, and look to be entertained or have something to say about the projects you see. For me in my cinephile/critic state, that all started on one cold Friday evening in November 2017, as I went out and saw The Disaster Artist(the real-life story of how the now infamously terribly-funny movie The Room got made). It was the first movie where I went out to alone, I was intimidated and admittedly thought it would look ‘embarrassing’ for me personally. But I was never judged by anyone, I saw the movie fine, and I didn’t just love it, I was inspired by it. It made me fully realise that you can do more with lower budgets and still emotionally-resonate than the typical blockbuster event could. It made me want to talk about it, do research on how it got made, all the ‘ins-and-outs’, I was blown away by it. And ever since then, going to the cinema has been my go-to thing, whether if I’m seeing something good or bad, or I’m on my own or with friends and family, I just want to invest myself while being in the one place where I could truly be myself in. Technically, the cinema serves to me as ‘my church’.

But going to the cinema does have its different experiences. There can be some days where you go out and see something, and the experience is so great that you treasure it completely. And then on other days, there are several people in your audience that practically ruin your experience that you wonder how long until society fully crumbles. I’ve had my share of these experiences and so I’ve decided to go through each of these, while also expressing how cinema etiquette remains important to this day and why we should always continue to keep it consistently in-line with respect for yourself and others around you. I have gone on my own Letterboxd with these experiences at times too, so here I will go further into them. If you have a Letterboxd, feel free to follow me on there too thanks! But here for now, I will be listing both my five best and worst experiences I’ve ever had at cinema screenings.

Best #1 - Avengers: Endgame

I might as well start with perhaps something so obvious and likely was experienced by the grander majority worldwide. You just had to be there when the end of April 2019 came around for this movie. As the 22nd movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and final entry of the Infinity Saga(which had spanned over 11 years by that point), this delivered massively on the hype that it ran upon. It gave myself and everyone a solid story to follow, the massive emotional beats with these characters that we’ve followed for so long and the final battle is not just grand and epic, but it delivers some of the biggest fan service seen in any movie, and it all felt naturally earned all throughout. My entire screening was filled out to the maximum when I saw it, and thankfully, we all reacted to things happening with dignity and respect when it was necessary(besides one moment near the beginning where I felt ‘humoured reactions’ to an emotionally-gripping line of dialogue felt very inappropriate). While I do rewatch this movie every now and then, I do pick up on more problems being seen or felt more clearly these days, and I don’t see this Avengers movie as perfect as its predecessor, Infinity War, the moments that do still work still give me a lot to enjoy and make me relieved that Marvel were able to stick the landing to this long-running saga here.

Worst #1 - Creed 3

March 2023 was not a good month for me personally. Although there was a new movie coming out every week, I do remember that month more in all the worser things that happened in-between personally everywhere else. And it felt like that ‘snowball that started the avalanche’ began when I saw this film on the first Friday of that month. To put this into context, Creed is the legacy series of movies linked to the Rocky movies, who are highly regarded as some of the best sports drama movies ever made. So given that the first two Creed movies were widely liked/loved, a third movie came out and was regarded highly as well. But I had to see this movie twice. On the same night. I had never done that before ever but I had no choice because that night was gonna be only time at that moment where I could see this movie because my schedule wasn’t gonna allow it elsewhere. And why did I do this? Well it’s all down to certain individuals in my audience at the first screening.

I sat in my usual preferred spot which is at the very back of the screening. And since Creed are very popular sports movies, it was completely packed out and all we were about to do was see some well-filmed boxing and get emotionally-invested in the character drama. But in one of the far corners, a large group of kids in their early teens sat there and all they did throughout was talk very loudly. One of them at one stage said for all of us to hear: “Where’s the boxing? You told me this was a boxing movie!”, it was so immature throughout that none of us in that audience could even focus on the film or try get invested in the story and characters, and the worst part is that no one even came in to try escort them all out. Like they were even so bored at one point that instead of just leaving, they then decided to make ‘animal noises’, and I remember one guy a few rows down shouted at them to shut up in annoyance, yet they kept doing it anyway. By time the credits started rolling, one of the kids shouted out a fake “WHOO!” and everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE, turned their heads and glared at them all. I saw all their faces drop as soon as they realised how angry the entire audience was at them and they scattered out fast afterwards in response, like rats in fear.

For me though, I ended up staying at the cinema enraged for a few more hours after that. I went to see the movie again at the next possible time and there was barely anyone in that screening then. I was then able to focus on the movie properly and thankfully I came out of it satisfied. The film delivered on the storytelling and character drama that I would look for from a film like this. But I was annoyed that it came at cost of losing a little extra money(because tickets at cinema I was at that day weren’t cheap at all mind you), the staff and security did nothing to try stop things, and those kids couldn’t realise how much of a nuisance they were. I arrived home much later than usual that night and thankfully, I haven’t had that happen ever again since. But it did first highlight for me that month of March 2023 as something that would go against me for how it played out overall. That was only ‘the first thing’ I could say.

Best #2 - The Barbenheimer Phenomenon

Probably cheating on this one here, but I think the date of Friday July 21st 2023 has forever been marked as one of the greatest days in all of cinema and meme culture altogether. Barbenheimer was devised as a joke when it was first revealed that Barbie and Oppenheimer were releasing on the same day, and it became a talking point over how wildly different they are in style and genres. Which movie would come out on top? But myself along with everyone else then had the same idea of: “What if we all wore pink-themed suits/costumes/shirts and saw these movies altogether that opening day?” and in turn, me and my friends all turned up just like that at our favourite Dublin cinema that day with everyone else where we were all having a great time together(I still have that pink shirt I wore, still fits!). Both movies did extroadinary numbers at the worldwide box office as well given what they were respectively also. Both my audiences were filled out completely for both. For Oppenheimer, I appreciated that my audience took the film as both a history lesson and a deeper character-study of the man who created the atomic bomb, and for Barbie, we all laughed hard at the constant jokes and references over how we viewed her as a wider doll brand, the actors being so humourously committed to their parts, and where the story went the more it went along. All in all, Barbenheimer was truly a massive event for all of us that love movies and memes altogether. We were all in on the joke, we had a lot of laughs and fun, and most importantly, the movies ended up being widely acclaimed by the majority of us. It was just very special.

Worst #2 - Ghostbusters: Afterlife

When I think back on this film and how I experienced it for the first time, I almost see ‘traces’ of what I would later experience with Creed 3. But I was looking forward to this movie back when it came out in November 2021. It was finally a continuation of the first two original Ghostbusters movies, Jason Reitman(writer-director) was treating this film looking to honour and respect what his father Ivan brought to those movies while bringing forward his own spin on it, and it mainly delivered on most of what the premise offered(while making us all forget how dreadful the 2016 remake was all at once, which is the biggest compliment I can give here). But the first 40 minutes of the film when watching it for first time in that screening, it was so taxing on a patience level. There were these group of kids who wouldn’t stop talking throughout, raising their voices when saying a line you’d hear out of a popular meme, or something ‘adult-related’(I’m sure you can guess what I mean) and then eventually, started playing music loudly via their phone speakers without any respect or care for anyone else trying to watch the movie. Security was eventually called in and escorted them out thankfully, but the most funny thing to me was hearing the ‘entitlement’ of one of the kids who felt they should’ve stayed there regardless until he said a form of ‘cope’ by claiming “the movie was crap anyway” before leaving with the others. And what is convenient about it is that as soon as they were all gone, the rest of the film by that point started getting really good and enjoyable, and I ended up leaving satisfied with the experience. While it didn’t dampen the whole thing, me remembering that initial experience at that screening does remind me just even while young, you still can be failed to be taught silent respect for those around you, even in a place like a cinema.

Best #3 - Spider-Man: No Way Home

The hype for Spider-Man: No Way Home was on another level when this came out in December 2021. During the production of the film in the year beforehand, as soon as it was revealed to be a multiversal story and conflict, there were a lot of exciting internet theories and rumours circling around it then. And along in the marketing push, it only made all of us Spider-Man fans get more eager and curious to know what we weren’t seeing in the trailers and ads, what could happen in different parts of the film, and who was casted all throughout. We wanted answers, we got so giddy about it. And by the time we all saw the film on opening day, we felt we got extremely satisfied by all the fan service that was presented throughout, while also having that emotional core present still. Since I saw this film while Ireland still had their last of Covid restrictions in place, my audience was only half-full. But myself and others did react appropriately throughout, and the final act(when the fan service fully kicked in), I’m not going to forget how overjoyed the whole lot of us were and watching in amazement thinking: “This is actually happening, this is wonderful!”. You just had to be there that opening weekend and know how massive the hype was, along with what was delivered. For me, it was truly satisfying as a whole as a Spider-Man fan, even as one that has lived and seen through three live-action movie generations of the character too.

Worst #3 - Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom

While going through my notes of this piece and I saw that this film was listed as a bad experience for me, it made remember how very little of an impact this second Aquaman movie had quality-wise, but I was forced to watch it while hearing one of the loudest yappers in that screening. Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom came out as the final film of the old DC Extended Universe(DCEU) line of movies before it was rebooted into the new DC Universe(DCU) that we now have with Superman(2025) and Supergirl(2026) being the first entries of that. And this film felt like it was released in a “let’s get this over with” manner that you felt that you didn’t need to care anymore, and the story even matched that. A lot happens in it, but you don’t care so much about Arthur/Aquaman’s conflict against the villain Black Manta, the humour falls very flat, everyone is only acting for a final payday and you just forget about it by time you go to bed that night. That’s the film itself for me. But there was this ‘group of three’ in that screening where one of them didn’t realise her own volume levels in her voice. And my god, she couldn’t stop talking and felt to laugh at every little thing in the movie(even stuff that wasn’t funny at all) that it made things a little unbearable to me. 2 hours felt like 2 weeks because of it. But the thing that humours me a little is that during the trailers, her taste in film was ‘questionable at most’ and given that she called Argylle ‘great’ and Dune: Part 2 ‘rubbish’, I can only wonder how she feels today knowing that quite the opposite reception happened with both movies respectively when they came out eventually. However though, this experience does serve to make others realise that you can be mindlessly entertained as you wish(even if you have bad opinions to go with it), but keep your voice down for others and the movie respectfully.

Best #4 - Obsession

I think Obsession is going to go down as one of the greatest new horror films in this current new generation of cinema. Not only has it been a financial success, but the film is just so riveting to talk about, as it is scary while running on that simple premise normally seen in rom-coms, but make it your worst possible nightmare instead. Curry Barker(writer/director) took a chance in making us realise there’s a major difference in knowing what is natural romance vs unhealthy obsessive lust, all while being a ‘be careful what you wish for’ type of story by making a guy wish his crush wants him all the time, and the result is more horrifying and intense than cute and funny. And while I’ve raved a lot about this film at every opportunity I’ve gotten, what made this work as well was when I saw it with an audience back in middle of May this year. At the time, I was just a single twenty-something going on my own and I was surrounded in that audience by a lot of couples, likely choosing this film as part of their date night outing. And when things either got silently intense or became extremely bloody terrifying, I was hooked effectively, but the pure joy I got seeing those couples get uncomfortable and eventually have reactions akin to ‘having silent personal reflections’ over what Obsession’s commentary and thematic purpose was, made me laugh similarily to say, a villain you remember from a cartoon you watched when you were younger. I was absolutely enjoying myself all the way with that, while also loving the movie overall in what it did. It’s a near-perfect horror film, with so much to say and do, while also giving you a lot to think about relationship-wise.

Worst #4 - Wicked

Like the other films I’ve mentioned here, Wicked itself has been a pop cultural phenomenon ever since its musical theatre debut in 2003. It has always served as an unique way of viewing the events of The Wizard of Oz from the perspective of The Wicked Witch herself, by reframing her as a tragic character that was always misunderstood in different ways. So a film adaptation of the musical was always on the cards, and after a hellish production that lasted for years, it finally came out to critical acclaim in November 2024. I thought myself it was quite superb as an adaptation also of the first half of the show, but however somewhere along those lines, I was made to try watch this in a packed audience but had its fair share of imbeciles. The amount of small kids that were there in my screening that were quite restless and uncontrolled, there were some people ‘moving seats a lot’(meaning they either snuck in without tickets, or were indecisive, or read their actual seats on tickets wrong) and I sat next a group that had their phones out and were talking about their ‘relationship issues’ in the most unnecessary time and place. It was actually so painfully tedious because when the film was really good, I had to try mentally keep myself on the film despite those disturbances(however challenging they all were). And I was somewhat relieved to see that it didn’t just happen to my screening only, because afterwards, there were news reports and online videos coming out about how disruptive audiences were worldwide about Wicked, and hearing the personal experiences of others I know of that saw the film having that in some ways also. Which is why I was shocked that when I did see Wicked: For Good a year later, my packed audience behaved more responsibly that time. But still, with that kind of experience, the film could be good or great and you can enjoy yourselves, but you still need to act decently or just don’t go if you’re only there to still have your phones out and talk about ‘relationship issues’ instead.

Best #5 - Marty Supreme

I can be sure we all had the same idea about Boxing Day weekend in December last year. Two sports-related movies came out, being Saipan and Marty Supreme, and we all decided to go see them. Marty Supreme for instance being not just the better film(though Saipan I do think is solid enough), but also gave me a great experience with a packed audience. Marty Supreme follows a young and reckless wannabe professional table tennis player, that makes a lot of stupid decisions and says all the wrong things in order to try boost himself up to others, while perfectly balancing things out in being both a sports movie and a crime dramedy all at once. The film is also made by Josh Safdie(one of the minds behind Uncut Gems) and you can tell and feel it all throughout as there are moments of interesting filmmaking with genuine stress merged with a lot of dark humour that is bound to make you feel uncomfortable or laugh(or maybe do both to you). All the while it stays on ‘that fine line’ in that you kinda want to see Marty succeed in what he’s trying to do, while hope he can become a much better person too. My audience had a mix of reactions in that we all collectively had a “What the hell is this” feeling to it, while being effectively uncomfortable, humoured and get invested in the story and characters all throughout. There’s even a scene between two actors that was acted out perfectly that one guy next to me had a silent valid reaction of: “This b….rd!” over what their conversation was about and how it ended. All in all, for how ‘much’ Marty Supreme was as a film, it ended up being greatly effective and on top of that, became a great experience for me at the cinema.

Worst #5 - Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

For the last one here, I may as well talk about the worst audience I’ve been in of last year, and it would have to be this film. Just to point this out, I never got into Five Nights at Freddy’s as a video game horror series but I do acknowledge the impact it has had in that industry. So when Blumhouse decided to adapt the games into horror films, all I hoped for was something at least earnest or half-decent there(even with the talent they at least had in-front of the camera). The first film itself though became just generic horror slop, but the second one here was worse in more ways as it didn’t have an idea how to tell a story, what to do with both human and animatronic characters and thought that just making ‘random references’ to the games and lore was enough to hold it together. And the ultimate sin is that these movies aren’t even scary, even a lightweight person of horror would call them cheaply done. But because this game series has intrigued their main target audience, being kids, there were a lot of them at the screening for this movie and it was unbearable to get through. For every reference that popped up in the film, these kids would loudly have a “Oh wow!” reaction or treat it like as if a religious event was happening before them. It was just tedious to get through and as soon as the film was over, I was just glad to leave really. But because these movies make a lot of money unfortunately and don’t look to improve quality-wise, don’t hold high hope that the third movie will be any better. The audience? Maybe(hopefully).

But these are what I regard as my best and worst experiences of seeing movies in my time of going to the cinema. Ultimately you can go out on your own, or with friends and family, and have a great day seeing something special. But it should always be remembered that there are others around you wanting to immerse themselves in the projects also, so the least you could do is show some respect and don’t be ‘that stupid nuisance’ overall. I do feel that line of understanding has been skewed a lot more these days(especially in the digital age), but when the experience is perfect, you can treasure it for rest of your life. But every once in a while, you can also have that hard lesson be taught about the bad experiences. At the end of the day though, cinemas were made to show movies of different genres, tones and styles for anyone to get immersed in them. Even in an age where big streamers can make some stay at home or wait until a film comes on-demand to rent, people still go out to the cinemas to see the movies regarded as ‘big events’ or have strong word of mouth anyway. In this year alone, we already so far have five separate films getting over $1 billion worldwide for first time since 2019, and smaller films like Obsession have brought out a lot of people to see it for themselves also. So it’s hopeful that cinemas will still be standing because of it and people will still show up to them regardless. But in hope with every trip, hopefully a better audience experience than the last one every single time.

Let me know if you’ve had any good/bad experiences in the cinema below if you can. Maybe there’s something here you can relate to or feel to share!

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In 1962, the legendary comic book enthusiast, Stan Lee, would create a superhero that would headline a lot of Marvel’s own roster of comic releases for years to come. While their rivals, DC, had Batman and Superman, they took a chance with Lee’s very known scientific nerd-turned-superhero, Spider-Man, and what followed would be over 60 years of popular storylines and character journeys involving the webhead, his love interests, and one of the most decorated rogues galleries that are often rivalled against Batman’s. Regardless, Spider-Man in his different forms(being either Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, Miguel O’Hara or Miles Morales etc), would be regarded as not just Marvel’s most popular superhero, but would slot in as one of the ‘big 3’ superheroes within pop culture in general(the other two being the ones named above).

And going with that, eventually when the superhero comics would start getting adapted into live-action films, Sony(who would hold the film rights to the Spider-Man characters for years, and still do to this day) looked to have a piece of the same pie. Whether they tried on their own or with Marvel Studios’ help, the quality of the movies would be mostly talked about for how ‘all over the place’ they would in-between certain interpretations of the webhead, or how his villains would be adapted in their own solo projects. Whether if it knocked things out of the park, or was relentlessly mocked in memes online, these movies do all at least have something interesting to talk about, whether it genuinely came from the heart of the filmmakers’ or the studio interference was felt in more parts than one.

So in light of a new Spider-Man movie coming out right now, I thought it best to revisit every project and give my takes on each one in a full ranking. I will be including the films of every Spider-Man actor(both live-action and animation) along with even the solo villain movies from ‘whatever that cinematic universe without Spider-Man was’ also, just to give it more fun variety. Keep in mind, this is how and what I think, so a fair respectful debate is welcomed if you may think otherwise. But how do I see things from some of the worst superhero films ever made, to some of the best?

#17 - Madame Web

When Sony wanted to go ahead and create their own Spider-Man cinematic universe without Spider-Man way back when, we could all see that it was a creatively destructive idea that was waiting to fully implode. And in my view, the full implosion came at the cost of this movie, showing that Sony literally had no idea what they were doing or wanted to do anymore. Madame Web isn’t just bad, it is atrocious modern-day blockbuster filmmaking at its worst. From the painfully obvious script and dialogue rewrites(with one dreadful line now immortalised in meme history), choppy editing, horrible costumes, paper-thin and comically stupid characters, disengaging action set-pieces, completely uneven tone and horrendous visual effects, it has it all. The cast all look so bored and are lacking any form of decent chemistry as well, the villain is absolutely forgettable(except the fact when the studio did ADR(audio dialogue replacement), and you can see that his mouth movements don’t match with what he’s saying on-screen hilariously) and you only watch this film just knowing that everyone making it had no clue what to do about it. But what kills it is that for all its problems, it’s so BORING. And I may add that the only thing I got out of this film is that back when I first saw it on Valentines Day in 2024, it was already so terrible in the first 20 minutes, that a guy next to me complained to his own woman for making him see it with her, and stormed out just leaving her there in shock. That was more hilariously remarkable than anything in this film to me honestly!

#16 - Morbius

Basically this film is tied last with Madame Web because it is also so irredeemably terrible, but I only have it above for one thing only. That thing being a scene where Matt Smith is dancing in front of a mirror and getting dressed because not only does it come out of nowhere and break the tone, but it’s actually mildly enjoyable to see him go campy with it. But besides that though, Morbius is dreadful all round. What could’ve so easily have been a profound and tragic vampire tale of a man slowly becoming a monster, turns into something so confused over whether it wants to go all-horror or just become another bland and generic superhero blockbuster. The storytelling is very choppy, the dialogue is so weak, the action is shockingly messy and unclear to even watch and the acting from everyone ranges from bad to ‘we don’t care, we have taxes to pay’. And you do feel that while watching it, Sony allowed the development of their other projects elsewhere at the time get to them and severely misread the room over what the multiverse storyline could bring. And by doing that, they still found a way to make it look and feel worse every possible way(the most egregious example being the mid-credit scene at the end of the film). But we can be thankful that meme culture online and Letterboxd had a field day with this film back then, and it further embarrassed Sony when they tried re-releasing it twice, and flopped both times too. How hilariously tragic indeed.

#15 - Kraven The Hunter

If there is anything positive to say about this film, it’s that this was my first real review on The Vault. I see that I have changed a lot in how I try review movies now ever since, but reading it again, it is humourously cringey a little to me over how I tried to make a mark immediately on it back then. And Fred Hechinger is surprisingly endearing as Kraven’s brother Dmitri all throughout. But as ever with Sony’s failed cinematic universe without Spider-Man, this capped off that venture pathetically. By taking one of Spider-Man’s most ruthless villains and turning him into someone who is more goody-two-shoes than villainous makes it feel so dull to follow, even when it covers his relationships with his lover, father and brother altogether. The dialogue is just as terrible(one line I quote to some friends every now and then by how hilariously stupid it is), the logic is non-existent all throughout, the actual villain scheme makes no sense at all, and the final battle is visual CGI noise that is unintentionally hilarious to watch. Even as a film that decided to go ‘gloves off’ in being extremely violent, even that felt shockingly weightless in the action set-pieces. It’s a film that felt like it wanted to get things ‘over and done with’ all throughout and in its imbalance, you feel that completely. As it is, Kraven The Hunter only closes out a case study over how not to try build or even continue a disastrous cinematic universe when we all knew it was impossible to even try it.

#14 - Venom: The Last Dance

As someone who is perhaps far more forgiving of the shortcomings in the Venom trilogy, the third entry felt like a case of the filmmakers not sure what to do anymore with the symbiotic monster. And because of that, the first two acts are very messy and tedious to get through, the pacing is very bad in it there too(it may be 1 hour 15 minutes before the final act, but it can feel like over 2 hours passed instead), some the jokes here seriously miss the mark in embarrassing fashion and after seeing it, it can feel like a forgettable afterthought. But when the final act does come around, it’s actually so fun in what it does that it makes you wonder why that wasn’t the entire film beforehand because it’s easily the best part of the entire thing, and the fun dynamic between Venom and Eddie is still there in its endearing nature. So while it’s not as dreadful as the other films below it, it does however felt more like a tedious disappointment in how it finally closed things out for this character in his own trilogy.

#13 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2

There was a time where we all thought that this was the lowest point in Spider-Man on-film. It’s quite simply remarkable to think that nowadays, given that these movies do have their own fanbase.

While I do appreciate that many have come back to this film over the years and have found more worth in it, I’m not one fully sold on it and can feel its obvious problems sticking right through the screen. Basically behind the scenes, director Marc Webb wanted to make a superhero movie all about relationships, but the studio were too desperate to have their own cinematic universe and tried to use this film as a set-up to it unnaturally. And you feel that all throughout in having so many hints to a Sinister Six movie(that never happened), way too many villains and plot-lines that come out of nowhere or feel too rushed to do in this one movie alone. Also the general plot-line in these movies, I’ve never fully connected with how this version of Peter Parker is different from the others and it strips away all of what makes him relatable to me. And the villains here are all terrible in their own unique ways, merging together bad ideas executed even worse and being far too literal all at once. It’s just a very frustrating film because the individual moments are actually great. When it is Marc Webb’s drama about relationships, it’s actually really emotionally-engaging, the acting from Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is still top notch and the action is a lot of fun to watch. There’s hints that in another capacity, this film could’ve been so much better, but as it is, it’s just ‘blah’ at best.

#12 - The Amazing Spider-Man

Given this film’s placement, I know I’ll likely get a lot of flak for it but if I may be so honest, I’ve never really got into the TASM movies and it felt like it was rethreading way too many things from the Raimi Trilogy, while also being too middling about how it tried them and more. For what this film does get right though, when it’s purely a teenage romantic-drama between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, it’s actually super sweet as the two of them have wonderful chemistry together. And I think with the dialogue as well, everyone in this film speak like they’re in said type of drama too instead of a Spider-Man or comic book movie, it’s actually a little refreshing in some ways. And it is all professionally-done, Marc Webb knows how to make the action feel big and intense when possible. But like I said, I didn’t fully connect with it because everything is treated so seriously that it can be a little off when you know that it’s a Spider-Man film you’re supposed to be watching, the origin story is done again and it feels like a lesser version of it this time, and I really didn’t buy how almost cartoonish they did with the villain and his scheme in this, given the film’s tone beforehand. I know a lot more people have gotten back to this and found some worth with it(mainly because of Andrew Garfield’s recent popularity coming to the forefront), but for me, I just can’t fully connect with it as maybe I should’ve.

#11 - Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Likely another hot take of mine, but I do quite enjoy the first two Venom films quite a bit, even if they’re somewhat all over the place. The second entry decided to bring Venom’s biggest rival to the game, being Carnage, and the novelty with that is a lot of fun to see on-screen. The film does look better than the first film and interestingly has an unique directorial style to it, Eddie and Venom’s bromance is still quite humourous to watch, Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady/Carnage is a lot of fun in how crazy evil he’s allowed to be, it moves really quickly and the action is a good bit fun to watch. But given that it does move very fast pacing-wise, the film doesn’t allow itself to breathe from time-to-time(including two sequences back-to-back where A LOT happens within them simultaneously, the film just doesn’t stop for at least a moment), Carnage is very restrained and isn’t allowed to go ‘all out’ like his sadistic comic counterpart would be which is slightly disappointing here, and the ending of the film is more hilariously tied-back to the studio not having any idea what to do next that it’s comical(you see it most with the mid-credit scene, which I still argue to this day is a hugely missed opportunity even if they went full speed ahead on it). It’s a fun watch still, but if they chanced themselves, you know it could’ve been a whole lot more than what we got in the end.

#10 - Venom

The original Venom film is a very weird one to talk about. Before it came out, it was stuck in development hell for a long while until Sony wanted this to kickstart their own ‘cinematic universe without Spider-Man’ and this film makes it clear on that quickly. But I think I’m able to buy into this film a lot more than others because I do love the Lethal Protector comic storyline, and it’s mainly the inspiration of this film here. Although a lot of changes are done with Venom’s actual origin here in order to try make this plot work without his web-crawling rival, I just try take it on its own terms and enjoy it for what it is. When Eddie and Venom do merge together, the film picks up massively and their dynamic is really humourous to watch, Tom Hardy gives a really quirky performance as these two characters that makes it all the more fun to get into, the action is also well-done for the most part and you easily forget how great Ludwig Goransson’s musical score is here(sad thing that it was barely used for any of the other two movies afterwards). However though, this film is still really messy on a story and tonal level altogether. The set-up is clunky at best, there’s huge lapses in the logic and timeline at different points, it can’t always decide if it wants to be an alien body-invasion horror movie or a buddy comedy, and the villain here is so forgettable that he leaves no mark whatsoever. It does what it sets out to do for its target audience for the most part, but as is, it’s still a bit of a mess. But an entertaining one of that.

#9 - Spider-Man 3

A film that used to be seen as a low point and a massively dissapointing ending to the Raimi Trilogy, but with the passing of time, it has had more people come back around on it in a newer and admirable light. While I can’t say it’s as great as the first two movies and you can feel the studio interference at different points while watching it, there is actually a lot to get out of this movie either way. Sam Raimi still directs this film with all the usual flair he brought to the first two movies, the general thematic purpose of the story is fairly interesting and can have a lot to say about arrogance and egos and how that may affect yourself and others, I really enjoy Sandman as a villain as I do sympathise a lot with his motivation, and the action is still a lot of fun to watch in these movies. However though, you can feel the studio trying to have more of a control here in wanting to do the black suit storyline(which Sam Raimi didn’t want to do at all), and when it’s shoehorned in, it can take all the focus away from the conflict Raimi wanted to do first(which is Sandman’s story arc). Adding to that, Peter is written to be too much of a jerk throughout this movie that it can be very off-putting, there’s moments of cringe humour that ranges between genuine parody and embarrassment at times(the ‘emo dance’ that has been memed to death comes to mind most). And I think Topher Grace is horribly miscast as Eddie Brock/Venom, he really misses the mark in convincing the audience in having a proper rivalry between Peter/Spider-Man, even before and after transformation. It does serve its purpose for the most part and it is quite entertaining like the first two films are, but by far, it’s the weakest of the trilogy and really should’ve been a whole lot more than what we actually got in the end.

#8 - Spider-Man: Far From Home

Tom Holland’s second swing as the webhead is pretty fun, and very flawed on a premise level that it can make it hard to buy into the conflict. On the plus side, by taking Peter out on a trip to Europe giving him new threats and environments to be in outside of New York, makes it a very unique feeling film. I also really appreciate how they developed his relationship with MJ compared to the first movie where they originally felt ‘static-like’ and Tom Holland and Zendaya do have nice chemistry with each other(which is something to say because they’re now married in real life). Jake Gyllenhall is really solid as Mysterio, the action is also very creative(including a sequence in the middle that does play well with ‘illusions’) and it does have a shocking ending that is bound to leave you stunned over where things may go next. However though, I do not buy the central storyline that the filmmakers decided to go with after the wider MCU events of Avengers: Endgame, in which Peter is tasked to look after technology that he’s very inexperienced with. I think there were so many other directions they could’ve gone, plot-lines that would’ve made more sense and be far more satisfying completely. I also don’t like that with this conflict, it ties back into the villain scheme making them look and feel more like Iron Man villains placed in the wrong movie, rather than Spider-Man type villains(and when it’s revealed in a plot twist their ‘scheme’, I’ve always found it so stupid, ridiculous and corny to take seriously at all). I know a lot of people love this movie(a friend of mine will argue with me about it all night I can tell you that much), but for me, it’s just passably entertaining and very flawed in-between.

#7 - Spider-Man: Homecoming

After the disastrous collapse of the TASM movies, Sony and Marvel decided to team up for once, and bring Spider-Man into the MCU in a brand new take. And for what it is, Homecoming serves as a pretty decent teenage superhero comedy with the webhead at the centre of it. By smartly skipping over the origin story and places the audience immediately into the day-to-day life of the nerdy teen/superhero, it almost feels like what if legendary comedy writer John Hughes wrote a Spider-Man movie and it’s a lot of fun to take in. It knows what it is, it doesn’t make many big swings or mistakes and it’s very entertaining and funny to sit through. Tom Holland brings forward a fresher new take on the superhero that is very endearing, his chemistry with Jacob Batalon as Ned is very infectious and you easily buy them as friends, the action is pretty solid and it can leave room for decent character development, especially between Peter and Tony Stark/Iron Man. But what makes this film oddly great is Michael Keaton’s villain, The Vulture. What makes him just terrific is that although he’s doing bad things, he does have an understandable motivation to make you feel for him in a lot of ways, even though you know he needs to be stopped. All in all, Homecoming serves itself as a summer teen comedy disguised as a superhero film and that’s why it’s as fun as it is.

#6 - Spider-Man: No Way Home

The third film in Tom Holland’s venture as the web-crawler has had a pretty interesting relationship with me these last few years. When I first saw it, I got swallowed up in the hype and thought it was one of the best films in the superhero genre. But with the passing of time, I have seen more problems pop up and it can lose some of that early effect really. It’s like when you’re in a loving relationship: the first couple of days/months is like the best thing ever, then with time you do have some wobbles/disagreements. But like the best relationships, the couple still love each other anyway. And I can say that I still really love a lot out of this movie, despite its problems. For negatives, the humour that misses does stand out more and some scenes do require a ‘reaction of sort’ which can break some of the immersion at times. But for everything else, I really buy into it. I love the personal conflict Peter and his friends have as they try finish up their studies to try get into college, I thought Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange makes his mark really well in what shenanigans go down here, it can get very emotional when it can(especially in the back-half of this film), and as you take it in, No Way Home really serves itself as a celebration of Spider-Man on film with a lot of fan service that can feel both endearing and earned when possible all at once. So all in all, while it may not be as perfect as it may once have been, it still massively deliver on what you hope for out of a Spider-Man film and it can be all the more satisfying to get through.

#5 - Spider-Man: Brand New Day

After the multiversal shenanigans of No Way Home, this film wisely decided to go back to the basics over why so many fans fell in love with this character, by making it a purely street-level action flick within New York City and having one of the more character-driven stories involving the wall-crawler. Although the film makes several references to the wider MCU over where we now are with this interpretation of the character, the focus still ultimately remains on Peter’s own struggle with loneliness and what it means to be a fully masked superhero to everybody. The script feels very contained and thematically-rich(like almost having a vibe that Alvin Sargent came back to life and wrote it himself), the film looks and sounds great, the action is very creatively stylised(one sequence feeling like it was inspired by the recent PS5 Spider-Man games), the relationships all felt well-rounded(with Peter and Frank Castle/Punisher’s dynamic delivering a lot of laughs and heartfelt moments in-between), the acting is rock solid from everyone, and it breezes by in its pacing that when you leave the screening, you are bound to feel very satisfied with the end result. It’s here because the wider MCU references did somewhat take me out of the film at times and while I appreciated the emotional hook of the villain situation, it can get a little convoluted in some of its parts. But all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and it appeals to so much over why we all love Spider-Man as a superhero in general.

#4 - Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

I think the next four movies here are practically perfect and among the absolute best films in the entire genre. It will be tricky ranking them but with what I’ve gone with, hopefully it’s understandable for you all. Across The Spider-Verse is as perfect as an animated sequel could be, going bigger and bolder with its multiversal storyline and animation techniques all at once. The animation blends together so many 2D and 3D styles of different comic books, TV and video game Spider-Men and never once does it feel too overwhelming as it sticks to its own unique and creative style all throughout. The action is also more creative in what the filmmakers can do, the storytelling has bigger stakes while also keeping that personal edge for Miles to try navigate around, Miguel O’Hara is a great addition to these movies in being a ‘grey character’ all throughout(with Oscar Isaac giving a tremendous voice performance too) and the villain is genuinely terrifying in what he serves as threat-wise to Miles and the entire Spider-Gang. It’s ranked here mainly because this film does end on a cliffhanger and needs Beyond The Spider-Verse to end it all, so it would depend if this film becomes greater or lesser because of it in future. But as it is, this is just an amazing film all round.

#3: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

This is just one of the most creative animated films to ever be made, not just in the superhero genre, but in animation as a whole. By blending together both a new 2D-meets-3D style to make this film look like an actual comic book brought to the screen, it is so immersive and cleverly blocked and edited all throughout. Adding to that, by allowing Miles Morales take the central character role this time as a new interpretation of Spider-Man, he stands out by not being a knock-off of Peter Parker, but is allowed to stand on his own with his personal character arc that does emotionally-resonate. But the story makes way in having a lot of unique and clever tricks come to play about the multiverse and other Spider-Men, and what that may mean for their universes colliding altogether. And I think the villains here are all just memorable, in how their schemes line up, what drives them to do what they have to do and doesn’t shy away from brutal moments when necessary(including a scene that still astounds me in how the filmmakers got away with back then). It’s such an ‘out there’ type of film that could’ve so easily have failed and been forgotten about when you think about it on-paper(because it was a massive risk before it came out), but Phil Lord and Chris Miller cracked the code and not only brought forward one of the best Spider-Man movies, but brought in a new animation style that every studio now has been trying to copy ever since. It is just masterful and wonderful every single time I watch it.

#2: Spider-Man

This is my favourite superhero origin movie ever made. And for the original Spider-Man, this is the most classic and definitive version of that origin story. When this film came out, Blade and X-Men did lay the foundation during a time when a string of other superhero movies that didn’t get it right at all, and Spider-Man went full speed ahead on it in a masterful way. And it’s mainly because Sam Raimi managed to nail the tone so perfectly, having the perfect blend of campiness, merged with his tendencies for horror and emotional elements altogether. You can tell that this film is made by an excited fan in Raimi throughout as well, in covering the beats of Peter Parker gets bitten by the radioactive spider, to the tragic moment that makes him take up his new heroic responsibility in New York City, to saving the day from a dastardly villain. It’s all there, done in Sam Raimi’s frenetic filmmaking style and it’s all perfect. Danny Elfman’s musical score is superb and is my go-to Spider-Man theme besides the normal song we all know of everyday. The action is even great(and sometimes raw and brutal in a film like this), I love how everyone is characterised all throughout(except maybe Kirsten Dunst’s MJ in the middle there) and it has such a hopeful vibe and levity to it that we rarely see in comic book movies nowadays that it feels charming and unique in the most pleasant possible way. But the real standout here is Willem Dafoe’s performance as the villain, Green Goblin. He perfectly captures both the scientific businessman and the ruthless and frightening monster all at once that makes him as intimidating and enjoyable to watch on-screen altogether. All in all, this is practically a perfect movie that I always love going back to every single time.

#1 - Spider-Man 2

Ever since my parents allowed me to stay up one night and watch this movie on TV when I was 6 years old, I had a strong feeling back then that I didn’t just watch a perfect superhero movie that had Spider-Man in it, I just simply had seen a perfect movie. Spider-Man 2 is everything you do that I love to see in a sequel, but you also make it matter a whole lot more than the first movie too. By interestingly make it about Peter’s story in how he tries to handle his depression, have everything in his life go against him while trying to be Spider-Man all at the same time, it makes the audience see and feel a side of the superhero not often seen in these movies and the emotional core of it hits hard when necessary. Adding to that, this film clarifies why Tobey Maguire is my favourite Peter Parker/Spider-Man as his performance carries so much throughout, between when he has to be normal or be heroic in the suit, or being just quiet. It’s a great performance, even when he has to do so with everyone else around him who are just as rock solid. Along with that, Sam Raimi makes this film look a whole lot better, the action is more interesting and brutal too(including the train sequence which is still incredible to watch all these years later), Alfred Molina’s villain in Doctor Octopus is brilliant as is threatening and sympathetic altogether, and I think the final payoff in this movie seals it to me as why this film comes out on top above the others, as it’s emotionally-satisfying and completely earned perfectly. All in all, this is just a brilliant superhero film, it gives me everything I want with the web-crawler and it’s all the more spectacular every time I come back to it which is why it’s my top pick on here.

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When people ask me very unique questions about my love for cinema, I may not have an answer for everything but I would have something 100% clear about who my favourite writer/director is. That would be the very British and humble man of Sir Christopher Nolan, who I tip my hat to as the main reason why I have an extreme love for the art form in general. Not because he’s a very fine man in how he speaks and does things normally, but he has brought forward some of the best blockbusters of the 21st century that not only appeal to a tied-in fanbase, but can emotionally-resonate with the masses over what they cover on a thematic and filmmaking lens altogether. Adding to that, in an age where practically every blockbuster is filled with CGI and green screen effects for about 90-95% of it on-screen, Nolan loves to stick to practicality and on-location sets for his films to make them feel more natural and immersive to the viewer to take in for the majority of them. It’s why he’s not only incredibly admired as a filmmaker, but you could say he’s probably still the only one to still have his devoted set of fans that overly praise his films in what they are, what they do, and himself overall. These fans, being known as ‘Nolanites’, could be either be seen as very passionate in the good sense, or reviled in another(I’ve had both sets of people at me for it admittedly).

Regardless though, whenever it’s made known that Nolan is making a new movie(or has made one), his name alone brings everyone of all sorts to the cinema in order to see it. It’s treated as an event every time, even in the summer months where they’ve seen the most success at. And whether you like or dislike the film, it can’t be denied how incredibly ambitious it is and gives an intelligent feeling to it that you wouldn’t mainly get in blockbusters these days. That’s not to say that Nolan is viewed as such by everyone. There are detractors of his that would think he’s ‘overrated’ by claiming “one good superhero film skyrocketed him and he’s made nothing else worth the time” both in the fan sense, and the political one(unfortunate for that one certain movie, but we’ll get to it eventually). Even then in both ways, I think it’s incredible how low-brow some are willing to go to try make a case in their arguments.

But for Nolan right now, he is celebrated all round for his movies in what they’re able to achieve. And in light of releasing his now 13th movie in his filmography, I thought why not properly rank them. Because Nolan has made so many masterclasses, I acknowledge not everyone is going to agree with my list and we’re all gonna have our picks differently. This is my list of determining what I think is Nolan’s least-best to best-best. All respect would be appreciated and I would love a fair debate if you have anything to say too.

#13 - Following

Just to point this out(and you could say this is my own bias here), I don’t believe Chris Nolan has ever made a bad movie. Each of his movies have something ‘worthy’ to them I feel, so if anything had to be last place, his first film would be. But as it is, Following is a quite unique directorial debut and it highlights some of the early traits that Nolan would be known by later on in his career. Made with just a $6,000 budget, the filmmaking still gives off an unique feel in how it’s shot and the sound design being ‘tinkered with’, while also having a story being told in a non-linear fashion despite its simplicity. So much of this film in what it does well can give a sense that you’re taking in a beta version of a better song/video game, meaning it’s not quite there yet, but in another capacity, it could be, even for Nolan. Even so, you can still tell it’s Nolan’s first film because to be fair, it does feel like an afterthought and the characters aren’t too fleshed out. But it doesn’t change the fact over how admirable this film was able to be made and shown to an audience eventually. But the most fun fact about this movie is ‘a certain shot with a certain superhero crest on a door’, it can almost humour you whether it’s a way of showing some characterisation, or it was ‘filmmaking foreshadowing’ over where Nolan could go later on down the line.

#12 - Insomnia

Probably the most overlooked film in Nolan’s filmography. Not because it’s bad at all, just it feels like the less ‘Nolan-esque’ out of all his films. And it all comes down that this was his first big studio film, and he was only directing it. Insomnia is actually a remake of a Norwegian thriller, written by another screenwriter, Hillary Seitz, about a murder-investigation in Alaska and the consequences that come of it between a detective and the killer. It’s told more straightforward and borrows a lot of the genre elements from neo-noir thrillers, making it probably the most standard out of Nolan’s works. But as it plays out, Nolan still makes the film look and sound great from a filmmaking lens, the final act has a lot of earned tension and ends things on a high note and the cast are pretty great at what they do here(including a seriously underrated performance from the late Robin Williams). So Insomnia, while it isn’t a bad film at all and absolutely has its merits, it is one in Nolan’s filmography that I don’t choose to go back revisiting that often.

#11 - Tenet

Ah yes, everyone’s favourite Chris Nolan movie. The one film outside of his most spoken masterclasses that gets all the attention in what it tries to do as a blockbuster. And while I wouldn’t go that far in both singing the praises and criticising it to death, I get it, but I think Nolan just showed how far he was willing to go, and how much I admire the sheer ambition he tried to carry out with it. The premise about an espionage operation being undertaken in inverted time and trying to prevent the world’s destruction is a very unique idea that only Nolan could conjure up madly. The filmmaking is quite tremendous with some really fantastic action set-pieces to go with it, John David Washington and Robert Pattinson have great chemistry together and it has some sequences that do enough to get your heart racing in the heat of the moment. However though, this is the one film where I think Nolan was perhaps too ‘over-ambitious’ in how he tried tell this story in his usual non-linear fashion and it can ask for too much patience out of the audience, especially when you’re trying to understand the nature of the time rules and the overarching plot. Adding to that, the characters here aren’t as memorable so the film isn’t as resonating as you’d think it may be. But even with its faults, it is a film that shows its ambition and we can appreciate Nolan for at least trying something very different and original here.

#10 - Dunkirk

“The film that made everyone in the IMAX screening go deaf.” - That’s the general and humourous sentiment everyone who saw Dunkirk opening weekend say when referencing this film, relating to the sound design and mixing. As a war movie, Nolan decides to place the audience on the French shores from the beginning and make them feel like they are ‘there’, experiencing both the stress and brutality of the battle in the Second World War all throughout the runtime. The filmmaking is just as exquisite, the sound design(while loud obviously) makes you feel like you are experiencing it with the soldiers all throughout and there’s a lot of simple nods throughout the story where you can pick up on, and when they’re brought back as payoffs in the final act, it can feel very satisfying to get through. And even the acting is just as solid, where it shines most is in a sub-plot on a boat where you feel the most emotion out of. But as it is just a ‘one-event’ sort of film, you don’t get to know a lot about the characters and you could just overlook them really, and it’s not the most interesting film to rewatch if you’re in the mood for a Chris Nolan movie. But even so, this is still a pretty solid war movie especially in how Nolan handled it throughout.

#9 - The Dark Knight Rises

Will say two things before continuing: from here, I love the rest of these movies on this ranking so it will be tricky ranking them all properly. Also having The Dark Knight Rises here might be regarded as ‘controversial’ I acknowledge that, but hey, what can I do? But I would agree that this is the weakest of the trilogy, although I love it still. Make no mistake, the sheer scope and size this movie has is absolutely tremendous. Chris Nolan did want this movie to go out on a high and explosive note, some of the acting here is some of the best Nolan’s ever directed in his entire filmography(including an emotional moment between Christian Bale and Michael Caine in the midpoint), it has all the usual bag of tricks that a Batman film would deliver to make it satisfying from a fan’s point-of-view and I really love Tom Hardy’s villainous interpretation of Bane(even if his voice is a little goofy sometimes). However though, it does falter a lot though because some of the logic doesn’t add up at times in the storytelling and the final act(while emotionally-resonating), does have a plot twist that I do regard as Nolan’s biggest miscalculation in his entire filmography. Besides that though, Rises does end the trilogy on a satisfying note and we can all be glad Nolan was able to finish it on his own terms before the studio would then have a decade-and-a-half dilemma over what to with DC characters on-film afterwards.

#8 - Memento

Chris Nolan’s first properly-released indie movie is a mystery-thriller which enabled him to reveal himself to the world with his non-linear storytelling tactics and he delivered with something so thought-provoking and crazy all in the best way possible. By telling this mystery from the perspective of a man with amnesia trying to retrace things with tattoos on himself and taking photographs, the audience is following things with him as he looks to piece together what happened with his wife. It brings a lot of intimate intensity to the film as you’re trying to work it all out with him, which culminates with a final act plot-twist that makes it all the more maddening to think about and can amplify your experience on rewatch as well. And Guy Pearce as Leonard makes it the perfect casting in making this film fully work as well(even when knowing that originally, Brad Pitt was eyed to play him, it makes it so hard to imagine what that may have looked like surprisingly). It can for me lose some of the novelty when I do rewatch this film as I do know what happens and what the nature of the final act twist does reveal, but overall, this film perfectly marked Nolan right off the bat in what he could do as a filmmaker and storyteller.

#7 - The Odyssey

A huge sprawling epic that adapts the ancient Greek text of the same name, while also having a lot of emotional weight to it altogether. The filmmaking scope is absolutely massive as is tremendous to take in all throughout, the action is very brutal is as engaging, there’s some genuine tension that is built up through great suspense, Ludwig Goransson’s score is enthralling to listen to, the cast are all fantastic in what they do(serious standouts for me being Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson) and the final act has a lot of satisfying callbacks and payoffs in how it ends a story based a lot on war, political intrigue, facing the consequences for past actions done and father-son relationships. It is Chris Nolan at the peak of his power and it’s truly an epic film of all proportions. It is only placed here because while I do absolutely love it, it did feel somewhat overwhelming due to the nature of the non-linear storytelling this time and the pacing can be felt just a little bit in its nearly 3 hour runtime. I can assume on rewatch, it might go higher up but for now I’m satisfied with it here. It is absolutely a terrific film, another great blockbuster of Nolan’s that hits all of the right beats and emotions altogether.

But not without its ‘controversy’. Oh yes, The Odyssey has been a hot kettle for it won’t you believe it? The reason being for two specific castings, being Lupita Nyong’o and Elliot Page playing two minor characters. And their identities and appearances have been used callously for months by ‘certain political types’ online as a ‘negative’ over why the film shouldn’t be seen or supported at all. And what makes this ‘criticism’ more hilarious to me, now that I’ve seen the film, the castings aren’t anywhere near the main priorities and both characters played by the actors only have 4 minutes of actual screentime(a tiny fraction of the bigger film overall). A film reviewer I follow online put it best by saying this ‘controversy’ is like only criticising a small branch part of a much bigger, beautiful tree, it’s that stupid. Like you can dislike a film with valid criticisms and be fair about it. But being so far up in your own political echo chamber discredits anyone in that immediately.

But as it is though, The Odyssey is going to be more fondly remembered for everything else as it did deliver on all of that(like I said above anyway). It’s one of the best of Nolan’s works, and of the 2026 movie year.

#6 - Oppenheimer

While we may look back and remember this film being part of the 2023 Barbenheimer event(this and Barbie releasing on the same weekend, and we all wore pink shirts, suits and whatever other attire to have fun in the most hilarious way possible), Oppenheimer still stands as not just a fantastic biopic, but also a central character-study of the man who created the atomic bomb. By dividing each phase of the bomb’s impact within the three act structure of three hours, Nolan exquisitely captures J. Robert Oppenheimer’s development as a scientific man hopeful of ending the Second World War, before revealing what emotional scars and the political fallout of its impact leaves behind for him as the rest of the film goes on, making him as a character you would sympathise with, but nicely remember that he wasn’t really a saint either with everyone else involved. The film showcases Nolan’s ultimate abilities as a filmmaker, going back and forth between colour and back-and-white in differentiating the timelines while also looking and sounding magnificent throughout. The musical score by Ludwig Goransson is incredible to listen to. The entire cast are all brilliant at what they do(standouts being Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, but Robert Downey Jr is just as perfect as politician Lewis Strauss), and for as bleak and depressing of a film it could be with its themes about nuclear weapons, political fallouts, world destruction and broken relationships, it’s even nicely layered out with moments that are really funny surprisingly. All in all, this is a film that highlights why Nolan remains to be one of the current champions within cinema as a whole.

#5 - Batman Begins

I’m a simple guy. I love Chris Nolan, and I love Batman. Put the two together, you get a fantastic movie. And Nolan’s first foray with the Caped Crusader is one of my favourite superhero origin films. It’s so easy to forget that before this film came out, Batman was viewed as a ‘joke’ to even take seriously, and as risky as it was in allowing Chris Nolan(who was still an upcoming novice by that point) to do the film, it absolutely paid off in the end. To me, this is the definitive Batman origin on-film and it works perfectly with Nolan’s non-linear storytelling tactics, as it covers what makes Bruce Wayne become the embodiment of fear to criminals and his struggle in this new role he undertakes for the sake of Gotham City. The story may have a ‘comic-bookie feel’ to it compared to the other films in the trilogy, but I think it works most here as it is the origin story while also giving the fans so much of what they hope out of a Batman film like this. The film looks really nice(even despite Nolan’s early attempts with action filmmaking at times can be a little rough), the emotional core resonates, the cast are all great, Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul are the perfect villains to kick off this trilogy and Hans Zimmer’s score is one of the best in the entire genre. All in all, this gives me so much in what I want out of a Batman film, you can feel Nolan’s own excitement at making it here too and if I was told that this was the best in the trilogy by someone else, I wouldn’t knock it back, I would get it too!

#4 - Interstellar

It’s so easy to forget, but when this film came out, everyone was so divided on it. Interstellar was seen as a disappointment of a sci-fi film and some thought Nolan didn’t do much more as they have expected from him. But with the passing of time, everyone who has gone back to this film(or discovered it for first time) now gets something out of it and regards it as one the best and emotionally-drilled sci-fi blockbusters of the 21st century. And I would agree with that, this is likely the most emotional and intelligent film within Nolan’s filmography. Covering vast amounts of research regarding how space, black holes and time works within our universe, yet at the centre of it, it’s a story about a father trying to complete his mission so he can get home and see his children again. And what makes it more devastating is the fact that it becomes a race against time, given the nature of where the space mission is at and how long it’s really been on Earth also. And it all comes together with a central powerhouse performance by Matthew McConaughey, where you feel his sadness and anguish over how much time passes in the film and wanting him to go home and in particular see his daughter again(played excellently by Jessica Chastain and Mackenzie Foy respectively). The film looks magnificent as ever and with one of Hans Zimmer’s greatest musical scores to go with it, Interstellar showed a much different side to Nolan that few wouldn’t think of at first, and he achieves it here in stunning grace once again. This film is bound to make you feel all the emotions no matter what.

#3 - The Prestige

In my view, this is the most underrated film in Chris Nolan’s filmography. The premise sounds very simple at first: two Victorian magicians form a rivalry over who could create the greatest magic trick in front of an audience. But in typical Chris Nolan fashion, he makes it one of the most interesting rivalries to see play out on-screen, while also having that emotional hook to it all throughout. Although both magicians in question are two of the biggest jerks you’d be shocked to find in any movie, they’re at least interesting, you admire their ‘methods’ when it comes to scheming against each other and pulling off their unique magic tricks, and how it all comes ahead in affecting their loved ones too. As ever, the film looks great, the storytelling interweaves the thematic purpose excellently and the cast are all brilliant here, with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman really selling off the rivalry in both an intense and dramatic manner altogether(not to mention, this film also has a very inspired David Bowie performance which is very much commendable). But I think what elevates this film so much is the final act plot-twist. It’s not only shocking, but it is extremely clever, makes you look back on multiple scenes in a new light and realise that you’d never once would feel cheated out by them and it hits hard emotionally. In my view, it’s the best plot-twist Nolan has ever done in any of his movies and it works every single time. The Prestige is just a very special movie, one that I believe needs more love and the most important thing is that it’s absolutely magical.

#2 - Inception

When it comes to my top 2 within Chris Nolan’s filmography, both of these films emotionally-resonate so much to me that they’re practically tied for first place. Both are just absolutely perfect to me and practically everyday, I say one is first while on the next day, it’s the other one. For now though, Inception is listed here. But this is one of the greatest original blockbusters I’ve had the pleasure of seeing so many times now. It’s a heist movie, but done in a race against time within the dreams of others. Already the idea is so unique, but Nolan amplifies it further by making it all about a father who wishes to come home to his kids, while trying to avoid becoming a wanted criminal again and live with the failure of his broken marriage. And when you see Cobb’s journey in trying to come to terms with the mistakes of his past, while also carrying out the dream heist with his crew at the same time, it can feel intense and emotionally-gripping all at once. The cast all have great chemistry with each other, making way for some intense interactions and humourous moments in-between, the action is very ‘James Bond-esque’ by how big and grand they can feel and the storytelling, for how complex the nature of things can be, is still kept very simple and easy to follow, even when everyone is on a timer throughout. All in all, it brings forward a final 5 minute sequence where the visuals and Hans Zimmer’s musical score tells you the ending, while also leaves it open for interpretation amidst the emotional resolution of it all. This is just a fantastic movie to come back to every time, I get something new out of it always and it just hits all the right notes for me personally.

#1 - The Dark Knight

You could say seeing this at number one is too cliche and obvious maybe, but I’m in the camp that not only believes Chris Nolan delivered the best Batman movie to date, but also the best comic-book movie ever too. The Dark Knight earns all of that praise for good reason. What Chris Nolan did here is despite Batman Begins’ success, he took heavy inspiration from crime thrillers such as Heat and The Wire in telling this story about escalation, corruption and humanity. These themes even co-incide in a world where Gotham City and its residents exist, and Nolan makes great use of that, especially in how Batman, Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent react to such things in the film and how they may overcome it with their own methods. And in how these things play out in the film, it’s not only shocking but it leaves a mark in making you tie back to things happening in real life within certain establishments and society in general. The storytelling is so thematically-rich, while also being structured and paced out perfectly, all coming to a head in a final scene that is very hard hitting emotionally, but also satisfying in how somewhat hopeful it is at the same time. But adding to that, the film also looks way better than Begins, the action is a lot better(with even a highway chase scene that is still incredible to watch all these years later) and the acting is so much better from everyone. But obviously, what makes this film stand out completely is one of the best villain portrayals in any movie ever, being the Joker. Heath Ledger(despite him being mocked when he was first casted) absolutely nailed it as the Clown Prince of Crime, he brought forward all the humourous quirks that would make the Joker funny to watch, but also the complex, terrifying, and sadistic side of him to make everyone realise that he’s a genuine threat that Batman needs to stop before it’s too late. It’s a performance so fantastic, it won Heath Ledger a posthumous Best Actor Oscar and it is now the benchmark for every new Joker actor to try follow ever since. All in all, The Dark Knight remains to me not only (one of) my top spot within Chris Nolan’s filmography, but it’s one of my personal favourite movies ever in what it was able to achieve in both a genre that I love and the cinematic art form in general, so for that, it’s my number one here.

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Plot: Joe and Angela’s marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places.

I’m sure we’ve all heard about a film a few years ago called Don’t Worry Darling? And if you directly immediately thought about an overacting and unintentionally hilarious Harry Styles trying to ‘act’ in the same room with a straight-faced Florence Pugh, then yes, it’s that movie. It was also actress-turned-filmmaker Olivia Wilde’s second directorial feature, which gave the perception to so many audience-goers that she was ‘full of it’ due to how pretentious and tedious it all was. For how much of a letdown the film was, the stories from behind the scenes would end garnering more interest, with very conflicting styles clashing with one another, different POVs and a lot of ridiculousness that apparently happened on and off the set, many thought it would be too much for Wilde to try continue within this new role that she wanted to take upon, even as a working actress.

But she continued on, and decided to go back into the genre where her first directorial film, Booksmart, came from, comedy. Though instead of a coming-of-age one this time, The Invite is a very small project that focuses squarely on two neighbouring couples having a dinner party together, while also being a remake of a 2020 Spanish film called The People Upstairs all at the same time. It sounded that simple, but it is a comedy, so you’d hope at the very least, it’s funny with some decent jokes to remember by.

The Invite is that thankfully. Uncomfortable and remarkably hilarious all at once. And yet, it had something to say that was shockingly profound also.

Going into this, while I haven’t doubted Olivia Wilde’s style and vision in filmmaking as seen in her previous two projects, I did think that maybe she didn’t quite have that level of emotional resonance for her films to leave an impact. The Invite changed that, making this now her best work to date. Although it is that simple of a concept, the screenplay by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack allows itself to be both very playful in the nature of how these two couples interact with one another, and goes for it in the most unexpected ways possible. And in that, it can bring out some big laughs while also effectively leave you stunned by how much they are getting away with it all at once. But what I appreciated most about this is that although it can get extremely funny and ridiculous in its nature, it’s holding a story that covers a lot of themes related to romantic love in later years, loveless marriages, feeling unsure what to do next and how it benefits everyone etc. Admittedly, I was shocked by how nuanced it was, even within the some of the raunchy nature of the comedy and dialogue. But it stands out because it does have a lot to say and do about it all in every aspect of how a typical relationship/marriage operates, while balancing it out to see the lightheartedness of it too.

The film looks professionally well-done too. Olivia Wilde and cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra(Good Fortune, Blink Twice) allows the film to be just as playful from a filmmaking lens. There’s some really nice blocking and framing techniques done in differientiating the two couples and their personalities, while also making way in bringing out some visual jokes in the one space they’re all in too. There’s a lot of smartly done stuff here that did enough to humour myself and my small audience, along with the lines of dialogue in these moments.

But even so, for a film like this, you really have to cast actors that can’t just be funny together, but also be able to carry the conflict in this one space for a feature-length runtime. And here, you are only stuck with these four actors the whole time, and their chemistry, comedic timing and banter land so well off one another. Olivia Wilde does technically play herself as the mature and earnest Angela and Seth Rogen as her musician husband Joe is oddly endearing despite his pathetic nature. But the castings for the other couple I thought was a brilliant stroke of genius. Penelope Cruz as Pina is extremely wild here, while also having an extra layer to her. But Ed Norton is just as great as he’s let out ‘very loosely’ all throughout, bringing out by far the film’s most hilarious moments to me. Maybe this is my bias speaking as I have usually loved Norton in almost everything I’ve seen him in, but here, he is absolutely committed to it and it’s an absolute hoot.

Basically in terms of criticisms, it could be argued that maybe the film is all ‘too simple’ in it being in the one spot the entire time, but it’s pretty much a nitpick when I think about it. A genuine one I can think of is pacing-wise, the final act can lose some of the steam the first two ran well on. Once things are close to being done, it can almost ‘fast-track’ itself in wanting to get to the final resolution before the credits start rolling. It’s the one part where you’d think there would’ve maybe have been another way to do it, or maybe the budget held it back in a way, it would be simple speculation. But in the nature of how the film is paced before then, it does stand out there as something to think about.

The Invite however, does serve itself as a proper return to form for Olivia Wilde, while also being able to deliver what you’d want out of a comedy like this. Simple on the surface at first, but then naturally goes in a completely opposite and wild direction, bringing out uncomfortable and genuinely hilarious moments that would make you admire how freely ridiculous the film can be, while also having a strong passion on saying something deeper about a specific topic. And merged with solid filmmaking and an acting quartet that holds it all together, this is a film that is bound to make those watching this on date nights feel a lot more ‘interesting’ than they might’ve thought initially afterwards. Dinner parties will never look or feel the same after this one.

My Rating: 4/5

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Plot: When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion on an epic, interstellar journey of vengeance and justice.

James Gunn is an interesting man with an interesting mind when it comes making comic-book movies and running a studio that wants its own cinematic universe. Since he took over DC Studios in 2022, the main goal was to create a cinematic universe involving DC’s roster of heroes and villains that could rival(or maybe one day surpass) what Marvel Studios went on to do with their’s. And amidst all of that, he went on to announce the first few projects of this new universe and interestingly, along with his written and directed take on Superman(2025), he wanted to follow it up in the timeline by trying out the Man of Steel’s cousin, Supergirl, a hero whose recent recognition has been on television and hasn’t been properly seen in live-action film since 1984. Already a somewhat risky project at the start of your cinematic universe along with the bigger name.

That wasn’t to say that it couldn’t work. After Iron Man started the MCU, Thor and Captain America had their first impressions laid out for that universe, and it paid off thanks to what happened later on. So you could see the same idea here, start it off with the bigger name in Superman, follow it up with a lower-tiered hero afterwards with Supergirl. But given that it’s been 42 years since Supergirl last took flight in the cinema(which ended up being one of the biggest disasters of the genre by how bizarre and tone-breaking it all was) and she’s been known recently within the television space in the CW, this did feel like an ambitious overswing early on.

One thing that did intrigue people about this project was what it was ‘inspired’ by, being Tom King’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. An acclaimed comic run that laid out the cynicism, humanity and chaotic worldview of Kara, while also being able to make her stand out and be uniquely different from her more charming and warmer cousin. And with Milly Alcock in the lead role after seeing her doing great things as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, and Craig Gillespie(Cruella, Dumb Money, I, Tonya) as the director here made it look a whole lot more interesting afterwards.

But sadly, unlike Superman(2025), a film that I will love completely and strongly defend(even if things get political, yeah I’ve encountered those too online), Supergirl here, it’s kind of a dud which is quite disappointing.

Let’s take several steps back first, as there are some other things to note. Unlike Superman(2025) which had James Gunn both writing and directing it, making that film his own as a seasoned filmmaker within the genre, they took a very risky move in hiring Ana Nogueira to write the script. Prior to this film, Nogueira’s last credit in film was a short film back in 2018 and has mainly had a background in theatre production instead. So asking her to do a $180 million budget script already would have eyebrows raised(and this is despite Gunn saying that Supergirl’s script was ‘better’ than what he wrote for Superman). Adding to that, in the last six months before this film released, there has been rumours of ‘many test screenings’ which would dampen the expectations also, if indeed true.

And watching the film, you can tell this film was attempted to be reworked to hell in the editing room all throughout. The first half has very clunky storytelling going on, a lot of exposition dumping to try make you care about the general conflict, and the pacing(despite within a runtime of less than 2 hours) can feel very sluggish to get through. Even when it allows itself to be a Craig Gillespie superhero film, all the flair and style that you imagine would come with that feels very non-existent throughout, and you could easily think anyone else lesser was making the film instead. And even in the cinematography and CGI, the film looks way too dark and lifeless that you’re not only squinting to see the actors’ faces while emoting, but when it is ‘bright’, you’re met by a pretty bad case of explosive CG that it can make it a little tedious. But the most egregious thing here is that you don’t just feel the personal stakes of the conflict, the villain is also shockingly forgettable. I don’t even remember his name, what drives him or what his greater end-goal was. If anything, I do remember one scene where he’s trying to do his best ‘Jim Carrey/Robert de Niro face’, and my audience were snickering at it(even though it’s supposed to be an intense scene). Mind you, I’m writing this only under 2 hours after I’ve seen the film, so you can put the pieces together on that judgement.

I don’t believe it’s as terrible or bad as some are making it out to be online right now(funny when you see what the ‘political arguments’ are too by some of them), but it is aggressively average. But when there’s actual credit, it is there in some portions and I can understand some others getting something out of it. The film does have some professionally-well done action set pieces that are entertaining enough to enjoy, there’s a string of flashback scenes that do tell its own contained story in the second act and they do bring out some genuinely decent emotion and characterisation for Kara. I did somewhat appreciate her relationships with Ruthye and Krypto which gave an interesting vibe to how Superman does his relationships by comparison. And the cast are genuinely fine at what they do, Milly Alcock slots in quite well as Kara, Eve Ridley as Ruthye is well-intended and David Corenswet does have his moments as Superman(though quite brief). But the MVP here is Jason Momoa as Lobo, the mercenary biker/rival to the Super-Cousins. This man has wanted to play Lobo ever since he was first casted as Aquaman back a decade ago, and now that he’s gotten that chance here, he delivers the biggest highlights of the film. He’s charismatic, ruthless and funny with a very dark sense of humour, this casting was perfect and he lightens up everything in the film. It just makes us all wish he was in the film more(though hopefully in future, that’ll be taken up upon).

But that’s all I could really view Supergirl(2026) as. It has its entertaining moments and you can feel somewhere that a much better film is in here, but it’s just bogged down by everything else going against it. Very flat filmmaking at times, mixed with somewhat endearing characters played well by good actors, and storytelling that feels more clumsy and underwhelming throughout. It may be better than the 1984 movie of the same name and there will be several people that may get a lot more out of this, but as it is, it’s far too average for its own good. Even if you play the comparison game, a lot of people will likely be clamouring for more Superman after this. But let’s not forget, the DCU is still in its early days, so maybe we may look back on this later on in a more appreciated light. For now though, it’s ‘just another superhero movie’ and nothing as solid as it could’ve been disappointingly.

My Rating: 2.5/5

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Starting back in 1979, Pixar was an arm of Star Wars creator George Lucas’ computer division as one of the original pioneers of CGI. In 1986, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs bought the division and decided to experiment it further with several animators, first with some short films and then bringing forward their first cinematic feature, being 1995’s Toy Story. What was viewed as something too experimental and likened to as ‘too much for kids’, everyone who saw the film ended up loving it to bits. Although the animation was ambitious and did look ‘tacky’ at times(for 1995 standards), the main story and interesting characters resonated with everyone, and Toy Story itself would later become one of the most influential films of all time within the medium. It would even spawn an entire franchise that is still standing now in its 31st year, and it would be hailed in holding some of the best animated films ever made also.

It is extraordinary to think about it because while it is a pretty simple concept that arguably shouldn’t really work for five movies now, each of the films do cover thematic concepts that resonate heavily. What it means to be a child, how do toys feel in the care of others, growing up and experiencing changes throughout the years etc, these movies do offer something that audiences can get out of them and either leave the theatre happy-crying or just feel flat-out satisfied due to the relatable connections. And these characters at the centre of them(along with the voice talent) offer just as much prominently and excellently(for the most part).

So while these movies are held in high regard in many film and entertainment circles, it can technically create great room for debate over which is the best and least-best out of all the movies. While I do enjoy these movies to a certain degree, there is a preference in my own ranking anyway. And I intend to show it here. I don’t think anyone would have a ‘wrong’ pick also, so please if you may, comment below what you think is the best or worst of the movies and why. This is my ranking as well, so we call for respect too. Here’s how I rank them:

#5 - Toy Story 5

Like I said above, I don’t think any of these movies are bad and I would recommend this film because there is enough entertainment and thematic value to it. So something had to be last, and it’s the newest entry. And I think what I found admirable about this film is that although it didn’t need to exist(much like the fourth movie), it tried something that was different and nearly paid off completely. By making this entry mainly be Jessie’s story this time, as well as covering elements about how electronics nowadays can be detrimental to children’s emotional development, it was a bold swing but I think they did enough to make you not only feel so much for Jessie, the entire gang and have a decent grasp on the current issue these days. Adding to that, this film has several scenes that I think are some of the best in this series, even quiet ones where the music and visuals tell the story and it’s really effective. But I think this film has more limitations shown here than what was seen in the fourth film due to how long this franchise has been around for. The supporting members of the main gang are given barely anything to do here and feel like background noise most of the time, and there is a certain plot-line that felt like leftovers from a short film somewhere most of the time and did take the focus off the other two main ones in a more noticeable way really. It doesn’t take away how pretty much solid this entry is, but if we’re being so honest, let’s hope this is the last one for good this time. But knowing both Disney and Pixar, don’t fully count on it.

#4 - Toy Story 4

The original ‘does it need to exist’ entry, but I have it here above 5 because I think the central conflict and villain situation is more emotionally-resonating to me. I think this is the best animated film in the series as there are multiple shots that look so pristine that you accidentally think it may be live-action in some ways. I also think it’s really funny as there are a lot of gags and visual jokes that do enough to have me burst out laughing(one line of dialogue near the end of the film gets me every single time). Forky is a wonderful addition to this franchise in what he stands for, the villain is probably the most relatable in the entire series given her motivation and how that all plays out, and I really appreciate that Woody’s characterisation here is consistent in-line as he is, while being in a story that could draw comparisons to parenting and learning to let go. While I think this is a very good movie though, it is disappointing to see the main gang be relegated to one spot and have nothing to do really. And I kinda never bought into why some things happen with a few characters here(even especially by how the third film handled them in another light). Still though, while it may be pointless to continue this series after the original trilogy, Pixar did find a way of making a natural-enough continuation to things(though it can be hard to buy it at first admittedly).

#3 - Toy Story 2

It’s so easy to forget, but in the production of this film, a lot was riding on it to succeed for Pixar back in the late 1990s. As the first sequel in the studio’s catalogue, a lot thought it wouldn’t do as well as the predecessor. But this film managed to find a way to not only improve on things, but also have a more richer and complex story at the centre of it. The animation is more clearer and cleaner than the first, the additions like Jessie and Bullseye are great characters to join up with the main gang, the emotional song montage is the middle is one of the best in Pixar’s history, the villain is pretty diabolical while also understanding his own point-of-view, there some great comedic homages to other movies here, and there is a case of ‘perfect ASMR’ when a ‘very specific scene’ comes on at one point(or maybe that’s just me experiencing that haha). For a film that had so much going against it(even crazier knowing it was accidentally almost DELETED from the hard drives back then), the team at Pixar found a way to make it just as wonderful as the first film. It’s placed here because I don’t rewatch it as much as the other two above it, but this is still a great example of a near-perfect sequel.

#2 - Toy Story

The original 3D CGI animated film from Pixar is still one of the best all these years later, simply because the concept is so small and effective to play around with: “What if these toys were alive when humans weren’t around? What would be the worldviews and dynamics in that?” And while it can be kept very simple for what it is and it doesn’t have the ‘bells and whistles’ of the other films in what they could do, the heart of the story being the rivalry between Woody and Buzz is not only really funny, but it can emotionally resonate in how favouritism can have detrimental effects to those involved, even if it’s not intentional. And Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are the perfect castings to these characters, not only nailing down this relationship, but also the comedic timing and emotional bits when you get to the back half of this film. But all the characters have something to offer here, whether as anchor points, comedic foils or driving the conflict further and while the animation does show its age and limitations at times, it is still very ambitious that you can admire it for what Pixar managed to do back in 1995. All in all, this still a fantastic film all these years later, but I do just prefer one other entry as my top one in this series.

#1 - Toy Story 3

I was 9 years old when this film first came out, and even back then I could feel that it was a ‘big deal’ that this was the ending to the original trilogy of films. I always loved it for what it was, but on recent rewatch, given my age now and just been through my university years, I got a whole lot more out of it this time. This film on the surface is technically inspired from a lot of prison breakout and war movies(The Great Escape being the obvious one) and while it is great at doing that in making the characters feel the stakes, while also be in a race against time, it’s really a film about moving on and healthy acceptance deep down. Even when these toys are made to try adapt to life before Andy goes to college, they do pose a lot of heavy questions about what’s next and how they’ll get by it together. It’s impactful because we have all been there in life, after something so good happens and when it’s over, you may not know what’s next or try to adapt to that. That does stick with me, even after my time in university where I did feel I was thrown in the deep end and didn’t quite know how to handle it. But adding to that, the film is nicely animated as ever, the entire second half is the best in the entire series in how intense and emotionally-riveting it all is(with a final payoff that is bound to pull all the emotions out of you), and I think this film has the best villain in the entire series because while you sympathise with his origin, he is truly evil in what he does that you do want him to be stopped completely. All in all, this film not only gives everything I want out of a Toy Story film, but it also leaves that greater impact more than the other films, so it’s why it’s my number one pick.

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Plot: If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that when we tend to talk about who the most celebrated filmmakers are within this entertainment landscape, Steven Spielberg is one of the first names to come to mind. Ever since he was thrown into the chaotic production of Jaws back in the middle of the 1970s, as a novice he proved he had an insane meticulous gift of not just saving a film from complete disaster, but turning it into one of the best ever made. And he would even get a chance to show that himself if the idea came from him originally, and now he’s celebrated for bringing forward films like E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Hook, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List etc. The versatile director has had an attempt at almost every genre possible, and yet his style of wonder, curosity and dream-likeness has always come through and resonated so much with audiences around the world generation-to-generation.

Spielberg nowadays though, while he has always been admired and respected, has had a strange previous decade and a half prior to this film to make audiences question if he had ‘lost his touch’. Since Lincoln in 2012, he’s had some bigger swings in blockbuster filmmaking with The BFG and Ready Player One but they were seen as wider disappointments. While his musical remake of West Side Story and semi-biographical film of his childhood The Fabelmans did restore some level of trust, the wider consensus still felt maybe he was ‘past it’ at this stage. So what does Spielberg do about it? Not retire, no. He goes back to the genre of films that catapulted him into the A-list completely, sci-fi-thriller.

For what it is on-paper, Disclosure Day has quite a decent amount of things going for it. You have the world-class director in Spielberg behind the camera, well-admired screenwriter David Koepp(Spider-Man, Jurassic Park) penning the script, Janusz Kaminski(Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan) as the cinematographer, John Williams(Star Wars, Indiana Jones) as the composer and a very talented cast involving the likes of Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo and Wyatt Russell etc, this film is no doubt ambitious at what it wants to try set out and achieve. And with Spielberg not just being involved in the sci-fi space once again, he does provide this film’s interesting hook at a time where even we question: “Are we really alone in this universe? Are ‘they’ closer than we think?”

Disclosure Day is a strange film to talk about. On the one hand, it is interesting that Spielberg has decided to go back into this space and try draw us in with the hook presented, but on the other it does leave you expecting so much and the danger of being left disappointed. And it’s all playing out online as the wider reaction has been mixed to say the least. Some have loved the film, others have thrashed it, and then there’s people very squarely in the middle. I fit in with the middle crowd, even as I try think more and dissect the film as it is after seeing it.

To start with the positives, the film looks and sounds tremendous. You can tell that this is made by a filmmaking master in Spielberg through and through in how massive the size and scope it all is. The sets are impressive and Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography is wonderful to take in, making anyone feel smaller in something that could transcend everything else around them. I may be in the minority here but I didn’t think the CGI isn’t as ‘bad’ as some are making them out to be. The cast are all pretty solid at what they’re doing also, with Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt and Colman Domingo being consistent throughout, but surprisingly the best performance comes from a minor character near the end of the film and without giving a lot away, Courtney Grace does a lot there to really add to the moment. And the entire final act is like that, the payoffs and resolution come together in a very intense and satisfying way that can leave people ‘locked in the moment’ and when the credits roll, they aren’t sure how to react afterwards(which is the story of me and my audience at my screening). It has enough there to make it watchable and the attempt is well-intentioned as is ambitious.

But if I may be so honest, the final act was so perfect, it can make you forget and then realise how more disappointed you were at the first two acts to begin with. Given that I loved West Side Story, The Fabelmans and most of what Spielberg has done within the sci-fi space in his career, I expected a whole lot more out of this and I was disappointed that I didn’t get it as much. A lot of that can come down to the nature of the storytelling, the pacing and the film being ‘at odds with itself’ over what it can be trying to say and do at times. David Koepp’s script goes back and forth in wondering should it go fully sci-fi and political thriller in-between and the blend never fully works at times, some of the logic in the thematic aspects can be very faulty in how it tries to say things about how we view humanity, the prospect of other life in this universe, faith and empathy, and I think some of the characterisations are a bit bizarre overall, with some being egregiously one-noted at times(Colin Firth’s villain coming to mind the most there). Even in how it tries to present things and how ‘huge’ some revelations can be, it can kinda feel cheapened out because before the final act, you don’t always feel the stakes as you should and even by then, it can rest on a ‘who cares’ sort of way really, which is the most disappointing thing I got out of here.

Disclosure Day will no doubt have both its fans and detractors as it is going off like a hot kettle online right now, but for me I’m very in-the-middle about it. No doubt with fantastic filmmaking, solid performances and a final act that does make the wait worth it in the end. But in a film where the logic doesn’t always add up, it can’t always decide what it wants to do and some odd characterisations to care about the bigger conflict at play, it does feel like a bigger disappointment in the end. When it’s made by a legend like Steven Spielberg, you always expect more and some of the best, but on his return within the sci-fi genre, it leaves a lot to be desired really. Watchable and somewhat entertaining? Yes. One of the best and says something fully profound? Just beam me up on the ship at this rate.

My Rating: 3/5

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Plot: A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.

Back in September 2022, I had just started my third year in college. Back then, it was a time of optimism for me personally. I had a circle of friends that stuck together no matter what, I had an interesting career prospect laid out for me(which sadly got ripped away in the cruelest of circumstances later on), I was well-vested in my own interests of movies, TV, football(or soccer wherever you’re from) and all other stuff, and my studies were going along smoothly. And I had a class where I was placed in a group of 5 and our task was to create a project that could be accessible to anyone. It could be a prototype for a game, or an app for guidance etc.

While I remember that class mainly because 4 out of the 5 of us in that group actually put in consistent effort and wanted to do really well out of it(I’m sure you all can relate to that), I did remember the first conversation and original concept for our project. My friend in that group said he wanted to make something ‘inspired by The Backrooms’, and my response was: “The Backrooms? What the hell is that?” Either I was on the wrong side of the internet of the time, or was extremely clueless, I decided to look it up later that day just to try see my friend’s point. What I saw wasn’t just interesting and unique, but it did heighten my nerves over how more tensed up I got the more I watched it, seeing these open rooms and corridors all in the same yellowish colour and getting the feeling that you, the viewer, was being watched also.

The Backrooms was originally devised from a 2019 4Chan thread of the same name, creating a creepypasta phenomenon out of it. This phenomenon would later be expanded upon by a YouTuber named Kane Parsons, creating and uploading an anthology series out of it on his channel, Kane Pixels, which would garner a lot of traction and be known for its terrifying tension and suspense all throughout. This would get the attention of big studios and certain creatives within the entertainment industry and eventually, Kane Parsons would soon get a chance to adapt his online web-series into what would now be his directorial debut. With newcomer Will Soodik penning the script, getting financially backed by horror filmmakers Oz Perkins and James Wan and having indie studio A24 behind the film, there was certainly potential for something intriguing here to be fully realised.

Backrooms interestingly serves itself as more of an experience, rather than something that could give everyone cinematic resolution. Within the first few moments of the film, you are immediately introduced to the concept of this liminal space aesthetic and what it may hold within. Even using the found-footage POV at times with the characters you follow, the film masterfully creates intrigue for the viewer to wonder about it. And at the same time, feel the pure dread over how endless the rooms and spaces are and forces you to create a ‘mental map’ over where the entrance/exit is, count the steps taken and feel you are being watched by an unseen force that even you can’t tell if it’s there or not, waiting to come out or you’re losing your mind in paranoid fear. That is the strongest aspect of the film, it drips in relenting atmosphere that can be quiet at times, while also feeling just as intense when something unordinary is there in that space. The sound design of it all is absolutely tremendous when it comes to those moments, and the cinematography makes you feel that it is so big, yet so very easy to get lost in all at the same time in both the curious and tension-filled way altogether. And when things do go off, it can be just as impactful, frightening and sometimes more visceral than you’d expect completely.

You mainly follow the film from the lens of the two main actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor(Clark) and Renate Reinseve(Mary). Both of them do a great job being the observers of certain things, being the eyes of the audience in every space they go into and how they communicate with each other about it, while also having their own character journeys that do provide a fair bit of emotional resonance to grapple onto. But I’d argue the MVP here is Mark Duplass as Phil, a researching scientist who is someone you can regard as untrustworthy, but at the same time, may know more than he says and Duplass rides that fine line excellently. It may not be the most thematic, but it can have a say in how we view things and remember through memories.

As this film does serve itself as an experience rather than having a resolution, it does however bring forward what I felt was the main problem. The journey you go on and the intrigue of the mystery all throughout is far more interesting than what the final act answers are, and it can leave some level of disappointment by them. Even when they came around in my view, I had hoped they’d stick the landing but there was a general feeling of ‘hold on, that’s IT?’ sinking in afterwards. The closest thing I can think of when referencing this feeling is like when I first saw M. Night Shyamalan’s movies of Signs, The Village and The Visit etc. The journeys you go on in those movies are interesting, you are intrigued as a viewer, but when the final act hits with its answers, you are left feeling burned and cheapened out. And that’s what I mainly got here. The answers aren’t egregious-like, they’re just disappointing in the normal sense(though I can’t speak for everybody in how they’ll experience this film anyway, it may be different).

Backrooms does serve itself as what is is. An adaptation of an online web-series with a very unique and interesting horror concept, that goes bigger than it was, creates a lot of suspenseful dread, has the explosive scary moments when they do happen, solid performances from the cast, but has final payoffs that do leave you wishing it had more overall. With brilliant filmmaking from a creative first-time director in Kane Parsons, it will remain to be seen if that talent of this can be fully realised in another capacity within not just The Backrooms, but also in the entire genre of horror altogether. Though it may not have the best of resolutions, Backrooms is an experience worth going on for the journey itself, though the expectations would have to be tempered ever so slightly as it goes on. But it does bring out the cautious reminder to always know where you’re going and look over your shoulder just in case.

My Rating: 3.5/5

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Plot: The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter, Din Djarin, and his young apprentice, Grogu.

Back in 2019 when the streaming service Disney+ launched, the first set of subscribers would be first to witness one of the main headlining shows on there, known as The Mandalorian. Created by filmmakers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the show presented itself as more of a sci-fi western as it followed this bounty hunter taking up jobs just to get by, with the central heart of it eventually becoming an adopted father-son story between the title character and an alien species named Grogu(or Baby Yoda as the mainstream would celebrate him as). And with its first two seasons, filled with gritty action, that central heart beating at the centre of it, and a whole lot of cameos(with the finale of the second season being a franchise high point for so many fans), the show had brought forward something unique and interesting that the fanbase really appreciated.

But also back in 2019, was the year when the most polarising trilogy of movies(Episodes 7-9) within this franchise came to an end. The Rise of Skywalker may have brought in over $1 billion from the worldwide box office, but the film would be widely regarded by many as not just a colossal disappointment, but an absolute embarrassment of a film that showcased how ‘out of control’ the Lucasfilm heirarchy was at the time in overlooking this trilogy with no story plan at all, and TROS showed the absolute worst of it. Coming off of it, Lucasfilm and Disney agreed to put all their eggs in the Disney+ basket, by creating a variety of TV shows to try keep the interest in this galaxy alive. However the quality was just as all over the place. There was phenomenal stuff with Andor one minute, and then you see how absolutely atrocious The Acolyte was in the next.

And The Mandalorian would fall victim to this also. After riding the highs of the first two seasons, the originally planned third season would get shoe-horned into The Book of Boba Fett at the very end of that show’s run to try make it more interesting to viewers. And what is in the actual third season of The Mandalorian would shockingly end up being directionless and tedious to watch in its storytelling and characterisations all round that you wouldn’t even try care anymore. And I argue to this day still that a ‘specific episode’ in that third season was the day the show fully fell off a cliff because not only is it atrocious and out-of-place, but it was an actual embarrassment to see Star Wars resort to ‘unfunny celebrity cameos’ to try hold a candle still.

The show was originally planned to have a fourth season, but Lucasfilm and Disney as it’s now documented, thought this show could hold itself as a movie and this is where we are now. After so many project announcements for other movies that would never see the light of day or even have a first-drafted script written, the first Star Wars movie back in cinemas in 6.5 years is just an extension of a TV show that requires cinema-goers to sit through three full seasons, and having barely of its own audience left to be even interested. Star Wars movies releasing in cinemas used to be a cultural event and generated lots of hype, and the fact this film hasn’t had that just shows how far down the wayside it’s gone over the years. Sad times indeed.

And now after seeing it, the most generous thing I can say is that it’s not terrible like most of the third season of the show(or even some of my lower ranked projects within this franchise). But in my own apathy, I could not care what was on the screen here because like I said in my Maul: Shadow Lord review, this not only feels like it’s coming out way too late, but compared to Maul, it feels like it’s doing the absolute risk-free bare minimum in trying to justify its own existence, rather than do something wildly creative and interesting.

I have a lot of negatives to get through, so I may as well lay it out what the positives are first and the general reaction by many others who have seen this film(or plan to soon enough). The film is written, directed and produced by Jon Favreau, and the film is professionally-done and slickly made to make it look like a movie. There are a few humourous moments and some of the action can be interesting to watch. It does have a few quiet moments to let you breathe and appreciate the nature of things before it all kicks off again. Ludwig Goransson’s score is the one thing that I felt was rock solid all throughout(though that’s not saying much given his musical talent at this stage). And for the most part, it is watchable and if you go into this film with the lowest of expectations, you’re bound to get some enjoyment out of it(and by the current Letterboxd average rating at this stage, 3.2/5 is a little favourable for this film, my profile is here if interested).

Unfortunately though, this film felt exactly how I first imagined it would be. Something so safe, risk-less, flavourless and honestly, very boring in long stretches. For the first Star Wars film to come out since the end of 2019, you’d expect a whole lot more in story, character and spectacle but here, it’s just an extension of a TV show that has lost most of its audience by this stage and the entire thing feels like 4-5 episodes stringed together to make a feature runtime. And none of those ‘episodes’ are interesting and feel like content filler that had to get put out there in some way shape or form. This is just the bare minimum on the screen and it’s just dire to sit through in my view.

In the storytelling progression, this film has the same problem as the 2008 Clone Wars project, it is also something made of TV episodes strung together to make a movie. You can see and tell where the start and end of each episode is because in pockets of spaces throughout, the characters go somewhere, say and do something, have a big fight to overcome, has a resolution. Rinse, repeat. Now this wouldn’t be a problem if the episodes were even interesting and engaging, but they are not, they are just so bland and gives you no reason to fully care about the general conflict at play here. And the characterisations feel just as much as at the start of the movie, they start one way and by the end, they are still the same as they were. There’s barely any thematic purpose or lesson you’d get out of this. And there is even a moment where not only do things pad out in a very boring way in the second half, but the film cheats itself out of something that I actually thought at first they were going to commit to. It’s that sort of ‘safe storytelling’ that annoys me in blockbuster filmmaking, let alone in Star Wars.

But the biggest things I can say that pose as the ultimate negatives in this film is that the CGI in multiple scenes look absolutely atrocious, and the acting/voice-acting ranges in-between bad and ‘checked out’. When it comes to the CGI, I tend to feel very sympathetic to the visual artists forced to be overworked to do some scenes here because some backgrounds and character models look so ugly and dreadful to even look at times. Even as there are some decent practical effects at play sometimes, they’re overshadowed by the other visual things that look gross and groggy to look at really. And for the acting, there is a general vibe of ‘I’m only here to pay off my yearly taxes’ all throughout. Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian has been solid as this character(especially in the show’s first two seasons), but here he looks and sounds so checked out that he wishes to move on from this quickly soon enough. Sigourney Weaver plays a rebel pilot Ward, and she frustratingly phones it in in every scene she is in. Steve Blum does try as Lasat fighter Zeb as he always does(even back in the Rebels days), but even he sounded a bit off at times. But the most painful thing is hearing both Martin Scorsese and Jeremy Allen White play two specific alien characters and I don’t know what happened here, but even they are giving performances that do enough to boggle the mind at how awful they sound, until later on you are left numb by them in the end. The performances here made me miss the gravitas that Giancarlo Esposito brought to the table as Moff Gideon in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian completely, it’s that bad here(granted they are working off of scraps really).

Even upon leaving the screening, the most I got out of the experience was hearing and acknowledging my small audience being very confused at what was going on, clearly haven’t even watched the show beforehand and some fool hilariously embarrassing himself by saying the ‘ending’ of the movie, and getting it horribly wrong. When I get that more than what the film offers, especially when it’s a Star Wars project, that just tells you the state of things on the movie side for this franchise. And this film doesn’t even justify having that movie status either as what it is really, just extended filler content you’d only watch on Disney+ and completely forget about it once you’re done. Even when Star Wars was at its greatest heights in hype(as well as being very polarising) back then, there was at least something to talk about passionately and engage in a lot of debate(like imagine my conversations with people about my love for the Prequel Trilogy and hatred of the Sequels). Here, it is an absolute struggle to talk about because this film is so safely bland, flavourless, extremely boring and easily forgettable all at once. Even as an extension of the TV show of the same name, it seems this might be the final legacy left behind for The Mandalorian and Grogu altogether. It feels exactly how it is and even though I respect those who may get some enjoyment out of this, I think I’m more keen in hoping something else and new in this galaxy comes around now. It was a good ride back then, but now this isn’t the way anymore.

My Rating: 2/5

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Plot: After breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

Ah, romance. A phenomenon I’m certain we’ve all experienced at least once in our lifetimes. From being the shy crush afraid to ask someone out, to having that awkward first date that you may have accidentally thought you desperately needed to impress, to eventually getting together and lasting for many months and years afterwards until you get married(or it ends in ruin either maturely or harshly). It’s something that naturally comes to us all, and while not everyone may admit it outright, it is a nice thing to experience and wish for it to last for rest of their lives.

Enter Curry Barker, writer, director and editor who has been making a name for himself in the horror scene with his short films and his 2024 directorial feature debut, Milk & Serial. He decides to take an idea of what if someone who wanted to be loved so much, wished with a specific token to have his crush and make it an uncomfortable and terrifying ordeal rather than something more cutesy and fun like say, a romantic-comedy may do similarily? And with horror studio Blumhouse producing the film, it would start to gain traction after its initial premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival(TIFF) last September and on this weekend, the hype has completely taken off on it online.

And as a current singleton myself seeing this with a crowd mixed with people like myself and couples alike, it is an uncomfortable, tension-filled watch, yet it all works outstandingly well with the central messaging also.

Keep in mind, going into this, even with Blumhouse behind the film and how ‘all over the place’ their track record can be in their filmography year-to-year, there was that ‘underlying feeling’ that this film easily could’ve gone horribly wrong. But Curry Barker’s gift here is finding and revealing a lot of details hidden within the skin of it all, no matter how simple it may look at first. Early on in the film, it establishes the character of Bear as someone who wishes greatly to be loved and give it back in return, and after he uses the One Wish Willow token on his longtime crush and co-worker, Nikki, the film takes an uncomfortable turn and lays it out to him that what he may have thought of originally, ends up as something else entirely. It’s not just a message of ‘be careful what you may wish for’ at the centre of it, but Barker’s script overlooks other thematic aspects such as obsession(obviously), natural love, lust and even emotional and psychological abuse. And how he lays it out, the film brings out scenes of pure tension and uncomfortable feelings for anyone to watch this, giving a fear that a ticking time bomb could go off any second if Bear makes the next wrong move.

The character work in this film is absolutely excellent all throughout. While Bear may serve as someone who does indeed have good intentions at the start and his wish is relatable to anyone in life, the film does make it clear that he isn’t one to fully 100% sympathise with even after the wish is granted. Even if he is one that doesn’t want the worst to happen, it makes it clear that his own obsession with his wish clouded his judgement and made him quite selfish really. But Michael Johnston’s performance also levels that to make the audience feel somewhat sorry for him remarkably, it is such a rich performance that says so much. His friends Ian and Sarah(played by Cooper Tomlinson and Megan Lawless respectively) are also great anchor-points to help try settle down and set things straight, making enough room for the audience to care about them as much also. But Inde Navarrette’s performance as Nikki is absolutely tremendous, capturing the perfect blend of ‘the perfect crush/girlfriend’ and ‘the worst person to ever be with’ all at once. She carries the film and its central conflict all throughout, bringing out a lot of emotions that walk on the line of uncomfortable, crazy and terrifying, while also showing enough that she’s really the main victim of Bear’s actions that can make you be sympathetic at the same time. There is even ‘a certain scene’ where she is just smiling and let me tell you, my audience were ‘holding on in pure dread’, wanting to look away but just couldn’t, it’s an absolutely phenomenal scene when it happens.

It’s also a film that looks fantastic to look at. Made just under a $1 million budget, there is a lot of fantastic cinematography and lighting choices going on in almost every scene. Curry Barker even makes it quite a ‘playful’ situation in how the sets are arranged, how they’re lit, how the actors are blocked and captures the performances completely in order to get that underlying tension that lingers all throughout the film. And when the final act comes around, things are ramped up and the ‘true horror’ is let out, making it so satisfying and profound to witness, even when the final resolution is paid off with the central messaging.

In terms of negatives, there isn’t much to consider as this is one of the best new horror films to come out of recent years, but there is ‘a certain aspect’ that I did catch on and was admittedly, a bit confused by the logic of it. It may be just a nitpick in the greater scheme of things, but even as writing about it here(without giving away spoilers), it did leave me wondering a bit too much about it.

But besides all of that, Obsession is one of the best horror experiences of the year and earns every right to regarded as highly as it is. With a very thematically-rich and tight script, amazing filmmaking, brilliant performances(with one being more transcending above the others), a frantic and crazy final act and a central message that rings true to anyone, this is a film that is bound to be scary while also giving anyone a lesson on natural romance. While I personally can’t speak for anyone who’s in a relationship right now and obviously not a relationship counsellor, I can speak as a single 25 year old what I got most out of it. Love is a beautiful thing, and anyone can wish to have it as much while having the purest intentions. But even so, you just have to let it come to you naturally and you respect, communicate and cherish whoever the individual you may be with as much without losing yourself and becoming a selfish wretch in the process. Or this film may force you to reconsider and choose to stay single forever, that works well also!

My Rating: 4.5/5

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In 1992, two indie video game nerds, Ed Boon and John Tobias, created Mortal Kombat under studio Midway Games, presenting it as a tournament-based game with a variety of interesting and eccentric characters, and a lot of violent brutality in-between. The simple concept would end up being a massive success, spawning a huge franchise in the video game space and sell over 100 million copies across various titles for console and PC softwares altogether. And not to mention, have a pretty great and memorable theme song too.

And along with that, came the potential for other opportunities to branch out further. Along with the video games, came comic-book series, card games, TV shows and most notably, movies. The R-rated violent tournament franchise has seen a lot of success in a lot of ways, but when it comes to the movies, they’ve always had that ‘oddity’ to them in how they’re adapted as well as how ‘decent’ on a quality scale they really are. And in this new era of video game movie adaptations, Mortal Kombat would get another chance at having another go in the cinematic medium after a short stint in the 1990s. And with the release of a new entry in cinemas currently, I thought instead of a proper review for it, I’d talk about all of the live-action movies in a mini-ranking. If you’d like to get involved, please let me know what’s your favourite of the movies, or say which is the best/worst of the games. Have a lot of fun and respect for opinions also.

#4 - Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

When it comes to talk about what are either regarded as ‘funny bad’ movies, and the worst movies ever made, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation usually fits the bill for both. Despite it coming out right after the first film and picks up where it left off, you can SEE the quality drop-off immediately in the opening scene. Despite having a $30 million budget(by 1997 standards), somehow it looks like it was made for super cheap with some of the worst looking sets and green-screen backgrounds ever seen in any movie, the action stuntwork is all over the place(with people jumping and flipping around like as if they’re always leaping on a trampoline), the costumes look like really bad cosplay and feel like they were ripped out of a wardrobe seen more likely on a ‘adult-movie’ set, the plot is somehow straightforward and confusing all at once and the characterisations are absolutely bizarre in the ‘logic’ that the film is running on. But nothing compares to how hilariously atrocious the acting is from everybody, and the dialogue being even WORSE. Put it all together, you don’t just get a studio film where you feel everyone didn’t even try for this franchise and its fans, but it is absolutely remarkable that for a film of this budget, it is so bad, it’s extremely funny all at once. This is a film that earns itself the absolute worst title on it, whether as a video game adaptation or as a movie in general, but it is something that does need to be seen to be believed and it’s one of the perfect choices to watch if you want to get your friends together to be mindlessly entertained by how incredibly fake and inept it all is.

#3 - Mortal Kombat(2021)

A film that does a lot of things right as a Mortal Kombat adaptation, but is bogged down by the main focus and conflict throughout. For the positives, it goes all out on the violent carnage in the action set-pieces like in the games, the characters look and act very spot on to their digital counterparts, the castings of Hiroyuki Sanada, Joe Taslim and Josh Lawson as Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Kano respectively feel very inspired and it has the polish of 21st century filmmaking to make it very watchable and enjoyable for the usual audience-goer and fan. However, for how enjoyable it can be, on rewatch it’s pretty hard to be convinced by Cole Young as the central lead and tying him back to another character’s lineage. For how big of a roster Mortal Kombat has with its characters, the filmmakers created Cole specifically for this movie and he’s just not as engaging and interesting as everyone else around him. Lewis Tan does try his best in the role, but it doesn’t really click and it’s hard to care about him, even when things pick up late in the second half of the film. It’s frustrating because for everything else the people behind this got at least right to make this adaptation decent, that central plot-line choice really bogs it down.

#2 - Mortal Kombat(1995)

For how incredibly campy and tied-in to a certain decade this film can feel at multiple points while watching, the first adaptation of the video game series still delivers what you would come to see. Although it cuts back on the brutality to make it more sanitised and appealing for a wider audience, it’s a very simple story to follow about three misfits put together to try participate in a deadly tournament and save the world. It can feel very campy and cheesy about it even with how it’s filmed too, but it is part of what makes it quite fun and endearing. And when you do get to the fighting action, it does deliver as much on there. But what makes it all genuinely gel well together is the cast, as the main trio of actors Robin Shou(Liu Kang), Bridgette Wilson(Sonya Blade) and Linden Ashby(Johnny Cage) have solid chemistry with each other, Christopher Lambert as Raiden is very entertaining with his dry sarcasm and laughter, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung holds up as the best villain performance this franchise would ever have through and through. It may not be for everyone, it can be ‘too much’ in tone and the special effects do look very dated by today’s standards, but it is still wildly entertaining at the end of the day personally.

#1 - Mortal Kombat II

The newest entry in the series and serves itself as the most fun out of all the movies. Even though it’s very centred on the tournament and the fights within all throughout, screenwriter Jeremy Slater does do just about ‘enough’ to take the negatives from the first film and improve on them here, by making it a story centred on legacy characters Kitana and Johnny Cage this time. The end result is a story about identity and redemption and while it isn’t too thematic about it, it carries enough weight to make you care about the characters and conflict throughout. And when you do show up in hope for some great fights and a lot of violent deaths, it is pure ‘fan service galore’ and the film embraces it to make it extremely satisfying for the fans. It’s all professionally-done filmmaking-wise, it knows its aims, the cast are all having fun, and while it may not please everyone at how stupid it can be at times, for a franchise like this, a solid enough film is enough to make it a ‘flawless victory’.

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Plot: George Hardy is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can’t possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers.

Based off of the 2005 novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, The Sheep Detectives is a film coming out at a time where family films are having some more joy in getting made and freedom in what they could do currently in the live-action department, with some CGI characters in-between(the Paddington films would come to mind immediately on that). And in this case, this certain project involves talking sheep trying to solve a murder-mystery case in a lighthearted manner. And if that sounded bizarre at first to aim towards families(or just small kids are the primary target audience), the talent in-front of and behind the camera would also bring some further raised eyebrows. The film is being penned by screenwriter Craig Mazin(Chernobyl), directed by Kyle Banda(Minions 1 & 2) and have a cast involving Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Chris O’Dowd, Patrick Stewart, Regina Hall and even Bryan Cranston just to name a few. An absolutely strange project from the off with a mixed amount of talent all round.

And adding to that, when the first trailer released online, it was met with an odd reaction from many. A lot who viewed it couldn’t tell by the general vibe whether it was meant to be funny and endearing, or was this just a family film that was trying way too hard and we were waiting for the clarification of it upon release. So I took myself to go see it out of curiosity(as I do with most projects), made some sheep jokes that humoured my dumb self and allowed the film to try make a case that it had a good enough answer to provide.

What I got absolutely shocked me. This ended up being one of the biggest surprises of 2026.

For a film about talking sheep trying to solve a murder investigation, it had all the ingredients to sound way too stupid to take seriously and be not too funny all at once. And that would end up being the film’s biggest strength, because early on, it absolutely nails the tone, so well to catch anyone off-guard and ends up in the process being a film that isn’t just funny that the whole family could enjoy, but also be thematically-rich in a way that you wouldn’t expect out of this. For how it looks on the outside, it’s really a film about grief and the bad things that can happen in life to anyone, and in how Mazin’s script plays out, it can actually feel so profound and emotionally-resonating all at once. But when you do get to the humourous parts(mainly sheep joke-related), it can get quite a few decent laughs at multiple points in how both the sheep and human characters can react to certain situations throughout. It plays out in a way where you can feel the inspiration from other murder-mystery films like Knives Out and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but there is a general vibe at different points that reminded myself of the Babe films, and I ended up appreciating that also(even if it simply did just give off a nostalgic feeling).

The film itself looks really nice to look at. Kyle Banda may be well-known as a filmmaker that makes animated conveyor-belt type projects for Illumination mainly, but here you see the extent of what he can do in a live-action setting and for how he shoots the scenes and comedy altogether, so much so that it just disappoints me he actually has that talent as a director but it seems wasted away on his other projects(though that is a story for another time). But a lot of what really makes the film work through all the way is the cast are all having a fun time with the nature of things that go down here. The CGI sheep in question are all voiced by very talented and funny people(as few named above) and they bring a bounciness and chaotic energy to the film that can be really humourous and allow the audience to view sheep as animals in a completely different light also. Hugh Jackman as their farmer George Hardy is practically the beating heart of the film and it’s no shock to hear that he is great as usual in what he can do, bringing in a very believable performance as a man who loves what he does with his woolly friends. Even in the final act of the film when things come to the final payoff, the thematic culmination can say so much in the moment and does it extremely well in such a heartfelt and resonating manner that it can actually bring out some tears(which is the biggest praise a film like this could get, even if very unexpected at first).

It’s not a perfect movie however. When it comes to the murder-mystery aspects itself, it can have its back-and-forths in how an audience tries to work things out with the sheep characters, but it can make it at points ‘a little too obvious’, even when it’s revealed what’s going on and the final resolution of it. Even after that, Emma Thompson who is quite funny as lawyer Lydia Harbottle, she felt quite under-utilised and it did make me wish there was more done with her. But the actor unfortunately who wobbled the most here is Nicholas Braun, who plays a quite clumsy policeman named Tim. And his broken English accent that he uses for this character is just severely lacking as well as isn’t as funny as the film tries to make it out to be unfortunately. He’s a good actor, but here it just felt like he was miscast in this specific role.

But despite all of that, The Sheep Detectives will still serve itself as a very big surprise to anyone who hears of the premise, assumes so little and may come out amazed by how much they got in a worthwhile way. While it may have its cutbacks, it’s marked with a story that can say so much and isn’t afraid to go heavy, have those really funny moments in its ridiculous nature and can maybe almost certainly have anyone who wants or has kids think afterwards: “I gotta show them this.” It’s a film that has no right in being as good as it is, and will go down likely as one of the biggest surprises of 2026 altogether.

My Rating: 4/5

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Plot: After the events of The Clone Wars, Maul seeks to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire, and an apprentice to enact his revenge.

Way back before Disney bought out Lucasfilm, Star Wars was in a particularly ‘interesting’ spot. The Prequel Trilogy, despite now being viewed in a very positive light nowadays, was a wildly mixed pop culture topic to discuss about, whether it was about the lore, characterisations or general quality that it added to the Skywalker Saga. One of these talking points came with the villain of The Phantom Menace, the visually-terrifying and silent Zabrak Sith Lord, Darth Maul. Although he was only present in that movie, his silent demeanour, devilish design and acrobatic skills with a double-bladed lightsaber(along with his iconic music theme to go with it, Duel of the Fates) made fans love him as a ‘visual villain’ but came out wanting more. Enter Dave Filoni, who agreed with George Lucas in the making of The Clone Wars, to bring Maul back and characterise him as one of the best tragic villains in the entire franchise. His presence and Sam Witwer’s voice performance for the rest of that show’s run garnered a lot of attention and made fans come out immensely satisfied.

And when Disney bought out Lucasfilm and all their properties back in 2012, one of the biggest things a lot of fans wanted to see was a TV show or a feature-length movie where the Zabrak warrior was front-and-centre(or as the main villain). Even when The Clone Wars returned and concluded properly in 2020 and with a couple of appearances elsewhere, a lot of people still held onto that hope that it could happen with the former Sith Lord. However though, in the time between that, a lot of fans have been rightly burned out or moved away from the sci-fi franchise, due to the inconsistent quality of multiple projects(especially within the Disney+ circle) or feeling that the heirarchies at Lucasfilm and Disney were on completely different wavelengths to what fans were on altogether. However, the most recent encouraging sign that life was still left in this franchise happened in May 2025, thanks to how the TV show Andor concluded, Revenge of the Sith’s 20th anniversary cinema screenings being a box office success and Battlefront 2(2017) getting a massive boost in the player base on all gaming consoles.

And this show would mark the beginning of a new era also. With head creative Dave Filoni now being promoted as co-president with producer Lynwen Brennan after succeeding Kathleen Kennedy earlier this year, it is yet to be determined if they would indeed steer Star Wars back to the top or its glory days are now over for good. Regardless, one area of Star Wars that has always been consistent in quality in recent years has been its animation sector and with Maul: Shadow Lord taking on the same artstyle as The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi, it would have the attention of those left within the fanbase to see it for themselves.

The first thing I would have to say is perhaps the worst thing though. I think this show has come out far too late, because I do remember when Star Wars was at its greatest heights in hype and this being high on the wishlist of many over what they wanted to see most. The show coming out NOW, after we’ve seen Maul as a character show up in most other things, as well as there’s barely any interest in the wider franchise anymore, just shows how all over the place Disney and Lucasfilm’s priorities were in the last couple of years(the only good thing about that is that those consequences are hitting them hard where it hurts most). If Shadow Lord did come out at a time when there was still enough excitement and anticipation all round, this show would’ve performed much better overall. As is, you see the show as it is now and just have take it really.

But is the show in any way recommendable? For the most part, it is, but it does have some things that can make it just a little lacking elsewhere.

The main drawback is perhaps the pacing. Despite it being ten episodes for a first season of television, the events that go down here take place at most only a matter of days(especially in the back half where it all comes to a head in just a few hours). So there is always something happening in every episode, and for some it may seem too overwhelming to keep up or breathe in the small moments it does stop for. And another thing to note is that there is an element involving one of the characters and in how their arc is concluded, it can feel like a missed opportunity, even after what’s done with them beforehand.

Everything else however, delivers what you’d want out of an animated criminal underworld show set within this universe. The animation is super pristine to look at all throughout, every frame is gorgeous, with some of the best lighting and composition seen in any of the Star Wars animated shows. There may be a lot of action here also, but it’s great to watch, even when it doesn’t have much restraint like with the other shows and it can get more violent and brutal for a show of this size and scope. The lightsaber action is also excellent, some of the choreography here is absolutely stunning(even coming to a peak in the final two episodes) and there’s a lot of thematic purpose to the fights which make them more engaging to watch. There’s even some ‘callbacks’ to projects such as Solo: A Star Wars Story in that they acknowledge several aspects that tie things together in the timeline nicely, and some really fun visual moments linked to Sam Witwer’s past projects(episode 9 having a ‘small homage’ to The Force Unleashed video game series which I certainly appreciated). And the story is actually really engaging to follow, even raising the stakes in a ‘levelled’ manner the more it progresses and even makes the Empire and the Inquisitors feel like a genuine threat all throughout.

But what really lifts the show up are the characterisations, the interractions and the thematic weight to them. For a sci-fi crime show, it can have a lot to say about revenge, conscience, morality, mortality, and even memory. Maul may be a character that is deeply tragic as is ruthless, but here they do play a lot into what makes him struggle as well as be a dark warrior/criminal that has ‘seen it all’ in his life, and his interactions with surviving Jedi, Devon and her master Daki show that well in how conflicting their worldviews are, but may have to come to an agreement against the Empire however much they despise it. And the voice cast are all tremendous at what they do here. Of course Sam Witwer can practically play Maul in his sleep and it’d still be captivating, but Gideon Adlon and Dennis Haysbert as Devon and Daki respectively play well off each other as familiar but fresh enough takes on the Jedi survivor archetypes. Wagnour Moura is a great addition in this universe as Captain Lawson, juggling to know what’s the right thing to do as well as look out for his son Rylee, played just as well by Charlie Bushnell. And imagine my surprise when I first heard Richard Ayoade’s voice playing a police droid named Two-Boots. Yeah.

The show was pretty consistent for the most part and seemed to be just a ‘good tier’ type as you’d imagine at first. But the finale of the season elevates this for me personally. Throughout the show, a ‘specific element’ is teased and when it comes round in the finale, it felt like a natural and well-earned payoff that fans like myself would love completely. Although Star Wars has fallen into the trap of being quite over-indulgent in trying to get an element into their projects just to elevate it cheaply, this show actually sets it up, takes its time with it and in payoff, it felt right for once and it’s treated in-line well with everything seen before in the most perfect possible way.

Maul: Shadow Lord may not fully be one of the absolute best of the TV shows but in execution, it is definitely one of the better ones as part of the Disney+ assembly line. With fantastic animation, an engaging story, great character work, stunning action and a finale which is bound to get people excited and wanting more, the show for its first season has gotten the fans back on-side for now. It will remain to be seen how this show progresses as well as how Star Wars continues to reshape itself as part of the new era up-top but this show is one that proves with enough creativity and vision behind it, there is still much to love about this franchise in the current moment(for now at least…).

My Rating: 4/5

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Plot: Discover the story of Michael Jackson, one of the most influential artists the world has ever known, and his life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world, highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career.

Ever since the rip-roaring(and now controversial) commercial success of 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, the entire film industry took it as a sign to take a lot of legacies of certain musical artists and retell their life stories and songs within the biopic sub-genre. A few of these in recent years have been quite good like Elvis, some have been okay like Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere and then there’s Back to Black. Regardless, no matter the quality, these films were based off on singers that had massive fanbases that still love their music, even after they’re gone or past their prime, showcasing them as the interesting characters they were in life and pop culture altogether.

And it would perhaps be argued that it was ‘only a matter of time’ until a film about who has been tipped as the greatest pop star on the planet, the ceremoniously titled ‘King of Pop’ aka Michael Jackson, would moonwalk into this current stream of biopics. The ever-celebrated popstar may have passed 17 years ago, but the legacy left behind is truly undeniable. From his signature dance moves, to the cheery ‘hee-hee’ in his voice and being the main vocalist of some of the greatest pop songs to ever be sung(such as Billie Jean, Thriller, Ghosts, Smooth Criminal, You Are Not Alone, Earth Song etc), he has been an universally-interesting entertainer that has truly stood the test of time altogether.

But making a film about him does however have its particular challenges. It has been widely documented how demanding and troubling of an upbringing he had as a child, merged with the fact that his personality off-stage did have a lot of weirder quirks than the typical human being. Adding to that, in recent years, his name has been brought up when it comes the nature of certain lawsuits and what ‘may or may not’ have gone on at his Neverland Valley Ranch in California. So when this film was first brought into the development process, the entire Jackson Family(aside from his daughter Paris and sister Janet) were eager to get this right and keep Michael’s name and image in good faith with the audience. Enter screenwriter John Logan(Gladiator, Hugo, Rango, Skyfall) and director Antoine Fuqua(The Equalizer, Training Day), two widely different creatives that run on different styles and lines of work. And in a show of ‘good family faith’ and taking a risk all at the same time, instead of going the usual route of finding a specific actor already in the industry, the producers have turned towards Jermaine Jackson’s son, Jaafar, to play his late uncle in the title role.

This biopic has a lot riding on it, even with a good amount of generated hype online ever since the first teaser released back in November 2025. And even with that hype, is the online discourse over how people are discussing the film after they’ve seen it. The typical ‘critics vs audiences’ divide being out in full force once again, in terms of how widely entertaining it is and if it is indeed something to be commended on a quality level.

I’m not going to try hide my feelings upon going into this. Michael Jackson is my all-time favourite singer/entertainer so already, a biopic of him would be something of great interest to me personally. I do acknowledge what is said about him these days, but outside of all of that, I do personally love all of his songs and albums(I find myself listening to them constantly on my Spotify) and when this was announced, I was excited, but admittedly cautious. Would it likely be perfect? No, but this is a film that has a ‘very easy’ task really: just be entertaining. And does it deliver on that at least? In my view, it does(shrugs).

The main thing I can say here is that Michael does indeed run on a ‘tried-and-true biopic formula’ that Bohemian Rhapsody practically popularised, and it is going to depend how others will view or enjoy the film in that light. Because in that formula, it technically follows certain story beats, look over many aspects of a singer’s life and musicography but most of it is just touched upon once or not looked too deeply into it(practically like a ‘CliffNotes’ version). It does make Michael lose a small bit of its appeal there and because it’s set in-between 1964-1989, you only get to see the first half of MJ’s life and career here which can make some who see this may wish there was more, even by this film’s final conclusion. And while the film is professionally-done and you can see the effort on-screen to recreate certain career moments from a cinematography and editing standpoint, Antoine Fuqua’s directing style can be just a little lacking at points really.

But because MJ was such an interesting and complex figure, now after seeing it, I argue that maybe this film being more ‘self-contained’ in those said years above, kinda works in its favour. And with that came what is the main conflict, which is the relationship between Michael and his father Joe. There’s a lot of themes about inability to grow, family, abuse and knowing your place, making it be far more deeper than I expected honestly. It’s not too thematically-rich per se, but there is a central message that I did get out of it and any talk of not being one in the online discourse right now, I think that’s absolute nonsense really.

But as a film, it does stand on its own with the intention of celebrating the King of Pop’s talents within his music and while watching it, it gave me ‘that reminder’ of why I and many others became a fan and loved it all. Whether it’d be Thriller or Billie Jean, you remember what made you enjoy them and you can’t help but embrace the vibes of it all. And I can tell you all, my audience was packed out and we were all having a great time whenever a new song came on respectfully.

But I think what absolutely works for me here and makes this film as thoroughly enjoyable, is the entire cast. Although this being a film that follows that biopic formula, the cast are all seriously committed and do much more than what the material may offer to them at first. Jaafar Jackson, what a fantastic lead performance. Not only does he have the heavy task of playing his famous uncle, he nails down the voice, the mannerisms, the hidden emotions of a certain situation, the dancing and is just an insanely great singer, I almost accidentally thought Michael actually came back to life. It’s a performance that keeps the film together and he does it excellently here. Juliano Krue Valdi plays the child version of Michael in the first act and is just as interesting also. Nia Long is almost the ‘hidden gem’ playing Michael’s mother, Katherine, in what she stands for on a thematic level and she is wonderful as ever. But if you know me personally, I don’t ever shut up by how much I love Colman Domingo as an actor and him as Joe Jackson, he is terrific and also, wow do you despise him at the same time in what he does in-character too. There is even a scene between him and Jaafar Jackson that is almost played like silence and it says so much in the moment, it is a highlight of what the final messaging is in the end also.

In finality, it’s not a perfect film. It is widely documented that this film had to change several things in production and with that usual biopic formula, it can be a bit lacking to many people at this point in time. However though, as a film that does have a story with a decent enough attempt at a message that can resonate with many and serves itself as a celebration of a famous entertainer, it does work well enough for the right people. It will remain to be seen if the producers behind this film will follow through and indeed cover the second part of Michael Jackson’s life(including the more heavier aspects), but for now, we can take this film and acknowledge it as a full-on crowd-pleaser. For me, with the right levelled expectations, that’ll do well enough for me and many others. Not everyone will agree, but I’m always down for a fair and civil debate as a fan on that one.

My Rating: 3.5/5

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I suppose to those who’ve stuck around, and wanted to read or hear way back in September what the ‘actual shake-up’ was in my way of writing and reviewing stuff on here, you probably didn’t expect me to just leave. And either you moved on, you forgot about me, or you’re just stunned you’re still receiving stuff from me on here. That is all understandable.

But in getting to the meat of it, I’ll start off by admitting that I suffered from burnout last September. Shortly after my last article, I was completely drained from continuing on Substack for a while, I didn’t feel I got the growth on here as I hoped initially, and most of all, life happened and it was all a huge overload for me mentally that I decided to pull back from this. I know I should’ve written up a warning first before quietly disappearing that is.

But in how it is right now, I’ll be honest, I had no intention of returning on here at first. After I sorted out in life, I felt I had other things to look at, whether that’s me still trying to get out of my current job for something else, trying to hold onto a few friendships that have been ‘flimsy’ at times, trying to find a loving partner and yes, still trying to watch and enjoy different projects in my own time. I felt The Vault was pretty much an opportunity that I tried to build, but got nowhere really.

Then last week happened. A series of events where I was having ‘bad luck’ everywhere, no matter how good or well-meaning my intentions were. My emotions went ‘everywhere’ about them, it was ridiculous. And while venting to a friend of mine about it, he then asked me: “Are you gonna bring back The Vault? You were happy doing that for a long time.” - And then the thought starts to seep in as he asked. I did remember myself quite liking that I used this space to invest my thoughts on things I loved most in life, and quite recently, with the amount of discourse in the entertainment scene online where I’ve had ‘massive disagreements’ about, I did feel I could’ve brought out what I thought about there. So I asked most people I know for their opinion, and the answer was quite one-sided, they wanted a return of The Vault.

And so you can see here, I am back finally. A little rusty and dusty, but I’ll have to try make do with what I can. I have rebranded the colour scheme of The Vault(call me ‘pretentious’ on this all you like) as a way of making this feel ‘reborn’ in a new light. And with the summer blockbuster season about to start this weekend, I figured as I now feel reinvigorated, I’m ready to give this another go and hopefully this time, it pays off more.

So what happens from here anyway? Well, given that there’s a lot of movies and other projects about to come out, I will be doing reviews as normal. I will also want to do some more rankings on filmmakers and franchises when necessary(Star Wars was pretty fun, I want to try other ones like that). I will want to do more stuff on potential online controversy or discourse should it come up. And most of all, I just want to talk and debate stuff about entertainment with you all, while you also support me at what I do, because I do appreciate that most.

So yeah, that’s as much I can really say about this. If you wanna support me and The Vault, feel free to follow, subscribe and share to other like-minded people if possible. And as a bonus, my Letterboxd is right here. You can see all the stuff I see and my opinions firsthand there before I may talk about it on here.

Alright, let’s get back in reopening The Vault.

As part of a ‘new shake-up’ in how I approach film and TV reviewing on here, I’ve decided to follow a similar strategy that the best critics and content creators in the entertainment space have by listing out all the projects they’ve seen in a month. These will be listed out from start to end of the month, the projects will be either released this year or were released a good while ago, and my thoughts and ratings will be listed alongside them. That way in general, I could have a word on everything I’ve at least seen and as usual, anyone reading can decide whether I’m right or wrong. Another reason why I’m doing this is that there are some things that I do want to talk about or revisit also in intricate detail to my liking as well as reveal a side of me that would feel fresh, new but familiar(and you’ll see that eventually and get my point very soon). So after all that, here’s what I sat down to in the month of August.

The Naked Gun(2025) - 3.5/5

This is the movie that had the most consistent laughs out of me in a cinema all year. For a straightforward comedy-parody series like The Naked Gun, you just have a simple thing to do, which is to be simple and funny all at once. And in what Akiva Schaffer and Seth MacFarlane managed to pull off here is quite something. While feeling like a true follow-up and honouring the past movies in their charm all at once, this film has some damn good jokes in this that were enough to make my audience snicker on-average every 35-45 seconds and the cast here are all having fun with the ridiculous nature of things too. It isn’t the deepest movie of the year and the villains are very so-so, but this comedy succeeded at what it mainly set out to do and for the budget it was made on($40 million), can this be a proper springboard to bring back mid-budget comedies again?

Bring Her Back - 4/5

This is the second horror film made by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou(also known as RackaRacka in the YouTube space) after their 2022 debut Talk to Me and it lived up to what I hoped for, while also shocking me in other ways. What I love for a fact is how relentlessly cruel the storytelling tactics are here in selling the main conflict and placing the characters within them also, in it that the Philippous give enough to let the audience have some hope, and then just rip it all away effectively while adding to the tension within the horror. Sally Hawkins is wonderful as the foster mother here, but Jonah Wren Phillips is a young prospect that makes the scare factor ramp up both internally and externally. It’s a film that probably won’t be viewed as one to rewatch a lot(given how extremely upsetting this can fall into at some points) and there is a ‘make-or-break’ choice made in the final act which can leave the audience split about the general feeling of the film. But as it is, these RackaRacka guys are proving they are becoming a new force to be reckoned with in the horror space.

War of the Worlds - 0.5/5

Oh man, how do I talk about this? I went into this hearing all the talk online, just flat-out curious about it and fair to say, this is indeed one of the worst movies of the year. H.G Wells’ War of the Worlds novel has been adapted multiple times to the screen and this is probably the worst one I’ve seen so far also. Produced during the hellish year of 2020, this film has practically been sitting on the shelf for these last five years and you can both see and feel that with everything on display here. The storytelling is both direly boring and absolutely ludicrous all at the same time(the final resolution is shockingly abysmal and hilarious), the filmmaking is stale to look at, the special effects are worser than what’s seen in my short film two years ago, the acting is purely dreadful and it feels like the polar opposite of what made a novel like War of the Worlds so interesting and investing to begin with. It’s not even consistently ‘so bad, it’s funny’, I found it ‘so bad, it’s depressing’.

Nobody - 4/5

Part of a rewatch refresher before the second film hit cinemas and like when I first saw it back in 2021, it’s very enjoyable as a hard-hitting action film. What’s appreciated is that the film has a very tongue-in-cheek approach to how peculiar the premise is, but has just enough to not overdo it too much and bring in some nice family drama in there also. Bob Odenkirk is solid as this mid-life crisis father who can defend his family and home and the action is very visceral as is satisfying to witness on-screen. The villains are pretty generic and it doesn’t always land when it comes to the drama within the conflict around Odenkirk’s character Hutch. But as is, it’s just a very simple action film that you can likely catch on a random TV channel one night and just watch it to pass time before sleep really. Could say it’s the closest thing in an alternate reality when Saul Goodman almost broke bad.

Weapons - 4.5/5

A film that is way more polarising than I would’ve imagined initially, but in my case, this is one of the best of the year. Zach Cregger is just an unique and refreshing new voice in horror that is full of ideas in the concepts he’s brought up so far, and Weapons is no different to that. While playing up more of a mystery-thriller rather than a full-on horror film, I appreciated that Cregger writes it out like book chapters the audience is reading, to see the different points-of-view before the inevitable chaos that goes down in the final act. The cast are all superb(Josh Brolin serving as the emotional core to me mainly) and when things get weird and intense, I just embraced it thoroughly. The final few moments of the film does end in an odd way that can take some of the satisfaction away, but the journey to get there was captivating and interesting to make this stand out as much.

Materialists - 3/5

This was one of my most anticipated films of the year, and while it’s nowhere near as bad as some are claiming it to be, this was pretty disappointing. Some have said to me “maybe it was my mood, because ‘a similar thing mentioned in the movie’ happened 24 hours beforehand”, when in actuality I appreciated that Celine Song acknowledged how short guys like me has been getting it in this current dating landscape(it sucks, much like everything else I tell you). As is though, I did love Celine Song’s 2023 debut Past Lives and while I liked she tried to play it up here with a bit of humour also, I didn’t get as much as I would’ve thought so. The main trio have great chemistry with one another, the filmmaking is absolutely lovely to look at in multiple scenes and it does have that ‘Celine Song charm’ which makes this quite endearing to watch. But I felt it didn’t always look into the thematic structure so much, especially when it comes knowing what you want in life and love and how the class system can manipulate that and there’s a plot-line involving Zoe Winters’ character which goes in a very dark direction that it kind of made the cutesy overall tone be very uneven. It’s decent enough, but for all the talent in-front and behind the camera, it should’ve been much more than that.

Nobody 2 - 3/5

This was about as decent as a Nobody sequel could be really. Nothing complex, nothing boring, just simple good hard action fun. The action is way bigger and more creative here than the first film(there’s one truly great sequence with a good song playing in background also), it embraces how ridiculous the plot can get even in the summer surroundings the film is based in and everyone just looks like they’re having a good time on-screen. It’s moreso a movie you can just watch on streaming mainly though but in what it is, it’s just good old fun and we can say that’s okay every now and then.

The Conjuring - 4.5/5

Starting a rewatch refresher here before the fourth entry comes out in September and I was still massively surprised by how great of a demon horror film this is. Likely James Wan’s best movie also, he goes for a lot of practicality in the filmmaking approach here which just amplifies the danger that the main characters are in, all while there is just a lot of great personal family drama at the centre of it all to make you care about the characters here. And this is by far the best acted film in this series also, with the two central performances of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga being just as natural and investing in their relationship and work as professional demon-hunters. What more can be added to it? It’s dramatic, it’s scary, you can’t take your eyes away from it, James Wan just made a great movie here(that started off a prominent horror cinematic universe in the process too).

The Life of Chuck - 3.5/5

Mike Flanagan and Stephen King practically go hand-in-hand at this stage that you would kinda expect it nowadays. But in this case here, it’s not a complex horror story this time but a drama about humanity and the joys and struggles that comes within life as we know it. It’s regarded as Flanagan’s most accessible film to date(because horror isn’t everyone’s cup of tea) and it did feel as much really. Watching this character, Chuck, go through everything that happens in this life made things feel strongly relatable to watch, but it never feels too overly joyful or joyless to sit through, you want to see him feel achieved in his life. Tom Hiddleston is just wonderful in the lead role(great dancer also, would love a straightforward full-on musical on that) and he has excellent chemistry with everyone. The film is shot gorgeously and has a simple grandeur about it too. But as much as I wanted to love it, the non-linear storytelling can get a bit lost from when the second act starts and I was made to work out certain ‘before and after’ moments in a confused manner. Even when the final payoff hits, it did make me feel I was missing that emotion that the film was trying to deliver also. But it’s a film I can see myself revisiting every now and then because of the message and endearing nature of it, so it can have that.

The Conjuring 2 - 4/5

This was a pretty fun rewatch. Practically because I recall this movie did give a week of panic attacks after I saw it back in summer of 2016 and seeing the scenes that ‘screwed me over the most’ made me feel quite humoured and also proud of myself from going from a small coward of horror movies to someone who would love a really good one these days. But there’s no denying here just how ambitious James Wan got after the success of the first film where everything to the script and filmmaking feels and looks bigger all throughout. Taking the real-life Enfield case and nicely incorporating all of the traits Wan has as a filmmaker makes this just as impactful and intense to watch at times, while also introducing a demon that would have a great impact here and spawn two spin-offs also(though that’s another story in general). Given how bigger the story is, the film can have perhaps a little bit too much going on throughout the first hour alone. But when the main plotline does get the main fuel in the tank, it becomes a very good to great horror film to sit through then. Not to mention, before Austin Butler did it, Patrick Wilson could sing with a great Elvis voice here. Where’s his recognition? Come on.

The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It - 2.5/5

Sat down to this for the first time since I saw this on first day when cinemas reopened here in Ireland back in 2021 after the ‘you know that period in society’. I remembered feeling quite let down by this and here, it was pretty much the same. For context, James Wan was working on another horror film at the time, Malignant, so The Curse of La Llorona director Michael Chaves stepped in here. And watching this right after the first two movies, you can feel the directorial change and it’s a contrast. It is professionally-made and watchable though and the cast are absolutely trying but as a complete unit, it’s pretty lacking. The story idea is seriously intriguing for a movie like this but the direction it goes makes you go: “Really now?”. And the scares are pretty so-so compared to the first two movies(besides one genuinely good one in the final act) which can add more to how lacklustre this film can be in its final presentation. It kinda would be hard to think how James Wan might’ve made this greater than it is(besides improved filmmaking) but with the fourth entry coming up now and Chaves directing this one again, I can only go into it with ‘reasonable’ expectations honestly.

Caught Stealing - 3.5/5

This is Darren Aronofsky’s(Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, The Whale) latest film and probably his lightest and most accessible to date(which is something you wouldn’t hear regarding his own usual style!). This film has been in development hell for the last 12 years now and for it to come out as good as it is, is quite pleasing. Charlie Huston’s script here features a lot of endearing elements regarding our main character being forced into one giant bad situation, while Aronofsky allows himself to get loose with it by having a sense of humour about it, while also keeping him of the darker and visceral traits he’s known for. The film all round looks absolutely gorgeous and the cast are all pretty great in their roles. But Austin Butler is practically the main glue of it all, another excellent performance from him here which highlights him as one of the best newer movie stars of this current day and age. It can move very fast and rely heavily on exposition to try explain the nature of things in 1998 New York and how the gangsters operate with their goals in mind. And there is ‘a certain choice’ in the middle that is shocking effectively when it happens, but as a final decision, it comes off as an afterthought immediately afterwards which is kinda disappointing to me(I don’t know, it’s hard to pinpoint it honestly). It’s a fun crime movie at the end of the day, but it also humoured me more knowing that Darren Aronofsky definitely can be inspired by other filmmakers(Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino in particular) to break out and try something different here.

And that’s what I watched this month. See these, form your own thoughts, say I’m right or wrong, I’d be curious myself. If you would like to know what movies I see first-hand before writing about them, my Letterboxd is right here. And if you want to support what I do on here, feel free to subscribe and spread the word out to other film and entertainment enthusiasts.

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Plot: A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.

There seems to be this ‘new form of giddiness’ coming into the entertainment airwaves nowadays when it comes to romance in movies. And not just a simple straightforward type of romance, this type features a female character wondering which of the two guys she’s seeing is more worth it in life after racking her and the audience’s brains out over it throughout the runtime also. This type of response from the audience all took off back when Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 tennis hit Challengers released when a similar concept occurred on-screen and due to what that film achieved, nowadays whenever we get similar films that feature such elements, it seems to take over social media for a bit also(even Mickey 17 earlier this year had a ‘brief moment’ that somehow overshadowed the film’s wider discussion).

However, while there seems to a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ feeling around those aspects with those movies mentioned above, it could be argued that this really all started thanks to Celine Song’s 2023 directorial debut, a serious ‘what could’ve been’ romantic drama, Past Lives. It had a similar concept but involving two former childhood lovers reconnecting after years apart, but one of them is now married with someone else. For all the contrived stuff that film could’ve easily done to ‘boost’ its main conflict, Celine Song crafted one of the most upsetting romances of that year, playing into the themes surrounding memories and ‘what ifs’, all coming up with something natural and enough to give a satisfying gut-punch to even make the audience reminisce about personal past romances also. Song utilised the intelligence of the audience all throughout and as a result, Past Lives was regarded as ‘top 5/10’ film for many at the end of 2023.

So it would be interesting to see what Celine Song would do next and now she has decided to go for inspiration from her days working as a professional matchmaker and show some of her own sense of humour about it this time with Materialists. Once again, she has gone for the simple template she went for in Past Lives(and other popular films with similarities) and there was some keen interest going in if she would strike for gold again.

Materialists comes off as one of the more frustrating films of the year because there’s really a lot to admire, it does score big in a lot of places, and there’s things that are bound to leave those who see it quite disappointed. For starters, the film all round looks great. Shabier Kirchner’s cinematography is quite stunning to take in at times(with some of the best lighting seen in a film like this in a good moment), really highlighting a lot of the lavish lifestyle that the characters find themselves within New York and visualising ‘that common class divide’ in subtle ways also. Celine Song’s directing is just as solid as it was in Past Lives, really showing her skill as one of the most ambitious and engaging new female directors of the genre(and film landscape in general). She has got a knack for very witty and sharp dialogue also, with some lines bound to get a decent laugh at times. And most of all, the main cast are all having fun on-screen and have pretty excellent chemistry with one another. Dakota Johnson is very steadfast and endearing as matchmaker Lucy and her conflict in knowing what she wants for herself and others both professionally and personally, is very interesting and engaging to follow as you want to see her come to the right choices in the end. Her back-and-forth between a millionaire client, Harry(played by Pedro Pascal) is humourous as is sometimes endearing, especially in the ‘perfect relationship commentary’ that Celine Song plays with also. But the genuine surprise is how well Chris Evans plays off of Johnson’s Lucy, as a former actor and ex-partner, John. He symbolises a lower class within New York and his back-and-forth with his counterpart is just as interesting to follow as the other relationship.

But where the film succeeds in the main areas to gauge interest to the audience, it falls flat in a lot of other areas, particularly in the final act when the resolutions hit. There’s an entire sub-plot surrounding Zoe Winters’ character, one of Lucy’s clients named Sophie, which on-paper, has some very admirable commentary about how the current dating and matchmaking scene can be ‘easily exploited’ by the most heinous of people and the consequences that arise of that, but it’s never properly developed or allowed time to stick. And for a romantic comedy in being quite cutesy in its presentation and appeal, that sub-plot goes to ‘very dark places’ at one point that it can be so jarring tone-wise. The decisions made regarding Lucy’s characterisation also in how she’s paired between Harry and John throughout, while interesting, can leave a lot to be desired also in how both male counterparts are developed around her. And this mainly occurs in the final act, when everything gets resolved, the final decision made by the lead character in applying ‘enough reasonable logic’ to the thinking can leave with a weird blend of satisfaction and dissatisfaction all at once. And in what other big ideas Celine Song looked to explore in the thematic structure about modern dating and the class system, a lot can fall off to the wayside in the second half making it quite unfocused in how things develop ‘after a certain point in time’ also.

It might be fair to say that living up to past expectations after the success of Past Lives, Materialists maybe wasn’t going to always live up to them. But where Past Lives struck a nice balance in its themes and emotional core, Materialists can be regarded as just as ambitious but not feel as fully complete like that project. Celine Song mainly succeeds most with the technical aspects and the main trio are interesting as have wonderful chemistry together in their main storyline. But with a sub-plot that feels like it drags and ends up feeling like it belonged in another different genre movie and the lack of emphasis in its themes in how things fully come together naturally in the final half, it can be somewhat disappointing and frustrating that this film isn’t as maybe great as it could’ve been. It does pass the time and is a decent ‘date night’ kind of movie to watch, but will you be wishing you had more by end of it? Probably so.

My Rating: 3/5

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