Heart Eyes Review – Love at First Sight or Not Quite?

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When I went to see Companion (review coming soon), the trailer for Heart Eyes was playing before it. I do my best to avoid trailers, even when I’m in the theatre, but when this one started, I thought it looked so bad that I’d never bother watching it in the first place. That feeling quickly subsided though as I realized the genius of this premise. The start of the trailer was meant to look like a crappy Netflix hallmark-esque romantic comedy, before it shows what it really is: a horror slasher mocking the genre and Valentine’s Day itself.  Heart Eyes was directed by Josh Ruben, who I recognized from College Humour videos on YouTube back in the day, and the movie was written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, and Michael Kennedy. Landon is the most notable of these writers, having written five of the Paranormal Activity movies, and directed the Happy Death Day movies, as well as Freaky.  The cast includes lead turns from Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding, who play Allie and Jay, two colleagues at a jewelry company.  Having watched the trailer again after seeing the movie, I would still suggest skipping it. All you need to know going in is that the titular Heart Eyes Killer (or HEK) has gone on murder sprees on Valentine’s Day in two different cities over the past two years and now appears to have begun another killing spree in Seattle, where Allie lives. So is Heart Eyes love at first sight, or does it just lead to heartbreak? My Thoughts The only logical place I can start this review is at the very beginning because that was where the movie peaked for me. As the opening title cards played, the song “Amazed” by Lonestar played and I immediately started laughing. The perfect earworm for this moment and this movie that I heard 10,000 times growing up on Mom’s favourite local radio station, Country 93. Anyway, the opening sequence was perfect and I hoped it was an indication of things to come. Unfortunately, it was the best part and I found myself chasing that high for the rest of the movie.  That’s not to say that there weren\’t other enjoyable moments in here, because there definitely were. I laughed pretty consistently, especially in the first two acts (though not as much as the guy behind me, holy smokes), but the movie did some things that really took me out of it, especially in that back half.  I have a gripe with a lot of horror movies these days and, unfortunately, Heart Eyes was guilty of this problem. Specifically, I really dislike when horror movies also try to be more than their fun or intriguing premise. Last year it was Abigail that screeched to a halt because we took a break from the child vampire ballerina and Dan Stevens hamming it up so we could get an extended sequence with the main character about their tragic backstory in a cheap effort to make the audience care about them. This kind of tonal clash completely takes me out of the movie and the thing is, I don’t need it. If you cast a strong lead that I enjoy spending time with, I’m going to be invested enough that I don’t need this added backstory or for the character to sit down and leave a voicemail in the middle of a chase sequence to hit that backstory beat even harder.  In Heart Eyes, I was super excited by the opening because it mocked the romantic comedy genre (which are my guilty pleasure movies, by the way), but then as the movie progresses it becomes the exact thing it was mocking earlier, except worse. There were some moments that they undercut with humour, one in particular in a van, but it still had plenty of monologues and serious and heartfelt moments that weren’t cheesy enough to be funny or endearing and just had me rolling my eyes most of the time. I think part of this comes down to the cast, too. I didn’t dislike the leads, but I also don’t feel like they had the kind of charisma required for a good romantic comedy pair. They were fine, which I think makes these serious beats just come across as flat and uninspiring.  I also had some issues with the script. Every single “twist” in this movie is apparent from 100 miles away. I don’t want to give anything away, but I mean, there was less than zero mystery for me in this movie. As a result, the final act fell completely flat for me. The reveals are so uninteresting that I felt almost mad that they bothered to include it. There’s a fourth act sequence in this that genuinely made me a little angry about how forced and cliched it felt.  Before that final act though, I was enjoying myself enough, but nothing really worked for me in the back half of the movie. If it stuck the landing better, this would’ve been an easy recommendation. Unfortunately, this isn’t the storybook ending I wanted. Verdict Heart Eyes had me hooked from the start, but the longer it went, the less it lived up to its own promise. What began as a clever play on romantic comedies slowly turned into the exact thing it was making fun of, just without the charm. While the humor landed more often than not, predictable twists, forced emotional moments, and a finale that fell completely flat kept it from being the fun genre mix it could have been. If you are not as burned out on these clichés as I am, you might have a better time, but for me, this was a bit of a missed opportunity.

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\’The Monkey\’ Review: A Delightfully Absurd and Funny Gorefest

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The Monkey is exactly the kind of hilarious, madcap horror-comedy we need to inject a little life (and death) into cinemas this February. The latest from Longlegs director Osgood Perkins, The Monkey is based on the Stephen King short story of the same name and follows twin brothers who discover a mysterious wind-up monkey (don\’t call it a toy) that belonged to their AWOL father. Soon after, people around them start dying in a string of bizarre and extreme accidents. With a setup like that, it\’s hard not to have fun. I was unfamiliar with the original short story, so I can\’t speak to its faithfulness as an adaptation, but I can say that going in relatively blind made for a great movie-going experience. Above all, the movie doesn\’t take itself too seriously—it\’s easily Perkins\’ funniest and most popcorn-worthy movie to date. So, if you\’re one of the people who enjoyed the more humorous parts of Longlegs, odds are you\’ll love The Monkey. Just be aware that, for the most part, this is a different beast, differing wildly from Longlegs in tone. As with Perkins\’ other films, I don\’t think this movie will be for everyone, but it sure as hell worked for me. I\’ve mostly been a fan of his previous work, even the ones that have been less critically well-received. I liked Longlegs; I appreciated the strange, slow artfulness of I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in The House; and I loved The Blackcoat\’s Daughter, which genuinely chilled me when I first watched it many years ago. The Monkey is a great addition to that filmography, though it might be lacking the depth or uniqueness of some of Perkins\’ other movies. It\’s also, by far, his least frightening movie to date. If you\’re coming into this one expecting to be scared, you\’ll likely be disappointed. As a horror movie, it sort of falls flat. But as an over-the-top horror-comedy, it provides plenty of laughs and some very creative kills that don\’t pull any punches. If anything, it\’s the moments when the movie tries to get overly serious or inject some family and relationship drama that don\’t fully land. The throughlines are there, and the monkey as a metaphor for fathers passing down their trauma and darkness onto their own kids mostly works—but the characters themselves just don\’t really have enough depth, and we as an audience don\’t really have enough time with them to really care about their relationships with one another. Theo James does a fine job in a dual role as the adult version of twins Bill and Hal, making each twin feel distinct and clearly having some fun. Speaking of dual roles, Tatiana Maslany plays Bill and Hal\’s mom, Lois, and was definitely the standout for me. She just knows exactly what kind of movie she\’s in, and plays it perfectly. Beyond that, Elijah Wood and Adam Scott also show up in fun bit parts, making the most of limited screentime. Casting Maslany in a movie in which one actor plays two roles might be a clever nod to her turn playing multiple roles on Orphan Black, or else it\’s a fun coincidence. Either way, the movie is full of similarly clever nods, running gags, and brick jokes that reward those who are paying attention and pay off to great effect. For such a dumb movie (complementary), it\’s a lot smarter than it appears. What more can I say? It\’s big, dumb fun, with a mean streak that schlock horror fans will love. Verdict The Monkey is for all the sickos who miss the Final Destination franchise. It\’s unserious and stupid in the best ways, with some of the funniest, goriest, and most creative horror movie kills I\’ve seen in a hot minute. While the movie tries for some deeper themes, it\’s best when it\’s not trying to be anything other than an absurd and silly gorefest. This movie won\’t be to everyone\’s taste, but those who are on its wavelength will lap it up.

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Presence Review—A Supernatural Stunner with a Spiritless Script

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Presence is the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh who has one of the more interesting filmographies I’ve seen. It includes the Ocean’s Trilogy, Magic Mike, Contagion, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and Logan Lucky, a movie I really, really like. He was my most watched director last year too, as over the holidays I watched the Ocean’s Trilogy and Logan Lucky again! I’m definitely a fan of his heist movies, but I was incredibly intrigued when I first heard he was directing this movie because it’s so different from his movies that I’m familiar with.  Presence is listed as a supernatural thriller drama with a very simple premise: “A family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they\’re not alone.” Personally though, I’d classify this more as a drama with supernatural elements and not really a thriller, even if there was one moment where it gave me some chills.  So should you make an appearance for Presence, or is this one better left ghosted? My Thoughts Writing this review feels a bit different for me because, as I start putting my thoughts together the night after watching the movie, I still don’t know what my final rating on the Heart-O-Meter will be. In the past, I’ve begun reviews with a clear rating in mind, only to revise it as I worked through my thoughts. This time, though, I’m writing with the specific goal of figuring out how I truly feel about the movie and whether or not the good outweighs the bad.  Let’s start off with what I liked, which was the direction and more specifically, the camerawork. From the opening scene of the movie (which is why I don’t consider this a spoiler) Soderbergh makes it clear that the camera is a character. It is the presence in the house. The movie has a ton of beautiful oners where the camera just floats through the house as the people living in the house go about their day. As we went up the stairs, there weren\’t obvious shakes of the camera with each step, as if a human was walking up the stairs which allowed me to really buy into this effect. It was these early moments that I really loved what I was watching. It was such a unique and cool idea to have our “main character” be played by a camera. I’m just a humble film buff, so I have no idea if another movie has done something to this extent before, but damn did this feel so unique and cool.  Don’t worry though, if this sounds a little too weird for you, we’ve got plenty of humans in the movie too. Soon after the movie begins, a family moves into this house where this presence is tethered. Lucy Liu plays Rebecca (the mother), Chris Sullivan plays Chris (the father), and the two kids are played by Callina Liang (Chloe, the sister) and Eddy Maday (Tyler, the brother). West Mulholland also plays Ryan, Tyler’s friend from school. Before I dig into the performances, there was one downside to the choice to make the camera a character and it was how the movie transitions from scene to scene. Every time a scene concludes, we cut to black before it opens on the next scene. Sometimes this was done a bit more intentionally and organically but other times it wasn’t. For example, the presence in the house seems to feel most at home in the closet in Chloe’s room (as seen in the photo at the top of this review). Some scenes end with the presence returning to the closet, as if it’s sleeping, I guess, but sometimes we will just cut to black at the end of a conversation people have in the kitchen. Ultimately, I found that this hurts the pacing a bit as the movie feels like it’s constantly stopping and starting. At only 85 minutes long though, the pacing issues really didn’t bother me too much. Now, let’s talk about the performances. Of the entire cast, the only standout for me was Chris Sullivan, who delivered a strong performance as Chris. Even now, I’m struggling to determine whether the issue with everyone else was due to bad performances or awful dialogue, but I’m leaning towards the latter. I mean, this was some of the most awful dialogue I’ve ever heard in a movie. The worst examples were almost all from the younger characters too. It’s incredibly jarring when people deliver dialogue that just doesn’t sound or feel right. This was especially true with Ryan and Tyler who talk like nobody else on earth. The script was written by 61-year-old David Koepp and it definitely feels like a 61-year-old wrote what they think Gen Zers sound like without actually verifying that with anyone. I tried to move past it earlier in the movie, but eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and I was quietly giggling every single time these characters said pretty much anything. This was such a big issue for me that it’s really what drags the movie down so much. To make things worse, the narrative itself wasn’t incredibly strong either and I had guessed where the movie was going about 1/3rd of the way in. I’m also not someone who watches something and tries to guess how it will end either, it just seemed so obvious to me at a certain point.  The kids are the main focus of the movie and so most of the narrative and emotional beats were weighed down by the absolutely awful dialogue they had. David Koepp in terms of box-office numbers is one of the most successful writers of all time, but if you look at his filmography, it includes some stinkers like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and The Mummy (2017). I really wish Soderbergh had a script that was half as good as his direction and camerawork because I think I would’ve absolutely loved this

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\’Nosferatu\’ Review: Beautifully Crafted Gothic Horror

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It\’s hard to tell old stories in new ways. That\’s especially true when the story in question is one that\’s been told countless times since the 1890s. If you\’ve never read Bram Stoker\’s Dracula (1897), you\’re still likely familiar with the story in some form or another. If not that, then you\’re surely familiar with the legacy of vampire storytelling that the novel ushered into the 20th century. How could you not be? Nosferatu is not, strictly speaking, an adaption of Dracula. It\’s a remake of the silent German expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu, directed by F. W. Murnau in 1922. But the Murnau film is itself a thinly veiled adaptation of Stoker\’s novel (Stoker\’s widow sued Murnau for copyright infringement and won). Nosferatu had already been remade at least once before by Werner Herzog in the 1970s, while the original Dracula story has been remade and reimagined over and over again in the last hundred or so years. So, why would anyone remake Nosferatu in 2024? This is undoubtedly a passion project for Robert Eggers. In almost every interview on the Nosferatu press tour, he\’s mentioned that he first saw Murnau\’s Nosferatu when he was 9 years old and it left a big impression on him. Then, when he was 17, he put on his own stage adaptation, in which he played Count Orlok, and that project apparently propelled Eggers into wanting to become a director. Eggers\’ take on Nosferatu isn\’t radically new if you\’ve seen any other adaptation of this story, but that\’s okay. It would be almost impossible to do something completely new at this point, especially when vampires are involved. What his adaptation does do, however, is bring Nosferatu back to its folkloric roots. Eggers has proven with his previous films that he is a master of bringing ultra-specific period settings to life. His obsessive attention to detail and devotion to historical accuracy are perfect for a film like this. Some might argue that he\’s even a little too interested in the details. Count Orlok\’s period-accurate mustache (he is an undead 17th-century Transylvanian nobleman, after all), for one, has been the subject of much online debate and memes. Personally, I loved the \’stache and thought it was a unique costuming choice that sets this Count apart from previous versions. But I can also see why some people found it strange or funny (along with Bill Skarsgard\’s voice and accent work), and why that kind of reaction isn\’t necessarily what you want out of a horror movie. Likewise, there are some scenes in the movie that serve no purpose in the narrative, other than to showcase some of the folk mythology around vampires. I\’m thinking in particular of a sequence in which Nicholas Hoult\’s Thomas Hutter follows a group of Romani travellers into the woods. It\’s an atmospheric and interesting sequence, and it sets the mood for Hutter\’s journey into Orlok\’s castle, but with the movie\’s somewhat drawn-out pacing, a scene like this could easily have been cut without losing anything essential. It\’s only there, really, because Eggers is so devoted to showcasing historical vampire lore. Eggers interest seems to lie much more in recreating a world and an atmosphere and an image, as opposed to really digging deep into his characters or thematic concerns. The film\’s protagonist, Ellen, is played well by Lily-Rose Depp, especially in her physicality, but certain character details are kept deliberately vague (her past trauma, her desires, her feelings of being an outsider in her time and place)—we get glimpses that could be explored further but aren\’t really beyond the more ambiguous way these details are presented. But really, I\’m nit-picking here. That surface-levelness adds to the almost fairytale-like quality of the movie. Beyond that, this film is also impeccably crafted. Everything from the costumes and sets to the use of natural lighting to the dark sumptuous cinematography makes this adaptation feel special, even if the beats are all familiar. It\’s Gothic horror through and through, dark and operatic and nightmarish. While I wasn\’t exactly scared by the film myself, it exudes a pervasive sense of dread that feels like it honours the source material. At one point, Count Orlok tells Ellen, \”I am an appetite. Nothing more.\” This version of Nosferatu is frightening precisely because he isn\’t at all humanlike in his desire. He\’s not a suave calculating gentleman with teeth—he\’s a decrepit monster driven by an insatiable primal need to consume. There\’s no sexualized caressing of pristine, untouched skin on a pale, outstretched neck. This Nosferatu is all writhing bodies and visceral, animalistic leeching from the chest (closer to the source—another great detail taken from vampire folklore). While the film gestures toward the romantic with the preternatural bond that Ellen shares with Orlok, and while it has a whole psychosexual thing going on the surface (Ellen\’s moaning when she\’s under Orlok\’s spell; her diagnosis of hysteria, a condition historically weaponized against women who exhibited sexual agency; Nicholas Hoult\’s frantic sweaty shirtless desperation), this is a largely bloodless vampire movie, in the sense that it\’s much more grounded in the earth. It\’s more interested in moldering rotting corpses and filthy hordes of rats and contorted bodies and faces, with blood leaking from the eyes. While there\’s a fair amount of sex here, the film is far from being sexy. In the long history of vampire stories, we\’ve reached a saturation point, and the vampire has arguably been defanged in pop culture ever since Twilight. So, I\’m glad to have another vampire story in which vampires are not just scary again, but truly monstrous. Verdict No one asked for or needed another take on Dracula—yet I\’m glad this dark Gothic nightmare of a film exists. Robert Eggers\’ incredible eye and attention to detail bring some fresh blood to a story as old as the medium of film itself. The unsettling atmosphere, impeccable craft, and very committed performances—especially a physically demanding turn from Lily-Rose Depp—make this adaptation of the 1922 classic well worth your

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The Damned Review — Beautiful & Bleak Horror at Its Finest

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For anyone that’s been following along at Screen Love Affair, you know the horror genre is one of my favourites. However, most horror movies these days don’t work for me. Not only do so many of them feel the same, they often lack any real identity, and the worst part is that they lack any real fear. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. 2023 and 2024 both delivered horror movies that ended up in my top 10 favourites list (spoiler for the 2024 list) with Skinamarink and Oddity.  The Damned intrigued me. From the first trailer I saw for it ahead of Nosferatu, I knew I had to see the movie. The movie takes place sometime in the 19th century in a remote Icelandic fishing “village” which is more or less made up of about seven people. Odessa Young plays Eva, a widower and owner of this fishing enterprise. One day a foreign ship sinks offshore near their village and when bodies eventually wash ashore, bizarre things begin to happen to this small community.  So, does The Damned rise to the occasion, or does it sink into the icy depths of generic horror slop? My Thoughts It’s crazy in a genre that is as saturated as horror is, that I’m constantly surprised and impressed with how much uniqueness can still exist. The Damned is beautiful, bleak, horrifying, and exactly what I was hoping to see.  Let’s start first with how the movie looks. The Icelandic backdrop is gorgeous. If you hate winter, I suppose you may disagree, but the coastal village surrounded by snow covered hills and mountains was absolutely breathtaking. At the same time though, it’s cold and you feel that throughout the entire movie. This is where the “bleak” aspect comes in. This world is cruel, harsh, and unforgiving. The village is struggling, with so little food they end up resorting to eating some of their bait. That’s also why, when a boat sinks off their shore, ultimately they decide there’s nothing they can feasibly do, and so they leave the crew of the shipwreck to their fate.  Beyond this, it wasn’t just the world that felt bleak, but this was a rare case where the doom and dread that permeates throughout the movie gives you a feeling of hopelessness for these characters. In a typical slasher, I always expect there to be, at the very least, a final girl that survives the events of the movie. I had no such confidence about the fates of the characters in this village and it’s because of how well the different aspects of this movie come together to create this sense of hopelessness. The landscape, while beautiful, is also cold and isolating. The music, while nothing groundbreaking or new, enhances those feelings of unease as the movie progresses.  This isn’t your average jumpscare horror snoozefest, this is something that genuinely had me shook as I was watching it. All the typical horror tropes are pretty much cast (pun intended) aside for a subtlety that managed to scare me for real. The most effective tool the movie uses is silence. One scene in particular was completely silent, but what I was watching freaked me out so much that I almost wanted that loud pop jump scare to release me from the tension I was feeling. That’s also where the depth of this movie comes into play and how it sets itself apart. This isn’t some sort of slasher/monster movie in the traditional sense. The horrors experienced in this movie are very much a consequence of the mind and the soul. Grief, trauma, sadness, and fear are all significant themes the movie and its characters explore and experience and this is done to great effect.  I don’t want to give away too much here, but there is a benefit to following the movie closely and much of the movie is up for interpretation. I’m writing this review after screening the movie only once, but I’m excited to see it again in theatres to get even more immersed in the movie and see what things I catch on a second viewing.  As far as performances go, everyone is solid in their roles, including Joe Cole who you might recognize from Peaky Blinders) and Game of Thrones alumni Rory McCann and Francis Magee among others, but this is really the Odessa Young show and she was absolutely brilliant. As a woman living in the time that she did, she masterfully moves between the grief of a widower, the strength of a leader, and the passion of someone with more love to give. I first saw Young in My First Film and, as I noted in my review, I thought she was also fantastic then too. At just 26 years old, she has some great experience already and is a talent worth keeping your eyes on! Verdict I mean, what more can I say beyond beautiful, bleak, and horrifying? This is exactly what I want out of horror movies. The Damned filled me with a hopelessness and dread that I haven’t experienced in a horror movie in a while and I’ll be damned (two puns in one review, somebody stop me) if I didn’t really dig it. It also achieved this all while being a very simple movie that didn’t overly rely on effects or cheap tricks to build its tension. This is good old fashioned horror filmmaking on display and I’m very happy to kick off 2025 on such a solid note! The Damned is in theatres now in the UK, Ireland, USA, and Canada. Don\’t miss it!

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Babygirl Review — A Horny, High-Stakes Affair That Mostly Delivers

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We\’re kicking off 2025 with one of the last movies to get released in 2024!  Babygirl stars Nicole Kidman as a high-powered CEO who begins an affair with one of her interns.  I got to see this one ahead of its release with a pretty big crowd and it was one of the more memorable theatre experiences of the year. Does that mean the movie rocked my world though? Let\’s discuss! My Thoughts I only ever watched the first 50 Shades of Grey film (with lots of alcohol), and Babygirl felt like 50 Shades of Grey but good.  The first thing to talk about is the lead performance from Nicole Kidman. She’s fantastic here. Her character is complex and she’s completely believable throughout the movie, no matter what she’s doing.  Antonio Banderas plays her husband and he\’s good in the movie. He doesn\’t have a ton to do here, but there\’s one moment where he gets to shine and he makes the most of it.  The other key role was the intern, played by Harris Dickinson. I\’ve seen a lot of mixed feelings on his performance, with opinions ranging from it being an example of perfect casting or a complete miscasting. I actually found myself more in the middle. I thought he was fine, but I don\’t feel like he was the only one that could\’ve played the role. He definitely had chemistry with Kidman, which is key, and I thought he matched the tone of the movie well. He brought out some chuckles from the audience, but was also deadly serious when he was supposed to be.  On that note, this has got to be the horniest theatrical film ever to be released on Christmas. There were definitely some excitable sounds coming from various audience members during our screening which was very amusing for Sergio and me. It was definitely clear that lots of the ladies in the audience were really enjoying themselves with this one! Outside of the performances, I also really liked the soundtrack and the score, but pretty much everything else was just fine. I can\’t say that anything stuck out to me as bad, though, either.  Halina Reijn is the director, writer, and producer of Babygirl. She also directed Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, a movie that I loved, but the things I like most about these two movies have less to do with the direction. It\’s definitely the performances that carry the movie and the dialogue is fun, but the narrative overall doesn\’t do much new or all that interesting.  I hope as Reijn gets even more experience that she develops a stronger identity as a filmmaker to stand out more, but these are two very solid movies, especially early in her career.  Verdict I think the ladies will especially like this movie based on the reactions I heard in the theatres, but this isn\’t something only they can enjoy. There\’s some solid laughs in this one to be had and I think you can do much worse on a date night.  Check out Babygirl in theatres now!

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Review Roundup: From Legal Thrills to Gladiatorial Gripes—What’s Worth Watching?

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We Live in Time The other movie I saw at the Violet Crown in Austin was We Live in Time. This was a solid movie that’s all but guaranteed to ensure nobody leaves the movie with dry eyes. The main cast of Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are unsurprisingly top notch, and their chemistry is great.  I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going in, but the only warning I will give here is that the movie is described in some places as a romantic comedy and I DEFINITELY think that is misleading. There are some smiles and happy moments but they’re more organic and less about setup and punchlines you’d find in a typical rom-com. If anything, I suppose you could call this a romantic drama, but the subject matter is much more serious than the tag of rom-com would suggest.  It doesn’t do anything new or really unique, but it’s a solid enough movie that definitely will pull at your heartstrings.  Juror #2 Clint Eastwood, who directed Juror #2 is 94 years old, but man, does he still have the sauce. I really liked Juror #2 and I was hooked as soon as I knew the premise. Nicholas Hoult plays Justin Kemp, who, while serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, realizes that he might actually be the one who committed the crime.  Now this isn’t some weird amnesia tale or something either, but I will let the details come through for you when you watch this movie. Aside from the solid direction, the cast here was great, but especially Nicholas Hoult in the lead role. I’ve seen Hoult in a ton of movies from the X-Men movies to last year’s Renfield with Nic Cage as Dracula, but this was the first time I’ve really thought Hoult was great instead of just serviceable in a role.  This is a complicated role to play that draws a lot of feelings from the audience, and he balances all of them perfectly here. Supporting him in this movie are JK Simmons as a fellow juror, Toni Collette as Faith Killebrew, who is running for District Attorney, and Chris Messina as Collette’s sparring partner and defense attorney.  I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this movie, but I want to highlight just how much I loved the ending of this one. No spoilers here, of course, but this movie is a difficult one to stick the landing on given the complex moral nature of its story, but when the credits hit, I let out an audible gasp because I couldn’t believe how well they ended this movie.  The only issue I have with this movie has nothing to actually do with the movie itself but the awful release it received thanks to the (lack of) brain trust over at Warner Brothers. This could very well be the last movie Clint Eastwood ever makes, it’s incredibly good, and they opted to give it an anemic theatrical run and stick it on Max instead. Clint deserves so much better and I really hope these creatives stop working with Warner Brothers until some massive changes take place because this is shameful.  Heretic I absolutely love Hugh Grant and I love to see him having so much fun in roles lately and Heretic is no exception. The setup is simple, two Mormon missionaries go to talk to Mr. Reed (Grant) and their conversation about God becomes much more than they bargained for.  I suppose that technically, yes, this is a horror film, but it really isn’t preoccupied with tricking you with lazy jump scares or anything like that. The movie is much more tense, and it’s the simplicity of everything that allows this tension to permeate throughout the movie. Our two missionaries played by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East are incredibly solid, but it’s definitely Grant that gets to shine the most here. If you’ve seen some of his more recent performances, this one will feel similar to you, but he brings such a fun aspect to a character that is menacing because of his words and lack of action. He doesn’t play some brooding man interested in acting out violently; he’s an intellectual, and that feels fresh when so many horror movies are more in the former camp.  The only thing that really held this back for me was that the journey ultimately exceeded the destination and I felt that the questions the movie raised were more interesting than the answers the characters ultimately provided. With that said though, I saw this on the same day as Juror #2, and, like that movie, I really dug the very end of this one and the questions it leaves you with. Make sure to reach out after you watch this one, so we can discuss that ending! Small Things Like These Coming off of his Oscar win for best actor, Cillian Murphy followed up the giant critical and box office success of Oppenheimer with the much smaller Small Things Like These. Taking place in Ireland in 1985, Murphy plays a coal merchant named Bill Furlong. He’s a father of five who is well regarded as a fair and hard-working boss in his small community of New Ross. Furlong makes a startling discovery at the convent and struggles with what to do while coming to terms with his own past.  This movie deals with a different topic than you might expect with such a description, but it’s one that is no less heartbreaking. Unfortunately, though, it’s this grimness that makes it hard for me to really capture my feelings about this movie. It’s incredibly bleak and grim, not just in the content, but with the technical aspects as well. It’s slow, dark, grimy, gray, and depressing. This makes for some incredibly impactful moments surely, but it also makes it hard for me to be enthusiastic about recommending it. Similar to The Zone of Interest from last year, which was incredibly effective as a

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Review Roundup: Conclave, Joker 2, Megalopolis, and More—What’s Worth Watching?

Reviews /

Speak No Evil I’m going to be short and sweet here because there is really only one reason to watch this movie and it’s for James McAvoy. I know, I’m just as shocked as you that James McAvoy delivers a great performance. I thought every other one he’s given was just a fluke 😜. McAvoy invites friends he met on vacation (and our main characters) to visit him and his family at their house and things get weird. Speak No Evil is a competently made thriller that manages to be enjoyable enough to watch, in spite of its predictability. Joker: Folie à Deux I was thrilled when I heard that Todd Phillips was following up the critical and box-office success that was the first Joker with a musical. What a swing! And what a miss. I\’m stunned that this movie feels as flat and boring as it does in spite of that swing. There were choices in here that I liked, though, including the \”twist\” ending (I say twist relatively loosely here), but Todd Phillips seemingly lacks the juice when he doesn\’t have movies to rip from directly. Whether you loved the first one, or hated it, I really don’t think there’s much here for anyone, except for a brief appearance from Tim Dillon, who I love and who has absolutely trashed this movie on podcasts he’s been on. There was also a solid scene with Joaquin in a courtroom, but that was about it.  I have to say, this really disappointed me because I wanted to love this movie for being so subversive and so different and because I thought it would piss off a big portion of the audience that loved the first movie. The truth is that this movie isn’t even worth their disdain, because it’s just so criminally flat and boring. It’s not that it’s so bad – it’s just pathetic.    Megalopolis You know who does have juice though? Even at 87 years old? Francis Ford Coppola! Now, is this the kinda juice everyone will want? Nope. But I\’ll be damned if I\’m not one of the Megalopolis truthers. A whacky, genuinely funny, and incredibly pure vision from a director that at 87 takes more risks than pretty much all of his peers combined. I think if you go into this expecting a pretty zany little ride and not a Godfather-esque masterpiece, you might just have as much fun with this as I did. Alcohol or other substances may help that too 😉. Wolfs Clooney and Pitt together as fixers forced to work together to clean up a mess and protect some powerful people. It\’s cliched as hell, but the movie star charisma made this a fun throwback to an era where we got tons of these kinds of movies every year. The bigger thing with this movie that bugs me, though, was the abysmal theatrical release it had thanks to Apple. I’ve been a big fan of the way that Apple was working its film division into its streaming platform. It was giving full theatrical runs and lots of money to filmmakers like Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese, but it appears Wolfs was a turning point for the worst.  As reported by Variety, “Back in August, Apple gave a rose-and-thorn update to its rollout of “Wolfs.” The tech giant confirmed that it was pulling the wide theatrical release of the film, on which it had partnered with Sony as a distributor. Instead, “Wolfs” moved to a one-week limited theatrical engagement on Sept. 20, with its debut on the streamer Apple TV+ coming a week after on Sept. 27.”  This evidently pissed off writer and director Jon Watts who recently stated that he wouldn’t be doing the announced sequel with Apple and returned the money he was paid to develop the sequel because of how they handled this transition to streaming.  I must say, I respect the hell out of this move from Jon Watts and I hope more artists insist on this kind of thing for their movies.  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Remember Beetlejuice? Well this movie does and is happy to bring you down memory lane for the follow-up all these years later. It\’s also bogged down by characters it didn\’t need and clearly didn\’t know what to do with. Might work for you, but fell flat for me. Blink Twice Another predictable revenge thriller, but also one that lacks a core piece of what makes revenge thrillers so fun. When it\’s revenge time, dial things up to 11 and let the characters and audience bask in that. Too much of the climax happens either offscreen or too fast for my liking. Zoë Kravitz does fine in her directorial debut, but nothing on a technical, story, or performance level really wowed me.  Despite being a “thriller,” none of those who went to see this movie with me were excited about it. So I can\’t really recommend this one, but I suppose it would be fine if you really have nothing better to watch. Conclave Conclave was another movie I got to see at a little indie theatre in Austin called the Violet Crown. If you love movies like I do, I highly recommend seeking out small theatres like this when you travel. The charm, friendly staff, and the uniqueness from a place like this really goes a long way to making a theatre experience more memorable.  Conclave is a bit of a political thriller but the trailer goes to great lengths to sell it as a bit more action heavy than it really is. I wouldn’t consider it a slow burn by any stretch though. The pace is pretty fast and there are plenty of turns in this movie that keep you engaged and on your toes. Also, only because I’ve heard some questions about this in particular, but it definitely isn’t some incredibly philosophical or preachy movie some may expect either.   I really enjoyed this movie even though the ending stumbled a bit more

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Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties – Does Bubbles\’ Big Break Hit the Right Notes?

Reviews /

If you\’re a Canadian around my age, then you probably grew up with Ricky, Julian, Bubbles, collectively known as the Trailer Park Boys. I was probably too young to watch the shenanigans the boys would get up in Sunnyvale Trailer Park and their confrontations with Jim Lahey and Randy, but in so many ways, they were unavoidable. Whether you had your own Bubbles impression, referred to any kind of booze as “the liquor,” or you thought Phil Collins was just the owner of the Dirty Burger (and not a legendary musician), the impact the boys had on the culture has been significant. In the last few years I\’ve watched all the movies and the show again and there\’s a remarkable consistency to their work that\’s damn impressive. My favourite of the movies is definitely Trailer Park Boys: The Movie released in 2006. I\’d hold it up against anything as the most Canadian movie of all time and something that fills this guy with Canadian pride every time I watch it. One thing that helps that feeling is the soundtrack, which features songs from Canadian legends The Tragically Hip, April Wine, and Rush. Fast forward 18 years later and Bubbles has his sights set on making Bubbles and the Shitrockers the next great Canadian band in Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties: The Bubbles and the Shitrockers Story. Is the story of Bubbles and the Shitrockers a worthy entry in the Trailer Park Boys franchise though? Before I get into the answer, I want to thank Strike Media for giving me the chance to watch and review this movie ahead of its Canadian and UK release. Getting a chance to review a Trailers Park Boys movie ahead of its release is one of the cooler moments for this small-town Canadian boy! My Thoughts The movie kicks off in Sunnyvale Trailer Park. After the success of his first song \”Liquor and Whores\”, Bubbles is looking to make it in the music business, managing his own recording studio out of his sheds, and by starting his own band. Bubbles (played by Mike Smith) is really the main focus here. Ricky (Robb Wells) and Julian (John Paul Tremblay) are also in the film, but are definitely used in more of a supporting role. Bubbles has always been the heart of the Trailer Park Boys and that definitely is used to the advantage of the movie. He\’s very easy to root for and the more heartfelt moments land a bit stronger because of that. As much as Bubbles wants to take a stab at real music, he writes about what he knows, which of course is where the kitties come in. A good chunk of the songs are either about kitties or include references to them, but while some get some laughs for sure, “Who’s Getting His Belly Now,” is a surprisingly sweet song about “Vince the Pince,” Smith’s real life cat from back in the day. Speaking of the music, I actually enjoyed it throughout the movie! Nothing changed my life or anything, but there were some really catchy songs in here that have become welcome additions to my playlist. Some favourites are “Breakfast Beer,” “Drinkin’ With the Angels,” and “Home is Where Your Shed Is.” Of course, the main reason you watch a Trailer Park Boys movie is the jokes, and there are plenty of laughs to be had here. There were a couple moments that actually would rank high on my list of hardest laughs in Trailer Park Boys history. Of course, Randy (Pat Roach) is always a great source of amusement and he\’s around quite a bit in this one as he joins Bubbles and the Shitrockers on tour. Speaking of the cast, everyone is solid here, including the rest of the Shitrockers. The movie is jam packed with some cameos from very famous musicians, celebrities, and music producers. One cameo from an actor towards the end of the movie caught me by surprise and made for some great bits too. My only real complaint is that the big final song of the movie didn\’t land as strongly for me as other ones throughout the movie. This caused a bit of a stumble for me at the ending, but nothing significant enough to derail the movie or anything. I just would have really liked for that last song to be the best one so it feels like a more proper payoff. Also, as you might expect, the story isn\’t one that will blow you away with its originality, but it\’s still solid enough to move you along throughout the movie without weighing it down at all. The pacing is great too and you never feel bored or too eager to move on to the next beat. Verdict Overall, Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties: The Bubbles and the Shitrockers Story is a worthy entry to the Trailer Park Boys filmography! After more than 23 years of Trailer Park Boys, you should more or less know what to expect here. If you\’ve never enjoyed them (what\’s wrong with you?!) then I don’t think there\’s anything here to really change your mind, but I think the catchy songs, celebrity cameos, and the humour are enough to make this worthwhile for someone who isn\’t all that familiar with the Trailer Park Boys. It also doesn\’t require any sort of experience with their previous works for you to enjoy either, which is impressive in its own right given just how extensive their back catalogue is. You can catch this one in theatres in Canada on December 6th and in the UK exclusively in VUE Cinemas as of January 10th, 2025!

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Review Roundup: Anora, Terrifier 3, and 5 More Films Worth Watching

Reviews /

Welcome to the first of three Review Roundups! We have 21 new reviews coming at you over the next week and we will kick things off with our first 7 in this review. Between work, covering the Austin Film Festival, and life in general, we’ve been pretty busy but we still wanted to get our reviews out for movies that you might have missed. So, without further ado, let\’s jump into these rapid fire reviews. Anora A must see for sure. Sean Baker is a special filmmaker. He previously made The Florida Project and that movie has stuck in my mind since I first saw it in Ottawa years ago. Anora follows Ani, an exotic dancer portrayed by Mikey Madison, as she embarks on a whirlwind romance with Vanya, the son of a powerful Russian oligarch. For anyone unaware of Baker’s previous movies, they have this raw authenticity that you don’t see very often. One thing Baker does is populate his movie with real people from the locations they shoot in. Even if you didn’t know that while you’re watching, you can still feel that authenticity in the world and that emanates throughout his work.  Anora is surprisingly funny but manages to remain pretty grounded and raw. Mikey Madson certainly will be a frontrunner for that Lead Actress Oscar too. I had a blast watching this movie, both at an early screening for it at the Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal and again at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas.  I initially felt torn on the ending, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more it really suits the movie and remains true to its core.  Expect to see this one in my best of the year list and definitely give it a chance when it\’s showing near you! Saturday Night I won\’t lie, I didn\’t think I would like this movie. The trailer didn\’t work for me and I was worried this woulda been pretentious as all hell. But dammit, I liked this one! This movie takes place over the span of about 2 hours before SNL hits the airwaves for the first time. While SNL is a recognizable institution now, it wasn’t always. In fact, it would’ve been very easy for the show to fail, and the chaos of that is on full display in this movie.  The fast pace made this one feel like a breeze and there was a steady stream of jokes, heart, and bits to keep me engaged. I\’m a bit of a TV historian too, so I was very aware of the story of SNL, the original cast, and the politics at NBC, so I thoroughly enjoyed all of those nods and bits. I do wonder if you\’re not as invested in these people going in though if your enjoyment simply wouldn\’t be the same. The thing that stuck with me most though was the performance from Cooper Hoffman. Cooper is the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my all time favourite actors, and I\’ve been eagerly following Cooper\’s career to see if some of that magic has passed on. I think it definitely has, and one scene in particular stood out to me so much that it made me giddy. I genuinely can\’t wait to see everything Cooper Hoffman will do in the future. Woman of the Hour Woman of the hour is directed by and stars Anna Kendrick in her feature film directorial debut! It follows the experience of Sheryl Bradshaw and the real life Dating Game Killer. Without giving too many details of what actually happens, Bradshaw was on the Dating Game TV show when Rodney Alcala was a contestant, who actually ended up “winning” a date with Bradshaw. Alcala though was in the middle of a spree of killings at the time for which he obviously hadn’t been caught yet.  Overall, I enjoyed this one enough and it was a solid directorial debut for Kendrick. If you\’re a true crime person, this will definitely be up your alley. I did have a couple issues, namely Kendrick\’s character\’s involvement. It\’s not that the performance was bad or anything, but the whole dating game angle just doesn\’t weave very naturally into the story. Such a prominent focus on Kendrick\’s character just feels out of place given how little she had to do with anything that actually happens in the case. The fact this serial killer ended up on the dating game is certainly weird, but aside from an intriguing premise, they just don\’t manage to weave that angle into the movie very well.  This was pretty close to a half heart rating, but I do like the true crime genre and definitely enjoyed this one enough to justify a positive rating. The Apprentice A movie without an audience no doubt. If you love Trump, you don\’t care to see the Hollywood take on the more formative years of the former (and now future) President of the United States. If you hate Trump, you\’re probably not all that interested in learning more about what made him the man he is today. And finally if you\’re indifferent to Trump, you\’re probably sick of hearing about him over the last decade. With that said, there\’s some solid stuff in this movie. I was impressed with what I felt was a bit more balanced of a take on Donald Trump. I certainly wouldn\’t say it was even, but it didn\’t play as fast and loose with the truth as you might expect it to, at least as it relates specifically to Trump himself. I really like the performances here from Sebastian Stan as Trump, who I would say emulates Trump more than he does an impression of him, and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, Trump\’s friend, lawyer, and mentor. The movie does some fun things visually to match the vibe of the different decades it spans too which I liked. The only issue I really had was that I

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