Predator: Badlands (2025)

 I really enjoyed Prey but because it came out when confidence in visiting cinemas was low then it meant that it got put on Disney+. I also enjoyed the animated film Killer of Killers so I was concerned that this film might not match up. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg who directed the enjoyable Prey and also 10 Cloverfield Lane. So the set up of the film is that our Predator is having daddy issues and goes to a planet to kill the ultimate monster but then he comes across Thia (Elle Fanning) who is secretly after the same thing along with her ‘sister’ Tessa.

There are plenty of things that I liked about this. This attempts to do something different and this film is a more family friendly film than we ever got. Some might take issue with that but I think it allows them to do something different. I still get shivers thinking about the 2018 version which was just terrible in every way imaginable. The fight scenes were pretty good and I did get the feeling that the film was turning into Home Alone towards the end but that final portion of the film worked quite well for me.

The introduction of Bud was a worrying moment because it felt like they had gone too far in trying to make it family friendly but they managed to push it just the right amount and Bud didn’t really have as much of an impact on the plot until the end when he needed to.

Elle Fanning isn’t someone that I am particularly familiar with although she was in A Complete Unknown but in this she plays both Thia and Tessa and I liked Thia because even though she was a robot, she had a personality and was a more interesting character than Tessa. The misconception about the role of the Predator is that anyone could play it but the truth is that you need someone who can bring a personality to the role. A bit like Kane Hodder did for Joson in the Friday the 13th films. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi brought some personality to the role of Dek and he felt like a Predator for the duration of the film. Together both Schuster-Koloamatangi & Fanning work well together and at the end I liked the idea that they could potentially have more adventures which will depend on how well this does at the box office.

The film ends with Dek killing his father and getting his dues but the last shot is of his mother’s ship coming towards and the idea of female Predator’s is an interesting one so the film does come with a sequel bait ending but one that worked and also an interesting one.

There is one big issue with the film or portions of the film and I was reminded of Aliens vs Predator: Requiem which isn’t a compliment and it was to do with the lighting. It was quite dark in some of the fight scenes and if you are going to do shakey cam then I need to see what is going on and whilst the darkness was at Requiem level but it was pretty close. 

Despite some mis-steps, this was a pretty decent Predator film. It’s not quite as good as Prey or even the animated Killer of Killers which came out just a couple of months ago but it feels like it's the beginning of a new era of films and as long as Trachtenberg is involved then I have confidence that the films will get better.

Shelby Oaks (2024)

Anyone who is prepared to go from critic to film maker deserves praise for putting their money where their mouth is and Chris Stuckmann goes from YouTube film critic to movie maker. He might have gone off the boil quality wise but not wanting to give negative reviews equating it to bashing a film maker, but I am prepared to be honest cause that is what people who review films do. Negative reviews can be constructive. Not sure if my negative comments are constructive but I don't mean them to knock Chris Stuckmann but they are just my honest opinion. The set up of the film is that we follow Mia as she attempts to find her sister who disappeared whilst filming some paranormal YouTube show having disappeared in 2008.

The performances were surpassingly good. Camille Sullivan plays Mia who drives the story forward and there is a determination in Mia to find her sister when it's clear that the police have pretty much given up. There is a likeable vibe coming from Sullivan’s performance even though the story doesn't quite allow her to show what she can do. Keith David pops up for an easy payday. He is in it for less than five minutes but sits in a chair to deliver exposition. 

The film suffers from pacing issues and also from the fact that the film doesn't seem to know what sort of horror film it wants to be. There are musical cues which make it feel like a big bombastic and there are jump scares which feel a little bit lazy. I dont mind jump scares but they have to be earnt and it felt like they were being thrown in there just to make something happen.

There are things to like about the film. The film does a good job of setting things up. The film seems to suggest that it's a found footage film but there isn’t very much beyond the opening part of the film. I do think that this film might have worked better as a found footage film so there is something commendable to try and tell the story in a different and less obvious way. There are some shots that are rather well done. The scenes inside the prison are well done and I also liked the portion of the film that takes place in the crazy woman’s house. It was clear from the very beginning that something wasn't quite right about her and there was a nice amount of atmosphere and tension although it was briefly undermined by the floating nonsense. The twist at the very end that the evil force was after Mia and not Riley was quite well done and some people might have seen it coming but I didn’t so that was well done. 

As a first attempt I think that this is a solid effort. Hopefully it does well enough for Stuckmann to get another crack at the genre. I get the feeling that most people will probably wait for this to come onto streaming which is probably where most people will enjoy it because it is better than most stuff you would find on Tubi or Shudder. Decent first effort.

The Running Man (2025)

It’s been four years since I last had the joy of watching a new Edgar Wright film at the cinema. The last being 2021’s Last Night in Soho which was my film of the year. This is the fourth Wright film seen at the cinema in the last seven days having enjoyed the Cornetto Trilogy. Technically this is a remake of the book and not the 1987 version so it would be unfair to compare the two. The set-up is that Ben Richards (now played by Glen Powell) goes on The Running Man show to get money to treat his sick daughter. He has to survive 30 days without being caught to win a life changing amount of money and he does the smart thing at first by hiding in a fancy hotel until he is found out.

I haven't read the novel so I don't know what both versions of the film have added or removed but there are plenty of nods to the 1987 version. I liked the Arnie money which features a couple of times and then there is the manipulating TV footage to fool the public which happens just once in the 1987 version but happens multiple times in this version. There is also the scene in the airplane cockpit which felt like a nod.

Glen Powell was very good and it was easy to root for him. Every so often it seems like Hollywood tries to push someone who is the next big thing and Powell is the latest attempt. What will help him is his charisma and the fact that he can act. Unless it turns out he is a MAGA supporter then things will only go up from here. Josh Brolin was a very good Killian. He didn’t quite have the vibe that Richard Dawson had as Damon Killan did in the original but in the context of this film it worked. It seemed like that 1987 version was split into two (maybe as it is in the novel) but it works because Brolin gets to play the soulless TV executive. Colman Domingo was good as Bobby T although I would have liked to see more of him. He does the theatrics that Damon Killan showed in the 1987 version and it's always good to see Domingo in pretty much anything. Katy O’Brian is very good as Laughlin although she deserves more screentime. I have been a fan of hers since seeing her in Love Lies Bleeding and it seems like she is having fun.

The film took a while to get going but I was never bored. Once he is on the run then things do seem to move along. Famous faces pop up to do their thing to aid the plot and Ben. William H Macey plays Bradley who helps give Ben his costumes and then rats him out when he is interrogated. Michael Cera pops up again as Elton and whilst this was never going to be on the level of Scott Pilgrim he does have some good stuff to do. I did chuckle with the idea that they went upstairs just so that they could go down again via the fireman’s pole. Sandra Dickinson pops up as Victoria (Elton’s mother) and has some good moments and this portion of the film was really good because it had comedy and some good action moments. 

I did like the YouTube inspired videos which were there basically to give us exposition but they were quite amusing. That felt like it was an Edgar Wright idea because it feels like it has his energy and style. The thing about the 1987 version is that it did a better job of showing the world not being a nice place, this version seems a bit stylised and doesn’t quite do as good a job of showing the society injustices. We get repeated speeches from Powell showing this but things look too clean except for the scenes where Ben is at home cause that area looks like a dump.

It didn’t feel like an Edgar Wright film. There were some great song choices which made it feel like one of his films and I will buy the soundtrack when it comes out but it didn’t have the flow that something like Hot Fuzz or Baby Driver had. It’s the most un-Edgar Wright film he has ever made. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination as I dont think that Edgar Wright could do a terrible film or a badly made film but it’s not one of his best. If you were judging this film on its own merits then it will be enjoyed by most people but if like me you are comparing it to other Edgar Wright films then you will struggle to not be slightly disappointed with it.

Bugonia (2025)

Bugonia is an English language remake of a 2003 Korean film that I am now going to have to watch to compare and contrast. The setup is simple enough. Jesse Plemons plays Teddy and Aidan Delbis plays Don who kidnaps Emma Stone's Michelle who is a powerful Pharmaceutical CEO who they believe is an alien. They shave her head so that they  

The film is essentially a three-hander with Stone and Plemons getting the lion's share of the dialogue but Delbis is still important in this as you end up feeling sympathy for him as it's clear that Teddy is the ‘brains’ of the operation. The question for me is whether Michelle was actually an alien or was this just a case of two conspiracy-theorists being spectacularly wrong. I don't often get to say I guessed it before it was revealed but I did guess it. There was one shot where Emma Stone’s eyes looked a lot bigger than Plemons’ or Delbis. There are some quite tough moments such as when Michelle is being electrocuted whilst Green Day’s Basket Case is playing. Also when Michelle finds the secret room which contains multiple photos of other people that Teddy and Don have done this to.

The film becomes really good to me when Teddy goes to visit his mother because that is when the film starts to go a bit crazy but in a good way. This is also when it's revealed that Michelle was an alien and the human race was basically a science experiment and the film ends with the entire human race dead. Cant think of the last film I saw where everyone dies.

The performances from Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are really good. Even when Stone is playing an alien she manages to pull it off. There is something about Jesse Plemons that make him believable whatever character he is playing and as a borderline unstable conspiracy theorist he is very good and you dislike him but brainwashing Don. There is one aspect of the plot that seemed slightly undercooked and that is when it is suggested that Casey the cop did something inappropriate to Teddy and that it may have been child abuse but its never really addressed and then moments later Casey is killed. That could have done with a bit more. 

The discussion of the bee numbers running low did remind me of a Doctor Who episode where the bees disappear because they have gone back home. Anytime a film reminds me of a Doctor Who episode in a good way is always going to sit well with me. 

Despite liking this film and thinking that the performances were really good I don't think this is the best Yorgos Lanthimos film ever but I do think that its a lot of fun is definitely worth seeing because there is something worrying about this film being seen as a documentary to the real Teddy and Don’s of this world who are probably more extreme.

The World’s End (2013)

 The third and final part of the Cornetto Trilogy is the weakest. When you come after one of the best horror comedies and one of the best buddy cop movies ever made then it was always going to be an impossible task to end this trilogy on a satisfying note. People can argue/debate which is the best and they will either say Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz but no one will say that The World’s End is the best. The film follows Gary King (Pegg) who convinces his old school friends to return to the village they all grew up in to complete the Golden Mile beer drinking challenge. The only problem is that Gary hasn’t grown up and yet everyone else has.

As they progress things start to get a bit strange when the residents of this supposedly sleepy village. It turns out that the residents (or most of them) have been replaced by an alien race and after talking to Gary, the Network decide to give up and leave causing the world to basically end and things to go back to the dark ages. The idea of an alien invasion of a sleepy village is a good one but the main issue is that the idea of one of the leading characters is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict is something that can’t and isn’t used in a humorous way. There are some amusing moments but the memorable gags are way down on the previous two films. This film has so many big names (big for the UK) and the second film in the trilogy that features a Bond but I think whilst Pierce Brosnan is very good I dont think the character is as well used as the Timothy Dalton one. 

The thing about The World’s End is that if it didn’t follow Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz then it would be a perfectly fine film but when you raise the bar to the heights that those films did then you can’t really afford to drop the ball and unfortunately they did. I don't think that the humour is there and Gary basically being an alcoholic doesn't really lend itself to comedy and a lot of the arguments just come across as mean spirited. The ending is too downbeat I think for this film. These films don't end on a downbeat note even Shaun of the Dead has a relatively upbeat end.

Like the previous two films, this is a very well directed film. Edgar Wright had really honed his skill down in making the plot zip along at a good pace and the fight scene in the toilets is ok although it did feel like there was a bit too much shaky cam used. Due to Wright’s skill, he still makes the town feel like a real place considering the sci-fi aspect of the plot. Simon Pegg is good as Gary King and it's hard to feel angry at him even when he clearly hangs his friends out to dry in events before the film. Nick Frost is fine when he is sober and straight faced Andrew but once he puts bar stools on his fists and starts fighting then that is when he becomes more interesting. Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman & Eddie Marsan are fine as Steven, Oliver & Peter but they feel like supporting characters because the relationship between Gary and Andrew is clearly the most important and not just because of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Rosamund Pike is the love interest but doesn't really add anything and thats not the fault of Pike but it's just what she had to work with.                         

This isn’t a terrible film by any means and if it occurred separately from the other two films then this would be a perfectly fine film but following on from Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead means the Cornetto trilogy ends on a sour note.  

Hot Fuzz (2007)

I always thought that if I had the chance to watch the Cornetto trilogy at the cinema that I would take it. I previously saw Shaun of the Dead at the cinema back in September 2024.

Shaun of the Dead was Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s take on the George Romero films, Hot Fuzz is their take on the buddy cop genre of films. The set up of the film is that Simon Pegg plays Nick Angel who is a super cop and is sent to what appears to be a quiet country village because he is making the rest of the officers look bad. I like the pre-title scenes because it establishes just how much Nick is in love with the job, wanting the correct terms to be used.The problem is that he is making everyone look bad. The station that Angel is a part of has a nice collection of amusing people.

The relationship between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost was one the things I liked about Shaun of the Dead and it’s even better in this film. Danny (Frost) looks up to Angel from the moment that….well sobers up and this quickly leads to a great moment where they are watching Bad Boys 2 and Point Break. Timothy Dalton is brilliant in this film and actually steals it in my opinion. From the moment he appears on screen he is great to watch. He’s the supermarket manager and just acts like he’s up to something. What the film does well is hiding the fact that everyone in the NWA group is up to something. Most people probably caught on to this when they first watched it but I only ever spot something like that if the story isn't gripping me and I was totally gripped by this film. It does seem like every British actor is in this film and whilst the majority probably won't be familiar with international audiences or those under a certain age, for me it's fun to see them. 

Aside from the story, the thing I like about this film is the editing because it's done much better than in Shaun of the Dead which is to be expected as it's three years later. I was thinking about Baby Driver when watching this film because there are similarities in scene transition. Some people might think this is a style over substance film but to be honest that is unfair as the film has substance to back up the style. The whole set up of the film is better than Shaun of the Dead. I think that the film has more of a structure to it in narrative terms and as such the jokes and references are a lot more subtle and work better. 

I really love Hot Fuzz and think that it's Edgar Wright's best film. The final half hour is the perfect final act because it just feels like it's having fun. It is a buddy cop film that has a nice western vibe at one point. Hot Fuzz is a comedy that I watch every couple of years and it's still funny all these years later. I think that it's by far the best of the trilogy although I understand if people prefer Shaun of the Dead. The jokes are funnier, the story is better, the performances are stronger and the whole thing has a style that I think works better than Shaun of the Dead. 

Frankenstein (2025)

Normally I wouldn’t go and see anything at the cinema if it’s made by Netflix but it felt like if anyone was going to make me break this rule then it would be Guillermo del Toro. I wasn’t sure how many people would share my viewpoint on this but there were about 30 on a Friday night which showed that a great director like del Toro deserves to have his films seen on the big screen. This version follows the basic plot of Mary Shelley’s original but there are a few differences which is how it should be when you are making the latest remake. The film starts off at the end with the creature encountering a ship stuck in the ice and also Victor Frankenstein. After seeing off the creature, Victor tells his story about growing up to make the creature and then we hear what happens to the creature after the house/castle is destroyed.

Even knowing there were going to be some changes to the story, the main reason why I wanted to go to the cinema to watch something that will be on Netflix in a few weeks is because of how it looks. Just from the trailer it looked stunning and it's fair to say that this is one of the most stunning films of the year. I don't know if GDT is capable of making an ugly film and I don't know what the budget was for this film but it can't have been cheap and this is the sort of film that Netflix should be doing instead of giving Adam Sandler money to make rubbish. 

The performances are really good. Oscar Isaac delivers a stunning version of Victor Frankenstein. You buy that he is a mad genius and I thought it was made better when he was acting alongside Jacob Elordi’s Creature. This version of the creature is not like previous ones as it is more melancholy than before and it works as it makes him more human than a big brute that we get in other versions. Don't go into this film expecting a Boris Karloff version cause you will be disappointed. Mia Goth seems to have become the go-to horror queen after starring in the X trilogy with Pearl being the best and her best performance but there is something that I don't think anyone else could have pulled off. There isn't very much to the character of Elizabeth but Mia Goth makes that character seem important and her death is quite sad. Charles Dance is in the film briefly as…..well Charles Dance. It did have the vibe of Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones but toned down a little. Christoph Waltz is great which isn't a shocking statement because you know when he is appearing in something that he is going to be great in it and he is the one who funds Frankenstein’s work.   

I still think that Sinners is my favourite film of the year but there is very little in terms of enjoyment between that film and this one. Netflix’s quality control is a bit up and down but this has to be one of their best ones and it shows what happens when you let someone like Guillermo del Toro do what he is very good at. I’m not sure I will always relax my Netflix rule but if I think that I am going to get my money's worth with a visually stunning film then I don't mind spending that money. 

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)

 What I know about Bruce Springsteen wouldn’t fill the back of a postage stamp. This follows Bruce Springsteen as he is writing an album with some moments from his childhood and a romance thrown in for good measure. Jeremy Allen White plays Bruce, Jeremy Strong plays Jon Landau, Paul Walter Hauser tries to make us forget The Naked Gun playing Mike, Odessa Young plays love interest Faye and Stephen Graham earns himself an Oscar nomination for playing Bruce’s father Douglas. The story takes place just as he is about to be a global superstar and we get Born in the USA and Nebraska and other songs.

It’s a great performance from Jeremy Allen White. I don't know if he played or sung before this film but if he didn’t then he put in the effort to make this sound genuine. Even when he’s not singing he does a great job of making Bruce sound tortured by his own doubt and quest for perfection. As I mentioned earlier, this is an Oscar worthy performance from Stephen Graham who is probably in the film for less than 10 minutes in total and yet delivers a very powerful performance. The scene at the end where he asks Bruce to sit on his knee and they have a lovely father/son bonding moment was genuinely one of the highlights of the film. Jeremy Strong delivers an odd performance but the character of Jon was a nice bit of support for Bruce especially towards the end when he starts becoming distant. 

The only real issue with the film is the sub plot with Faye. I don't know how true her story in this is but it would have been nice to have something of a nice conclusion instead of walking into the sunset. Another (very minor) issue is that I could have done with some more time. I don't know what they could have added to the story but I just wanted to spend time in this world and felt like it made me feel happier even though there are sad moments every so often. 

Given that I knew very little about Bruce Springsteen, I didn’t have much in the way of expectations and I suspect that fans of the Boss might react differently but I genuinely liked this movie. I thought all the performances were really good, the story was really good (bar Faye’s ending) and I felt like I understood Springsteen. The only film that this is comparable to is A Complete Unknown which I would say is an inferior film to this one. I felt a little underwhelmed with that film but I definitely didn’t feel like that when I walked out of this film. It might come across as a bit like Oscar bait but I think that it warranted because this is the sort of the thing they eat up at the awards. Well worth seeing even if like me you dont know about the man or the music, you will definitely be educated by the end of the two hours.                                        

Ready or Not (2019)

Ready Or Not is a 2019 horror film starring Samara Weaving who gets married into a rich family and as part of an initiation has to play a game and she selects hide and seek and if the family find her, she has to be sacrificed and there is a limited amount of time. That’s the plot and it's straight forward and doesn’t have to over complicate things. This film is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillet who previously directed Devil’s Due (which as of writing, I haven’t seen). 

I really liked this film. I thought that it was a good idea and the whole thing moves along at a solid pace and it never feels like its padding or over staying its welcome. It's 1 hour and 35 minutes and I was surprised at how quickly the time had passed. The film doesn’t stretch things too far. They don’t keep Grace in the house and find more and more stupid ways of keeping here there and she does manage to get out and they don’t play the ‘picked up by someone pretending to be a help but turning out to be a member of the family’ trick which I appreciated. They managed to do things without me rolling my eyes which hasn’t happened in a horror for……well ages. The humour is really funny such as the killing of the maids and the reaction when Helene blows up. It’s the perfect reaction.

The performances are quite good. I thought that Samara Weaving was very good as Grace. Weaving follows that tradition of people who have starred in Australian soaps and gone on to do quite well afterwards. I thought that she led the film solidly and made me winch when she gets shot in the hand and has to impale herself to get herself out of the hole. I thought that Henry Czerny was very funny as Tony the father. Melanie Scrofano is also quite funny as the cocaine addicted Emilie who is a terrible shot except when she manages to fire a crossbow perfectly into one of the maids mouth. Andie MacDowell turns in this film and it’s the first film I think I’ve seen her in since Groundhog Day back in 1993. I think she’s there because of name recognition because she never really gets involved except to have a heart to heart with Alex towards the end although she does have a really good death. 

It’s not a completely perfect film. Firstly there is Samara Weaving’s cry/scream which sounds like she’s auditioning to play Xena. It was totally distracting and I could have done without it. Also there is flip-flopping of Alex who doesn’t want anything to happen to Grace and then willingly goes along with the sacrifice. I thought that it made him look slightly weak.  I couldn’t really make my mind up what I was supposed to think about him so when he died I was like…ok.

As I said, I really like this film. I thought it had a nice balance of horror and humour and ended in the only way that it could do. 

The Invisible Man (2020)

The Invisible Man originally started as being a part of the Dark Universe but when The Mummy bombed in the way it did, the Dark Universe got shelved and Johnny Depp was suppose to play the titular character. However they decided to continue with the idea and instead decided to turn into a story of an abused girlfriend/wife who at the beginning of the film decides to escape and two weeks later he apparently kills himself but she thinks he has faked his death and is trying to ruin her life by convincing people she is mad.

This is loosely based on the novel by H.G.Wells and he doesn’t actually get credited and that’s probably for the best because I think this film has a rather loose association to the novel which isn’t a bad thing. I have no issue with a film distancing themselves with a familiar novel as long as they do something different with it and they do with this film.

I think that Elizabeth Moss is very good as Cecilia. She plays vulnerable and in complete control very well and flips from one to the other with ease. Aldis Hodge was also good as James. He was the one person who a) doesn’t die and b) helps Cecilia. I thought that Michael Dorman was quite creepy as Tom because it was clear something was up with him and I thought that he was actually in with Adrian.

The effects used in this are very good. The fight that the invisible man has with Cecilia in James’ house is quite rough and I like how the camera would look away at something almost making you think something was there or was going to happen when nothing does. If you have seen a Blumhouse film before then you would know that when the camera holds onto a particularly thing for more than two seconds then something will appear in the darkness or in the corner of the screen but that doesn’t happen her which was a nice play on expectations.

There are problems with this film. Firstly it asks you to take a leap of disbelief with certain things such as how easy Cecilia is able to escape and how long she is able to avoid being caught. There were a couple of moments where I thought that logic wasn’t being used but things were just happening to progress the plot. Apparently there was about three seconds cut from the scene where Cecilia self-harms which I could believe because it was quite a grim moment. It’s the only moment which made me look away which I suppose was the point.

The final act sees Cecilia trying to get Adrian to admit that he was the one terrorising her and not Tom. This doesn’t happen and moments later an invisible person cuts Tom’s throat and there is meant to be a question mark over whether it was Cecilia who put on the suit but bearing in mind that James was in the car, the only person it could have been was Cecilia. The final shot of Cecilia walking out was a good moment and it seems to suggest that this may not be the last time we see her (forgive the pun!).

Overall I quite liked this film. I think that whole relationship abuse aspect was perhaps a bit too much but it served a purpose and I think that this is a good adaptation of a very well used idea. This isnt your typical Blumhouse film but I think that this was an enjoyable film to watch.

Get Out (2017)

Get Out was the film that made me a fan of Jordan Peele and it’s fair to say that he hasn’t really peaked from this although Nope is pretty close. The set up is that Rose (Allison Williams) is taking her boyfriend Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) to meet her parents and from the moment he meets them it's clear that something is going on. They are trying to be too nice to seem like they accept Chris. Allison’s father says that he would have voted for Obama for a third time if he could and that being black is ‘in fashion’.

This film reminded me of The Sixth Sense (in a good way). By that I mean that even when you know the twist the film is still great to watch and it's great to spot the signs. The twist is that all the black characters have white personalities transplanted into them and the original personality is still there and is basically trapped in the body which does sound terrifying. The twist also that the family aren't quite as nice as they seem worked quite well because even though its signposted from the beginning its done in a way which seems natural and creative.

Daniel Kaluuya is very good as Chris. I have always been a fan of his and think that Chris is being nice long past the point where most people would have started freaking out and its on par with his role in Nope. He doesn't scream or resort to hysterics which is quite refreshing in a horror film. I also thought that Bradley Whitford was very good. I have liked him since The West Wing and even though I would have liked to see more of evil Dean, he was great from beginning to end. I also thought that Allison Williams was good as Rose. When the twist happens it seems to come way too naturally to me. I thought she was good as nice Allison but even better as evil Allison. I thought that Kaluuya and Allison Williams made for a good couple.

Sometimes getting comedy right in a horror film is quite a difficult thing to pull off but Get Out manages this and does it well in the form of Rodney. It would have been so easy for the character to come across as over the top but Lil Rel Howery tows the line perfectly and in a way is the right amount of comedy. The reason why the comedy works is that the rest of the film is devoid of anything humorous and so when Rodney is on screen it is a welcome relief even though its only for a brief moment and does derail the pacing of the film.

This is by far the best Jordan Peele film and it showed that you could have a high concept idea in a horror film. It is slow building story with great characters and great performances and is the high watermark for this type of film.

The Descent (2005)

Sometimes, the plot doesn't need to be complicated. The film follows Sarah and her friends who go into some caves in the Appalachian Mountains where things go wrong and they are being hunted by crawlers. That’s it. That’s the plot and it doesn't need to be anything more than that.  The defining quality of this film is that it is very claustrophobic and atmospheric. If you suffer from claustrophobia then this film isn’t for you. I’m not the sort of person that suffers from claustrophobia but there were times that I was thinking that the caves were too small and they probably shouldn’t be doing that. 

I thought the only real issue with the film is that there were too many characters. All of them were treated as part of the story with Sarah being the most important seeing as it was her loss that spurred the story along but apart from Sarah and Juno they never really felt like they were there for anything other than being dinner for the crawlers. They tried to introduce the idea that Juno and Sarah’s husband were having an affair and this made Juno the villain of the piece which seemed unnecessary. I also thought having Juno kill Holly even by accident seemed like it was done to set up the end moment where Sarah leaves Juno to be eaten by the crawlers when there was a nicer way of writing the character out.

The crawlers are really good. We don't see them that well and when we do they look disgusting and I liked how the group surmised what they are in a way that comes across as plausible without sounding like forced exposition. The writing is really good in this but the crawlers themselves are an effective monster.

The claustrophobic feel that runs through a large portion of the film gets to you without you realising as when Sarah makes it out of the cave (or thinks she does) I found myself relieved that we were outside.  As this is a horror film things were never going to end nicely and we realise that her making it out of the cave was a dream and she is in fact still in the cave at the end and this the bleaker end to the alternate version and I have to say I prefer the bleaker end. It works for this story and I think had there been a nicer ending then it would have undermined the entire film. I know people might not agree but horror really is the one genre where bleak endings are the better and stronger ending.

I really liked The Descent and considering it is 20 years old at this point really does show how good it is as I think that it can hold up to modern horror films. It has a simple story to introduce characters that are all women which was rare in 2005 and the horror never lets up for the entirety of the movie. 

Good Fortune (2025)

 The set up of the film sees Arj who is trying to make a living but life seems to be screwing him at every opportunity, Keanu Reeves is Gabriel who is an angel that saves people from crashing their car whilst they are driving and texting and Seth Roger is Jeff who is a rich boy who spends his time mainly shopping and hanging around his pool when Gabriel decides to try and show Arj that his life is worth living and swaps his life with Jeff’s but things do go to plan and soon all three of. The message of the film is that money doesnt make you happy but other people make you happy.

This was a film that I was a little unsure was going to be my sort of thing as comedies have tended to be a tad disappointing (I’m looking at you The Naked Gun!!!). However I found myself liking this film very much. Firstly Aziz Ansari’s Arj is a likeable character although he did approach being unlikeable when he pretended to have lost his memory so that he wouldn’t have to go back to his old life. Thankfully he just about gets away with it and Arj’s relationship with Elena was quite nice as Keke Palmer manages to make Elena strong but not too strong and independent to come across as obnoxious. Seth Rogan can be extremely irritating and despite being a rich boy with more money than sense I didn’t find myself hating Jeff. How much of that is down to the writing and how much is down to Roger is debatable. Keanu Reeves came very close at several points from stealing the movie. Gabriel just wants big wings and is trying to do something good to get them but ends up causing a huge mess that forces him to re-evaluate himself and I didn’t have Keanu Reeves playing someone that is obsessed with Chicken Nuggets, Taco’s and chain smoking on my 2025 bingo card. 

If I had one gripe with the film and it wasn't one I was expecting and that is I could have done with it being a little bit longer. Not a huge amount but 10 minutes maybe. I would have liked a goodbye scene between the three of them. Instead what we get is Jeff insisting that they ditch robots and AI, Arj getting his life together with Elena and Gabriel seemingly getting his wings back as a taco is folding suggesting that the movement was his. It’s not the worst issue that I have had with a film in 2025 but it's the only one that I could really come up with. Perhaps they could have spent less time hammering the idea that people who collect peoples orders dont have the best life and used that time for the happy ending.

Good Fortune isn’t the best film of the year or even the funniest but it is a charming film. Most times the word charming is used in a negative way but not for me. I think that films that are charming often stick with me longer than a lot of other films. The writing was good, the performances were good and it does make you appreciate the idea that there is someone always worse off than yourself. It has a feel good message without coming across too preachy and that is a tough needle to thread. Good stuff.