Tag Archives: movies

Other Mommy – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Great production cannot save a profoundly hollow film from falling like a thud.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit sting that you do not have to stay for.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes with flashing lights.

A soft toy vulture on the top of a ball pit.

Other Mommy Review Introduction

Today we look at a film that is an odd duality. From the outside, this is a strongly constructed movie with a strong cast, engaging editing, strong cinematography, and an interesting spin on the supernatural monster mythology. It is also an insipid, hollow, dull exercise that turns a ninety-minute film into a slog.

So, to set the scene, on the surface, the Martin family of Ursula (Jessica Chastain), Russ (Jay Duplass), and little Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) are the perfect unit. Maybe mum works a bit too much, maybe dad should have more going on in his life beyond painting miniatures, oh, and maybe Bela should not see Other Mommy (Jessica Chastain) in her closet at night.

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The Love Hypothesis – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A very straightforward romantic comedy, with a touch more going on under the hood than you would first suspect.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The gang looks in shock at a kiss.

The Love Hypothesis Review Introduction

Today we are looking at a truly interesting film. On the surface, it is a very well-executed, if straightforward, romantic comedy. Two oddball characters who have nothing in common find love through the prism of shenanigans. We have gotten Solo Mio, One Night Only, & Finding Emily with the same underlying structure this year already. However, the moment you dig even a centimetre under the surface, it becomes one of the more fascinating films I have seen all year.

So, to set the scene, Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart) is not having the best day when some expired contact lenses make her whole world blurry on the day of her graduate school interview. But disaster averted, Olive makes it into Stanford University, where she meets her bestie Anh (Rachel Marsh), her unrequited crush Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), and roommate Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), which is good because Olive is all alone in her life outside of university. The one thing Olive wants is to work in Dr Thomas Benton (Arty Froushan)’s lab, and he just let her know that he will be teaching in Stanford for the next month. It is a major opportunity, or a walking disaster waiting to happen. Which is what is happening when she cons Anh into thinking she is in a relationship, so Anh feels okay dating Jeremy, which leads to her maybe kissing ‘Dr Evil’ Dr Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman) to keep up the ruse, and shenanigans follow as Dr Carlsen agrees to set up the pretence of a relationship for the review committee … making a love hypothesis.

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Sense and Sensibility (2026) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A delightfully charming film, filled with camaraderie, humour, and exquisite performances

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.

The Dashwood family arrive in Devon.

Sense and Sensibility Review Introduction

One of the bonuses of this job is that you experience a full range of classic literature that you missed growing up because your school picked different titles, such as One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest, or there was one English teacher who made the thought of doing literature a non-starter. This is how I have discovered the joys of such classics as Emma, Little Women, Murder on the Orient Express, and Wuthering Heights. Okay, some more than others. However, today, I get to add to this as we dive back to the era of Jane Austen with all its pomp and circumstance.

So, to set the scene, tragedy has struck the Dashwood family as their father Henry has passed away, and after some prodding from his wife Fanny (Stacy Martin), John (Tom Brooke), Henry’s son, has decided not to financially support his stepmother (Caitríona Balfe), or half-sisters Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones), Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles), or Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). Thankfully, a distant relative, Mrs Jennings (Fiona Shaw), has announced that  Sir John Middleton (Turlough Convery) has heard of their plight and offered them a cottage in Devon that they could move into for a low rent. This is a big change for all the girls, but with all change, there is frustration and opportunities. Some of those opportunities may be potential suitors, including the shy Edward Ferrars (George MacKay), the distant Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum), and the far too forward John Willoughby (Frank Dillane). This could be a source of much relief for the family, or possibly much pain.

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Pretty Lethal – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An absolutely solid action film that understands the visual language it wants to engage with and makes it shine.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The ballerinas.

Pretty Lethal Review Introduction

I have been on the hunt for a good action film lately, and unfortunately, I have been hit by a wave of disappointments. When you are on a bad run, it is time to remove your preconceptions and try for something outside of the box and today that means dancing as if your life depended on it.

So, to set the scene, a group of ballerinas, Zoe (Iris Apatow), Princess (Lana Condor), Chloe (Millicent Simmonds), Grace (Avantika), Bones (Maddie Ziegler), and their instructor Thorna Devonport (Lydia Leonard), were on their way to a showcase in Budapest when their flight got diverted, and the transfer bus broke down in the middle of the forest 300-odd kilometres away from the capital. No service, cold and drenched from rain, they stumble into the one hotel in the little town in the mountains. A short wait for a minibus should have been fine, but when bullets start flying, it will be a fight for their lives.

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Brothers Under Fire – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that is 80% set up, and I am not sure the ending was worth it.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure –I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The five members of the platoon in a photo.

Brothers Under Fire Review Introduction

Today, we are looking at a film that I knew nothing about until it appeared on my feed, an enigma of a movie. But it was also an intriguing mystery, because it is something of an occupational hazard that I know about most films released out of America. But that mystery is a potential promise until proven otherwise.   

So, to set the scene, in Syria, east of the Al Omar mountain oil fields, an American platoon is under attack, with only a very close air strike saving them. A good thing because Alberto Castillo (Tommy Martinez) is getting married, and the whole troop, including Capt. Jordan Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), Danny Walton (Solly McLeod), Lieutenant Carson (Ashton Sanders), and Marco Hino (Laird Akeo), are invited to Columbia for the nuptials to Isabella Perez (Laura Osma). What no one realises is that the local cartel is on the move after a messy takeover of a rival organisation, and soon everyone is caught up in the storm.

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The Get Out – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly odd slow-burn film that I am not sure lands its bombastic conclusion.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Russell Crowe sitting down in an yellow jumpsuit listing to headphones.

The Get Out Review Introduction

If you were going to ask who is the best export that Australia has ever given to Hollywood, then I would have to say that Russell Crowe needs to be in that conversation. If nothing else, the man is always working, bringing all of himself into the roles he plays, no matter how small or weird they may be. Today we are looking at a film that might be a good example of this, as we dive into the seedy underbelly of the Gold Coast … I mean Los Angeles.

So, to set the scene, Marco Kapak (Russell Crowe) is a man from Albania who has run a nightclub in America for decades. It was a lucrative career, until a ‘cardiac event’ stops him in his tracks at a most inopportune time. He is finally taking the advice of his girlfriend, Sunny (Teresa Palmer), to sell the nightclub and move to a nice small house in Thailand. The only problem is that Kapak has fingers in many pies, not all of them legal, and they all need to be untangled. Some of them might not want to be untangled.

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Coyote vs. Acme – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A delightfully fun time that did something I never thought possible; it made me care about the Coyote.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

A Rocket Skates blueprint.

Coyote vs. Acme Review Introduction

Today I have the joy of reviewing a film that almost was lost to time, buried as a tax write-off by a company that chose profit over what has turned out to be a common-sense business choice given how well the film has done. But the tax write-off was the film’s past; the new theatrical run is its future, and I am here today to talk about that future.

So, to set the scene, Wile E. Coyote (Himself) has spent an age trying to catch and eat the Road Runner (Eric Bauza/Paul Julian) using just about every ACME contraption known to man and toon alike. His latest gambit involves magnetic gloves, rocket boots, some metallic baubles, and of course a lot of bird seed. It fails, like catastrophically. But out of his defeat, he sees a TV ad for Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a lawyer from Avery, Jones & Maltese who specialises in Toon disaster cases. However, what Avery really specialises in is doing as little as possible and getting an automatic small outcome for his clients so as to never ruffle those ACME feathers. However, when Wile E. Coyote dumps every failed ACME product into the evidence box, Avery, Jones & Maltese suddenly finds itself suing the biggest corporation in the world for every defective toon product ACME has ever made. Thus, Avery is now a very famous lawyer and is completely unprepared for the wrath that is Buddy Crane (John Cena).

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The Weight – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A truly immersive film that sucks you into its story and makes you feel the titular weight.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes with flashing lights.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Bars of Gold.

The Weight Review Introduction

Today was cheap Tuesday at the cinemas, and for the first time in an age I had nothing on in the evening. Well, when the universe lines things up, one should make the most of it. Today that meant just rocking up and seeing whatever was about to start, and that is how I watched the fantastic film today.

So, to set the scene, Samuel Murphy (Ethan Hawke) ends up in a hard labour camp after punching a man who menaced his daughter (Avy Berry) who turned out to be a cop. Samuel works hard because he needs to get back to his daughter before they adopt her out. But he can’t do that in time, which is where the Warden, Clancy (Russell Crowe), has a plan. He has a friend, Taggert (Alec Newman), that needs four men for a task, and if they pull it off, he will sign Samuel’s release papers. Samuel, Rankin (Austin Amelio), Singh (Avi Nash), and Olson (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen) make the trek deep into the Oregon wilderness. Taggert runs a gold mine, and it is about to be nationalised during the Great Depression. But the commodity they will be carrying is gold, and gold brings out the worst in people.

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Heart of the Beast – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While there are times when you feel emotionally manipulated, I can’t deny that this film had a powerful effect on me, as each turn, setback, and revelation had me on the edge of my seat.

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.

A plane flies low over a valley.

Heart of the Beast Review Introduction

The last couple of years have been an odd time for David Ayer and me. I loved his The Beekeeper, a film that improves with each rewatching, and yet I loathed A Working Man, a film which was not improved by a repeat viewing. This was such an odd juxtaposition that was playing in my head as I sat down to watch his latest entry. But thankfully, I think we spent more time in the former than the latter territory.  

So, to set the scene, James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is a now-retired Special Forces officer who lives a quiet life with his retired combat scout dog Odin (Uber). They both live with the scars of their former life, both external and internal. One weekend, Belmont flies the two of them up into the Alaskan wilderness to camp, fish, and enjoy nature away from other humans. Some unwanted surprise company aside, it was a great trip, until a storm blows in and they have to pack up early. But when tragedy strikes on the flight home, Belmont and Odin must hike over fifty miles through the unforgiving Alaskan countryside to make it to the nearest road, the only hope for rescue.

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Forgotten Island – Movie Review

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TL;DR – The ending might be messy, but you cannot deny the charm and style that is throughout the film.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

A charm bracelet.

Forgotten Island Review Introduction

Today I get to dive into a world that I have not experienced before. Through my work and study, I am familiar with a lot of the world’s mythologies, but not with the myths of the Philippines. This does mean I won’t be critiquing in this review how well they represent that mythology, but it does mean that I get the joy of new experiences.
 
So, to set the scene, Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) have been friends since they were kids because no matter how different they are, they share a love for mythology, and a care for each other. The bonds of friendship run deep, but they get a major test when Raissa is accepted into CalTech in America. It is the last day they will be together when Jo finds a star in the ocean creating a portal to a new world. The two girls wake up 12 hours later with no memory of the night before and the realisation that they have both lost their only way home, and upset Manang (Lea Salonga), the Dreaded Manananggal, the one creature you never want to upset.

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