Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

The Cycle

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I was surprised by this movie a couple of times. First, I did not expect to see Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page from the Daredevil series from Marvel Studios/Netflix). Secondly, I did not expect the type of movie that this would turn into.

No spoilers because it was a fun reveal at the end and it made perfect sense and it was a great film for a lazy Halloween afternoon.

According to IMDB, “A daughter unravels her father’s dark past after his body, missing for 36 years, is found at a horrific crime scene.”

Directed by Jordan Downey, The Cycle was his first full length feature which dropped on Shudder and AMC + on Amazon Prime.

There were a lot of practical effects in this that were both effective and shaky. Much of the effects were scary and worked well, but there were a couple that did not look great and pulled me out of the moment. I like the effort to do more of this practically though and the attempt should be appreciated.

Deborah Ann Woll does a wonderful job as the lead of the film, translating the work she did on Daredevil into some solid action chops.

The way the story blends the apparent serial killer elements into the the supernatural aspects work well and turned out satisfyingly.

I am pleased that I found this on Shudder and that I took the time to watch it.

3.5 stars

It Ends

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A thriller/horror film came up on Fandango at Home from 2026 that was a fascinating idea called It Ends. I had the same idea about this as I did with Exit 8. Exit 8 was a much better movie, but It Ends was good too.

According to IMDB, “Friends on a late-night food run become trapped on an infinite highway with otherworldly terrors lurking beyond. Confined in their car, they must decide whether to accept their fate or attempt escape.”

I really liked this premise of It Ends. Four friends trapped on a never ending road with strange things happening around them.

I think the first act was exceptional as the four of them tried to figure out what was happening to them. Their random speculation about what was going on was fun.

It felt as if there were some solid character work int he first half of the film, but I do not know if I liked the resolution to the characters’ arcs.

I am also torn with the ending. I kind of liked it, but I feel as if there would be a lot of people who would feel disappointed with the conclusion because there is a lot of ambiguity with the ending.

I liked most of this film. I was engaged with what was going on for most of the film, but I will say that, even I, would have liked something more.

3.6 stars

The Weight

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The Weight is a film that starred Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe that did not stay in the theaters for long. I would have gone to the theater to see the film, but, in my area anyway, it was gone pretty quickly and I could not fit it into my schedule. Fortunately, it came up on Fandango at Home this past week, and I was able to get it on the watch.

It was a solid historical drama with a great cast and some tense moments. Ethan Hawke showed, once again, what a versatile and powerful actor he is and his scenes with Russell Crowe were some of the best of the film. Crowe was not in the film as much, as his character was used at the beginning and then at the end of the movie.

According to IMDB, ” Desperate to save what is left of his family, during the height of the Great Depression, a battle-scarred veteran is hired to help smuggle a fortune in gold across 100 miles of impenetrable wilderness.“

The scenes set in the wilderness featured some spectacular imagery that stood out from the background. There is a scene on a rope bridge that takes that well-worn trope to a different level with some serious suspense in the crossing.

The ensemble cast was very good as well as it included Julia Jones, Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen, Sam Hazeldine, George Burgess, Alec Newman, and Cameron Brady.

The Weight is directed by Padraic McKinley, and he does a solid job with this, his first full length feature film. This is a director who knew the kind of movie he wanted to make and placed the story an his actors into situations to get the best from them.

The Weight was a very strong film that has some great acting and a visual story to tell. It deserved more time in the theater.

3.75 stars

Tremors (1990)

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October 25

#13 out of 13

And with that, The October 13 for 2026 comes to a close as I pulled up the Kevin Bacon film Tremors on Peacock for the thirteenth film of the month.

Tremors was one that I thought I had watched before, but I did not have a review and, after watching it, I feel as if I had never seen this before.

According to IMDB, “Inhabitants of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.”

The cast was full of fun actors including Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McIntyre, Victor Wong, Bobby Jacoby, Charlotte Stewart, Tony Genaro, Ariana Richards, Conrad Bachmann, Sunshine Parker and Richard Marcus.

The creatures are, of course, all practical effects and they look decent, though the smaller tentacle looking parts reminded me of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. The giant creatures looked really great and helped keep this monster movie tense and filled with anxiety.

I did not love the characters played by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward at first, though they both grew on me.

Tremors had some good humor, solid acting, and some very strong practical effects. The film holds up well over the years and I had a good time watching.

We Are Still Here (2015)

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October 25

#12 out of 13

One of the key sub-genres of horror films would be the “Haunted House” films. We Are Still Here is another film that fits into that sub-category.

According to IMDB, “In the cold, wintery fields of New England, a lonely old house wakes up every thirty years – and demands a sacrifice.“

While there is not a lot new in this film, the performances of the actors help create a watchable horror film with a satisfying ending.

Andrew Sensenig and Barbara Crampton play Paul and Anne Sacchetti, a couple who recently lost their son in a car wreck and were moving to a new house in New England. Larry Fessenden and Lisa Marie play friends Jacob and May Lewis. Monte Markham played Dave McCabe, who was one of the people protecting the house.

There were some good scares in the film, but, again, nothing that was incredibly memorable. This was a decent film that I probably won’t remember for too long.

Wildwood

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The new Laika top-action animation film was released this weekend. It was named Wildwood, and the trailers for this film looked tremendous. After seeing the whole film, it was even better than tremendous.

According to IMDB, “The adventures of Prue McKeel as she sets off to the forests outside Portland to find her kidnapped brother.“

Prue McKeel was voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, and she was the main protagonist as she attempted to enter the Impassable Forest to save her little brother Mac, who had been abducted by a murder of crows.

The story is a master class in narrative storytelling. Everything combines together in such a perfect way and there are no loose ends or unimportant moments. Every character had an arc and the story did not leave anyone out. It is a top notch, emotional film that had me teary eyed in several moments of the third act.

It is also a masterpiece in stop-motion animation. It was the best stop-motion animation that I think I have ever seen. Every moment on the screen was gorgeous and filled with imagery and amazing color. I think this may be my favorite animation of the year.

The voice cast was powerful too. Along with Peyton Elizabeth Lee, the cast included Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Mahershala Ali, Jemaine Clement, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Tantoo Cardinal, Marc Evan Jackson, Jake Johnson, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Maya Erskine, and Amandla Stenberg.

This is an epic fantasy that does not spare on the violence because it is animated. Several characters are killed and it is right up front about it. This is not a film for the youngest of the kids, but mid to teen would love this. It is such an amazing feature that showed what filmmakers are capable of with the medium. Director Travis Knight, who directed Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee, and new Masters of the Universe, was also a producer on ParaNorman and Missing Link. He clearly has some skill when it comes to animation.

There are not many flaws to this magnificent movie. It may be a touch long, but it did not feel that way.

5 stars

You Can See Everything

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I do not usually have documentaries on the year end Best Movies because they are more difficult to compare them to scripted films. Won’t You Be My Neighbor about Mr. Rogers was a exception.

You Can See Everything will also be an exception. It will be on my Best Movies list for 2026.

I did not know anything about Elizabeth Holmes, nor did I watch the Hulu series The Dropout, so I came into the doc without any knowledge of what I was going to see. All I knew was that there was going to be some kind of twist, and that this was very well received. None of that was going to affect my enjoyment.

The fact is that I think the documentary started off a little slow. Part of that, I assume, is that I did not know any of the story previously. However, one this thing got cooking, man it was something else.

Nathan Fielder was one of the co-directors for this doc and he was the main, on-screen interviewer. He spent the last 34 days before Elizabeth Holmes surrendered herself to go to the prison.

This doc really kicked off for me when Nathan was interviewing Elizabeth’s father, and Elizabeth’s partner Billy Evans, interrupted, causing the father to change his entire attitude. It was creepy and very suspicious. There was also an awesome use of Abbot & Costello’s Who’s on First.

I was very impressed with the amount of participation this documentary got out of Amanda Seyfried, who played Holmes in The Dropout. The last part of this movie felt more like a movie than a documentary. I had to keep telling myself that the scenes with Amanda Seyfried were real. I thought this was designed so well that it gave me a total different feel (the whole scene about Charlie Kirk was uncomfortable as could be).

I was completely enthralled in the story this doc was telling and I was trying to figure out what was going to happen. Of course, doc endings are many times lacking because of the nature of the story. This ending was as satisfying as it could have been considering what had happened.

This is really not only a great documentary, but a great movie too.

4.8 stars

Harpoon (2019)

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October 23

#11 out of 13

The next film in the October 13 was a film that I had not heard about before, but found on Amazon Prime. It blended the horrors of a survival/revenge flick with the comedy of a dark nature. It worked extremely well.

According to IMDB, “Rivalries, dark secrets, and sexual tension emerge when three best friends find themselves stranded on a yacht in the middle of the ocean desperate for survival.”

This really mixed the two styles well, which is not an easy task. There have been so many horror/dark comedy amalgams over the years that simply failed to achieve the proper tone/balance. Harpoon hit a nice level between the two.

The best part of the comedy was the narrator, voiced by Brett Gelman (from Stranger Things and Fleabag) whose wry lines were the perfect soundtrack to the absurdity going on with these three friends.

The three actors who portrayed the central protagonists do a great job too. Munro Chambers played Jonah, Chris Gray played Richard and Emily Tyra played Sasha. They had a strong chemistry with each other and their emotions bounced around as we got to learn more about the trio.

Most of the film takes place aboard the stranded yacht and it created a real sense of isolation for each of the three. The use of Edgar Allan Poe’s only complete novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, as a plot point.

There are a bunch of scenes that were difficult to watch. Some that were painfully bloody or stomach wrenching. They fit well within the story unraveling on the screen.

I was not sure this was going to be for me after the very beginning of the film, but it rapidly became one that I was invested in and I really did enjoy watching it. The ending was satisfying too.

Two more movies to go in The October 13.

Clayface

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So the next DC Studios movie dropped today with the debut of Clayface, a body horror film featuring the classic Batman villain.

Straight up first, as this is a Batman villain without Batman, this is better than any of Sony’s Spider-Man villain films (Morbius, Madame Web, Kraven) sans Spider-Man. However, I did not find Clayface to be a great film. At best, it is mid.

According to IMDB, “Rising Hollywood star Matt Hagen descends into a horrifying revenge-filled monster when scientific ambition strips him of his identity and humanity.”

What did I like about Clayface: Most of the CGI was strong. I may not have loved the last look of Clayface, but most of the brutal body horror was great work. There were many scenes where I could not help but squint my eyes or look away. Those were strong moments.

Tom Rhys Harries does a good job as Matt Hagen, the actor who gets his face cut up and comes to the become Clayface. I liked his performance.

The story was fine, but I have to say that the dialogue of this movie was horrendous. There was a ton of cheesy lines that really were laughable. I wish the writing was better because it was one of the biggest drags on the film.

I did not love the third act very much either. Some of the developments of the story near the end of the film did not work for me well. Again, no spoilers here, but there are moments that I just did not like.

I left the theater feeling mixed about the movie. There were things I enjoyed about it. I did not hate the film, by any stretch, but it feels like it is right on the line between positive review and negative review. In the end, I think I would say that I liked more than I did not.

3 stars

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

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October 18

#10 out of 13

I have seen several versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers before, but I had never seen the original 1956 version, so I found it on Amazon Prime and added it to the list of the October 13.

You could tell this was a classic because it was just a wonderful film.

The film was an allegory for the world at the time, with the Joe McCarthy Communist “Red Scare” Hearings creating a paranoia about who may not be what they seem. This is obviously a commentary about that dark period in American history with the pod people being substituted for the Commies.

According to IMDB, “A small-town doctor slowly comes to realize that the population of his community is being perfectly duplicated and replaced by an alien entity.“

Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter were our lead protagonists in this epic thriller with an amazing amount of tension and sinister suspense. The movie moves at a brisk pace and has a true creepy nature to it. The black and white worked great to keep the mood filled with anxiety.

Starting off with McCarthy as Dr. Miles J. Bennell in what seemed like an asylum flipping out was a strong beginning and a great hook for the film.

This is an iconic movie with a top notch performance from Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. You can’t help but root for them, even though you know that they were not together at the hospital like we saw at the beginning. I was hoping for a hopeful ending, and, while that may not be exactly what we got, it was a proper end to the film.

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

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October 18

#9 out of 13

The next film in the October 13 is a 60’s film featuring the iconic Vincent Price as the Last Man on Earth.

Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) was a survivor of a plague that crossed the world. The plague turned the victims into a vampire/zombie-type hybrid that came out at night. Morgan would go out in the day and try to kill and burn however many vampires he could.

Vincent Price was as wonderful as he always was. The overall production of the film was not as strong as it could have been. It had some weaker sound design and the vampires were not the best looking threats we have ever had. I have a feeling that came from a low budget.

I do like how it was filmed in black & white. It makes the film feel more like one of the past movies in the genre.

Whalefall

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The new thriller with a credibility-stretching premise came out this weekend. Whalefall sees our main character getting swallowed by a sperm whale.

According to IMDB, “Follows a scuba diver who, while looking for his father’s remains, is swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has just one hour to get out before his oxygen runs out.”

Austin Abrams starred as Jay Gardiner, the kid who winds up inside the whale. Josh Brolin played his father, Mitt Gardiner. I think that Austin Abrams does a great job, and he is having a big year after starring in the new Resident Evil film. I think he is a star in the making.

Now, the whale in the room is this… you absolutely need to suspend your disbelief in order to accept this premise. The idea that someone could be swallowed by a whale and attempt to survive is just ridiculous and implausible. If you can get past that, the scenes where Abrams is swallowed by the whale (thanks a lot squid) and trying to survive inside the whale are compelling, stressful and engaging as hell. I was fully tense the entire time Jay was inside the whale.

The film used flashbacks to give more details to the relationship between Jay and Mitt. Most of these flashbacks were okay, even if the ones that they showed were kind of heavy-handed. All of the flashbacks played a role in the situation Jay was in. The flashbacks were nowhere near as captivating as the scenes inside the whale. Josh Brolin was fine, if not good, as Mitt, but the character itself was fairly stereotypical.

The first two acts of Whalefall were tremendous and created such a suspenseful tone that it was feeling as if it was going to be one of the best movies of the year. Sadly, the third act was nowhere near as strong and, while still not keeping me from enjoying the film overall, it did bring my opinion of the film down. No spoilers of course, but I just did not think the ending reached the high levels of the first two acts.

The effects inside the whale were absolutely spectacular. They created such a feeling of claustrophobia and tension that the scenes were hard to watch at times. I was always waiting for the next thing to drop to cause trouble for Jay. The sound mix was perhaps Oscar level as the sounds inside the whale and the lead up to Jay being inside was just amazing.

One area that was a problem was the fact that Jay had to keep a mouthpiece in his mouth the whole time he was in the whale because of the toxic air in the whale’s stomach, and that led to Austin Abrams having to mumble a lot of the lines he had. It was difficult to understand what he was saying through much of the movie. So much so that perhaps they should have given an ADR for Abrams so he could be heard. It may have been used to give some realism to a series of scenes that had little to no realism about them. Maybe they could have placed words on the screen so the audience could know what Jay was saying.

I enjoyed this movie for most of the runtime, though it did slip from my initial thoughts of it challenging for the top 10 of the year to a point where it is a movie that I would recommend and liked, but not loved.

3.8 stars

Street Fighter (2026)

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I did not think that the trailer to this new version of the video game, Street Fighter, was very good. In fact, I thought it looked bad. However, I knew that WWE Superstars Cody Rhodes and Joe ‘Roman Reigns’ Anoai appeared as characters, and so, even with Cody displaying the ridiculous hairdo of Guile, I wanted to see the film.

After watching the new Street Fighter, I confirm that the trailer was an accurate description of the film. This really did suck.

According to IMDB, “Street Fighters Ryu and Ken reunite when Chun-Li recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament. As they face a hidden conspiracy, they must confront each other and their past-or face destruction.“

Ken was played by DC Movie Black Adam’s Atom Smasher himself, Noah Centineo and Ryo was played by GI Joe’s Stormshadow, Andrew Koji. I am sorry to say that neither of these actors were good in this movie. Ken was especially difficult to watch because the character was meant to be stupid. He sure was that, so maybe Centineo does a better job of it than I expected.

Oddly enough, I thought Cody Rhodes was the most entertaining aspect of this movie, as Guile and his incompetent, smart-aleck quips. I even got use to the ridiculous hairdo. Unfortunately, Roman did not get much of a character in the film. But he did look great. I acknowledge that.

The story of Street Fighter is so dumb that it takes away from anything positive that the film may have. I found it boring for a good chunk of the film and I could not close my mind off enough to enjoy it. Things happened off screen that seemed to be important to the overall film.

I do like David Dastmalchian, who is always a great choice for a villain, even if M. Bison is a one-note villain. Jason Momoa was in this too, but I spent most of his time on screen trying to figure out if that was Roman Reigns playing the role.

The film looked decent. I liked the color and the design of most of the film. The music was filled with needledrops that were really on the nose.

The ending was left open for a sequel that, I can imagine, that if you were enjoying the movie, you would have been upset at the lack of a satisfying conclusion. I had long since given up on enjoying the movie so the crappy ending did not bother me any more.

The film was too long. It was too dumb. It was not a fun kind of dumb. It was more the stupid kind of dumb. This could have had a role as a satire/parody, but it was supposed to be too serious.

I did like the animated sections they used to fill in the exposition. They should have done more with that. Any time they went back to the live action, this movie suffered.

This was much worse that the Mortal Kombat film from earlier this year. Thank goodness for Cody Rhodes.

1.5 stars

Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

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October 16

#8 out of 13

Boris Karloff is one of the greatest icons of the early horror genre, playing the iconic version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This movie was an adaptation of a H.P. Lovecraft story called “The Colour Out of Space.” I had seen a film based on that story a few years back, but this felt very different than that one that starred Nic Cage.

According to IMDB, “A meteorite’s radiation creates giant plants in a scientist’s greenhouse. When it affects his wife, the wheelchair-bound man attempts to destroy it, leading to catastrophe.”

This was an interesting film with some good atmosphere. I liked the performance of Boris Karloff, and also his co-stars Nick Adams and Suzan Farmer. The three of them did most of the heavy lifting in this movie.

The story itself was not a standout for me. I felt like there were several things that were either left out or were brushed over. When Nick Adams’s character arrived in the town of Arkham, the city’s population wanted nothing to do with him when they found out where he was heading. I am not sure this story element was ever really dealt with in any substantial basis.

There was good tone and mood on the show, and I did think it was a decent film. It just did not wow me as much as I thought it could have.

The Faculty (1998)

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October 13

#7 out of 13

The October 13 rolls on with the sixth film of the month, The Faculty. I have to say that this cast is filled with some great actors including Elijah Woods, Josh Hartnett, Salma Hayek, Shawn Hatosy, Usher, Famke Janssen, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Jon Stewart, Christopher McDonald, Laura Harris, Clea DuVall, Jordana Brewster and Piper Laurie.

According to IMDB, “Six misfit students must band together to save mankind when mind-controlling parasites from another planet infect their high school’s faculty.”

I actually thought this was about witches, but I must have been confusing this with The Craft.

This one was a mixed bag. There were some moments that I enjoyed. I liked most of the cast, but a lot of the story was just strange and it had some dumb moments stuck in too. There were some real conveniences in the script that are there just to be there.

The special effects were fine for 1998. It was nothing incredibly special, but they did a good job of keeping the aliens a mystery for most of the film.

In the end, this was some fun, in a shut your mind down kind of way. I think were better films that dealt with the same idea as this, but I did not hate watching it.