Monthly Archives: March 2025

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fun pomp back to that past nostalgia, which, while not quite having the strength to get all the way to the end, was still a blast when it leaned into the looney side of the toons.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie Review –

Unfortunately, if there has been an entity that has been the most affected by this current blight of shelving products for tax purposes, it has been the Looney Tunes. So, to see one of those fallen products escape containment and get a release was reason enough to make it down to the cinemas. My big question was: could it connect with a new audience? And I was fascinated to see the outcome.  

So, to set the scene, Daffy Duck (Eric Bauza) and Porky Pig (Eric Bauza) have grown up together under the guidance of Farmer Jim (Fred Tatasciore). But with him gone and suburbia encroaching on their former farm, they are stuck with a profound predicament: find $10,000 to fix a hole in their roof, or their house will be condemned. But what caused the hole? Why is that scientist (Fred Tatasciore) covered in goo? And does it have something to do with Petunia Pig (Candi Milo), who just walked into the coffee shop?

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A Working Man – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that did not know if it wanted to be a silly Jason Statham film or a serious Jason Statham film, and that failure to get the tone right doomed a genially strong start.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A bunch of men in hardhats but their hands in the middle.

A Working Man Review –

I don’t think it is quite a reach to say that there are some actors out there, whether through typecasting or passion or skill, who end up playing the same or very similar characters in every movie they are in. One very notable example of that is Jason Statham, who historically had a character that worked in both comedic and more serious roles. But then The Beekeeper happened, and we got to see a different side to his persona. Well, when I found out he was teaming up again with the director of The Beekeeper, I was excited to see what we got … I should have tempered my expectations.   

So, to set the scene, Levon Cade (Jason Statham) is a former Royal Marine who now works as a foreman on a construction site in Chicago to be closer to his daughter Merry (Isla Gie). Levon had a difficult transition to civilian life and was helped by the Garcia family. Joe Garcia (Michael Peña) runs the construction company, but his daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) helps with the books. One night, Jenny goes out with her college friends to celebrate the end of a semester, not knowing that she is being hunted. When she doesn’t return home, her family is distraught and turns to Levon, the one person who they know can help.

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Disney’s Snow White (2025) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While it is not the disaster that everyone fears, you can still see the narrative decisions that held it back from being quite remarkable.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

Snow White.

Snow White Review –

Now, I have not been the biggest fan of the current batch of Disney films that turn their classic animated works into live-action works, or if you are The Lion King ‘live-action’. They tend to struggle because they have a hard time finding a new voice when they are anchored to the past. Well, today, we go all the way back to the first-ever animated feature to see if it follows a similar fate.

So, to set the scene, in a kingdom of complete happiness, singing, and lots of apple pie, one snowy day, a princess was born. She was a delight for the whole kingdom and the King’s (Hadley Fraser) and Queen’s (Lorena Andrea) pride and joy. But when the queen unfortunately dies, and the king remarries a sorcerous, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot), things start to change. Even more so when the King is sent away to the southern kingdom and never returns. Now Snow White (Rachel Zegler) is a servant, and the kingdom has fallen into darkness. Until one day the Evil Queen visits her Magic Mirror (Patrick Page) and discovers that she might not be the fairest one of all.

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Locked – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It was a good scenario, but it never felt like they had a good handle on what they wanted to talk about.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

A phone call appears on a car tablet.

Locked Review –

Most films need a hook to get you into the cinemas and part with your hard-earned cash. For me, sometimes that hook is a premise so interesting that you must see how they play it out. Well, Anthony Hopkins traumatising a Skarsgård locked in his car is absolutely one I had to see.  

So, to set the scene, Eddie (Bill Skarsgård) is a crook who is trying to turn his life around for his daughter Sarah (Ashley Cartwright). But the universe is not making it easy for him, and as a deadline looms, he looks to more nefarious ways to make a quick buck. Well, if someone leaves their car unlocked, well they are asking someone to come in and rummage around, and so Eddie does. The only problem is that when he tries to get out, he finds that the car is locked, his mobile can’t get a signal, and suddenly the in-car phone is ringing.

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The Alto Knights – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An interesting experiment that looks back on America’s past, anchored by Robert De Niro’s dual performances. Compelling right up to the point it starts meandering everywhere.    

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Robert De Niro playing two different mobsters.

The Alto Knights Review –

When it comes to mobster films set in and around New York, there are few names as crucial as Robert De Niro. So, when you hear that he is taking not just one lead in a new mob film but pulling double duty as both of the main antagonists, based on a real event, well, that is a scenario that calls for attention.   

So, to set the scene, it is 1957 on the streets of New York City where professional gambler Frank Costello (Robert De Niro) has just arrived home after a charity dinner and is waiting for the lift up to his penthouse apartment when he hears his name called out from behind, and Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis) promptly shoots him in the head. Frank survives, but he is the boss of bosses, who would put a hit out on him. Well, a rival did not just betray him but the one person he once called a friend, Vito Genovese (Robert De Niro).   

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The Electric State – Movie Review

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TL;DR – What if you smashed The Creator into Ready Player One and then made something mostly soulless with the components?

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

A wall, Hiding a desolate landscape full of robot corpses.

The Electric State Review –

These days, it is hard to find big-budget films based on an original story or at least an unadapted work. Let alone a movie with a budget that is reportedly one of the biggest in cinematic history. But if you are going to spend that much on something, the question is: have you made something of real substance? And I am not sure that happened here.    

So, to set the scene, 1990 was a simpler time. It was before the war. Where Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) can watch her brother Christopher (Woody Norman) destroy math tests that take college professors days to complete. But there is a growing anti-robot sentiment growing across the nation. That is because robots decided they didn’t want to do all the menial labour we were making them do and rebelled. It was war, a war humanity was losing, which was when Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci) arrived as a saviour. Now, everyone is hooked into his SENTRE tech, and all the remaining robots are sent to an exclusion zone. In 1994, Michelle, who lives as a ward of the state, arrives at her house when a Cosmo (Alan Tudyk) bot changes everything.

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Black Bag – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Sexy, intriguing, delightful, and also a bit tense. In other words, it is an almost perfect spy film.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A handgun on a wooden table.

Black Bag Review –

It has been a long time since I have seen a spy film perfectly capture that intrigue, where you, the audience, do not quite know what is going on, yet you are profoundly compelled to find out as the machinations of the story unfolds in front of you. Narratively, that is hard to pull off, especially in the modern era where we have seen most of the story tricks you would use in other films. However, in today’s entry, we find a movie that nails that with class.

So, to set the scene, George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett) look like your normal highly successful power couple, bar one thing: they both work for one of Great Britain’s security services. Kathryn is a renowned field agent, and George is a security specialist whose polygraphs are legendary. They work well together because they know where all the professional boundaries lie. However, this is thrown asunder when a key analyst, Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård), discovers there are only five people who could have stolen a highly classified weapons program, and one of them is Kathryn. What is George to do? Well, maybe invite every suspect to his house for dinner.   

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Silent Zone – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A serviceable if somewhat frustrating zombie flick that does at least land the moments that count.  

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Bandits surround our heroes.

Silent Zone Review –

Well, the zombie film is back in vogue, and I am always interested to see how these concepts get translated across the world. Today’s film makes the most of its location work to explore a world that has fallen apart and the people trying to survive it.  

So, to set the scene, at the start of a zombie outbreak, Abby had the misfortune of watching her family get killed and try to turn on her. She would have joined the dead if it was not for a police officer, Cassius (Matt Devere), who killed her reanimated family. Ten years later, society has completely collapsed, and few survivors exist to live out a life of shrinking resources and constant threats of ferals. Abigal (Luca Papp) and Cassius live in the woods, two weeks away from an island of security. But when a scout from a herd finds them, they know time is not on their side.

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Mickey 17 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Weird, I mean profoundly weird, but maybe not weird enough

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Warning – Some scenes may cause distress.

Starship over an icy planet.

Mickey 17 Review –

There are some movies that you will see just because they have a specific director attached to them. For me, one of those directors is absolutely Bong Joon-ho. My first introduction to his style of films was Okja, and what an introduction it was. Indeed, I’ll steal a moment from my conclusion and recommend watching Okja right now on Netflix, though it may change the way you view the world. This was followed by the phenomenal Parasite, which made me immediately hit yes when I got the invitation to see his follow-up: a weird political sci-fi about a man who can’t die.    

So, to set the scene, friends Mickey (Robert Pattinson) and Timo (Steven Yeun) made some bad deals on Earth, and to stop themselves from being cut up into little pieces by a load shark, they decided to jump on one of the new colony ships heading out into the beyond. Theirs is going to the icy world of Niflheim, and while Timo can sweet talk his way onto the ship, Mickey must sign up to be an ‘expendable’. This is someone who has his body and mind scanned so that they can take on dangerous jobs, and if they die, we just make a new one. Well, we start the film off with Mickey 17, who is currently in a very precarious position, and I am not sure anyone immensely cares.

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Inside Man (Gemini Lounge) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is an interesting character study, but I struggled to connect with any part of the film.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

The perp board.

Inside Man Review –

Today, we are looking at a film that is steeped in tradition even before the ‘based on a true story’ moniker pops up on the screen. In the deep of the 1980s, New York who was full of mobsters, murders, and illicit substances. It has been a fodder for many films, including the one we are looking at today.   

So, to set the scene, we are in Brooklyn, New York, back in 1983 when Bobby Belucci (Emile Hirsch) was a cop at the crossroads. After finding another man with his wife and introducing that man to his fists, he was demoted to the backend of the department and stuck behind a desk. But one drunken night, Bobby gets the chance to change his fate when he saves the mobster Chris Rosenberg (Jake Cannavale), one of Roy Demeo’ (Danny Abeckaser) guys, from a stabbing.

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