My Review of M3GAN 2.0 (2025)

 

Written by Gerard Johnstone And Akela Cooper

Directed by Gerald Johnstone 

Cady (re M3GAN): "Everyone deserves a second chance."

Two and a half years ago, homicidal android M3GAN (Amie Donald/Jenna Davis) became an overnight sensation. Surely, the sequel was going to propel her to even greater heights. As it would turn out, the opposite would be true.

Going down a route not dissimilar to Terminator, this sequel also had a lot to say about the rise in AI but none of it particularly original so to speak. Oh and there's another killer android, this one named AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno). She's also one of the drawbacks of this sequel.

Let's just say the government had access to M3GAN's schematics and thought they could replicate the idea and keep it under control. That illusion quickly got shattered when AMELIA went off script pretty fast and soon, a lot of people had a target on their backs.

One of them was assumed to be Gemma (Allison Williams), the creator of M3GAN. Since the first movie, she's faced consequences for her creation's killing spree, become something of an advocate/celebrity while also still struggling to connect with her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). Cady's also taken up self defence and has become increasingly intolerant of Gemma's evasiveness concerning important issues.

AMELIA's arrival however did force Gemma into reluctantly teaming up with M3GAN in order to stop AMELIA and it's a diverting enough journey. Between Gemma and Cady learning to lean on each to Gemma's co-workers, Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and Tess (Jen Van Eps) getting suckered into the thick of things, who would've thought the villain would be more on the anti AI side of things? You heard correctly.

With M3GAN being a chaotic source for good this time with a fairly decent character arc and AMELIA being more of a useful idiot, it's really anti AI cyber security guy, Christian Bradley (Aristotle Athari) to assume the big bad role. Sadly he's a very flat and unengaging to watch as a character that even his comeuppance wasn't that satisfying to watch.

- There's a decent supporting role from Jemaine Clement as tech billionaire, Alton Appleton. M3GAN got temporarily placed in the body of small robot, Moxie (Fryda Wolff).

- The end credits did say "This work may not be trained to use AI".

- Standout music: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's Mars for The Rich.

- Chronology: Two years have passed since the events of the first movie.

M3GAN 2.0 on paper seemed like it had the right idea to land a successful sequel and the ideas are good on paper. The execution's largely flat as are the villains of the piece. M3GAN kind of worked as an anti hero and this movie did set up another sequel that's not likely to materialise anytime soon.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of The Serpent And The Rainbow (1988)

 

Written by Richard Maxwell And A.R. Simoun

Directed by Wes Craven

Peytraud: "You've got a pretty face. The girls must like it. Do you like it, your pretty white face? I asked you a question."

Dennis: "...Yeah... I like it..."

Peytraud: "I like it too. I'll leave the face..."

A while back I decided to watch more movies directed by Wes Craven and I've been watching a few of them. Last night, this one was a first viewing for me. I gotta say, it's a bit of a doozy.

Largely set in Haiti, the movie started with the death of a man named Christophe (Conrad Roberts). Then he's buried and then he wakes up in his own coffin. It certainly got the movie off to one hell of a start. It's not even the strangest thing to happen here.

Focusing on another male character - an American doctor named Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman), who finds himself in the same village as Christophe and soon enough, he's making friends and enemies respectively. On the friends front, there was Dr Marielle Duchamp (Cathy Tyson). She was one of the few characters who didn't either threaten, drug or attempt to kill him.

Yes, Dennis drank a potion and with that potion came some pretty unsettling hallucinations, including being dragged into the ground and attacked by snakes. On the other hand, the reality wasn't much better with certain characters going out of their way to make his life a living Hell.

There was being tortured by Captain Dargent Peytraud (Zakes Mokae) and having been sold rat poison by Mozart (Brent Jennings). Add a potential framed for murder scenario and even Dennis was desperate to get out of Haiti pretty fast after all of that.

The rest of the film has Dennis return to Haiti, wind up being buried alive, having his soul taken and then using white magic to ultimately defeat Peytraud. By doing that, Dennis did mange to free a village of an evil grasp.

- There's a a nice supporting role from Michael Gough as Dr. Earl "Schoonie" Schoonbacher.

- Based on the book of the same name by Wade Davis, which was critiqued for scientific inaccuracies.

- Standout music: Le Roi Coupe Cloue's Madame Marcel.

- Chronology: Started in 1978 before moving into 1985. Mostly set in Haiti with some scenes in Boston.

I think The Serpent And The Rainbow might be an odd one for me. I didn't love it but I was intrigued by it as well. I think it's mostly an okay but strange take on zombies and voodoo.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Absentia (2011)

 

Written And Directed by Mike Flanagan

Tricia (to Callie): "Don't underestimate the attraction of oblivion. Not until you've lived a little longer."

Long before the days he hit the heights of his Netflix shows or made a well received sequel to The Shining, Mike Flanagan had to have his first movie get the crowdfunding treatment. It was his debut and it's one that's not lacking in premise.

The premise involving a pregnant woman named Tricia Riley (Courtney Bell) having to legally declare her missing husband, Daniel (Morgan Peter Brown) dead in absentia. Of course this wouldn't be the only thing that Tricia would have to deal with here.

There was the return of her younger sister, Callie Russel (Katie Parker). A former addict, Callie was there to be a support system for her pregnant sister but Callie seeing things that seemingly weren't there somewhat put her at odds with Tricia. Funnily enough, Tricia was also seeing things that weren't there.

With Callie, she encountered another missing man named Walter Lambert (Doug Jones). His son, Jamie (James Flanagan) would later get accused of being a killer, having fed dogs to his own father but of course there was more to it than that.

For example, Tricia's romance with Detective Mallory (Dave Levine) got derailed when Daniel actually returned but even his return was short-lived. Tricia was resentful towards him being back and Callie realised that the tunnels were behind several disappearances in the last century.

The ending was something of a downbeat one. Tricia ended up disappearing first and when Callie tried to make a sacrifice to get her sister back, she disappeared too. The end scene likely set up a future disappearance for other characters.

- Courtney Bell, who played Tricia was Mike Flanagan's partner at the time. She'd also appear in Oculus and Before I Wake. Mike's brother James appeared as Jamie.

- It's an updated version of Three Billy Goats Gruff. Callie's also reading a comic book version of a Stephen King novel.

- Standout music: Beezle's Bleed With Me.

- Chronology: Seven years had passed in Glendale since the dusappearance of Daniel Riley.

While not a personal favourite of mine, I can see the influences that Absentia would have on Mike Flanagan's work as a horror writer and director. It's a good debut, playing well into the notion of hidden monsters and other worlds that people could be tormented in. The sister dynamic with Tricia and Callie did hold it together.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of The Sandman: "Family Blood"

 

Written by Jim Campolongo

Directed by Jamie Childs 

Dream: "What is it that you want?"

Johanna: "Perhaps a bit more time with Orpheus."

As always if there's a Constantine in the mix, my interest will increase for this show. We might not have John, but we can have Lady Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) and she's just as much as fun as her male counterpart/descendant.

It had been five years since Lady Johanna had encountered Dream and Hob Gadling and since then, she's made herself into quite the occult expert. That alone had Dream seek her out for a very special task. Johanna was going to recover the head of Dream's son, Orpheus. It didn't take much to persuade Johanna to embark on such a dangerous mission.

In fact, aside from Dream promising Johanna anything within his mind, the element of danger alone seemed to excite Johanna. It also didn't take her long to find Orpheus's head and attract the attention of Maximilien Robespierre (Jonathan Slinger). Robespierre was a bit too overeager to make an example out of Johanna. 

Instead both Johanna and Orpheus made quite a team together and managed to bring about the downfall of Robespierre. I really liked the Johanna/Orpheus rapport and she seemed to be something of a bridging between Orpheus and Dream.  There's a father/son reunion that came with deadly consequences. 

The previous episode made a thing about Dream not being allowed to spill family blood. Dream broke that rule when gave Orpheus exactly what the latter wanted. The Kindly Ones in particular were very interested in the consequences of Dream's mercy killing of his son. It was a great way to set up the second half of the season.

As for family reunions, we had some great scenes with Dream, Delirium and Destruction. Of course Destruction didn't want to return but at least Delirium got some closure of her own and a friend of sorts with Barnabus to measure. Delirium seemed pretty happy with that outcome.

- Johanna figured out for herself that Morpheus was the King of Dreams. 

- Out of the Kindly Ones, it was the Crone who seemed the least compassionate towards Dream killing Orpheus.

- Destruction prepared a meal that neither Dream or Delirium were interested in eating.

- Was that a laughing magician reference during Johanna's captivity in Robespierre's cell? She did laugh manically at one point.

- The next five episodes of the season will be released on Netflix from July 24th.

- Chronology: Wych Cross, England - June 28th 1794, then heading to Paris before going elsewhere to keep Orpheus's head safe.

Family Blood was another delightful episode. The resolution of the Orpheus storyline that now has led into a bigger one for the second half of the season. The reunion with Destruction. The welcomed return of Lady Johanna Constantine and her scenes with both father and son. Excellent stuff.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of The Sandman: "The Song Of Orpheus"

 

Written by Shadi Petosky

Directed by Jamie Childs

Dream: "You've made your choice. Just as your life is your own, so too is your death. Farewell my son, we shall not meet again."

Orpheus: "Please kill me."

Well, this was even more brutal than the previous episode. I mean, there's three big stories here and they all connected rather well to each other. Let's focus on the big one first.

First of all, there was introduction of Dream and Calliope's son, Orpheus (Ruari O'Connor). He's been having sone dreams of future events that he's chosen to ignore. Mostly because he's been distracted by his upcoming nuptials to Eurydice (Ella Rumpf) to focus on the grave warning. 

The wedding almost went without a hitch. All of the Endless attended and offered nice platitudes for the happy couple, except for Destiny. Then the death of Eurydice happened and it sent Orpheus on a very desperate path to get his beloved back.

Dream essentially warned Orpheus not to venture into the Underworld to retrieve his love but the latter persuaded Destruction and Death to help him. Orpheus persuaded Hades (Garry Cooper) and Persephone (Antonia Desplat) to give him back Eurydice. However as the story went, Orpheus couldn't follow the conditions to the letter, lost his head and Dream refused to kill him.

The Dream/Orpheus plot was by far the strongest but it was a strong plot in a sea of many. Dream realised his antics had gotten Wanda killed and he did a nice thing by making sure her grave was marked with her chosen name. Wanda in particular had a rather beautiful scene with Death that gave the character some closure.

As for Delirium, I think she forgave Dream rather too easily after the shit he pulled but I did love their scenes together and with Destiny. The latter was almost helpful in his own way with Dream and Delirium. He probably could've been a bit more helpful though.

- Delirium mentioned being married once when talking to Orpheus and Eurydice. 

- What Orpheus lacks in the dancing department, he made up in the singing one. The Kindly Ones on the other didn't care for it.

- Dream and Calliope were effectively divorced in this episode. Dream also saw another side to Nada during one particular scene.

- Orpheus referred to all of his aunts and uncles by different names. Death's realm is also rather messy.

- What Wanda's family did to her was rather disrespectful to her. In the source material, Barbie had a role in this story but was absent from here.

- Chronology: There was a flashback between Draam and Destruction in 1675 London as well as Ancient Greece.

I absolutely loved The Song Of Orpheus. The longest episode of the season  and the best one so far. Just brilliant from start to finish with a great guest performance from Ruari O'Connor to boot. 

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of The Sandman: "Brief Lives"

 

Written by Austin Guzman

Directed by Jamie Childs

Wanda (to Dream/Delirium): "I miss my books. They were my companions. I was obsessed with the Oz books when I was growing up."

Okay, if I had to cite a stunning guest performance for this season so far, then my God, I have to give it to Indya Moore. I mean, in the space of a few scenes she did an incredible job of making me fall in love with Wanda and then there was those last scenes. They were just devastating.

We all know that Dream can be a massive dick but in this episode, he really did manage to outdo himself here. All Delirium wanted was to find Destruction. Dream was more interested in stalking Nada than help his sister out.

Worse than that, Dream knew that "helping" Delirium to try and find Destruction would lead to others being killed but still went along with it. It might not be often that Desire will get the moral highground but their rage at Dream by the end of this episode was totally justified. It was also the first time that Desire showed genuine disgust in Dream's actions.

Getting back to the casualties, Wanda sadly fell into the "Bury Your Gays" trope or in this case, trans. There's a lovely scene where Wanda filled both Dream and Delirium in about being trans while trying to help them go through Destruction's list of contacts. I know her death happened in the comics but it still devastating to watch nonetheless.

As for the other casualties, Death was there to comfort Wyvern (Nonso Anozie) after his long life came to a crashing end. Then there was Ishtar (Amber Rose Revah) herself. Her scenes with Dream showed that he ruined her relationship with Destruction. We had too little screen time with her but she made a solid impression before her demise.

Last but not least, when we weren't getting the rapport between Dream and Delirium, there was Destruction himself. Barry Sloane is a beautiful man, I cannot lie and it was nice to finally meet the character. In his short scenes, we did see Destruction interacting with talking dog, Barnabus (Steve Coogan) while doing a spot of painting. God, he's a handsome fella. 

- Delirium seemed very amused with being apprehended by Martin Tenbones (Lenny Henry). She's also previously met Matthew though it's not happened for him yet.

- Dream bumped into a young woman who resembled Rose Walker but it wasn't her.

- Wanda mentioned Tip/Ozma from the Oz books. Only one live action property had handled that storyline properly, the shortlived NBC series, Emerald City.

- Indya Moore, Steve Coogan and Nonso Anozie have appeared in other DC related projects in the last few years.

- Despair had refused to help Delirium to find Destruction. Despair and Destiny sat this one out.

- Chronology: Outside of the Dreaming, there was a trip to Philadelphia to meet Ishtar.

Brief Lives may have given us brief looks into Destruction, Wanda, Ishtar and Wyvern but the episode certainly packed an emotionally wallop. Wanda especially was fantastic to watch along with that final scene with Dream, Delirium and Desire.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of The Sandman: "More Devils Than Vast Hell Could Hold"

 

Written by Alexander Wise

Directed by Jamie Childs 

Dream: "Perhaps when you have seen the world, you might come back."

Nada: "No, my Lord."

Dream: "But I love you."

Nada: "No, you do not."

At the end of the last episode, Dream had something of a dilemma. He could either surrender Hell to Lord Azazel or the latter would consume Nada's very soul. I said that Azazel would live to regret pulling such a stunt. I was right.

At first, Dream tried to play nonchalant by telling Azazel to wait until tomorrow for his answer. However an illuminating conversation with Nuala seemed to give Dream some clarity on how to deal with his Hell dilemma. Nuala was full of surprises this episode as was another character.

Azazel overplayed his hand by trying to attack Dream in his own realm. Dream punished him appropriately, leaving some room for mercy. I'm not sure I would've extended the same courtesy to Azazel and nor do I think the latter will return the favour should he break free either.

As for Nada, her anger for Dream was beyond justified. He deserved that slap and arguably worse. He deserved her anger and Nada's decision to live in the mortal realm was at least hers to make. However despite wanting space, Dream didn't seem like he was going to respect Nada's wishes on the matter. 

The rest of the episode then gave us more of Nuala and Cluracan. They might not have gotten their wish for Hell to remain unoccupied but Nuala was gifted to Dream and in flashbacks to her first encounter with him, there was a rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream to fill in done backstory. 

Last but not least, we had Loki pulling a switcheroo. It looked like he was bound and gagged and being dragged by Thor and Odin to go back to his wife but instead, he glamour someone else into having to endure his punishment. He managed to strike a deal with Dream to stay out of his prison but how long before he's caught?

- In flashbacks we met Puck (Jack Gleeson), King Auberon (Royce Pierreson) and Queen Titania (Ruta Gedmintas) as well as a new William Shakespeare (Luke Allen-Gale).

- Nuala dropped her glamour to reveal her Irish accent. Titania had previously disapproved of it.

- Who was Cluracan getting intimately acquainted with? Either way, his antics got on Nuala's nerves.

- Is it me or did Shimmering Jemmy/Chaos look like a mini Harley Quinn?

- Lucifer briefly appeared, now in retirement and not bothered that Dream gave Hell to two of God's angels.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

More Devils Than Vast Hell Could Hold certainly didn't waste too much time in resolving both the Hell and Nada problems for Dream. They're handled pretty well with both the Nuala and Loki subplots also being quite enjoyable.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of The Sandman: "The Ruler Of Hell"

 

Written by Ameni Rozsa

Directed by Jamie Childs

Dream: "This is your revenge on me."

Lucifer: "Perhaps it will destroy you. Perhaps it won't but I doubt it'll make your life any easier."

Last season, we had the battle of wits and cunning between Dream and Lucifer. If you were expecting Round Two to be as theatrical, you might be disappointed. Dream's second trip to Hell in this show had a far stranger outcome than expected.

As Dream came looking to rescue Nada, Lucifer spent that time evicting everyone out of Hell, including Nada. On top of that, Lucifer was less interested in fighting Dream and more fixated on giving up on Hell altogether. They were done with the place and there wasn't anything that Dream could say otherwise on the matter.

Instead Dream got to cut off Lucifer's wings before the latter handed him the key to Hell. Dream didn't want to rule Hell and Death refused to let him palm the place off on her. Instead, Dream would have to host a lavish banquet that would serve as a decider as to whom should rule Hell instead.

This episode was a way to introduce a lot of new characters,  arguably too many all at once. There was Odin (Clive Russsell) and his sons Thor (Laurence O'Fuarain) and Loki (Freddie Fox), a sea god (Kristofer Kamiyasu), Chaos (Lyla Quinn) herself, as well as fairy siblings Cluracan (Douglas Booth) and Nuala (Ann Skelly). The last two were more keen on Hell remaining unoccupied than ruling it.

Of course the most desperate to get their hands on Hell was Lord Azazel (Wil Coban) himself. He made the most noise about wanting to rule Hell and certainly played the most dirty to get Dream's attention. There was offering Choronzon (Munya Chawawa) as a revenge offering. Then there was using Nada to strong arm Dream into surrending Hell to him.

Personally while it did look like Azazel had the upper hand to begin with, I think using Nada might have brought about his downfall. Dream didn't look best pleased and given how he punished Richard Madoc for mistreating Calliope, I imagine Dream will subject Azazel to a similarly nasty fate for hurting Nada.

- Tom Sturridge's mother, Phoebe Nicholls had a role as Taramis in this episode with them sharing a scene together.

- Dream didn't seem pleased with Odin releasing Loki from prison. Dream also destroyed Thor's hammer.

- Of course Cain's party piece would involve sawing Abel in half and turning him into sausages.

- Cluracan was flirting with men and women in this episode. Seven out of nine fairies usually end up in Hell. Nuala was keen to avoid that.

- Dream confessed to Lucienne he had two candidates in mind to take over Hell but didn't tell her who they were.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Ruler Of Hell offers an abrupt change of direction for Lucifer but within that chaos, it certainly succeeded in putting Dream in such a dire position. It loses points for too many new characters and not enough time to spend with them.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of The Sandman: "Season Of Mists"

 

Written by Allan Heinberg

Directed by Jamie Childs 

Dream: "Walk any path in Destiny's garden and you will be forced to choose."

Has it really nearly been three years since the first season of this show? Yes, it has and a lot has happened since then. We had a shortlived spin off with Dead Boy Detectives and there's no ignoring what's been going on with Neil Gaiman behind the scenes.

Anyways to the opening episode of this final season, we're introduced to Destiny (Adrian Lester). He doesn't waste time in summoning Dream (Tom Sturridge), Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), Despair (Donna Preston) and Delirium (Esme Creed-Miles). Basically, family reunion time.

This lot haven't been together in a realm for a long time and it took very little for Desire to respectively stir the pot. Mostly needling Dream but also managing to annoy other siblings as well. Desire really did push the button, specifically the one called Nada (Umilisa Gahiga). Yes, remember her?

Last time Dream saw her in Hell, he had other things on his mind. Now he was determined to save her but not before filling Death in on his complicated romance with Nada. The latter chose to be tormented in Hell out of guilt. Dream also swore Death into keeping quiet about it. Destiny already knew that Dream was heading to Hell and filled the rest of the siblings in on it too.

Dream seemed to be eager to get his affairs in order. He refused the assistance of Matthew (Patton Oswalt) and put Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong) in charge of the Dreaming during his absence. Funnily enough, he also admitted to being afraid of Hell.

Of course, Dream had good reason to. Last time he humiliated Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie) and the latter hadn't forgotten that slight. In fact, Lucifer seemed to be delighted with Dream's mission to Hell and had a plan of their own for Dream. It offered a solid cliffhanger to this opening episode.

- Other characters to appear in this episode included Merv Pumpkinhead, Cain, Abel, Goldie,  the Fate Sisters, Hippolyta and baby Daniel and Hob Gadling.

- The missing Endless sibling was Destruction (Barry Sloane) who chose to abandon his siblings ages ago. Delirium and Despair miss him the most.

- Nada was the Queen of the First People and found herself being pressured into finding a husband. Dream proposed to her.

- Desire seemed to enjoy their impact being felt during their time at an art gallery. The butterfly trick was rather cruel.

- The DC Studios logo popped up during the closing credits of this episode. This season has been split into three release patterns from Netflix.

- Chronology: A while since the events of the previous season finale.

Season Of Mists was a good starter for this final season. I enjoyed the siblings get together, the expansion of Dream's history with Nada and his farewell tour of sorts. A very good start.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of The Wicker Tree (2011)

 

Written And Directed by Robin Hardy

Sir Lachlan Morrison (to Steve): "Laddie, you are a prince among men, a king. We all, all salute you. You will give your life so that a new generation of our people will be born blessing your name. Children will be called after you. Hallowed be thy name."

Why yes, I did skip the American remake of The Wicker Man in order to tackle this legacy sequel of sorts first. Don't worry, I will get back to it though at some point this month. Curiosity just got the better of me with this one.

A legacy with two of the original cast members returning and the same writer/director of the first movie? It's pretty unheard of. Does it result in a great follow up? Not really to be honest but I've seen worse.

Our protagonists here are a slightly vapid Christian couple made up of pop singer, Beth Boothby (Brittania Nicol) and her handsome cowboy fiancée, Steve Thompson (Henry Garrett). They've found themselves in Scotland to spread the good word and to get to know the locals. Oh and for their relationship to unravel at the same time.

The locals in questiion include Sir Lachlan Morrison (Graham McTavish) and his wife, Delia (Jacqueline Leonard). It also included local temptress, Lolly (Honeysuckle Weeks) who wasted no time in seducing Steve (it did not take much). Then there was returning Daisy (Lesley Mackie) and gruff butler, Beane (Clive Russell).

In this movie, both Daisy and Beane were tasked with preparing Beth for the May Queen, which turned out to be a trickier task as she had more fight in her than they were prepared for. Steve on the other hand had been set up as the Laddie for the May Festival and it didn't end particularly well for him. He really was too pretty to live.

It didn't exactly end well for Beth either. She might have gotten one good kill in but it didn't stop her from the suffering the same fate as the other May Queens. As for Steve, he may have gotten the worst death in this movie but his legacy lived on through Lolly as the crazy residents got what they really wanted from him.

- Christopher Lee does pop up as Old Gentleman in the movie, though it's not a huge role.

- A third movie had been considered before the passing of Robin Hardy. This film had a limited theatrical release.

- Standout music: Britannia Nicol's Follow Me.

- Chronology: April and May of the current year in both Texas and Glasgow. 

I'll admit that The Wicker Tree falls into that category not being great or awful. It's simply just okay in mostly rethreading what the first movie did along with some expansion on the villagers dangerous rituals. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)

 

Written by Michael Weiss

Directed by Sylvain White

Amber (to the Fisherman): "This secret dies with you."

In the 2000s, most horror franchises were getting remake/rebooted with mixed results both critically and commercially. Some were also getting straight to DVD sequels that felt "In Name Only" off the franchise they were leaching off. This would be where miserable excuse of a movie would fit in.

I mean there's no sense whatsoever that this movie would fit into the world created by the movies from 1997 and 1998 respectively. The characters are so painfully paper thin that it did feel like an absolute slog to get through.

Our main characters are Amber Williams (Brooke Nevin) and her boyfriend, Colby Patterson (David Paetkau) and their friends, Zoe (Torry DeVitto), PJ (Clay Taylor) and Roger (Seth Packard). It's the fourth of July, there's a carnival and a prank involving the Fisherman ended up in the death of PJ.

The remaining friends don't exactly react well, distance themselves from each and then a year later, they're brought back together. Yup, the Fisherman was there to kill them off, one by one along with other characters.

The inclusion of PJ's cousin, (Ben Easter) did feel like they were going to rethread some old ground but it turned out that he was there to help Amber against the original Fisherman. Yes, it's Ben Willis (Don Shanks) but here, he's far less interesting and effective. The ending seemed like it was setting up a sequel that would never materialise.

- The film was originally going to be theatrical before Sony decided not to. 

- The film originally was titled The Hook and there's more supernatural leaning into this one.

- Standout music: Goth Jones LFL.

- Chronology: July 4th 2005 and 2006, Broken Ridge, Colorado.

I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is an absolute dreck fest from start to finish. Watch it if you're a completist, but in general don't bother. It's a waste of time.

Rating: 2 out of 10 

My Review of I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)

 

Written by Mary Harron And Daniel Minahan 

Directed by Mary Harron 

Valerie: "Give me fifteen cents, and I'll give you a dirty word."

Maurice: "What's the word?"

Valerie: "Men."

Pride Month might be over but I'm still going through a catalogue of LGBT themed movies for the remainder of the year. I'm aware of man hating feminist activist Valerie Solanas (Lili Taylor) and her history with Andy Warhol (Jared Harris).

This film opened with the main itself. Feeling that her work was being held to random by the famous pop up artist, Valerie resorted to shooting Andy and others. This of course led to her arrest where she owned up to shooting Andy.

Then the movie flashed back to the events that led up to her attempted murder of Warhol. We got to see her as a struggling artist where she was friends with fellow lesbian Stevie (Martha Plimpton) and transgender woman, Candy Darling (Stephen Dorff). As well as hating men, Valerie didn't have much time for the trans community either.

Within the movie, Valerie despite being a lesbian often had sex with men to pay her rent or was dominating them. She was also writing her SCUM Manifesto as well as the play, Up Your Ass that she desperately wanted Warhol to produce. Warhol found it too vulgar even for him to take on.

Saying that, Valerie did get a part in Warhol's movie, I, A Man and she had the publisher of Olympia Press, Maurice Girodias (Lothaire Bluteau) but she felt stifled by both of them. She also didn't do herself any favours by not reading the fine print of her contract.

The film went back to the beginning where she shot Andy Warhol where the latter lived in fear of what had happened to her. There's a brief look into her later life and eventually death, leading to an overall miserable existence. On the other hand, her manifesto did find the appreciation she wanted even if she was no longer around to enjoy it.

- Originally this was intended to be a BBC documentary before it was made into a theatrical film. SCUM stood for "Society For Cutting Up Men".

- The filmmakers had permission to reproduce done of Andy Warhol's works but had to destroy them after filming was done.

- Standout music: Donovan's Season Of The Witch, Bob Dylan's I'll Keep It With Mine and John Cale's I Shot Andy Warhol.

- The film covers the Factory years in New York, in particular to 1968 to the event itself. Valerie died in 1988.

It may have had it's origins as a documentary but as a movie, I Shot Andy Warhol did work rather well with a great lead performance from Lili Taylor. I'm not particularly sympathetic to Valerie Solanas but the movie did give a balanced depiction of her activism.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

DCU Blog - June 2025 Edition: Superman World Tour, The Batman Sequel Script Completed and Clayface Cast

When I say this was the busiest month for DC this year, I mean it. So much information came out. There's a lot to go over.

The World Tour for Superman (July 11th) kicked off with cast and crew visiting various countries to promote the movie.

Additional cast members for this movie include Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan as Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. Alan Tudyk, Jennifer Holland, Michael Rooker, Pom Klementieff, Grace Chan and Michael Rosenblum will voice robots in the movie. Stephen Blackehart will also appear as Sydney Happersen.

Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow will now be titled Supergirl (June 26th 2026). The movie is currently in post production.

James Gunn has confirmed that a Wonder Woman film is in development being currently written. It'll be connected to prequel series, Paradise Lost.

After waiting for the longest time, Matt Reeves and Mattson Tomlin announced that the script for The Batman - Part II (October 1st 2027) is now complete.

Meanwhile, James Gunn has confirmed that he's also working closely with the writer for The Brave And The Bold. 

A draft for the Deathstroke and Bane movie has been written. So far, that's it really.

Peacemaker Season 2 (August 21st HBO Max) will be the focus at Hall H for SDCC next month.

Tom Rhys Harries has been cast as Clayface (September 11th 2026). Filming will start in the UK in October.

James Gunn has also started writing his next film after Superman. I'm sure that'll be announced after next month.

Filming for Lanterns will be completed next month. The show will air on HBO in 2026.

It's also been confirmed that Waller is still in development and that a Teen Titans script is being written by Ana Nogueira.

Season 2 of The Sandman arrives this month on Netflix. Eps 1-6 from July 3rd, eps 7-11 from July 24th and a final special from July 31st.

Creature Commandos will air on Sky for UK/Irish viewers from July 8th at 2am/11pm respectively.

An R-Rated animated series for Mister Miracle is in development. Tom King will be involved with the show.

James Gunn has confirmed that there are complexities involving Static Shock. I wouldn't expect it anytime soon.

Now that Pride Month is coming to an end today, I thought I'd list my favourite LGBT characters. A Top 10 list so to speak. You won't be shocked by it. Here goes.

1) John Constantine

2) Harley Quinn

3) Red Robin (Tim Drake)

4) Poison Ivy 

5) Midnighter

6) Dreamer (Nia Nal)

7) Wonder Woman 

8) Catman

9) Apollo

10) Extrano

Well, that's it for the month of June. Next month is going to be DC at it's most crazy with the release of Superman.

My Review of Breakfast On Pluto (2005)

 

Written by Neil Jordan And Patrick McCabe

Directed by Neil Jordan

Kitten: "Not many people can take the tale of Patrick Braden, aka St. Kitten, who strutted the catwalks, face lit by a halo of flashbulbs as "oh!" she shrieks, "I told you, from my best side darlings.""

My final LGBT themed post for Pride Month and I had to pick another movie. I've always had a soft spot for this movie and rewatched it late last night. When it comes to performances, this one doesn't get talked enough with Cillian Murphy.

In this movie, Murphy played a transwoman named Patricia "Kitten" Braden. At the start of the movie, we see a woman named Eily Bergin (Eva Birthistle) leave baby Patrick with his father, who happened to be a priest named Father Liam (Liam Neeson). The father then left baby Patrick with a foster family.

The foster family - Ma Braden (Ruth McCabe) and daughter, Caroline (Charlene McKenna) weren't exactly the most understanding of people as Patrick rebelled in school and then began to make the steps to transition into Kitten after leaving home. From that point onwards, Kitten's adulthood got very chaotic.

Kitten was on a mission to track down her biological family while at the same time, she became a supportive system for her friend, Charlie (Ruth Negga) while going through some rather volatile relationships with men. Kitten had quite a few male admirers but most of them were just bad news for her.

Kitten's relationship with glam rock singer Billy Hatchet (Gavin Friday) ended badly when his IRA connections boiled to the surface. Then there was working in a Wombles theme park with the punch happy John Joe Kenny (Brendan Gleeson), a disastrous time as a prostitute, being a hypnotist (Stephen Rea) assistant and dancing with an English soldier (Dominic Cooper) resulting in a club being bombed.

The last segment of the movie took a more personal tone. Kitten got a nice reunion with her father (minus the peep show aspect) while also coming into contact with her mother and helping Charlie through her pregnancy. It's almost a shame that Kitten didn't reveal who she was to her mother because she had some nice scenes with her half brother but at least the movie did end on a positive note for her.

- In the book, the nickname is actually "Pussy" but honestly, I think changing it to "Kitten" was a better idea. There's also a Dalek at one point in the movie.

- Other actors included in this movie were Liam Cunningham, Laurence Kinlan as well as writer Patrick McCabe.

- Standout music: The Rubettes Sugar Baby Love and Joe Dolan's You're Such A Good Looking Woman.

- Chronology: Started in 1958 in County Cavan before moving to London in the 1970s during the Troubles.

Breakfast On Pluto is an absolute joy of a movie. Insanely funny, totally chaotic and often quite touching. It's undeniably one of the best performances that Cillian Murphy has delivered in his career.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of The Wicker Man (1973)

 

Written by Anthony Shaffer

Directed by Robert Hardy

Sergeant Howie: "I believe in the life eternal, as promised to us by our Lord, Jesus Christ."

Lord Summerisle: "That is good. For believing what you do, we confer upon you a rare gift, these days - a martyr's death."

I felt like watching some British horror this week and of course, it was time to give this one another go. It's been a long while since I've watched this and to be honest, I probably should've watched it last month. Would've been more fitting tbh.

With this film, our protagonist was Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) of the West Highlands Constabulary. The dusappearance of a girl named Rowan (Geraldine Cowper) has brought him to the island Summerisle and his life would be made difficult by the locals.

In the pub, he has to fight of the advances of the landlord's (Lindsay Kemp) daughter, Willow MacGregor (Britt Ekland) as she attempted to seduce him throughout the film. By the end of the film, his resistance to her dubious charms didn't work in his favour.

Then there's the local schoolteacher (Diane Cilento), who was teaching the kids material that Neil deemed inappropriate while also lying about Rowan being a student. Add a series of photographs of young girls as the May Queen and a grave for Rowan and things were definitely weird about Summerisle.

It didn't help that the mysterious Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) also added to the weirdness of the surroundings before Neil realised that the locals were doing ritual sacrifices on May Day to save their crops. This was where Rowan factored into things but it was Neil's attempts to rescue her that delivered the brutal twist.

It wasn't Rowan that was the intended sacrifice. Nope, it was Neil instead. Being a virgin (he was staying faithful to his wife to be), a man of authority who came to the island willingly and was made a fool. None of these helped Neil and the last scene where he was sacrificed ended this film on a brutal note.

- Other prominent actors in this movie, included Ingrid Pitt, Roy Boyd, Irene Sunter and Aubrey Morris.

- A US remake came out in 2006 while a spiritual sequel titled, The Wicker Tree with Christopher Lee and Lesley Mackie (Daisy) came out in 2011.

- Standout music: The chilling use of Middle English folk song, Sumer Is Icumen In.

- Chronology: April 30th and May 1st. 

The Wicked Man does make for a chilling early summer horror with plenty of shocks and nice reveals. The second half of this movie in particular and that last scene were especially chilling.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Justice League Unlimited - Episodes 6-10 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, Supergirl has met her match, there are returning characters aplenty and new groups being formed.

Episode 6: Fearful Symmetry 

Supergirl vs. Power Girl anyone? That's basically the premise of this episode as the former found herself getting blamed for the latter's antics. Green Arrow and The Question were paired with Kara, attempting to crack down the reasons for her bad dreams and low and behold, it's Cadmus at the heart of her problems. Of course Power Girl is actually a character called Galatea but this episode kicked off the ongoing Cadmus arc for the series. 6/10

Episode 7: The Greatest Story Never Told 

And there's Booster Gold. He's a man from the future with aspirations of being a hero. Instead, he's more of an annoyance to the ever growing Justice League, who don't want to really deal with him. However this episode gave him a chance to step as a hero by going up against a scientist who turned himself into a black hole. Oh and he got a love interest too. 7/10

Episode 8: The Return

Oh this one lived up to its title. There was the return of Lex Luthor, who for once wasn't the villain of the piece. There was the return of Amazon, who was after Lex and a new purpose. There was also the return of Hawkgirl but that literally happened at the very last minute of the episode. Add to that the use of characters such as the Atom, John Stewart, the Guardians and Doctor Fate and this was quite the episode. 8/10

Episode 9: Ultimatum

A few episodes we were introduced to Project Cadmus and now, we're back with them. That meant having the likes of Amanda Waller, Professor Hamilton and Maxwell Lord pop up on screen. It also meanst the introduction of their group known as the Ultramen. The same group who turned out to be a problem for the Justice League with the exception of Long Shadow. An okay introduction for the short-lived group. 6/10

Episode 10: Dark Heart

Another average episode but one that's pretty packed with a lot of characters. This one had General Wade Eiling leading a military unit battling the Justice League. There was also a powerful alien nanotechnology that provided the biggest obstacle to the team. It's mostly Atom who saved the day with this one. 5/10

Next blog I'll tackle Wake The Dead, The Once And Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales, The Once And Future Thing Part Two: Time Warped, The Cat And The Canary and The Ties That Bind.

My Review of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

 

Written by Trey Callaway

Directed by Danny Cannon

Julie (to the Fisherman): "Just. Fucking. Die!"

On to the sequel. The end of the first movie set it up and time has passed by. Our leading lady, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has been attending summer classes in Boston. She's also been having nightmares about the Fisherman (Muse Watson) terrorising her.

Not only that but Julie was seemingly at odds with Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.). He wanted to spend time with her and propose. Instead Julie decided to take a summer break to the Bahamas with college friends, Karla Wilson (Brandy), Tyrell Martin (Mekhi Phifer) and Will Benson (Matthew Settle). The first two were a couple and the latter had a crush on Julie.

Being in the Bahamas should've been a good time. Instead, it was constantly raining and after putting poor Ray in the hospital, the Fisherman thought to take a trip to finish Julie and her friends off. Of course there were some random characters to kill off first. 

These characters included stoner Titus (Jack Black), the almost all knowing Estes (Bill Cobbs) and bitchy bartender, Nancy (Jennifer Esposito). Out of the new friends group, the increasingly unsympathetic Tyrell ended up getting a gruesome death by the third act. He was pretty horrible to Julie as the bodies began to pile up on the resort.

Then there's the reunions that Julie not only had with Ray but also the one with Ben Willis. Oh and it turned out that Will was actually Ben's son and a bit too eager to help his father out with the revenge plan. It's a reveal that should've had a major impact but it's so anticlimactic along with the murderous father and son's comeuppance.

As for the remainder of the movie, Karla was fortunately alive (I did like her character) and Julie and Ray were now living together. There was another sequel hook made but this one felt more goofy than actually foreboding. It also never really came to pass.

- There was a third movie unrelated to the first two. I've seen it and it's awful but I'll review before I get to the new one.

- Knowing the capital of Brazil really would've messed with Ben and Will's great plan, huh?

- Standout music: Lamb's Gorecki and Imogen Heap's Getting Scared.

- Chronology: A year since the events of the first movie. It was also a year when this sequel was released.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer made for a serviceable but hardly exciting sequel. There's a few semi decent moments but it doesn't do a lot to make you care about any of the characters or even the killers themselves.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

 

Written by Kevin Williamson

Directed by Jim Gillespie

Ben: "You in some kind of trouble child?"

Julie: "Yes, yeah I'm in a lot of trouble."

Ben: "That's a shame, being that it's the 4th of July and all. Kids like you should be out having fun. Drinking, partying, running people over, getting away with murder... things like that."

Confession: As a franchise, I've been more lukewarm to this compared to some others. Slapped in between both Scream and Urban Legends, this franchise just didn't grip me as much. This first movie though did offer a decent start.

In the movie, you've got a group of students about to graduate. There's the girl next door in Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and her best friend, Southport's Croaker Queen, Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar). They're easily the best characters of the four main ones. There's also aggressive jock Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe) and fisherman, Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.). One of thems's awful, the other one a bit boring.

Anyways, they're celebrating the 4th of July and end up running over a man that got most of the movie they assumed was someone who had lost his girlfriend the year before. How do they deal with accidentally killing someone? They dump the body and pretend that nothing ever happened and go their separate ways.

Then a year passed and it was July 4th again. Julie had gone to college in Boston, Helen was working on the family business and being belittled by her jealous sister, Barry was threatening other characters like Max (Johnny Galecki) and Ray was mostly pining for an uninterested Julie. Of course, the four were brought back togethef because someone knew what they did the previous summer.

Not only that but they were determined to kill each of the four members as revenge. Julie and Helen were savvy enough to try and get answers from Missy Egan (Anne Heche) but it would later appear that their victim was both alive and not the young man they thought they killed. In fact, he died by their victim before the disastrous event.

As for the killed/victim, it was Benjamin Willis/the Fisherman (Muse Watson) and it's a fairly unsatisfying reveal. I mean we didn't really know the character until his reveal and his defeat at Julie and Ray's hands just wasn't that satisfying tbh. As for the last scene, talk about blatantly setting up that sequel.

- Kevin Williamson really was on the slasher front in the last 1990s with this, the first two Scream movies and writing parts of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.

- The movie's based on a 1973 novel of the same name though the town is Silver Springs instead of Southport.

- Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr met on this movie and the rest is history with them.

- Chronology: July 4th, both in 1996 and 1997 for the majority of this movie. Southport and Boston.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is fine as a slasher movie playing into aspect of the hook legend with okay enough protagonists. It does often lack the spark of Williamson's other slasher work but the main cast do carry it along.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Moonlight (2016)

 

Written by Barry Jenkins And Tarell Alvin McCraney

Directed by Barry Jenkins 

Black (to Kevin): "You the only man that's ever touched me. You're the only one. I haven't really touched anyone since."

This month I've made the effort to watch a variety of LGBT cinema and with this, I had an Oscar movie I needed to catch up on. I can't believe it took me this long but I'm glad I'm caught up with this one.

Split into various chapters, this movie focused on Chiron (Alex Hibbert). He's a shy boy, bullied by his peers, given the nickname "Little" and caught between his drug addicted mother, Paula (Naomie Harris) and his father figure, Juan (Mahershala Ali). Then there's Kevin (Jaden Piner). 

Early in this film, it's established that Chiron being bullied by his peers and a victim of his mother's ire stemmed from Chiron being gay. This became more apparent when we meet the teenage version of Chiron (Ashton Sanders) and his closeness to Kevin (Jharrel Jerome).

The bullying that Chiron suffered in his teenage years, mostly at the hands of the spiteful Terrel (Patrick Decile) escalated so badly that Chiron eventually lashed out. Chiron inflicted the same abuse on to his bully that they had done to him and it was a pretty justified. However it also might have changed Chiron for the worst.

By the time we get to the adult version of Chiron (Trevante Rhodes), he's going by "Black" and has become a more fearsome character. He's also become a drug dealer that hasn't been intimate with anyone in a long time while his mother has gotten clean.

The reunion between Chiron and Kevin (Andre Holland) certainly highlighted the contrasting lives they've lived. There's more contentment on Kevin's part but regret at what might have been had things been different between him and Chiron.

- Singer Janelle Monae appeared in the movie as Juan's girlfriend, Teresa. She's in the first two parts whereas Juan only appeared in the first part.

- The Chapters for the movie are Little, Chiron and Black.

- Standout music: Barbara Lewis's Hello Stranger.

- Chronology: Chiron's story is broken into his childhood, teenage and adult years in both Liberty City, Miami and Atlanta.

Moonlight is a beautiful, raw depiction of a man's struggle with his sexuality throughout three different time periods. Beautifully shot (especially the moonlight sequences), coupled with soulful performances, it's simply a gorgeous movie.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of American Psycho (2000)

 

Written by Mary Harron And Guinevere Turner

Directed by Mary Harron 

Patrick Bateman: "I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip."

I'm not sure this movie should be something I should review in this particular month but it's been on my list for a while. With it's 25th anniversary since it's release and Luca Guadagnino about to do his own version, it was time to revisit this one.

First of all, this was a role that could've easily been career suicide for Christian Bale and any actor might have listened to their agent at the time and avoided it. Fortunately for us, Bale made the right decision and decided to take part in this movie. There's a reason why it's become one of his most iconic roles.

In this film, Bale played dissatisfied investment banker, Patrick Bateman. Bateman was a man who wanted for nothing, including a gorgeous but shallow fiancée in Evelyn Williams (Reese Witherspoon), whom he largely felt disdain for her. For a man with everything, there was only one thing that seemed to spark any kind of life into him - murder.

Yup, Patrick Bateman was a serial killer and in a lot of ways, he made no effort into hiding that fact. He was mostly indiscriminate in his choice of victims but there was certainly an emphasis in the women he murdered such as sex workers Christie (Cara Seymour) and Sabrina (Krista Sutton) and acquaintance Elizabeth (Guinevere Turner). 

Not that men got off too lightly as well. Bateman did kill fellow banker Paul Allen (Jared Leto) quite brutally as well as a homeless man and his dog and various people at the height of his madness. He almost killed a cat, only for an unfortunate bystander to stop him. It's something when the cruelty to animals Patrick displayed was more shocking than what he did to various people in the movie.

Speaking of people, one of the few who managed to not get killed by Patrick was his secretary Jean (Chloe Sevigny) and his pill popping mistress Courtney (Samantha Mathis). He also didn't kill co-workers such as Timothy Bryce (Justin Theroux) or Craig McDermott (Josh Lucas). Even Courtney's closeted fiancé, Luis Carruthers (Matt Ross) or private investigator, Donald Kimball (Willem Dafoe).

However the bigger question was posed by the end of the movie - did Patrick Bateman actually kill anyone at all? His lawyer, Harold Carnes (Stephen Bogaert) discredited Bateman's confession about Paul Allen being dead and the movie ended with Bateman caught in his own personal hell of his confession to murders amounting to nothing at all.

- Patrick Bateman would appear in other novels from writer, Bret Easton Ellis and eventually get a comeuppance for his crimes.

- Patrick narrated throughout the movie, in particular with his lifestyle routines and music trivia. He's also mistaken for Marcus Halberstram (Anthony Lemke) by several characters in the movie.

- There are some changes from the source material. Bateman doesn't kill a child in this movie.

- Guinevere Turner who co-wrote the movie also played the unfortunate Elizabeth too.

- Standout music: Huey Lewis & The News Hip To Be Square, Genesis's In Too Deep and David Bowie's Something In The Air. It's a bloody killer soundtrack.

- Chronology: 1987 and 1988 New York with Christmas briefly factoring into things halfway through the movie.

American Psycho absolutely has earned its legendary and it's a brutal satire in parts and plain horrifying in others. Christian Bale completely nailed the role of Patrick Bateman in a fascinating character study.

Rating: 9 out of 10