Category Archives: 2025 Movie Reviews

Last Breath

Posted on by

During this year’s Genre-ary, I watched 30 documentaries. One of them was a documentary called Last Breath, and it told the story of a deep sea diver Chris Lemons who, after an accident, was stranded underwater. Real footage from the actual event made that documentary thrilling.

But, as I was preparing to watch that doc, I realized that I had seen a trailer that had Woody Harrelson in it telling the same story. Sure enough, there was a new movie coming out with the same title, based on the true story.

According to IMDB, Last Breath was “A heart-pounding film that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. Based on a true story, LAST BREATH is an electrifying story about teamwork, resilience, and a race against time to do the impossible.“

Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), Duncan Allock (Woody Harrelson), and Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu) were sent on a mission to repair a pipeline off the coast of Scotland. A terrible storm messed with the ship above the water, causing problems for the divers beneath the water. Chris’s lifeline broke, leaving him stuck in the cold, dark water.

The race against time, equipment and weather created amazing tension and anxiety. I did know the outcome of the story because I had seen the documentary, but I was still fully engaged in the story. I did wish that I hadn’t seen the documentary as I was watching the movie.

Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu had amazing performances as did all of the other actors in the film. Some of the other top performances in the film included Cliff Curtis, MyAnna Buring, Mark Bonnar, Bobby Rainsbury, and, of course, Finn Cole.

The sound editing of the film was sensational too. The shots of the ship in the storm sounded unbelievably great. The effects were tremendous and really worked well.

This is a very solid film with great performances, especially from Harrelson, and amazing technical artistry. Watch this film and then watch the Netflix documentary and you will be amazed with this sotry.

4 stars

The Monkey

Posted on by

Horror/comedy movies can be difficult to do. At some times, the tones between the two genres do not mix well and may feel all over the place. However, when they work, you get some highly entertaining moments, and that is what I feel the latest film from writer/director Osgood Perkins (director of Longlegs) accomplished.

The story tells of a winder-up, toy grinder monkey that wound up in the closet of the father of twins Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery). It does not take long for the twins to realize that when the monkey’s key in its back is wound, someone near them dies in a shocking and quite gruesome way.

After a close tragedy, the twins decided to drop the monkey down a well to get rid of it forever. Little did they know that this would not be the end of the monkey.

Many years later, the monkey returned to the lives of the now estranged brothers and continued to amass chaos in it wake.

I enjoyed this movie a great deal. I heard some critics claim that the tone was too scattered, but I found the tone to work extremely well. It felt somewhat campy, but I thought that worked for the film.

The design of the monkey was creepy, in particular with the smile that would cross its face just before it started drumming. I thought the creepiness factor was just the right amount to keep this unsettling. I would not call the film scary, necessarily, but the kills of the film absolutely turned in some gory moments. Gore is usually not my favorite type of horror, but it felt like it worked so well with the humorous tone that the gore did not bother me.

Theo James, who played the adult versions of the twins, and Christian Convery did amazing jobs playing the two different characters. They played them with their own original styles that I was not sure they were actually the same actor or if it were just an actor that resembled each other really well.

It was also awesome to see Tatiana Maslany appear as the twins’ mother, Lois. She did not have a long role, but her scenes were very impactful and helped create a feel for this character. Elijah Wood had a brief cameo in the film in a role that really could have been expanded more.

The more ridiculous it became, the more I embraced the silliness and repelled at the kills. I really found this to work well together. Sure the story itself may not have been as deep as one might expect, but that worked within the context of the film too. Maybe I would have wanted a little more depth to the characters, specifically, why Hal and Billy were never close as children. I understand the anger directed as adults, but why did the twins never have the type of relationship one would expect?

Either way, I was entertained by The Monkey and I thought the performances were all really strong, the film was a hoot, and the kills would be appreciated by any horror aficionado. The Monkey was originally based on a short story by horror master Stephen King.

4.2 stars

The Gorge

Posted on by

Apple TV + released a new movie recently featuring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy called The Gorge. The Gorge is an action/horror film with touches of a romantic film.

According to IMDB, “Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. They bond from a distance while trying to stay vigilant in defending against an unseen enemy. When the cataclysmic threat to humanity is revealed to them, they must work together in a test of both their physical and mental strength to keep the secret in the gorge before it’s too late.”

The first hour of the movie is excellent. I really liked the relationship built between Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anna Taylor-Joy) when they were on opposite sides of the Gorge. There was a sweetness to them increasing their connection via notes. When Levi shoots the cable across the Gorge, I was amazed at the efforts he took. I loved when the cable gets blown free and Levi falls into the Gorge.

The action in the Gorge is good, but a lot of that was nothing that we haven’t seen before. No spoilers, but how they escaped the Gorge eventually was unbelievably cool.

I do think the ending was a little iffy at times, but I did enjoy the very end of the film. It is a satisfying conclusion, if not rushed a bit, which is odd considering the film runs over two hours.

I thought this was a fun time for the most part. It looked great and I enjoyed our two main characters. It was definitely a good time and an easy watch.

3.6 stars

Paddington in Peru

Posted on by

The first two films are absolute, unexpected classics. They are two of the best movies that you will ever see. I will say that I was feeling uncertain about a third film in the franchise, called Paddington in Peru. I’ve seen too many third installments take a bad turn.

While Paddington in Peru is nowhere near as exceptional as the first two, this new film is entertaining and fun as well.

According to IMDB, “Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown Family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and up to the mountain peaks of Peru.”

Paddington is always an enduring character that is funny, easy to love and fun to watch. He works so well in this story, no matter what situation the writers stick him in. Ben Whishaw does a great job as the little bear’s voice.

There are two actors in this film that are always great in whatever they do, and that is Antonio Banderas and Olivia Colman. I have loved Olivia Colman for years, especially her role in Secret Invasion (which felt like the one great thing in that series), and she is awesome her as Reverend Mother. Antonio Banderas was great in the villainous role and has a really solid character arc. Banderas had to play multiple characters in Hunter Cabot’s family and he does a wonderful job.

Dougal Wilson is the new director for the franchise, replacing Paul King, and he does an admirable job, creating a sweet and charming story with some fun characters and family interactions. Paddington in Peru is not near as good as the previous films, but it is still a great family film with a positive message and a lot of fun.

3.75 stars

Captain America: Brave New World

Posted on by

The fourth film in the Captain America franchise debuted this weekend from Marvel Studios. It has been a film that has had its struggles dating back to Covid, multiple reshoots and delays. Finally, it has arrived in theaters. As with other struggles, this film has had some middling reviews from critics. All of this made me a little nervous about the movie. I am pleased to say that I enjoyed this a great deal.

Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was still facing challenges of assuming the mantel of Captain America, but the new president of the United States, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) reached out to Sam with an olive branch and an offer to reform the Avengers.

Ross, who had done plenty of horrible things over the years, was trying to turn over a new leaf. However, an unexpected assassination attempt changed everything for the new POTUS.

Sam was completely confused when one of the attempted assassins turned out to be his friend and invitee Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), one of the original soldiers who was given the Super Soldier Serum and then experimented on by the government for years. Sam believed in Isaiah’s innocence and it created a chasm between Sam and the admnistration.

This film works well as a sequel to the Disney + series Falcon and the Winter Soldier and also, oddly enough, the Incredible Hulk. There are elements in the film that tied it to The Eternals as well.

Anthony Mackie is tremendous as the lead in this film. He showed that he was an excellent choice to take over the role of Captain America. He is charming and does a really great job with the dramatic moments as well. Harrison Ford, who took over the role of Thunderbolt Ross from the late William Hurt, looked to be having a ton of fun as President Ross who eventually turned into the Red Hulk. Harrison Ford is always exceptional, and he and Mackie have great chemistry. They are the standout of the movie.

You can tell at times that this film has been stitched together from reshoots, but it does a decent job of blending them together. With as many reshoots that this film had, it is amazing that this film is as coherent as it is. The film is a political thriller, but I would have liked even more of that.

The inclusion of Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder had been added later. Esposito was great and cool, but he was not in the film very much. I hope that he has more to come down the road in the MCU because the little bit we get of Sidewinder in Brave New World is wonderful.

I loved Tim Blake Nelson returning as Samuel Sterns from the Incredible Hulk. He is another character that could have had more screen time. I loved the look of this character.

No spoilers here, but there is a cameo in this movie that I absolutely loved!

I thought the action scenes were really solid. The aerial action with Sam and Joaquin (Danny Ramirez) was a lot of fun as was the eventual Sam and Red Hulk showdown that we have seen in the trailers.

There are some moments where the film is a little messy, but none of that bothered me. I understood with all of the challenges this movie faced that it may not have been the most polished of films. Some of the first act exposition may have been too much, but there was a lot of material that the film had to provide to those who may not have watched the corresponding films/series.

In the end, Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford were great together and they carried this film. It may not be the best of the Captain America franchise, but, to me, it is a welcome addition.

4.3 stars

Heart Eyes

Posted on by

I was not expecting a mash up of Rom-Coms and slasher-style horror flick in the new film, Heart Eyes. Directed by Josh Ruben, who worked with this type of tone in the awesome independent film Werewolves Within in 2021, Heart Eyes truly does an excellent job of blending humor, romance and bloody gore.

The last two years, one in Philadelphia and one in Boston, a serial killer had been killing loving couples on Valentine’s Day. After February 14th, the Heart Eyes Killer, or HEK as he was called, would disappear. This year, the killer resurfaced, this time in Seattle.

Ally (Olivia Holt), going through a recent break-up, was struggling to do her job as an advertising creator, especially for the romantic product they are selling. Because her pitch was so dark, the head of her agency called in a freelance advertising designer, Jay (Mason Gooding).

Ally and Jay had a spark between them, but Ally’s own issues kept them apart. However, the HEK saw them together, mistakenly thinking they were a couple, and started to stalk them.

The cast does a strong job with the material. None of the actors were known to me. I saw that Olivia Holt was on the TV show Cloak and Dagger, so I did watch her there. I thought everyone did an excellent job with their characters and I was never certain about what way the story was going to take .

I can’t imagine that it is easy to balance the tone for a film like this. Heart Eyes never feels as if it is too silly with the humor or too much with the romance or too much with the gore. It all balances well, fitting together well. It had the feel of Happy Death Day combined with Scream. It was serious when it needed to be, and funny when it needed to be. All the while, providing us a couple that was worth rooting for and who were very relatable.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It felt like it walked that line that kept everything nicely even and prevented it from becoming just a mess.

4 stars

One of Them Days

Posted on by

I was never a fan of the trailers for the movie One of Them Days, and I swear it was shown before every movie I watched for months. Because of that, I have ignored this movie for several weeks. However, I have heard positive word of mouth about the film so I figured I would fit it into the schedule. A lot of times when I set up a film like this, I come back loving the movie. Sadly, that is not the case for this one.

Of course, I did not hate this. I would say that it was passable.

According to IMDB, “When best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.“

While I did not love much of anything in the film, my favorite part was easily the performance of Keke Palmer. Her performance as Dreux was full of charm and humor. She pulled off the main protagonist of this film wonderfully well. She was absolutely a star on the screen. I was not as much of a fan of the performance of SZA, but she definitely had chemistry with Palmer. I was not a huge fan of the character that SZA was playing. I feel as if I have seen this type of character before.

The story was too compressed into this time frame and I think it is tough to buy everything happening in this single day. Still, several of the individual scenes were funny and well set up. And i guess the idea that this is “one of them days” is part of the concept.

Keke Palmer and, to a lesser extent, SZA is the reason to watch this movie. Their chemistry and charm carries the film through for me.

3 stars

Companion

Posted on by

Companion is a sci-fi/thriller that flew under the radar. I knew very little about it before it was released in the theaters. I do not recall seeing any trailers for the film. I had heard some positive word of mouth about the film, but I still knew very little when I walked into the theater this morning to see it.

If you can go into this movie with as little knowledge as you can, please do so. Companion was an outstanding film that was a ton of fun and very creative and imaginative.

In the vein of going into this movie as free as you can, I am not giving any spoilers, nor am I going to give a synopsis, as this is one of those films where it is very difficult to give a synopsis without giving away some major plot points.

Starring Sophie Thatcher (Heretic, Yellowjackets) played Iris and Jack Quaid (The Boys) played Josh, a couple who was heading for a weekend with friends at a remote cabin. Both Thatcher and Quaid do a sensational job in this film as our main characters. They had a great chemistry and worked very well together to create a story that kept the audience on the edge of their seats the entire time.

The film was both exciting and funny, blending both together very effectively. The writing was so good in both structure and dialogue. You had feelings for these character, including the secondary characters played by Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillen, and Rupert Friend.

You may never have heard of this movie, but it is absolutely worth your time. It is a blast and provides such a exceptional experience.

4.2 stars

Presence

Posted on by

Presence is a small movie that may be advertised as a horror movie, but that would not be accurate. This is much more of a psychological drama than anything else. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Presence takes a different look at the haunted house sub-genre than what we have seen before.

A family moved into a new home after a tragic event struck. Chris (Chris Sullivan) and Rebekah (Lucy Liu) was a troubled couple with two kids, Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang). Chloe’s best friend had recently died, but the parents seemed to be more focused on moving so Tyler can get into the proper high school for the swim team.

Chloe immediately started getting a feeling, sensing that there was something in the house… a presence.

There were some interesting characters involved here. Rebekah seemed much more connected to Tyler and less connected with Chloe. Chris appeared to be a really wonderful father, being very supportive of Chloe and calling Tyler out on his garbage. There were more issues with the family than there was with this “ghost.”

What I enjoyed the most in this movie was how it was shot. There were a bunch of single-shot scenes that were shot as if it were the POV of the spirit. I really enjoyed that gimmick. It was something that I had not seen before and I thought it was a creative use of the camera.

It was also a major surprise at the end that made something earlier in the film make sense. No spoilers on it, but there was something that happened about midway through the film that made no sense. However, it did make sense by the ending of the film which I appreciated.

Overall this was a decent film. It was not what I expected, but the story was good. The acting was fine. I loved the way it was shot. It may not have been the best movie of the year, and it is absolutely not a horror movie, but it was a good time.

3.6 stars

Flight Risk

Posted on by

Mel Gibson has fallen quite a bit since Hacksaw Ridge almost ten years ago.

His new directorial work, Flight Risk, is a silly, 90’s style action movie that produced as many eye rolls as it did action moments. I have to say though that I did not hate this movie. It was just not very good.

According to IMDB, “In this high-stakes suspense thriller, Academy Award® nominee Mark Wahlberg plays a pilot transporting an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) accompanying a fugitive (Topher Grace) to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.“

Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace were both decent in their roles and they both made me care about their characters, even though they both did really stupid things that if you would take five seconds to think about, you would do something different.

Mark Wahlberg is a long way from an Academy Award nominee in this role. He is so over the top that he was tough to watch.

Of course, we all knew what the situation was, because this film gave it to us in the trailers. Wahlberg was a hitman trying to kill Topher Grace, who was turning state’s evidence.

There was a leak storyline that was probably the dumbest of the storylines. When it was just the three of them in the airplane, the movie was much better. Dockery’s character, Madolyn, was so mistrusting of everyone, except one that I would have started to doubt immediately.

There were some funny moments, mostly from Topher Grace, but nothing that was going to make this a better movie. It was not a satire or a parody. It was just trying to be a dumb action movie. With that as a goal, the film is a success.

I did not hate myself for watching this, but I would not recommend anyone go out to the theater to see Flight Risk. You see most of the movie in the trailer anyway. However, this would not be the worst film on a lazy weekend on streaming.

2.8 stars

Wolf Man

Posted on by

As a fan of the old Universal Monster movies, I was looking forward to the next one to be remade by Blumhouse. When Blumhouse had done The Invisible Man back just before the pandemic, it was such an enjoyable film and offered some great new ideas for the topic.

Wolf Man did not have a lot of new ideas. It was basically what you would expect.

According to IMDB, “A family at a remote farmhouse is attacked by an unseen animal, but as the night stretches on, the father begins to transform into something unrecognizable.“

Positives: The film looked great. I enjoyed the visuals of the Wolf Man and I approved of how they kept the original creatures reasonably hidden for most of the first act or so of the film. The transformation, which was slow and took its time, was very effective.

The stress-level of the film was building as the transformation happened. You never was sure what was going to happen as the family tried to stay alive.

Julia Garner and Christopher Abbott did a nice job with their roles of married couple Charlotte and Blake. I was impressed with the young actress, Matilda Firth, who played thier daughter Ginger. Her terrified ractions were very solid and worked for the film.

The problem is that this story is so very thin and did not have anything more to it. None of the characters were sufficiently developed, with only Blake having any basic depth to him. The story was so simple that it left me wishing there was more to it.

I do think that this movie has technical aspects that are worth seeing and if you go into it not expecting too much, this is a passable monster movie. Unfortunately, Wolf Man does not reach the heights, especially story-wise, that some of the previous werewolf films do.

3.2 stars

Den of Thieves: Pantera

Posted on by

Den of Thieves: Pantera is the first, actual, film from 2025. I had never watched the first film and, this being a sequel, I was a little concerned about that fact.

And truthfully, I could never get into this flick. I do believe the fact that I had not seen 2018’s Den of Thieves was a big reason I could never build any connection to the film. I disliked the characters, I thought the story, with a few exceptions, was dull and boring, and I just was peeking at the time through much of the first half of the movie wishing it would get over.

I could care less about the robbery that they were setting up, but I will say that the execution of the robbery itself was my favorite part of the film. Outside of that 20 minutes or so, I really found this to be an excruciating watch.

Without spoiling it, there were no less than two… TWO… Deus ex machina endings for this movie, and I hated both twists… SO MUCH!

According to IMDB, “Butler returns as Big Nick (Gerard Butler), this time on the hunt in Europe for Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) who is embroiled in the dangerous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia as they plot a massive heist of the world’s biggest diamond exchange“

I thought both Butler and Jackson Jr. were fine with their characters. i just did not care about either one. There was a scene early in the film where Nick gets drunk/stoned etc. and I thought that was so ridiculous that it completely derailed the film for me. I was having enough issues getting into the story so something like this knocked it down even more.

As I said, the actual robbery had some good tension to it, although it was very difficult to swallow. I was more able to give the leeway here because the set up to the theft was so much better than the rest of the movie. Sadly, the post robbery stuff had me rolling my eyes (including a moment that seemed to go from night to day in an instant).

I don’t know if my opinions would be different if I had seen Den of Thieves before going to the sequel, but I did not, so I can only judge this on what they gave me, and what they gave me was substandard in my thought.

2.2 stars

Edit: I went back and looked at my other reviews and I actually did see Den of Thieves in 2018. I gave it a 2.3 star rating. It shows you how memorable that first film was for me.

Better Man (2024)

Posted on by

Some of the movies that I missed from 2024, specifically a lot of the Oscar worthy ones, come out in limited release in one year, such as 2024 and then go wide in the following year, 2025. Recently, I have been holding off watching those films until the June Swoon, but there are some that I will watch immediately. September 5, next week, will be one that I will see in the theaters because I am really looking forward to it. I went to one of these films today. It was called Better Man and it was a weird biopic of British pop star Robbie Williams.

To be honest, I did not know much of anything about Robbie Williams going into the movie. I think I had heard about the boy band he was in, Take That, but that is about all. With my limited knowledge, I learned a lot about the pop star.

Like, for example, he was a talking, singing monkey.

It is an interesting choice by the film creators to make Robbie, the character, a CGI monkey, voiced by Jonno Davies and the film is narrated by Williams himself. None of the other characters referenced him being a monkey so it is clear that this is the way the character sees himself and the others were just seeing the human version.

The story follows the rise and fall of Robbie Williams. The biopic does not sugar coat the life that Williams led. It showed his drug use, his suicidal thoughts, and struggles in his career.

I will say that I think the conclusion of this movie was completely emotional. I was tearing up through the whole scene and I just loved it.

Steve Pemberton does a great job as Robbie’s father, a major factor in the life of his son, both negatively and positively.

This was a really great biopic about a person who I did not know much about. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the film. It was a creative film that took the musical biopic in a different way.

4.75 stars