My Review of Trading Places (1983)

 

Written by Timothy Harris And Herschel Weingrod

Directed by John Landis

Louis: "Listen, do you have any better ideas?"

Billy Ray: "Yeah. You know, it occurs to me that the best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people."

Coleman: "You have to admit, sir, you didn't like it yourself a bit."

I'm still on a Christmas movie catch up and I have to admit that I've never watched all of this movie in one sitting. I've seen bits over the years but last night, I decided to watch the movie in it's entirety. I'm glad I did.

It's a movie with a straightforward concept. Take two very different men. In this case, a street hustler named Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) and a commodities banker named Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) and show what would happen if their lives were reversed.

That was the idea of Louis's bosses - brother duo, Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer Duke (Don Ameche). They had a bet that both Billy and Louis would fall into their preconceived notions of what would happen if things were different for each other. It was an experiment that almost worked. Until it didn't.

For Billy, getting to live in Louis's house with the latter's butler, Coleman (Denholm Elliott) and working Louis's job certainly has it's advantages. It turned out that Billy's quite shrewd on the stock market, much to the annoyance of the Duke brothers. Both of them showed their racist selves pretty quickly.

On the other hand, being poor didn't quite suit Louis. He lost his job, home, annoying fiancée Penelope (Kristin Holby) but on the other hand, he did gain a friend in Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis). Actually it was more than that as Louis and Ophelia became a couple by the end of the movie.

Having Louis, Ophelia and Billy team up to get back at the Duke brothers definitely had the type of comic mishaps you couldn't get away with today. Those scenes did have me laughing out loud and it was satisfying watching the Dukes lose everything.

- There's minor roles for Ron Taylor, J.T. Turner and Giancarlo Esposito in this movie along with Avon Long.

- At the time, there was hesitation in casting both Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis in this movie but fortunately we got both.

- Standout music: Sylvester's Do You Wanna Funk and The Silhouettes Get A Job.

- Chronology: 1980s New York during the Christmas season.

Now that I've properly watched it, I got to say that I really liked Trading Places. It's not very Christmassy as other movies I e watched this month but it's certainly enjoyable. Both Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy are on terrific form.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Mike P. Nelson

Billy (to various victims): "Naughty."

My journey ending towards this horror franchise continued with the latest instalment, released in theatres last week. I can't believe I'm about to say but I actually liked this one. I'm being serious.

The movie opened with a young Billy Chapman (Logan Sawyer) witnessing the death of his parents by a homicidal Santa Claus. Years later and now played by Rohan Campbell, Billy's taken on the killer mantle himself, albeit with a twist.

For some reason, this movie wasn't interested in Billy being a villain but instead, it went down the Dexter (2006-2013) route into making him a rather sympathetic antihero. He's even got a "dark passenger" of sorts named Charlie (Mark Acheson) to make sure that Billy only kills deserving victims. 

In terms of changes, I think this worked well to the movie's direction. Ending up in a small town named Hackett, Billy ended up working in a gift store run by Mr. Sims (David Lawrence Brown) and fell in love with the latter's daughter, Pamela (Ruby Modine). Pamela had a bit of a dark side of her own and an unlikeable ex-boyfriend named Max (David Tomlinson).

Throughout the movie, we got to see Billy and Pamela's relationship development rather nicely. We also got to see Billy kill some horrible people, including an entire party of Nazis. At no point are we meant to not root for Billy. 

There's also a subplot involving a serial child kidnapper named the Snatcher that had Billy and Pamela working together. Again, this might be the most sympathetic version of Billy we're ever going to get and while the ending was predictable, I did find it satisfying enough.

- Billy's parents murdered his grandfather before they were killed themselves. Pamela could later "hear" Billy after his death. His bloody advent calendar was an interesting thing to have.

- There's some Easter Eggs to past movies in this franchise as well as Black Christmas (1974).

- Standout music: Kandy Korn's Saint Bitchless.

- Chronology: Billy's parents died when he was eight. He was in his twenties during this movie.

This has never been the strongest of horror franchises but I genuinely liked this version of Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025). Rohan Campbell turned out to be a great choice for Billy Chapman and this modern take worked a treat.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Heated Rivalry: "I'll Believe In Anything"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney 

Ilya (to Shane): "I'm coming to the cottage."

Wow, what a hell of an episode. I can only imagine for book fans what it must have been to see the events of this episode play out onscreen. As a non book fan, I genuinely think this topped Hunter as my favourite episode.

That's twice this season that Scott and Kip have pushed the show into a positive. The exploration of their love story was incredible but a win for Scott having him out his relationship with Kip so publicly. Yes, it veered into fantasy wish fulfilment territory but it was so well handled.

Especially when you consider that Scott and Kip only appeared at the end while Shane and Ilya were recovering from their own injuries. Scott and Kip really are the bar that have been set for Shane and Ilya. Will they make their relationship public in the finale? We'll see.

Things got a lot more emotional for the two with the more steamy of scenes being parked in favour for it. In this case, that's not a criticism. It was nice to see both men being vulnerable with one another. Shane admitted he had real feelings for Ilya and Ilya also had to cope with the loss of his father.

There's a beautiful but long conversation on the phone between Shane and Ilya with the latter spoke Russian throughout. It was a great way for Ilya to offload his issues and for Shane to be a positive sounding board for him.

Then there's the cottage. It's the title of the finale and Shane invited Ilya to spend time there, which the latter was reluctant in doing so. Of course with the ending of this episode, Ilya had a change of heart on the matter.

- Shane's coming out scene with Rose was beautifully handled. Every gay guy deserves a friend like Rose. 

- Shane's mother might know her stuff about hockey but she definitely didn't see the Scott/Kip kiss coming a mile off.

- UK/Irish viewers will be able to watch this show from January 10th. 

- Chronology: Late 2016 to May 2017. Boston, Moscow and Montreal.

I'll Believe In Anything was absolutely brilliant. Longer than earlier episode (though still under an hour), this was a great culmination in Scott/Kip's story and a brilliant way to really move things forward with Shane/Ilya.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

 

Written by Burny Mattinson And Tony L. Marino And Ed Gombert And Don Griffith And Alan Young And Alan Dinehart

Directed by Burny Mattinson

Marley: "Tonight, you will be visited by three spirits. Listen to 'em. Do what they say, or your chains will be heavier than mine. Farewell, Ebenezer. Farewell..."

I had to get in at least one more version of A Christmas Carol in before the big event next week and this popped up on my social media feeds due to it's anniversary this week. It's been forty two years.

Now we all know the story but let's have the Disney version. In this one we get Scrooge McDuck (Alan Young) as Ebenezer Scrooge and it's true to form. He's not particularly enthusiastic about Christmas and wasn't best thrilled that his long suffering employee Bob Cratchit (Wayne Allwine) aka Mickey Mouse wanted time off for Christmas Day. 

On top of that, Scrooge also had a way of rationalising not giving money to the poor and being openly scornful of his cheery nephew, Fred (Clarence Nash) aka Donald Duck. The only person that Scrooge seemed to admire was his deceased partner, Jacob Marley (Hal Smith) aka Goofy. There's a lesson to be learned from the former Jacob Marley as Scrooge was about to find out.

The lesson came in the form of three Ghosts - Christmas Past/Jiminy Cricket (Eddie O'Carroll), Christmas Present/Willie the Giant (Will Ryan) and of course, Christmas Future/Pete (Will Ryan). This meant getting glimpses of Scrooge's past, including a lost love named Isabelle/Daisy Duck (Patricia Parris), the potential death of Tiny Tim (Dick Billingsley) and his own demise.

Of course it did end as these adaptations normally do. Scrooge had a change of heart, rewarded the poor while promoting Bob Cratchit and giving toys to Tiny Tim and his siblings. It's a very sweet ending to a rather brisk adaptation of the most popular Christmas story.

- Minnie Mouse appeared as Mrs Cratchit while the Weasels were gravediggers. Ratty and Moley collected for the poor.

- This was released with a reissue of The Rescuers (1977).

- Standout music: Oh, What A Merry Christmas Day used at the start and end of the film.

- Chronology: 1800s Christmas Eve and Day. 

It's been a long while since I've seen Mickey's Christmas Carol but for a movie that's shorter than half an hour, it's a lot of fun. Great use of the characters, some funny lines and a heartwarming ending.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Cinderella (1950)

 

Written by William Peet And Ted Sears And Homer Brightman And Kenneth Anderson And Erdman Penner And Winston Hibler And Harry Reeves And Joe Rinaldi

Directed by Wilfred Jackson And Hamilton Luske And Clyde Geronimi

Fairy Godmother: "Oh, now, now, now, now, now, just a minute. You must understand, my dear: On the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before."

Cinderella: "Oh, I understand, but... it's more than I ever hoped for."

There are two reasons why I'm now reviewing this movie. First of all, it's turned seventy five this year and secondly, the upcoming season of Bridgerton will be very influenced by this story. There's also the fact that I happen to like it as well.

One of the earliest Disney movies that I watched as a child, Cinderella focused on the titular character (Ilene Woods) who lost both her parents and got made into being an unpaid skivvy for her mean spirited stepmother, Lady Tremaine (Eleanor Audley) and petty stepsisters, Drizella (Rhoda Williams) and Anastasia (Lucille Bliss).

Between the three of them, Cinderella's pretty keeping the house barely together but on the other, her best friends are mice and she did manage to keep them safe from Tremaine's spoiled cat, Lucifer. In return, they also help to create a nice dress for her.

A dress I should point out that Tremaine manipulated her awful daughter's into tearing to pieces, just so Cinderella couldn't go to the ball and meet Prince Charming (William Edward Phipps). Luckily there's a Fairy Godmother (Verna Felton) on hand to make sure that Cinderella could go to the ball.

Yes, Cinderella got a very nice dress, horses and a pumpkin carriage. She also got to meet Prince Charming and fall in love with him. She also had midnight working against and left a glass slipper behind. At least the prince had something to go on in order to find her.

It's almost a silly way as the Prince should have been able to recognise her but it was an amusing plot to have Tremaine try and fail to marry off one of her daughters. Of course Cinderella ended the movie going from servant to princess. 

- There are two animated sequels and a live action remake that was released in 2015. I'll tackle them all next year.

- Apparently this film took six years to make and it has about eight writers and three directors. I'm surprised it turned out so well.

- Standout music: A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and So This Is Love.

- Chronology: It's based on Charles Perrault's 1697 tale.

Cinderella might not pass a certain test but it's a delightful Disney movie with some good songs, helpful mice and a mostly helpful Fairy Godmother. Is it in my Top 10 Disney movies? No, but it's certainly a good watch nonetheless.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "Winter Fire"

 

Written by Jason Fuchs 

Directed by Andy Muschietti 

Ingrid (to Beverly): "You know what they say about Derry. No one whoever dies here ever really dies."

And that's how you stick the landing. What a finale. All the big stories and themes coming to a satisfactory conclusion and more linkage to the movies themselves. All in the space of 68 minutes. I loved this episode.

Last week, Pennywise abducted Will and this week he went one step further and took the majority of the kids from Derry. This meant Lilly, Ronnie and Marge had to team up with the dagger to stop Pennywise while Leroy and Hallorann also went against General Shaw and even each other to an extent.

I can see why Hallorann wasn't keen to get involved considering the shit he's been through but that's where having Charlotte and Rose turned out to be of use. Both were able to get through to him better than Leroy and as the only responsible adults (plus Hank), they also tried to step up to save the day.

As for the irresponsible adult, damn that idiot General Shaw. His brazen arrogance and stupidity was the reason Pennywise got free in the first place. Shaw was daft enough to believe that he could control Pennywise and found out in record time just how wrong he was. Unlike Ingrid, who was misguided, Shaw knew exactly what he was doing and he got the most deserved comeuppance for it.

As for Pennywise. He was vicious, he was cruel and wasn't afraid to drop spoilers at random to Marge when he wasn't using his Dead Lights. He also went up against the wrong group of kids and got put to sleep. Then again, he's got twenty seven years to plot his revenge.

Pennywise's defeat closed the chapter for these kids. Marge now knows she's got a son and told Lilly about Pennywise's relationship with time. The Hanlons got to take over Rose's duties of guarding the cage while Ronnie and Hank get to escape Derry. Someone had to get out of town and it made the most sense for it to be Ronnie and Hank.

- Yes, Marge was revealed to be the mother of Ritchie Tozier from the IT movies. Hallorann decided to check into a hotel. 

- Speaking of those movies, it was nice to see both Sophia Lillis and Joan Gregson reprise there roles as Beverly Marsh and the older Ingrid respectively.

- Standout music: Max Hansen's Det er det skønneste jeg ved.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Winter Fire really was the perfect way to end this series. At the same time, I'm hoping that Andy Muschietti will get to have the second and third seasons that he wants for this show. An absolutely brilliant ending all round.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The Witch Of The Waterfall"

 

Written by Pete McTighe 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Barclay (to Salt): "You'll never swim alone."

After that rather lagging middle episode, this was something of an improvement. The deaths from before held some proper weight, baddies felt consequences (bye, bye Spears) and war was about to break. Oh and two characters got a lot closer.

The two characters of course being Barclay and Salt. Yes, this interspecies romance was telegraphed months ago and while Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw give it their best, something felt a bit off here. Mostly with Salt.

I feel like the character's personality almost shifted a bit too quickly and her wonders at the surface world felt almost too childlike at times. Then there's the off screen sex between her and Barclay and some attempts of flirty wordplay. It kind of worked but kind of didn't either. 

I also felt that Barclay and Salt who spent most of the episode off grid after both of them "betrayed" their parties were a bit too easily caught. Of course enlisting Barbara and Kirby would have the British army catching up with them. On the other hand, Barclay got captured, Salt went back into the water and Kate showed a darker side.

Jemma Redgrave definitely gave the best performance of the episode. Kate's grief for Ibrahim was actually affecting and she had some rather nice scenes with Shirley. She also had some tense moments with Homo Aqua's second ambassador, Tide (Samuel Oatley) and he was more keen on war than Salt happened to be.

With one episode left to go, I'm not sure how they're going to properly resolve all of this. Homo Aqua absolutely want a war and humanity certainly want one too. I feel like Barclay and Salt's love story will not have a happy ending either as there's likely going to be something that will sever them for good.

- Salt admitted that her kind's punishment for betrayal to swim alone forever. She alluded to Barclay's ears as fins and him tasting like her namesake.

- Tide mentioned that Homo Aqua can use rust and water in the air to mess with humanity if they don't follow the five year demand. Samuel Oatley previously played Tzim Sha in the eleventh series of Doctor Who.

- Ibrahim's killer was dealt with off screen, Kirby had a secret phone, Morris Gibbons was mentioned and Kate has a daughter living in Dubai.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Witch Of The Waterfall wasn't without it's problems but I liked it more than the previous episode. The aftermath of that death worked and there's something chaotic and messy about that Barclay/Salt hook up, though if this show was Torchwood, more potential would've been explored.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "The Deep"

 

Written by Pete McTighe 

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Salt (to Barclay): "We could make a difference, you and I. End the conflict between our species before it's too late."

Now here was an episode where the meaning "treading water" would be a totally appropriate thing to say. Until the last five minutes that's exactly what this episode was doing. There's almost a tonal whiplash.

Let's cut to the biggest shocker of the episode - the death of Colonel Ibrahim. This episode so wanted to land a death as gutting as Ianto Jones from Torchwood: Children Of Earth episode Day Four. Sadly, it just didn't land for me.

I will give both Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient their dues. They both tried their hardest to sell the moment and it was certainly a way to end this episode. However, it's just a painful reminder of how barely development both Kate and Ibrahim have been as characters. This should've felt devastating but it didn't and I felt for Kate. 

Ibrahim could've been a great character and he certainly had a likeable quality about him but we barely knew the guy. We were barely given a reason to invest in him and Kate as a couple. Watching the episode a second time and it still just didn't hit me like it should've. I hate that for me.

As for the rest of the episode, it felt an eternity for Barclay, General Pierce and other ambassadors to actually plummet the depths of the ocean for the next meeting with Homo Aqua. In fact it took up way too much time though it did build up Ted Campbell (William Gaminara) as a character.

Barclay and Salt's continued to build on their connection during the aquatic meeting with the latter's people. Just when things looked like they were going well, Ted revealed himself to be a traitor and people died underwater. Except for Barclay, who Salt decided to rescue at the expense of her own species. More on that in the review for the next episode.

- Barclay talked about nursing his mother through cancer. People online think he's a traitor, useless and a bootlicker to name a few choice insults.

- The cabinet meeting scenes with Kate, Sir Keith Spears and the Prime Minister really lag. Those type of scenes were better handled sixteen years ago on another spin-off I mentioned.

- I think we actually saw a glimpse of the original Sea Devils during that meeting but they were badly lit.

- Chronology: A few days seem to have passed since the events of the previous episode.

I really wanted to like this episode but I have to admit that The Deep was by far the weakest one so far. It just lagged too much, the Severance strand could've been handled better and that big death just didn't have the impact it should've. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

 

Written by Charles S. Haas

Directed by Joe Dante

Kate (re Gizmo): "What happened to him?"

Billy: "I dunno. I guess they pushed him too far."

Looking at my blog, I'm surprised that I reviewed Gremlins (1984) nearly a decade ago. I could've sworn it wasn't as long ago but here we are. Then there's this sequel. I know, I know but a negative isn't what to expect here.

I can't really give a negative because I actually like this sequel. Probably a lot more than most people do and I am at peace with that. I just think it's rather neat. Does it match the brilliance of the first movie? Of course not, but I have fun with it.

Taking place some years after the first movie, Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) and his fiancée, Kate Beringer, (Phoebe Cates) have now relocated to New York and working in the same building. Billy gets to design buildings while Kate's a tour guide. Billy's also got the unwanted advance of co-worker, Marla Bloodstone (Haviland Morris), which sparked a rivalry with Kate.

Of course this ain't much compared to the return of Gizmo (Howie Mandel). He was brought to Clamp Centre to be experimented on by scientists. It did mean reuniting with Billy and Kate but yet again, it also meant the creation of more evil Mogwai, in particular characters like the Intelligent Gremlin (Tony Randall), Mohawk (Frank Weller) and the rather amorous, Greta. The latter in particular had a thing for security chief, Frank Forster (Robert Picardo).

There's a fun supporting role for John Glover as Daniel Clamp along with the return of Billy's neighbours, Murray (Dick Miller) and Sheila Futterman (Jackie Joseph), an amusing team up with Kate and Marla and unlike the first movie, at least Gizmo got to stay with Billy this time. That in itself certainly cemented a spot in my heart for this sequel.

- I loved Christopher Lee popping up as an evil scientist along with the Looney Tunes bits. There's a good few cameos to keep an eye out.

- Joe Dante took some convincing to do this sequel. He really didn't want to do one.

- Standout music: Fats Domino I'm Ready and Jeff Beck's Sling Shot.

- Chronology: A few years since the first movie and set in New York.

There's a lot of fun to be had with Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It's a mad sequel, delightfully satirical and didn't repeat the first movie too much. I cannot bring myself to dislike this, even a tad. It's too much fun.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Jingle All The Way (1996)

 

Written by Randy Kornfield

Directed by Brian Levant

Howard: "I couldn't find the kid a doll. Now, does that make me a bad father? No. But yelling at him for no good reason? Now, that makes me a bad father."

Myron: "Look, we get one chance a year to prove we're not screw-ups, and what do we do? We screw it up!"

I remember this was a movie that I saw in the cinema when I was younger and had no idea at the time that it had such a poor reception. I always thought it was a pretty fun Christmas movie but oh well.

The 1990s were certainly a time for Arnold Schwarzenegger to flex his comedic skills as an actor and he was a few months away from his take on Mr Freeze in Batman & Robin. This movie went for something of a much straighter role for Arnie.

In this movie, Schwarzenegger took on the role of Howard Langston. He's a workaholic mattress salesman who's kind of been ignoring his wife Liz (Rita Wilson) and son Jamie (Jake Lloyd). It's much worse with the latter as Jamie has given up on having any trust in his father. Howard was determined to make up for that.

The way for Howard to do that was simple - buying the right toy for his son at the right time. The toy being a Turbo Man Doll but Howard made the Cardinal error of leaving it to the very last minute and spent the movie going on a mad dash to get one for his son. This also meant striking up a rivalry with postal worker Myron Larabee (Sinbad). What turned into a friendly competition got vicious really fast.

There was a lot of fun to be had with both Howard and Myron trying their hardest to get that doll, ultimately bringing out the worst in each other. At one point, Howard even tried to steal one from his annoying next door neighbour Ted Maitlin (Phil Hartman). Honestly I didn't blame him for attempting that given how irritating Ted was as a character.

Saying that, getting to be Turbo Man at a parade was certainly a way of Howard to get the toy and get back into Jamie's good books. There was also a lesson that Jamie learned when he realised that Myron wanted the toy for his kid more than he wanted it. Again, why was this movie so disliked?

- This was meant to be a commentary on the hype that certain toys have at Christmas. 

- A post credit scene showed that Howard had forgotten to get Liz a gift.

- Standout music: Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, Back Door Santa and Jingle Bells Rock.

- Chronology: Minneapolis during the Christmas season.

I gotta say this - I really like Jingle All The Way. I liked it when I first saw it as a child and I still like it a lot as an adult. It's a lot of daft fun and there's a good back and forth between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Silent Night (2012)

 

Written by Jayson Rothwell

Directed by Steven C. Miller

Sheriff Cooper (to Aubrey): "Don't put avacado on the burger!"

With the latest remake of the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise currently in theatres, it was time to check out the first attempt of a remake from 2012. The fact that this was called Silent Night (2012) was telling in itself.

This doesn't feel like a remake whatsoever. Aside from the killer dressed as Santa, this felt like a standalone Christmas horror movie and a rather bad one at that. This Santa's nastier than the Grinch and Krampus combined.

Things started with Deputy Kevin Jordan (Brendan Fehr) and his mistress Alana Roach (Ali Tataryn) being horribly killed by the killer Santa. Their deaths sparked off an investigation in the small town, led by Sheriff James Cooper (Malcolm McDowell) but he's not quite up to the task of actually taking out a serial killing Santa Claus.

Someone who was would be Aubrey Bradimore (Jaime King). Easily the best character in a generally bad movie, Aubrey's a consistently likable, sympathetic and flawed character throughout. She's the closest to a protagonist in this movie and genuinely wanted to do right.

Of course like most protagonists, she did get the identity of the killer wrong twice. She thought both the belligerent Jim Epstein (Donald Logue) and social pariah Stein Karsson (Mike O'Brien). Aubrey was wrong on both counts but at least an urban legend that Karsson told her eventually pointed her to the actual killer.

Yup, Ronald Jones Jr. (Rick Skene) turned out to be the killer and flashbacks did show how an affair made Jones Sr absolutely homicidal. There's several gory kills, including personal ones before Aubrey and Jones Jr. faced and even then, it's rather anticlimactic.

- There's some inventive kills involving characters going through a wood chopper, death by fairylights and a flamethrower.

- Aubrey's father was involved in the death of Jones Sr. A lump of coal was given to the Bradimores before Hank was killed.

- Standout music: O Come All Ye Faithful, Jingle Bells and Silent Night.

- Chronology: Set in the Midwestern town of Cryer during Christmas.

Silent Night (2012) isn't good, either as a remake or even a standalone horror. The idea was sound and the lead protagonist was likable but it's still a rather horrible movie that felt like the equivalent of a lump of bloody coal.

Rating: 4 out of 10 

My Review of Heated Rivalry: "Rose"

 

Written And Directed by Jacob Tierney 

Ilya: "I never hear about you with girls."

Shane: "It's private."

Ilya: "Right. Private."

Shane: "I keep a lot of things private, obviously."

I think this week, Ilya got a taste of what happens when you push your secret lover too far. For all his teasing that Shane wasn't into women, Ilya inadvertently pushed Shane into the arms of a woman and a famous one to boot.

Enter Rose Landry (Sophie Nelisse). She's a reasonably famous actress filming the sequel to X Squad in Montreal and funnily enough, both herself and Shane managed to hit it off without having to be set up with each other. If Ilya can continue whatever his relationship with Svetlana is, shouldn't Shane explore something with Rose?

Except that's not the show either gay men or the female audience want to watch. With Svetlana, at least she's aware of the score with Ilya but I have a feeling that Rose will fall in love with Shane and find out in the worst way possible that he's in love with Ilya. There's two episodes left to confirm that theory.

Now what of the rest of the episode. Shane and Ilya got their scenes together and they were as racy as the first two episodes but it's like they're falling for each other and don't know how to deal with it. It's definitely a reason why Ilya made a point about telling Shane that he liked girls. 

Ilya must have known that Shane was getting annoyed with Ilya going on about it. Likewise when Ilya found out about Shane and Rose, he could barely contain his own annoyance. It's like he went to that nightclub and got with a woman just to antagonise Shane publicly.

In fact, the two of them getting under each others skin definitely affected their game playing this episode too. They both had bad performances on the ice rink at different points in the episode. Then there was that last scene, which was pretty telling too with how they're effecting each other.

- Shane's friend now is about to be a father to a fourth kid. His daughter Ruby and Emma seem to be a handful.

- Rose talked about playing kidnap victims in a lot of her movies as well as working with Bill Paxton. 

- Standout music: Feist's My Moon My Man and t.A.t.u and Harrison's versions of All The Things She Said.

- Chronology: Summer 2014 to October 2016 in this episode.

Rose surprisingly enough didn't have as much focus on the title character as I thought but it did an okay job in establishing her relationship with Shane. While I didn't think this was a bad episode, I would say it's weakest so far.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Miracle On 34th Street (1947)

Written by George Seaton And Valentine Davies

Directed by George Seaton 

Fred: "Faith is believing things when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles."

For the first time the other night, I actually watch this. I've been a fan of the 1994 version since I was a child and I've always wanted to catch up with this one. This week I finally did.

The movie started with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and you've got the Santa sloshed, much to the annoyance of event director Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara). Fortunately there's Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) and he's more than qualified to assume the role of Santa Claus.

In fact, Kris was so good in the role that Doris's own daughter, Susan (Natalie Woods) started to believe in Santa Claus and she was convinced by her mother that he didn't even exist. All Susan wanted was a family and her mother's friend, Fred Gailey (John Payne) as her stepdad. Fred wanted that too.

Within this film we saw Susan tell Kris Kringle her wish for a bigger family while preparing herself for Kringle to be unable to deal. Then there's the altercation with the disgruntled Granville Sawyer (Porter Hall) that nearly ruined Kris's reputation. Of course the court scenes only further added to Kris's credibility about being the real Santa.

The ending of course was mostly Susan getting her wish. I mean both Doris and Fred got together as she wanted and the house of her dreams. It was enough for Fred to consider the idea of Santa being real after all.

- In this version of the movie, Kris spoke Dutch to an adopted girl.

- Macy's and Gimbels only agreed to be featured in the movie after seeing a cut of it. If they hadn't, the movie would've been rewritten.

- Standout music: Jingle Bells and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

- Chronology: Thanksgiving up to Christmas Day in New York.

This version of Miracle On 34th Street, I think it's a classic after seeing it. Brilliant performances and a wonderful sense of magic to proceedings to boot. You really will believe in Santa Claus after watching this.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Justice League Unlimited - Episodes 36-39 Reviews

Final batch of episodes and there's an unavoidable fate for Supergirl and the return of Darkseid.

Episode 36: Far From Home

Supergirl and Brainiac 5. Maybe one of the most underrated couples in the DC Universe. Their first meeting wasn't exactly love at first sight. Supergirl along with Green Arrow and John Stewart wind up in the 31st Century where they encounter Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Lad with the Fatal Five as the main baddies here. In the end, Supergirl made the choice to stay with Brainiac 5 and it's in the same episode she had a costume change. 7/10

Episode 37: Ancient History

Earlier in the season, Hawkman was introduced. He's back for this episode as Shadow Thief decided to show both him and Hawkgirl their respective past lives in Ancient Egypt. We also got a bit of love triangle with the pair and John Stewart along with Hawkman making a sacrifice to stop Shadow Thief. There's also a poignant final scene where Hawkgirl asked Batman to tell her about her son. 7/10

Episode 38: Alive!

The first of a two part series finale. First of all, there's some major infighting with the Secret Society. Tala's attempts to use Gorilla Grodd to usurp Lex Luthor ended up backfiring on her spectacularly. Lex had no problem siphoning Tala's magic in order to revive Brainiac. Instead he ended up bringing back Darkseid. The episode ended on a rather explosive note. 9/10

Episode 39: Destroyer 

The series finale. Darkseid being back for another attempt to destroy everything. The Justice League and Secret Society (who are down some members) being forced to work together. It was totally expected, plot wise and as a series finale, it was a brilliant way to end the DC Animated Universe. The final shot in particular was a nice note to end on. 9/10

And thus concluded my time with the DC Animated Universe.

Justice League Unlimited - Episodes 31-35 Reviews

My penultimate blog on this show. This batch of episodes had dissent in the ranks, body swaps and grudge matches.

Episode 31: Flash And Substance 

Anyone wanted an episode dedicated to the Flash Museum? Well, you've got one with this episode. It was about to open and The Flash was pretty pleased with himself. His Rogues Gallery on the other hand were more determined to spoil the day. Batman and Orion had to protect The Flash from being killed with Orion realising the Scarlet Speedster had more depth than he believed. There's a nice subplot involving The Trickster as voiced by Mark Hamill. 8/10

Episode 32: Dead Reckoning 

I know this show preceded Justice League Dark but I do like that certain members have factored into this show. This episode had the Secret Society steal from a monastery that Deadman was occupying. Deadman enlisted Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to help him. This episode delved into Deadman's relationship with Rama Kushna and there's a shock moment when Deadman used Batman to kill Devil Ray. 8/10

Episode 33: Patriot Act

A nod to the Seven Soldiers Of Victory, I have to admit this episode didn't really do much for me. I mean there's a pointed commentary from the general public being uninterested in the lesser known heroes and more scheming from General Eiling revealed. It's just that the episode itself didn't particularly excite me. 5/10

Episode 34: The Great Brain Robbery

Ooh, a brain swap episodes. Lex Luthor and The Flash. An absolutely brilliant idea that's brilliantly executed. Among the Secret Society, Lex had overthrown Gorilla Grodd as leader and was in danger of being overthrown himself while also being in a relationship with Tala. This also gave Michael Rosenblum the chance to voice Lex Luthor in animation and he had fun with the role. 7/10

Episode 35: Grudge Match 

I'm not really a big fan of these fight club style episodes but this one was actually pretty fun. You had Black Canary, Huntress, Vixen and Hawkgirl all dragged into this courtesy of Roulette and Sonar. It's also set in Bludhaven, so there's a very quick Nightwing cameo. Mostly the episode was a nice way of further exploring the frenemy dynamic between Black Canary and Huntress. 7/10

My last blog will cover Far From Home, Ancient History, Alive! and Destroyer.

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "The Black Spot"

 

Written by Jason Fuchs And Brad Caleb Kane 

Directed by Andy Muschietti 

Pennywise (to Ingrid): "Come to Papa!"

Now, that was one hell of a penultimate episode. I think this might be the best episode of the show so far and it certainly added extra pressure for the finale to stick the landing. Where do I start here?

Obviously with the opening flashback. A young Ingrid was desperate to impress her father by becoming the new Periwinkle. Then there was the horror of her father, Bob Gray being killed and taken over by Pennywise.

I'll admit that fifty four years might be a long time for someone to be reunited with their father but Ingrid's seemingly had such a shit life I can see why she was so desperate to believe Pennywise was her father. Madeleine Stowe delivered a rather heartbreaking performance as Ingrid realised too late that Pennywise wasn't her father.

Despite Ingrid's actions causing a lot of the mayhem this season, there was something tragic in what became of her after Pennywise deemed her no longer useful. As for her husband, that guy got exactly what he deserved and I cheered his comeuppance. Even Pennywise can do good, even if it's not his intention. 

As for the rest of the episode, I loved that everyone in The Black Spot tried to protect Hank from Bowers and his racist sidekicks. Unfortunately the place burned to the ground and Hank barely managed to escape, thanks to Charlotte's help. Oh and a lot of deaths too.

The most poignant death being Rich. The show struck gold with the child actors and the scenes between both Rich and Marge were sad. Likewise, Ronnie's reaction to losing her father again, Lilly's general despair and Will's final scene with Pennywise also did the groundwork for the finale.

- General Shaw didn't hold back telling Leroy his plan to control Pennywise. He's going to get everyone killed next week.

- Not as much of Hallorann in this episode but he had some great moments with the smaller screentime he had.

- Standout music: The Wilburn Brothers Trouble's Back In Town.

- Chronology: 1908 flashbacks for Ingrid, Bob and Pennywise as well as picking up from where the previous episode left off.

The Black Spot absolutely delivered as a penultimate episode. Pennywise didn't mess around with the sheer chaos he caused and the scenes between him, Ingrid and Will were the best. I can't wait to see how the finale pans out.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "Plastic Apocalypse"

 

Written by Pete McTighe

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Kate: "You have to stop!"

Salt: "We are cleaning up your mess."

Yeah, we're picking up from where the opening episode left off, things certainly went from one extreme to another. Barclay went from an ordinary bloke to the most important man on the planet and a source of contention for both UNIT and his ex-wife.

UNIT - specifically Kate took little time in grilling Barclay about a potential past alliance with the Sea Devils, which Barclay denied. It did turn out that Salt saw Barclay's small act of compassion over a dead Sea Devil in the opening episode. It's why she chose him to be Ambassador for humanity.

I think Barclay's compassion might be both his weakness and a blessing. In the latter category, he knew what to say to get Salt on side a few times. This included a scene where Salt nearly got Barclay to drink dirty water from the Thames, only for Barclay to openly condemn humanity's abuse of the waters.

As for Salt's demands - they were both understandable but also not likely to pan out. Were Homo Amphibia/Aqua really going to wait forty years for humanity to clean up the water? Salt didn't think so, which meant dredging all the mess from the oceans and dumping it back on land. Salt wasn't messing about with her demands.

The demand of humans no longer using modes of travel isn't something that Salt can expect humanity go along. In fact, it was something that was pushed during the Diplomacy H20 scenes. It also provoked a different facet to Salt as well. A facet that genuinely surprised me.

As for the last demand, Kate couldn't get Barclay to stay on script throughout the episode, so I expected him to do something reckless. I'm not sure agreeing to the next meeting underwater was the wisest decision there, Barclay.

- Salt momentarily turned male and was played by Joshua Sinclair-Evans. I wonder if this will happen again if she's really angry. Those scientists working on Salt's dead kids can't end well either.

- Barclay was born November 15th 1982. He's a year younger than Russell Tovey himself. 

- Trinity Wells (Lachele Carl) appeared in this episode and Albion were also referenced along with the Doctor. I'm also not keen on Kate and Ibrahim being a thing.

- Chronology: Exactly where the first episode left off.

Plastic Apocalypse was a bit better than the opening episode. It certainly had a great time with living up to its title and you can tell that money was well spent on these first two episodes so far. It's heavy handed on its messaging but I'm enjoying the show.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The War Between The Land And The Sea: "Homo Aqua"

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Dylan Holmes Williams 

Barclay (to Salt): "Okay."

With one simple word, an ordinary man just made himself the Ambassador of humanity. Well, he agreed to it and this opening episode had a lot of agreement to it. Who was the man in question?

He's a low-level UNIT employee named Barclay Pierre-Dupont (Russell Tovey). His job should be to order transport for UNIT but for some reason, he's ended up replacing a higher up and because of that, Barclay got thrown into a situation out of his depth.

The episode opened with the capture of a Sea Devil (or Homo Aqua). Barclay was assigned his own UNIT soldier - Sergeant Hana Chakri (Francesca Corney) and he had a very human reaction to when the Homo Aqua died. The death of this creature saw the rest of the species making themselves publicly known to the world.

Suddenly Barclay found himself caught in a world much bigger than himself. There's shades of Donna Noble within Barclay as the episode went on to emphasis just how ordinary a person he happened to be. At times, it's a bit too on the nose as was the clear environmental theme of the episode.

With the episode largely focused on Barclay as a reluctant Ambassador for humanity, what about the aquatic side of things? For them, we see a few different species but Homo Amphibia leader Salt (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). She popped up as a rather intimidating figure, uninterested in UNIT's attempts of peace until she caught Barclay's attention.

Speaking of UNIT, we saw more of General Austin Pierce (Colin McFarlane) than we did Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave). The latter in particular didn't appear until towards the end of the episode and she didn't really do much. Likewise other UNIT regulars like Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley) and Colonel Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient) also did very little here too.

- Barclay has an ex wife named Barbara (Ann Akinjirin) and a daughter named Kirby (Cat Gannon). He's also met the Doctor.

- The Whoinverse Logo was nowhere to be found, BBC4 had a remixed version of The Sea Devils prior to this episode airing and title card only had Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as regulars.

- Standout music: Lorne Balfe does some nice score work, particularly with Barclay's Theme.

- Chronology: 2025 London as well as overseas for the opening scene.

Homo Aqua isn't subtle in its messaging or in it's need to remind viewers that Barclay Pierre-Dupont was an ordinary man. It's still a very strong opening episode and Russell Tovey gave the strongest performance as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Five Nights At Freddy's 2 (2025)

 

Written by Scott Cawthon

Directed by Emma Tammi

Michael: "Welcome back, Charlotte."

I'm not sure if this has been the year for horror sequels. Both M3GAN 2.0 and Black Phone 2 felt like misfires to me and I think I can add this one into that pile as well. Aside from the clear cliffhanger to set up a third movie, this felt rather dull to me.

The movie opened with William Afton (Matthew Lillard) killing another young boy and being witnessed by a girl named Charlotte Emily (Audrey Lynn Marie). Charlotte's father, Henry (Skeet Ulrich) would end up playing a role in later events.

Anyways, moving the story to twenty years beyond that, the three survivors from the first movie were trying to get on with their lives. In particular, Abby Schmidt (Piper Rubio) was happy to tell her classmates about the events of the first movie while also preparing for her science project.

Instead of having antagonistic classmates, Abby found herself at the ire of teacher Mr Berg (Wayne Knight). Berg's needlessly cruel to Abby and ended up paying for it when a newly restored Chica (Megan Fox) wanted to see what was in his head. It turned out to be nothing.

As for older brother, Mike (Josh Hutcherson). Well, this movie tried to explore the idea of him maybe dating William's daughter, Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) but the trust between the two of them wasn't there. The presence of Vanessa's serial killer brother, Michael (Freddy Carter) didn't help matters either.

I have to say this movie did an incredibly poor job with setting Michael up as a villain as well as the return of Freddy (Kellen Goff) and company along with Abby being too easily manipulated by Chica. Everything about this film screamed a rush job with barely anything given proper time to breathe, story wise.

- Credit scenes include a bunch of delinquents finding William's corpse and Henry leaving a warning for Mike. Charlotte possessed Marionette.

- Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided the animatronics for this movie as they did with the first.

- The reveal about Henry at the end should definitely set up scenes for Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard in the likely third movie.

- Chronology: 1982 for the opening scene and 2002 for the majority of the movie.

I wanted to like Five Nights At Freddy's 2 but I honestly found it very dull, repetitive and poorly handled with it's lore and new villains. This felt very rushed as a sequel and it definitely suffered for it too.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of Christmas With The Kranks (2004)

 

Written by Chris Columbus 

Directed by Joe Roth

Nora (to Luther): "We skip Christmas!"

If there's a Christmas to be had around a certain time period (1980s to 2000s), there's a likely chance that Chris Columbus might have had a hand in it. This one might be not be an instant classic but it's a modest enough offering.

Anyways you've got Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis as married couple Luther and Nora Krank. Their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) joined the Peace Corps and for the first time in ever, the Kranks decided to abandon Christmas. I get the temptation at times but their decision had consequences.

It seemed that the Kranks lived in a neighborhood where Christmas was a big deal and when the neighbours found out that they were opting for a cruise instead, it didn't go down well at all. Especially when one of your neighbours was played by Dan Aykroyd. Vic Frohmeyer wasn't the kind of neighbour that would allow anyone to skip out on Christmas.

For a good chunk of the movie, the Kranks were driven mad by the neighbours to change their minds about going on their cruise. They eventually did but only because Blair was returning home with fiancé Enrique Decardenal (Rene Lavan) and the Kranks needed the neighbours back on side.

Funnily enough, getting the neighbours onside was a lot easier than expected. Even Vic's mischievous son, Spike (Erik Per Sullivan) was a great help as was Cheech Marin's police character. This was also during a minor plot with an escaped burglar trying to steal during the big Krank Christmas party.

- There's a nice plot where Luther gave the cruise to Walt (M. Emmet Walsh) and Bev Scheel (Elizabeth Franz). Luther nearly killed their cat during the movie.

- The movie was based on John Grisham's 2001 book, Skipping Christmas.

- Standout music: The Raveonettes The Christmas Song, Brenda Lee's Jingle Bell Rock and Dean Martin's White Christmas.

- Chronology: Christmas time in Illinois.

Christmas With The Kranks isn't a favourite of mine but it's still rather fun for a Christmas movie. Who would've thought that trying to sit out Christmas would be more stressful than actually getting heavily involved?

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Bugonia (2025)

 

Written by Will Tracy 

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos 

Michelle: "You can't beat me because you are a loser and I'm a winner and that's fucking life!"

In between Christmas movies and TV episode reviews, I'm determined to get a few more award contenders and this was one I wanted to watch more than others.

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone seem to have found a mutual muse in one another and after their powerhouse collaboration with Poor Things (2023), could Bugonia (2025) hit the same way? It kind of did in its own way.

A remake of Save The Green Planet! (2003) by Jang Joon-hwan, this movie saw Emma Stone playing the role of Auxolith CEO Michelle Fuller. It's a pharmaceutical company she's running and she's been conducting experiments on people to cure diseases. One of those people being a woman named Sandy Gatz (Alicia Silverstone), who was now in a coma.

It's this out one in part that saw Michelle being kidnapped by Sandy's son, Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Oh and they're absolutely convinced that she's an alien. Putting the outcome of the original to one side, it was kind of obvious they were going to be right.

Saying that, the movie did try to present an element of doubt. Teddy certainly mistreated Michelle to an extreme that even Don was horrified by his actions. Add into the mix a former babysitter turned cop, Casey Boyd (Stavros Halkias) and there's certainly something unhinged about Teddy. It took very little for Teddy to actually turn into a killer.

As for Michelle, yes she's an alien. There's backstory given on her species being ancestors of humans and while she wasn't responsible for Don's death, she certainly made sure that Teddy was taken out of the equation. The final scene of the movie pretty had Michelle decide the fate of humanity and it wasn't too shocking that she went for the killer option.

- This is the fourth collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone. I will review their other two movies next year.

- Michelle and Teddy both had an affinity for bees. The former saw them from an impersonal perspective and the latter was a beekeeper. Michelle's species are Andromedans.

- Standout music: Green Day's Basket Case, Chappell Roan's Good Luck, Babe and Marlene Dietrich's Where Has All The Flowers Gone?

- Chronology: Present day America. 

Bugonia (2025) was a quirky delight. I do think as a pairing, both Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone seen to compliment each other very well. This alien invasion felt more like a black comedy with Stone, Plemons and Deibis all firing on cylinders.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Justice League Unlimited - Episode 26-30 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, there's a look into Terry McGinnis, a rivalry between heroes and another who decides they need a change.

Episode 26: Epilogue

Originally this Batman Beyond heavy episode was supposed to serve as a series finale to this show but then another season happened. Anyways, you've got a much older Amanda Waller giving Terry McGinnis some much needed insight into his origins and how Bruce Wayne turned out ti be his biological father. There's an opportunity to bring back characters such as Ace and the Phantasm as well as Terry planning to propose to Dana. It's a fantastic episode. 9/10

Episode 27: I Am Legion 

Season 3 of the show kicked off with a team up comprising of Hawkgirl, The Flash, Fire and Ice and there's a nice subplot with both The Flash and Fire clearly being into one another. The important plot though would be Lex Luthor escaping prison and joining the Legion of Doom, only this version are known as the Secret Society. Yes, we got to see their iconic lair and there's a plot with the Spear of Longinus that Lex and company steal from the Blackhawks. 7/10

Episode 28: Shadow Of The Hawk

At some point we had to meet Carter Hall aka Hawkman and why not early into the final season? They meet but Carter definitely seemed to be more into Hawkgirl than she was into him. On the plus side, we did get more insight into Thanagarian history, there was a decent supporting role from Batman and Shadow Thief made for a good guest villain in the episode. 7/10

Episode 29: Chaos At The Earth's Core 

This episode had a motley crew of John Stewart, S.T.R.I.P.E., Stargirl and Supergirl working together with Warlord. Who were they against? Oh, that's right, we got the likes of Metallo, Silver Banshee and Deimos and the whole story took place inside a world in the Earth's Core. There's an amusing rivalry between Stargirl and Supergirl as they mostly clash before they ended up bonding. 6/10

Episode 30: To Another Shore 

Fans of Martian Man Hunter should be happy that he's gotten a bigger role in this episode but at the same time, he also decided it was time to step away from the Watchtower. There's a team up with him, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and King Faraday. Throw them into an icy location and have then go up against Giganta, Killer Frost, Heatwave and Devil Ray and it's a pretty solid one. 6/10

Next blog I'll tackle Flash And Substance, Dead Reckoning, Patriot Act, The Great Brain Robbery and Grudge Match.