Reviews & Rants, Films for You?

  1. Spider-Man: Brand New Day
    [2/august/2026] Score: 10/10
    I’m not allowed to give it any lesser score for the huge scope of this story, the near-tragedy of Peter Parker, Spidey, loosing all his friends and contacts at home, work and Avenging, fighting alone in his friendly neighbourhood, having to keep everything anonymous as he keeps the streets clear, and now confronting a new, greater challenge that could transform his life.
    And the visual vertigo of New York is the scene stealer in this rollercoaster of adventure, humour and soul-searching drama as he, kind of, teams up with the least likely partner you could ever imagine in the surly Frank Castle, that somehow, for the light and dark contrasts of their characters, works to perfection.
    As with much that is Marvelous there is conspiracy and injustice to be uncovered and new dangers and powerful new friends to discover along the journey as Our Hero undergoes a rebirth that will challenge his past and open the way to a new life, leaving us all wondering how, when and where he will swing down to save us again.
    This should be savoured for the beautiful photography of the city, and special effects which really deliver the kind of kinetic impact (outch!) that’s often missing in other rubbery CGI-filled films as Spidey bounces, crashes and falls a lot, around the city. Tremendous character, humour and construction, with deep reflections into the nature of power and responsibility, whether it is Spidey’s own powers or the implications of his work, all vie for attention and add to the length of the film, but all the richer for these moments of normal humanity.
    As for laying down the foundations for further Marvel movies. Without an Iron Man around Peter Parker looks to be the anchor character everyone will love and hope to revisit in this universe.
    Verdict: Go get tangled in this amazing web.
  2. The Odyssey
    [18/july/2026] Score: 9/10
    The story is mythic and moral.
    The presentation is slow, careful, with a subdued colour palette, not the glorious spectacular technicolour you might want. It is very much a reflection from one man’s journey through war to the final hopeful conclusion.
    Performances are good, with plenty of time to reflect on each character’s own experience, while the twists towards the end as everything is tied together deliver new experience for those who never read the original and were only influenced by previous films of the story.
    Plenty of adventures along the way, but always those pauses and the slower pace to consider deeper truths about men and gods.
    Worth enjoying at least once, or more to explore the depths of the experience of this Odyssey.
    Verdict: Don’t mythic.
  3. Minions & Monsters
    [1/july/2026] Score: 5/10
    A celebration of all things Hollywood, and not a “real” minions adventure in their own right, this takes you on a journey through their lives and search for a Bad Boss and into the heart of Hollywoodland, which may be great for all those who love movies, but not for those wanting something else.
    The characters are okay, but perhaps too much focus on them and their own arguments rather than the bigger “monster” story. Overall this feels like a lack of creativity and while many in the young audience may enjoy it they may also feel let down with so many distracting references made to Hollywood myth, history and story and not a focus on the little yellow guys.
    Verdict: The wrong minions.
  4. Supergirl
    [26/june/2026] Score: 8/10
    Two girls, each with their own tragic past traumas, face up to their lives, resolve their challenges and more forward through an adventure they are forced to share together.
    This is a fun adventure drama, not as glossy and simple as other comicbook films, with a darker emotional depth that will appeal to all the super girls out there, though maybe less to all the fanboys.
    The core performances are excellent for the given story and the cinematography and effects are high standard, though some elements of the action may feel a little “off” for some people.
    At times the story lags from the action, where it turns to the tragic past of the lead and her traumatic experience. Not great for the fanboys but I suspect all the girls will understand the added emotional depth.
    While there is some derivative nature to the story the playful action, dialogue and music recalls the fun of Guardians of the Galaxy. The only irritation I found was the appearance of Lobo butting into the story with no apparent reason other than introduction for future episodes. This fractures the story arc with only the occasional joke to ease the story forward over the cracks.
    Overall I rate this is a great summertime entertainment, great performance, good writing, brilliant visual experience and slightly more mature than just a dumb adventure.
    Verdict: Fun for all the Super Girls in the world
  5. Disclosure Day
    [13/june/2026] Score: 8/10
    If you have ever enjoyed a good Spielberg movie and hankered for a new one, this is it. Bringing in all the core skill in tension, dramatic action, Big Corporations Are Evil, and secret conspiracies, with a touch of the alien it maintains a steady pace as it builds up to is revelatory conclusion.
    It might not satisfy everyone with the style, we are all expecting great revelations from the story, but has enough to suggest more for those with the heart for it.
    Verdict: Open yourself.
  6. Masters of the Universe
    [5/june/2026] Score: 7/10
    Brash childish, silly, gloriously over-the-top nonsense for everyone in needs of the colour and imagination of your inner child, big swords and lots of humour subtly poking fun at themselves.
    This has absolutely no deep background or the kind of angst you might expect from a child throw into an alien world (ours) to fend for himself until adulthood, he must have an amazingly resilient mind, or just innocent daftness the character displays through the bulk of the story, and another reason to enjoy laughing at and with it all.
    All up, a generally good entertaining film for you and your children, but don’t expect anything world-changing.
    Verdict: Magic for children.
  7. The Tuner
    [5/june/2026] Score: 7/10
    A low profile, subtle mix of drama, piano music, jazz, New York and crime. No massive assault on the senses, this is more a caress on your sensations and pleasures and all the better for this composition. Perfectly enjoyable without being an outstanding impact or your sensations or memory.
    Verdict: Pluck this out for your attention when you can.
  8. Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu
    [22/may/2026] Score: 6/10
    It’s a Star Wars episode in the journey of the little green cute thing and the masked warrior, for this is the way. Plenty of action and human/alien interest in the storyline which is a mix of coming-of-age for the green “kid” and delivering justice for the Masked Man. Good playful performances all round with that typical Star Wars silly childishness needed to the mass audience to switch your mind off and go with the flow.
    With the addition of film-scale budgets there is more opportunity to add a vastly greater, richer detail to the story, action and a much bigger list of characters to take the Mandalorian series up another level.
    All up, should be enjoyable if you don’t get too critical about it all.
    Verdict: Right This Way.
  9. Mortal Kombat II
    [8/may/2026] Score: 7/10
    All the excitement, combat and action needed to entertain a 10-year-old boy, or anyone with an inner child needing something wildly colourful to engage you with great effects, action and silly “heroic” dialogue.
    Good fun for all those who want some entertainment, with enough humour and action to engage without straining your mind.
    Verdict: Slash, stab magic.
  10. The Sheep Detectives
    [4/may/2026] Score: 10/10
    There’s a murder in the little village, but do not fear, there’s a wise local female sleuth on-hand to investigate, sniff out the clues and chew on all the evidence, aided by her plucky flock of followers she’s sure to uncover the dastardly truth.
    And the fact that she’s a sheep should not concern you, well, okay, maybe you might be concerned, but fear not dear viewer the sleuth will uncover the truth! And the humans might not be too far behind her.
    If you desperately need your fix of amateur sleuthing and a traditional whodunnit then this will answer your call in the sweetest, most charmingly delightful way for all the family, and flock.
    Not quite the perfect English village as some of the references appear out of context until you understand it’s translated from the original German and might have a different detail as to the “postal service” and “police department”, but for all but the fussiest person this is a beautiful story told with the warmth of an early summer’s day.
    Verdict: Flocking fantastic!
  11. The Devil Wears Prada 2
    [2/may/2026] Score: 9/10
    Striding straight from one crisis into another in perfectly matched and tailored suit She, the assistant, is back face to face with Her, the Devil herself, and if this is your drug – magnificent elegance, pose and poise, style and Fashion Dharling, then welcome back to The Runway.
    Yes, total fluff and flounce, with a few touches of grit, without which you can never make the perfect pearl, polished and glossed over with delightful humour and absolutely stunning shows of style.
    The performances haven’t aged as the snooty acidic humour drips everywhere in the face of a new crisis that could be the end of the saga.
    Verdict: Wear It!
  12. The Magic Faraway Tree
    [27/march/2026] Score: 8/10
    The innocent magic of children, who see the world as it really is, who look at all the magic in the world and don’t allow anything to take it away.
    A great adventure for all those with a child in their heart, who believe in or have never lost the magic and the adventure of the world.
    Great for the family and invoking those long-far-away family fantasy stories we knew, and perhaps forgot, so long ago before the age of cynicism.
    Verdict: Rediscover your own magic.
  13. Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come
    [20/march/2026] Score: 7/10
    Blackly comic return to playing games amongst satanic rich people in their grand country houses while “ordinary” girls have to fight for their lives and “win” their way out.
    If you’ve seen the first this is a nearly-straight repeat of the challenge competition of rich versus poor – to the dawn/death, so nothing new here. But if you enjoyed the first this takes it up another level.
    It plays out all the traditional values of modern culture’s hate-the-rich to entertain you and distract you from all the real world issues, so just sit back and enjoy the escapism and hope you never draw the bad card(s).
    Verdict: Not a Joker.
  14. Project Hail Mary
    [20/march/2026] Score: 8/10
    Man meets alien, both isolated in dire circumstances. Not an original theme but played out nicely here with the science background blending absurd silliness with some hard technology for those kinds of enthusiasts.
    Ignoring the basis of the story (tiny bugs eating the sun, like they do) there is plenty of light humour, and some good science and special effects, to enjoy and ever-so-slightly educated an audience about how to make first contact and save the universe.
    For those looking for something far less space opera and more hard science this will have to do as far as we can enjoy nowadays.
    Verdict: Hail it.
  15. How To Make A Killing
    [13/march/2026] Score: 5/10
    Man sets out to kill all the relatives between him and a huge inheritance. Hang on a minute, didn’t we see all this in the classic “Kind Hearts and Coronets”, starring the amazing Alec Guinness?
    Yes, we did. This appears to be a modern American up-date on the story.
    Okay for its dark murderous humour and satirical show of the American rich, but once you begin to see the comparisons with the classic film you’re just enjoying the slight differences and modern glamour on a classic story.
    Verdict: How to make a copy.
  16. Mother’s Pride
    [7/march/2026] Score: 6/10
    A quaint English pub in a quaint English village in perpetual summer fights a David v. Goliath battle against the pub across the street to redeem its position in the village. And all we’ve seen umpteen times before and makes a great break from the screaming shouting matches of monsters and magic-powered movies.
    If you need a calm walk in the countryside of your imagination, with absolutely no strain to think about anything serious, then this generic formula has been brewed specially for you.
    Verdict: Quaint.
  17. The Bride!
    [6/march/2026] Score: 8/10
    A new and dramatic twist on Frankenstein, his mother Mary Shelly and the feminist movement, as the roaring 1930s take a ranging furious assault on male dominance and female anger at their dark repression, until takes a hand and creates a new monster to roar across the ages.
    It’s this turn of story and tale, the sudden hauntings and challenges, the sparks of anger and oppression that are inflamed through male brutality and unleashed in female fury as The Bride fights for her true identity.
    This is not the conventional style of any Frankenstein monster movie, with the emphasis on monster. Here everything has been tampered and twisted by how events might have unfolded from the monster’s first birth through to his desire for a bride and the consequences as he tried to find love and companionship.
    Verdict: She Who Liberates.
  18. Hoppers
    [28/february/2026] Score: 7/10
    Sweet little Disney animation all about cute talking animals and the rare few humans who love and want to protect them from all the bad humans. So nothing new there, but plenty of brisk fun along the way. With its strong environmental theme it drives, hammers and rams the message home – cute animals can save you. And they’re edible.
    Verdict: Pond rules still apply.
  19. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
    [26/february,/2026] Score: /810
    Another time traveller tries to come back and warn a dumb group of dumb Americans that THEY, and THEY ALONE can save the entire world, of America, from the looming horror of AI and social media dominating your lives to the point where you don’t even notice the approaching disaster, scroll down to the bottom, it’s in there somewhere.
    This is the twisted dark comedic version of “12 Monkeys” for those, many nowadays, who can’t take the gritty original.
    Verdict: Please come scroll through this one, the world depends on your giggles.
  20. Cold Storage
    [20/february/2026] Score: 7/10
    Only three people stand in the way of American being turned into alien bio-soup, a cranky old soldier with a creaky old back and two night shift workers in an old storage unit which has suddenly developed a bit of a beep and ooze.
    And that’s the silly fun of the latest wonderful version of exactly how the zombie apocalypse might begin in Americaland.
    Verdict: Wash your hands.
  21. Crime 101
    [11/february/2026] Score: 6/10
    Somewhat glossy, gritty, cool LA procedural crime story mixed with social commentary about poverty, inequalities and nuts in California, plus a small smidgen of “finding love” and all that.
    Not as dramatically memorable as other hard core LA-based crime dramas, but passes the time.
    Verdict: A small steal.
  22. Send Help
    [5/february/2026] Score: 8/10
    So there I was thinking this would be a kind of office politics drama turned maybe romcom and find I’m sitting through a blackly comic drama of growing insanity and intensity and she really lets all her suffering at the hands of man loose on him.
    Laugh at the suffering, cry with tears of laughter as it gets madder and madder.
    Verdict: Help yourself to this one.
  23. Shelter
    [30/january/2026] Score: 6/10
    Jason Statham does what he does the very best – saving a child from dark forces of corruption and conspiracy, and there are so many of those conspiracies in the world today he’s got his hands full saving the world.
    But he does it as well as we can all expect.
    Verdict: Take shelter and accept Jason’s protection.
  24. Mercy
    [24/january/2026] Score: 7/10
    Came into this with little hope, just an interesting generic Scifi procedural cop story; but the twists and turns racking up the tension and the sense of a deeper exploration of the future role of AI in our society shows this to be a more thoughtful story than first impressions.
    Yes, there are glaring holes and loose ends in the story and how the investigation is supposed to work, but these are just small distractions from the interesting plot.
    Verdict: Intelligent.
  25. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
    [17/january/2026] Score: 7/10
    Bleak horror/drama following from the previous film and focussing on the story of the Bone Temple and the lone man struggling with the horror all around without, almost, loosing his mind in the process as, perhaps, he comes upon a cure to madness.
    A limits cast take a brutal load of horror born of the despair in a post-apocalypse, with only a lone figure providing the smallest glimpse of hope for the future.
    Verdict: Brutal Brilliant.
  26. Giant
    [13/january/2026] Score: 8/10
    Biography of the rise and stall(?) of the world champion boxer from the little English city of Sheffield – Prince Naseem “Naz” Hamed, his discovery as a child, the excessive enthusiasm through years of development and promotion, the drive, training, power and world-wide success, until it all fell apart.
    Mesmerising in revealing all the passion and power that went into it all and then the near-tragedy of such a fall.
    Verdict: Broken giant.
  27. Hamnet
    [10/january/2026] Score: 10/10
    Jessie Buckley owns this film and her story, of love, marriage, birth and death in a small English village holds a grip on you despite the slow, gentle progress of the entire tale. Based fictionally on the life of William Shakespeare and the possible source of the writing of the world-famous tragedy of Hamlet this takes a different, non-dramatic approach to the heart and soul that might have lain behind inspiring it and changing the world in the process.
    Verdict: Soulful.
  28. Marty Supreme
    [1/january/2026] Score 6/10
    Hustler walks over everyone in his ambition to succeed despite all the odds against him. A brilliant set of performances but not a golden story of a good man of integrity, this is a dirty little struggle for survival, just like the real world, unvarnished with any gloss and little redeeming features, except at the very end as if it was tacked on for the audiences.
    Verdict: Supreme Drama.