Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Dust Bunny (2025)

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June 8

Day 8

Today’s June Swoon entry was a wild monster/thriller that I had never heard about before. It was entitled Dust Bunny, and I saw it on HBO Max.

What helped me pick the film out was seeing Mads Mikkelsen as the lead and Sigourney Weaver in a supporting role. Who knew that this was going to be a wild flick.

According to IMDB, “After losing her foster parents to a bedroom-dwelling beast, young Aurora hires her reclusive neighbor, a professional assassin, to hunt it, unknowingly thrusting him into a war against both human killers and supernatural terrors.“

The little girl, Aurora, was played by Sophie Sloan, who does an excellent job of presenting this little girl with a dark past and a serious attitude.

The monster is done very well too, keeping it fairly under wrapped for much of the film. It is not until the third act where we start to get a better glance of the monster. It did seem fairly practical of an effect too, which was a welcome bit for Hollywood today.

Mads Mikkelsen and Sophie Sloan were great together, elevating this movie’s script above a typical movie. They worked well together, showing some serious chemistry and some good laughs too.

This was a really weird movie. Think “Leon the Professional” if written by Roald Dahl and R.L. Stein. Hitmen and monsters do not necessarily go together, but this somehow fits wonderfully. 

The Pout-Pout Fish

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The animated film The Pout-Pout Fish dropped on Amazon Prime recently. It was one of the films I did not see in the theaters, so I streamed it on Prime.

I’ll get this out of the way. The animation was excellent. It looked great, and the designs of the fish were clever and fun.

That was about all I liked about this one.

According to IMDB, “Living on a rundown shipwreck, Mr. Fish one day discovers a hyperactive young sea dragon Pip – who had mistaken his home for a junkyard – pilfering his belongings. The heated argument that ensues leaves both their houses in ruin. But there is hope. Embarking on a seemingly impossible quest in search of the mythical “Shimmer” to grant them a wish, there’s only one problem: someone else is on the hunt.“

I am afraid that this movie just never hit with me. I had a lot of trouble with some of the physics of the story. It seemed like they forgot at times that there was water around everyone. Things seemed to fall like they would without water and it bugged me.

Then, the character of Pip was just about as annoying as I have ever heard in animation. I was done with this character very early as well.

The film was very predictable and overall bland. Nick Offerman, who I have always enjoyed, just did not seem to fit the voice of the character of Mr. Fish.

I thought the trio of pink dolphins (voiced by Amy Sedaris) were the best part of the film, because you do not usually see dolphins as antagonists.

This one was a disappointment. I did not enjoy watching it and it felt like it took forever, even though it wasn’t that long time wise. I thought the ending was okay, but by that point, I was checked out.

2.2 stars

Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round

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I was on Amazon Prime and I saw a film that grabbed my attention immediately. It was a rental called Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round, a horror movie with an intriguing hook.

According to IMDB, “A children’s TV show host, ensnared in a case of amnesia, must confront his missing memories as his puppet co-stars turn on him.”

This is really creepy and there is a solid performance at the center of it by Michael Gilio. The Mr. Rogers Neighborhood feel is obvious and it is subtle at first with the slow burn on the mystery of Mr. Jensen and what had happened to him.

When I first saw this, I immediately thought about Bray Wyatt and the Firefly Funhouse from the WWE. I could absolutely see Bray Wyatt doing something like this. The movie listed something about “Freak” which immediately made me think of The Fiend. I have a hard time believing that the Firefly Funhouse wasn’t an inspiration for this movie.

This developed into a creepy, downright frightening film with the puppets and Mr. Jensen. The flashbacks were so effective and were doled out slowly, creating a great pace for the movie.

The character of “Kneel” had me yelling out loud.

Aiden Leary made his feature length film directorial debut with this movie and he does an admirable job with some of the creepy shots and lighting of the show. He provided a movie that played with people’s anxiety and gives us a top notch psychological horror/thriller.

It has been a solid year for horror movies so far and this one adds right to the list of strong newcomers. It is currently available for rental on Prime or for free on Screambox.

4.3 stars

John Candy: I Like Me (2025)

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June 7

Day 7

Today’s June Swoon 5 film was a documentary on Amazon Prime from last year that looked at the life and career of one of the most beloved actors/comedians of the past forty years, John Candy.

The doc started off with Bill Murray trying to come up with something bad to say about John Candy, and wishing the producers luck in their investigation to find some dirt on the man. It was a real funny kick off to the show and did a great job of pointing out how universally beloved men John Candy was.

There were a litany of stars who had nothing but amazing things to say about John Candy including Tom Hanks, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Macaulay Culkin, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Steve Martin, Conan O’Brien, and Mel Brooks.

The doc does a great job of outlining how the death of John Candy’s father (when John was 5 years old) affected him as an adult, and how his behavior of drinking, smoking, eating led to his early death at 43.

It also showed what a lovely human being John Candy was and how much success he had as an actor, starting off with SCTV and ending as a movie star.

The doc also talked with John Candy’s family, his wife, his brothers, his son, and his daughter. They talked about the close relationship John Candy had developed with John Hughes, and how Candy wound up in 9 films from the director.

I liked John Candy, but I would never say that I was a huge fan of his, but I found myself tearing up at the end of the documentary, which tells you how well director Colin Hanks and the rest did with this doc. The story of them closing down a freeway in LA for John Candy’s funeral procession was amazing.

The doc is available on Amazon Prime and it moves at a brisk clip, moving through his way-too-short life and career. It is wonderful when you can look back on a person’s career and see only the good.

The Secret Agent (2025)

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June 6

Day 6

The Secret Agent was an Academy Award nominated film, nominated for  Best Picture, Best Actor , Best Casting and Best International Feature Film. Though it did not take any Oscars home, the film was an international success.

According to IMDB, “Amid the political turmoil of 1977 Brazil, a technology expert is forced into hiding and seeks help from the underground resistance as he tries to flee the country with his young son.”

Wagner Moura played Armando, a former professor who was involved in political bedlam during the Brazilian military dictatorship. Set in 1977, Armando traveled to Recife to see his son Fernando, and research his late mother, whom he did not remember.

There were assassins sent after him and there were several local problems he faced as well.

I had a difficult time following some of this movie as it was in Portuguese and the complex story kept me as the viewer off-center. I’m not ashamed to say that I was confused at time with what was going on. The film flipped time periods a couple of times and I was not sure what had happened,

There was a weird section of the film featured on a severed leg that had been found in a shark. This surreal scene was strange, but brought some levity to a difficult story. It sounded as if the scene had a deeper meaning.

The ending of the film was excellent and shocking. I was not expecting it. Wagner Moura was great in his role and certainly deserved his Oscar nomination.

Masters of the Universe

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“By the power of Grayskull…I have the Power!”

The new version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe came out this weekend, an IP that has been redone several times, both in live action and animation.

According to IMDB, “A young man on Earth discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet, and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom.“

I was never a big fan of He-Man, although I did not dislike the IP. I watched the Kevin Smith animated versions on Netflix.

This movie was not my favorite. I had several problems with the film which I will go into later. However, it was not a total loss as there were some things I liked.

First off, I thought Nicholas Galitzine did a great job as Prince Adam. I may not necessarily like how they had him playing the role, but I do think he did a great job in the role. He had a Chris Hemsworth vibe to him.

Jared Leto, whose had some questionable roles, was an outstanding Skeletor. Again, there are some of the writing that did not work well, but Leto stood out among the cast.

There was some good action, especially in the later stages of the film. I enjoyed the finale of the third act, action-wise.

There were a lot of issues though. The biggest one is the tone. This is meant to be too humorous, kind of in the veins of a Thor: Love and Thunder. There were several times when there was a good scene, some times even an emotional scene, but it did not get a chance to settle in because there was a joke coming after.

And for a film that wanted the humor to be so front and center, the film was not very funny. I am not sure I laughed at all, certainly not more than a giggle here and there, and I found myself rolling my eyes more than anything else. I’m not opposed to a healthy dose of humor in my action movies, but the humor needs to be doled out in proper doses and in the correct moments. This film did not do that.

The earth section of this film could have easily been removed, because it did nothing and it was just a way to extend the run time. I really did not like the roommate character in this, and I wonder why people did not have this guy committed with his talk about swords and other planets. And there was a monster that showed up on earth and knocked away by an Amazon truck. This is an Amazon film. Brought me memories of War of the Worlds. Amazon is clearly the biggest heroes in all movies.

And, boy was there an obvious Coca-Cola product placement too. I laughed audibly at this.

There are a ton of secondary characters that were just here to stand in the background and not have any sort of story to them. Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn was a total waste, as was Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress.

It is not the worst movie to watch, but I did find myself bored in a good chunk of the film and very noticeably, not laughing. The last third of the film was better and one would wish it was the style the whole film would have taken.

2.5 stars

Good Night, and Good Luck: Live From Broadway (2005)

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June 5

Day 5

I wish we got more of this.

This was originally a live broadcast of the Broadway play, Good Night and Good Luck on CNN and CNN International. I wish that there were more examples of this form, movie recorded as the Broadway play, so we could get more of an exposure to this type of entertainment.

I have been excited to see this since I put it on the Netflix queue and i figured the June Swoon 5 would be a perfect place for it.

This play showed the lead up and eventual confrontation between the junior senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy and CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow, as well as the journalists and news people behind the scenes at CBS.

I found this to be completely enthralling and totally thrilling. The play used videos of Joseph McCarthy as well as other important people of the time to help illuminate the story.

George Clooney starred as Murrow and he was excellent. A personal favorite of mine was also here, Clark Gregg, who was well known as Agent Coulson in the MCU. He played newscaster Don Hollenbeck. There was a scene in this play between Clooney and Gregg that was just amazing and showed off Gregg’s skills tremendously.

Glenn Fleschler played Fred Friendly and his relationship with Murrow was another part of this story. It was some of the best dialogue you will hear and consistently was both funny and poignant.

The only thing that was distracting for me was that fact that every time the character of Joe Wershba, played by Carter Hudson, spoke, it sounded like John Ratzenberger. That did not take away from his strong performance in the play, but it was something that I thought of every time he spoke.

I wish there were more of these type of films. Not just adaptations of stage plays, but actual stage plays as they are presented on Broadway. I would definitely go see something like this in a theater.

Rental Family (2025)

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June 4

Day 4

So the June Swoon film for the day is Rental Family, a film featuring Brendan Fraser. It was one that I thought about going to the theater to see, but it did not work out. I decided that I would save this one for June Swoon.

According to IMDB, “An American actor in Tokyo struggling to find purpose lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. He rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection.”

I am torn on this movie. Not because I did not enjoy it, because this was a beautiful movie filled with emotion and lovely exteriors and great performances. The problem I had was with the central concept of the idea of rental family, not the movie but the business that Shinji Tada (Takehiro Hira) was running. He would send actors into situations to play relatives or friends or whatever to people who are emotionally challenged.

For example, in this film, Brendan Fraser played an actor named Phillip who was struggling with his career. He moved to Japan several years before and he joined in the company where he is sent into a situation where he was pretending to be the absentee father of a little girl, Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman). He was hired by her mother to help her get into a specific school.

The problem is they do not tell Mia that he is pretending and they pretend that he is her long, lost father, and they told Phillip that he needed to not get close to her. How is he supposed to do that, get to know her and not get close to her.

It just felt gross. I felt that these characters were so emotionally manipulated in this that it, as I said, felt gross.

However, so much of the movie is so wonderful that I kind of held my nose and moved along. To be fair, I think that it is gross is meant to be part of the themes of the film.

There is another storyline where Phillip is pretending to be a journalist interviewing a big time former actor Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto) which was a beautiful tale of friendship and life.

I loved the relationships Phillip developed with both Mia and Kikuo, which made his constant lies all the harder to watch. You can tell from Fraser’s excellent performance how the lies were affecting him as well.

While I had trouble with the concept of the film, everything else was amazing. I loved the story, the characters, the performances, the relationships and the chorography. Rental Family was an outstanding movie that made me feel icky at a few times.

All the Empty Rooms (2025)

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June 3

Day 3

I thought we’d start off day 3 of the June Swoon with some tears.

Wednesdays are always a challenge during the June Swoon because it is “new comic book day” and I head out to spend time at the two comic shops that I patronize. So I have to look for a movie that can fit into the time frame available. Many times that means I use a short.

In this case, I pulled up the 2026 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Short Film on Netflix, entitled All the Empty Rooms.

In this doc, we follow CBS newsman Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they travel around the country, documenting bedrooms of victims of school shootings.

In the short, we see the final four children’s bedrooms and hear from the families of the victims.

The four kids involved in this doc were Hallie Scruggs, Dominic Blackwell, Gracie Anne Muehlberger and Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares. According to Wikipedia, there were several others involved in Hartman’s project that were not shown in the doc.

The doc was directed and produced by Joshua Seftel.

This documentary was poignant and truly showed the pain and the love of these surviving family members and how much their loss affected their lives. It also showed how their love is everlasting, even years after the death of their children.

Hokum

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Ahhhhhhhhh

This was one of the creepiest movies of the year. I legitimately had chills as the movie progressed.

I missed this one in the theater because of schedule so when it popped up on Fandango at Home today for rental, I was ready to watch it. Then, I was scared throughout it.

Typically, I am not scared by movies, but there was no denying that this one hit just right for me.

According to IMDB, “A horror writer visits an Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, unaware the property is said to be haunted by a witch.”

Adam Scott starred as writer Ohm Bauman, a bad-tempered man who came to the area to spread the ashes of his recently deceased parents. He was really an unlikable character at the beginning of this movie, but you get past that very quick after a shocking event at the hotel.

This film falls into the sub-genre of haunted house films, and it does it in a magnificent way. The jump scares were kept at a minimum and when they happen, they are so well executed that it fit into the story.

Everything looked great, the music really worked well, and I was engaged in this film. I was rooting for Bauman to get out of the hotel and the story did not disappoint me.

I was so happy that I got to see this one.

4.5 stars

Pressure

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When I saw the trailer for this movie, it felt like a silly idea. How the meteorologists helped save D-Day? Apparently it was a true story, but it really seemed ridiculous. However, this movie rocked.

According to IMDB, “In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice–launch the most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.“

This movie was fascinating and full of intensity. I was very impressed with both Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser. Fraser was Dwight D. Eisenhower and Scott was James Stagg, the meteorologist. The tension between the characters is absolutely sharp and fills the screen. Scott has some great performances with the stuff that he got to play was amazing.

I had no idea that weather could be as exciting as it was. The differing ideas behind the way to predict the weather from Stagg and Col. Krick (played by Chris Messina) was interesting. It showed how two different meteorologists can look at the same thing and come up with different points of view.

There was not much war scenes in this war movie, as it was more in the vein of Darkest Hour, but the scenes that they did include was very tough to watch.

Another actor who I thought did great job was Kerry Condon, who played Eisenhower’s associate Kay Summersby. She was one of the most empathic characters I have seen in a long time in a movie like this. She felt like she was holding everything together.

I never thought I was going to like this movie, and it turned out to be sensational. It goes to show that you should not make up your mind on a trailer before you actually see the product.

4.4 stars

Fackham Hall (2025)

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June 2

June Swoon 5: Day 2

The second film in this year’s June Swoon is a comedy that combines the feel of Wuthering Heights and Downton Abby with Airplane! and Naked Gun.

According to IMDB, “A new porter forms an odd bond with the youngest daughter of a well-known UK family. As the Davenport family, headed by Lord and Lady Davenport, deals with the epic disaster of the wedding of their eldest daughter to her caddish cousin.“

While I compared this to Airplane! and Naked Gun, I think the comedy and writing in this is a little more subtle at times, and does not have the real, over-the-top type jokes of those two, which I liked quite a bit about this.

I will say that it took a bit of time to get the story going, but it was always very funny.

The cast was led by Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Radcliffe as Rose and Eric. They made a nice pair together and gave the odd cousin-thing a surprise twist. Other cast members included Damian Lewis, Hayley Mills, Tom Felton, Katherine Waterston, Jason Done, Emma Laird, Adam Woodward, Ramon Tikaram, Lily Knight, and Erin Austen.

The film was lightweight, but funny and funny can overcome plenty of flaws.

Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching (2025)

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June 1

Day 1-June Swoon 5

And with that, the June Swoon 5 is underway.

The June Swoon kicked off this year with a documentary that I watched for free on YouTube that I had heard about from film critic William Bibbiani. He had it as one of his favorite movies from 2025, which sounded strange considering it was a documentary about birdwatching.

I tell you what…this thing was one of the most entertaining documentaries I have seen in quite a while. I found myself engaged and laughing loudly multiple times throughout the nearly two hour run time.

Two brothers, Owen and Quentin Reiser, with zero birdwatching experience, decided to attempt a “Big Year” by traveling across the USA in a Kia minivan and listing as many species of birds that they could see.

A “Big Year” is a competitive birding challenge to spot as many bird species as possible across the Lower 48 United States in a single calendar year.

During the year, the Reiser brothers met many other birdwatchers along the way and these people were every bit as engaging as the birds that they were following.

Another major aspect of fun in this doc was the inexperience and the reactions of these two men. Their observations were hilarious which came from a place of unfamiliarity.

Several “listers,” which referred to a group of highly competitive birdwatchers who compile a list of the number of species that they see in a calendar year, trying to break the record of bird species seen, appeared on the documentary as Owen and Quentin came across them on their travels.

Some of these included Tammy and David McQuade, a married couple who recorded 700+ sightings in multiple consecutive years, and Ezekiel Dobson, a 19-year old who broke the record of birdwatching with 758 recorded sightings in 2024.

The unconventional manner that they undertook was one of the most enduring parts of the doc. They spoke about things like eBird, an app that helped identify birds, how Cracker Barrel would allow them to sleep in their parking lot for free, and the advantages and disadvantages of playback, recorded sounds of birds intended to attract the birds. It reminded me a lot of the old Squatch calls from Finding Bigfoot.

The Reisers planned on spending as little money as they could, so they even went as far as attempting to build their own boats, to varying degrees of success.

This had no right to be as entertaining as it was, bit Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching was a great film to kick off the fifth annual June Swoon.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

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I finished off the original Toy Story trilogy tonight by watching Toy Story 3 on Disney +. Toy Story 3 is one of my all-time favorite animated films. It is top 3 for sure, if not number one. It had been too long since I have seen it. After the viewing tonight, I can say with certainty that this remains an all-time classic.

Andy has grown up and is about to head off to college, which means that he has to make a decision about what he is going to do with his toys. When they accidentally get thrown out, the toys decide to get themselves donated to a daycare. However, the daycare turned out to be nowhere near as awesome as they thought it would be.

There are a couple of reasons why I loved this movie as much as I did. First up was the arrival of what I consider one of the greatest Disney villains of all time in Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, voiced by the iconic Ned Beatty. Lotso was such an evil character, but I could completely understand his story. I thought his origin story, which was told in flashbacks, was just perfection. Everything that Lotso did was relatable because of the trauma of being lost and replaced. It turned him bitter and angry, something that he never got over.

The second thing that made me love this movie was one of the most dramatic and suspenseful scenes you are going to get in any movie, let alone a Pixar kids movie. The scene where Woody, Buzz and all of the others were in the incinerator, slowly moving toward the flames. When I first saw that scene in the theaters, I actually couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t see a way out for them and I truly thought that the film was going to send them all to a fiery grave. This time, I saw the foreshadowing with the little aliens on how they get rescued, but when I first saw this in 2010, I was sure they were all goners. It was one of the most effective scenes I had ever scene and one of Pixar’s greatest.

Thirdly, the final scene with Andy and Bonnie was spectacular, filled with real emotions, that couldn’t help but bring tears to my eyes. It was so beautifully written that you just can’t help it.

Another brilliant scene was the escape plan organized by Woody to get out of the daycare. The plan revealed some amazing skills for the different toys involved. Everybody had an important role to play and the ending of it with the confrontation with Lotso was such an amazing moment.

Buzz getting turned back into the Space Ranger and then eventually to the Spanish version was hilarious. Tim Allen does a great job voicing that character. It was wonderful to get the voices back for Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris, Jodie Benson, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris.

We got some new voices too. Michael Keaton joined the cast as Ken, Barbie’s boy toy. Blake Clark replaced Jim Varney as Slinky Dog after Varney’s death in 2000.

This is a masterpiece of a film, filled with heart, emotion and a connection to one’s things that everyone can relate to. Toy Story 3 is easily my favorite of all the Toy Story movies and right up there with Into the Spider-Verse and Inside Out.

Backrooms

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So far this year, we have had several YouTubers taking a step into the world of big theatrical movies. Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach’s film Iron Lung, which made $51 million on a three million dollar budget, and Curry Barker’s film Obsession was hugely successful over the last couple of weekends.

This week, 20-year-old Kane Parsons entered the world of big screen films with this adaptation of his own web series, Backrooms.

Backrooms has been anticipated by a lot of the movie audience as they have done a great job of promoting the creepiness of the film.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell, this film was a crazy, weird, creepy film, using techniques of found footage movies, to build the suspense and anxiety of the situation.

According to IMDB, “After a therapist’s patient disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him.“

The film was great. The mystery of what was going on was very psychologically scary and unsettling. The found footage camera work showed the strength of that technique. I found it thrilling and there was great acting involved in it.

This does a great job of using the concept of liminal space, which is one of those internet memes/deep dives that many are intrigued by.

I am not sure how I felt about the ending of the film. I was not as satisfied by the ending as I was the rest of the film. Obviously, I can not spoil it, but I just did not love the end.

I found this creative film fun and engaging, keeping the audience unsettled and anxious.

4.1 stars