My Review of Desperate Living (1977)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Peggy: "Have I gone to Hell? Is that it? Have I gone straight to Hell?"

I should note this movie along with previous efforts like Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble all formed a trashy trilogy of sorts, despite no real connective tissue with one another. As well as certain actors playing different roles each time.

Anyways, this film centred on the spoiled, hysterical and rich Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole). She's fairly unlikable and was convinced that her children were having sex, the neighbours kids were trying to kill her and her husband, Bosley (George Stover) was abusing her. None of these things were true. 

Bosley on the other hand was convinced that Peggy needed to be sectioned when he wasn't calling the housekeeper, Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill) out on her drinking and stealing. Long story short, Bosley ended up dead and both Peggy and Grizelda were responsible for his death.

Being guilty of that crime forced both women into moving to the shantytown of Mortville. It's as much of a shit hole as expected and both Peggy and Grizelda found themselves hanging out with volatile lesbian couple, Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe) and Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay). There was even some action between Peggy and Grizelda, though the former didn't seem to enjoy it as much.

Anyways, despite Mortville being an absolute hovel, it had a ruled named Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). Yup, she's a sadistic bitch who forced her men into sleeping with her, killed her daughter, Princess Coo-Coo's (Mary Vivian Pearce) nudist lover and on top of that, she wanted to give her citizens a lethal dose of rabies.

There's a team up of the Queen and the opportunistic Peggy which did result in Coo-Coo being affected by rabies but a rebellion led by Mole. It's a good victory with suitably nasty endings for both Carlotta and Peggy respectively.

- The first John Waters  film not to feature Divine. I can't imagine who they would've played had they featured in the film. Grizelda maybe?

- Mink was a professional wrestler in her former life. Muffy was a rich bitch who killed her child's babysitter with dog food. There's a gender reassignment subplot that led to a moment where I had to look away.

- A thirst moment for Lieutenant Grogan (Steve Butow). He was insanely beautiful. I can see why Carlotta was nuts about him.

- Chronology: Peggy and Grizelda were located in Guilford, Baltimore before they ended up in Mortville.

Desperate Living made for a good ending to a trashy trilogy. An awful protagonist, a belaboured help, a slew of colourful and grotesque shantytown characters with some genuinely stomach churning moments. A fascinating mess and I really liked it.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Tuner (2025)

 

Written by Daniel Roher And Robert Ramsey

Directed by Daniel Roher 

Niki: "Tuning a piano is about creating harmony out of chaos, and to do that you've got to be comfortable with imperfection."

Yesterday, I opted for a crime themed movie and why not one with a bit of a musical twist? Well, not really a musical but let's say the piano did factor a lot in this film.

Mainly because two of the main characters - Niki White (Leo Woodall) and his mentor Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) happened to be piano tuners. Niki was also once a talented piano player but having hyperacusis put a stop to those dreams.

While he might be sensitive to noises, the movie quickly revealed that Niki had a talent for openinh safes. This would end up being a useful thing when he made friends with former Soviet Union thieves, led by Uri (Lior Raz). Needless to say, Niki embarked on a life of crime and all because of one special skill he had.

To complicate things for Niki, there was also his romance with talented student pianist, Ruthie Waymon (Havana Rose Liu). It's a nice enough love story with strong feelings for both parties but the most that Niki went down the crime rabbit hole, the more tension that befell the pair.

Niki made the dumb mistake of giving Ruthie a stolen gift and it definitely caused problems for thd both of them. Niki did try to do right by Ruthie and even tried to go straight. His efforts were something of a mixed bag, though his actual piano talents were clearly on display by the end of the film.

- I liked Harry's wife, Marla (Tovah Feldshuh). Harry died over halfway into the movie.

- While Niki mentioning he was more talented a piano player to Ruthie was mean, he wasn't exactly wrong.

- Standout music: Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man.

- Chronology: Present day New York City.

Tuner (2025) turned out to be an engaging crime story with a musical bent. Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman were both on good form. Definitely didn't too much fine tuning.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Pressure (2026)

 

Written by David Haig And Anthony Maras

Directed by Anthony Maras

James Stagg: "How can the weather be boring? It feeds us. The weather can destroy us. It controls our daily life. I don't think that's boring."

For something a little different, I went with a recent World War II themed movie and yes, because it starred Andrew Scott. In this film, he took on the role of real life meteorologist, RAF Group Captain James Stagg, who was part of Operation Overlord.

This film took on a rather crucial part of the war with Stagg being hired by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) on the cusp of D-Day. It was up to Stagg to accurately predict the weather for the main event itself. For that to happen, Stagg needed everyone on board to help him.

Of course Stagg wasn't the most popular man at the base and there was opposite in the form of  USAAF Colonel Irving P. Krick (Chris Messina). Krick had his own predictions in regards to the weather for D-Day and it directly contradicted Stagg's.

Stagg didn't exactly endear himself to Eisenhower when he tried to take command of the situation and it was MTC First Lieutenant Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon) who had to mediate between the two. In fact, Summersby seemed very sympathetic towards Stagg, especially given the latter had a pregnant wife, Liz (Tamsin Topolski) that he was worried about.

The movie largely stuck to the events it was portraying and there's some strong supporting performances from Damian Lewis, Con O'Neill and Henry Ashton as General Bernard Montgomery, RAF Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and John Eisenhower respectively. Saying that, it really was Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser dominating proceedings.

- This was based on David Haig's play, which is also called Pressure.

- The film's closing intertitles talked about the events role in defeating Germany within a year.

- Standout music: Nice use of All Creatures Of Our God And King.

- Chronology: Set in 1944, leading into the events of D-Day in Normandy, France.

Pressure (2026) isn't anything particularly revolutionary in terms of World War II themed films but it's led well by Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser with a solid script and direction from Anthony Maras. Good stuff.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Female Trouble (1974)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Dawn: "Davenport. Dawn Davenport! I'm a thief and a shitkicker, and, uh, I'd like to be famous."

After three movies that have tested my tolerance levels for the lewd and grotesque, I think I've found my first favourite movie from John Waters. I also think this was a movie where the director somewhat toned down his baser impulses without compromising his creative juices.

Divine as a performer certainly has delivered with the outrageous material she's given and here, she got to play a character that grew from a bratty teenager to a monstrous adult and quite well to boot.

The movie started with Dawn Davenport (Divine) being expelled from her school and losing her shit when her parents didn't give her the shoes she wanted for Christmas. A sexual encounter with the odious Earl Peterson (Divine) resulted in a nightmare child named Taffy (Mink Stole/Hilary Taylor). Let's just say that motherhood wasn't a natural fit for someone like Dawn.

On the other hand, Dawn did seem rather adept at prostitution and thieving and had fun doing that with former school pals, Chicklette (Susan Walsh) and Concetta (Cookie Mueller). Then there was Dawn's aspirations to be a wife. That was something else she wasn't cut out for.

Dawn's choice in husband was sleazy hairdresser Gater Nelson (Michael Potter). Gater came with a weird Aunt Ida (Edith Massey), whom Dawn would later torture. Dawn's marriage to Gater also brought her to the attention of another weird crime obsessed couple named Donald (David Lochary) and Donna Dasher (Mary Vivian Pearce). They saw Dawn as a grotesque muse but created an even bigger monster when Dawn decided to go on a public killing spree.

Dawn's descent into madness meant that no one was safe, not even Taffy. Saying that, I wasnt exactly devastated when Dawn killed her own daughter. Dawn's trial and lead up to her execution was a brilliant way to cap off the movie. Of course she was deluded enough to think it was a good thing.

- Aunt Ida lost her hand but she scarred Dawn's face with acid beforehand. She also kept trying to set Gater up with men, despite him being straight.

- Taffy was meant to have some learning difficulties. At one point, she met her father and killed him. Dawn had a lesbian lover named Earnestine (Elizabeth Coffey)

- Standout music: Divine sang Female Trouble.

- Chronology: Baltimore from 1960 to 1974. 

I had so much fun with Female Trouble. John Waters struck the right chord with a suitably delightful performance from Divine as the truly terrible Dawn Davenport. My favourite of both so far.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

DCU Blog - June 2026 Edition: Supergirl Crashes, New Animated Shows And More

And we're halfway through 2026. This month sadly has been something of a mixed bag in terms of DC News but we move.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first - Supergirl (2026) has only grossed $63 million at the box office, making it one of the bigger losses for the WB this year.

It seems that the next DC film to possibly go into production could be the Deathstroke And Bane movie.

Spoiler hounds are arguing among themselves in regards to whether or not the DCU Batman has been cast.

Ana Nogueira has recently talked of developments for both her Wonder Woman and Teen Titans scripts.

Man Of Tomorrow (July 9th 2027) is currently half way through filming with some recent set pics of David Corenswet and Nicholas Holt having leaked.

Batman: Caped Crusader will be released on Amazon Prime from July 29th. Expect villains such as Riddler, Man-Bat and a female version of Mad Hatter.

A trailer for Batman: Knightfall Part 1 has been released. The movie will be released later in the year.

A synopsis for the animated Dynamic Duo (June 28th 2028) revealed that Dick and Jason will split when the former joins Batman and the latter joins the Red Hood Gang.

After an eternity, The Batman Part II (October 1st 2027) has started filming. 

Both James Gunn and John Cena have hinted about when Peacemaker will resurface in the DCU. Something tells me it's a lot sooner than expected.

Clayface (October 23rd 2026) is approximately one hour and fifty minutes according to recent test screenings. It doesn't feature Batman as of now.

David Jenkins has recently turned in the script for Booster Gold. It has yet to be greenlit.

Animated shows for Absolute Batman, Joker: Laugh Riot and Krypto have been announced.

My Adventures With Superman doesn't have a fourth season announcement as of yet. Season 3 is currently airing weekly.

Expect announcements for both Creature Commandos Season 2 and Mister Miracle very soon.

Filming for the Jimmy Olsen/Gorilla Grodd HBO Max series will start after filming of Man Of Tomorrow has completed. They're looking for actors from a comedy background for Grodd and one of the main roles will be for a lawyer.

And that's it for the month of June. Some mixed news this month but on we go.

My Review of Pink Flamingos (1972)

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Babs: "Kill everyone now! Condone first-degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit! Filth is my politics! Filth is my life!"

After two black and white movies, it was time to move into colour for John Waters demented mind where once again, Divine was at the centre of all things particularly foul and corrupt. I do mean this in a complimentary way.

With this movie, Divine was going by Babs Johnson and was living in a rather colourful mobile home in the arse end of nowhere. She wasn't alone either. Divine had her egg obsessed mother, Edie (Edith Massey) and companions, Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce) and Crackers (Danny Mills). The latter was also Divine's son.

Anyways, Divine and her motley crew were criminals (of course) and Divine herself was proud of being the filthiest person alive. Funnily enough, that title was something that similarly depraved couple Connie (Mink Stole) and Raymond Marble (David Lochary) were determined to usurp. Why? I haven't got a clue.

As a couple, Connie and Raymond are grotesque to watch. They have a business that involved kidnapping and impregnating women and selling the babies to lesbian couples. Their manservant Channing (Channing Wilroy) was the one doing the impregnating. He would also suffer a much deserved comeuppance.

Anyways the war between Divine and the Marbles got really nasty. Sickeningly nasty with delivers of turd present, home violations and a live broadcast execution. Both side are undeniably horrible but Divine certainly had the edge. The last scene was also one of the most revolting things I've ever had to watch. 

- There's some other horrible scenes in this movie involving incest and castration.

- Why didn't Babs/Divine tell her mother about duck eggs? On the other hand, Edie's egg addiction was off putting to watch.

- Standout music: Little Richard's The Girl Can't Help It.

- Chronology: Set in Phoenix, Maryland. Divine, Cotton and Crackers chose to move to Boise, Idaho.

Pink Flamingos certainly kept with the depravity that I'm now expecting upon watching John Waters movies. There's a daft campiness and some truly hilarious one liners amidst some genuinely revolting scenes.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "Queen's Landing"

 

Written by Sara Hess

Directed by Clare Kilner 

Daemon (to Rhaenyra): "In this moment, you will become queen."

I thought last week's opening episode should've been the finale for last season but actually, it's this episode that should've ended the second season. What an episode.

In those last moments, Rhaenyra finally became Queen after over twenty years of being promised the crown. It should've been a moment of joy for Rhaenyra but it's clear as day that it wasn't the victory she had hoped for. How could it have been?

In such a short space of time, Rhaenyra lost three of her six children and she was struggling big time with Jace's death throughout this episode. Daemon practically had to push Rhaenyra into asserting herself as Queen. Rhaenyra's first act - why killing Otto of course.

I've disliked Otto Hightower from the very first episode and his death was totally on him. Otto's scheming and overreaching finally came to roost and I liked that Rhaenyra was the one to do it. Otto absolutely had it coming and there was no way that he could've been kept alive. Alicent might have looked shocked but surely, she should've expected it.

Speaking of Alicent, she maintained her word in helping Rhaenyra seize King's Landing while trying to protect Helaena. It almost went spectacularly wrong for her when Jasper attempted to rape her until Orwyle stepped in. Jasper got his just desserts and now Alicent and Helaena are at Rhaenyra's mercy. Going by next week's trailer, Alicent will be fine.

As for her feckless sons, Aegon managed to escape reuniting with his sister while still being rather mad at Larys for outing his identity. Aemond stormed Harrenhal, killed the Strong clan, bled a lot and found himself at the mercy of Alys. 

Last but not least, Corlys survived the events of the Gullet and had some choice scenes with both Baela and Alyn. Rhaena on the other hand found herself at odds with Lady Jeyne and she can't go back to her family. Yeah, Rhaena really got the crap end of the stick this week. 

- The episode introduced Ser Luthor Largent (Tom Cullen). He went along with Alicent's plan and remembered his past with Daemon.

- Orwyle clearly believed Jasper when the latter revealed Alicent's plan. He also quickly swore fealty to Rhaenyra.

- That's two episodes in a row that Alicent has been a victim of sexual assault. It's not a great pattern. 

- Daemon might have set Hugh and Uluf to eventually betray Rhaenyra. I liked his scene with Mysaria in this episode too.

- Harry Collett had his name in the credits as well saw Rhaenyra grieve over Jace's corpse early in the episode.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Queen's Landing felt like a finale for the previous and now that Rhaenyra has the very thing she's clamouring for, it's come at a horrible price for her. By far, the best episode so far from the show.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "All's Fair In Love And W.O.R.M.S."

 

Written by Jack Sentell

Directed by Grace Liu

Giganta (to Jimmy): "My friends call me Gigi but you call me Giganta."

Why are we getting a prominent Wonder Woman villain in an episode and not even having a reference to Diana herself? It's a valid concern, right? Anyways, hello Gigi.

Jimmy Olsen took a huge chunk of the story this week and all because Kara decided to take his advice about exploring her options as a single woman. This meant Jimmy throwing his lot in with W.O.R.M.S. (World Organization for Romantic Matchmaking Science), which was ran by Zazzala and Tazzala respectively.

Anyways, Jimmy's exploits into this particular dating field had him mostly paired with Giganta. For some reason, she turned him into a wolf and when he was cured, he developed spaghetti arms and then when he was properly cured, Giganta decided to recreate that one scene everyone knows from King Kong until Superman and Zazzala/Tazzala saved the day.

Elsewhere, Kara was having the time of her life being in such demand on another dating app while discovering the joys of a mall. Lois spent most of the episode being anxious about the way her relationship with Clark has progressed. There's also a musical number that didn't quite land.

Of course the biggest shocker of the episode was the future trip. Yup, another alien invasion in Metropolis but where's Superman? Dead seemingly. Saying that, there's a bald Lex Luthor trying to do the right thing by sending Superboy (Darren Criss) back in time to prevent the disaster they're living in.

- Lois was a fan of Black Canary's music, which Supergirl discovered.

- Clark trying to work on his model farm was cute. We saw a Krypto looking dog.

- Cyborg Superman's hero career was over after his altercation with Silver Banshee backfired on him.

- Chronology: Shortly after the events of the second episode.

All's Fair In Love And W.O.R.M.S was a pretty solid episode overall with the last scene really setting up the events for the rest of the season.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Multiple Maniacs (1970)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Lady Divine: "And you're still the most beautiful woman in the world! Nothing can change that!"

I had something of a challenge with Mondo Trasho and in a lot of ways, this follow up had some similar issues. Fortunately, it's a talkie, so no intrusive music to be had. That somewhat helped with this one.

Once again, we've got Divine leading proceedings and here, she went by Lady Divine. Divine ran The Cavalcade of Perversion. It's as depraved as you'd expect it to be. There's even a character called the Puke Eater. Oh and Divine's rather murderous in this one when she wasn't stealing from customers too.

She's also got a man named Mr David (David Lochary). Needless to say, he's been cheating on her with another woman named Bonnie (Mary Vivian Pearce) and before she can confront them, she's sexually assaulted by two glue sniffers. Yes, it's a rather grim display here.

Throw in a daughter named Cookie (Cookie Mueller) and the latter's boyfriend, Steve (Paul Swift) and maybe it's no wonder that Divine turned to lesbianism with a woman named Mink (Mink Stole). They met in church and certainly committed unholy acts of love making.

The rest of the movie then just upped the body count. David and Bonnie murdered Cookie and had Ricky (Rick Morrow) tied up and gagged. Ricky was later killed by Mink. Mink was eventually killed by Divine and the latter killed both David and Bonnie. Yes, there's a high body count on display here.

I'm not sure the movie was totally successful in showing how Divine got so crazy but what she did to David was probably the most gruesome act in the film. Divine's own fate on the other hand was a pretty daft but oddly humourous way to give her a comeuppance of sorts.

- I watched the Criterion release of this with commentary from John Waters. That proved to be insightful.

- Other players in this movie included Edith Massey, George Figgs and Michael Renner Jr.

- Standout music: There's a memorable use of America The Beautiful at the end of the movie.

- Chronology: It was filmed in Baltimore and presumably set there too.

I'd say marginally better than the movie that came before it. Multiple Maniacs certainly didn't hold back on the depravity or outright silliness on display.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Supergirl (2026)

 

Written by Ana Nogueira

Directed by Craig Gillespie 

Supergirl: "Here's the thing. My cousin and I have very different ideas about what it means to be a hero. He sees the good in everyone and I see the truth."

Oh, DC - what to do with you? You came out swinging last year with Superman (2025) amid a petulant hate campaign and sadly, it seems that Supergirl (2026) fell victim to an even more mean spirited one. Is this the end of the DCU? Of course it isn't. 

Now I'm not gonna pretend that this isn't a movie without it's flaws and I'll delve into them during the review. In the comic book world, Tom King's a divisive writer but his miniseries Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow was one of the few things that DC fans seem to like. I can see why it was chosen as a potential adaptation.

Having already met Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock) in her cousin's movie, her solo adventure focused on her going from planet to planet getting drunk. It's also Kara's 23rd birthday and aside from Krypto and her well meaning cousin, Superman (David Corenswet), Kara's basically got nobody. Then she's roped into the big story itself.

Let's throw in Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley). The poor girl had to witness her parents being murdered by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) and she naturally wanted revenge. This was something that Kara wanted no part in but then Krypto got poisoned and had three days to live and the antidote was on the Brigands person. Those reasons alone were enough for Kara and Ruthye to team up.

Putting the source material to one side, when watching this movie yesterday I was reminded of Birds Of Prey (2020). In some aspects, the dynamic between Kara and Ruthye wasn't that dissimilar to Harley Quinn and Cassandra Cain. It's a slightly gentler version with Kara opening up about her life on Krypton, her parents and the differences between herself and her famous cousin.

Anyways as Kara and Ruthye ventured through different planets in order to get to Krem and his cohorts, there was also the presence of intergalactic bounty hunter, Lobo (Jason Momoa) himself. He's only in a handful of scenes, was moderately helpful to Kara and Ruthye and Momoa was well within his comfort zone, performance wise. Lobo's inclusion felt like a set up for an inevitable future solo project of his to be announced.

With most comic book movies, the third act was something of a mixed bag. There's a subplot involving human trafficking and changes made to Krem's character to give him more context. Krem wasn't a particularly compelling baddie to watch but at least Ruthye got closure, Krypto got cured (was there ever a doubt?) and Kara did what was necessary to stop Krem and his crew.

As for Superman and the Krypton scenes. I liked how they were spread out throughout the movie and I'd argue they're handled well here. Kara's parents Zor-El (David Krumholtz) and Alura In-Ze (Emily Beecham) were written as good people and there's a nice backstory for Krypto. Kara's scenes with Superman were some of the best in the movie, especially the final scene between cousins. I love their rapport so much.

- For the first time in a while, there are no mid or post credit scenes and honestly, they're not missed here.

- Seth Rogan had an uncredited role as a small alien that Kara met on the space bus. There was a lot of different aliens in the movie, including Sklarian Raiders.

- We had to wait until the third act for Kara to don her Supergirl costume. She used a lot of martial arts and got shot with Kryptonite as well.

- There's a few changes made to the source material, some being more noticeable than others. Most were fine tbh.

- Standout music: Claudia Sarne did good with the score and other than that, there's Cheek To Cheek by Ella Fitzgerald and Catch These Fists by Wet Legs.

- Chronology: Kara turned 23 and one of the many planets she visited was named Bilquis, after the artist of the source material. We also saw Krypton, Argo City and Metropolis.

Supergirl (2026) might not hit the same way that her more famous cousin's movie did a year ago but I'll side eye the hell out of anyone who'd claim this to be a bad movie. It's not bad in the slightest. As an adaptation to an acclaimed comic book miniseries, it's mostly faithful to the source material. The colour palette's a bit too drab and Krem isn't an interesting baddie but Milly Alcock has proved to be fantastic casting as Supergirl. 

Rating: 7 out of 10