Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Unabomber

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I have always had a fascination with serial killers, and I remember when the chase for the Unabomber was going down in the 1990s and the capture and arrest of the Unabomber, Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski. When I saw the new film on Netflix entitled Unabomber, I put it on my queue. I saw some big named actors involved, including Russell Crowe, Jacob Trembley and Shailene Woodley. I was surprised to find out that it was Jacob Trembley who was playing Ted Kaczynski.

The film was told in two time periods. Jacob Trembley was playing Ted during his time as a 16-year old Harvard student and his involvement in a debate club led by Russell Crowe’s Professor Henry Murray. The second time period is the time period of the Unabomber Manifesto and the subsequent capture of Kaczynski, led by FBI Agent Joanne Miller, played by Shailene Woodley.

I thought that the casting of Trembley was Kaczynski was odd, but Trembley did a solid job in the role. His interactions with Russell Crowe were strong and both of their performances elevated the material.

Sadly, the basic idea of the film felt fairly low level and lacking some of the key components of the character. The psychological aspect of the film was questionable, and it even went as far as to imply that Crowe’s Murray helped turn Kaczynski into what he would become. I am not sure the writing of the film was to the level it needed to be, despite a couple of actors bringing the work to a higher level.

The present day storyline felt fairly typical of the true crime genre, without a ton of depth. Shailene Woodley was decent, but there just was nothing more to add to the story that hadn’t been covered before. The final scene of the capture of Kaczynski had some tension to it, but it was filmed straight up and simple when it could have had more layers.

There just was not much to the overall story, and that is a shame as the Unabomber was one of the 20th centuries biggest criminal cases.

2.8 stars

Avengers Endgame: Encore

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Are the new scenes that were added to the end of Avengers Endgame: Encore necessary to see to understand Avengers: Doomsday coming in December? Maybe not… but I don’t care.

It was freakin’ epic.

Would I have gone to the theater had there not been new scenes? Damn straight. Avengers: Endgame is my favorite movie of all time (right up there with Princess Bride) and I loved watching this movie on the big screen. I was in the same IMAX theater where I saw this movie the first time.

This was my tenth time seeing this movie in a theater, and it was every bit as awesome as the first time. The big moments still brought tears to my eyes despite having seen it as many times as I have (including multiple times on Disney +).

No spoilers for the new scenes at the end, but I found all of them extremely amazing. They were short. There were four bits that were added in a way or another.

The film is very long, but I have to say that I never felt its length. Each aspect of the film worked so well and flowed beautifully. That third act is one of the best third acts in all of movies. Yet I believe the first two acts are as great as any as well.

Watching this movie, I am amazed at the cast that they brought back for this movie. We had the Avengers and Thanos, of course, but also actors such as Robert Redford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Tilda Swinton, Frank Grillo, Rene Russo, John Slattery, Hayley Atwell, Jon Favreau, Angela Bassett, William Hurt, Hiroyuki Sanada, James D’Arcy, Jacob Batalon, Ken Jeong, and several surprise appearances in the new scenes.

I loved this experience again and the new scenes only helped but make me even more excited for Doomsday. Endgame remains at the top of my list of films.

5 stars, of course.

Primetime

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I have been excited about this movie from A24 for awhile now. I did watch How to Catch a Predator at times, though not regularly (as the film tells us… it was up against LOST) and this sounded interesting.

I have to say that I did like this movie, and I think that Robert Pattinson did a great job as Chris Hansen. There was something about the film that just felt off. I am not sure what it is about Primetime that did not work as well as I would have liked it, but it was an interesting film.

The behind the scenes aspects of How to Catch a Predator was weird and strange. I am not sure what was happening with Chris Hansen. He was extremely creepy in the story as well. The film split the difference between Chris Hansen and Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo) as what felt like the co-protagonists.

I had some issues with Skyler Gisondo. I think he is a great actor and he does an admirable job in this movie, but I just had a hard time thinking of him as a 13-year old. That might be just my own problem, but it was in my head the whole time.

The third act took all of the bizarre parts of the film and made it compelling during this over-the-top ending.

I think the film was not as strong as I thought it was going to be, but there were some great performances from both Robert Pattinson and Skyler Gisondo (and also Merrit Wever, whose Andie Bender was a real fascinating addition). The film felt psychedelic at times, which was both intriguing and weird.

I think I enjoyed the film more than what bothered me. It is a strange film but I liked it in the long run.

3.4 stars

Forgotten Island

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I had heard about this movie from several online pundits and I was looking forward to this animated movie from DreamWorks. Forgotten Island did not disappoint.

According to IMDB, “Two best friends become stranded on the mystical world of Nakali, where their only escape might cost them their shared lifetime of memories.“

There were so many amazing things about this movie. Let’s start with the animation. It is one of the most original animated styles that I have ever seen. It blends the 3D computer graphics with 2D hand drawn effects. It reminded me much about The Spider-Verse animated movies, the last Puss in Boots film, and anime films from Japan. It is so chaotic and energetic that it was awesome to watch. It is a visual masterpiece and a bright colored image.

Our two main characters, Jo and Raissa, are fully relatable and engaging. I was hooked with these two characters the minute they met outside of the principal’s office. The voice work of these two characters were great from the performers H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, respectfully.

Other voices in the film included Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Lea Salonga, Dolly DeLeon, Jo Koy, Ronnie Chieng, Kevin McCann, and Kailey Crawford.

Forgotten Island is full of imagination and creativity. It is a sensational animated movie and I loved watching it. Everything about the film was amazing and it was enjoyable the entire time I was in the theater. One of the best animated movies of the year.

5 stars

Tony

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I rented the biopic of Anthony Bourdain in the film Tony, which I watched off Fandango at Home tonight.

According to IMDB, “A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.”

I know very little about Anthony Bourdain. I found this biopic very intriguing. The character of “Tony” was very charismatic, but such a liar and a selfish person. I liked though that he was able to make some better decisions as the movie moved along.

Dominic Sessa does a good job in the titular role, but there is no doubt that Antonio Banderas stole the show as Chef. In a film where we never learn his character’s name (yes, it does appear in a letter, but that is the only moment), he is the most interesting and engaging character. He has so many little intricacies that make this man so outstanding and whom better to play him than Antonio Banderas?

There are some questions for me as to why Tony made some of the choices that he made in the film. I think the film could have gone into more details with the character at the beginning of the film. Leo Woodall’s character, Sal, is one of my least favorite in the movie. I just had a difficult time relating to him and his flip out midway.

I liked this film, especially for performances. I think it was an interesting period of Anthony Bourdain’s life to look at and focus on. It was worth a rental.

3.5 stars

Resident Evil (2026)

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The Resident Evil franchise is one that I have only ever saw one film prior to this new version from director Zach Cregger. I saw the Resident Evil: The Final Chapter which I soundly hated. I do have the first film of the franchise schedule to be among the October the 13th-watch films this year. However, I went into this new Resident Evil film with a very hopeful attitude. I have found Zach Cregger’s recent films, Weapons and Barbarian to have been exceptional horror/thriller films and I had heard a lot of positive word of mouth. Still, I was not totally convinced of the quality this film would be.

After seeing the film, I am ready to declare that 2026 is truly the year of the horror film. Not only did we get Obsession, Backrooms, Buddy, Exit 8, Send Help, The End of Oak Street, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Deep Water, Hokum, Leviticus, and still have sever such as Clayface, The Other Mommy, Werwulf, and Godzilla Minus Zero still to come, but the new Resident Evil film was a fabulous film.

Bryan (Austin Abrams) was a hapless courier who was enlisted to take a medical package to the hospital in Raccoon City. As he made his way through the snowy conditions, Bryan encountered some monstrous creatures trying to kill him.

The number one thing that made this movie so awesome was the performance of Austin Abrams as our protagonist. Abrams had appeared in the HBO show Euphoria as well as Weapons and Wolfs before this role, and he showed that he was a charming, wonderful lead for the film. He delivered every line with such a flair that you could not help but cheer for the guy.

Again, with much thanks to Abrams, this film was just unexpectedly funny. I did not expect to laugh as much as I did in Resident Evil, and laughing when the film wanted me to laugh. I credit Austin Abrams’ work in the film for a large part of why it was so funny.

There were moments of the movie that were extremely tense too. The jump scares were kept to a minimum and were remarkably successful when they did show up. The tension was created from the situation and by placing Bryan into circumstances that the audience responded to effectively.

Without spoiling, the ending of Resident Evil (2026) did leave me a little dissatisfied overall, but it was not a deal breaker as some films have been. This third act resolution is not unwatchable by any means. I just wanted a different result.

I never played the video game that this franchise was based upon, so I do not know how the hardcore Resident Evil fans would take it, but I know I was never confused by what was on the screen. Could there be some Easter eggs that I did not realize? Sure, possibly, but I absolutely feel as if previous viewing was unnecessary to enjoy this movie.

This was a scary, funny, hoot of a good time movie with a lead actor who I think is going to be a superstar soon.

4.4 stars

Hope

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My friend Chris asked me if I was going to see Hope this weekend. I had no idea what it was. He sent me a link, which introduced me to this Korean action/sci-fi/monster movie. I also heard some chatter about how wild this movie was, so when I saw the film available at Cinemark, it moved up my list.

Wild is not the appropriate descriptor for the film.

According to IMDB, “A mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. The residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before.“

The movie starts off with the Chief of Police (Hwang Jung-min) getting called by his cousin Ko Sung-ki (Zo In-sung) to investigate a dead cow on the road that had gaping claw wounds on its body. This led to a pursuit of some kind of monster that is rampaging through the heart of the small town.

Another character that I enjoyed a great deal in this movie was Im Sung-ae, who was played by Jung Ho-yeon- one of the stars of the first season of Squid Game.

The first act of this movie is basically the monster and Chief going through the city and it was tremendous. There were so many epic action moments that were amazingly shot. Some of the CGI was a touch shaky, but there were also some awesome CGI as well. There were no moments of bad CGI that took me out of the movie.

There was a switch along the line when we discover something unexpected and it changes the perspective. It is still some greatness, as there are a ton of great action chases and exciting, thrill ride scenes.

There were some extremely funny scenes too. Especially some of the dialogue of the film was hilarious and my entire theater was laughing at it.

Hope, though I am not sure where that name comes from, is so great for most of this movie that the long run time of over two and a half hours did not feel that way for me. I really was considering this being the second 5 star review of the day.

However, without spoiling anything, the ending of this movie dropped a gigantic HUH??? on the audience and came from out of nowhere. I was totally confused at the end of the film, and it hurt a film that I thought was superb so far. It felt like the film was incomplete. It does sound like they are working on the sequel.

As with any foreign language film, I forgot the fact that I was reading the English dub on the screen as the film progressed. It just becomes part of the experience. I prefer reading the subtitles over having English actors dub the words because the performances always seem to suffer in that way. The tone of voices is as important as the words that they are saying.

This was a lot of fun even though the ending dinged it. It is a bat-shit crazy film that flipped the script a couple of times and kept me tense and anxious the whole time.

4.5 stars

Practical Magic 2

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I was in the theater watching Practical Magic 2 and there were a couple of young women sitting a couple seats away from me. They were enjoying this movie so much. They were crying, gasping, leaning on each other and reacting to everything that was happening. It made me remember how I reacted to Avengers: Endgame on the first watch. There was an energy coming from them that was wonderful.

I wish I would have liked the movie anywhere near what they did.

I just watched Practical Magic for the first time earlier this week in preparation for this movie, and, while I did not like it that much, I am glad I watched it, because you needed to know the story of the original in order to know what is happening.

The curse of the Owens sisters (Sandra Bullock & Nicole Kidman) takes front and center once again as Sally’s husband Gary died off screen, confirming that the curse was still going on. The story transferred to Sally’s daughters, Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King), as they were coming to celebrate the birthday of Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest). Sally had kept her daughters in the dark about their background as witches so when Kylie came with a boyfriend (Xolo Maridueña), things take a turn for tragedy.

The actors are all likeable. I have to admit to only seeing Blue Beetle when Xolo Maridueña was on screen. I was also happy to see Stockard Channing, who I really thought was dead.

The story felt very shaky and I found it to be the biggest weakness of the film. The writing was silly and it was really predictable. I was rolling my eyes several times.

I am glad the young ladies in my row enjoyed this so much. I did not hate the film, but I did not find it any better than the original, which I thought was below level.

2.8 stars

Buddy

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I have been trying to get to the movie, Buddy, for the last two weeks, but it just was not working out. So when I went to schedule this week’s movies, Buddy was the priority.

Man, am I glad I made this a priority. I loved this movie.

Buddy reminded me of the late WWE superstar Brey Wyatt, who had a stretch where he was playing a demented children’s host, much like Mr. Rogers. Instead of Mr. Rogers, this is a demented Barney.

Buddy is an orange unicorn who hangs out with a bunch of little kids who sing to Buddy and tell him how much they love him, but it turned out that there was something much more sinister than you expect.

The film started off showing what seemed like an episode of “It’s Buddy” and the first one felt fun. However, it definitely took a turn soon after. Everything looked like it was one of those cheap ’90s kiddies show, but that was what the creators of the film wanted it to look like.

I just thought this was so great as the kids slowly learned about Buddy’s true nature, and i found myself really cheering for these kids. Wade was my favorite one (played by Caleb Williams), and the kid seemed like her was absolutely in a Barney episode. I think that was intentional. Another of the lead kids were Freddy (Delany Quinn) and she did a great job as the overall protagonist.

After a point in the film, the story left the “It’s Buddy” set in the middle and we were in the real world. It was discombobulating at first, but the craziness of these scene, plus the awesome Cristin Milioti and Topher Grace were involved in the story. I was so into this movie that I was trying to guess what was going down during this time and I found myself yelling at Topher Grace for his character.

There are some legitimately horrifying moments in the film with some awesome gore. It was such an entertaining film that I was completely invested in. I was alone in the theater, which allowed me to be as expressive as I could be, and I loved what happened.

There were some real funny moments in the film too… in a really dark comedic manner. It is one of the most creative films of 2026. I loved Buddy and it is another odd film that I absolutely enjoyed completely.

5 stars

The Runner

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Amazon Prime has had some big “winners” from their original films. Anyone who saw War of the World a couple of years ago knows to what I refer.

I did know that the latest Gal Gadot movie, The Runner, was being dropped on Amazon Prime. I saw that it was available to see free and I could not believe it.

I can see now why it was available free.

No one would pay for this movie. What in the heck was this?

First, Gal Gadot played Maia, a high-powered lawyer, whose son was kidnapped and the kidnapper blackmails Maia. The kidnapper (played by Damian Lewis) put her son into a diabetic coma and threatened to give him another dose that would kill him. He gives the boy an IV with a drip so there is a counting clock on Maia.

He wanted her to go and shoot her key witness who is going to testify against some mob boss. Then he had her run across London in order to get to kill the guy. It is like Die Hard With a Vengeance meets Speed, but way stupider than either one.

Gal Gadot is just not a good actress. She absolutely peaked with the first Wonder Woman. There were some unbelievably horrendous scenes with her performances. There is one moment where a train was going past her that was some of the worst acting I have ever seen. It was Tommy Wiseau level acting.

The situation is as stupid as it could be. How did this guy get his hands on the kid? Maia dropped him off at school. He wanted his mom to walk him into the school, but she ignored him. It was just a few scenes later when Lewis had the kid in a room and had him in the coma. There is just no way this set up worked in any fashion. Suspension of disbelieve is one thing, but this is just not possible.

The entire film makes zero sense. There is a moment where Maia runs down a subway train. I wish I was kidding.

The one positive of the film is that I did not see any Amazon Prime product placement, which is something they must have learned from War of the Worlds. Now… Nike shoes is a different thing.

The editing of the movie is just terrible. It is so noticeable that it is so obnoxious that I can’t even explain it.

It is only a 85 minute film, but it really felt like it was double that.

It is truly one of the worst movies of the year. Way to go, Amazon. You’ve got another winner.

0.5 stars

Practical Magic (1998)

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With Practical Magic 2 coming out this weekend, I figured I would watch a movie that I had not seen before in preparation for it. It is, of course, the first film, Practical Magic, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.

According to IMDB, “Two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love.”

This film is a mixed bag. The tones are all over the place. It went from a weird witch tale to a romantic fantasy to a Ghostbusters jaunt. It is messy at a lot of times.

I wish the film would have taken one of these tones and run with it, because they seemed to try to do all of them.

There are decent parts to the film as well. Sandra Bullock is charming and she works well. However, her relationship with Nicole Kidman is shaky and inconsistent throughout the movie.

There are things about the stories being told in this movie, but it really does not cover them all well. The curse arc, the Jimmy Angelov stuff, the sudden relationship with Sally-Gary, are all parts of the storyline and they all feel so conflicting.

Having said all of this, I thought this was watchable at the least. I wasn’t bored and the actors all did a decent job. I just wish it was a little less disjointed.

Batman: Knightfall Part 1

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This is the first animated film of a planned trilogy adapting the classic Batman comic story Knightfall, which sees the debut of Bane, a dramatic and violent addition to the Batman Rogue’s Gallery.

The Knightfall storyline has been adapted several times, including the Dark Knight Rises film by Christopher Nolan.

According to IMDB, “When the mysterious behemoth known only as Bane frees Batman’s entire rogue’s gallery from Arkham Asylum, the Caped Crusader is pushed to his mental and physical breaking point.”

The mindset of Batman was extremely challenged during this time as he had just experienced the death of Jason Todd’s Robin and he was still shaken at the idea of a Robin. So when Tim Drake took the mantel of the sidekick, Batman was very overprotective, leading to his own struggles both physically and emotionally.

The look of the film was great. The animation does an amazing job of helping the tone of the film and of the state of Batman as a character.

Batman was voiced by Anson Mount and Bane was voiced by Michael Mando. Other voice actors in the cast included Pablo Schreiber, Jack Griffo, Bruce Boxleitner, David Dastmalchian, Simon Templeman, Toks Olagundoye, Jason Flemyng, and Jessica Camacho.

This is the first film of a trilogy adapting this comic story arc into animation. The first film does a great job of setting up Bane as an unstoppable monster and showing us how Batman pushing himself to the brink aided in his ultimate fall from grace. The iconic moment of the film (which I will keep under spoilers) was absolutely brutal.

The second part of the trilogy is supposed to come out in the later part of 2026 and the final one in 2027.

4 stars

Fall 2: Deadpoint

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I was excited for this movie. Honestly, I did not immediately recognize the original film from the title of the sequel, because the title Fall was so generic. However, once I refreshed my memory, I remembered how tense and thrilling that first film was and how it had a really great twist. I was excited to hear that it was getting a sequel.

After seeing Fall 2: Deadpoint, I’m at a mid level for it. There were moments where the film was tense and filled me with anxiety, but, unfortunately, there seemed to be more moments that were just so stupid and that they tried to force a twist in the movie at the end that really did not work for me.

According to IMDB, “Grieving her sister Shiloh’s death, Jax Hunter bonds with Shiloh’s bold friend Luce. Together they tackle dangerous Mount Kwan in Thailand. When a rockslide traps them on a narrow plank 4,000 feet up, Jax must face her fears to survive.”

I did like how they tied this movie to the original, by giving Shiloh (played by Virginia Gardner) a younger sister. This is part of the plot that worked as her sister Jax had to deal with her grief and her own fear.

I did like the new setting for the situation the girls found themselves in and there were some really tense and scary moments. If the film would have been happy just to build suspense in that manner, this would have been an acceptable film and a decent sequel. Unfortunately, you could tell that they were trying to one up the surprise twist of Fall, and that was where this film fell flat.

Because the fact is that the third act of this film was easily my least favorite part of this film. It felt added on that damaged the film dramatically.

Some of the images shot for the film was fine, but nowhere near as well done in the first movie. It felt like there were more shots that were obviously green screen compared to the first one.

This film has its positives, but the stupid stuff really hurt this movie for me. I didn’t hate watching Fall 2: Deadpoint, but there were enough issues with the film that made me disappointed.

2.7 stars

Onslaught

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Onslaught is a new movie this weekend that had some elements about it that I liked, but it was not a film that I would want to watch again. There were too many times where I rolled my eyes or found myself thinking that it was just too stupid for its own good.

According to IMDB, “When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, a badass Army sniper must unleash hell to protect her young daughter.”

Adria Arjona, who is rumored to be the next DC Wonder Woman (though unconfirmed), is the lead role of the film, the badass sniper whose daughter gets dropped off with her without warning. Then, a bunch of murderous super soldiers attack her for… you know.. reasons, and one of them turned out to be the most coincidental character ever in cinema history.

That might be hyperbole, or it may not. The plot of this movie, as it was, was lacking. It was really dumb and had really no reason to happen as it did. It all felt too unbelievable across the whole movie.

The film does have a fine cast, led by Arjona, who I liked as the protagonist. There were also roles for Dan Stevens (though nowhere as used as I anticipated), Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Rebecca Hall (who was on screen less than Stevens), and young actress Blake Kennedy. At the beginning of the film as the names were flashing across the screen, I thought that this had a great cast. I then realized that the cast was, for the most part, wasted.

There were some fun kills along the way and Arjona was definitely a bad ass, but this is one of those films that really did not have much to it. It was paper thin, and it depended on the blood and gore. That’s fine for some movies, but this one felt like it should have been more.

2.7 stars

Mayday

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The new Ryan Reynolds film debuted on Apple TV + this weekend, called Mayday. One wondered why this was not released theatrically. That did not make me optimistic about the quality of the film. However, those fears were squashed after I watched Mayday.

Co-starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh and written/directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who also directed Dungeons and Dragons, Mayday was just a lot of fun. I thought this movie was really funny and had some really good action. I’m not sure why this was not released in the theater, but it would have certainly been a worthwhile addition to the big screen.

Navy Pilot Lieutenant Troy Brennan (Ryan Reynolds) was recruited for a top secret surveillance mission over the Soviet Union. The mission led to the plane being shot down and Brennan being injured after falling through trees in a forest. Nikolai “Nick” Ustinov found the injured pilot and took him to his cabin to nurse him back to health. Nick was an American-loving Russian who was more than what he seemed. The buddies tried to find a way to get Troy home.

Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh had a tremendous chemistry and they carried the film. The friendship developing during the movie was one of the standout keys to the film. Reynolds’ one-liner quips were very clever and funny.

The action was fun, if not silly at times. There is a chase scene that takes place in Moscow that is one of the most original and ridiculous chase scenes I have seen, and yet, somehow, this bizarre scene worked.

The film had a surprising heart to it. There were some wonderful moments between Nick and his daughter Anna (Maria Bakalova).

The film is highly entertaining and I enjoyed watching this film. Is it perfect? No, of course not, but it is definitely worth watching. Mayday is streaming on Apple TV +.

4.2 stars