My Review of Totally Killer (2023)

 

Written by David Matalon And Sasha Perl-Raver And Jen D'Angelo

Directed by Nahnatchka Khan

Jamie: "Fucking time travel!"

It's a bit early in the year for a Halloween themed movie but I was bored and in the mood for a fun, goofy slasher flick and then I realised something. I hadn't actually watched this particular movie at all. Time to rectify that I guess.

The movie itself focused on a teenager named Jamie Hughes (Kiernan Shipka) who had planned to go see a rock concert of one of her mother's peers. The mother being Pam (Julie Bowen) whom Jamie had a bit of a testy relationship with.

Anyways, Jamie lived in a town where over thirty years ago, three of Pam and Blake's (Lochlyn Munro) classmates were murdered by the Sweet 16 Killer. The killer was never caught but their presence made both Pam and Blake hyper vigilant and alienated Jamie. Then Pam ended up being killed early into the movie.

Jamie grieved her mother's loss and took her anger out on unhelpful cop Kara Lim (Patti Kim) but then realised she could use her best friend Amelia Creston's (Kelcey Mawema) time machine and prevent her mother's death by catching the killer. Well, there was that and nearly being killed herself that inadvertently brought her back to the day of the murders.

For Jamie this meant seeing younger versions of her parents, played by Olivia Holt and Charles Gillespie. It also meant seeing their friends/peers such as Tiffany (Liano Liberto), Kara (Ella Choi), Marisa (Stephi Chin-Salvo) and Heather (Anna Diaz) as a as Randy (Jeremy Monn-Djasgnar), Doug (Nathaniel Appiah) and wannabe reporter Chris (Nicholas Lloyd). Most of these characters were slated to die, two were meant to hook up later and two of them would be the killer in different timelines. 

At least Jamie had the help of Amelia's mother, Lauren (Troy L. Johnson/Kimberly Huie) in both the past and present. Jamie of course did manage to save her mother, stop two killers, learned more about herself and her parents past. She also altered her present day and ended up with a gay older brother and was now known as Colette. 

- Randall Park popped up as the father of Kara Lim and wasn't interested in anything Jamie had to say.

- The movie might have made too much of a point in referencing Back To The Future. Jamie even compared herself to Marty McFly at one point.

- Standout music: Bananarama's Venus and Bob Crawford's He Loves Me He Loves Me Not.

- Chronology: The Sweet 16 killer struck between October 29th to 31st 1987 while Jamie herself was from 2023.

I do like an 1980s nostalgia fest and while there have been better efforts, there's something rather charming about Totally Killer. It's nothing revolutionary but it's enjoyable nonetheless. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Pillion (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Harry Lighton

Colin: "Roses are red, violets are blue. Each day at your heel, brings me closer to you. Your hand on the throttle, your leathers so tight. I crave your command, from morning to night. Your grip is a promise, your gaze a hot flame. Next to you I am nothing, but I'm yours all the same. The pleasure you give, the pain that you bring. I'll take it all, Ray, for you are my king."

I was really hopeful for this movie. A gay BDSM erotic/romantic comedy of sorts. It felt like a tall order. Would this movie be able to pull off all those elements? It mostly did to be fair.

Now the BDSM part in a mainstream movie was never going to be an easy sell. It's certainly a bit more restrained but there were scenes that also felt authentic and ridiculously funny in parts too. The movie essentially did the best it could in regards to that subject matter.

Looking into the sub and dom relationship at the movie's core. You've got the timid Colin (Harry Melling), a parking attendant who sang in a barbershop quartet as a hobby. During Christmas he ended up in a relationship with aloof biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård). Well, it's kind of a relationship.

The relationship being that Colin would cook for Ray, wrestle with him and generally do as he's told. Needless to say this did lead to several interesting scenes as Colin took to orders well but his mother, Peggy (Lesley Sharp) was less impressed by Ray's treatment of het son.

Peggy was established to be dying very early in the movie but we also got to see both her and Pete (Douglas Hodge) cared about Colin. Peggy's death also changed something in Colin and Ray's relationship, sparking an assertiveness in the former that the latter didn't know how to deal with.

As great as the movie was, the last act really pushed it a level. Of course Colin and Ray couldn't end in a more conventional relationship but the day off they had definitely hinted at what could've been. Saying that, there's a nice sense of growth for Colin during the last scene.

- Colin ended up with another dom named Darren (Anthony Welsh). Ray's Rottweiler was named Rosie. Jake Shears from Scissors Sisters played a sub named Kevin.

- The movie's based on Adam Mars-Jones's Box Hill.

- Standout music: Alessi Brothers Seabird.

- Chronology: Started at Christmas and it looked like Colin and Ray's dynamic lasted nearly a year.

I might have been a little nervous but Pillion (2025) really pulled off a lot of what it was attempting to do. The chemistry between Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård was beautifully on point and unlike another movie series that attempted similar themes, this absolutely knew what it was talking about. It's very funny and sexy in the right places.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Steve (2025)

 

Written by Max Porter

Directed by Tim Mielants

Kamila: "If 1996 Shy could say anything to 1990 Shy, what would he say?"

Yesterday I picked a movie at random to watch and I stumbled on this rather tense affair. Anything with Cillian Murphy being stressed as fuck, character wise has to be a winner, right?

With this movie, he played the role of a caring headteacher named Steve. Steve worked in a school that tried to educate the type of boys that society had mostly written off. He genuinely cared about each and every one of them, in particular a lad named Shy (Jay Lycurgo).

Steve's relationship with Shy got tested throughout the movie as the latter openly challenged Steve's motives for caring so much. Shy also wasn't shy in flouting authority. He even went as far as to publicly berate Sir Hugh Montague Powell (Roger Allam) just because he could.

In fact, it's Shy's spirit that Steve seemed to admire the most as he talked about some of the other lads including Jamie (Luke Ayres), Riley (Joshua J. Parker), Tarone (Tut Nyuot) and Nabz (Ahmed Ismail) to name but a few. While Shy had the most screen time out of the lads, the others do get some scenes as well.

The main crux of the movie however did seem to be about the school that Steve was a headteacher being filmed by a crew over the course. There's also the threat of closure from the school, something which even Amanda (Tracey Ullman) was powerless to stop.

On top of that, there's a little insight into Steve's life outside the school. He's married and had two daughters. He was involved in a car crash and still had the lingering scars and guilt from that experience. The movie had him spiral a bit too while also wanting to fight to keep the school open. Steve really went through it as a character.

- The movie's based on Max Porter's 2023 novella, Shy. Cillian Murphy appeared in a stage production of Porter's other work, Grief Is The Thing With Feathers.

- Cillian Murphy has previously worked with director Tim Mielants on Small Things Like These. He'll appear next with Jay Lycurgo in The Immortal Man.

- Standout music: Kruder and Dorfmeister's Deep Shit Parts 1 and 2.

- Chronology: Set during 1996 in an English school.

Steve (2025) really worked as an exploration into a school on it's last legs. There's great performances from both Cillian Murphy and Jay Lycurgo. I really liked this one.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Avengers: Doomsday Trailer And Other MCU Bits

Every once in a while I do cover Marvel related stuff on this blog and over the last few weeks, there's been one thing in particular that's been looming. Of course I'm talking about Avengers: Doomsday. 

In the last few weeks, the Russos have been teasing about their choice in charactera being spotlighted in a series of trailers. The characters have included some of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Black Panther (Letitia Wright). For a movie that's not due out for another eleven months, it's pretty early.

The trailers themselves have been decent enough. Not revealing anything too major but raising enough curiosity as to why these characters are drawn into whatever chaos that will be caused by Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). When the first proper trailer gets released in a few months, it'll undoubtedly break the internet.

However there's still eleven months to go and closer to time we've got a few things on Disney+ to watch first. There's the imminent arrival of Wonder Man, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the title role. All eight episodes of that will drop from January 27th. Also on Disney+ through the year will be the second seasons of both Daredevil: Born Again and X-Men '97, a special presentation for The Punisher and the upcoming Vision Quest. Oh and on July 31st in theatres there's also Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Overall, a pretty solid year for Marvel fans.

Avengers: Doomsday will be in theatres from December 18th 2026.

My Review of The Home (2025)

 

Written by James DeMonaco And Adam Cantor

Directed by James DeMonaco 

Dr. Sabian (to Max): "Sometimes when things are bad on the outside, we have to look on the inside."

For this month, I will be catching up on more movies from last year I didn't get to see for whatever reasons. This was one that I wasn't in an immediate rush to watch but found myself oddly drawn to nonetheless.

As an actor, Pete Davidson can be somewhat hit and miss. In this movie he's playing a petty criminal named Max who's basically forced to work at a retirement in order to avoid more jail time. After this movie's events, jail time would've been the better option.

Anyways, Max had to deal with sexually active pensioners, bodily fluid disasters and rather hostile supervisors who seemed determined to make his life even worse. On the other hand, there's Norma (Mary Beth Peil).

Norma seemed to be one of the few people in the home that wasn't out of her mind and took a liking to Max. Mostly because Max reminded her of her dead son but the bond between the two of them was rather lovely to watch until Norma was killed off as things got worse in the home.

Max kept having crazy dreams and when he came back to visit his foster parents, even they were out to get him. It turned out that his dead foster brother was actually alive but aged and thanks to fellow resident Lou (John Glover) and the sadistic Dr. Sabian (Bruce Altman), things were about to get worse for Max.

The premise being that the old were in a cult that stole the essence of the young in order to stay young themselves was a good idea. Unfortunately, it's rather rushed in execution but it didn't stop Max from practically killing nearly everyone at the home in order to survive himself.

- Anything involving eyes and teeth would be an ick for me and there were too many scenes involving both that genuinely disturbed me.

- James DeMonaco, the co-writer and director of this movie was also responsible for The Purge franchise. It's on my review list.

- Co-writer Adam Cantor also played the role of Les, one of the workers who seemed to really hate Max.

- Chronology: Present day America. The movie was filmed in New Jersey.

The Home (2025) isn't a bad horror movie but it's not a must see one either. I will say that Pete Davidson did put in a good performance and there's some decent gross out moments. It's just a case of a premise that could've been tackled better.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)

 

Written by James Gunn 

Directed by Raja Gosnell 

Shaggy: "This is tied for the most terrifying day of my life!"

Velma: "Tied with what?"

Shaggy: "Every other freaking day of my life!"

With the first movie proving to be a success, it didn't take long for a sequel to emerge as Mystery Inc. were back together and seemingly more famous than ever as a team.

The movie opened with Fred Jones (Freddie Prinze Jr), Daphne Blake (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma Dinkley (Linda Cardellini), Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo (Neil Fanning) returned to their old home, Coolsville for the grand opening of the Coolsonian Criminology Museum. It was a chance for the gang to look at some of their past cases.

It was also a chance for the main villain - Evil Masked Figure (Tim Blake Nelson/Scott McNeill) to ruin the event and destroy the Scooby Gang's credibility as well. Also a bit too willing to help with the latter bit was journalist Heather Jasper Howe (Alicia Silverstone), who seemed to have a particular disdain for Daphne.

Of course the gang while somewhat demoralised by events in this movie did suspect that a former enemy of theirs - Doctor Jonathan Jacobo could be behind the whole thing. Of course they're absolutely right about the whole thing but on the other hand, there was a lot of monsters to be had in this movie.

The monsters were an interesting bunch but by the time we get to the third act, they're easily defeated. There's a fun moment with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy changing body proportions and intelligence while Velma had an amusing romantic subplot with Patrick Wisely (Seth Green).

After the first movie with the gang largely at odds with one another, I do think the strength of this one was having a united front with the gang this time around. There's a nicer sense of teamwork this time around, which helped.

- There are cameos from Pat O'Brien, Tasmanian Devil, Ruben Studdard and Big Brovaz.

- A third movie was planned but scrapped after this one underperformed at the box office.

- Standout music: New Radicals You Get What You Give and Mark Provart's Monsters.

- Chronology: A while since the events of the first movie and set in Coolsville.

While not as fun as the first one, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed made for an okay sequel. There was a better sense of teamwork with this one and the likes of Seth Green and Alicia Silverstone were on good form.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Scooby-Doo (2002)

 

Written by James Gunn And Craig Titley

Directed by Raja Gosnell

Shaggy: "Gee, Scraps, you didn't have to freak out like a jerk and kill all humanity."

Scrappy Doo: "And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling sons of..."

With Netflix planning their own live action television series for this particular property, I thought it was time to go back and revisit the duology from the 2000s. It was something that had a mixed reception.

The movie started with Daphne Blake (Sarah Michelle Gellar) being captured by the Luna Ghost aka Old Man Smithers (Nicholas Hope). Once this mystery got resolved, there was a falling out with Daphne, the vain Fred Jones (Freddie Prinze Jr) and nerdy Velma Dinkley (Linda Cardellini). The falling out caused the Scooby Gang to disband, much to the dismay of Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo (Neil Fanning).

Of course with enough time and a mysterious invite from Emile Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson), the whole team were grudgingly reunited to solve a mystery on Spooky Island. It did take the promise of all you can eat buffet to tempt both Shaggy and Scooby-Doo to venture onto the island itself.

As for our gang, it was an awkward reunion with them all competing to solve the mystery. Velma quickly learn about the island having demons courtesy of actor N'Goo Tuana (Steven Grives) and his henchman, famous luchador Zarkos (Sam Greco). Daphne on the other hand had her own encounter with voodoo priest (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.).

As for Fred, both him and Velma got captured by demons on the loose while Shaggy had a romantic subplot with fellow tourist, Mary Jane (Isla Fisher), who happened to be possessed for a bit. There's a plot where the Gang had their bodies taken over and a random bit of body swapping that's largely played for laughs.

Getting to the actual villain of the story, I did assume it was going to be Emile and even Fred raised the possibility but the reveal of it being a vengeful Scrappy-Doo (Scott Innes/J.P. Manoux) actually made for a good surprise. It was a way of dealing with an often maligned character from that world.

- There's cameo appearances from the likes of Pamela Anderson and Sugar Ray.

- Daphne and Fred became a couple by the end of the movie and even Velma seemed to have a male admirer on Spooky Island.

- Standout music: Scott Storch's Freaks Come Out At Night as well as the variations of the theme.

- Chronology: Two years passed before the Scooby Gang ended up on Spooky Island.

Scooby-Doo (2002) definitely felt like a movie from a bygone era. The humour can be very hit and miss at times, even a bit too juvenile. It's largely saved by the cast bouncing off each other so well and the use of Scrappy-Doo.

Rating: 6 out of 10