DCU Blog - November 2025 Edition: Super Family Expands, CCXP Time

Into the penultimate round up of DC news for the month and it's certainly circling around one particular part of the DC Universe.

James Gunn continues to give some brief hints on Man Of Tomorrow (July 9th 2027). Though not officially confirmed, it does appear that Brainiac will be the main villain for this follow up.

Superman (2025) however has made over $100 million in profit, including home releases as well. It's also being submitted for both the Golden Globes and Oscars.

Swaybox Studios held auditions for Dynamic Duo (June 30th 2028) on November 15th.

Alan Ritchson has confirmed that he's in talks for a "messier" DCU role.

Supergirl (June 26th 2026) will have a presence at CCXP from December 6th. A trailer is rumoured to be released at the event. Ferdinand Kingsley has been cast as Ruthye's father for the movie.

Filming for Clayface (September 11th 2026) has finished up. Mike Flanagan again pointed out that his script was influenced by Batman: The Animated Series.

Peacemaker Season 2 finally managed to chart on Nielson, due to the finale.

Matt Reeves has tapped Luke Hall for production design for The Batman - Part II (October 1st 2027). Casting news should be soon.

A HBO Max podcast crime series Jimmy Olsen themed spin-off is currently in the works. Skyler Gisondo will reprise the role for the show, which will have Gorilla Grodd as a central threat. The duo behind American Vandal are tackling the show.

A V For Vendetta show is also in development for HBO, though it may be an Elseworlds series. Pete Jackson will take on the show.

More shorts for Krypto have been released on YouTube. I need to catch up with them.

The DC Absolute Universe will have more crossovers next year, including Batman and Wonder Woman facing off.

HBO will air Lanterns, starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre in the latter half of 2026. Late summer release.

Netflix, Comcast/Universal and Paramount are the current bidders to acquire Warner Brothers. We should know in 2026 how this will impact DC Studios.

Brendan Fraser recently talked about his disappointment over Batgirl being unreleased. He played Firefly in that movie.

As of yet, no new development on Wonder Woman for the DCU. Hopefully something's coming very soon. 

That's it for this month. Let's hope next month closes this year out with some major news.

My Review of A Christmas Carol (1938)

 

Written by Hugo Butler

Directed by Edwin L. Marin

Christmas Present: "No! You don't like Christmas!"

Scrooge: "Yes! Yes I do! I like Christmas! I LOVE Christmas!"

Spoiler alert: This isn't the first time I've reviewed something in relation to A Christmas Carol and it might be the last time either in 2025 either. We'll see. However this version was a first time viewing for me, so there's that.

Taking on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge was Reginald Owen. While it's not my favourite version, it's still a pretty great performance nonetheless as Ebenezer was the most miserly of men in Victorian London.

The film started with him berating loyal employee Bob Cratchit (Gene Lockhart) for wanting Christmas Day off to spend with his family. On top of that, Scrooge then fired Cratchit for a harmless snowball first. Cratchit was too embarrassed to admit that he had been sacked, even though his daughter got it out of him.

Keeping with tradition, of course there were the three Ghosts. Christmas Past (Ann Rutherford) showed a time when Ebenezer was a more considerate person who was close to his sister, Fan (Elvira Stevens) as well as his early days in business.

Christmas Present (Lionel Braham) appeared to show Scrooge a look into his nephew Fred (Barry MacKay) and his fiancée Bess (Lynne Carver) enjoying their engagement party without Scrooge ruining the mood for everyone as well as a look into the Cratchit household and death for Tiny Tim (Terry Kilburn).

Christmas Yet To Come (D'Arcy Corrigan) presented Scrooge with the harshest lesson if the latter wouldn't change for the better. If course, it worked and Scrooge changed for the better and Tiny Tim didn't die. 

- Marley's Ghost was played by Leo G. Carroll. Other prominent cast members included June Lockhart, Ronald Sinclair and Forrester Harvey to name a few.

- Lionel Barrymore was originally set to start as Scrooge but had to drop out due to arthritis.

- Standout music: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Come All Ye Faithful and Silent Night, Holy Night.

- Chronology: Christmas Eve and Day in Victorian London.

You know what, for a first time, this was great. It's a short but lovely version of A Christmas Carol and I do think Reginald Owen did a great job as Scrooge. It's just lovely.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Keeper (2025)

Written by Nick Lepard 

Directed by Osgood Perkins

Liz (to Malcolm): "This fork is going in your head one way or another. Might as well taste good."

I got to say when it comes to actor/director combos, I'm not totally sure this combination of Osgood Perkins and Tatiana Maslany has been a total success so far. I knew this film was going to be a dud but I was hoping to be wrong on the matter.

With this film, Tatiana Maslany played a woman named Liz. Liz happens to be celebrating a year anniversary dating a doctor named Malcolm Westbridge (Rossif Sutherland). A nice time in a cabin seemed to be the order of the day. Anything but a nice time was had.

In the cabin alone, Liz had to encounter Malcolm's awful brother, Darren (Birkett Turton) and his girlfriend, Minka (Eden Weiss). There was also cake but it wasn't particularly good. Minka made a point of pointing that out. Liz also found out for herself that it was a bad cake. 

The cake wasn't the only problem for Liz. She had doubts about her relationship with Malcolm and the latter leaving her alone for a long while didn't help. Liz's friend Maggie (Tess Degenstein) wast shy in pointing out that something was off with Malcolm. Liz really should've listened to her friend.

As the movie went on, there was too much spooky stuff going on in the woods and mystery creatures. It wasn't too shock to learn that Malcolm was actually setting Liz up to be sacrificed and it wasn't shocking when she inevitably turned the tables on him as well. I mean, Malcolm absolutely deserved it but it wasn't shocking.

- Osgood Perkins previously worked with Tatiana Maslany on The Monkey (2025) and will again for the 2026 release of The Young People.

- Liz didn't like chocolate cake. She also thought that Malcolm was married until she realised the truth was far worse.

- The film was actually made during the writers strike by being filmed in Canada. 

- Chronology: Present day in the countryside. Malcolm and Darren are over two hundred years old.

Keeper might be one of the worst horror films I've seen this year and it's such a waste of Tatiana Maslany's talents. It's such a dull, plodding and lifeless movie with a final twist so poorly executed. Osgood Perkins really has proven to be a very hit and miss director.

Rating: 4 out of 10

My Review of Heated Rivalry: "Olympians"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney

Ilya: "Do you want to know it feels?
Shane: "How's what feel?"

Ilya: "Holding the cup."

It's nice to know the first episode wasn't a false alarm. Although shorter and not as strong, this episode also continued to depict both Ilya and Shane's relationship as unabashed in it's sexiness and this one, they were largely at odds with one another. 

The episode again jumped around with time as Shane and Ilya spent more time with each, both on and off the ice rink. Roles had been established I their relationship with Ilya as a top and Shane as a bottom. I got to say, I don't know who I envied more as yet again, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams are selling this relationship so well.

Things between Shane and Ilya were going so well, so of course something had yo emerge for conflict. In this case, it was Ilya's winning streak coming to an end during the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Ilya might be a charming asshole but he's also a very sore loser, which brought out his pettier side.

Losing was such a blow to Ilya's ego that he froze Shane out for six months, much to the latter's justified annoyance. It wasng Shane's fault that Ilya lost during the Winter Olympics but Ilya had to take it out on someone. Their reunion in Las Vegas also saw a further division between the pair.

Of course before Ilya got testy with Shane again, he agreed to give the latter something he wanted but only in his penthouse. I swear that entire scene in the penthouse leading up to their sex scene was one of the sexiest scenes I've seen this year. These two characters/actors have such great chemistry together.

In fact there's such great chemistry that Ilya turned down the chance to sleep with Svetlana's friend, Sasha (Kaden Connors). Even Shane doesn't seem to be getting anything outside of his stolen moments with Ilya. I do wonder how long that will last as Shane will likely be bearded with a woman soon.

- I thought Svetlana was Ilya's girlfriend but nope, she's definitely aware that he's gay. She left him alone with Sasha.
- Scott seems to be retired from the Montreal Metros but still met up with Shane for ice cream. 
- The Lily and Jane thing was cute but at one moment I did think Shane's teammate was going to figure it out.
- Chronology: Spring 2011 to Fall 2014. Again, we're taking in Montreal, Boston, Las Vegas, Sochi and Moscow.

Olympians rounded off a strong opening double bill for the show. The Ilya and Shane sex scenes have definitely made the show so far, along with the slow burning love between the pair of them. I'm really enjoying this show.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Heated Rivalry: "Rookies"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney 

Ilya: "Shane Hollander, will you disappoint them?"

Shane: "No."

It's impressive how this show quickly became on everyone's radar before actually being released but it's finally here. Like all streaming shows these days, you either get the whole show all at once or open with a double/triple bill. It's doubles for this one.

Focusing on the rivalry between hockey teams the Montreal Metros and Boston Raiders, this six part Canadian series was a bit about the sport in question. However it was more about two players from opposing teams being rather drawn to one another.

In fact the opening scene saw Russian hunk Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) interacting with Canadian good boy Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams). Ilya plays for the Raiders and Shane's part of the Metros. Both are depicted as the best members of their teams. The episode however was more interested in other things than hockey itself.

As the episode played out (along with multiple time jumps), both Ilya and Shane were fucking on the sly. Both men were closeted but Ilya seemed a bit more happier to take risks compared to Shane. Ilya even went as far as to end the episode by kissing Shane at a public event.

However while the kissing was nice to see, what was nicer was the actual sexiness itself. If this first episode was anything to go, then we're definitely getting more explicit stuff as the show will go on. With this one, there's blowjobs, jerking off, ass appreciation and talk of dildos. You can definitely tell that a queer man was behind the scenes of this show and I mean that in a good way.

As for the rest of the episode, there's some screen time devoted to Shane's parents - Yuna (Christina Chang) and David (Dylan Walsh) as well as older hockey player, Scott Hunter (Francois Arnaud). There's a look into Ilya's brother and father, Alexei (Slavic Rogozine) and Grigori (Yaroslav Poverlo) as well as a girlfriend of Ilya's named Svetlana (Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova) but their roles are small enough in this opening episode.

- The show is based on a book series from Rachel Reid called Game Changers. HBO Max quickly acquired the rights to this from Crave.

- Language wise, there's a mix of English, Russian and French throughout the episode.

- Shane got a Rolex sponsorship and there was talk of YouTube rabbit holes. 

- Chronology: So many months pass through the series with scenes in Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Russia.

Rookies opened up things rather nicely. Already there's excellent chemistry with Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams and there's a genuine sexiness to their scenes together. Looking forward to the rest of the show.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Freddy's Nightmares - Episodes 41-44 Reviews

And now the final batch of episodes. Sadly, it's mostly an underwhelming serving of affairs, experiments and prison time.

Episode 41: A Family Affair

Oh this was a truly dull episode. A family man had an affair with his mistress while also being at odds with the son. At some point in the episode, following the deaths of the wife and mistress, the family man ended up needing home care. Not that it mattered because he still didn't make it out of the episode alive. 4/10

Episode 42: Dust To Dust 

I didn't particularly care for the cannibal story a few episodes back but here we are with a sequel. The three cannibals from that episode were part of a support group to not eat people. Of course they ended up eating a runaway experiment and found themselves to have consumed some kind of alien organism. It got worse because each one of them ended up reduced to dust as did the scientists who kept pushing their luck. 5/10

Episode 43: Prisoner Of Love 

It's interesting that the final two episodes of this show were prison themed episodes. This one focused on two women - Violet and Brenda on death row and with a deep seated hatred of one another. Then there was Father Jarvis, who fell in love with Violet and was planning to help her escape, only for Brenda to botch things. Brenda didn't get the last laugh as she ended up suffering a similar fate to Violet and things didn't exactly go well for Father Jarvis either. 6/10

Episode 44: Life Sentence 

The last episode of the show and it's another prison episode. This time, the focus was on robber and killer, Andy and the fact that he had a lot of money stashed away. Add a corrupt warden and unwilling doctor and Andy was subjected to a lot of drugs until his mind broke and the warden got what he wanted. It's not an awful episode but it's a shame that the show ended on an average note when we could've had something that expanded upon Freddy's lore. 6/10

And that's a wrap on this show. Mostly a mixed bag with some good episodes, a few outright stinkers and a lot of mediocre ones to boot.

My Review of A Merry Little Ex-Mas (2025)

 

Written by Holly Hester

Directed by Steve Carr

Kate: "I love Christmas. Family time, the lights. It's awesome. This year, Christmas might look a little different."

It might be still November but of course, there's TV Christmas movies to be had. With Netflix, their Christmas movies aren't that too far off the usual Hallmark/Lifetime fodder and this one easily could've been a feature on one of those channels.

You've got leads with Alicia Silverstone and Oliver Hudson. They're a divorced couple named Kate and Everett. Oh wait, it's unconsciously coupling and they're also known as Betty and Al. I'll let you guess which was which.

Anyways, it's Christmas time and Kate wanted to make a career change after spending years looking after the kids and dealing with Everett's busy schedule. She had plans to spend one last Christmas in Winterlite before moving back to Boston for a job offer.

However, first was the Christmas in general. There was her teenage son Gabriel (Wilder Hudson), college bound daughter Sienna (Emily Hall) and the latter's boyfriend, Nigel (Timothy Innes). Throw in Everett's dads Daryl (Geoffrey Owens) and Mike (Derek McGrath) and that's the family side of this Christmas get together sorted.

As for everyyelse, there was the snarky Doris (Linda Kash), best friend April (Melissa Joan Hart) and then there was the alternative love interests for Kate and Everett. That was where Tess (Jameela Jamil) and Chet (Pierson Fode) factored into things.

At no point in this movie where either Tess or Chet going to remain with Everett and Kate respectively. If anything their roles served to get the divorced couple to work through their issues and get back together. Inevitably, that's exactly what happened here.

- There was a lot of references to Harry Potter and a rather pointed reference from Kate about George Clooney. Oh and The British Bake-Off.

- It was predictable but I did find it funny that Tess and Chet also ended up together by the end of the movie.

- Standout music: Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al.

- Chronology: Christmas 2025 in Winterlite.

A Merry Little Ex-Mas won't win points for originality but it's light and breezy and not too sickly sweet for its own good. I'm feeling generous, it was fine.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "29 Neibolt Street"

 

Written by Brad Caleb Kane

Directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.

Pennywise: "Duck and cover, kiddos."

And that's how you do a reveal. I've been a bit impatient in wanting to see Bill Skarsgard back at it as Pennywise but my God, that was actually worth it. What a delightfully horrifying way of bringing Pennywise to the forefront.

I should've guessed that there was something about Matty suddenly reappearing to the gang that seemed off. A gang that now added Marge into the ranks given that she and Lilly got their friendship back on track.

Anyways, the gang plus "Matty" decided to take some Benzos and head down to the sewers in order to locate Pennywise in the latest attempt to free Hank. It went about as well as expected as "Matty" morphed into Pennywise and scared the bejesus out of the kids big time. 

Don't worry, the adults weren't getting off lightly either. General Shaw managed to track the location to the episodes title and the military also learned in record time that Pennywise wasn't to be fucked with. The two characters who learned that lesson the most - Leroy Hanlon and Pauly Russo. 

The episode felt that properly the deaths from the first episode wasn't enough. In this episode, Leroy came close to killing both Charlotte and Will. He snapped out of it first time but had Pauly not sacrificed himself, Leroy would have had his son's death on his hands. 

As for the rest of the episode, there was time for Hank to escape Shawshank and for it to be revealed that Ingrid's the married white woman he's having an affair with. Oh and we got a look into Hallorann's past with his grandparents and it wasn't a bit pleasant.

- I'm glad that Marge helped clear Lilly's name. Rich clearly has a crush on her as well.

- I'm not getting any good vibes off Ingrid's husband whatsoever. He seems abusive.

- Standout music: Timi Yuro's Satan Never Sleeps.

- Chronology: A few days since the events of the previous episode.

29 Neibolt Street was the jolt needed for the show. While I'll admit there's some CGI issues in general, the handling of Pennywise was practically note perfect. What a brilliant way of bringing him out.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Doctor Who Day 2025 Round Up

I'm fully aware that it was yesterday that was Doctor Who Day with the show turning 62. 

So, did we get anything to really get excited about? Not really no.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting a lot to happen yesterday but even I was surprised with how underwhelming things felt. In terms of what we got was the following.

• A release date for the Series 10 soundtrack. After eight years, it'll be released on December 12th.
• The scripts and deleted scenes for Series 15. The interesting bit being a certain moment from The Reality War revealed.
• The cast from The War Between The Land And The Sea wishing the show a happy birthday.
• A reveal of an upcoming anthology book titled 1001 Nights In Time And Space.

And that was about it really. No hints of any involvement in Children In Need. Nothing potentially tantalising for next year's Christmas special, which definitely appears to be Russell T. Davies last one. Not even a new trailer for the spin off that's airing on BBC1 in less than a fortnight. Speaking of which.

Let's talk about The War Between The Land And The Sea, shall we? BBC1 are burning it off with two double bills and finale (December 7th-21st) and it does feel like they simply want it out of the way. From what I can tell, the focus will be on humans Vs. Sea Devils with Barclay Pierre Dupont (Russell Tovey) and Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) also forging a connection of their own. This could be a good show but it doesn't feel like the BBC have much faith in it at the moment.

Last but not least, was anyone hoping for a reunion between Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill? Well, you're getting one as the pair have teamed up for a new podcast titled The Pondcast. They'll be going over their time as Amy and Rory and one of the confirmed guests is Steven Moffat. While it feels everyone is doing a podcast at the moment, I really cannot wait to listen/watch this one. Going over one of the best eras of Doctor Who? Count me in.

The next Doctor Who blog will either be something festive related or hopefully something news related. 

My Review of Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991)

 

Written by Martin Kitrosser And Brian Yuzna

Directed by Martin Kitrosser

Sarah: "You killed Joe."

Pino: "I had to... he broke me... and even though he always fixed me... I had to make sure that this time he wouldn't hurt me again."

And I'm back on this franchise. The fourth movie veered into the strangest territory with witchcraft and a new protagonist with Kim Levitt (Neith Hunter). She's back for this one but the story ain't about her. In fact, she didn't really need to be in this one at all.

Kim didn't add anything to the movie, other than to reassure the audience she was still alive. Her role in this one fell into supporting a mother and son named Sarah (Jane Higginson) and Derek Quinn (William Thorne). The movie also began with the death of Derek's father, Tom (Van Quattro) in a grisly enough manner.

Keeping with the title of the movie, there are two villains at play here. The first being the seemingly benevolent toymaker himself, Joe Petto (Mickey Rooney) and the other being his father unusual son, Pino (Brian Bremer). In case it wasn't obvious, this one's a twisted take on Pinocchio. A very twisted take.

First of all, Joe's toys have a killer effect as we all saw in the opening scene with Tom's death by toy. Derek also suspected that something was amiss with Joe and while Kim wasn't best used as a potential ally to Sarah and Derek, at least there was one in the form of Noah Adams (Tracy Fraim).

Noah felt like there was a backstory that was meant to be explored but it's not really touched upon that. Instead it's mostly Sarah/Derek dealing with their grief and trying to stay alive from the homicidal father and son duo of the piece.

Speaking of the villains, out of the two, I do think that Pino himself was a little bit more interesting, even if the actor seemed to be trying to replicate Billy from the first movie. Pino's desperation to belong however ended up being his undoing.

- I'm guessing Larry the Larvae toy was meant to be a nod to the previous movie.

- At different points in the movie we had Noah, Joe and Pino dressed as Santa Claus.

- Ricky (Clint Howard) died in the previous movie but was alive in this one.

- Chronology: Not long since the previous movie. Kim also adopted Lonnie as well.

I wouldn't be in a rush to recommend Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker to anyone but at the same time, it was mostly okay. A lot of the ideas have been better explored elsewhere but it's diverting enough I suppose.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of The Muppets Wizard Of Oz (2005)

 

Written by Debra Frank And Steve Hayes And Tom Martin And Adam F. Goldberg

Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher

Miss Piggy/Wicked Witch Of The West: "There's only room for one diva in Oz, and that is moi!"

Having seen Wicked: For Good this week, it's put me in the mood for more explorations into the land of Oz. I had heard of The Muppets Wizard Of Oz but it was time to actually see it for myself.

Back in the 2000s, Ashanti was a fairly popular R'n'B singer and if Diana Ross could play the role of Dorothy Gale back in 1978, there was no reason why Ashanti couldn't in 2005. Spoiler alert: she's also pretty good as Dorothy.

This version of Dorothy was in Kansas, working in a diner with her Aunt Em (Queen Latifah) and Uncle Henry (David Alan Grier). She also had aspirations of being a singer, putting her into conflict with her guardians. Oh and Toto was a prawn, a development I was less fond of but whatever.

Anyways, a tornado happened and Dorothy ended up in Oz. Toto also quickly turned into Pepe the King Prawn (Bill Barretta) and soon enough, every witch that appeared was played by Miss Piggy (Eric Jacobson), Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire), Gonzo the Great (Dave Goelz) was the Tin Thing and Fozzie Bear (Eric Jacobson) was the Cowardly Lion. Yes, they made for a chaotic team.

Their mission was to get to the Wizard (Jeffrey Tambor) himself but in order to do that, they had to go through a different type of Poppy, do battle with the biker version of the Wicked Witch of the West and of course, entertain the odd celebrity cameo. Also if you've hired someone like Ashanti, of course you've got to have her sing as well. It's only fair after all.

The rest of the movie played out the same as usual - the Wizard being exposed for being a fraud, Wicked Witch melting, Scarecrow/Tin Thing/Cowardly Lion realising they already had the things they were looking for all along and Dorothy using the silver shoes to get home. If it ain't broke, right?

- There's some amusing cameos from both Kelly Osbourne and Quentin Tarantino to name but a few. The latter in particular really made the most of his screen time.

- There's a nice reference to a certain Pink Floyd song during the movie as well.

- Standout music: Kansas, When I'm with You, The Witch is in the House, Nap Time and Good Life.

- Chronology: It was definitely the 2000s in Kansas. I did laugh at the Napster joke.

I liked The Muppets Wizard Of Oz. It's not my favourite adaptation but it's fairly inoffensive and pretty funny in parts too. It's worth at least one viewing if you've got the time for it.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Wicked: For Good (2025)

 

Written by Winnie Holzman And Dana Fox

Directed by Jon M. Chu

Elphaba: "You're the only friend I've ever had."

Glinda: "And I've had so many friends... but only one that mattered."

The most anticipated sequel of the year and of course, it would be at the tail end of 2025. Given the high bar that Wicked: Part I set up, could this second half stick the landing? I actually think it did. I really do.

Things certainly changed between movies. Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) became the most hated woman in all of Oz with the likes of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) doing their best to keep it that way. They've also elevated Glinda Upland (Ariana Grande) into their official mascot for goodness.

It was a role that Glinda was a bit too happy to uphold. Despite not being able to make magic of her own, Glinda was happy to use a bubble to float over Ozians while also springing a surprise wedding on the increasingly conflicted Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey). Glinda really was living in a bubble that was about to burst.

Going back to Elphaba, it was hard for her to be seen as a villain while secretely trying to be a revolutionary as well. None of the animals trusted her and the ones that were starting to ended up turning against her thanks to the Cowardly Lion (Colman Domingo). Elphaba really had very little allies. 

Then there was her relationship with Nessarose (Marissa Bode). It had soured as the movie progressed and the latter had shown her own cruelty with her treatment of Boq (Ethan Slater). The latter in particular had a transformation put upon him that would turn him against Elphaba and Nessarose as he unwillingly became the Tin Man.

Things in the first half did move slowly but fortunately everything from Elphaba and Glinda's reunion onwards sped things up. Elphaba almost came to a truce with the wizard until his mistreatment of animals reared it's head and Fiyero choosing Elphaba over Glinda put Nessarose in danger and added Dorothy Gale (Bethany Weaver) into the mix. That and some devious spellcasting from Morrible herself.

I think we all knew the second half would have to factor Dorothy in some capacity and we got a different-ish slant on The Wizard Of Oz in between the Elphaba/Fiyero love story and the latter's transformation into the Scarecrow. The movie committed to showing as little of Dorothy as possible while also making sure that the Wicked Witch of the West ended up getting melted.

Of course, this wasn't Dorothy's movie. It was Elphaba and Glinda's movie and their friendship/love story of sorts were always going to be the highlight. In the third act we had them literally scrapping with each other while also professing their love to one another. Both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande sell it to perfection, including at least one moment that did make me cry a little.

By the end of the movie, both the Wizard and Morrible have got their just desserts, Glinda finally managed to live up to actually being good and two characters assumed dead were very much alive. More importantly and keeping with the title, everyone had been changed for good.

- Elphaba being the Wizard's daughter made it into this adaptation. The animals were forced to make the yellow brick road. The Flying Monkeys also defected to Elphaba.

- Nessarose now could fly thanks to the silver shoes. In the stage versions, they made her able to walk.

- I quite like that Tin Man and Scarecrow look like slightly upgraded versions to their 1939 counterparts.

- I was hoping this movie would recreate the Broadway and the last scene actually did. 

- Standout music: The obvious ones first - Every Day More Wicked, Thank Goodness/I Couldn't Be Happier, Wonderful, As Long As You're Mine, No Good Deed and For Good. New songs like No Place Like Home and The Girl In The Bubble have the desired effect.

- Chronology: Five years passed since the events of the first movie. Elphaba and Nessarose's father died between movies.

Wicked: For Good might be the best movie I've seen this year and while it's not as perfect as it's predecessor, it damn well hit the right spots either. All of the performances are superb but Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey really delivered with every single scene. I loved this.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

Freddy's Nightmares - Episodes 37-40 Reviews

In these batch of episodes, there's more sequel visiting to be had along with vampires, erotic phone numbers and psychological warfare.

Episode 36: Easy Come, Easy Go

Greta from earlier in the season got herself a sequel episode. Last time we left off, she had been blackmailed into a third marriage by a man who actually liked her as a person. By the time Greta grew to like him, he was dead. As was the twin brother of her second husband, whom she was also sleeping. As Greta sealed up the dead bodies, her sister came to see her. The sister married Greta's ex-boyfriend and Greta killed him when he tried to blackmail. Then Greta got herself killed by her sister. A lot really happened in that episode. 7/10

Episode 37: Prime Cut

While I'm all for the supernatural side of things to emerge in this world, I genuinely thought this was an absolutely awful way to introduce vampires. That's what we were getting with the female tracker who was terrorising the men in this episode. Or was it a cannibalism episode? All I know was that I found the episode absolutely excruciating to watch. 2/10

Episode 38: Interior Loft

One thing I've noticed about this second season was the switch in focusing on adults mostly being terrorised over teenagers by Freddy and other fucked up shit in Springwood. This episode had a former teacher live out her rage through an erotic but violent book she was writing after a recording on an 976 number went horribly wrong. If you were a man, you definitely weren't making it out of this one alive. 6/10

Episode 39: Interior Loft - Later

A sequel to the previous episode with a sleazy hunk named Art causing problems for two groups of characters at separate times in the loft apartment. The first was a sculpted and his girlfriend where faking a death went horribly wrong and the latter had Art playing two women off each other. With the latter story, it ended rather badly for Art. 6/10

Episode 40: Funhouse

Let's go back to much earlier in the season and bring back another doomed home in Springwood. Then let's throw in hunky moving man Turk into the mix and have him get caught up in the antics of two different couples. Then have the second part of the story reveal that the main players were screwing with him before killing him off for no reason, other than pure malice. It's actually a pretty good episode but Turk wasn't the brightest. 7/10

For my final blog for this show I will tackle A Family Affair, Dust To Dust, Prisoner Of Love and Life Sentence.

Space Races, Tornadoes And Serving The C Word

I did one of these about two months ago and I might slip in another before the year ends. Anyways, a lot of other things I've been watching the last few weeks.

9-1-1: I can't believe we're on to a ninth season of this show but I can also believe that ABC will bleed this show dry. Anyways the first four episodes had Athena and Hen up in space because at this point, it's not even the most ridiculous thing the show can do these days. There was Eddie losing his grandmother, May and Harry becoming regulars, Buck dealing with Bobby's absence more than Athena and Howie officially becoming captain. It's a bit of a weak start for the show.

9-1-1: Nashville: As one spin off ended, another rose in its place but I can't tell if this show will be a success story like 9-1-1: Lone Star or crash and burn like Doctor Odyssey. It's a very haphazard show so far with the opening three parter tornado story doing little to properly establish the character dynamics. Right now, it feels like a spin off for the sake of having one rather than a show that genuinely justifies it's existence.

All's Fair: Ryan Murphy might be having one of his most challenging years in a long time because not only have some of his shows gotten cancelled, his new line of shows seem to be leaving audiences rather cold. I guarantee if this show had been released a decade ago, it would've been lapped up. It's got a strong cast with Sarah Paulson, Glenn Close, Niecy Nash-Betts, Teyana Taylor and Naomi Watts and then there's Kim Kardashian. The first five episodes threw in some big guests, moments of sheer opulence and savage one liners from Paulson's venomous Carrington Lane but it's also a case of Murphy reheating past triumphs in an underwhelming way.

Big Brother UK: It's been twenty five years since the most influential reality show hit UK screens and this series was a very mixed bag. Fortunately we got a likable winner with Richard but we also had to endure unbearable people like Caroline, Sam, Nancy and George and the inconsistencies with rule breaking and often disastrous late night spin off often tested my patience with the show. It'll be back for a 2026 series but ITV2 need to make some changes if they're going to continue with the show.

Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy: For those who find Netflix's Monster series on the exploitative side of things in it's depiction of real life serial killer, Peacock has an alternative. This first season might have been about John Wayne Gacy but the emphasis was more on the lives of his victims and the trauma their families had to endure more than Gacy himself. At eight episodes, it did lag a little but it's a good alternative to it's Netflix counterpart.

Marvel Zombies: I gotta admit, this really just came and went. Aside from Daredevil: Born Again, it feels like none of the MCU shows really made much impact this year. This didn't even need to be a four part series. It could've been a 70 minute animated movie and it would've worked better. If you're a fan of Ms Marvel, Kate Bishop and Ironheart, this one's for you.

Only Murders In The Building: Season 5 hasn't been the show at its strongest but it hasn't been horrible. I do feel there's a lot of life left with the show but the Lester mystery was by far the weakest in terms of execution and eventually resolution as well. I mean the killer was someone we barely knew and therefore it was harder to care about them being caught. Saying that, I am looking forward to seeing what things will be like next season when Charles, Oliver and Mabel head to London.

• The fourth season of Bridgerton will be released from January 29th and February 26th respectively on Netflix.
• Stranger Things Season 5 will be released on Netflix from November 26th, December 25th and December 31st.
• Peacock have cancelled Poker Face after two seasons but have renewed Twisted Metal for a third season.
• Fallout Season 2 will premiere on Amazon Prime from December 17th.
• The BBC have renewed both Line Of Duty and Doctor Foster for seventh and third seasons respectively.
• The Sophie Turner starring series, Steal will premiere on Amazon Prime from January 21st.
• FX have cancelled English Teacher after two seasons.
• Jason Momoa has signed on for another Apple TV series called Nomad.
• Grotesquerie has been rumoured to be cancelled after one season by FX.
• Season 2 of The Night Manager will be released on Amazon Prime from January 11th.
• The eighth and final season of Outlander will air on Starz from March 6th.
• Amazon Prime have ordered Escorted to series, which will be written, produced and star Brett Goldstein.
• FX have renewed Alien: Earth for a second season.

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "The Great Swirling Apparatus Of Our Planet's Function"

 

Written by Helen Shang

Directed by Andrew Bernstein 

Hallorann (to Taniel): "What they want me to do to you. It's not going to be pleasant."

Now we're at the halfway point of this show, it's definitely time for Bill Skarsgard to show up and wreck proper havoc on the Derry residents. I'm hoping this will be the last episode not to feature him.

Following the events of the previous episode, Lilly along with Ronnie, Will and Rich tried to show their photographs to Bowers in order to free Hank. Sadly the photos weren't enough to get Bowers on side. That guy really does want to see Hank sent to Shawshank, doesn't he?

Anyways, the photos did get discovered by Charlotte with Will having to fill her in on everything. Charlotte took it upon herself to strongarm Bowers into letting her visit Hank and the latter confessed to an affair with a married white woman. Needless to say that was something that Hank didn't want to confess to Bowers to for sadly good reasons.

As for the kids, Will's fishing trip with own father led to another creepy encounter in the water and then there was Marge. I actually had to look away during that eye scene, it was genuinely that horrifying to watch. On a frustrating note, I also didn't like that everyone assumed that Lilly attacked her when we know what really happened to her.

Getting to the root of the episode, I'm not loving the military subplot and I really hate that General Shaw's stupid enough to think that having Hallorann as an ace up his sleeve will result in being able to control Pennywise. He's going to end up getting a lot of people killed in the second half of the season.

Saying that, I actually do think Chris Chalk better be up for some award love in the next twelve months. He's doing amazing stuff as Hallorann and the scene with him invading the mind of poor Taniel (Joshua Odjick) at least provided a nice origin story for what's been terrorising Derry all these years.

- Will definitely has it bad for Ronnie as both his parents now seem to be aware of. 

- Marge really was going to go ahead and let those mean girls humiliate Lilly. This episode also revealed that Madeleine Stowe's character is called Ingrid. Ingrid talked about missing kids in the 1930s.

- Standout music: Ray Charles What I'd Say and Bo Diddley's You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Great Swirling Apparatus Of Our Planet's Function, I'll admit that's a rather cool title for the show itself. The episode was good, largely for the goriness of Marge's eye scene and everything involving Hallorann.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The History Of Sound (2025)

 

Written by Ben Shattuck

Directed by Oliver Hermanus

Lionel (to David): "Write. Send chocolate. Don't die."

I really do hate staggered releases for movies. This was released in US theatres back in September, popped up on Mubi this month but UK/Irish audiences have to wait until January 23rd to see it. I decided that I wasn't waiting that long.

Based on a short story by the writer of this movie, we had a lovely story between two men and because it's not a contemporary one, it fell into the realms of tragedy. One died, one survived, both tried to live heterosexual lives and so on. You get the gist.

Our main character would be Lionel Worthing (Paul Mescal). He had an unique relationship with music and sound and his love for both put him in the cross hairs of fellow music student, David White (Josh O'Connor). It didn't take the pair long to bond over their love of music and their physical attraction to one another either.

In fact we got a nice period of time where the two enjoyed collaborating both musically and sexually before David got called to war and Lionel returned to help his parents (Molly Price and Raphael Sbarge) before his father died. Lionel's relationship with his mother seemed more testing than the ones he had with his father and grandfather respectively.

Of course the best part of the two of the movie was Lionel and David reuniting. The latter needed the former to go to places to meet people and record songs. This plot introduced characters like Thankful Mary Swain (Briana Middleton) but it also highlighted the gap between Lionel and David as well.

The second half of the movie separated the pair with Lionel having furthered his music career in both Rome and Oxford and even being engaged to Clarissa Roux (Emma Canning). Fortunately it was an engagement that didn't last as Lionel did the right thing and ended it with her.

As for David, he married a woman named Belle Sinclair (Hadley Robinson) but killed himself due to shell shock from the war. Belle knew about Lionel and David and she made sure that the former knew as well before he took a visit to the Lake District.

The end of the movie then focused on an older Lionel (Chris Cooper) promoting his latest book on radio and being reunited with the cylinder's of his time with David. David's last recording in particular did end this movie on a rather poignant note.

- This movie marked Paul Mescal taking on an executive producer role. It's very much his film to be fair.

- I found the spitting scene with Lionel and David funny more than anything else. At least we got a few sex and kissing scenes between the two of them.

- Standout music: For it's sheer significance, the use of Silver Dagger as sung by Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor at different points in the film.

- Chronology: 1910 to 1980, taking in places such as Kentucky, Boston, Maine, Rome, Oxford and the Lake District.

I can see why The History Of Sound might feel like a disappointment but for the most part, I did like it. There's a few tropes that I do think gay cinema, especially historical ones do need to move away from. Saying that, both Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor did help to elevate the material and gave their all here.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Plainclothes (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Carmen Emmi 

Lucas (to his mother): "It wasn't dad's letter, it's mine."

I've been wanting to see this movie for a bit now and I got to seeing it late last night. Theres a few gay themed movies that have been released the last two months I am determined to see before the year's out. This was one of them.

Tom Blyth has had something of an interesting career with his biggest role to date being in a prequel for The Hunger Games. In this movie, he's playing an undercover named Lucas Brennan. Lucas's assignment was entrapping gay men for public acts of indecency. Lucas was also revealed to be a closeted gay man himself.

Alternating between flashbacks and a chaotic New Year's Eve party at his mother, Marie's (Maria Dizzia) house, following the death of his father, Gus. It's a party that no-one will forget anytime soon because Lucas got into a physical altercation with his asshole uncle, Paul (Gabe Fazio) and outed him in order to preserve his father's memory.

Getting back to the flashbacks, Lucas fell in love with a closeted reverend named Andrew Waters (Russell Tovey). Lucas fell hard for Andrew, even protecting him from getting outed by the police but at the same time, Andrew might have been outed to his family. 

There's some nice sex scenes between Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey and both actors have nice chemistry with one another but Lucas and Andrew are a different kind of doomed. Lucas at least quit his job and came out to his family. He took the kind of steps that Andrew refused to do for himself.

Then again, coming out wasn't also a choice for Lucas. A missing letter had Paul and Marie mistake Gus for being gay and Paul's new girlfriend seemed to have an inkling about Lucas as well. Not to mention Lucas's former girlfriend, Emily (Amy Forsyth) definitely knew he was. Lucas really did have to come out and he did it very dramatically.

- There's a supporting role from Christian Cooke as Lucas's work colleague, Ron. Lucas was also replaced by Jeff (Darius Fraser).

- We can thank Tom Blyth for Russell Tovey's casting as he suggested him to director Carmen Emmi.

- Standout music: Emily Wells My San Francisco.

- Chronology: March to December 1997, New York. Lucas is from Syracuse while Andrew's from San Francisco.

Plainclothes was something of a mixed bag, movie. On the plus side, the chemistry and performances from Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey were spot on but it's also disappointing with how Lucas and Andrew ended up as well. The camcorder use in certain scenes did jar a little bit but it's still a good watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Kiss Of The Spider Woman (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Bill Condon

Valentin: "I'm sorry to break the news but nobody sings in real life."

Luis: "Well, maybe they should."

There are times when a movie comes out and bombs so badly that you have to watch to see if it's that bad. Then you find out it's actually, which made the fact that it bombed even more mystifying. This would be such a movie.

Okay, I can think of a few reasons for it's box office failure. It's very political in a climate where audiences are vastly preferring less of that, it's very queer themed and let's be honest, I'm not sure October was the right month to release such a movie.

Now let's gets to the positives because there's plenty of them Tobe had. The biggest one being Tonatiuh. Cast in the role of informer Luis Molina, he's placed in a cell with political prisoner Valentin Arregui (Diego Luna) to uncover some vital information. Needless to say, it's not an easy task for Luis.

Mainly because both Luis and Valentin are like chalk and cheese. One's a proud and flamboyant gay man with a traditional mindset towards women and the other's a straight man with a girlfriend named Marta (Josefina Scaglione) and a more modern mindset towards women. The latter's also not a fan of musicals, which posed another challenge for Luis.

Throughout the movie, Luis regaled Valentin with the story called The Kiss Of The Spider Woman. It was mixed in with other tales, had a love quadrangle of sorts involving Kendell Nesbitt (Tonatiuh), Armando (Diego Luna) and in dual roles, there was Jennifer Lopez as both Ingrid Luna and Aurora. Oh and she was the Spider Woman, who unsurprisingly symbolised death. Her kiss was inevitable.

The musical numbers popped on-screen as the growing closeness between both Luis and Valentin intensified and the Warden (Bruno Bichir) tried to drive a wedge between the pair of them. On the plus side, we got a lovely and tender romance between Luis and Valentin but also one mired in tragedy when Luis's freedom came at a horrible price.

- I agreed with a lot of the things that Luis said but dissing Meryl Streep might have been a step too far.

- This isn't the first attempt of a live action version of this movie. There was another that came out in 1985.

- Standout music: Her Name Is Aurora, I Will Dance Alone, An Everyday Man, I Do Miracles, Anything For Him and Kiss Of The Spider Woman.

- Chronology: May to October 1983 at the tail end of the Dirty War in Argentina.

Kiss Of The Spider Woman definitely deserved better as a movie. It's a genuinely good movie with excellent performances from Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna. However it's also a brilliant showcase for Tonatiuh, who absolutely stole the show here. He gave one of the most charismatic performances this year. I'd actually recommend seeing this while I find the 1985 version.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Freddy's Nightmares - Episodes 31-35 Reviews

For this batch of episodes, there's a few sequels, a change in opening introduction and another look into Freddy's past.

Episode 31: Monkey Dreams 

As usual, a story of two halves. The first part focused on a gambling addict lab researcher. He needed to finish his work before his debt called in and kept having nightmares about his sister being killed. The second half focused on his co-worker wanting to save a chimpanzee from another researcher's treatment of the primate. Loses points for that ending. 6/10.

Episode 32: Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

Remember the evil girl from two episodes ago? Well, she's become a teenager, her father's remarried and had a child and they've locked her in the basement. Of course the evil girl managed to get out of the basement and take over the life of the babysitter she put in the basement in place of her. It's actually a pretty decent episode where evil won out as our villain protagonist decided to get back at her family. 7/10

Episode 33: Dreams That Kill

Keeping with sequels, anyone fancy another round of Springwood Confidential? New host Charlie Nichells isn't the nicest of men and he wanted to kill the "Dreams That Kill" segment when Freddy threatened him in his dreams. Then he actually died and an experimental brain matter transplantation surgery on a young man ended up being a disaster for everyone, including the surgeon. I liked this one. 7/10

Episode 34: It's My Party And You'll Die If I Want You To

The title alone might be my favourite for an episode of this show yet. Anyways you've got that Oliver guy from earlier in the season factoring into both stories and not dying. The first half focused on a fake psychic being possessed by Freddy and going on a killing spree. The second half focused on a twenty year high school reunion, which also introduced a woman who spurned Freddy for the Prom. Needless to say, Freddy's reunion with the woman didn't end well for her. 8/10

Episode 35: What You Don't Know Can Kill You

Something of a weak episode, more in execution than premise. A pervy psychiatrist was using hypnotherapy to sexually assault his female clients, only for one of them to remember what he had done along with a co-worker willing to turn him in. The psychiatrist hypnotized a man who wanted to quit smoking in order to silence them. The man was dyslexic and that ended up being a problem for the psychiatrist. The second half then focused on the man having his face surgically altered, only for his new look to resemble a snitching mobster. Again, the ideas were great but the execution didn't land. 6/10

Next blog I'll tackle Easy Come, Easy Go, Prime Cut, Interior Loft, Interior Loft - Later and Funhouse.