DCU Blog - April 2025 Edition: Superman Dazzles CinemaCon, Supergirl Films And More

Another busy month for DC fans with various news items coming left, right and centre.

Superman (July 11th) certainly made a splash at CinemaCon this month with a behind the scenes feature and merchandise giving a few things away. The movie also escaped a certain lawsuit too.

Paul Ben-Victor has joined the cast of Lanterns in the recurring role of extraterrestrial named Antaan. The pilot episode has finished filming. Chris Coy has also joined the show.

Garrett Dillahunt however will not be playing Green Arrow. There was an Instagram post he made that people got the wrong end of the stick with.

DC Comics Pride 2025 will be released from June 4th. Characters such as Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Alan Scott, Bunker, Midnighter etc to name a few. A boxset containing the previous volumes will be released on May 27th.

Filming is half way through on Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow (June 26th 2026). Some filming has kind of leaked Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa's respective looks as Supergirl and Lobo.

Robert Pattinson has joined the cast of Dune: Messiah, which will likely impact as to when The Batman - Part II (October 1st 2027) will begin filming.

An untitled DC movie is scheduled for March 5th 2027. If I were to guess, I'm betting it'll be Sgt. Rock.

A recent HBO trailer has shown clips for the second season of Peacemaker. The new season will be released on Max from August 21st.

Get Jiro!, an animated adult series based on the DC/Vertigo title will premiere on Adult Swim. 

Adria Arjona has recently commented on the prospect of being cast as Wonder Woman. She's previously worked with James Gunn in The Belko Experiment.

The second season of The Sandman will be released in two parts on Netflix. Episodes 1-6 from July 3rd and episodes 7-11 from July 24th.

Sadly this month, no further updates on Waller, The Brave And The Bold, Clayface and Sgt. Rock. The latter two will film in the second half of the year.

ITVX have recently added both Doom Patrol and Black Lightning to their streaming service.

A busy month for DC fans with the Summer of Superman on the horizon. Fun time ahead.

My Review of Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash (2016)

 

Written by Jim Krieg

Directed by Rick Morales 

Superman: "Okay, Brainiac, time to pick on someone your own size."

Supergirl: "Well, almost your own size."

Yup, I caught up with another one of these Lego DC movies. Last time, it was a Lex Luthor/Darkseid team up that ended badly for the former. This time, it's up to Brainiac (Phil LaMarr) causing the chaos.

The movie started with a fun game of hide and seek. Cyborg (Khary Payton), Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Superman (Nolan North), The Flash (James Arnold Taylor) and Hal Jordan (Josh Keaton) were taking part. Batman (Troy Baker) didn't take part and funnily enough, this innocent game would be relevant by the end of this movie.

As for Brainiac, he's doing his usual planet collecting things and when one of his collections got spoiled, Earth became a prize for Brainiac to collect. Naturally the Justice League aim to stop Brainiac from doing such a thing. Brainiac counted on taking the strongest members out of the equation first.

This led to Wonder Woman being sent to a prehistoric era with Vandal Savage (Phil Morris) incurring her wrath before being rescued by Batman and The Flash. Cyborg on the other hand got some help from Supergirl (Jessica DiCicco). Cyborg and Supergirl worked pretty well in their scenes together.

Then there was rescuing Hal from a pirate crew led by Captain Fear (Jason Spisak) and getting his ring back. Rescuing Superman had Batman team up with Saturn Girl (Kari Wahlgren), Lightning Lad (Andy Milder) and Cosmic Boy (Yuri Lowenthal). Oh and swapping Kryptonite for concentrated yellow sunlight when Superman was controlled by Brainiac.

Throughout the movie, the general theme was for Batman to learn to be more of a team player. It's a bit heavy handed in the way it's depicted but he learned the lesson enough to help defeat Brainiac with the Justice League and to participate in hide and seek.

- The previous movie set up Martian Manhunter as a new Justice League member but he was nowhere to be seen here.

- I like that the opening sequence was a homage to the animated Justice League series. 

- There's a few references to Super Friends as well.

- Chronology: Present day for the most part in the movie.

Provided you remember these Lego DC movies are aimed for kids, they're largely inoffensive. Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Cosmic Clash did have some entertaining enough moments in it.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Happy Birthday To Me (1981)

 

Written by Timothy Bond And Peter Jobin And John Saxton And John Beaird

Directed by J. Lee Thompson

Virginia: "Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear Ginny. Happy birthday to me."

Trailing through some 1980s horror, this was something I wasn't even aware existed but I decided to watch it last night. It's a birthday and people ended up dying because the surprise villain wanted them to.

Starring Little House On The Prairie actress, Melissa Sue Anderson, she played a troubled young woman named Virginia "Ginny" Wainwright. Pretty, popular and a member of the Top 10 at Crawford Academy, Ginny seemed to have a charmed enough existence.

Except, she was undergoing therapy by Dr David Faraday (Glenn Ford) to unlock suppressed memories while also having a tense relationship with her father, Harold (Lawrence Dane) following the death of her mother, Estelle (Sharon Acker), a year ago. I mean, their whole relationship felt very off from their first scene together.

On top of that as the movie progressed, the majority of the Top 10 were being killed off by a mystery killer, one by one. Needless to say, in some rather brutal ways with their past times being used in their demise. Being into fitness certainly didn't help one character.

While there was another character who was intentionally being made to look like a potential psychopath, the movie somewhat tried to subvert things. Flashbacks provided context to one character's death while the present day saw a darker side to Ginny emerge. 

Then things really took a wild turn. It turned out that best friend Ann Thompson (Tracey E. Bregman) was an even bigger menace than Ginny and they were half sisters. While I appreciated the attempt of subversion, the twist doesn't land particularly well even though the movie ended on a macabre note.

- Ann wore a latex mask of Ginny to gaslight the latter for the third act of the movie.

- The pub was called The Silent Sister, Rudi (David Eisner) had fun referencing Quasimodo and first victim Bernadette O'Hara (Lesleh Donaldson) made crude jokes about Mrs Patterson's (Frances Hyland) dog.

- Standout music: A rather creepy use of Happy Birthday during the final scene of the movie.

- Chronology: Took place during Ginny's 18th birthday. The movie's set in New York.

Happy Birthday To Me isn't quite as horrible as it's reputation would imply but it's definitely not a classic. The twist in theory should've worked but it felt unearned and not well explored either. Serviceable at best.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Sinners (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Ryan Coogler

Jedidiah (to Sammie): "You keep dancing with the devil... one day he's gonna follow you home."

April has been a month that the WB can feel pretty good about. First there was the success of A Minecraft Movie and now there's the success of Sinners. With the latter, it's more of an achievement, considering that it's an original piece.

Taking on the role of twins Elijah "Smoke" Moore and Elias "Stack" Moore, Michael B. Jordan certainly had his work cut out for him but he got to dominate this film twice. Smoke and Stack were war veterans and criminal entrepreneurs. They were also about to be changed forever. 

In the backdrop of the Jim Crow era Mississippi, the twins were eager to set up their own business. The business being a juke joint for the black community based in a sawmill they had purchased from racist landowner Hogwood (David Maldonado). He would be a later problem for the twins.

The most prominent problem of course would be vampires. Specifically an Irish one named Remmick (Jack O'Connell). Accompanied with Joan (Lola Kirke) and Bert (Peter Dreimanis), Remmick wanted the talented Sammie (Miles Caton) for his own personal reasons and he was willing to cause a bloodbath in order to get it.

By the second half of this movie, Stack got turned into a vampire by his ex-girlfriend, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) and Smoke's wife, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), singer Perline (Jayme Lawson), bouncer Cornbread (Omar Miller) along with shopkeepers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao) were among the casualties and converted. There's a good time spent on developing each of these characters and their relationships with the twins and their cousin, Sammie.

In terms of vampire stuff, I like that the movie skirted between some blood and gore but also held back on showing the actual conversion process itself. The end of this movie had very few survivors, a bittersweet conclusion to both twins bond and a nice scene where a certain Klan got their just desserts.

- A mid credit sequence showed an older Sammie (Buddie Guy) encountering Stack and Mary. Sammie moved to Chicago.

- Smoke wore blue and Stack wore red, which was a good way of telling them apart. They also left flowers for Mary's recently deceased mother.

- Remmick had been fleeing Cherokee vampire hunters before he turned Joan and Burt.

- Sammie had the ability to summon spirits, which was drew Remmick to him.

- Standout music: Rod Wave's Sinners, Hailee Steinfeld's Dangerous and Jack O'Connell leading Will Ye Go, Lassie Go?

- Chronology: 1932 Mississippi and then Chicago over sixty years after the events at the barn.

Sinners might be the strongest movie released so far in 2025. It's certainly been the most talked about that's not from an IP. The dual performances from Michael B. Jordan certainly elevate the movie but there's not a foot put out of place here. This film definitely deserves the hype's it getting.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "The Well"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies And Sharma Angel Walfall

Directed by Amanda Brotchie 

Aliss/The Entity (to the Doctor/crew): "Don't turn your back on me!"

In their bingo card for RTD2, who had a sequel to the Series 4 episode Midnight in mind? I certainly didn't and despite being spoiled that it was going to happen, I'm still shocked that it did. This episode could've gone so wrong but fortune really favoured this one.

Failing to get Belinda home yet again, the Doctor ended up 500,000 years into the future with his new companion. They landed on a spaceship with a crew and then descended on the Planet 6767 as a result. A crew, who fortunately didn't feel too much like just stock characters. 

The three members that got the most focus at least had personalities and were both a help and a hindrance to the Doctor, Belinda and main guest focus, the terrified and possessed Aliss Fenly (Rose Ayling-Ellis). Let's talk about those crew members before discussing Aliss, shall we?

On the negative side of things, there was Cassio Palin-Paleen (Christopher Chung). He was openly dismissive of the Doctor and Belinda, had no problem trying to take over command and his inability to read the room got himself and most of the crew killed when antagonising the Entity that had a hold on Aliss. Cassio was nice to look at but he wasn't smart at all.

Fortunately the actual commander of the crew Shaya Costallion (Caoilfhionn Dunne) and right hand woman, Mo Gilliben (Bethany Antonia) were more receptive to listening to the Doctor and Belinda when it came to the Entity in question. One of them made a noble sacrifice but the other ended with an eternal curse, ending this episode on one hell of a note.

Now, let's get back to Aliss. She was a cook who desperately wanted to get back to her daughter. Being deaf meant the Entity hadn't driven her mad but the Entity in question also had no problem jumping into Belinda before changing hosts and that ending of course.

The Doctor and Belinda's relationship really went through the ringer thanks to that Entity this week. There was a genuine sense of danger and for an Entity that previously repeated itself, it certainly evolved this week in terms of what it could do. Now do we have to wait another several incarnations before the Doctor encounterd it again?

- In the future, the Earth and the human race no longer exist. None of the crew knew of either during their scenes with the Doctor and Belinda.

- Mo ended up reporting to Mrs Flood, who seemed to be happy about the Vindicator. 

- Belinda was scolded for not knowing sign language. The Doctor was the only character who used sign language to communicate with Aliss.

- Cassio didn't care for the Doctor calling him "Babes". He wasn't keen on "Hun" either. 

- Standout music: Britney Spears Toxic made a comeback for this episode. 

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off and 500,000 years in the future. 

The Well could go down as a future classic and proof that sometimes a sequel to a popular story can be done well. I feel we learned a bit more about that Entity but didn't have the mystery diluted. Ncuti Gatwa might just have given his best performance in his tenure as well.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Attack Of The Legion Of Doom! (2015)

 

Written by Jim Krieg

Directed by Rick Morales

Lex: "Legion of Doom, prepare for evil."

Yup, I watched another DC Lego movie. I'm not sure how many more of these I'll watch but they are oddly entertaining enough and this one had it's moments. Stink bombs, anyone?

I'm not kidding. At one point in this movie, the Trickster (Mark Hamill) used one and it was enough to make Cyborg (Khary Payton) doubt himself for a large portion of the movie. In fact, Cyborg has a lot of focus but also felt like the outsider of the Justice League here.

The league comprised of the usual suspects - Batman (Troy Baker), Superman (Nolan North), Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Hal Jordan's Green Lantern (Josh Keaton) and The Flash (James Arnold Taylor). There's some rivalries within the group and a song from another member.

Then there's Lex Luthor (John DiMaggio). He's mostly working with Darkseid (Tony Todd) but at the same he's also recruited a Legion of Doom. That legion included the likes of Cheetah (Cree Summer), Gorilla Grodd/Black Manta/Captain Cold (Kevin Michael Richardson) and Sinestro (Mark Hamill) to name a few. Oh and a surprise member with Martian Manhunter (Dee Bradley Baker).

It's a bit odd seeing Martian Manhunter on the Legion of Doom but at the same time, he's being manipulated by Lex and company. Eventually, he did join the right team when Lex's divide and conquer plan fell apart. Lex ended up in prison and the Justice League gained a new member.

- There's a credit sequence where Darkseid abandoned Lex in favour of seeking out an alliance with Brainiac.

- There's some supporting roles for Lois Lane (Grey Griffin) and General Sam Lane (James Arnold Taylor). 

- Rejected Legion members included Giganta, Deathstroke, Joker, Penguin and Man-Bat.

- Chronology: Present day Earth and some scenes in outer space.

Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! is a certainly a mouthful, title wise. It's a fun adventure with the titular villanoue group and a nice centre piece for both Cyborg and Martian Manhunter as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Locked (2025)

 

Written by Michael Arlen Ross

Directed by David Yarovesky

William (to Eddie): "I set a trap, and you took the bait. Simple as that. You couldn't resist and now you're mine to do with as I please."

I gotta give Bill Skarsgard his due. His last few movies choices even if not successful (minus Nosferatu) have at least tried to push his range all the more as an actor. This would be another movie that would do that to, albeit with mixed results.

In this movie, Skarsgard took on the role of petty criminal Eddie Barrish. He's trying to be a better father for his daughter, Sarah (Ashley Cartwright) but something as simple as picking her up from school turned out to be a challenge for him.

Unable to get his van repaired, Eddie thought to steal a car. He just happened to pick that ended up locking him up inside. That's the premise of the movie: petty criminal getting trapped inside a car. It's a strong enough premise.

Of course the car had an owner and the owner was a rich doctor named William Larsen (Anthony Larsen) and he desperately wanted to impress upon a point to Eddie about morality. He might have looked down on Eddie's thieving but William himself wasn't above torture.

William's car was a torture machine and Eddie was the unfortunate recipient of said torture. The guy got zapped multiple times, starved out and even resorted to drinking his own urine before Eddie and William ended up in the car together.

There's a good back and forth between Bill Skarsgard and Anthony Hopkins throughout the film but it's really in the last few minutes where they actually share screentime together did things pick up. By the end of this movie, Eddie had certainly re-evaluated his life choices.

- The movie's an American remake of an Argentinian film called 4x4 by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat.

- William had terminal cancer, which motivated his actions. Eddie also won money on a lottery ticket that solved his current financial problems.

- There's moments in this movie that definitely paid homage to Christine. 

- Chronology: The movie took place over a weekend with Eddie trapped in the car for most of it.

Locked was a decent if not spectacular thriller. There's a good back and forth between the leads, a frank enough discussion on morality. It's fine overall.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

You Don't Get To Rush This

And here's a brief catch up on some of the shows I've been watching the last few weeks.

9-1-1: Oh god, the second half of this season was going pretty well, in terms of stories. You had Maddie dealing with a serial kidnapper, Bobby reuniting with his mother, Eddie rebuilding his family in Texas, Buck/Tommy hooking up, Hen's birthday, Chimney's excitement for fatherhood again, Athena taking another boat trip and Ravi popping up again. Then a contagion two parter aired and with it, possibly the most short sighted decision the show has ever done. Yup, they killed Bobby Nash and there's three episodes left. How the fallout from this plays out will determine if the show has true staying power.

Daredevil: Born Again: I'll admit that for the most part I have enjoyed Disney+ revival of this show but at the same time, something feels missing and it's not just Karen and Foggy. The handling of the Muse story in particular was bad, Fisk really reverted to form too quickly (though Vanessa has emerged as a more complex character) and the Matt/Heather relationship just fizzled out. I did however like the Daredevil/Punisher team up in the finale and Bullseye on the loose does have potential for next season.

The Last Of Us: Two episodes into the show's second season and they went for the most controversial moment out of the gate. Then again, given Pedro Pascal's increasingly full dance card, perhaps sooner was better than later for that scene to happen. Hats off to Pedro , Kaitlyn Dever and Bella Ramsey because the scene where Abby killed Joel and Ellie couldn't prevent it was easily one of the most brutal death scenes in 2025. With five episodes left, it's going to be interesting to see if the show can sustain the momentum now that they've played their biggest hand. The show has been renewed for a third season. 

The White Lotus: The second half of the third season proved a few things. You can't escape financial ruin, some friendships are a mystery, brothers shouldn't be that physically intimate with one another, good people aren't above taking bribes from bad people and the two graves saying about revenge is true. All of these things came to pass in those final few episodes and they made for some of the best and most shocking moments. Season 3 might have taken a bit longer to find it's footing but it got there and I cannot wait for next season.

Toxic Town: While everyone everywhere was hyping Adolescence, there was another Jack Thorne Netflix miniseries that had been released two weeks beforehand and with less fanfare. Featuring a cast that had Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood, Karla Crome, Claudia Jessie, Brendan Coyle and Robert Carlyle to name but a few. The four part miniseries took a good look into the Corby toxic waste case. I can see why this might have gotten lost in the shuffle but you should check it out if you've already seen Thorne's other miniseries that has stirred such debate.

Yellowjackets: Season 3 hasn't quite hit the heights of the first season but it's not been without it's shocking moments. There was the resolution to Lottie's murder and then Van got killed by Melissa in the present day. Hillary Swank is going to have quite the task on her hand next season getting audience to like Melissa next season. Add some more appearances from Jackie, Shauna showing her awful side in both timelines along with her own family, Taissa and Misty being done with her and that Natalie scene in the picture above, where else can this show go? It should end next season.

• Chris O'Donnell and Jessica Capshaw will lead upcoming series, 9-1-1: Nashville for ABC this autumn. 9-1-1 itself was renewed for a ninth season
• Grey's Anatomy has been renewed for twenty second season on ABC.
• Wednesday Season 2 will be released on Netflix in two parts - Episodes 1-4 from August 6th and Episodes 5-8 from September 3rd respectively.
• Heartstopper will conclude with a movie for Netflix, based on Alice Oseman's upcoming sixth volume. Joe Locke and Kit Connor will be executive producers.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar has signed up for upcoming series, Bad Summer People.
• Dexter: Original Sin has been renewed for a second season by Showtime/Paramount+. Dexter: Resurrection will premiere in June.
• Tom Ellis has signed up as the lead for FBI: CIA for CBS.
• Will Sharpe and Ayo Edebiri will lead upcoming Apple TV+ romantic comedy series Prodigies. 
• Amazon have We Were Liars for June 18th.
• Season 3 of And Just Like That will premiere on Max from May 29th. The Gilded Age Season 3 will on HBO in June. Both feature Cynthia Nixon.
• Stranger Things will be getting an animated spin off titled, Stranger Things: Tales from 85. 
• Outlander: Blood Of My Blood will air from August 8th on Starz.
• Lindsay Logan will star in Count My Lies for Hulu.

My Review of Lego DC Batman: Family Matters (2019)

 

Written by Jeremy Adams

Directed by Matt Peters

Batman: "It's time to end this, Red Hood. Or should I say, Jason Todd."

Robin: "The second Robin? I thought you were dead."

Jason (to Batman): "You said I was dead?"

I've not watched many of the DC Lego movies and that's something I do want to rectify. With The Brave And The Bold in development, it really has been up to animation and Lego to give us anything in relation to the Batfamily.

This movie in general has Batman (Troy Baker) and the Damian Wayne version of Robin (Scott Menville) front and centre. The latter desperately wanted to be taken more seriously but Batman was more interested in having Damian looking after Ace the Bat-Hound than fighting criminals.

Then there's Bruce Wayne, whose lack of interest in Wayne Enterprises had him sell off his own company, which even Alfred Pennyworth (Nolan North) thought was a bad idea. Alfred of course would be proven right as the movie progressed.

Of course the problem would pile on as a vengeful Red Hood (Jason Spisak) would take Robin, Alfred, Nightwing (Will Friedle), Batgirl (Alyson Stoner) and Batwoman (Tara Strong) hostage in order to settle an old score with Batman. Red Hood here would be more misguided than outright villainous and even ended up back in the Batfamily during the third act.

Like most of these animated movies, there's no lack of villains but the main ones pulling the strings wasn't Red Hood. Instead, it was both Two-Face (Christian Lanz) and Brother Eye (Cam Clarke) along with some OMAC drones. Baddie wise, it's a good use of villains.

The Batfamily worked together to defeat both sets of villains. In particular the way that Brother Eye was defeated saw some personal growth on Batman's part. It's the type of growth that Batman would then use towards his protégés by the end of the movie as well.

- There's a nice use of Billy Batson (Zach Callison) in a supporting role. He encountered the Wizard (Ralph Garman) in a post credit scene.

- Other villains to appear in the movie included Riddler (André Sogliuzzo), Penguin (Tom Kenny), Killer Croc (Nolan North), Scarecrow (Steve Blum) and Solomon Grundy (Fred Tatasciore). The Joker's also referenced.

- Nightwing and Batgirl had a relationship that was on thin ice but they seemingly got back together during the end of the movie.

- Chronology: Present Day Gotham City.

I really liked Lego DC Batman: Family Matters. It's a fun, diverting family adventure with a good selection of villains. Family matters were brought to the fire but solved quickly and movies like this really do make me want to see the Batfamily properly in live action sooner than later.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Sebastian (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Mikko Mäkelä

Max: "You can ask me anything."

For my Easter Sunday, I eschewed anything religious and went for something a bit more provocative instead. This was another film I've been wanting to catch up on since hearing about it late last year.

Focusing on a writer named Max Williamson (Ruaridh Mollica), this movie had the 25 year old at a crossroads in his life. His freelance writing wasn't as satisfying as he wanted it to be and the magazine he was writing for were also about to close the door on him altogether. Luckily for Max, he had a novel in the making.

Yes, an erotic novel focusing on sex work but potentially with a new perspective with his editor Dionne (Leanne Best) more than happy to give him notes on where to improve it. At least Max had the support of his best friend, Amna (Hiftu Quasem) who even took him to Brussels as a birthday present to cheer him up.

Getting back to the novel part, Max assumed the identity of Sebastian for the sake of his creativity and embarked on actual sex work himself in order to get a better insight into things. This led to different encounters with men like Daniel (Ingvar Sigurdsson) and Oliver (Pedro Minas). One of those encounters also backfired on Max when they found out what he was really up.

However it also led to a relationship of sorts with an older gentleman named Nicholas (Jonathan Hyde). It's an interesting dynamic between the two with Nicholas being initially resistant to physical intimacy with Max before encouraging the latter to continue with his novel.

By the end of this movie, Max/Sebastian had seemingly learned a lot from his experiences and encounters with the men in life. Not to mention the women in his life, including his own mother in Scotland. Going by the last thing he said, he's also quite the open book.

- OnlyFans gets a name drop and Max did admit to a photographer that he had a small following on Instagram. 

- This is the fourth movie that Mikko Mäkelä has directed. A Moment In The Reeds is another gay themed movie of his I intend to watch at some point.

- There's an amusing continuity error with the movement of a chest tattoo. 

- Chronology: Present day London, Scotland and Brussels.

I really liked Sebastian as a movie. It's provocative without feeling like it's trying too hard, the main story engaged as did Ruaridh Mollica, performance wise and the sex scenes were both tasteful and plentiful. All in all, a worthwhile watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Drop (2025)

 

Written by Jillian Jacobs And Chris Roach

Directed by Christopher Landon

Violet: "Yahtzee."

I kind of get the feeling that an opportunity was missed with this movie not being dropped on Valentine's Day. Not that director Christopher Landon had to worry as he had Heart Eyes in theatres at that time. 

However while the former skewered for a younger audience, Drop definitely felt like it was made for an older one in mind. Who knew that first dates could be so nerve wrecking? This movie certainly tested that for our protagonist, therapist Violet Gates (Meghann Fahy).

Following the death of her abusive husband, Violet's not only been helping other women overcome their own abuse but she'd also agreed to go on a date with photographer, Henry Campbell (Brandon Sklenar) at a nice restaurant. What should've been a nice date turned into a living nightmare and memes are to blame.

Throughout the date when Violet wasn't trying to get to know Henry and making small talk with an overenthusiastic waiter named Matt (Jeffrey Self), she kept getting memes. Ones that were annoying and then ones that threatened to kill her sister, Jen (Violett Beans) and son, Toby (Jacob Robinson) if she didn't agree to kill Henry.

Playing into Hitchcock mode, there was some fun in watching Violet navigate her date with Henry, follow instructions while also trying out who wanted poor Henry dead. It turns out it wasn't the lounge singer, Phil (Ed Weeks) but it definitely was the seemingly inconspicuous looking Richard (Reed Diamond). The latter certainly dropped his harmless act when it was revealed why he wanted Henry dead.

Anyways the last few minutes played out in a rather fun OTT with Richard getting a very appropriate demise and Violet channelling her inner action hero to save her family. Oh and she managed to score a second date with Henry to boot.

- There's a nice supporting role from Gabrielle Ryan Spring as Cara, who tried to look out for Violet in the movie.

- The title did refer to digi-drops, which Henry was more familiar with than Violet.

- Standout music: I didn't expect a piano version of Baby Shark but we got it here.

- Chronology: Current day Chicago, though the movie itself was shot in Ireland.

Drop made for a decent thriller with a good lead performance from Meghann Fahy and support from both Brandon Sklenar and Reed Diamond. It's suitably tense, had the right amount of ridiculous moments and a nice lovely story bubbling amid the chaos.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "Lux"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Amanda Brotchie 

Lux (to the Doctor/Belinda): "Don't make me laugh."

No, seriously, don't make Mr Ring-A-Ding (Alan Cumming) laugh because the consequences could get rather animated for those involved. This was quite the episode, wasn't it?

Following the events of the previous one, the Doctor's having trouble getting Belinda back to May 24th 2025 and his Vindicator (Vortex Indicator) didn't take them back to the present. Instead, they got to go to Miami in 1952.  

Yup, Belinda's first trip in the past and in spite of wanting to go home, she found herself enamoured by exploring the past. Also an abandoned cinema with fifteen missing people had her and the Doctor investigating the Palazzo where the villain was on the animated side of things.

Yup, Mr Ring-A-Ding aka Lux was a cartoon villain, a two dimensional character with a backstory and enough to keep a grief stricken projectionist named Reginald Pye (Linus Roche) in his place. Reginald would maintain a tradition in solving the Lux problem in a way that a lot of guest characters have done on this show.

Getting back to Lux, he's the God of Light and assumed that the Doctor's defeats of the Toymaker, Maestro and Sutekh were all destined for their inevitable encounter. Of course, there was some animation to be had for the Doctor and Belinda and then there was that scene. Yup, that one.

Having the Doctor and Belinda step out of the television and realise they're part of a TV show and they've got fans in Hassan (Samir Arrian), Lizzie (Bronte Barbe) and Robyn (Steph Lacey). This could've been such a disaster but I actually think it was pulled off rather beautifully with music used from my favourite Doctor's era as well.

As for Lux, he needed the essence of a Time Lord in order to make himself more dimensional but Belinda's quick thinking and Reginald's sacrifice had Lux given a much different fate. Granted, it's a defeat that doesn't rule out a future return but two episodes in and the Doctor/Belinda dynamic has been nicely established.

- Mrs Flood appeared to have Logan Cheever (Lewis Cornay) and company witness the TARDIS leaving. She made a point about limited runs too.

- Belinda talked about Rock Hudson having HIV as well as Reginald having Nicotine stained fingers. Belinda's mum is a violinist and her father does taxes.

- Those fans really liked Blink, huh? They didn't seem as taken with The Devil's Chord and Boom.

- Massive points for this episode ruthlessly taking the piss out of that hateful #RIPDoctorWho hashtag. 

- We got a mid credit scene with those fans taking about this episode.

- Chronology: 1952 Miami for most of this episode.

Lux felt like a successor to The Devil's Chord and we can now tick off another Pantheon member from the list. It's a very strong episode that could've tackled certain things disastrously but didn't. The talk of limited runs and bigenerations are clearly foreshadowing near future events.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Odyssey: "Crew Week"

 

Written by Jamie Pachino And Jon Robin Baitz

Directed by Paris Barclay

Max: "And I never really found the one true thing that gave it all meaning and purpose. Until I met you. You are that one true thing, Avery."

You know what, the last scenes with the throuple in this episode were some of the nicest scenes from the episode. However, this was undoubtedly the messiest episode of the show so far. Less for it's actual content and more for the overall editing and structure. 

It was like there was two or three episodes that got smashed together and the pacing was horribly all over the place. Anyways let's break down what worked and didn't work, shall we?

Surprisingly, the throuple stuff was the strongest thing here. Tristan declared his love for Avery yet again after dumping Vivian (remember her?) off camera. Then Max also ended the episode by declaring his love for Avery for real this time. Overall, if you're a throuple fan, this one's for you.

Now let's take a good look at what didn't work. The medical cases or at least the ones where Avery refused to be contradicted at any point. Even when Max and Tristan weren't patronising her, she refused to take on board advice that might have helped. It could've easily gone wrong for Avery.

On the other hand, at least those cases gave both Rosie and Spencer some screentime and better moments than what Vivian got this week. In fact Spencer's case also tied in with Tristan, who needed both Max and Avery to help him out as well. Broken foot and larvae though.

Last but not least, I found myself disappointed with Max's twin brother, Merrill. I mean he's nice but dull though the few scenes might have hinted at some moving house tension between Merrill and his wife Danielle (Melinda Page Hamilton). Saying that, Max's reunion with his brother and helping out at a near hospital with Rodney Prescott (Mike O'Malley) did motivate him to remain on The Odyssey.

- Avery and Spencer hooked up beforehand. That didn't surprise me as there seemed to be a vibe with them earlier in the season.

- Robert had maybe one scene in this episode and then disappeared. There's rumours this was originally meant to be episode nine before the Shark two parter happened.

- Is Max and Merrill's father meant to be dead? Danielle doesn't like him, going by what Merrill said. We learned about Max being ill as a teenager.

- Chronology: Not long after the events of the previous episode. Next episode will be in two weeks.

In some ways, Crew Week felt like a clip show. Remember when network TV would do that with their shows? That's what this felt like. Unfortunately, it was largely disjointed and very dull. 

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of Superman: Doomsday (2007)

 

Written by Duane Capizzi And Bruce Timm

Directed by Bruce Timm And Lauren Montgomery And Brandon Vietti

Dark Superman: "Protect... the people..."

Superman: "It's why I'm here."

There was an animated two parter released over a decade after this movie and not to mention, Batman V. Superman. Why do I bring those up? Because this movie was the first attempt to delve into the death of Superman.

Yes, we've got a Superman (Adam Baldwin) who's currently in a relationship with Lois Lane (Anne Heche) and the latter's working out that Superman and Clark Kent are the same person. It also didn't help that Superman was doing an exceptionally bad job of convincing get otherwise.

Then there's Doomsday, whose spaceship got unearthed by LexCorp workers. Doomsday didn't waste time in causing chaos in Metropolis and the movie also didn't waste time in having Doomsday and Superman and the latter to die in Lois's arms and it's pretty sad to see.

Of course, Superman's death wouldn't stick permanently but it was interesting to see how his death not only affected Lois and Martha Kent (Swoosie Kurtz) but also Perry White (Ray Wise) and Jimmy Olsen (Adam Wylie) too. Lois and Martha in particular have some nice scenes.

However, not only was Lex desperate to keep LexCorp's involvement with Doomsday a secret but he also had a clone version of Superman nearly fooling everyone. Of course the clone suddenly developed a mind of his own and the real Superman came back into the mix.

There's a great battle between the real and fake versions of Superman with the former eventually being victorious. Then there's a lovely final scene where Lois's suspicions were confirmed in the funniest of ways.

- Lex killed Mercy Graves (Cree Summer) to keep his secret and the final scene indicated that he had another idea to kill Superman.

- Jimmy had quite the Daily Planet to work for a gossip magazine. He also helped Lois get one over on Lex.

- We got the solar suit and mullet for Superman when he was he resurrected. Kevin Smith also had a cameo in a scene involving Toyman (John DiMaggio).

- Chronology: Not a huge amount of time passed between Superman dying and being reborn.

Superman: Doomsday was a great adaptation of this particular story. Some great action sequences, emotional moments, decent subplots and the promise of a very vengeful Lex Luthor. I really liked this one.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Ice Blues (2008)

 

Written by Ron McGee

Directed by Ron Oliver 

Timmy: "Some nights I can't sleep worrying that's someone's bashing your brains in."

Donald: "You worry?"

It took me three weeks and in between several other blog entries, but I've come to the conclusion of this quadrilogy of the Donald Strachey mysteries. I've had fun with this series. I wish that Here TV had done a few more of these with Chad Allen and the rest of the cast.

For this last movie, you had Timmy Callahan (Sebastian Spence) in his biggest role so far in the series. He was chasing up money for the Safety Space to help disadvantaged children and a seemingly generous donation from the benevolent Jake Lenigan (Jason Poulsen) resulted in a lot of trouble.

The trouble coming from a dodgy lawyer firm ran by Jake's grandfather Brian (Myron Natwick) and older brother, Eric (Spencer Maybee). They were responsible for Jake's death but so was porn producer and general scumbag, Frank Zaillian (Sebastien Roberts). He got his henchman, Somerville (Adrian Holmes) to hunt down both Donald and Timmy throughout the movie.

There was something about this case that added a bit of a spark to Donald and Timmy. Particularly the latter, who got a bit more reckless and even friskier during the impending danger of Zaillian's determination to get his ill gotten money back. I actually liked this side to Timmy.

I also liked Donald wanting to help the unfortunate teenager Lilah (Brittney Wilson), even when it resulted in him being tied up and tortured by Frank's men. Donald did get to rescue himself but it was cute seeing Timmy try to bluff his way into getting both his own and Donald's freedom before getting a big house shoot out.

Then there was the other plots of the movie. Detective Bailey (Darryl Shuttleworth) had a past with Jake's mother, Joan (Sherry Miller) and history repeated itself with the two of them. There was also a plot with Timmy being reunited with his estranged sister and while it's nice enough, I did find it was a bit rushed by the end.

- This was meant to be the third movie and also is the third book in the series but circumstances pushed this movie to be the fourth in terms of release.

- Kenny Kwon (Nelson Wong) also had a plot about wanting to be his own private detective. Donald didn't approve of his reading material for it.

- I did find the scene where Donald and Senator Platt (P. Lynn Johnson) kind of ganged up on Timmy to be cute. 

- Chronology: It's winter in New York and we got some snow and commentary on it. I think Timmy's meant to be a winter person.

Ice Blues had a chilly backdrop and I would've loved had this been a full on Christmas movie. The plots remained strong, I liked seeing Timmy, Bailey and Kenny in bigger roles and Donald certainly had some action man moments.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of On The Other Hand, Death (2008)

 

Written by Gillian Horvath And Ron McGee

Directed by Ron Oliver

Dorothy: "We don't pick our fights. They pick us."

On to the third installment in the Donald Strachey (Chad Allen) series and it was the turn of a lesbian couple to take centre stage for the troublesome private investigator. As per usual, there was a nice few twists to be had with this one.

The movie started with Donald inadvertently bumbling an undercover investigation, headed up by undercover cop, Gina Salter (Lori Ann Triolo). Donald's path had crossed with her because his client Peter Garrity (David Orth) had Donald convinced that she was an unfaithful wife.

Garrity's general cagey behaviour gave Kenny Kwon (Nelson Wong) a chance to gain some field experience as he didn't want to be Donald's secretary for the rest of his career. Saying that, Kenny might need to brush up more on his spying skills.

Getting to the lesbian couple in question. It's thanks to Timmy Callahan (Sebastian Spence) and his ex-boyfriend, Andrew McWhirter (Damon Runyan) that we're introduced to guidance counsellor Dorothy Fisher (Margot Kidder) and her long term partner, Edith Strong (Gabrielle Rose). Both women had one hell of a hate campaign levied at them from all sides but why?

For some, it was down to Dorothy's job and her wanting one of the student's parents to accept them being gay. Mainly it was down to the fact that Dorothy and Edith were living in a house that was in the way of a big property scam, involving three people that I'm not too shocked were working together all along.

I knew that Andrew was shady from the get go. He gave that "too good to e true" vibe and it did seem like when he wasn't blackmailing Dorothy (who knew Edith's big secret), he was doing his level best to drive a wedge between Donald and Timmy. Needless to say, that ultimately he didn't succeed on that front, but he almost got lucky.

- There's a nice romantic subplot with closeted teens Joey Deems (Kerry James) and Derek Baskins (Keegan Macintosh). Donald gave them some good advice. Based on the second book in the series.

- Edith's real name was Laura Whitaker and her protesting past in New York resulted in the death of a friend. 

- Donald doesn't like Indian food but didn't struggle with that Biryani during that dinner with Timmy and Andrew. Detective Bailey seems to have a new respect for Donald's methods.

- Chronology: This was mostly set in Hollis, given the focus on Dorothy and Edith.

On The Other Hand, Death made good use of its supporting cast and had some good twists with the story. There's a nice look into Donald and Timmy's relationship and I did enjoy Dorothy and Edith as a couple. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Who: "The Robot Revolution"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Peter Hoar 

The Doctor: "With both hearts, I apologise."

Belinda: "I am not one of your adventures. I am asking you, Doctor to do the right thing."

The Doctor: "I will take you home."

With so much discourse currently surrounding the show and a looming uncertainty in relation to the show's future, this opening episode kicked things off with a new companion and series arc. It kicked it off well enough.

Enter the one and only Miss Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu). During her teen years, her boyfriend Alan Budd (Jonny Green) bought her a star as a present. As gifts go, it's at least one with some thought put behind it. It's just a pity that it'll come back to haunt Belinda.

Yes, Belinda didn't get a star. She got a planet named Missbelindachandra and the robots of that planet came to collect her in the middle of the night. They also killed a cat and a certain someone got out of the way as the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) went the long way around to rescue Belinda.

Ending up on a planet named after her, Belinda quickly realised she was the planet's queen and she was going to be married off to the AI Generator whether she liked it or not. Luckily the robots couldn't hear every ninth word and Belinda soon found herself being rescued by the likes of the Doctor, Manny (Max Parker) and Sasha 55 (Evelyn Miller). Sasha however was a quick casualty during the big escape plan from Belinda's would be nuptials.

The second half of this episode has the Doctor and Belinda getting the measure of each other. Within a few moments, Belinda was quickly marked as a stark contrast to Ruby and despite her misgivings, she did seem admire the Doctor. The Doctor also seemed impressed with her willingness to challenge him.

Now the villain part would be where the episode lost a little steam. I don't mind Alan being framed as an extreme version of an Incel who got reduced to sperm and an egg but RTD has written these type of scenarios better in the past. This felt very slapdash in a way, though it did resolve the time fracture both the Doctor and Belinda experienced in the episode.

As for this series mission statement, looks like the Doctor and Belinda are going to have to go the long way around in order to get the latter home. Belinda might not want to be a companion, but right she'd got little say in the matter. What exactly is keeping the Doctor and Belinda from returning the latter home? The next seven weeks are going to be one hell of a ride in order to find out.

- Belinda's a nurse and lives with two roommates. The receptionist at her hospital previously appeared in The Church On Ruby Road.

- Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson) happened to be Belinda's next door neighbour and made sure she wasn't seen by the Doctor.

- The episode established that Mundy Flynn from Boom is a descendant of Belinda.

- Jonny Green who played Alan Budd here also plays Tyler Steele in the Big Finish Torchwood audio range. I wish RTD had brought that character in here instead.

- We can add X-Ray sheets and the non robots of Missbelindachandra having two diaphragms to noteworthy things in this episode. I also liked the Polish Polish bot.

- Chronology: May 24th 2025, which the Doctor and Belinda currently cannot return to.

The Robot Revolution was arguably a step up from last series Space Babies but it's not necessarily RTD flying on all cylinders. It's mostly strong with Belinda established nicely and great chemistry between Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu. The Incel plot with Alan could've been handled so much better though. A bit of a misfire in that regard.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Odyssey: "Hot Tub Week"

 

Written by Jessica Grasl 

Directed by Paris Barclay

Catherine (to Robert): "It'll be just me then. Nice to meet you, Bobby."

Where do I start with this episode? Because there's at least three things I genuinely enjoyed about this one and they're all worthy of attention but let's tackle the big story first.

Who's the father of Avery's baby? Well, that certainly took a turn when it was revealed that Avery wasn't pregnant to begin with. Is it really bad that I was relieved about this while actually feeling sorry for the trio? A baby would've overcomplicated the show but at the same time, there was something touching about their shared grief that genuinely tugged at the heartstrings.

If Avery wasn't pregnant, then what was going on instead? Apparently a cyst that Avery would need to get operated on in the next port and keeping with the lovely scenes this week, her talk with Robert was sweet. Robert's rather paternal relationship with Avery these last few episodes has been rather endearing.

Speaking of Robert, his baby story with Heather (who didn't appear) on the other hand went further ahead here. In fact, Robert has fatherhood so much on the brain that he imagined a younger version of himself (Jesse Johnson) talking to a younger version of his first wife, Catherine (Dianna Agron). As a Glee fan, I was happy to see Dianna Agron pop up on the show. Any chance we can get her in a contemporary role?

Back to the theme of the week, who knew that Tristan used to be a cheerleader? No-one did but he certainly had a great time in telling Max and Avery all about it while helping to get cheerleader's hair loose from the vent in the tub. Yes, there was a lot of cheers this week.

Circling back to the trio, this was the most enjoyable they've been in the second half of the season so far. Also, like with Robert, that hot tub gave us younger versions of the characters to boot. The casting seemed to be pretty spot on as well.

- Avery wasn't sporty as a teenager but of course Max had a football and baseball history.

- Tristan's been using exercise and sweet treats to stave off his alcohol dependency. I still think that's been poorly handled as a story.

- Next week we're meeting Max's twin, so double the amount of Joshua Jackson for good measure.

- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.

Hot Tub Week was a great one for the trio, for Robert's impending fatherhood and for the brief screentime given to Dianna Agron. I really, really enjoyed this one.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The World Will Tremble (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Lior Gellar

Solomon (to Michael): "On the way out tomorrow, we cut through the truck and we don't stop running."

Sometimes you watch a film that's really good, clearly earmarked as a potential award darling but for some reason, it feels like it might be left out in the cold. It probably didn't help that a certain movie twice the length with star power and a similar theme might have come out months ago.

Anyways, this movie itself focused on a very specific incident during the Holocaust with the focus on two prisoners - Solomon Wiener (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Michael Podchlebnik (Jeremy Nuemark Jones). Their story would be a crucial part in one of the darkest moments in history.

For the first half of the movie along several other men, they're forced to dig graves for the Jews that had been gassed by the Nazis, have to endure horrible working, living and eating conditions. Not to mention being used for target practice and forced to take part in a horrible "dance" to lighten the mood by a rather sadistic leader (David Kross).

When two of their fellow prisoners are killed within minutes of each other, both Solomon and Michael decide to cut their way out of a transport and escape. They intend to head to Grabow in order to seek out sanctuary and a Rabbi (Anton Lesser) with the intention of getting the world to be aware of what they've endured.

The escape scenes are intense with the pair having to steal a motorbike and get some railman coats in order to get to the Rabbi in question. By the time they do, it took Solomon breaking down before the Rabbi was truly convinced of the horror that both him and Michael had been subjected to.

The last few minutes are brutal. Yes, both Solomon and Michael's testimonies ended up making the BBC broadcast and kicked off the investigation but while Michael was able to go to a trial and eventually start a new life, the opposite happened to Solomon. His ending isn't graphically depicted but it's a brutal one that sadly did happen in real life, along with the suffering of many others. 

- Michael lost his wife Clara and two children on screen while Solomon lost his parents and four sisters offscreen and at the start of his capture. Michael also remarried and had other children.

- There's some nice performances from Michael Fox, Charlie MacGechan and Michael Epp to name a few.

- This got a limited theatrical release and will be heading to Apple TV+ this month. 

- Chronology: January 1942 in the Chełmno death camp. Solomon died in April 1942 in the Belzec death camp. We saw Michael's testimony in 1962 and footage of him in real life from 1979.

Given it's subject matter, The World Will Tremble doesn't make for light viewing. Some of the horror was implied, a lot of it was visceral in it's depiction and the lead performances from both Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jeremy Nuemark Jones are impressive.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Mickey 17 (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Bong Joon Ho

Mickey: "Our entire life is a punishment."

I'm a month late but thankfully for digital, I finally settled to see what the fuss about with this political satire. Was it too on the nose for it's own good? Or was it straight up too weird for a mainstream audience?

If I'm being honest, it's definitely both but you know, what? I don't care because this movie hit the right notes for me and a large part of that was down to Robert Parkinson himself. The man has proven to be quite the chameleon actor over the last few years.

In this movie he played a loveable loser named Mickey Barnes. A failed business with a shitty friend, Timo (Steven Yeun) saw the pair try to escape dangerous loan sharks by signing up for a program that would take them into space. For Mickey, that meant becoming an Expendable.

The job description was pretty damn apt as Mickey didn't read the fine print but let on to Niflheim expedition program recruiter, Red Hair (Holliday Grainger) that he did. Soon enough, Mickey was getting killed as often as Kenny from South Park, only for his seventeenth version to survive his encounter with the Creepers.

That survival also led to the creation of Mickey's eighteenth version and the battle between both different versions was mostly halted by their love interest and secret agent, Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackle). Then there was a near assassination attempt on corrupt politician, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo).

I'm normally a fan of Mark Ruffalo and I like that career wise, he continues to mix it up but the on the nose part of the movie would be Kenneth Marshall. In particular, the very much hated political that Ruffalo shamelessly spoofed throughout the movie. Better handled was Toni Collette as Marshall's wife, Ylfa, who gave a little more nuanced performance by comparison. Both horrible people though.

The movie has a lot to say about colonisation and none of its subtle. It's mostly well executed and the Creepers had their own intimidating but kinder leader (Anna Mouglalis) as a noted contrast to the Marshall. The ending's expected for the movie but one I thought worked well enough.

- Mickey and Timo were failing with a macaroon business. Timo also got a pilot licence and had a drug hustle on the side.

- The movie's based on the book, Mickey7 by Edward Ashton.

- There was a subplot involving both Mickeys from the book that didn't make it into the movie and if it had, it certainly would stirred an online conversation.

- Chronology: Over four years passed from Mickey and Timo leaving Earth for Niflheim. 2054.

While it's certainly an acquired taste and way too on the nose for it's own good, I really dug Mickey 17. Robert Pattinson nailed the lead roles and there's some strong supporting performances to boot. There's some genuinely laugh out loud and rather gross moments. It sucks this didn't land because it's a lot better than expected.

Rating: 8 out of 10