My Review of Plainclothes (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Carmen Emmi 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Standout music: Emily Wells My San Francisco.

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

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

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Kiss Of The Spider Woman (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Bill Condon

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

Luis: "Well, maybe they should."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Freddy's Nightmares - Episodes 31-35 Reviews

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

Episode 31: Monkey Dreams 

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

Episode 32: Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

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

Episode 33: Dreams That Kill

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Review of Back To The Future Part III (1990)

 

Written by Robert Zemeckis And Bob Gale

Directed by Robert Zemeckis 

Marty McFly: "Hey, Doc! Where you goin' now? Back to the future?"

Doc: "Nope. Already been there."

On to the final part of this trilogy. Often, this would be seen as the weakest instalment of this particular movie franchise but it's also reasonably liked too. I like it. It at least did something a little different.

Last time, Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) was stuck in 1955 but managed to find out that Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) however had landed in 1885. A letter from Doc gave Marty the tools to fix the DeLorean to go back to 1985. Marty did that and then he went back one hundred years into the past.

I said in my last review that the people from Biff Tannen's (Thomas F. Wilson) timeline were awful and it turned out that Biff's great grandfather, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen killed Doc in 1885 after Marty received the latter's letter.

If the first two movies focused a lot on Marty and his family, I do appreciate that this movie was more about Doc instead. That's not to say Marty didn't get some focus as he met great-great-grandparents, Seamus (Michael J. Fox) and Maggie (Lea Thompson). The Irish stereotypes were rife with these characters, so points have got to be deducted for that alone.

Getting back to Doc, it was also his time for a romance and the one he got with schoolteacher Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen) was rather sweet. It might have even been a better love story than the one with Marty/Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue) or his parents. Doc certainly got the happy ending he deserved.

As for the antagonist of the film, Mad Dog isn't much different to the likes of Biff and again, he's given a much deserved comeuppance. There's some loose ends from the second movie in regards to Marty's 2015 fate that are nicely resolved.

- I had forgotten to mention that Flea popped up in this movie and the previous one as a rival to Marty named Douglas Needles.

- Both Marty and Doc say each others catchphrases instead. Michael J. Fox got hung for real during that one scene.

- Standout music: ZZ Top's Doubleback. Members of the group also appeared in the movie.

- Chronology: 1955, 1985, 2015 but mostly 1885 for the events of this movie.

While it's not my favourite of the trilogy, I can't deny that Back To The Future Part III certainly had it's moments. Focusing on Doc was definitely needed and I loved his romance with Clara. A satisfying end to a great movie trilogy.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Back To The Future Part II (1989)

 

Written by Robert Zemeckis And Bob Gale

Directed by Robert Zemeckis 

Doc: "Don't talk to anyone, don't touch anything, don't do anything, don't interact with anyone, and try not to look at anything."

How do you follow up one of the most iconic movies all time, sequel wise? Well, you retain what worked about the movie in question and then you push things into another direction.

The first movie explored the possibility of Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) not existing had George (Jeffrey Weissman) and Lorraine (Lea Thompson) never got together. This movie explored a much worse conundrum. What happened if they fell apart? This was something that Marty and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) would find out.

Yup, what if things in 1985 has resulted in a dead George and Lorraine in a relationship with Biff Tannen (Thomas F Wilson). It's a relationship where Biff was abusive to Lorraine and her children but especially with Marty. Yes, it's because Biff became aware of time travel and decided to change his own fate, which making the McFly family's much worse as a result. All because of a discarded almanac.

This was also a movie where Jennifer Parker (Elisabeth Shue) got to see her own future with Marty. This involved children named Marty Jr and Marlene (both played by Michael J. Fox) with Marty, which also trying to stay out of sight. At least Jennifer had something to do in this one.

Speaking of future kids, Marty Jr wasn't exactly the sharpest either. His whole plot was getting framed for a crime that Biff's grandson, Griff (Thomas F. Wilson) had committed but that was resolved fast enough in lieu of the dystopian version of 1985 that made up the best bit of the movie.

I think the future scenes were fine and had their moments before Jennifer thought they were just a dream. The dystopian 1985 plot just worked better, further solidifying Biff as a proper threat. Biff's proper nasty when he he had any semblance of power and once again, it was gratifying to watch him get his just desserts.

- Both Claudia Wells and Crispin Glover were replaced in this movie, though the latter would return for the third movie. Marty also got to use a hoverboard.

- The movie ended with Doc being revealed to being alive in 1885, nicely setting up the final part of this trilogy.

- Standout music: Michael Jackson's Beat It.

- Chronology: October 26th 1985, a dystopian version of 1985, 1955 again and 2015 in Hill Valley, California.

Back To The Future Part II certainly upped the stakes and I do think it's mostly worked as a sequel. It definitely had fun raising the stakes for Marty and Doc, gave the recast Jennifer a bit more to do and continued to prove how horrible Biff and his bloodline are.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Back To The Future (1985)

Written by Robert Zemeckis And Bob Gale

Directed by Robert Zemeckis 

Marty McFly: "Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?"

Dr. Emmett Brown: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"

I turned forty this year and I was overdue in writing a review for the highest grossing movie of that year. Yup, of course I had to finally get around to this very movie.

It's such a simple take on time travel and it's consequences. You've got an average teenager in Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox). He's got a geeky father, George (Crispin Glover), an alcoholic mother, Lorraine (Lea Thompson) along with two siblings Dave (Marc McClure) and Linda (Wendie Jo Sperber). Oh and a girlfriend named Jennifer Parker (Claudia Wells).

Some of those relationships are a bit more explored than others but it's Marty's relationship with eccentric scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) that was a good focus. Mostly because Doc's experiments with time travel had quite the effect on Marty and the future/past of his parents.

The time travel machine of choice was a car named the DeLorean. Marty went from being in 1985 to ending up in 1955 where the origins of his parents romance came very close to not even happening. In fact, Marty really had to play matchmaker with socially awkward George and the more rebellious Lorraine.

Of course what the movie needed was a really good villain. We got that with local bully Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson). He was George's boss in 1985 and his tormentor in 1955. He also got a little too handy with Lorraine and even came close to scuppering Marty's plans in 1955. His fate in 1985 after Marty changed things however was a nice comeuppance for the character.

Now this movie could have been a nice one and done but even before it was enough of a box office success to justify two sequels, Doc's reunion with Marty and Jennifer did set up further adventures. Something had to be done about their kids.

- Doc had the "Great Scott" catchphrase as well as dogs named Einstein (1985) and Copernicus (1955).

- Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly before the role was recast with Michael J. Fox.

- Standout music: Hey Lewis And The News The Power Of Love.

- Chronology: 1985 and November 5th 1955 in Hill Valley, California.

Like every one on the planet, I love Back To The Future. It's a perfect movie that has aged brilliantly, never outstayed it's welcome and will always put me in a good mood when I watch it. A classic for the right reasons.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Frankenstein (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Guillermo del Toro

The Creature (to Captain Anderson): "My maker told his tale, then I will tell you mine."

If ever there was a film that needed a full theatrical release instead going down the Netflix route, it was this one. It's seriously a shame this didn't go that way because this would definitely be a Nosferatu (2024) monster hit.

Broken into three parts, we started off with the Prelude. This part was somewhat the conclusion to the story between Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and The Creature (Jacob Elordi). The Creature was trashing a ship in a bid to get revenge on his creator. Then there was Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen). He had the pleasure to hear both perspectives.

Let's start with Victor's Tale, shall we? We got a look into his younger days as a boy (Christian Convery). He had a strict father, Leopold (Charles Dance) and a loving mother, Claire (Mia Goth) and a younger brother named, William. Leopold preferred William over Victor and the latter was obsessed with stopping death.

Anyways, the years passed and William (Felix Kammerer) had a fiancée named Lady Elizabeth Harlander (Mia Goth). Elizabeth forged something of a connection with Victor while the latter inadvertently killed her uncle, Henrich (Christoph Waltz). Oh and there was The Creature himself.

Yes, we saw the dynamic between Victor and The Creature and it's one where the latter was the more sympathetic of the two. There were times when Victor's impatience with The Creature got so bad that Elizabeth found herself thoroughly disgusted with his mistreatment. Of course,Victor would then try to kill The Creature, only for the latter to be immortal.

As for The Creature's Tale, it's a bit shorter than Victor's but just as engaging. His friendship with a blind old man (David Bradley) was one of the nicest moments in the film. The blind man did everything with The Creature that Victor failed to do but sadly, it was also a relationship that ended in tragedy.

Speaking of tragedy, what should've been William and Elizabeth's wedding ended up being their demise as Victor and The Creature's conflict created such a disaster around them. I mean, it's definitely all Victor's fault, which was a realisation that he came too, albeit much too late.

Those final few minutes with Victor and The Creature were some of the best from the movie. A beautiful culmination of their volatile relationship as one of them died and the other lived, while choosing something other than revenge. The final shot in particular was just beautiful.

- Andrew Garfield was originally signed up to play The Creature before being replaced with Jacob Elordi.

- Mia Goth did double duty as both Baroness Claire Frankenstein and Lady Elizabeth Harlander. I'm genuinely surprised they didn't go down The Bride route with her as well. Charles Dance previously appeared in Victor Frankenstein (2015).

- Standout music: The score from Alexandre Desplat was exquisite. 

- Chronology: 1857 in the North Pole as well as Europe for the majority of the film.

Frankenstein (2025) quite frankly, turned out to be a massive triumph. It's absolutely gorgeous and beautifully Gothic to look at. The performances from Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth are on fine form and Guillermo del Toro wrote a fantastic script and directed the hell out of it. I loved this movie.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "Now You See It"

 

Written by Guadalís Del Carmen And Gabe Hobson

Directed by Andrew Bernstein

Lilly (re Pennywise): "What is that?"

Will: "It's a clown."

After the early Halloween release of the previous episode, I had over a week to wait for this third one and it certainly had some great moments in it.

First of all, let's check in our new/old Losers Club. Lilly and Ronnie made amends and both Will and Rich joined them in a bid to help free Hank from a potential death sentence. Rich had the notion of an orisha being to blame.

This meant a botched ritual at the graveyard where the kids ended up having to deal with a lot of different spooky goings on. On the plus side, at least their photos actually developed and wouldn't you know it, Pennywise briefly showed up as well. 

Aside from a brief photo appearance of Pennywise, the rest of the episode gave a nice backstory for General Shaw. In flashbacks, he encountered It as a child (Diesel La Torraca) and formed a friendship with a Native American girl named Rose (Violet Sutherland).

In the present, Shaw reconnected with Rose (Kimberly Norris Guerrero) and wanted to work with her not to disturb ground while enlisting Hallorann to do some recon with both Hanlon and Russo. Let's just that Hallorann's ability managed to freak both Hanlon and Russo.

There's a nice where Hallorann had dinner with Leroy and Charlotte and confided in the former more about his abilities. I've got to admit that I'm really liking Chris Chalk's take on Hallorann so far. 

- This episode introduced us to Madeleine Stowe's mystery character. She encouraged Lilly to make amends with Ronnie.

- Hank smokes a certain brand of cigarettes and it's not Pall Mall. He was also threatened with Shawshank. 

- Shaw's slingshot was the thing that Hallorann used to locate. 

- Chronology: Flashbacks to 1908 for Shaw/Rose before going back to 1962.

Now You See It helped to move things a little bit further. Hallorann got some great screentime in this one and the graveyard scene had some nice scares. Though not as strong as the first two episodes, I still enjoyed this one.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Freddy's Nightmares - Episodes 26-30 Reviews

Settling into the second season, we've got photo sessions from hell, the misfortune of winning the lottery and a very bad child.

Episode 26: Photo Finish

In this episode, you had a photographer played by Patty McCormack. She was in a stagnated part of her career until she got an offer from a provocative magazine to take more risque photos. Any career satisfaction she might have gotten from that went out the window when Freddy started killing her subjects. The second story involved three FBI agents coming afoul of Freddy while investigating a family homicide in Springwood. 6/10

Episode 27: Memory Overload 

In an early role for Kyle Chandler, he popped up as a student named Chuck. The character was fearful of his military father and sought protection from his alcoholic professor named Windom. There's a nice twist in relation to Chuck and Windom's real connection. The second story had a woman named Barbara being hoisted by her own petard for tax evasion, not to mention a talking computer. 6/10

Episode 28: Lucky Stiff

This episode really was just one long story with various twists and turns. Lenny and Greta Nordhoff were an unhappy couple but when the former won the lottery, the latter was pleased and schemed with her lover. Lenny died and Greta had to dig his corpse to get the winnings. Greta also killed her lover but then found herself blackmailed into marrying a gravedigger. It's a decently executed episode. 6/10

Episode 29: Silence Is Golden

Easily the best episode of the bunch. The first half focused on a shock jock named Rick Rake who incurred the wrath of a mime. By the end of the part, Rick lost both his wife and his job/voice. The second half focused on the mime, who was a jewel thief that tried not to kill anyone. Unfortunately for him, both his girlfriend and his fence had different ideas. There's a commentary from Freddy about bad women that's repetitive of the previous episode. 7/10

Episode 30: Bloodlines

Another episode where the stories were better connected to one another. The first half focused on escaped convict Woody Burton (Marc Alaimo) terrorising his estranged wife, Joyce (Sheree North) and son, Jack (Chris Nash), resulting in death. The second half then focused on Jack as a family man with a demonic daughter (Irina Cashen). The daughter in question was definitely evil and there's shades of The Omen in this episode. 7/10

Next blog I'll tackle Monkey Dreams, Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?, Dreams That Kill, It's My Party And You'll Die If I Want You To and What You Don't Know Can Kill You.

My Review of Boots: "The Crucible"

 

Written by Andrea Ciannavei And Andy Parker

Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Cameron (re impending war): "It's like summer camp."

What an ending. Now, if this show doesn't get a second season and with Netflix, that's very likely these days, I'll admit that this episode somewhat left things on a very satisfactory note. I hope it gets a second season though.

For the final part of the recruits to become Marines, there was the Crucible. Another exhausting challenge that saw characters step up for another while one character had a much needed epiphany of their own.

At the start of this show, it felt like Cameron's journey was the one that mattered the most and it still did but I found myself engrossed with everyone's journey in this episode alone. Even the likes of Slovacek stepped up when he needed to and it was rather nice to see that.

Getting to the Cameron, Jones and Sullivan arcs, it's interesting how our three gay male characters all turned out by this finale. Jones put himself in harm's way and might just have succeeded in order to get his medical discharge. It's a shame if we've lost that character but it did make sense what he did here to preserve himself.

Then there was Sullivan. He chose both desertion and a dishonourable discharge over admitting to being gay. I mean, he did finally admit it to Cameron, which offered some character growth but he still chose to damage himself nonetheless. 

As for Cameron, he stepped up for himself. He confronted both Jones and Sullivan, helped with saving the former, completed the Crucible and when Barbara tried to give him an out, Cameron opted to stay with the Marines. The growth with him as a character was amazing to watch throughout the season.

As for the other recruits - both John and Cody's relationship got tested with the death of their father, everyone has Santos back in getting him to the finish line, Ray moved past his father's need for approval, Slovacek showed some empathy for others and Nash got the Honour Man that Ray had been coveting all season. I'd like to say Hicks showed some growth but that guy's still a chaotic mess.

- There's a dedication to Norman Lear (1922-2023) at the end of the episode.

- Cameron's actually 17, not 18 as believed and formed a nice rapport with Fajardo. Both McKinnon and Howitt had some sweet moments as well.

- Standout music: Hicks getting into the spirits of things with David Bowie's Changes and Queen's Under Pressure with David Bowie of course.

-Chronology: The thirteen weeks since the first episode were up and there's the conflict with Kuwait and Iraq that's clearly a lead for a second season.

The Crucible worked both a series finale and a season finale for the show. Much as I want a second season and hope we get one, I can't deny that closure was provided. Overall,I immensely enjoyed this show.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Boots: "Love Is A Battlefield"

 

Written by Dominic Colon

Directed by Tanya Hamilton

Jones (to Cameron): "I can take it. Just be careful with my eyes. They're pretty. You and me, remember?"

Well, I definitely can say "fuck you, Sullivan" after this episode. Projection's a hell of a bad drug and this episode, he took his insecurities out on both Cameron and Jones in the worst way possible.

Worst of all was that he knew exactly what he was doing. He did it earlier in the season with Cameron and Ray, although they've since reconnected. He could tell that Cameron and Joshua were about to have a closer connection and he made sure to sever it. I actually hated him for that.

I get that in his warped way, Sullivan thought he was protecting the pair of them by pitting them against each other. After all, his own relationship with Wilkinson ended horribly with the latter now charged with sodomy. Sullivan's brand of "cruel to be kind" didn't go unnoticed. Even McKinnon rightfully called him out on it.

Yep, Sullivan made his own despair into everyone's else problem. His pointed commentary about bar fights also came to fruition by the end of the episode. Seriously man, I know it's the 1990s but see a fucking therapist already. 

Getting back to Jones, I loved his character. Jack Cameron Kay was great in every scene he shared with Cameron and Sullivan. Cameron finally had another gay guy he could talk with, flirt with and of course, Sullivan had to go and wreck it. Seriously, fuck that guy. Jones on the other hand, I'm already intrigued by him.

I don't know if Jones's sleepwalking was genuine of faked but he didn't lie about wanting to get medical leave. It's what Sullivan used to get Jones to ultimately go along with his assignment. Is it too naive to hope that Jones and Cameron will make amends in the finale?

- Ray met his potential love interest again in sick bay. However he didn't get her name. Sullivan sang at Maitra's wedding.

- Santos incurred McKinnon's  wrath by trying to sneak a phone call. I'm guessing guilt was the reason for Howitt allowing Santos that phone call.

- Standout music: Alannah Myles Black Velvet, MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This and Love And Rockets No Big Deal.

Love Is A Battlefield made for a strong penultimate episode but the Sullivan parts of the episode took a frustrating turn. I do think Jones could be a great addition to the recruits. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Boots: "The Things We Carry"

 

Written by Nick Jones Jr

Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Sergeant Sullivan: "We all got things that we carry, Cope. You can't carry ghosts. That shit's too heavy."

Speaking of carrying ghosts, Sullivan's flashbacks to his time in Guam certainly didn't disappoint. I mean, there's an ending to a relationship that's not great but the flashbacks themselves were pretty satisfying.

It was obvious during his interview with Blodgett that Sullivan and Wilkinson were in a relationship and this episode made it clear. It was even close to getting serious, considering both men got "Semper Fi" tattoos on their chests. Sullivan even told Wilkinson that he loved him. What could possibly go wrong?

Sullivan being deeply closeted and listening to his bunk mate, Rob Maitra (Beau Mirchoff). The latter made his disgust towards Wilkinson being gay too apparent and Sullivan threw his relationship under the bus in order to get a transfer. It's certainly added a layer to both his character and rapport with Cameron. Sullivan recognises that Cameron's gay but the latter hasn't with him as of yet.

Speaking of Cameron, he wanted to give Ochoa's hat to his widow but Sullivan dissuaded him from doing so. Instead Sullivan left alcohol for the recruits to toast Ochoa's memories but before that, there was a lot of tension to be had. There was resentment towards Howitt that even McKinnon couldn't diffuse and a food fight.

The food fight was the most entertaining bit from the episode with both Santos and Slovacek nearly beating the shit out of each other while Nash was forced to play mediator. On the plus side, Hicks had fun being a chaotic menace with his theory about the food preventing erections. How does he keep getting away with it?

Keeping with the pluses of this episode, Ochoa's death did serve as a motivator for both Cameron and Ray to make amends with one another as well. I could argue that they made up too quickly but with this show only being eight episodes, it's not a bad thing. At least Ray finally opened up to Cameron about his panic attacks. 

- With Ochoa gone, Cameron's new bunk mate turned out to be Joshua Jones (Jack Cameron Kay). Jones seemed to be flirting with Cameron. He also made friends with the returning John Bowman.

- McKinnon and his wife had a baby girl and Fajardo paid them a home visit. Howitt showed remorse for Ochoa's death, with an undisclosed heart condition contributing to his death.

- Standout music: There was a good use of Queen's We Are The Champions near the end of the episode. Also Underground Solution feat. Jasmine's Luv Dancin'.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Things We Carry wasn't as heavy as the one before it but it had enough weight to it. The Sullivan/Wilkinson flashbacks were great to watch and I liked how we saw Ochoa's death affecting everyone. Not to mention the potential with the addition of Jones.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Boots: "Bullseye"

 

Written by Megan Ferrell Burke

Directed by Silas Howard

Ochoa (to Sergeant Howitt): "The rifleman is my best friend."

Oh God, what an episode. Easily the best and the saddest one of the bunch so far. This show really had the shit hit the fan in this one. 

It was Qual Day for the recruits and they finally going to get to use their rifles. The sharpest shooter would get the chance to make a phone call to their loved one. Everyone wanted to win but Ochoa wanted it just that bit more. 

I have to give full credit to Johnathan Nieves because his performance throughout this episode was absolutely heartbreaking from start to finish. Ochoa really wasn't cut out for the Marines, he just wanted to go back to his wife, Gloria and the phonecall should've made everything better.

Instead, it made everything worse when Ochoa realised that Gloria was stepping out on him. Howitt also picked the wrong time to provoke Ochoa and the latter's meltdown, which led to his death made for a devastating last few minutes. I knew we were going to get a death and it hit pretty hard as well as well. Kudos all round.

As for the rest of the episode, we got confirmation that Sergeant Sullivan was gay, in spite of his denial. Specifically he was quizzed about NCIS agent Blodgett about his relationship with Major Aaron Wilkinson (Sachin Bhatt). Sullivan denied but both Blodgett and Fajardo seemed to be unconvinced by his denial. 

Then there was Cameron and Ray. Their friendship got obliterated because Hicks for no reason decided to tell Ray what Cameron did. I don't think either Cameron or Ray came across particularly well but at the same time, both of them needed to get their issues out of the way. 

- McKinnon made Nash responsible for Slovacek while also treating the recruits to Ghostbusters II. McKinnon's wife also went into labour.

- The introduction of Ray's mother, Ji-Yeong/June (Joy Osmanski) exposed Barbara's lie about Cameron being dead to the Marine mother group.

- Standout music: Depeche Mode's Waiting For The Night.

- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.

Bullseye certainly hit it's target. A brilliant performance from Johnathan Nieves really made this episode. Those last few minutes were heartbreaking to watch. By far, the best and saddest episode yet.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Boots: "Sink Or Swim"

 

Written by Greg Cope White

Directed by Silas Howard 

Ray (to Cameron): "We're getting our shit back."

Four episodes into this show and it was the turn of Ray McAffey to be the focus of things. We opened with a flashback to a younger version with his father, Harlan (Anthony Marble) putting a lot of pressure on Ray. This was something of a theme with Ray - being afraid to fail because of his father's pressure.

In the current timeline, Ray failed to be a floater and it bothered. Being torn asunder by McKinnon, Sullivan and Howitt in front of everyone definitely didn't help matters either. It was safe to say that Ray's sense of worth had plummeted. Luckily, Cameron had a solution for that.

Cameron's great solution involved some payback at Sergeanf Knox, who was now in charge of the platoon next door. Cameron made it look like 2033 stole all of 2032's toilet roll, which sparked Ray into retaliation with Santos, Ochoa and Hicks to assist him. Hicks in particular had a little too much fun with the idea of payback.

Anyways, their plan was mostly a success and Ray managed to get his confidence back. I know it was somewhat based on a lie but he managed to prove to McKinnon that he could float and the depths that Cameron would go to help his friend was commendable. In fact, it also led to the best scene in the whole episode.

The dynamic between Cameron and Sergeant Sullivan took another interesting turn. The latter knew that Cameron faked the toilet paper theft and got Cameron to be honest in a way that even Sullivan couldn't dismantle. Sullivan has been a dick to Cameron but here was angsting over his own past catching up with him.

Whatever happened in Guam clearly will come out. Sullivan didn't want to re-enlist because Fajardo was getting too close to figuring out things. Sullivan's moment with Cameron in the dumpster clearly changed his mind. Of course, there's now also someone actually coming after Sullivan, so we're definitely about his time in Guam in the second half of the season.

- The writer of the source material, Greg Cope White wrote this episode. It felt more personal than the first three, especially with Cameron/Sullivan scenes.

- Why did Nash pretend to be responsible for Hicks's notes? I got a brief shock with how nonchalant Fajardo was in killing the snake with the butt of Ochoa's rifle. 

- Standout music: The Charlatans Then and Little David Wilkins Yesterday, Tomorrow And Today.

- Chronology: Santos has been stuck as a recruit for six months while Sullivan's antics in Guam were also six months ago.

Sink Or Swim explored Ray's issues with success/failure pretty well while also introducing a potential love interest for him. Of course the highlight was the Cameron/Sullivan scenes and the hints of the latter's backstory.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Boots: "The Confidence Course"

 

Written by Andrea Ciannavei

Directed by Phil Abraham 

Sullivan (to Cameron): "If there are no faggots in my Marine Corps, then why are you still here?"

There's certainly a line between cruelty and compassion and in this episode, Sullivan's rapport with Cameron was oscillating between the two. Its like Sullican recognised something in Cameron that's also in him.

Yes, if I hadn't been spoiled for the episode, I definitely would've suspected that Sergeant Sullivan was gay and the way he was openly scornful towards Cameron during their scenes also got undercut by at least two moments where he showed compassion too. I'm surprised other recruits didn't pick up on it.

The titular course certainly nearly broke Cameron. Taking on new guy's Santos Santos (Rico Paris) bad shoelaces nearly screwed him over. However while he was mostly failing with the physical obstacles this, Cameron earned "brownie" points in another way. Yes, delivering a giant turd won him over with his fellow recruits this episode.

Going back to Sullivan, the episode ended with a letter from "W". The letter was short but enough to unsettle Sullivan by the end of this one. I thought Sullivan was too much of a dick before but this episode hinted at some layers with him. Not to mention, Max Parker's rather handsome to look at as well.

As for the rest of the episode, there was some nice character moments among the recruits. You can sense the tension between Cameron and Ray while the former grew closer to Nash. There was also a nice friendship between Ochoa and Mo Mason (Logan Gould) before the latter assaulted Howitt during a panic attack. I really liked their scenes this week.

As for the real world away from the Marine Corps, Barbara was sleeping with Sergeant Pitowski and attending a support group for mothers of Marines. Barbara managed to make one friend/client while also allowing the group to think that Cameron was dead. Maybe Cameron had a point in not being that close to her.

- Santos had a wife and kids and took an interest in Eduardo and Ray's heritages. Nash was inspired by Jesse Jackson, Hicks stole a snake, Cody wrote a letter to John and Slovacek talked about his criminal antics.

- McKinnon educated the recruits on a World War II soldier and had black sand from Hiroshima. He also replaced Nash with Santos as his Squad Leader.

- Standout music: Abba's Fernando.

- Chronology: A week since the events of the first episode. Cameron was literally holding his poops in for just as long.

The Confidence Course put the recruits through their paces, including that uncomfortable scene with the tear gas. It's still a really good episode, giving more details on the recruits along with Sullivan. 

Rating: 8 out of 10

Freddy's Nightmares - Episodes 21-25 Reviews

I've finished off the first season and I'm working my way through the second season, so this blog will give a little of both.

Episode 21: Identity Crisis

Well, the title certainly lived up it's name. The first half of the episode focused on Buddy Powers. He was a man that was struggling for relevancy to the point where even his teenage son John mocked him for being out of touch. The second part focused on John's friend, Christina wanting to learn about her birth mother. Needless to say, it wasn't her best course of action. 6/10

Episode 22: Safe Sex

The first season finale and it's more of an after-school special about sex. The first half of the episode focused on a nerdy guy in love with an aloof goth girl. The goth girl in question was something of a Freddy Krueger fangirl. She was desperate to understand him but as the episode progressed, she realised that her ideas of Freddy were way off. It's a fairly weak finale choice to be honest. Would've maybe worked better as a mid season episode. 5/10

Episode 23: Dreams Come True

If the first season often kept Freddy sidelined at times, this opening episode had him more front and centre and it's all the better for it. The first half of the episode focused on another teenage boy being tormented by Freddy before the latter moved in on his therapist. The second part was similarly good with a cameraman trying to expose Freddy with fatal consequences for him. 7/10

Episode 24: Heartbreak Hotel 

Another strong offering, the first half proved that you needed to be specific about pronouns or it'll get you killed. A journalist investigated a strange hotel, helped a staff member to go to the hospital to give birth to a stillborn baby but could make events happen. Except he wasn't good at his pronouns and ended up dooming himself. The second part with a vengeful woman and her daughter reclaiming their husband/father's killer and killing him the same way also made for a good story. 7/10

Episode 25: Welcome To Springwood 

Another dull episode for me. The first part focused on a couple named Dog and Roxanne who moved to Springwood. Actually the focus was more on Roxanne getting on the wrong side of the neighborhood serial killer. The second part was a bit better with some time travel as a woman named Emily discovered love letters between two writers in the nineteenth century. Of course, it resulted in a rather deadly love triangle as well. 6/10

Next blog I'll focus on Photo Finish, Memory Overload, Lucky Stiff, Silence Is Golden and Bloodlines.

My Review of Boots: "The Buddy System"

 

Written by Jonathan Caren

Directed by Phil Abraham

Cody (to John): "I wish I didn't have a brother."

Well, you almost your wish there, Cody. Twins being so diametrically apart from one another. It did make for a good plot as I think the episode managed to draw sympathy and frustration in equal measures for both siblings.

We got flashbacks in the episode with the brothers being pitted against one another. John's failures became Cody's failures under their abusive father. Cody grew to resent John and wanted to join the Marine Corps to get away from. John signing up too really threw a spanner in the works for Cody.

In this episode, John and Cody literally became tethered to each other because Sergeant Cary Wayne Howitt (Nicholas Logan) was a massive dick. Logan even forced the two to share a bed together, adding to the tension between the twins. Then he made sure to further set them apart during the training.

I was hoping the episode would have John beat the odds and his brother and complete the training. It even looked like he was about to and then he got seriously injured. At least Cody showed some genuine concern for John. Then there's Sergeant Sullivan using John's injury for his own nefarious reasons.

The episode was sowing a conflict between Cameron and Ray. The latter was desperate to be a Squad Leader and Sullivan did everything to sever Cameron and Ray's bond. I think he succeeded by having Cameron become the new Squad Leader just to piss off Ray. Sullivan's also a bit of a dick.

Keeping with antagonistic characters, Slovacek was the embodiment of all of Cameron's high school bullies folded into one. He upped the homophobia with Cameron, refused to take Flight duty and of course, nearly killed Cameron. Then again, Cameron did douse Slovacek with a bucket of John's piss, so there was that. Slovacek's default does seem to be homophobic bully thus far. I hope he develops beyond that as the show progresses.

- Cameron tried to gauge if Nash was gay with no results. Eduardo talked about his wife and kid and Hick didn't waste time in calling in a favour.

- While Howett seemed to dislike Fajardo, both Sullivan and McKinnon were respectful of her. Sullivan was in Guam but most of his files have been redacted. He also made Cameron into the scribe.

- Standout music: New Order's Blue Monday. The show might be set in the 1990s but the soundtrack so far certainly isn't.

- Chronology: Not long after the events of the first episode.

The Buddy System critiqued that system for signing up recruits. The flashbacks with John and Cody were brief but effective, along with Sullivan dismantling Cameron and Ray's friendship. It's a strong second outing.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Boots: "The Pink Marine"

 

Written by Andy Parker

Directed by Peter Hoar

Sergeant Sullivan (to Platoon 2032): "Time to kill the enemy."

I know it's been nearly a month since this comedy military gay themed show debuted on Netflix but I'd been busy, so I'm only catching up with it now. I was going to do a series overview but opted to review by episode instead.

Our protagonist of the piece would be barely closeted gay kid, Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer). He's tired of getting shit on by everyone in his life, including his own mother, Barbara (Vera Farmiga). Cameron's solution for this was to sign up to the Marines with his straight best friend, Ray McAffey (Liam Oh). Needless to say, Cameron didn't think it through.

Cameron was so desperate for a change that a recruiter, Sergeant Pitowski (Brett Dalton) saw something in him but Cameron was pretty horrified by what actually being a marine was about. It included being repeatedly screamed at, berated by drill sergeants and fellow recruits and also some internal battling with his sexuality.

While this show might be heavily focused on Cameron, there's a lot of other recruits to also take an interest in. There's the somewhat abrasive Nicholas Slovacek (Kieron Moore), the kleptomaniac Thaddeus Beau Sterling Hicks (Angus O'Brien), Cameron's bunk mate Eduardo Ochoa (Johnathon Nieves) and a potential love interest in Isaiah Nash (Dominic Goodman). Oh and there's twins John (Blake Burt) and Cody Bowman (Brandon Tyler Moore).

It's a lot of recruits to look into for this first episode but there's good hints as to who these lads are and how they'll interact with both Cameron and Ray as the show will progress. As for the sergeants, they're a bit more stereotypical. There's mostly a focus on Staff Sergeant Marcus McKinnon (Cedrick Cooper), who certainly enjoyed exerting his authority over the recruits.

Of course while homophobia (mostly internalised) was touched upon with this opening episode, there was also a look into racism. In particular with Sergeant Knox (Zach Roerig) and the way he treated Ray. Knox's exit led to the introduction of Sergeant Liam Robert Sullivan (Max Parker) and his 96 game. While he doesn't seem as bad as Knox, it's clear he's going to be a challenge for Cameron, Ray and the rest of the recruits in this season.

- Originally this was titled The Corps. It's also based off The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White.

- Aside from Barbara, the only other female regular on the show is Captain Denise Fajardo (Ana Ayora). Cameron also talks to another version of himself.

- Standout music: Queen's I Want To Break Free and Bananarama's Venus.

- Chronology: 1990s, Parrish Island, South Carolina. The source material was set in the 1980s.

The Pink Marine was a frantic but great way of opening this series. It's fast paced, extremely funny in parts. It's also not unexpectedly shy of the male physique or it's commentary on masculinity either.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of It - Welcome To Derry: "The Thing In The Dark"

 

Written by Austin Guzman

Directed by Andy Muschietti 

Leroy: "What exactly are we looking for?"

General Shaw: "Something that was buried in Derry a long time ago."

Following that brutal opening episode, it was to be expected that things wouldn't let up for the actual survivors of that mutant baby encounter. Things just went from bad to worse for both Lilly and Ronnie and they didn't even have each other to depend on.

For Lilly, her sanity was questioned again and again. Her so called friend Marge (Matilda Lawlor) was more desperate to retain her new found popularity than trying to help a clearly traumatised Lilly. Even Lilly's own mother seemed more desperate to send her back to Juniper Hill than to actually help.

It also didn't help that Lilly and Ronnie couldn't even help each other. Due to the era in question, Ronnie's father ended up being a suspect for the murdered kids and Lilly was tricked into confirming their biases towards poor Hank.

I knew with this time setting that racism would naturally factor into things. Hank was targeted for his race and there's one teacher in the episode who seemed to extra unkind towards both Ronnie and Leroy's son, Will (Blake Cameron James). At least both Will and Ronnie managed to strike up a friendship while Lilly had the worst of spooky encounters in a supermarket.

Pivoting back to the Hanlons, not only did Leroy figure out that it was General Shaw who organised the attack on him in order to test him but it turned out that spoiler was true. It looks like the government are actually daft enough to try and use Pennywise as a weapon in the Cold War. I can only imagine how much of a disaster that's going to be. Oh and the car with Matt and that family from the first episode was dredged up.

Leroy and his family had a lot of focus this episode. We got to meet Leroy's wife, Charlotte (Taylour Paige). Already she's a brilliant character, who's more than willing to stick her neck out to fight against anything wrong. That did seem to put Charlotte and Leroy at odds but they're still the only stable couple on the show this far.

-  I like the opening titles but I'm hating this tradition of them being introduced in the second episode. Too many shows are doing this these days.

- We got another freaky birth sequence this episode as well as Lilly's nightmare visions of her father. Native Americans were watching Dick Hallorann helping the army in the woods.

- Standout music: Patience and Prudence's A Smile And A Ribbon.

- Chronology: Not long from where the first episode left off.

The Thing In The Dark certainly proved the first episode wasn't a fluke. It was a strong follow up with plenty of gross moments. Lily, Ronnie and the Hanlons are definitely the glue and I'm curious to see how the main plot will unfold.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

American Horror Story - Season 13 Cast + Release Date Revealed

It's been over eighteen months since the last time we had a season of American Horror Story. Yesterday, we finally got some news about the upcoming thirteenth season.

If American Horror Story was anything like Rupaul's Drag Race, then Season 13 is about to be one of the All Stars editions of that franchise. Ryan Murphy finally decided to go big and go home for what could be the final season of the long running horror series.

Returning for Season 13 are Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Leslie Grossman and Billie Lourd respectively. Joining the cast is Ariana Grande, who'll be enchanting cinema goers this month with Wicked: For Good (November 21st).

The whole cast was announced by Ryan Murphy through his Instagram account. Also, going by a choice quote from a particular character, it's safe to infer that the yet to be titled upcoming season will be a follow up to both Coven and Apocalypse.

I think it's also very that given the returns of such heavy weights as Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett that this could also be the final season of American Horror Story. FX have not renewed the show beyond it's upcoming season and Ryan Murphy's priorities have definitely been elsewhere. 

Thirteen seasons feels like a good number to end the show on and I expect that announcement will come when the season officially begins shooting. As for American Horror Stories, we're still in the dark about that show's fate but I'm not anticipating it returning any time soon or at all tbh.

American Horror Story - Season 13 will start filming next year for a Halloween 2026 launch on FX/Hulu. I'll post more information when it's revealed.