Keeper (2025)

Trailers don't usually have me intrigued but Keeper did which I suppose is the sign of a good trailer. Liz was in quote marks whereas Malcolm wasn't so I was curious as to why Liz’s name was put up the way it was. The set up is Liz and Malcolm go to a cabin in the woods which was always going to end badly and shortly after arriving things start to go weird. 

Even though this essentially features two main characters, Tatiana Maslany is really the star of the film as she goes through the wringer in. The scene where she is in the basement with the multi-faced woman was terrifying because of how Liz reacted to it. At first I was confused why Liz and Malcolm would be together because there seemed to be tension from the very beginning. Rossif Sutherland is ok as Malcolm. I never found myself thinking that he was sinister even when the twist happens. Birkett Turton is ok as Darren even though he has about three scenes in total that amount to less than five minutes and then there is Eden Weiss as Minka who probably has about five lines and then dies behind a tree. The film only really has five characters and one of those is on the phone.  

The revelation that Malcolm bought Liz to be killed by the creatures so that he and his brother could live forever was something I wasn't expecting. It worked in the context of this film although it was a slightly risky bringing someone who looked like the woman who started it all to be sacrificed. The fact that they chose not to kill her and ask her to stay thus making Malcolm turn old and Darren killed was an amusing way to end the film. The film ends with Malcolm having his head dunked in some goo. Even though Liz has been consumed by the evil spirit the film tries to make you happy that Malcolm got his comeuppance and to the film's credit I was satisfied with the outcome.  The sacrificing of people for selfish gain did remind me of Ready or Not and that is a compliment. I think this film pulls it off better because its more creative but I was thinking that when the revelation happened.

The isolated setting is something that I really liked about this film. Apart from a scene at the beginning and the occasional moment in the woods, the entirety of the film takes place in this cabin which looks so strange and I honestly couldn’t imagine anyone enjoying themselves while they were there. The lack of curtains would put me off straight away. Even when the story moves outside the film still feels claustrophobic. It never feels like the vast openness that you would expect from the woods. 

I was slightly disappointed with The Monkey but this felt like a return to form. It felt like it took a while to get going but once it did it felt like some of Osgood Perkins’ early stuff. Keeper is a good horror film that works well in the sense that it's a very stripped back horror film that uses its setting well. Oh and this is the second time this year that a poster has spoiled the twists. Luckily I didn’t look too closely at the poster but Liz’s eyes are glossed over which happens at the end. The other film was Companion. Can the marketing people at the film studios STOP SPOILING THINGS. The poster would work just as well with normal eyes. 

Nuremberg (2025)

A film about the trial of the Nazi’s after the Second World War isn’t the sort of film I would have predicted being one of my favourite films of the years. Especially as it stars Rami Malek who starred in the The Amateur which is ok and Russell Crowe who hasn’t starred in anything well for quite a while. The film follows Malek’s Douglas Kelley as he is tasked with determining whether several members of the Nazi party are fit to stand trial with the key one being Hermann Goring. 

Russell Crowe is amazing in this.  When he has the right material he is as good as he was in Gladiator. I recently saw Master and Commander and he’s great in that and I would say that this performance is up there. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get nominated. He has some great scenes like when Goring brings up what the US did to Japan and when Kelley tries to defend it and basically calls out what he sees as the U.S hypocrisy and superiority. He goes on to say that Kelley isn’t standing in front of him because he is more superior but because the Allies won and Germany lost. It's a great moment in the film that is made great because of Crowe and Malik. 

There are many reasons why the film works but the main one is because of the dynamic between Goring and Kelley. You can’t tell as the film progresses whether Kelley has warmed to Goring which is clearly part of his plan. There is a fear that Goring will use the trial to try and spread his message of hate to the world with the biggest megaphone imaginable being the trial and they trial and curb the chances of success by not allowing him to read his speech.

Michael Shannon gives a great performance as Justice Robert Jackson who is basically leading the prosecution but is woefully unprepared for the mind games that Goring is playing. It’s hard to really like the character because it's clear that he is hoping for a cushy job on the Supreme Court and he kind of gets shown up by David Maxwell-Fyfe in about 90 seconds. Richard E. Grant is great even though he pops up every so often and is awesome in every scene. He is great in his first scene when Kelley questions why they are only trying 22 people when the cells hold over a thousand and Maxwell-Fife comes into the scene saying that if the trial doesn't work then there won't be any more trials. It’s one of my favourite opening scenes of the year.

The film is primarily people talking in rooms but there is one moment when it becomes something completely different. It is a truly harrowing moment when we see what is supposed to be the video of the atrocities that the Nazi’s committed and I don't know if it was a mixture of real footage and new footage or entirely what was shown at the trial but either way you can’t watch that and not be moved unless your one of those weird people who think the Holocaust was faked or exaggerated.

What makes the film really good is that as the film progresses the film stops becoming about the trial and more about making sure it doesn't happen again. There is a great moment at the end where people think that the Nazi’s won't happen again because they will be expecting them in uniforms is sort of true because people today who have right wing opinions are in suits, they are in everyday clothes with podcasts and YouTube channels and have social media accounts. They hammer this point home just enough without it ruining my enjoyment of the film. This is a very good film because despite it being people sitting in rooms talking it was a totally gripping story. Considering it ran close to 2 and a half hours this film flew by and at no point was I getting bored. It was the right duration and its good when a film knows how long it needs to be. 

The Choral (2025)

The Choral is a charming story about a choir group in 1916 Yorkshire who are led by Dr Guthrie who has spent many years in Germany. Ralph Fiennes is very good as Guthrie. His character is the one that always seems to have a disconnect from the reality of what is happening elsewhere. He also seems to be on the verge of crying whenever someone is singing although the singing was very good. Even though the war is a theme of the film we never see the war although we see the impact it is having on the town with a mixture of people waiting to be called up and people who have close ones that have served and are either severely injured or died. 

The film also deals with conscientious objection which was a crime back then and Robert is the one who doesn't want to fight and despite being given a deferment he doesn't want to take it and the last time we see him in the film is when he is taken away by the military police. Robert’s character doesn't really have much impact in the plot until the end and he is supposed to be the one who understands Guthrie but just spends his time telling everyone that he is strange and they should just accept it. If there was a real issue with the film then it is that there is the bare minimum for each character and there is very little beyond what we see on screen.

Roger Allam, Mark Addy & Alun Armstrong are the trio to run the choir. Addy is the one that is the more reasonable and it so it seems to be the one that had the more humorous side. Allam plays Duxbury who is the local Mill owner who has bought his way into the choral despite not being able to sing the big notes. Duxbury has been affected by the war as he has lost his son and Armstrong plays Trickett who is an undertaker and there was a scene where he reminded me of Fraser from Dad’s Army.  

The setting is a character in its own right. Every shot of the town is spectacular and the film is worth seeing just for that. It’s almost enough for me to take a trip up north and visit the sites although I might wait till the weather is a bit better.

As the film progresses people start to warm to Guthrie but there is the issue of putting on this show using music created by Elgar because he is the only non-German composer that they could use. When Guthrie changes something after getting permission to use the piece by Elgar, Elgar decides to withdraw his support and this leads to them deciding to put it on but don't charge. The final part of the film is the show itself and it was very nice and heartfelt so that you get what you came for. The film has a more downbeat ending than I was expecting. I know that it was the middle of the war so it might have been out of place but I think it might have been nice to have an optimistic ending. This doesn't appear to be based on a true story or true person as there was no end text so you could have given us a more hopeful ending to leave the cinema.

Despite the ending, I enjoyed this film. It’s directed by Nicholas Hytner who directed The Madness of King George which is a brilliant film although this doesn't quite have the story in terms of quality. It’s a lovely film that I don't think is going to be widely seen except for people over a certain age which is a shame because it has a message that music can heal the soul and can make you forget about the horrors of war even though it runs through every scene in the movie.

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.