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.    

Black Phone 2 (2025)

This sequel comes four years after the first which Scott Derrickson directed after leaving Doctor Strange 2 due to ‘creative differences’. I remember liking that film thinking that it was atmospheric and felt like a stripped down film. This definitely does have some of that.

The setup for this film sees Gwen travel to the Alpine Lake camp because Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) has been having dreams and in an attempt to cock-block Ernesto (Miguel Mora), Finn (Mason Thames) decides to join them. Due to a massive snow storm the camp which is due to have loads of kids ends up having Finn, Gwen and Ernesto along with Mando (Damian Bichir) who owns the camp, Mustang (Arianna Rivas), Kenneth (Graham Abbey) and Barbara (Maev Beaty). The connection to the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) is then revealed and that three children that the Grabber killed were never recovered and finding the bodies is what the film becomes about so that they are freed and the Grabber is defeated. 

There are things that I liked about this film. Firstly the setting is perfect. The roads are snowed in and so there is this superb isolated feeling going on. The isolated feeling along with the snow means that there is a lovely atmosphere to what’s going on. Madeleine McGraw is the lead of this film and she does a decent job. This is the second mason Thames film I have seen in 2025 (the other being How to Train Your Dragon) and he gets a bit of a raw deal as he is involved in things but doesn't really do anything. The trailers make his involvement seem more substantial but sadly he does seem like a supporting character which is quite a step down from the previous film.  The character of Barb is unintentionally hilarious because she is the bible bashing person who is reluctant to help because Gwen is being fowl mouthed and just has amusing lines pretty much every time she speaks. 

The dad is sort of pointless. It seems like he is just there for the scene where we see him discover Gwen’s mom after she hung herself and they make a point to reference that he is a recovering alcoholic but it never plays into anything so there is no point to it and also he call in to his place of work to use their snowplough and that just seems to allow him to get to the camp to have a heart to heart to heart with his kids but his role is quite small. They also seem to suggest a romance between Finn and Mustang and I don't know if this got cut but it's never referenced again until a line from the dad at the end. 

I got Nightmare on Elm Street vibes with this and I don't know if that was obvious during the previous film but it felt like the film leant into that a bit too much to the point that I was half expecting Freddie Kruger to pop up at the end. The main issue with the film is the run time. It’s 114 minutes and it felt like the film was about 20 minutes too long. Horror films shouldn’t be more than 90 minutes because the stories usually don't have a plot that can last longer than 90 minutes. It’s only 11 minutes longer than the first one and yet this one seemed that it was outstaying its welcome because the plot takes too long to get going. Ethan Hawke is fine in this although it's the mask that was memorable from the first one and it looks really good in this film. As the villain, the Grabber is very good and the fact that he is just out for revenge is a simple case of motivation. I liked that as it wasn't overly complicated, which is the sort of thing that could have happened in a sequel.

This is a major let down after the first one. I thought that they struggled to get the film started and when they did it felt like some of the characters were under developed and the film ends with the Grabber at the bottom of the like like Friday the 13th: The New Blood so there might be a third one which isn’t out the realms of possibility and if this makes enough money then we will get one and if they do something new with it then I wouldn’t mind but I’m done with the Gwen/Finn story. This is worth seeing but maybe when it makes its way to streaming. 

TRON: Ares (2025)

So after the last TRON film didn’t lead to anything. Disney decided to wait 15 years because…..well just because i suppose. The story follows Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) who runs Dillinger Systems with his mother Elisabeth (played by Gillian Anderson) as they are trying to bring the weapons from the grid but the problem is that they can’t last more than 29 minutes, meanwhile Encom run by Eve (Greta Lee) has managed it with the aim of trying to solve world hunger and Ares who is a Dillinger soldier suddenly wants to be a real boy.

First the positives, the visual effects are stunning. I just loved the colour schemes and the chase sequence with Aries and Eve trying to escape was stunning to watch. That is the only time in history that the words Jared Leto and stunning have been used seriously in the same sentence.  I thought that bringing back the original TRON effects was a smart choice and a nice bit of nostalgia.  I also thought that the score was pretty good. Not quite on the same level as what Daft Punk did but still pretty good. 

One day there will be a Jared Leto performance that makes me re-evaluate him as an actor but this film isn’t that one. This isn’t the worst Leto performance (I’m looking at your Suicide Squad). It took a long time for me to warm to Eve Kim but I think that is more down to the writing than Greta Lee’s performance. Evan Peters is fine as Julian Dillinger who is the grandson of Ed Dillinger (David Warner from the first film). The only issue is that there isn’t anything really to the character apart from being a bad guy. Gillian Anderson was fine although her character's purpose felt a bit weak. Her first couple of scenes felt like she was trying to mimic Margaret Thatcher and then that changed so I wonder if there was some discussion behind the scenes. Jodie Turner-Smith was my favourite part about the performances. She made that role much better than it would have been with someone else. She felt like the proper menace to Aries but it's just a shame that she was carrying the film on her back and getting little support. Jeff Bridges pops up for 10 minutes to mumble his way through the film. We are way past the point of where Jeff Bridges needs to have subtitles put up on the screen for his films otherwise it's just mumblecore. 

The overall issue with this film is that it doesn't feel like there is any point to it. Don't get me wrong I love being in that world but there didn’t feel like the world needed a new TRON film. The thing is that they set things up for a sequel that will most likely not happen because I can’t see this doing mega business at the cinema. The sequel-bait tease is that Julian is going to be the new Sark and that might give the character something to make him seem like a credible threat but it will for a sequel that doesnt happen cause Disney will wait too long and hit the reset button again. Feels like a wasted opportunity.

Good Boy (2025)

Original ideas are very rare nowadays. Good Boy was a mystery screening at my cinema and the set up of this film  was that it was a horror film but from the perspective of the dog.  The film follows Indy who along with his owner move to an isolated house in the middle of the woods and as you can imagine things go wrong.

I thought that Indy was adorable and did wonder whether a lot or some of his performance was achieved with CGI or AI but it looks like it was 100% genuine and the IMDB says the film took 3 years to film which if true explains why the film was only 73 minutes. Dogs are always going to be adorable and easy to like in film or television but the way that the film makes you root for Indy is quite impressive and when he comes across the skeleton of the previous dog it was such a sad moment. His owner Todd is suffering from a lung issue and he appears to being taken over by the mysterious shadowy figure and at the end is seems to be suggested that the shadowy figure has taken Todd into the darkness and ended his life seemed a bit random because the downside of just having Todd on his own for 90% of the time means that we don't get things explained and I am not talking about a full detailed exposition scene but just something to tie things together. The character of Vera is pretty much useless as she doesn't seem to do anything except pester Todd and then appear at the end to rescue Indy.  I was literally amazed when the cinema lights went up at the end of the film cause I was expecting a final scene but there wasn't and I must admit that it did feel like 

Whilst the film doesn't win any awards for originality when it comes to story structure it does win originality awards for the fact that Indy is the focus of the film. We never see the faces of the humans apart from brief shots or when there is something obstructing the view. It did remind me (in a good way) of a Tom & Jerry cartoon when you would never see above the humans knees and so we were in the world of Tom & Jerry and the adults/humans were not really the main focus. 

I thought overall that Good Boy was a good horror film and a lot better than the premise suggested. The novelty of filming things from the dogs POV or level was used well and the director resisted the urge to break away from that and have a traditional scene with the humans. 

HIM (2025)

HIM is a Jordan Peele produced horror which sees Tyrian Withers play Cam who is given the chance to train with his childhood hero Isiah (played by Marlon Wayans). Cam suffers a brain injury and so it is a sort of last chance type thing. The thing about Cam is that he seems like a nice guy who wants to do well for his family and to honour his deceased father but as the film progresses it becomes clear that this bootcamp will require to go above and beyond what is expected if he wants to be the new G.O.A.T.

I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed with this film. It seemed like it was being pitched as Whiplash with some occult thrown in for good measure. Strange things happen in this film just for the sake of it so ultimately this is a slightly disappointing film. It is one that has some good points but it wouldn’t have taken much to make it one of the best horror films of 2025.

That’s not to say that there aren’t things to like. I thought that Marlon Wayans stole the show. I haven’t been the biggest fan of his and felt like he didn't have a good performance in him but this film proved me wrong. It was clear that he was not what he appeared to be and Wayans seemed to be enjoying playing this type of character and showing the world he has range. I also thought that Tyriq Withers. Last time I saw him was in the ‘I Knew What You Did Last Summer’ rehash and this is by far the stronger performance. The change that he goes through is subtle and even at the end you still end up rooting for him.

The final scene is what redeems the whole thing for me. I think because it felt like the closest the film came to something making sense happening although for some it might have come too late. The idea of a football owner being in league with the devil and trying to get someone to sell their soul for fame and fortune is potentially a bit cliched but at least it was something that made sense in a film that seemed to be style over substance. I think sticking ‘from producer Jordan Peele’ was to try and get people who liked his other stuff to come a see this film cause otherwise it might struggle although I still think that it's going to struggle because people may not want to spend 100 minutes watching a film about football.

The Smashing Machine (2025)

 The Smashing Machine tells the story of MMA fighter Mark Kerr. I’ll be honest I didn’t know the story or particularly interested but the idea of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson transforming himself was something that got me interested. The story takes place between 1997 and 2000 when he is already a fighter and we follow Kerr as he tries to win some Pride event in Japan.

The story isn’t that interesting which is a major problem in a biopic. He has a drug problem, tries to kick it and win a competition whilst having issues with his girlfriend. There have been better stories to tell and I wonder what it was about this that people thought was worth making a story about. The other issue with Dawn played by Emily Blunt. I like Emily Blunt and think she’s a very good actress but I did not like Dawn because she just seemed to be there to start an argument with Mark. This seemed to be the pattern in the film that they would be ok, have an argument and then a little while later would be ok again. The last we see of her is when she is wheeled off in a police car on the way to seek treatment after trying to kill herself. Blunt makes the role better than it otherwise would have been but it was hard to like the character.

The film works purely because of Dwayne Johnson. This isn’t the sort of role we are used to seeing him in but it was a surprisingly restrained performance we saw from him which unfortunately does have ‘Oscar Bait’ written all over it. Whether we will be talking about it in February or March of next year is a mystery but it definitely worth talking about. The thing about Mark is that he seems to be a nice if flawed person. Another thing that was good about this film were the fighting scenes. They seemed like the fighters were have the hell beaten out of them. They are edited together to make them seem like MMA fights are quite entertaining even though the idea of the fights sounds barbaric to some. 

Overall this film is little bit underwhelming. It is worth seeing just for Dwayne Johnson although there is probably a more interesting documentary or series about this guy that you be able to find because despite the great performance from him and the incredible fights, there is something lacking to make this a great film and will probably fail in its Oscar bait plan.

Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2025)

Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror takes the 1922 classic which is a blatant Dracula rip off and mixes it with two Radiohead albums (KID A and Amnesiac). This intrigued me because of the idea of taking something from 100 years ago and mixing it with music not related to it in any way. 

As for the story itself, I enjoyed it. I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago and I don't know if it was because it was on the big screen or it was because of the music but I thought the story was just as good as ever. I think that this film’s version of Nosferatu is iconic and works for this film but I prefer the 2025 Robert Eggers version. The film did try and inject some colour into the film with weird bits of red and blue in an attempt to emphasise the evil???

The choice of using Radiohead didn’t work for me. It felt like they pressed play on their Radiohead Spotify playlist and left the film running. The songs didn’t have any connection to what was going on and there would be a gap between songs and yet things would still be happening. I think that you could probably use Radiohead’s back catalogue and put them together to fit better with the pace of the film. Also I don’t know if it was the cinema I was in but the volume was way too loud and it felt like my ears were going to start bleeding. To be fair my cinema is probably nearly 40 years old so it does need a major upgrade.

Overall I thought that this experiment didn’t quite work but I am glad that I went to see it on the big screen. It did make me think that you could give this film to Alexandre Desplat or Michael Giacchino or someone else to produce a more appropriate score for this film. I suppose the Robin Carolan score for the Robert Eggers version is the closest we will probably ever get. There is supposedly a R.E.M X Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr coming out in 2026 and I want to see that to see if this experiment has any future or whether we need to put this sort of thing to bed.