Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025)

Hurry Up Tomorrow is perhaps not the sort of film that I would go to see but I thought as it featured Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan that it might have something worth seeing. The film sees Abel (The Weeknd) trying to get back into contact with his ex but is in the middle of a tour. Meanwhile Jenna Ortega plays Anima who starts the film by setting fire to someone’s house she then goes on her way to his concert and in the middle of a song their eyes meet and before we know what’s what, they run off to a fun fair to have a good night. The next morning he is about to leave for the next stage of his tour and she batters him over the head and they have a philosophical debate about what his songs mean.

The Weeknd might be a good singer and performer but he isn’t very good as a leading man and when the film goes into weird mystical moments he doesnt help us understand what is supposed to be happening. Jenna Ortega is easily the best thing in this film and after really enjoying her performance in ‘Death of a Unicorn’ earlier in the year, it felt like she deserves better than what the movie gave her. She managed to make her character seem interesting because of how unhinged she got in the second half but I think that the fact her character is interesting is more to do with Ortega than the screenplay itself. I would like to have seen more of Barry Keoghan, he is Lee who is Abel’s manager and he appears in the first part of the film but when Abel and Anima go on their little journey, he disappears and don’t come back until the end. The highlight of the film is the fight between Lee and Anima which is short but quite intense. 

The main issue with this film is that it is very pretentious. I think that the film thinks it is smarter than it actually is. There are some moments where the visuals are a bit weird and dreamlike and there is one moment which came across quite like a David Lynch film but its handled by someone who doesnt understand the mechanics of a David Lynch film. The film does try to invoke ‘Misery’ by having Abel tied to the bed whilst Anima tries to play his songs. This second half of the film is so much stronger but the film can’t quite shake the pretentiousness off because at the end the hotel room is set on fire with no sign of Anima or Abel so there is the question as to whether it happened or whether it was in his head.

There is nothing wrong with taking a usicain and try to make something of their music and try and explore what is in it but to be honest the film lost me with the weird dreamlike moments. The film works best when Ortega and Weeknd have scenes together because they do have some good chemistry. If you are a fan of the Weeknd then this film might be worth seeing but I’m struggling to see them like it. I could be wrong. Not worth the time really. 

The Running Man (1987)

With the remake from Edgar Wright about to hit cinemas this year, it seemed like the perfect time to rewatch the original at the cinema. My original rating was a 3.5 but seeing it on the big screen has made me increase my rating to a 4. Set in the futuristic year of 2019, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Ben Richard’s who after refusing to fire on innocent people is sentenced to a detention zone and after escaping he is recaptured and made to appear on a very popular show, the titular Running Man.  Then along with Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto) and Weiss (Marvin J. McIntyre) they have to try and outrun the chasers. Later on they are joined by Maria Conchita Alonso’s Amber as they also try to tell the truth to the citizens.

This is a great film that might not have aged well as some films from the 1980’s but that is part of the charm. There are plenty of Arnie puns which got a great reaction in the screening that I attended. Arnie was never the greatest actor but his physic and charm helped an awful lot. Jesse Ventura’s role was brief but he has a great scene where he comes in looking like a bad sci-fi robot. There are a couple of cheesy clips of him as a workout instructor but I was just distracted by his hair piece. Being a wrestling fan in the 1980’s and early 1990’s it was always great to see a wrestler in a movie. Yaphet Kotto is another familiar face although I know him really from Alien which I didn’t see until just a few years ago and as one of the people that helps Ben Richard’s, you want to see him make it to the end but sadly in these sort of films the nice people that don’t look like Alonso probably wont make it which is s shame. Speaking of Alonso, she was fine. Her character has an attack of conscience once she realises that the government has been lying. It does seem like an oversight that she is the witness to what happened at the airport and yet isn’t told to keep quiet or they find out what she knows and then fits a fake narrative to make it less obvious that they made things up Alonso is the romantic interest for Arnie but to be hones they don’t really have any chemistry that makes a relationship seem genuine although that is probably more down to Arnie. The real star of the film is Richard Dawson as Damon Killian. He acts like he is the greatest person in the history of the world and hides behind the fact that he has a contract with the government to basically do whatever he wants. The reason why the film is as good as it is is that we have a villain that is so horrible that you want the good guy to be victorious. 

I do like the gameshow element of The Running Man with Killian intereacting with the audience and giving them prizes and its hilarious to see what constitutes a prize in their 2019. If Bradley Walsh or Alexander Armstrong gave a contestant or audience member a board game version of the show that thing would end up on eBay before the episode aired. Asking the audience what chaser they want does seem to be a bit of a risk because that person would have to be in the right place at the right time. The plot is fairly straightforward and even if you had never seen this film before you could still walk out where it would go but you watch these type of films to see Arnie beat/kill people in fun ways and then put them down with a pun. Otherwise what is the point of an Arnie film. Despite a lot of the visuals not holding up and the idea of what 2019 would be like not matching up with reality, the film does feel like we aren’t that far away from it in 2025. Now whether the Edgar Wright version will be as good as the 1987 version is doubtful but I think that this film has stood as one of Arnie’s best films alongside Terminator and Predator. 

The Running Man 1987 is an entertaining film that is rewatchable many many times. The story is straight forward enough but the action scenes are well done and its directed with the sort of energy that most films of this era have. 

An Unfinished Film (2024)

Sometimes I go into a screening knowing absolutely nothing about the film and ‘An Unfinished Film’ was one of those times. An Unfinished Film sees Director Xiaorui try and finish a movie that got abandoned a decade earlier. We see some of what was shot and it's clear that even if they do remake the film it will never get past the censors and so it is more of a personal mission to tie up a loose end. As the film is close to being completed, Covid his and the hotel is placed in lockdown and the rest of the film becomes about the remaining crew trying to keep their spirits up which for Jiang Chen’s (Qin Ho) is tougher than for others as he has a new baby at home.

As I didn’t know anything about this film I genuinely thought that this was a documentary. It was only during a skirmish with some officials that I saw there was no cameraman when there would have been one that would have appeared in shot. Truth be told, there were a couple of shots that looked too well framed to be a documentary but it was the skirmish that made the penny drop in my mind. 

The performances are really good. Qin Ho is the lead as Jiang Cheng who we spend pretty much the rest of the film once Covid hits and his slow descent into depression. It’s hard as well for his wife and bearing in mind that all of the scenes with Sang Qi (Qi Xi) are on a phone, she still manages to feel a big part of the film and it's hard to not feel sympathetic towards the pair of them. The film doesn't have a huge amount of upbeat moments once Covid hits but there is a great moment when they celebrate Chinese New Year and they all celebrate things in their own way with Jiang Cheng doing the Baby Shark dance which along with Hugh Grant doing a Jar Jar Binks impression in ‘Heretic’ might be one of the more random things seen in a movie. That brief moment ends with everyone dancing in the corridor before being threatened with legal challenges if they don’t return to their rooms immediately.

An Unfinished Film is a very good film. Despite being five years ago the cloud of Covid still seems to hang over us all and I can remember being furloughed when the country like the world had been put into lockdown. I had a house with my family to keep me going but the horrors of having to go through this alone even with zoom and social media keeping us connected is shown in harrowing detail thanks to Lou Ye. Bearing in mind that I didn’t know anything going into this film, I thought thet despite an air of confusion about the film, this was well worth the risk and I think sadly this probably wont get  seen by a huge number of people but if you get a chance to see it then you should. 

The Surfer (2024)

The Surfer was a mystery screening at my local Showcase and this is the sixth mystery screening that I have attended and to be honest it is the worst. The premise of the film is that Nicholas Cage plays the titular Surfer who wants to buy a house with a view of the sea. At the start of the film he takes his son to the beach with the intention of showing him the house but they come across locals who say that the beach is for local people only and the film then becomes the locals making the surfers life a misery, things would happen that would go from bad to worse and everyone seemed to be a local. 

By the time the revelation comes about the surfer being broken down to see how badly he wants the house, I was completely bored and didn’t care. Had this happened 20 minutes earlier then I might have cared a bit more but the pacing was so bad that when something happened I was quite excited because I thought this might be the point when the film means something but then that moment quickly passed. Everytime that something bad happens to the surfer (and that is quite often), I just kept asking myself why he didn’t get back into his car and leave. Things would have worked out so much better for him if he had just left. 

There are two positives. The first is the location and it looks very stunning. Credit goes to Radek Ladczuk for making it look stunning and as the film progresses and Nicholas Cage gets more dehydrated the colours help create the impression even though there probably wasn't much acting going on in terms of getting dehydrated . The second positive was Miranda Tapsell who plays the photographer. She only has two scenes but she is the only person that is nice to Nic Cage. Even his son is not nice to him and sulks most of the time. 

This is the worst film I have seen at the cinema since Megalopolis and whilst it's not as bad as that film, this was hugely disappointing. If you are watching this film to see Nicholas Cage go full Nic Cage then you will be bitterly disappointed. I should have known that the film wasn’t going to be great because there were TEN company logos and you get to a stage where you think they are going to go on forever. That sums up the film perfectly, a film that feels like it goes on forever and isn’t worth it. I honestly think that I would have skipped this even if it when had arrived on streaming but sadly I spent money on this and I suppose the good run of mystery showings was going to go wrong at some point. Not worth your time.

Snow White (2025)

I honestly can’t remember the last time that a major motion picture was released that had the level of hatred aimed at it in the same way that Snow White. I won't go into all of it because I think films should be reviewed based on what you see on the screen instead of all the noise surrounding a film. The story sees Snow White (born in a snowstorm in this version), become a servant to the Evil Queen (Gadot) but when the Evil Queen orders the murder of Snow White, she runs off into the forest and comes across the house of the Dwarfs and with the help of a Bandit they try and overthrow the Evil Queen so that Snow White can become the leader she knows she is meant to be. 

This film might be one of the worst cast films I have seen for a long time. Normally there is someone that stands out in a sea of badness but I honestly can't say that there was someone worth praising. Even Megalopolis had Giancarlo Esposito to make some scenes worth watching.

Rachel Zegler can sing and that is obvious if you saw her in West Side Story. Her version of Whistle While You Work or the one at the beginning are the best ones that she does but whenever she sings is pretty good. However whenever she isn't singing then things fall apart because she is supposed to be leader material and yet she has no presence. Gal Gadot CAN'T sing. She is terrible and I don't think I have heard anyone sing that bad since Russell Crowe in Les Miserables. There were two songs that she ‘sings’ and the first one seems so out of place that I thought I was watching a SNL sketch and the second one was so bad that I was praying that it would stop as soon as possible. When she has to pretend to be the old woman it is a weird moment because the makeup is good and she looks like an old woman but Gadot doesn't make any attempt to sound like an old woman. Andrew Burnap is so bland as Jonathan. He is this film’s version of Prince Charming because apparently Prince Charming in the 1937 version is a bit of a stalker so here we get a bandit who is laughably bad that I didn't care what happened to him. In fact for a moment I thought they had done a live action version of Shrek because it seemed to almost be a parody. The other main problem with Jonathan is that there is zero chemistry between Jonathan and Snow White. None. I don't see what makes Jonathan want to risk his life for Snow White. There is nothing going on and if there was a bit of chemistry it would make Jonathan’s decision make sense. 

Snow White is nowhere near as bad as some people would have you believe and it's not as good as the other side would have you believe. The truth is what I suspected going into the film is that it's somewhere in the middle. It does feel like every bad decision that they could have made they did when producing this film. The CGI dwarfs are distractingly bad. The performances from the actors do shine through and there are some good moments from them but the CGI is quite poor for a film that cost nearly $300 million. It also seems quite cheap at times which isn't what you would expect from Disney. The animated animals were perhaps the only time that the effects seemed to be well done. 

Snow White is a mess of a film. It might be worth your time if there is nothing on streaming or in the outside world. I dont think it's the worst film I have seen at the cinema in 2025, that honour (??) goes to Captain America: Brave New World which fails at being an action film whereas Snow White does at least succeed at being a musical.

A Minecraft Movie (2025)

There is a long running conversation about whether cinemas are dying and to be honest I don't think it is but films like A Minecraft Movie buck the trend. As of writing this review, it has made nearly $900 million worldwide making it the highest grossing English language film of the year so far. I should confess I know next to nothing about Minecraft. I know that it's very popular and that is about it. The set up of the film is Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen) and Natalie (Emma Myers) move to a new town after the death of their mother and Henry goes into a 80’s shop run by Garrett (Jason Momoa) and they end up in the over world when they meet Steve (Jack Black) and try to take on Malgosha to get back to the real world.

The world that they have created is really good and the $150 million that they spent on it looks like it's been spent quite well. The film cost about double what Captain America: Brave New World and yet A Minecraft Movie looks a lot better. I enjoyed how things worked even if they didn't make much sense to me. 

Jack Black is as annoying as ever. There were a couple of moments where I chuckled to myself but it feels like with each passing year, his manchild comedy routine gets a little bit more tiring. Jason Momoa is actually quite funny and the idea that something the size of Momoa is as cheesy as he is is one of the reasons why the film worked. It did remind me of how in the 2016 Ghosbusters film they cast Chris Hemsworth to play a secretary and the ‘joke’ was that someone who looked like Thor would be a secretary. Well that didn't work but Aquaman being someone who is trying to make something of his faded fame works quite well. I was told that Jennifer Coolidge was quite funny and the funniest thing in the film and she was funny but I found her ‘sub-plot’ to be a bit weak. It only really served a purpose at the end and by that point I’m halfway out the door. Myers didn't really add anything to the story. That isn't the fault of Myers but she was just sort of there and another issue with Myers’ casting is that she is supposed to be the guardian of Henry but looks about 2 minutes older than him. Maybe in a couple of years she might be able to pull off being a mother or guardian but in the case of this film it just became distracting. Hansen is ok as Henry and does have some things to do and it's his actions that lead them into the over world and does help to get them back into the real world. Last but by no means least is Danielle Brooks as Dawn. She is very likeable but doesn't really get anything to do until they are in the overworld and is quite likeable throughout the film.

I did enjoy this film a lot more than I thought I would. I think the fact that I enjoyed the film whilst not knowing what was going on or understanding any in-jokes or references that were included means that the film worked on some level. It has a very basic story and some of the characters weren't as fleshed out as they could have been but bearing in mind that the film wasn't made for a 41 year man and yet still worked meant that they got the balance right. As this has made so much money it is obvious that there will be a sequel. Sometimes seeing a film which isn't aimed at you can turn up positive results and this is one of the more unexpectedly positive experiences of the year.

Thunderbolts* (2025)

Thunderbolts* has a lot to achieve coming just three months after Captain America: Brave New World stunk out cinemas and I was hoping that this would be where the Marvel films would start to get back on its feet after several years of mainly below average stories with the exception being the third Guardians film and the Deadpool & Wolverine film. The set up of the film is Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen) are sent separately to a bunker at the request of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine who is trying to survive an impeachment hearing and so in an attempt to get rid of any evidence she tries to kill them and along with Bob (Lewis Pullman) trying just survive. Bucky Barnes who is now a politician (briefly seen in Captain America: Brave New World) collects them in an attempt to testify against de Fontaine but they soon form a new avengers. Bob has been tested on and his dark side becomes the villain.

My worry about this film being pointless was unfounded because the film ends with a post end scene where the Fantastic Four ship appears with a MASSIVE ‘4’ symbol on it. The film does enough to set up future films while feeling like it's a standalone film which is something I liked a lot. Florence Pugh is very good as Yelena. Her character starts off as someone who is aimless and does jobs but never really seems to get any fulfillment from those jobs. There are moments of humour from her but her development over the course of the film is good to watch. David Harbour is the comic relief in a film which has more than a subtle Guardians vibe running through it. Harbour is funny and did get more than a couple of chuckles out of me. The dynamic between the two is quite charming and lovely to watch. I did quite like the character of Bob and thought that Lewis Pullman played him very well. The dark Bob might not have been the strongest villain but I thought that played against nice Bob he came across as perhaps the darkest villain in a Marvel film for quite some time.

There are some things that don't quite work. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is usually pretty reliable but here it does feel like de Fontaine is a placeholder villain and her character feels a bit of a weak link. Of course she isn't supposed to be the main focus of the film but it doesn't feel like we would miss anything if her character got cut from the film. Another issue was Hannah John-Kamen’s character who came across as particularly likeable and in those early stages when they are supposed to be snippy with each other, it just didn't come across as someone that we should care about. Even though she did mellow a bit as the film progressed I think she got forgotten about.

This is by far the best post-Endgame Marvel film although that is a pretty low bar to clear. Only Deadpool & Wolverine and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 have been anywhere near good and this is by far the best in terms of feeling like a solid Marvel film. The characters work well together, the villain is pretty decent by Marvel standards and the action scenes are so much better than the ones in Captain America it's scary they came out the same year. I don't know if this film means that Marvel are back to where they were in 2019 but a few more films like this and we could be back to good Marvel.