Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Death of a Unicorn

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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

Love Lies Bleeding

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June 9

Today’s movie from the June Swoon is on HBO Max and it starred Kristin Stewart.

The film, a dark, erotic crime thriller, is directed by Rose Glass. There are some great scenes of violence and erotica in this movie. The acting is top notch and the shocks are all over the place.

According to IMDB, “Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.”

It started following the relationship between Lou and Jackie as Jackie prepared for a bodybuilding contest. When Lou’s sister ended up in the hospital at the hands of her husband JJ (Dave Franco), Jackie took her own ‘roided-up rage out on him. This forced Lou into a position to try and help her love.

As the film progressed from this love story into a crime thriller, Lou’s criminal father Lou Sr (Ed Harris) got involved, trying to pit Jackie and Lou against each other.

The third act went way off the charts as something very bizarre took place that made you look differently at this film than any other one. It is hard to speak about it without spoilers so lets just say that I think it might be metaphoric at the end.

That final scene or two really threw off my thoughts about this film. It felt like something that was tense and real made, dare I say, silly.

Kristin Stewart was great as Lou. She seems like she has always had great performances since Twilight ended. Ed Harris brings some menace to the film too.

Not sure what happened at the end and why it went this way. Still, most of this movie was strong and the end did not completely waste that good will.

The Ballad of Wallis Island

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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

Sing Sing

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Colman Domingo received an Academy Award nomination for this lead role in Sing Sing. He was fabulous as “Divine G.”

While I figured this would be a prison movie, I have to admit, this was not what I was expecting.

According to IMDB, “Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men, including wary newcomer (Clarence Maclin), in this stirring true story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art, starring an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors“

The only thing that I knew about this movie was that Colman Domingo was in it and, going by the title, I assumed it was taking place in the prison Sing Sing. I am glad that I went into this movie as blind as I did because it caught me so off-guard that it really made this a great experience.

I actually compare it in my mind more to Ghostlight than I did to another prison movie. It provided the power of the stage in a manner to help face the troubles of your life.

Finding out that this was a true story was another shock and made it even more impactful. The clips at the end of the film with the real people was powerful.

Colman Domingo was amazing. He has become one of our best actors working today. The rest of the cast was just as solid, as much of the cast was previously incarcerated individuals who played themselves.

Sing Sing was a outstanding film that had some real drama inside the prison without falling into the typical prison tropes that we have seen a million times. This is one of the overlooked films of 2024.

Predator: Killer of Killers

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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

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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

Ghostlight

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June 7

This was another movie that I never would have heard of if not for Dan Murrell, online critic, who put Ghostlight on his best of 2024 list. After hearing that, I added it to the June Swoon list.

Thank you, Dan. This was a sensational movie, one of the best that I have seen over the last year or so.

According to IMDB, “When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.”

This script was beautifully constructed and the story told in a wonderful manner. Pieces of the story were given as the film progressed. We knew some of the things that happened, but they hold on to the overall events for the stretch. The writing was layered and worked so well that you could feel everything going on.

The performances were out of this world. Interestingly, the actors who played Dan and Sharon Mueller, Keith Kupferer and Tara Mallen, are married in real life, and their on-screen daughter Daisy was played by their real life daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer. All of this made this feel real and all three of them knocked this out of the park.

I had immediate connection to this movie because I know kids like Daisy, who came out immediately with curse words and anger. I wanted to know more about what was going on, and these characters were so well done that everything was awesome.

I watched the movie on Amazon Prime and, I am not sure if this was the way it was supposed to go, but the very end felt like Prime cut off too soon. Maybe that was how the film ended, which, if so, it felt like I needed one more scene.

That was the only problem that I had with this film. It is one of the best movies I have seen in awhile. The story was small and emotional with the feeling of reality truly cutting deep. Ghostlight was great. If I were giving star ratings for these June Swoon movies, this would be five stars.

The Phoenician Scheme

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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

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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

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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

The Only Girl in the Orchestra

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June 6

It is documentary day in the June Swoon.

Because of busy day at the theater, I decided that today I would watch the Academy Award winning documentary short for the first film of the day. It was called The Only Girl in the Orchestra, and it was a celebration of Orin O’Brien, the first woman to become a member of the New York Philharmonic.

O’Brien played the double bass the doc came about as she was retiring from her position.

It felt like this was too short and that this topic could sustain a much longer documentary. O’Brien was an interesting topic as someone who just did not want to be in the spotlight. She said, in the doc, “I didn’t have any ambition of being a soloist, I liked being in the background.“

She even revolted against the very idea of the documentary focusing on her. O’Brien’s niece, Molly O’Brien directed the documentary and tried to convince her that she a valuable topic.

Her passion for music definitely came through in this doc, even if it is too short. Oren O’Brien is a fascinating character that shines in the short.

A Working Man

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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

Memoir of a Snail

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June 5

The June Swoon entry today is the final of the 2025 Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature, Memoir of a Snail. It is an Australian stop motion film.

According to IMDB, “A bittersweet memoir of a melancholic woman called Grace Pudel – a hoarder of snails, romance novels, and guinea pigs.”

The voice cast featured some of the top level Australian actors including Emmy and Tony Award winner Sarah Snook, Academy Award nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee, Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver and actor Eric Bana.

This animated film is not one for kids. It is a distinctly adult story told in the stop action format. It is a funny film, with a very tragic feel.

The film was written, directed and produced by Adam Elliot and it was loosely based on his own life.

Even though the movie was dark, it had a remarkable flair for life and the eccentricities of the human condition. The film is chocked full of adult themes mixed in with the humor. It is powerful and deeply affecting. It is a wonderful example of what is possible in the animation style.

Screamboat

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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

Flow

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Today’s entry in the June Swoon is an Academy Award winner, and you can see why. Flow won the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature at the 2025 Academy Awards, knocking off such luminaries as Wild Robot, Inside Out 2 and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

Flow follows the life of a dark grey cat that was living in a forest. A massive flood swept through the land, leading the cat to struggle to survive in a variety of ways.

During the film, the cat meets up with a group of different animals that form a sort of crew, especially while they were on a felucca. The cat joined up with a yellow Labrador Retriever, a ring-tailed lemur, a capybara and a secretary bird.

These animals were not anthropomorphic. They acted like the individual animals would act. The dog was playful and clearly looking to please. The lemur was a thief, collecting trinkets and shiny objects. The capybara, which is a type of rodent, laid around. There were some moments where it felt as if the animal characters transcended their natures and became something more.

The cat served as the POV of the film, as we see things through its eyes. The survival instincts of the cat was on display throughout the film in such a harrowing instance that you could not help but root for these animals.

I am a cat lover and so it was very easy to get into Flow. There were multiple perilous events along the path of this adventure that placed the cat in jeopardy. The whole showdown with the flock of secretary birds was tense and frightening.

There were a couple of scenes that went past just survival and looked at themes of life and death. One, involving the secretary bird, was a lovely moment that leaves you to deduce what exactly had occurred. There was a second scene involving a mutated whale that had saved the cat from drowning earlier in the movie. This scene was heartbreaking.

Flow was beautifully animated with such amazing visuals across the board. The artistic mastery created an incredible tone throughout Flow and some of the visuals with the cat and fish in the water was astounding.

With no dialogue, Flow was able to tell this story through some amazing characters and some fantastic music. According to Wikipedia, the cat of sound designer Gurwal Coïc-Gallas provided the meows for the cat in the movie, which I thought was a funny piece of trivia. It also provided that realistic sound that enhanced the viewing treat.

While I am not sure if I would have given Flow the Oscar over The Wild Robot, there can be no denying that this is a masterful animated film full of life and love and friendship.