Category Archives: 2025 Movie Reviews

How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

Posted on by

Masterpiece.

I am typically negative on these live action remakes of classic animation. There have been some good ones, but there have been so many more that just does not hit the mark.

How to Train Your Dragon knocked it out of the park.

I loved this live action adaptation. My one criticism is that it is basically a shot-for-shot remake with little if anything new to add. However, I don’t care about that when the adaptation is this epic.

I knew the story. I knew the beats. I was still getting chills and I still had tears running down my face in the final act. This was so well done and affecting to me.

Mason Thames was perfectly cast as Hiccup. You had to get this casting correct if you wanted this movie to be successful, and Thames was masterful. He connected to the audience, he expressed the emotions of his conflict beautifully, and his hero’s journey was just spot on. Toothless was impeccable with the CGI. This felt like a real dragon on screen and you could sense the chemistry between Hiccup and Toothless.

Gerard Butler reprised the role that he voiced in the animated movie with Hiccup’s father Stoick. Butler played this over-the-top role to perfection. His feelings for Hiccup are so obvious, even when he was disappointed b his son’s choices.

Nico Parker was a standout as Astrid. She had a star quality every moment she was on the screen. I was really impressed with her in the role that I was not as fond of in the animated movie. The film also featured Nick Frost, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, and the incomparable Peter Serafinowicz.

The cinematography of this movie was just outstanding, especially the flying sequences. I constantly sat in the theater in awe over some of the shots I saw on the screen. It was a beautifully designed and laid out with such care.

Yes, this is basically an exact remake of the animated movie and I know there are some who will crap on the film because of that. I will not be one of those. This is my favorite movie of the year so far.

5 stars

Karen

Posted on by

June 12

It is a busy day so I went looking for a short film to watch for the 2025 section of the June Swoon. I found a short film called Karen on YouTube. It was supposed to be a horror film and was just over 13 minutes long. That was going to be perfect for my needs on this Thursday.

Karen runs a cottage for weekend getaways. A married couple came to stay at the cottage, and Karen gave them a list of rules to follow. It might be considered a tad obsessive.

The film felt kind of like a present day version of Misery. Starring Anto Sharp, Angie Sutcliffe and Alice Lucy. Angie Sutcliffe did a great job as the titular character.

This is one of those shorts that could certainly be expanded into something more.

3.5 stars

Warfare

Posted on by

June 11

This was brutal.

Warfare was written by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland based on Mendoza’s experiences during the Iraq war. It followed the events of a failed US Navy Seal mission from November 2006 after the Battle of Ramadi.

The script was created through testimony of the platoon members and is told only using their memories. The film is told in real time and is one of the most realistic war films that I have ever seen. This felt more like we had a window into this gunfight than anything that had been recreated by Hollywood magic.

I wish I had seen this on a bigger screen than on my home TV, because I feel as if this is more than a movie, it’s an experience. I can’t imagine what this experience would have been like in IMAX or on a bigger screen with a better sound system.

The sound of the movie was one of the most haunting aspects of it. Everything from the bombs and the bullets being used to the silence emphasizing the screams of pain from the injured. When the silence goes from all encompassing to visceral screams of the wounded, it is a powerful and suspenseful moment. The screams cut deep into the viewer and beginning with the silence makes it all the more impactful.

There is almost no plot and very little characterization. Despite that, the events that take place place a strain on the audience as it feels very real.

The ensemble cast included some of the best young actors around, but it is never apparent that these actors are doing anything but surviving a firefight. The actors include  D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai , Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, Noah Centineo, and Michael Gandolfini. 

The amazing technical work of this film is masterful. The realness of the film cannot be denied. This is one of those tough to watch films that you need to see, once at least. It may not be a film you revisit.

4.5 stars

Becoming Led Zeppelin

Posted on by

June 10

This was another movie that I wanted to see in the theater, but it would just never fit into the schedule. I do enjoy Led Zeppelin, though I do not know if I would call myself a fan. I was happy to see this documentary pop up on Netflix.

Led Zeppelin was Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. They came out of the sounds of the late sixties in Britain with powerful rock that helped inspire heavy metal of the 70s and 80s.

This documentary featured interviews from the members of the band, mixed with unseen concert footage.

Some of this documentary actually reminded me of This is Spinal Tap, the mockumentary of the fictional band Spinal Tap, particularly the concert they played early where the crowd was clearly not the target audience for Led Zeppelin: older people and kids holding their fingers in their ears.

You also saw footage of Jimmy Page using a violin bow on his electric guitar, which reminded me of solo scene from This is Spinal Tap where Nigel Tufnel used a violin to play his guitar. You can see where Spinal Tap had been inspired by Led Zeppelin.

The music truly is the star of this documentary. The doc spent a great deal of time with the band and the focus was on the first two albums. Looking at the music through the voices of the band is the strength of this movie.

I missed Stairway to Heaven, which I know is on the fourth album, but the doc was solid despite that.

3.9 stars

Death of a Unicorn

Posted on by

June 9

Death of a Unicorn was in theaters earlier this year and it was one that I wanted to go to see. I never got around to seeing it. Anytime I had a chance, there were other films that were ahead of it and it never fit into my schedule. Then, a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes kept me away from it. With the June Swoon 4 adding a film a day from 2025, this worked out well to finally see it off Fandango at Home.

According to IMDB, “A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.“

Surprisingly, I found Death of a Unicorn to be a fairly entertaining movie, featuring unicorns in manners that you do not usually see them. Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega are wonderful together as father and daughter and they give us a pair to root for among the group of generally unlikable people.

The talented cast included Richard E. Grant, Tea Leoni, Will Poulter, Steve Park, Sunita Mani, Anthony Carrigan and Jessica Hynes.

The film has a message of greed and selfishness, hidden behind the guise of helpfulness. You could easily make an allegory of this movie and the pharmaceutical industry. It also does a good job of taking what is usually seen as a magical creature and turning them into a fearful force.

Admittedly, some of the characters were lacking much depth and the CGI had some moments that were not outstanding. Still, I found most of the drawbacks to the film to be less important and not take away from the overall presentation.

I thought this was much better than I expected and I was pleased with the opportunity to have watched this.

3.75 stars

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Posted on by

June 8

I had seen the trailers for this movie earlier this year, but it never came around to any theaters that were in my area. So when I saw it for rental on Vudu, I was happy to make it part of the June Swoon.

According to IMDB, “An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favorite musicians to perform at his home.”

This is going to be an odd comparison, but this movie made me think of A Mighty Wind. They are completely different films, with A Mighty Wind being an improved film from Christopher Guest, but there was a pair of characters int he film named Mitch and Mickey, played by Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara. Mitch and Mickey were a folk singing duo who were also a couple and the split up. Mickey remarried and then they came back together to play the big folk music special at the end of the movie.

This reminded me very much of that movie thanks to the folk music pair McGwyer & Mortimer, played by Tom Basden and Carrie Mulligan. Admittedly, this is a more serious film than the Chris Guest one, but many of the ideas behind these characters feel similar.

Written by Tom Basden and Tim Key (Key played Charles, the eccentric lottery winner), this was based on a short film entitled  “The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island” from 2007. Basden & Key wrote that short as well.

This film was sweet and melancholic tone to it, as Charles tries to get his favorite pair of folk singers together to play a solo gig for him. Charles may not have been straight-up with them in order to get the reunited duo to come.

The music is great. The imagery of Wallis Island is beautiful. There are some really strong character developing going on with the limited cast, and I do like how things do not necessarily go the way you would expect.

4 stars

Predator: Killer of Killers

Posted on by

The newest film in the Predator franchise dropped on Hulu this weekend, and, for the first time, the movie is animated.

The previous movie in the franchise, Prey, also debuted on Hulu and was a huge hit. I have to say, the animation opens this franchise up to even more possibilities and if they continue the quality like this, they will have a ton of success.

This is broken into three different time frames where three different warriors are “recruited.” One was in Viking times, the next was in feudal Japan and then in World War I. These three warriors are taken to face off with the ultimate Predator.

The animation is beautiful and brutal. Just because it is animated, the film does not shy away from decapitating people. There is blood everywhere at times.

The film is fast paced and a lean 90 minutes, making it really easy to watch.

4 stars

Wrestlemania IX: Becoming a Spectacle

Posted on by

June 7

Since today is a big WWE wrestling day with the Money in the Bank PLE, I thought it would be a good day for the June Swoon to go to the matches. There was a documentary on Peacock that came out this year around Wrestlemania time about the behind the scenes of Wrestlemania IX from Las Vegas at the Caesar’s Palace.

I was surprised when I heard about this documentary considering that Wrestlemania IX is considered by many as one of the worst of the Wrestlemania of all time. However, it was one of the first events that put the spectacle into Wrestlemania. With this year’s Wrestlemania also in Las Vegas, I can understand the choice made by the WWE.

The WWE has always done tremendous documentaries, and this behind the scenes doc at a time when going behind the scenes at a WWE event was not done was all the more special.

Wrestlemania IX also had its share of controversy as Hulk Hogan returned to the company and ended up winning the WWE Championship back in an unscheduled match with Yokozuna after the giant sumo had defeated Bret Hart. This controversy was not pushed aside. It was dealt with by the doc, which was impressive. Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart each commented on the situation which added to the doc.

We got talking head bits from the Undertaker, Brutus Beefcake, The Steiners, Jim Ross, Rikishi, Lex Lugar, and Shawn Michaels, among others. There were plenty of stars who have since passed away, so this behind the scenes images are all the more special.

The story of how Wrestlemania came to Las Vegas, specifically to Caesar’s Palace, was interesting and hearing the people involved with Caesar’s was also cool. Watching the transformation from basically a parking lot to a Roman coliseum was fascinating.

This doc helped me appreciate Wrestlemania IX more than I had before and listening to those who were there and discussing the concerns and the controversies were a good time. WWE always does a great job with their documentaries.

3.9 stars

The Phoenician Scheme

Posted on by

Man, who could possibly guess who directed this movie?

I am being sarcastic because this movie is about as much of a Wes Anderson movie as you are ever going to see. There are traits about a movie directed by Wes Anderson and this provided just about every one of them.

For me, Wes Anderson movies are hit or miss. I loved Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Rushmore. Asteroid City and The French Dispatch are examples of Wes Anderson movies I could do withotu.

The Phoenician Scheme was a lot of fun and I found it to be totally funny.

According to IMDB, “Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins.“

I think what made this work for me was the comic timing of Benicio Del Toro, who played Zsa-zsa Korda. He had chemistry with every actor he interacted with and he delivered these eccentric lines of dialogue with just the right amount of sincerity that made it really funny.

While there was no sign of Edward Norton, the Anderson cast of actors that appear in a lot of his movies were here too including Michael Cera, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Scarlet Johansson, and Bill Murray. You could add some other great actors such as Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Rupert Friend, Steven Park, and Richard Ayoade.

Along with all of these established veterans, starring opposite Del Toro was Mia Threapleton. Threapleton, who is Kate Winslet’s daughter, showed that she is anything but a “nepo baby” as she was outstanding in her role as Liesl. She exuded the tone of a Wes Anderson movie perfectly, really helping set up Del Toro’s lines and scenes.

The dialogue was rich and exciting in this film. I really enjoyed just listening to the actors deliver these lines and how they were able to play off of each other. The dialogue helped balance out the craziness that was going on in each scene.

If you do not enjoy Wes Anderson movies, this one is not for you. However, I found this to be very enjoyable and humorous.

4 stars

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

Posted on by

The first spin-off movie from the world of John Wick was released this weekend. Ballerina featured Ana de Armas as Eve, a character that appeared originally in John Wick: Chapter 4.

This film is a prequel to John Wick: Chapter 4 as Keanu Reeves appears in the film as John Wick and, of course, he “died” in the last John Wick movie.

According to IMDB, “An assassin trained in the traditions of the Ruska Roma organization sets out to seek revenge after her father’s death.”

So I like this movie. I love Ana de Armas and the action is really great. My problem with Ballerina is the same I have with the John Wick franchise. There is just so much fighting and shooting that it, at times, becomes sort of repetitive. There are some moments that the action can become boring. Most of it is great, but it feels as if I could use some more breaks during the runtime.

And that is a minor gripe. I think most of this is really solid and, as I said, I like the characters and the story.

The cast is great. Along with Armas and Reeves, we get other John Wick performers such as Ian McShane, the late Lance Reddick, and Anjelica Huston. We also have Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, Ava Joyce McCarthy and Catalina Sandino Moreno.

The movie gave us another viable franchise to use in the John Wick universe. Who knows how long Keanu Reeves’ body can hold up to do this type of action, but Ana de Armas could definitely hold her own.

3.8 stars

Wick is Pain

Posted on by

June 6

The June Swoon documentary day continued.

Since I am heading out to see Ballerina later this afternoon, I figured this would be a good day to use Wick is Pain as the June Swoon 4 film.

The doc details the creation, filming, and the inside stories behind the filming of the John Wick franchise. Keanu Reeves is sprinkled throughout the doc with his thoughts on what was going on. Many times, you can see the excitement of Reeves over the imagery or action on the screen.

The doc goes into detail on the death of the dog in the first film and how it almost did not get made because of all of the struggles and challenges.

The spent a lot of time with the stuntmen of the series. There was an insane footage shared of a certain fall where the stuntman, Jackson Spidell, landed on his head and then had to do it again.

John Wick director Chad Stahelski, who was Reeve’s primary stunt double earlier (including The Matrix), is included heavily in the thoughts.

This is a lot of fun and fans of the John Wick franchise should love this documentary.

3.75 stars

A Working Man

Posted on by

June 5

A Working Man is just about what you would expect from a Jason Statham movie. He plays basically the same character he has played for many years now. That being said, a good revenge/one-person army thriller can be decent, especially if you know what you are getting, and this one is not terrible.

It’s not great either though.

According to IMDB, “Levon Cade (Statham) left his profession behind to work construction and be a good dad to his daughter. But when a local girl vanishes, he’s asked to return to the skills that made him a mythic figure in the shadowy world of counter-terrorism.”

I actually had some hopes at the beginning of the movie. They dropped a couple of ideas that made me think this might be more than just what I was expecting. Some character bits that, if expanded upon, could make this a surprise. Unfortunately, those bits were dropped as quickly as they were mentioned, and it absolutely went straight into the kind of movie that we have seen countless times.

Jason Statham is good in this type of role, but there is almost nothing new here. David Harbour appeared in the film, but his role was really small. Still, you can never go wrong with David Harbour.

There was a major plot thread left dangling, probably leaving it open for a potential sequel. However, that does not make it as satisfying as it could have been.

This is disposable entertainment and that can be okay at times. Again, if you are after that kind of movie, you could do worse than A Working Man, which felt like a poor man’s John Wick.

2.5 stars

Screamboat

Posted on by

June 4

When I saw this for rent on Vudu, I expected it to be another film in the same vein as Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. It had two movies and both were in the top 5 worst movies of their respective years. Taking the Steamboat Willie cartoon from public domain felt like the same kind of sad and pathetic attempt.

Make no mistake, this is a terrible movie….

But…

I don’t know… I guess I came in with the expectations of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, but Screamboat was better than that. It’s not good. Just better than Blood and Honey.

According to IMDB, “A seemingly routine late-night ferry ride in New York City descends into chaos when an ordinary mouse undergoes a terrifying transformation. This mutated creature unleashes a reign of terror upon the unsuspecting passengers, forcing them to fight for their survival. As the body count rises, the remaining survivors must band together to find a way to escape the deadly vessel and confront the monstrous threat“

The piece that felt better than Blood and Honey was this had a satiric side to it. The Steamboat Willie character itself had some funny parts. He would whistle just before killing his victim, much like Mickey would in the original Steamboat Willie animated movie. I kind of liked the backstory of Steamboat Willie, involving the man known as Walt. Some of the kills were sufficiently gross. There were a couple of characters that I wanted to survive the trip on the ferry.

What was bad about the film? Oh, let’s see… the acting, the dialogue was horrendous. Most of these characters were one-dimensional and there were these “bad girls” that I really wanted to get killed by the mouse. I was cheering for Willie when they did. The characters did some really stupid things and made some really stupid choices. Plenty of the choices made no sense. Of course, stupid characters are not uncommon for some horror films, especially the slasher ones. A couple of the deaths of our main characters felt underwhelming.

If I am being honest, there are some funny moments in the movie and they actually felt like they were intended it to be funny. There was one line of dialogue that made me laugh out loud. One character fired a flare gun at Willie and said “Say cheese, mother f@#$%.” I thought that was exceptionally funny.

This is nowhere as bad as either of the two Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey movies and if you want a stupid movie to watch that has some dumb laughs and a murderous version of Mickey Mouse, you could do worse than this movie. Just know what kind of movie this is and do not expect much, and you might even have a passable time.

2.1 stars

The Luckiest Man in America

Posted on by

June 3

I remember watching this as a kid. Press Your Luck was always a fun game show and anyone could do it. However, the world had no idea exactly how truthful that statement was until Michael Larson proved it to the world.

Larson was an unemployed ice cream truck driver who loved Press Your Luck. It started as what appeared to be an insanely lucky streak of avoiding the Whammies, but soon was revealed as something more.

In this biopic of one of the most infamous moments in game show history, The Luckiest Man in America provided us with the story of that day of tapings in 1984 that cemented Michael Larson as a notorious game show contestant who found the key to winning against the “Big Board.”

Larson had memorized the patterns of the board after months of research and he was putting those skills to test on the TV program. As he was winning at a consistent basis, the executives looked to prevent him from destroying their show.

Paul Walter Hauser played Michael Larson, showing surprising depth to the man. The film looked at Larson’s failed marriage and his relationship with his daughter as ways to show his motives for pulling this scam.

Walton Goggins played Peter Tomarkin, the host of the show. David Strathairn played Bill, a TV executive on the game show. Both of these actors were great in support of Hauser.

This is a fascinating true tale that I wonder how much is hyperbole and how much is true. Either way, this was an enjoyable character study of one of the most outrageous moments in Daytime TV history.

3.85 stars

Into the Deep

Posted on by

June 2

I have been a fan of shark movies. Sadly, most of them are terrible. There are some exceptions. So when I spotted Into the Deep on Disney +, I thought this would be a good option for the June Swoon 4: Two A Day.

It gave me hope when I saw that Richard Dreyfuss was among the cast of this movie. Dreyfuss starred in the greatest shark movie of all time (heck, one of the greatest movies of all time) Jaws. How could we go wrong?

We could go wrong in so many ways.

Into the Deep was horrible. Just a waste of an hour and a half. After the first five minutes, I had an idea of what kind of movie this was going to be.

According to IMDB, “Pirates on the hunt for sunken drugs kidnap a boat of tourists and force them to dive into shark infested waters to retrieve the contraband.”

That sounds exciting. That was not the basis behind this story. I mean, it was there, but the execution of that storyline was so inept that it was laughable.

The acting was just bad. The dialogue was unnatural. It made no sense. The story was so coincidental and haphazard that it could not be believed. None of the characters felt like real people.

The shark attacks looked ridiculous. It looked like a shark just shaking a hunk of bloody meat. The images of the sharks in the water were impressive as they just swam around. Other than that, there just was not much of anything.

The overall production of the movie felt cheap. The sound was terrible. With the exception of the beauty of the water shots, there was not much to make this stand out among shark films, let alone other movies.

There are so many better movies on Disney +. Take your time and watch those. This was terrible in every way.

1 star