My Review of Boys From County Hell (2020)

 

Written Chris Baugh And Brendan Mullin

Directed by Chris Baugh 

Claire: "Hang on. When you said he tried to bite you?"

Eugene: "Aye. Like a... Like a... Like a..."

Francie: "Like a cunt."

It's not Halloween and I fancied a vampire flick and while there's a certain one I'll catch up with later in the month, I thought I'd watch this Irish one from a few years.

Set in an unspecified part of the country in a backwater town, this one at least had some notoriety to it. It's not just any backwater town. Nope, this one came with its own legends, notably the fact that Bram Stoker got his inspiration for his most famous work.

It's a story that local drifter Eugene Moffat (Jack Rowan) liked telling the tourists but it's more than just a story. Following the accidental death of his best friend, William Bogue (Fra Free), it turned out that a creepy looking monument had some rather unique abilities to anyone unfortunate enough to get cut by it's stones.

For William, this meant losing his humanity and becoming a vampire, much to the horror of his grief stricken parents George (John Lynch) and Pauline (Andrea Irvine). It's also a lot for Eugene and William's girlfriend, Claire McCann (Louisa Harland) to come to terms with as well.

Of course while William did pose a threat in the movie, it was Abhartach who was the real concern. It was his burial place that was disturbed and his presence meant that the whole town was becoming infected. It also meant that Eugene, Claire, the former's dad, Francie (Nigel O'Neill) and SP McCauley (Michael Hough) had to save the day but not without some casualties.

I'll give the film it's merits for it's use of Abhartach. At no point in the movie was the character shown clearly but he's an effectively menacing figure nonetheless with some added backstory to Eugene's maternal lineage to give a bit more personal context as well. By the end of the movie, both Eugene and Claire's lives are changed forever by the events.

- Fans of a certain Doctor Who spin-off might spot Jordan Renzo as one of the gullible tourists that got easily spooked.

- Abhartach was a real legend and did provide inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Nosferatu was also referenced.

- Standout music: The Saw Doctors Joyce Country Ceili Band.

- Chronology: Present day Ireland, though again the actual setting of this movie was never specified.

Boys From County Hell did show that the Irish can do a suitably strong vampire flick with the right references while also cementing some solid family drama/history and the dynamics of a small town with difficulties in progression. Also again, top marks for how effectively done Abhartach was done too.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Queer (2024)

Written by Justin Kuritzkes 

Directed by Luca Guadagnino 

William (to Eugene): "I want to talk to you without speaking."

It's been a long month for me to finally get to see this movie and thanks to digital release, now I have seen it. I've seen certain clips spread out over social media and I've read the divisive reactions to the movie itself. Now that I've seen it, here's my opinion on the matter. I liked it.

Yes, I said I liked it because while it certainly cemented my interest in Luca Guadagnino as a filmmaker and there's an incredible performance from a certain lead actor, it doesn't quite hit the same heights as either Call Me By Your Name or Challengers. Saying that, there's plenty to mull over.

Our lead in question being an fictionalised version of William S. Burroughs. In this movie he's called William Lee (Daniel Craig) and he's rather restless while being an expat in Mexico City. Not even the few friends he has like Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzmann) can keep him amused and neither can hustlers like Chimu Bar Guy (Omar Apollo).

Someone that did have William's interest though was the rather aloof and not queer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). William spent most of the movie being obsessed with Eugene while the latter blew hot and cold (but mostly cold) with William. For a straight guy, Eugene seemed to be drawn to William in his own way too.

Around the halfway point of the movie, there's an odd arrangement that William made with Eugene in order to get the latter to travel with him to South America. It's also arrangement that William tried to break, even though Eugene went along with him on his journey for telepathy.

The scenes in South America certainly allowed the movie to get a lot more trippy as well. There was the rather kooky Dr Cotter (Lesley Manville) who helped William and Eugene lose their inhibitions but was adamant about protecting her own research. Aside from a woman named Mary (Andra Ursula), Cotter was the only woman in the movie to do anything of note.

The best scenes in the movie were of course the sex scenes between William and Eugene but the actual best scene was that dancing one in the woods with the two of them high as kites. It's a beautifully shot moment and easily the most intimate thing the two actually share with one another. 

As for the ending itself, it's not necessarily a letdown but I wouldn't say it's the best ending either. Thematically it did kind of work in the sense that it did highlight William's own long and loneliness throughout.

- Other noteworthy roles included Henrique Saga as Winston Moore and Drew Douge as John Dume. David Lowery also appeared as Jim Cochan.

- One of William's fantasy sequences in regards to Eugene was something that happened with his common law wife. She's briefly mentioned in the movie. 

- Based on the incomplete novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs himself.

- Justin Kuritzkes who wrote the script also worked with Luca Guadagnino on Challengers.

- Standout music: Trent Razor and Atticus Ross's score but also Sinead O'Connor's version of All Apologies, Nirvana's Come As You Are and New Order's Leave Me Alone.

- Chronology: 1950s Mexico City and South America, specifically Quito in Ecuador. There's a time jump to William as a dying old man.

Queer was certainly worth the wait and while it doesn't completely hit the same heights as two of Guadagnino's other most prolific of works, it's certainly an accomplishment nonetheless. Daniel Craig gave one of his best performance while his role was more passive, I think Drew Starkey held his own pretty well.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Harley Quinn: "The Big Apricot"

 

Written by Jamiesen Borak

Directed by Diana Huh

Harley (to Ivy): "We're going to the Big Apricot."

Well, it's been over a year since the events of the fourth season. In that time we had Kite-Man: Hell Yeah! and that was a show that nobody really watched. So, let's catch up.

Between seasons, it seems that the Batfamily have disbanded, Joker got impeached as Mayor and the Gotham City Sirens took on Enchantress and split as a group. Oh and Harley and Ivy got into a very dull rut with each other.

It looked like the rut could only be solved by taking the pair to Metropolis in order to shake up their relationship. This involved gatecrashing a party that was a museum to Superman and making friends with Lena Luthor. She's Bruce Wayne's new girlfriend and nothing like her now jailed brother.

Yes, despite Harley and Ivy causing disruption to Lena's party, it seemed like she was impressed with the pair. Even blood of Eclipso on her dress didn't deter her from tempting both Harley and Ivy to remain in Metropolis. Yup, they're sticking around and can Lena be trusted? I'm going to assume no.

As for Superman, he was in a bigger rut too. With Lex in prison and those automatons keeping the crime down, he felt redundant. At least he managed to get a nice conversation with Harley. That gave him some perspective on what to do next.

Oh and while Harley and Ivy are settling into Metropolis, there was Brainiac in the sky. Well, if the show was going to relocate to Metropolis this season, might as well have Brainiac as the big bad for the season too. I hope the show doesn't waste him.

- Riddler and Clock King have become one of those obnoxious type of couples. 

- Enchantress's necklace contained Eclipso, which Catwoman stole and Lena acquired.

- Lois got neck work done, we briefly saw Jimmy Olsen and Krypto and did this show skip past Nightwing wanting revenge on Harley?

- Chronology: Over a year since the events of the previous season.

The Big Apricot got this season off to a good start. The move to Metropolis does have potential but I'm kind of disappointed that they shelved the Gotham City Sirens story so quickly. I do hope they deliver with Brainiac, villain wise.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Iron Man 3 (2013)

 

Written by Shane Black And Drew Pearce

Directed by Shane Black 

Tony: "I'm Tony Stark. I build neat stuff, got a great girl, occasionally save the world. So why can't I sleep?"

With this movie, two things happened. Not only did we get our first installment in the second phase for the MCU but a superhero got to complete his trilogy first. This was also the second film in the MCU to also get over a billion at the box office.

Now, was this the best of the Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) movies? I don't know. I think they've all been on the same level. For me, they're good movies but compared to other heroes, they're not as easy to rank them individually. 

Anyways this third movie had a terrorist by the name of the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) popping up on camera, making threats, carrying them out and for a good portion of the movie he had everyone convinced that Tony Stark was dead. Even for 2013, the character was written in a fairly stereotypical way.

Then the twist was that the Mandarin was actually a hammer actor named Trevor Slattery. I will give Ben Kingsley his dues because he did alternate between the Mandarin and Slattery quite well without it feeling too off. Fortunately a later movie in 2021 would do some lifting in making the Mandarin a lot better.

As for the actual Mandarin, it's really an ex-boyfriend of Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Yup, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) was the one pulling the strings and he did have some help from the likes of Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), Ellen Brandt (Stéphanie Szostak) and Eric Savin (James Badge Dale). The latter especially being responsible for putting Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in the hospital for most of the movie.

As a group of villains, they worked. Saying that, Maya was more on the conflicted side of things and ended up being killed for that. There was also Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) having his suit taken out of control, some President (William Sadler) kidnapping, Pepper suiting up herself and a much needed comeuppance for the baddies while Tony got a protege with Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) and dealt with his own existential crisis throughout the movie.

- Tony narrates the events of the movie, only for the post credit scene to reveal it being a therapy session of sorts with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). The latter didn't retain anything Tony told him.

- Horror fans can briefly spot Jenna Ortega as the daughter of the Vice President (Miguel Ferrer) in the movie. JARVIS (Paul Bettany) also got some nice scenes here. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) also appeared.

- Cameos ahoy from the likes of Joan Rivers, Bill Maher and George Kotsiopoulos as well as Stan Lee as a beauty pageant judge.

- Despite playing huge roles in the previous movies, there's no Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) or S.H.I.E.L.D. here.

- This movie largely pulled from the Extremis storyline.

- Chronology: Despite being released for the start of the summer, the movie itself took place during Christmas 2013.

Iron Man 3 did make a good third movie. Yes, there's some horrible stereotypes with the Mandarin story but other than that, the action's good, Tony does get some growth as a character and I quite like the Christmas setting.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Iron Man 2 (2010)

 

Written by Justin Theroux

Directed by Jon Favreau 

Tony: "My bond is with the people, and I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there's one thing I've proven it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself."

Those early MCU days really were a wild time. To think the first three movies focus on two Iron Man movies and a solo Hulk adventure with the slow build up towards The Avengers. Ah, yes, I'm reviewing the first sequel in the MCU, which also happened to be it's third entry.

Once again, there was the return of Toby Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and he was largely showboating his newfound responsibilities to the consternation of both girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and best friend, Rhodey (Don Cheadle). In fact both were just about done with Tony until they weren't.

For Pepper, she was basically running Stark Industries to the point that Tony made her CEO and with that came a lot of outside scrutiny that she also had to deal. There's a few times in the movie where it did look like she was going to throw in the towel with Tony when she wasn't saving his backside.

Similarly Rhodes has taken enough and when the latter was acting too hedonistic, Rhodes literally became War Machine to try and knock some sense into him. That didn't work. Neither did Rhodes allying with rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell).

Let's talk about Justin Hammer. He wanted to beat Tony at his own game and even stole some of Tony's technology to nearly accomplish that. More importantly was his alliance with the real villain of the piece - Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Mickey Rourke). 

Villain wise, both Hammer and Whiplash have their moments and did make for decent foils against Iron Man and War Machine. Oh and this was the very movie to debut Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). She's part of S.H.I.E.L.D. working with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and while she would be better served in future MCU movies, it's a reasonably good debut for the character.

- The credit scene of the movie had Agent Colson (Clark Gregg) locating Thor's hammer.

- Jump scare moment with Elon Musk's cameo and that exchange between him and Tony was cringe in its writing and delivery.

- Stan Lee got mistook for Larry King in this one and Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) and JARVIS (Paul Bettany) also appear/are heard.

- Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) had some great scenes with Black Widow throughout the movie.

- Standout music: AC/DC's Guns For Hire.

- Chronology: A year since the events of the first movie.

Though not quite as good as the first movie, I do think Iron Man 2 at least wasn't a really divisive sequel and for it's introduction of Black Widow, it does merit points. Saying that, Tony did push his reckless streak almost too far here.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Iron Man (2008)

 

Written by Mark Fergus And Hawk Ostby And Art Marcum And Matt Holloway

Directed by Jon Favreau 

Tony (to the press): "I am Iron Man."

I've been doing this whole catching up with MCU movies that I didn't review first time around a bit backwards. I do apologise for that but anyways, on my Review pile was the first ever MCU movie and it's been an eternity since I've watched this one.

To think that instead of Spider-Man or the X-Men, the first entry into the biggest cinematic universe was Iron Man aka Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Imagine if this movie hadn't been a hit. How different things could've been for the MCU.

Fortunately, not only was the film a hit, but it's a bloody good first entry into this cinematic universe. Tony Stark might not be the more agreeable of people but he's perfected the lovable bastard trope quite a bit here. He's annoyingly charming and also annoying in near equal measures.

It's not hard to see why the people around him, including his personal assistant/love interest Virginia "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and best friend James "Rhodry" Rhodes (Terrence Howard) are both impressed and frustrated by him at times. It really would be a recurring feeling with Tony as a character.

This film delved into Tony's weapons dealing and for the most part, it did try to be rather critical of it. We had s enes with Tony being captured by terrorists, befriending/working with fellow captive Ho Yinsen (Shaun Toub) and of course, his origins as Iron Man and that electromagnet that Tony really needed.

Then there's the baddie of the piece. Villain wise, I guess the rather envious Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) did make for a good baddie with his own suit and determination to take Tony out by any means required. The fight scenes between the two actually hold up really good.

As for Tony outing himself as Iron Man. I absolutely loved that. It did seem like he was trying to counter ex-girlfriend, Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) but at the same time, he also knew he couldn't deny it either. Of course, outing himself as Iron Man did have consequences.

- The post credit scene did feature Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) reaching out to Tony Stark about the Avengers.

- Agent Colson (Clark Gregg) made his MCU debut here too, with his scenes being with Pepper Potts.

- Director Jon Favreau had a smaller role as Tony's chauffeur, Happy Hogan and we got Paul Bettany as Tony's AI JARVIS.

- At one point in the movie, Tony actually mistook Stan Lee for Hugh Heffner. 

- In one of the original, Mandarin was supposed to be the baddie but it was changed to Obadiah Stane.

- Chronology: The film was primarily set in 2008 in both the US and Afghanistan. 

Iron Man isn't my favourite MCU movie but it's a bloody good one and a bloody start to the MCU. Everything you love (and maybe don't) can be traced back to this movie .

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad (1949)

 

Written by Erdman Penner And Winston Hibler And Joe Rinaldi And Ted Sears And Homer Brightman And Harry Reeves

Directed by Ben Sharpsteen And Jack Kinney And Clyde Geronimi And James Algar

Narrator: "Don't try to figure out a plan. You can't reason with a headless man."

Delving into much earlier Disney era with a movie that up until yesterday, I had never actually seen before. Yes, there are some classic Disney films even I need to watch for the first time. This one was interesting enough.

I'm not sure why but for some reason, this movie decided to take two very different stories and decided to splice them together in a way. One half covers a children's classic and the other half, something more appropriate for Halloween. As you do.

Tackling the first half of the movie, you've got The Wind In The Willows. Yup, J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq (Eric Blore) has his head turned with many a thing and his determination to drive a car became a source of contention for his friends, Angus MacBadger (Campbell Grant) and Water Rat (Claus Alister).

Of course, Toad stole a car to drive, having grown tired of his horse, Cyril Proudbottom (J. Pat O'Malley) and ended up in court where he then ended up in the Tower of London instead. However, even that wasn't enough to keep Toad down as he managed to get away by the end of this story. It's an okay adaptation of that story.

Much better handled for me was the adaptation of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow. Yes, we've got Ichabod Crane (actor) coming to the titular town and immediately becoming a target for the bully Brom Bones (actor). There's also a love triangle involving farmer's daughter, Katrina (actor) that did seem to go in Ichabod's favour.

As for the Headless Horseman (Billy Fletcher) segment. The story was told in a nice creepy fashion with Brom using it to scare the bejesus out of Crane. The latter then actually encountering the Horseman was rather satisfying. However by the end of it, it seemed that both Brom and Crane won in different ways, given the outcome of this one.

- We got narrations in this movie with Basil Rathbone for The Wind In The Willows and Bing Crosby for The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.

- Both of these were intended to be separated movies before they were eventually merged.

- Standout music: The Merrily Song, Auld Lang Syne, Ichabod Crane, Katrina and The Headless Horseman.

- Chronology: 1905 London during Christmas Eve for the first part and 1790, Sleepy Hollow, New York during Halloween for the second part.

While a bit of mixed bag, I did find The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad to be mostly enjoyable. I did like the second part more than the first one.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Conclave (2024)

 

Written by Peter Straughan

Directed by Edward Berger 

Benitez: "The church is not the past. It is what we do next."

I'm doing my best to get to nearly all of the potential Oscar nominated movies before the event itself and on that list included this political thriller. Yes, let's look into the Vatican, shall we?

Notably, let's look into the election of the next Pope through a papal conclave following the death of the pope at the start of the movie. You've got the College of Cardinals, under the leadership of British Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes). They've gathered to elect his successor. A task that would make up this film with different candidates to succeed the late Pope.

The first candidate being Lawrence himself who spent a great portion of the movie denying that he even wanted to the job, due to his faith wavering. Lawrence was more or less the main protagonist of the movie itself and he's predominantly a good man wanting to do the right thing throughout.

The other candidates included a similarly morally upstanding Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci). He's somewhat more progressive than the other candidates, being very pro women and LGBT community but also came across as more pragmatic compared to Lawrence. He had no problem in also confronting the latter's wavering stance towards his faith.

Then there was Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), whose candidacy came into potential following the reveal of a past indiscretion with a nun, thanks to the more tactical and moderate Joseph Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow). Tremblay certainly wasn't above playing dirty, even though the late Pope had demanded his resignation prior to his death. That also left the more traditionalist Goffredo Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) as another would be successor.

Among the vying to be the next Pope and the somewhat expected outcome (if you've read the book), there were two other characters who got to shine in this movie. Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) worked well as a bit of a foil to Lawrence while Vincent Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz) own backstory was nicely explored and gave some great context following the newly elected Pope.

- The candidates represented different places - Bellini with Italy, Adeyemi with Nigeria, Tremblay with Canada and Benitez with Mexico/Afghanistan. Lawrence was British.

- The movie is based on the 2005 book of the same name by Robert Harris. 

- Standout music: Capella Musicale Pontificia Sistina, Massimo Palombella's version of Allegri: Miserere.

- Chronology: The movie was set over the course of three days, resulting in the newly elected pope.

Conclave certainly managed to be an intriguing and nicely nuanced look into the next Pope. The performances from everyone are particularly great but I have to give a special mention to Carlos Diehz in particular.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

 

Written And Directed by Joss Whedon 

Ultron: "How do you hope to stop me?"

Tony: "Like the old man said, Together."

After hitting the heights of The Avengers and before the chaos that would be those Justice League reshoots, Joss Whedon was kind of on his A-Game as a writer/director. He was in the big leagues as both and then this sequel came along and sort of became the beginning of the end for him, kind of.

Financially you wouldn't think so because this was another monster hit for both the MCU and for Whedon himself and while it's arguably the "weakest" of the Avengers in terms of movie, there's still plenty to recommend with it. Notably for it's villain choice, character introductions and the set up for other things.

Let's talk villains first. Ultron (James Spader), the dangerous AI that effectively had JARVIS (Paul Bettany) replaced with FRIDAY (Kerry Condon), though not intentionally. He wanted to pacify the Earth by eradicating humanity and thanks to both Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) not keeping a better check on him, he nearly did.

Ultron's design doesn't look too dissimilar from a Terminator to be perfectly honest but he's a great foil for the Avengers, both as a physical and an intellectual menace. He got the best of them multiple times and had it not been for the creation of Vision (Paul Bettany) he might have actually bested the lot of them.

Then there was the twins. Yup, Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his sister, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) certainly were a threat for the team, until halfway through they switched alliances. I think it was the promise of becoming Avengers. It was also the fact that they were two traumatised people who lost their parents in horrific circumstances at a young age and have been exploited by the bad guys ever since.

Of course joining the team didn't initially mean they were trusted but they certainly did their bit to stop Ultron's overall scheme, even if one of them died. Yeah, it's a shame we lost Pietro before really getting to know him but on the other hand, it did make sense to keep Wanda around and the MCU has largely benefitted from that creative decision. 

As for the rest of the team, Captain America (Chris Evans) remained the wholesome guy who got teased for his stance on swearing, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) took delight in the fact that no one could wield his hammer and there was Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). He was genuinely surprised that there was a bubbling romance between Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hulk. Am I the only one who didn't mind that potential pairing? It's a shame that it ultimately went nowhere after this movie.

- The other villain of the piece being Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), who was obsessed with finding Vibranium.

- Other characters to appear in this movie included Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Helen Cho (Claudia Kim) and Heimdall (Idris Elba).

- Stan Lee cameo as a military veteran during a party scene with the Avengers.

- The credit scenes included Thanos (Josh Brolin) determined to do it himself while War-Machine (Don Cheadle) joined the Avengers with Wanda and Vision.

- We were introduced to Clint's wife, Laura (Linda Cardellini) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) also factored in the movie.

- Chronology: Not long after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Took place in Sokovia, Seoul, Johannesburg to name a few places.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron might be the Avengers movie that some fans like the least but it's still a good movie. I actually enjoyed a lot of this, especially with the villain choice and the various character moments.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The Avengers (2012)

 

Written by Zak Penn And Joss Whedon

Directed by Joss Whedon 

Loki: "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

Tony: "The Avengers. That's what we call ourselves; we're sort of like a team. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" type thing."

Loki: "Yes, I've met them."

Ah, yes. If there was a movie that well and truly told the world that MCU was going to be the most successful movie franchise of all time, it was time. Love him or loathe him, it's definitely down to a certain co-writer and director's influence. Not to mention the cast that made up this movie.

It's been so long since I've actually watched this movie, I had forgotten just how brilliant it actually was. The sheer scale and ambition as well as having the basis of the previous five MCU movies to build upon.

So, let's look at our titular team. All of them were introduced in previous movies while one of them got recast. As a team, they're not exactly happy to work together at first. In fact, there's a lot of clashing here, mostly down to their personalities but also some outside forces as well.

The rivalry between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) couldn't be more apparent too. They really butted heads for a good portion of the movie, due to their differences but when push came to shove, they actually worked rather well together. What about the rest of the team?

Well, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) made damn sure that when she was under duress, she wasn't but she was instrumental in getting The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) on board as well as the movie exploring her complicated friendship with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). As for Thor (Chris Hemsworth), he mostly got involved for family reasons.

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) hadn't been content being the main antagonist for his brother's first movie, he had to go and be one for the first Avengers movie too. I'm not complaining because he's a great choice of villain, working for a higher villain out there while coming to Earth to claim the Tesseract and almost succeeded as well. Both him and his Chitauri army. 

Through the entire movie, Loki's a delightful villain and got several cool moments with each of the Avengers, though he really underestimated one of them more than he should've. As for the S.H.I.E.L.D. side of things, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) were on good form but it's Agent Colson (Clark Gregg) who had some excellent moments before that outcome.

- Loki's bosses of sorts were The Other (Alexis Denisif) and Thanos (Damion Poitier). The latter is very briefly seen in a mid credit scene.

- Jenny Agutter, Powers Boothe and Enver Gjokaj appeared here. The latter two would end being prominent characters in Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD.

- Stellan Skarsgard also reprised his role as Erik Selvig from Thor, being under Loki's control for most of the movie. Oh Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) also appeared briefly. JARVIS (Paul Bettany) was also heard.

- Stan Lee popped up as part of a newspaper report segment, following the aftermath of the main events.

- A post credit scene had the Avengers go to a local Shawarma after Iron Man talked about it a lot.

- Chronology: 2012 New York City for most of the movie.

The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble) certainly got the ball rolling with these ambitious MCU team ups and as a movie, it's still incredible to watch over a decade later. Brilliant choice of characters for the start of this group, great villain choices, hints of bigger events to come and some genuinely stunning action sequences, character moments and funny one liners.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Creature Commandos: "A Very Funny Monster"

 

Written by James Gunn 

Directed by Matt Peters

Economos (re Project M): "Well, are you in?"

The Bride: "What else I gotta do?"

Wow, time really did fly by and in a month where we've been inundated with a lot to mull over with DC as well. After seven episodes, did this one manage to stick the landing? I think it just about did.

Of course, there's a bittersweet sting in the tail with Nina Mazursky. Arguably the sweetest character on the show, which was why her death hit that little bit harder. I know someone had to die but I can think of a more deserving character than Nina.

In flashbacks we saw that Nina was born to Edward and Lily Mazursky as a child whose lungs were on the outside of her body. Lily struggled to bond with Nina and eventually abandoned her. Edward on the other experimented with aquatic DNA, resulting in the version of the character we know of.

The rest of the flashbacks saw Nina being bullied by her peers until she couldn't take and fled to the sewers to unburden her own father. Then she attracted media attention, got caught and had to watch her father die. Overall, Nina didn't get a break here.

In the present day, Nina was the one also manipulated by the The Bride and Dr Phospherus to kill Princess Ilana with Weasel intervening. Unfortunately Nina ended up dead and we briefly believed the Princess was innocent. That was until The Bride realised she had been working for Clayface all along.

There's definitely reasons why James Gunn's depiction of women isn't always well received but I honestly think The Bride was his best character here and I was more than happy to see her deal with both the Princess and Eric Frankenstein the way she did. No wonder Amanda Waller gave her control of Project M.

- New members for Project M in Season 2 will include Khalis the mummy, Nosferata and King Shark (Diedrich Bader). Oh and G.I. Robot has a new body.

- A post credit scene showed Eric whinging about The Bride to another woman who gave him sparrow shit soup.

- Given that he has his own movie coming out, surely Clayface will revive himself. I assume Waller and Economos deployed a team to scoop him up. 

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off in Pokolistan. Nina was from Star City, home of Green Arrow.

A Very Funny Monster was a good ending to an overall fun series. As a teaser for the DCU, I think this R rated animated show worked decently enough but I can't wait to see what Superman (2025) will actually bring to the table.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Captain America: Civil War (2016)

 

Written by Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Anthony And Joe Russo

Captain America (re Bucky): "He's my friend."

Iron Man: "So was I."

Or as I'd like to call this movie, Avengers 2.5. Despite some absences, this often felt more like an Avengers movie than the third part of a Captain America. It also pretty did a similar thing to Batman V. Superman, coming out two months after that movie. Did it do it better?

Honestly, not really. Overall,this movie felt like a culmination of the events from both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age Of Ultron but for me, this one doesn't quite hit the same height as the former and would be a tiny bit behind the latter as well.

The opening scene was rather good. There was something delightful in seeing Captain America (Chris Evans), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) going up against Crossbones (Frank Grillo). However he didn't make it out of this one alive but did manage to tip Steve off about The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) still being alive.

Bucky of course being the whole crux of this movie's conflict. You had Captain America, Falcon, Wanda as well as Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) on one side. However on the other, there was Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), a reluctant Black Widow, War Machine (Don Cheadle) as well as Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). The latter side weren't exactly in Bucky's favour.

It probably didn't help that as the Winter Soldier, Bucky was responsible for the death of Howard Stark (John Slattery), while also being blamed for the death of T'Chaka (John Kani). The latter definitely wasn't on him and that alone would change the Bucky/T'Challa relationship by the end of the movie.

The actual "Civil War" really was watching your favourite Marvel heroes fight each other with both sides not really helping their respective causes. On the villain end of the scale, there was the introduction of Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) who proved to be a rather effective baddie before being inevitably captured by the good guys. He's another character who successfully managed to break through in an otherwise very busy movie.

As for Tony and Steve, this movie really was a tester of their friendship and it felt like both could've tried harder to have seen the other's perspective. I did find myself siding with Steve a bit more but at least Tony seemed to show some remorse for what transpired between both sides. 

- The film featured Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), had the return of Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and a funeral for Peggy Carter. The credit scenes were good for Black Panther and Spider-Man fans.

- Alfre Woodard popped up here in a civilian role but would go on to play Mariah Dillard in Luke Cage shortly after this movie's release.

- There was definitely hints of Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany) becoming a couple, even if they were on different sides within the second half of the movie.

- Both Thor and Hulk are off world, setting up Thor: Ragnarok.

- Joe Russo popped up as a murder victim of Zemo's and Stan Lee as a FedEx deliveryman.

- Chronology: Not long after the events of Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Flashbacks to 1991 and a few different locations in 2016.

While not my favourite of the Steve Rogers trilogy, there's still enough to like with Captain America: Civil War if I'm being honest. Some characters are introduced and immediately grab your attention and the fight scenes do look great, I can't deny that.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

 

Written by Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Anthony Russo And Joe Russo

Steve: "I'm not gonna fight you. You're my friend!"

The Winter Soldier: "You're my mission! YOU ARE MY MISSION!"

Steve: "Then finish it. 'Cause I'm with you 'til the end of the line."

There's a certain trilogy from another comic book franchise in which in the middle part happened to be the most highly regarded part of it. This franchise should also have that acclaim because out of the Steve Rogers trilogy, this would be my favourite of the bunch.

Shortky after the events of The Avengers, you've got Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) working together, albeit on separate missions. That's on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who still had Steve on a need to know basis with certain things.

Of course proving to be as much of a problem in the present day as they were back in the 1940s, Hydra have new acolytes doing their bidding. This was where Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) came into the forefront, working Hydra front within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, including attempting to take Fury off the table. Did anyone really believe he was dead? I definitely didn't.

Anyways with Steve and Natasha having to deal with the next generation of Hydra in their midst, at least there was some allies in their corner. There was pararescueman Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), who's easily the break out character of the entire movie. His rapport with everyone was fantastic but especially with Steve himself.

There's also Fury's right hand woman, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Agent 3 herself, Sharon Carter (Emily Van Camp). There's a hint of a love story here that most fans hated at the time (and still do). Aside from that, both characters are used pretty well within a rather stacked movie.

Getting back to the villains of the piece, The Winter Soldier himself, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). One of the best and sympathetic MCU villains, considering he's a victim of Hydra's brainwashing while Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo) was a bit weaker as a baddie. 

Of course this movie certainly ended things on a complicated note between Steve and Bucky while also laying the groundwork for Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Let's just say, an icon made her debut here.

- The credit scenes introduced both Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) while Bucky looked at himself in the Smithsonian.

- Stan Lee popped up as a security guard that wasn't pleased when a certain costume was stolen.

- Steve caught up with a much older Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) in hospital while Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) also re-emerged through AI.

- This movie had Steve get closure on his relationship with Peggy, hinted at attractions to both Sharon and Natasha and asked a lot about his love life in the 21st century.

- More great casting with the likes of Jenny Agutter, Danny Pudi, Alan Dale, Bernard White and Chin Han all popping up in good supporting/cameo roles.

- Chronology: The movie came out during 2014, so around the same time.

Without a doubt, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the best movie from the Steve Rogers trilogy. Everything just works (minus the Steve/Sharon subplot) but especially the complicated relationship between Steve and Bucky. I loved this one.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

 

Written by Christopher Markus And Stephen McFeely

Directed by Joe Johnston

Bucky: "What happened to you?"

Steve: "I joined the Army."

With a new Captain America movie about to hit theatres next month, it was past time to go back and watch the first trilogy. If this was anything to go by, this will be a fun rewatch. I forgot how good this first movie was.

It's World War II and our hero, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) isn't exactly the most powerful guy in his squad. If he's not getting bullied by fellow soldiers, he's looked upon with disdain by Colonel Chester Philips (Tommy Lee Jones). To be fair, looking at Steve, you'd have to wonder why the hell he's in the US army, even during this specific time period.

Of course, it's war time and everyone had a role to play and Steve wasn't endearing himself to Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), he also got selected for Abraham Erskine's (Stanley Tucci) Super Soldier Serum. Let's just say that Steve Rogers went from a weedy looking fella to Captain America in no time.

However for Steve, this initially being used as a corporate mascot for enlisting talks with pretty girls but the moment his only friend James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan) went missing, Steve soon became a squadron leader that he was destined to be, saved his friend and won the respect of fellow soldiers. Those included the likes of Timothy "Dum Dum" Duggan (Neal McDonough) and so on.

As for the bad guys, well it was all about Hydra. Smaller scale threats like Heinz Kruger (Richard Armitage) took themselves off the table. That left more room for Hydra commander Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) and his scientist lackey Arnim Zola (Toby Jones). Both are fairly well realised baddies for the movie.

By the time the movie got to it's conclusion, Bucky was seemingly dead, both Zola and Red Skull were defeated, Vibranium was discovered and Steve went from being in 1941 to 2011, missing a vital date he had with Peggy. On the other hand, at least Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was there to bring him up to speed.

- Yes, prior to appearing in Doctor Who, Jenna Coleman briefly appeared as Bucky's date.

- Dominic Cooper had a strong supporting role as Howard Stark. 

- We did get a brief look at a more comic book version of Steve's suit before they settled for the more practical one.

- Other noteworthy actors who appeared in this movie included Laura Haddock, Natalie Dormer, David Bradley, Kenneth Choi and JJ Feild.

- A mid credit scene had Steve being approached by Fury for a worldwide mission and then that trailer for The Avengers.

- Chronology: 1945 and 2011, taking in the Arctic, New York City and most of the USA.

Captain America has certainly aged well as a movie. It's a great first entry for Steve Rogers with the WW2 setting and respective villains working very much in its favour. It's not hard to see how Chris Evans was cast in the part as he's perfect with his debut outing as Steve Rogers.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Seconds (1966)

 

Written by Lewis John Carlino

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Emily (to Tony): "You see, Arthur had been dead a long, long time before they found him in that hotel room."

This year I do plan to watch more older movies and this was one that I've been wanting to watch for a good while now. I'm really glad I did because this has a great premise and a very dark ending.

The premise focused on middle aged banker, Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph). Arthur was in a marriage to Emily (Frances Reid) where the love had dwindled and his daughter was distant from him. He was bored and in desperate need to change things.

Thanks to a recommendation from childhood friend, Charlie (Murray Hamilton), Arthur was about to get the chance of a whole new life. Granted it was one that would cost him $30,000, involve extensive plastic surgery and oh, some rather devious blackmailing thanks to the Associates of the mystery company. 

Despite Arthur not liking being strong armed into it, he agreed to the procedure and soon became Antiochus "Tony" Wilson (Rock Hudson). Yes, he looked over a decade younger, became an artist, relocated and even got briefly involved with the mysterious Nora (Salome Jens). 

It seemed like Tony's new life was going perfect but then he made a total drunken fool out of himself during a social gathering he organised. That was a mistake that made him into a liability and Tony wanting another life also didn't help matters.

Now for me, it's the last scene that really sold this movie. It's a frightening culmination of Arthur/Tony's entire story and one that sadly made sense, given the lengths he went to get this life to begin with. It's a really chilling ending.

- Based on a book of the same name by David Ely. The movie in 2015 was selected by the National Film Registry for preservation.

- Yes, there was controversy for the full frontal female nudity that appeared in the movie.

- The depiction of plastic surgery on Arthur/Tony actually had real shots of a rhinoplasty operation.

- Chronology: Scarsdale, New York City and Malibu, California. Several months pass during the movie.

Seconds was certainly a doozy of a movie. The discontented protagonist given the chance of a new life, squandering it's potential and suffering the fatal consequences for it. Great performances from both Rock Hudson and Jack Randolph and that last scene as I said earlier was chilling.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of The Incredible Hulk (2008)

 

Written by Zak Penn

Directed by Louis Leterrier

Abomination: "Any last words?"

Incredible Hulk: "Hulk ... SMASH!"

Remember a time when the MCU Hulk wasn't Mark Ruffalo? Yeah, that was a thing if you cast your mind back to 2008 and the second movie of the MCU had a very different take altogether. That and a different actor of course.

Yes, it was Edward Norton who first played Dr Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk in the MCU and sometimes I do wonder how things would've played out had he remained in the role. Saying that, I do like Ruffalo in the role that he's made definitive for him in the last decade.

Getting back to this movie though, Banner fled the United States and was hiding out in Brazil, generally trying to avoid General Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), who wanted to weaponise him as the Hulk. He was also desperate to find a cure for his condition and almost came close to it in this movie.

Then there was Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). Yup, Bruce's former girlfriend and the general's daughter. She had gotten together with Leonard Samson (Ty Burrell) but was still willing to defy her father and help Bruce on his mission with cellular biologist Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) also chipping in to help.

Of course there was a snag and that was the villain of the piece. Yup, this was the movie that debuted Emil Blonsky aka Abomination (Tim Roth) and I gotta admit, he's actually a pretty decent foe during the first phase of the MCU. The fight scenes between Hulk and Abomination are rather decent to watch.

As for the end of the movie, needless to say it's not a romantic reunion between Bruce and Betty but at least they're on better terms than beforehand. Not to mention the final shot of Bruce's technique for controlling his rage was rather good.

- There's a scene where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) approached General Ross in a bar to lay the groundwork for The Avengers.

- The Stan Lee cameo had the poor guy drink the soda that contained some of Banner's blood. It didn't agree with him.

- There's appearances/voiceovers from both Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno during the movie as well. 

- Chronology: The movie jumps five years after the opening scene and then a month after Abomination's defeat. It's set in New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Bella Coola, British Columbia.

I had a lot of fun with The Incredible Hulk. It's held up pretty well as a movie and I think Edward Norton was great in the role. I'd go as far as to say that this would be one of the most underrated movies in the MCU.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Babygirl (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Halina Reijn

Romy: "I see myself as a..."

Samuel: "Power-hungry personality?"

Romy: "You think that's what I am?"

Samuel: "I think you like to be told what to do."

2024 was the year that tried to bring some sexiness back into adult movies and make them into award contenders. Luca Guadagnino tried to satisfy (and mostly succeeded) both bisexuals and the gays with Challengers and Queer (still have to catch up with it) but what about the straights?

Well, writer and director Halina Reijn took on the assignment and on paper, this definitely felt like it should've been a clear winner. For a lot of people it has been but for me, I hate to say it but it didn't quite work for me. I really wanted to like this one. I really did.

First of all, I will point out that in terms of onscreen chemistry, both Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson do their level best here and had the movie been less messy, I think it would've really worked. Sadly though, it didn't. At least not for me.

Anyways, Kidman played the role of CEO Romy Mathis. Her tech company was embracing AI and there was an intern scheme she got roped into. The intern, Samuel (Dickinson) ended up getting under her skin by crossing too many professional boundaries. This also resulted in an affair in which Romy took on a submissive role.

If you've ever seen the movie Secretary with James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal, then this movie felt like a reverse of that dynamic. Romy's affair with Samuel intensified to the point where another one of her subordinates, Esme (Sophie Wilde) knew what was going on and Romy's marriage to theatre director, Jacob (Antonio Banderas) almost came crashing down.

However by the end of this movie and despite the repeated threat of losing everything, Romy lost nothing. She fixed her marriage, got an orgasm from her husband, had Samuel transferred to another country and even put a co-worker in his place. Overall, there was no real consequences or stakes to any of the events itself. 

- Romy's oldest daughter, Isabel (Esther McGregor) was sympathetic to her mother because she had cheated on her girlfriend and could relate.

- Jean Reno filmed scenes but his role was cut from the film itself.

- Standout music: Sly Ferreira's Leash, appropriately enough.

- Chronology: Around the Christmas period in New York City.

Babygirl had potential but overall, for me, I don't think it came together. The script felt sloppy in parts, the last act could've definitely been fleshed out. I wanted to like it but it felt lacking for me.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Kraven The Hunter (2024)

 

Written by Richard Wenk And Art Marcum And Matt Holloway

Directed by J.C. Chandor

Sergei: "I stared Death in the face, and for the first time... I saw my true self."

Oh, Sony, you just never learn. For all the success of the Spiderverse animated movies and inadvertent success of a Venom trilogy, these Spider-Man adjacent movies have been more trouble than they're worse. The all too predictable failure of this movie really should put paid to any further films like this but I feel it likely won't.

Now, what exactly went wrong here? In some respects, there's a serviceable enough story but it feels like an executive at Sony saw the subversive of Cruella and thought they could replicate that with this character. There was potential for it to work but the idea didn't quite land as well as it should've done.

Our titular antihero, almost known as Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson/Levi Miller) found out that his mother died and his father, Nikolai (Russell Crowe) was less upset about that than he would've liked. Nikolai also liked pitting Sergei and his younger brother, Dmitri (Fred Hechinger/Billy Barratt) against one another and an incident with a lion saw Sergei putting some distance with his family for a good sixteen years.

In the present day, Sergei became Kraven the Hunter while Dmitri's penchant for imitation had him as a lounge singer. It also got Dmitri kidnapped by both Aleksei Sytsevich aka Rhino (Alessandro Nivola) and the Foreigner (Christopher Abbott). It also had Sergei reunite with Calypso Ezili (Ariana DeBose/Diaana Babnicova) as she too found herself up in events.

In terms of the villains of the piece, there's four of them. Both Rhino and Foreigner provider solid and physical threats for our antihero but it's the misdeeds of Nikolai that set off the whole chain of events. It's also Nikolai's actions that saw about a villainous turn for Dmitri in a reveal that we're not likely going to see play out in the future.

As for Calypso, she did get some decent moments in the movie but it's a more subdued version of the character. Even the comic book romance between her and Sergei was mostly played down, though she did save his life at crucial points, so I have to give points for that alone. As for Sergei he certainly embraced a certain look by the very last scene of the movie.

- There's no mid or post credit scene and considering how this movie has bombed, that was a wise decision. I'm surprised Dmitri revealing his chameleon powers to Sergei wasn't used as one.

- Both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Russell Crowe have previous been in the MCU as Quicksilver and Zeus respectively.

- Standout music: Dmitri does perform a rather nice version of Harry Styles Sign Of The Times in his piano bar.

- Chronology: Present day and sixteen years in the past. Scenes in Africa, Russia and London.

Kraven The Hunter ain't a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but it's not an entire car crash. It just feels a tad pointless but the action sequences are decent enough, though it's surprisingly longer than expected. Keep your expectations to a minimum and you won't be too disappointed.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Creature Commandos: "Priyatel Skelet"

 

Written by James Gunn 

Directed by Sam Liu

Dr Phospherus (to girl): "It looks like I'm smiling but I'm not."

With this penultimate episode, a long standing (and somewhat tiresome) theory got debunked. For the billionth time, Matt Reeves will not be merging Robert Pattinson's Batman into the DCU. Mostly because from the vague silhouette we saw, James Gunn will cast his own actor for the role.

A few episodes ago, we did see the Dark Knight slaughtered in a nightmare future seen by Circe and here, Batman appeared in flashbacks just as Dr Phospherus was embracing his newly acquired criminal lifestyle. Before that though we saw a much different version of the man.

In early flashbacks, Alexander Sartorius was a scientist looking to cure cancer. He was also being financially backed by mobster Rupert Thorne (Benjamin Byron Davis), who murdered Alexander's wife and son before causing Alex's transformation into Dr Phospherus. Suffice to say, Rupert didn't live much longer than that.

As the flashbacks saw Phospherus climbing up the criminal ranks, the present day version had him bond with a little girl before heading to the castle to kill Princess Ilana Rostavic. What about everyone else? What did they get up to?

Well, you had The Bride and Nina hanging out in a brothel, killing metahuman punters and verbally sparring with Madame Gyurov (Shohreh Aghdashloo). Mostly that was The Bride but both her and Nina caught up with Phospherus as did Weasel. Now will they kill the Princess?

As for the rest of the episode, Eric Frankenstein got a plane to himself to get back to Pokolistan while Ricky Flag Sr was in a coma after being fucked up by Clayface. At least he had Amanda Waller by his bedside to encourage him back to the land of the living. Selfless to a fault Amanda was.

- Batman being relegated to a silhouette must mean they're still trying to decide what his actual look will be when he appears in live action.

- Shohreh Aghdashloo appeared in The Penguin as Nadia Maroni. Is it too much to hope she'll get a live action role in the DCU?

- That little girl that Weasel saved in flashbacks was a younger version of Ilana. I did laugh at him playing fetch with a bunch of wolves who were going to kill him.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off. 

Priyatel Skelet was a doozy. Even without the Batman cameo, this episode delivered a hell of a backstory for Phospherus and great subplots with everyone else. Can't wait for next week's finale.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Better Man (2024)

 

Written by Simon Gleeson And Oliver Cole And Michael Gracey

Directed by Michael Tracey

Robbie Williams: "Fame is a powerful aphrodisiac. It means even ugly people can get laid."

2024 was something of an odd year for musical biopics and while a certain one that came out around the same time as this might be getting award love, what about this one?

Robbie Williams has always been a popstar that's had an audience. He was the lovable cheeky chap from Take That who had that extra It factor his band mates didn't necessarily have and he seemed to appeal to every demographic without even trying. That's something that a lot of male popstars, especially today cannot boast about.

He's also had something of a tumultuous personal life and those tend to be the things these music biopics really thrive on, for better or worse. What set this apart from the usual biopics though was the fact that he was being played by a CGI chimpanzee, voiced by both Williams and actor Jonno Davies.

It's a wild choice and one I'm not entirely sure worked but it certainly kept my attention during the two hour plus movie. We go through Robbie's childhood with a father, Pete Conway (Steve Pemberton) who flounced in and out of Robbie to a more supportive family unit with his mother, Janet (Kate Mulvany) and grandmother, Betty (Alison Steadman). The latter in particular was excellent here.

Of course we also get to see Robbie audition for the boyband tha would change his life and meet fellow bandmates Gary Barlow (Jake Simmance), Mark Owen (Jesse Hyde), Howard Donald (Liam Head) and Jason Orange (Chase Vollenweider) along with their manager, Nigel Martin-Smith (Damon Herriman).

Being in a boyband only worked for so long and then there was the solo career. The movie was clever in how it used some of Robbie's biggest hits during key moments and there's some exploration into his working relationship with songwriter Guy Chambers (Tom Budge), rivalry with Oasis as well as his relationship with All Saints singer, Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno).

Yeah, the movie did examine the highs and lows of Williams life and career with the final few minutes ending the movie on a rather poignant note as Robbie did a duet of My Way with his father. It's a nice way to actually end this particular movie.

- The movie was mostly shot in Australia along with some Albert Hall filming for the recreation of the last scene. 

- US audiences can see this movie from January 10th.

- Standout music: The way songs like Angels, Rock DJ, She's The One and Let Me Entertain You are done well. Forbidden Road was also exclusive for this movie.

- Chronology: It started in the 1980s in Stoke On Trent, covering the 1990s and 2000 with the defining moments of Robbie's career.

Better Man definitely got points for it's oddball approach to the musical biopic. I'm not sure I would've had a CGI chimpanzee but it kind of works for the most part I guess. Overall I liked it. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Scream 7 - Full Cast And Release Date Announced

Despite being marred with controversy, the seventh instalment in the Scream franchise will be happening. Because once again, online discourse doesn't impact creative decisions from a studio.

First of all, the returning cast will comprise of Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and Mason Gooding. I'll be honest, I'm a little surprised with the return of Gooding but at least it's proof that the Radio Silence era movies aren't being ignored or potentially retconned.

I've included Patrick Dempsey as well for now in this line up. He's not officially been cast but I suspect he'll be announced closer to or during filming, which will start this month in Atlanta. Anna Camp has also joined as a neighbour of Sidney's. Horror fans will of course know her from HBO series, True Blood.

However along with returning faces, what about the newcomers who'll have to face off Ghostface (Roger L. Jackson)? Our new cast include Isabel May (1883) Asa Germann (Gen V),  Mckenna Grace (The Haunting Of Hill House), Sam Rechner (The Fablemans) and Celeste O'Connor (Madame Web).

The character descriptions for this new set of teen characters range from Sidney's oldest daughter (Isabel's character) as well as the boyfriend, the creepy neighbour guy, the heartbreaker of the group and the queen bee. The movie will be directed by creator Kevin Williamson from a script written by Guy Busick, who co-wrote the previous two movies with James Vanderbilt. 

Scream 7 will hit theatres from February 27th 2026.