My Review of The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026)

 

Written by Jon Bernthal And Reinaldo Marcus Green

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green 

Ma: "Loneliness... Right, Frank? It's like a hunger. A dreadful nasty, ever-present hunger you just can't shake."

I'd be putting this one off for a while. While I don't mind Jon Bernthal's version of Frank Castle/The Punisher, I can't say that I've been compelled by his solo adventures. I didn't even really bother with his Netflix show.

As a character, we know that Frank's got a shit tonne of trauma, following the death of his wife and children. There's more reminders of that here with Frank having flashbacks to his fily and visiting their graves. In fact, Frank seemed to be seeing a lot of people who aren't currently around.

Other characters that he was seeing that weren't there included Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Curtis Hoyle (Jason R. Moore). Those scenes were fine I guess as they served to highlight Frank's general isolation.

Of course Frank being the volatile one man killing machine that he's been in the MCU and Netflix universe so far, he's stacked up an enemies list. In particular of the crime family kind. This would be where Ma Gnucci (Judith Light) would factor into things.

Frank killed her family (they deserved it) but he didn't kill Ma Gnucci and she was determined to make him regret sparing her. The second half of this special had Frank literally fighting for his life. Of course, he won and got a costume upgrade. Just in time for his big screen appearance this week in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

- The moment that thug killed the homeless man's dog, I wanted him to get a painful death. Frank delivered on that front.

- News casters Annika Pergament and David Collins had appearances in this one. Barracuda also appeared and played by Jamal Lloyd Johnson.

- Standout music: Hatebreed's I Will Be Heard and Danzig's Mother.

- Chronology: Present day New York. Seemed to in the same timeline as Daredevil: Born Again.

The Punisher: One Last Kill was an okay co-written effort by Jon Bernthal. It doesn't offer any new insight into this version of Frank Castle but it's diverting enough for under an hour. It needed more of Judith Light tbh. She was an excellent foil for our moody antihero.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "Faceless Men"

 

Written by David Hancock And Shyam Popat

Directed by Loni Peristere 

Oscar: "I made a promise to the dead, Cole. I promised I'd build a sept out of traitors bones. I don't have near enough bones yet."

Much as I do think Fabien Frankel has done a great job with Criston Cole as a character, I've been looking forward to the character's demise. Instead of a heroic blaze of glory, Criston went out in a rather anticlimactic way.

It even happened at the start of the episode. He was surrounded, had Oscar Tully talk about making his bones into a sept while Alysanne Blackwood (Annie Shapero) was the one to kill Criston from afar with arrows. Not exactly the glorious deaths that Criston was hoping for. 

Of course with Criston out of the way, there was more screen time for the rest of the Greens. First of all, I am loving the dynamic that's with Ormund, Daeron and Gwayne. I love that Daeron wants to be a decent person and his conversation with Gwayne reinforced that. Daeron seriously needs to stand up to Ormund.

Then there's Ormund himself. He's certainly threatened by Gwayne's influence on Daeron but had it not been for Gwayne's smart, Ormund would've been a dead man in this episode. Ormund might not like Gwayne but right now, he can't afford to lose him either.

As for the other brothers - I'm also really loving the bond that Aemond has developed with Alys. It's pretty clear that it's going to turn romantic within the last two episodes. Alys absolutely feeds into Aemond's ego and he's letting her do so.

Aegon II on the other hand decided that Essos would be his best bet. It's not something that Tyland agreed with but both him and Larys ended up going along with the idea. This story felt like a means to put Aegon II on pause until next season. Right now, he's the least of Rhaenyra's problems.

The problems kept piling up for Rhaenyra this episode. She had to get stricter with both Alicent and Helaena before sending the former to Harrenhal. On top of that, she was showing herself to be unsympathetic to the small folk. In fact, a certain moment also happened that was expected a few episodes ago.

As for Daemon, he's certainly dealing with the Gold Cloaks problem in the way he best could. I was impressed with the undercover job he did and it was nearly successful until Ulf had to open his big mouth. That's both Rhaenyra and Daemon that Ulf has pissed off these last two episodes.

- Lady Jeyne went that step too far by slapping Rhaena. Why is the latter getting the Meg Griffin treatment this season?

- Baela seemed to be getting close to Addam last episode but closer to Alyn this episode. Alyn gets points for calling out Corlys's hypocrisy.

- Mysaria lied about not knowing of Helaena's pregnancy. I think Rhaenyra picked up on that when she wasn't getting cut by the Iron Throne.

- Alys showed Aemond a batch of dragon eggs while talking of their future prospects. Hugh couldn't get through to Kat and there was a sweet moment between Vermithor and Silverwing.

- The episode ended with Corlys being captured by Jon Roxton. Ormund puked over the sight of blood and practically revealed that Gwayne might be gay.

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

Faceless Men started off a little sluggish but got better as it went along. Criston's death was anticlimactic but made thematic sense and the downfall of Rhaenyra's rule kicked off with this episode. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "The Ex Games"

 

Written by Sari Cooper 

Directed by Jen Bennett 

Good Lex (re Superman): "Did everyone know this but me? I regret not listening to Superman when I had the chance."

If you ignored the trailer for this episode, I guess it was still a little surprising that it was Mxyzptlk who actually kidnapped Clark, Lois, Jimmy and Kara at the end of the previous episode. His motives though were even more surprising.

It turned out that Mxyzptlk was getting divorced from Ms. Gsptlsnz and the former couple wanted to use our gang, plus their alternatives (swap out Superman for Good Lex) to play a series of games in order to see which imp would comd out on top.

Having the gang face their counterparts was a good way of getting some self reflection. Lois faced up to her own insecurities and there was some further movement on the whole Jimmy/Kara story that's made up their screen time this season.

The most amusing part was seeing Clark and Good Lex interact. The latter's reaction upon realising that Clark was Superman was a highlight in the episode. This episode also seemed to turn a corner on Clark accepting his humanity while using his wits to defeat Mxyptlk for good.

Then there's the last scene. Lois and Clark got a tender moment and it's interrupted by a returning Jon and a young woman. I'm guessing the woman's meant to be Lara Kent but nothing has confirmed that as of yet.

- There was no need for Clark and company to be Baywatch ready but it kind of worked.

- The Cosmic Anvil was a device that both Mxyptlk and Gsptlsnz were competing for in order to reshape the universe.

- The Hell Hippos were more cute than menacing. They did make for good treats.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Ex Games had a good idea and ran with it pretty well. The games were fun, Mxyptlk and his wife made for good antagonists and the last scene was a good set up.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

SDCC 2026: MCU Edition - Avengers: Doomsday, New Movies Announced

San Diego Comic Con has come once again and while I'll be covering the DC content next week, Marvel fans weren't lacking in that department.

To no surprise, there was a large focus on both Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31st) and Avengers: Doomsday (December 18th). In fact, the majority of the cast for the latter movie were on stage as was Kevin Feige. Ryan Reynolds also popped up as a grey version of Deadpool and the re-release of Avengers: Endgame will contain an exclusive look at Avengers: Doomsday. Spider-Man: Brand New Day also had exclusive footage shown, involving the Punisher and Incredible Hulk.

Now while I was slightly disappointed we didn't get anything on the X-Men, we did get the announcement of two movies that will be coming out in 2028. First up, there's Ghost Rider with Ryan Gosling in the title role. The movie will be directed by Shawn Levy, who last directed Deadpool & Wolverine. This definitely feels like it's being fast tracked for a summer release. 

Of course the biggest news concerned Black Panther III. Not only was the movie officially dated for December 15th 2028 and Ryan Coogler confirmed to direct but that wasn't the only announcement. David Jonsson was confirmed to be playing an older version of T'Challa and would be assuming the Black Panther mantle along with his aunt Shuri. Letitia Wright was also confirmed to be returning for the film. The film will also be shot on a larger former celluloid film.

Overall, I think this was a good panel. We got two movies announced and more hype for the two that are coming this year.

A Series Of Glorious Failures

It's been a few months since the last TV Jumble Blog and here's a look at some of the things I've been watching over the last while.

Interview With The Vampire: Or as Season 3 was known as The Vampire Lestat. Seven episodes of Sam Reid taking the lead and going all glam rock with Lestat doing a tour with his band. It's a series of mostly good new songs, deep dives into Lestat's past, including his incestrous relationship with his own mother and both him and Louis being on a more even playing field. For the most part, it's a solid season but weaker compared to the first two. Daniel and Armand's arcs are particularly unsatisfying and the Claudia/Regina storyline just seemed like an excuse to bring the actor back. Saying that, the set up for the next arc was good.

Rivals: It was back to 1987 for the second season of this campy series and I had forgotten just how much fun it was to watch. I shouldn't have been shocked that Tony wouldn't be dead and these first six episodes had fun with being alive. Tony took great delight in making Cameron, Declan and Rupert's lives as difficult as possible while he got involved with Declan's wife while his own wife ended up dying. Going the route of so many shows these days, this was a split season with the remaining episodes set to be released in November.

Spider-Noir: I'm not sure if 2026 has been a great year for superhero shows. A few years ago, Nicolas Cage leading a noir themed show as Ben Reilly would've blown up on social media. This year, barely a whimper and that's in spite of having the option to watch it in black and white or colour. The show itself was mostly fine but even I waited over a month to actually watch it. Cage was good in the title role as was Brendan Gleeson as the main antagonist of the piece.

The Bear: Setting the majority of the final season over the course of a night with the restaurant practically collapsing in on itself was certainly a creative choice and all the while everyone finding out that Carmy had quit the business. It made for a stressful time but lead to some really enriching character bits. I can happily say that while the third and fourth seasons had some hit and miss moments, the fifth season was an excellent return to form. The final episode in particular managed to stick the landing.

Widow's Bay: I didn't think this show would be quite the powerhouse for Apple TV as it would turn out to be, but what a pleasant surprise. The first half was a nice set up for the show but the second half ventured into some truly mad places. There was a flashback episode with Hamish Linklater that might be one of the best bits of television this year. Matthew Rhys has had plenty of acclaimed television roles over the last twenty years but this one might be his most definitive yet. It's not hard to see this show has really dominated at the Emmys and why it's got a second season.

• The Baywatch reboot will air on FOX from January 2027. 
• The Beauty will not return for a second season on FX. The actors have been released from their contracts.
• Queen Of The Damned will be the title of the fourth season of Interview With The Vampire.
• Crystal Lake will premiere all eight episodes on Peacock from October 15th.
• Filming has completed on Ryan Coogler's pilot episode for The X-Files, starring Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel. It'll air on Hulu.
• Zosia Mamet has joined the cast of HBO's Industry. The fifth season has gone into production.
• David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, Nicola Coughlan, Sean Teale and Simone Ashley have joined the sixth season of Only Murders In The Building.
• Carrie will also drop all eight episodes on Amazon Prime from October.
• Francois Arnaud recently joined the cast for Count My Lies. It'll air on Hulu in 2027.
• Disney+ have picked up the zombie themed Afterlife With Archie for a Halloween 2027 release.
• Both Sky and AMC will both air upcoming supernatural drama, Yaga from Crave. The show stars Noah Reid, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hudson Williams.
• The upcoming fifth season of Apple TV's The Morning Show will be it's final season.
• Tom Hardy will continue to be a part of the main cast for Paramount+ show, MobLand for its third season.

My Review of The Odyssey (2026)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Odysseus: "Don't look for gods in men; you'll always be disappointed."

I intended to watch this movie opening day but things took a turn and in the last few days, I completed my Christopher Nolan rewatch of movies. Now, I've actually caught up with this one, was it worth it? I'd like to think so.

Having Christopher Nolan do an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey wasn't something that I expected and like many, I was concerned that he'd ground some elements too much fof his own good. He kind of did but not really. Perhaps Nolan has realised a little fantastical can be a good thing.

If you're familiar with the story, you've got Odysseus (Matt Damon) who left his kingdom Ithaca abandoned for twenty years, following the Fall of Troy. This left his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) fighting off unwanted admirers such as Antinous (Robert Pattinson) while refusing to accept the possibility of her husband being dead.

Then therss Odysseus's son, Telemachus (Tom Holland). Both him and blind servant, Eamaeus (John Leguizamo) believe in Odysseus being still alive and both were desperate to keep Penelope's unwanted admirers at bay. Telemachus even sought out Sparta King Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) and Helen (Lupita Nyong'o) during the film. 

Of course the film largely focused on Odysseus and his men. There's a good deal of focus on the Fall of Troy and the consequences of that particular action. The death of a soldier named Sinon (Elliot Page) would have quite the impact on Odysseus as would encountering at least three prominent women during his journey to get back home.

Athena (Zendaya) would show up to give Odysseus sage advice that would of course end up becoming true. Circe (Samantha Morton) would take delight in turning Odysseus's men into pigs until Odysseus could persuade her to reverse it and help him. Both Zendaya and Samantha Morton gave some great performances here.

Then there's Calypso (Charlize Theron). She fell in love with Odysseus and kept him tethered to her for seven years. It was her realising they Odysseus loved Penelope more that had her let him go.  Add in some stuff with sirens and a Cyclops and Odysseus had one hell of a journey in getting home.

Having Odysseus taking so long to get home also meant that the movie almost had to wrap up the unwanted admirers and reuniting with Penelope and Telemachus a bit quickly. Antinous was a delightfully snivelling baddie who got one hell of a deserved comeuppance. I really loved Robert Pattinson in this role. 

As for the family reunion, it's a very beautiful moment throughout with Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland playing out their respective scenes wonderfully. Ithaca ended up with a new ruler and there was a mission of redemption that ended things on a powerful note.

- There's so many support performances to also note from the likes of Mia Goth, Himesh Patel, Corey Hawkins, Travis Scott, Logan Marshall-Green and so on. Lupita Nyong'o also played Helen's sister, Clytemnestra. The latter also murdered her husband, Agamemnon (Benny Safdie).

- I loved the practical effects for the use of the Cyclops. That scene along with the Circe plot really leaned into pure horror.

- Calypso used the lotus flower in order to keep Odysseus around. Then she helped him get back on his journey to go home.

- The idea of Odysseus's dog waiting for him to return home before dying was one of the most touching moments in the movie.

- Standout music: Ludwig Göransson's score was beautiful. James Blake and Travis Scott's When I'm Home was good.

- Chronology: Odysseus was missing for twenty years before he finally returned to Ithaca.

The Odyssey (2026) might be the best summer blockbuster this year. It's by no means perfect but there are so many Standout performances, character moments, showing the power of the gods and of course, the battle sequences themselves. Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton and John Leguizamo were the standouts here.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The Prestige (2006)

 

Written by Jonathan Nolan And Christopher Nolan 

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Cutter: "Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course, you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled."

The timing of this movie's release couldn't have been more interesting. Imagine being the film that was sandwiched between releases of the first two movies in The Dark Knight trilogy. 

After a grounded take on one of the most popular heroes of all time, I could appreciate a bit of sleight of hand with this film. A tale of two magicians who would take their competitive ambitions to extreme lengths.

The magicians in question were Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). The former was a bit of an upperclass twit and the latter was more working class. The film saw Alfred on trial for the death of Robert and only former stage engineer John Cutter (Michael Caine) could help him.

The bulk of the movie explored the rivalry between Alfred and Robert in great detail. At one point, they were assistants to Milton the Magician (Ricky Jay). Robert had fallen in love with other assistant Julia McCullough (Piper Perabo) and Alfred inadvertently caused Julia's death.

Julia's death caused one hell of a rivalry between the Alfred and Robert and as both ventured out as solo magicians, both men also fought incredibly dirty in order to ruin one another. Whether it was stealing tricks, assistants like Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson), employing the help of Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) or framing each other for murder, there was no line that either man wouldn't cross to get even.

It's an incredibly dirty rivalry with Robert having no problem with raising Alfred's daughter just to punish him further. The final twist in regards to Alfred's fate was an impressive way to end this film.

- Robert was also known as Lord Caldlow and "The Great Danton". Alfred was known as "The Professor" and had a twin brother. The twin loved Olivia while Alfred loved Sarah (Rebecca Hall).

- The movie was based on Christopher Priest's story of the same name. Andy Serkis also appeared as Tesla's assistant.

- Standout music: Keith Nichols Drinkin' Down the Rose & Crown.

- Chronology: It started off in 1890 London.

The Prestige (2006) had plenty of impressive tricks and sleight of hand on display. It's an excellent showcase for both Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman with Michael Caine providing great support for both men. I do think it could've utilised both Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson a little better though.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Memento (2000)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Leonard: "Now ... where I was?"

After the modest debut of Following (1998), the second directorial outing for Christopher Nolan also played into his love for the non linear. This time with bigger name actors and an American setting of course.

You've got Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby. He worked in an insurance company where he had been responsible for denying Sammy Jankis (Stephen Tobolowsky) insurance and there was a few backwards conversations with Sammy's wife (Harriet Sansom Harris). Did she really trick her husband into killing her?

An important aspect of this movie was Leonard's memories. Specifically the fact that he was unable to make new ones. This resulted in him taking photographs of various people he's encountered as well as writing things down. There's also flashbacks to his wife, Catherine (Jorja Fox) and her rather brutal death.

Throughout the movie, there's two vital people that Leonard kept encountering and who were rather dubious, trust wise. There was his "friend" Teddy (Joe Pantoliano). The movie started with Leonard killing him and Teddy's backstory with Leonard was obviously told in reverse order.

There's also bartender Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss). She was friend, foe and love interest for Leonard all in one. She also wasn't above using Leonard in order to try and get rid of her abusive boyfriend, Dodd (Callum Keith Rennie). The latter in particular definitely deserved to be taken out of the equation.

As the movie sprawled to it's conclusion, there was a tale of revenge that Leonard had embarked on. It was one that he even succeeded in but he had needed Teddy to fill in some of the blanks before figuring out the rest himself and accepting the consequences.

- The movie was based on Jonathan Nolan's Memento Mori.

- Parts of the movie were set in black and white and parts in colour. Leonard got a lot of tattoos that provided clues for him.

- Standout music: David Bowie's Something In The Air.

- Chronology: Set over the course of a nonlinear timeline in California.

Memento (2000) played with the nonlinear narrative a bit better than Nolan's debut. It's a hard boiled thriller with an excellent performance from Guy Pearce. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Eden Lake (2008)

 

Written And Directed by James Watkins

Brett: "Follow the blood!"

I had this on my watchlist for a while and with James Watkins about to bring the DCU into the world of horror with Clayface, it was definitely time to get this one over with. 

Released around the time when there was an influx of Broken Britain films, this one focused on a rather middle class couple. Jenny Greengrass (Kelly Reilly) and boyfriend, Steve Taylor (Michael Fassbender) just wanted a nice getaway. Instead they got the vacation from Hell.

The titular place looked idyllic itself but it's locals were anything. Especially the youth themselves. They were violent, murderous and horrible little shits and Jenny and Steve found this out the hard upon having the misfortune of encountering them.

There's no real sympathy offered to these youngsters. Led by Brett (Jack O'Connell), these youths also included Cooper (Thomas Turgoose), Paige (Finn Atkins), Ricky (Harry Gill) and Harry (James Burrows). Brett had a tyrannical hold over them and they took much delight in tormenting both Jenny and Steve.

The moment that Steve's unsuccessful attempt to recover his car resulted in the death of Brett's dog, that was when things really went to Hell. Brett might be one of the evil characters I've ever seen because he took pleasure in killing Steve and getting the unfortunate Adam (James Gandhi) into burning the body.

I don't think I've seen a protagonist in horror suffer as badly as Jenny. Her boyfriend git brutally killed and she barely survived Brett and his gang. I don't blame her for snapping and killing two of them. Unfortunately for Jenny, she came afoul of the adults of the community, which included Brett's psychotic father, Jon (Shaun Dooley). The ending might be one of the most horrific I've ever seen in a movie.

- It turned out that Brett had two dogs. The way he coldly wore Steve's raybans as Jenny was being killed, that was chilling.

- Brett also killed one of his gang members who defied. The film implied that Brett was abused by his father as well.

- Standout music: Dan Black's Gimme What You Got.

- Chronology: Over the course of a few days at the title place.

Eden Lake was an unrelentingly brutal film that certainly seemed to encapsulated aspects of the decade it was released in. Jack O'Connell in particular was absolutely chilling as Brett. A terrifying and hateful character who actually got away with his horrible misdeeds.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The House That Dripped Blood (1971)

 

Written by Robert Bloch And Russ Jones

Directed by Peter Duffell

Carla (to Paul): "We loved your films so much we wanted you to become one of us forever. Welcome to the club!"

I'm going to honest. I found this movie at random and a huge motivation into watching it was down to a certain Doctor Who actor. I'm also glad I watched this film.

There's four separate but connected stories and they're supported by a Framework of course. This of course revolved the sceptical Detective Inspector Holloway (John Bennett) talking to Sergeant Martin (John Malcolm) about the house of the film and the dangers it posed. Holloway's scepticism would eventually be his downfall, so let's get to the stories.

The first one - Method For Murder kicked things off well. Horror writer Charles Hillyer (Denholm Elliott) and his wife, Alice (Joanna Dunham). Charles found that his writing was coming to life in the house a bit too well. For example, his character Dominic (Tom Adams) actually did come to life and it was driving Charles.

Nobody and that included Dr. Andrews (Robert Lang) believed he was telling the truth and that didn't end well for the doctor either. It also turned out that Dominic was an actor named Richard and a lover of Alice's. Yup, Alice was gaslighting Charles big time and it almost worked until she came afoul of her very method lover.

Second story - Waxworks was the weakest one for me. It's still pretty watchable and of course, I should note another Doctor Who actor was involved. Yup, there's Peter Cushing as Philip Grayson and Joss Ackland as Neville Rogers. Both men were friends. Both men were also in love with the same woman.

The woman in question also happened to be dead and also a waxwork creation. The creation was owned by the woman's vindictive and creepy husband (Wolfe Morris). He's a possessive and unsympathetic character, who's jealousy over his dead wife's hold over men resulted in beheadings. Like I said, it's the weakest of the stories but still engaging enough.

The third story - Sweets To The Sweet added some much needed witchcraft into the mix. It's nicely threaded throughout with a rather and daughter - John (Christopher Lee) and Jane Reid (Chloe Franks). Add in a governess named Anne Norton (Nyree Dawn Porter) and things got rather heated.

Anne genuinely thought that John was an abusive father and overly strict. It turned out that John's attempts of keeping Jane ostracised had merit. The little girl turned out to be a witch and had no problem using a wax doll to kill her father. It's a delightfully dark story, maybe the darkest story of them all.

The fourth and final story however turned out to be my favourite. The Cloak had my one of my favourite Doctor Who actors Jon Pertwee as horror actor Paul Henderson. Paul's an actor totally commited to his craft and not pleased with the current horror film he's making.

In fact, Paul's so annoyed that he went out and purchased a cloak from Theo von Hartmann (Geoffrey Bayldon) and found himself becoming a vampire. This caused problems with co-star and girlfriend, Carla (Ingrid Pitt) until the last moments revealed that Paul's commitment to horror was something the vampire community respected. It's a brilliant ending to a fantastic story.

- The last scene had A.J. Stoker (John Bryans) taking to the audience about the house reflecting the owner's personality.

- Robert Bloch, who co-wrote the film also wrote the book, Psycho.

- Paul was a fan of Bela Lugosi's Dracula. The man had good taste. No wonder the vampires wanted him as one of their own.

- Chronology: The Framework took place over a night before Holloway's encounter with Carla.

The House That Dripped Blood was a movie that I didn't even know existed until yesterday. It's an enjoyable watch with a strong framework but of course the vampire and witch stories were the ones that stood out the most.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Shiva Baby (2020)

 

Written And Directed by Emma Seligman 

Debbie: "No funny business with Maya."

Danielle: "What is that supposed to mean?"

Debbie: "You know what it means."

Yesterday I reviewed Bottoms (2023), so I went back to see the previous collaboration between Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott and it's a more sobering affair of course.

In this film, Sennott played a college senior named Danielle. Danielle's got a whole sugar baby thing on the side with a man named Max (Danny Deferrari). In their first scene alone, Max's pretty scornful about Danielle and it's an ongoing theme throughout the movie.

Danielle's own mother, Debbie (Polly Draper) seemed to be constantly disapproving of her while her father, Joel (Fred Melamed) was nicer by comparison. Then there's the shiva itself at Aunt Sheila (Cilda Shaur).

Danielle was schooled about being on her best behaviour and then there's the presence of Maya (Molly Gordon). She's a former friend and an ex of sorts and she's rather antagonistic towards Danielle for most of the film. At times, she's too antagonistic, which made her difficult to like. 

Of course, there's more complications for Danielle with the presence of Max's career driven wife, Kim (Dianna Agron). I liked the fact that Kim was quick on the mark with both Max and Danielle. The move with trying to get Danielle to hold her baby was a good means of petty revenge. I also suspect that Kim's a bit used to Max's wandering eye as well.

The shiva itself went from one disaster to another and Danielle's breakdown felt inevitable. On the other hand, at least Danielle and Maya seemed to make some peace with one another, which was nice.

- Emma Seligman did a short movie in 2018 of the same name. The baby in question was called Rose.

- Rachel Sennott in real life isn't Jewish whereas Dianna Agron is. Obviously Danielle is Jewish but Kim isn't in the film.

- Shiva means seven but also is a period of mourning following a death in Jewish customs.

- Chronology: During the course of a day in a New York neighborhood.

Shiva Baby (2020) made a good debut from Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott. They're a great team and there's a great sense of quiet chaos that played out beautifully with Danielle's past and present catching up with her at an inopportune time.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "Unbowed And Unbent"

 

Written by Philippa Goslett

Directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado

Helaena (to Alicent): "You look away when you lie."

Okay, this might a very Greens centred episode but make no mistake that the Blacks also had plenty to do. Both sides were winning and losing respectively.

Focusing on Team Green first. Alicent spent most of the episode trying to get Helaena to have an abortion with the latter rightly refusing her mother. It also didn't help that Mysaria became privy to Helaena being in the family way. Alicent and Helaena trying to escape King's Landing also didn't pan out for them.

Then there's Ormund and Daeron. The former spent the episode proclaiming the latter as King (which got back to Rhaenyra). Ormund also didn't seem particularly pleased when Daeron beat him in that one game but he was more concerned with discrediting Rhaenyra to be too mad at Daeron.

Then there's the two brothers that Ormund hates. Yup, I'm talking about Aegon II and Aemond of course. The former's pity party came to an abrupt ending thanks to Larys dropping truth bombs and Tyland Lannister turning out to be alive after all. Also getting to kill certainly did a lot to boost Aegon's confidence. 

Aemond on the other hand wasn't enjoying the nightmares of Harrenhal but he's found an ally in Alys. I'm really fascinated by their relationship. Slightly icked by the fact that he might also see her as a mother figure of sorts. Either way, I'm intrigued.

Then there's Gwayne and Criston. I found it amusing that the latter being on an almighty suicide mission was enough to get Gwayne to walk away. Personally, I would've abandoned Criston ages ago but Gwayne had a lot more patience with him than deserved. Surely, Criston's not much longer for this whole.

As for Team Black, Rhaenyra still needs to get great Council in order and she's got to be clever about Ormund as well. That guy's running rings around her as of now. It would help if her and Daemon could be on the same page as well.

Daemon had his own problems this week. Gold Cloaks were getting slaughtered throughout the episode, including Ser Luthor Largent. We barely knew the guy and he died horribly. I might have also turned away when Daemon started eye gouging as well.

- Alicent knew a lot about Mysaria's past and wasn't above using it as a bargaining chip. She also sold her pendant to get safe passage.

- Helaena seemed to confirm that she was expecting a boy. She also warned Jaehaera about poisonous plants.

- I like the potential couple of Baela and Addam. They're cute together. 

- Ormund told Daeron the story of Meria Martell. Of course it was to make a point that Daeron seemed to get.

- Alys summoning bats to attack intruders was a nice display of power. 

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

Unbowed And Unbent was a bit slow moving compared to the previous episode. Criston's speech didn't land the way it should've but it's a good episode for Team Green. Maybe their strongest one since the first season.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "Party Animals"

 

Written by Serena Wu

Directed by Grace Liu

Princess Maru (to the audience): "You may call me Doctor Poison."

Is there a reason why two of the six episodes we've had so far this season have had Wonder Woman villains as the main threat? I'm not entirely complaining but it's an odd choice, yes? It's made even order with the lack of reference to Wonder Woman herself.

This time around, it was the Princess Maru, aka Dr. Poison herself that was the main threat. She appeared as Jimmy Olsen's date at a gala where Jimmy, Lois and Kara were nominated for awards. However due to a younger audience, Maru got a different modus operandi.

Instead of actually poisoning people with her purple gas, Maru ended up turning everyone into different animals. Why are we giving Maru the very thing that Circe is known for? It's another odd choice, though needless to say, Maru ended up becoming a victim of her own gas itself.

Then there's a look into Jimmy and Kara. They've spent the last few episodes making each other jealous and this episode brought that to the boil. Both finally admitted they had feelings for one another and both ended up being captured along with Lois and Clark.

The Lois and Clark scenes had the latter desperately trying to find a purpose now that he's no longer Superman. He couldn't and that led to a lot of frustration. Then that cliffhanger happened. It's almost too bad the trailer for the next episode spoiled who captured the team.

- Bizarro as an ice cream vendor was rather cute. He even a child a free ice cream and wanted to help Supergirl. 

- Both Vicki Vale and Silver St. Cloud returned as did Flip and her gang.

- Both Lois and Maru were turned into cats while Jimmy became a turtle and retained his hair.

- Chronology: Clark has lost his powers for a whole month.

Party Animals was a fun debut for Dr. Poison with some gala filled chaos. I'm glad they gave sorted out the Jimmy and Kara plotline. Now we just need Clark to get his powers back.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Bottoms (2023)

 

Written by Emma Seligman And Rachel Sennott

Directed by Emma Seligman 

Principal Meyers: "Could the ugly, untalented gays please report to the principal's office?"

This has been on my watchlist for a while and I regret not watching this during Pride Month. I did manage to catch up with it yesterday afternoon and I had such a good time with it.

Over the last few years, both Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri have emerged as great talents within Hollywood. They're well matched here as two lesbian outcasts named PJ and Josie respectively. I found it amusing that they're outcasts for not being talented rather than being lesbians. That's a nice modern update.

Anyways both women have respective crushes. PJ's besotted with secretly smart Brittany (Kaia Gerber) and Josie was in love with Isabel (Havana Rose Liu). Isabel also had an obnoxious football playing boyfriend named Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine). This movie made it immensely fun to hate Jeff.

He's a violent misogynist who regularly cheated on Isabel. Jeff even slept with Mrs. Callahan (Dagmara Domińczyk) - the mother of fellow lesbian outcast Hazel (Ruby Cruz). Jeff was also too comfortable with threatening to kill women he deemed unattractive and he had a toxic enabler in teammate Tim (Miles Fowler). Tim's a bit too eager to help the undeserving Jeff.

Anyways, the film had PJ, Josie and Hazel set up a Fight Club which pulled in both Brittany and Isabel and other girls. The group was overseen by apathetic history teacher Mr. G (Marshawn Lynch) and was going well until Tim publicly exposed a few truths that were always going to be revealed. I did laugh at everyone initially believing PJ and Josie's obvious lie about being in juvie.

The movie of course would split the Fight Club until a plot to kill Jeff from a rival football team brought them back together. I'm not sure I would've bothered saving Jeff but I guess PJ and Josie are better than me in that regard. While PJ didn't get her desired love interest, Josie did and Hazel got her own luck during this particular plot. 

- Jeff was allergic to pineapple so that was the means the rival football team intended to kill him with. They also killed pets.

- I definitely think that Tim had a crush on Jeff. Brittany likes gay porn but is straight. PJ got to kiss Hazel.

- Standout music: King Princess's Pain.

- Chronology: Set in the 2020s at Rockbridge Falls High School.

Bottoms (2023) was a laugh riot from start to finish. Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri made a great pair of misfits and horrible as his character was, Nicholas Galitzine was genuinely funny in parts as the irredeemably stupid Jeff. Oh I had fun with this.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Following (1998)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Bill: "When I started to follow people, specific people, when I selected a person to follow, that's when the trouble started."

There was a time when someone like Christopher Nolan made lower stakes film with a modest budget and more shockingly, something that was under 90 minutes. It was also his debut film but his familiar style was as present here as it's been throughout his whole career.

Focusing on an unemployed writer named Bill (Jeremy Theobald), this film delved into the consequences of following other people. Bill chose to follow random people in order to give him inspiration as a writer. Unfortunately he picked the wrong guy to follow.

The guy in question being a suited man named Cobb (Alex Haw). The latter knew what Bill was doing and deduced Bill's life a little too succinctly. Cobb also turned out to be a burglar and Bill quickly became his accomplice and protege. In fact, Bill made little effort to resist the idea at all.

Then there was The Blonde (Lucy Russell). She's the classic femme fatale that didn't have to do anything in order to get Bill's attention. Then again, Bill and Cobb stole from her apartment and she was involved with The Bald Guy (Dick Bradsell). He was involved in pornography and had no problem killing anyone who posed a threat to him.

Of course, the big twist here was that The Blonde and Cobb were involved with each other and were planning to frame Bill for the death of a woman that Cobb likely killed. Even when Bill worked out that he was being played, he still came afoul of Cobb and The Blonde.

Bill ended up being framed for The Blonde's death and Cobb got away with everything. Bill really should have avoided Cobb but he didn't and everything went to shit for the guy. Bill was a very foolish man.

- Jeremy Theobald has appeared in both Batman Begins and Tenet. I like that Nolan brought him back for those films. Theobald is also in Nolan's short film, Doodlebug.

- There's literally a Batman logo on one of the apartment doors. Almost as if Nolan was willing a future trilogy into existence.

- John Nolan also had a role in this film. He's Christopher's uncle.

- Chronology: 1990s London, filmed in black and white.

Following (1998) was a modest nonlinear debut (linear if you're watching the Criterion release). It's strong stuff, nice performances from both Jeremy Theobald and Alex Haw and the black and white helped evoke the intended mood.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of A Dirty Shame (2004)

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Ray-Ray: "Let's go sexing."

For the last few weeks, I've delved into the delightfully depraved mind of John Waters and now I'm at an end (of sorts) with that journey. I mean there's still some of his short movies to watch at a later date but in terms of feature films, here's where I depart.

Waters might have started with writing for characters in poor backgrounds and revelling in their filthy sides but he also proved that those in the suburbs can be just as filthy. The residents of Harford Road proved that in spades.

You've got a residence with two very divided groups. There was the Neuters, aka the most sex negative people you'd ever encounter in your life. Their most prominent being women such as Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd) and Marge (Mink Stole). Oh boy, did they hate sex or what?

On the other end of the scale, Ethel's daughter in law, Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) started off as a Neuter until a bump to the head brought out her inner sex addict. Sylvia had a nice put upon husband named Vaughn (Chris Isaak) and a big breasted daughter named Caprice (Selma Blair). The latter used to be known as Ursula Udders, a former exoric dancer and was now under house arrest.

Anyways, Sylvia's sudden love of sex put her in the cross hairs of Ray-Ray Perkins (Johnny Knoxville). He's a sex guru of sorts and along with the rest of the sex addicted residents, Ray-Ray needed Sylvia in order to complete an orgasm on a rather grandiose level.

The rest of the movie became long battle between the Neuters and the sex addicted to see which group would seize control of the town. Naturally, it got ridiculous in certain parts, but only one group could ultimately win. It wasn't a surprise which one did.

- This was John Waters last feature film. His other credits included a child reading of Pink Flamingos and a short movie.

- Various fetishes were looked into. This included adult babies, bears and cubs, dirt eating and sploshing to name a few. Ricki Lake and David Hasselhoff had cameos.

- Standout music: David Raksin Orchestra's Sylvia.

- Chronology: Harford Road was set in Baltimore.

A Dirty Shame is anything but sexy and not all of the jokes land as they should've done. For the most part, there's some fun to be had among the utter depravity that's on display.  It's not John Waters on all cylinders but it's decent enough.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Tenet (2020)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Neil: "What the hell happened here?"

The Protagonist: "Hasn't happened yet."

Ah, this movie. Not gonna lie, it's one of the weakest things that Christopher Nolan has ever made and came out during a time that his working relationship with Warner Brothers came to a rather bitter ending. 

On top of that, it's also one of Nolan's mind bending films that doesn't quite hit the mark. Memento and Inception it's not. It's also one of those time where Nolan might have let his indulgent side out too much. I'm also gonna say something that Film Bros will hate my guts for saying but it could've benefitted from being at least an hour shorter.

Despite a brilliant cast, I just don't vibe with this movie as much as I wanted to. There are two major pluses and they are of course John David Washington and Robert Pattinson. I could watch those two play off each other all day. I just wish this had been a better movie for that.

John's literally The Protagonist of the movie. That's actually his character's name - the Protagonist, a CIA operative and on paper, it's a role that he excelled at. Unfortunately he's caught in this largely dull and confusing story where he's a part of Tenet. They're an organisation that seek out objects that move backwards in time.

When he's given scenes with Pattinson's charming but mysterious agent Neil, they're the highlight of the whole movie. Even when it appeared that Neil wasn't 100% trustworthy and even with the painfully obvious reveal of Neil being recruited by The Protagonist. Those two actors really need to appear in something else together.

On the other end of the scale, the Russian Oligarch stuff was boring as fuck and much as I like Kenneth Brannagh, I found Andrei Sator to be a dreadfully dull villain. Then there's Elizabeth Debicki as Kat. Imagine her character from The Night Manager and that's what you get here. And no, that's not a compliment. She's horrendously written in this movie from start to finish. I'd even say she's the worst written character in the entire movie itself.

- Other actors who popped up included Himesh Patel, Michael Caine, Martin Donovan, Fiona Dourif and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a slew of fairly okay supporting roles.

- Once Upon A Time In The West was an inspiration for the film and Nolan watching spy films when writing this one.

- Standout music: Travis Scott's The Plan.

- Chronology: Took place in the likes of Kyiv, Oslo, Italy, Tallinn, Vietnam and London.

I gotta be honest, Tenet was definitely Christopher Nolan at his self indulgent worst. It's a movie desperate to be seen as being more clever than it is. In reality, it's a middle of the road spy story with a dull antagonist and a half baked side love story of sorts. On the plus side, the chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson did a lot of the heavy lifting for this film.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Insomnia (2002)

 

Written by Hillary Seitz

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Will: "You don't get it do you, Finch? You're my job. You're what I'm paid to do. You're about as mysterious to me as a blocked toilet is to a fucking plumber. Reasons for doing what you did? Who gives a fuck?"

Delving into an earlier timeline, remember during the pre Batman days when Christopher Nolan was somewhat more small scale in his storytelling? Those were genuinely interesting times.

This movie for example was a straightforward enough cat and mouse detective drama with two top tier performances from both Al Pacino and Robin Williams. Of course, both men are on opposite sides of the law.

Al Pacino took on the role of hardened Will Dormer. The death of a young woman named Kay Connell (Crystal Lowe) had Will and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) being paired with Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank) in order to solve the case.

On the other hand, there's Walter Finch as played by Robin Williams. He's a writer of detective fiction and was more than happy to assist Dormer in cracking the case. He's also a killer, an expert at mind games and knew enough about Dormer to be a serious threat to the man.

For the most part, Dormer was a good man but he suffered from insomnia and that impaired his judgement at times. Dormer was also responsible for the death of his partner and bent the law to make sure that a paedophile was sent down. Finch had no problem trying to use these things to control Dormer. They only worked for a bit.

In fact, the closer that William got to Ellie, the more he was able to be honest with her about the things he had done. This however did put Ellie in danger and there was a tense stand off at a lake house between Dormer and Finch. It ended in a rather brutal way for both men that felt thematically satisfying either way.

- There's some strong supporting performances from Maura Tierney, Nicky Katt and Jonathan Jackson.

- This is the only film that Christopher Nolan has directed by not written or co-written. 

- Standout music: Coldplay's Sparks and Ivy's One More Last Kiss.

- Chronology: Dormer and Eckhart were from Los Angeles but this story took place in Nightmute, Alaska.

Insomnia (2002) reminded me of Nolan's earliest and more low key of movies. There's a part of me that would like to see him go back to that type of storytelling again, at least for one future movie. Getting back to this one, both Al Pacino and Robin Williams are just on mighty form here.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Cecil B. Demented (2000)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Cecil: "I'm Cecil B. Demented, and you're in my movie. Do not look into the lens and ruin the shot or you will be shot."

Heading into the 2000s, was it the right time to make a film deeply critical of Hollywood? Maybe it was a case of being a little ahead of it's time. That's happened with certain directors before.

Let's take an actress named Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith). She's an A List actress but she's not very liked and one of her first scenes involved her humiliating her put upon publicist, Libby (Ricki Lake). She's also not a fan of Baltimore either.

Being in Baltimore for work however put her in the cross hairs of rebel filmmaker Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorf) and his band of misfits. Those involved actors like Cherish (Alicia Witt) and Lyle (Adrian Grenier), art director Lewis (Larry Giliard Jr), make up artist Raven (Maggie Gyllenhaal), hairstylist Rodney (Jack Noseworthy), driver Petie (Mike Shannon), costume designer Fidget (Eric M. Barry), sound artist Chardonnay (Zenzele Uzoma), cinematographer Pam (Erika Lynn Rupli) and producer Dinah (Harriet Dodge).

That's a lot of characters to keep up with for this particular band of terrorist filmmakers. Honey's not particularly thrilled with helping them but it's not long before their rebellious spirit started to rub off on her and she became a bit too willing to go along with Cecil's increasing demands.

This included disrupting a screening of the directors cut of Patch Adams, public filming, endangering the general public but on the plus side, Cecil and the gang did manage to do humanity by sabotaging an ill advised sequel to Forest Gump and a very public final act at a drive in theatre. I'll give Cecil his due, he certainly knew how to go out in a blaze of glory while Honey Whitlock might have given herself a defining career performance.

- Honey had an ex-husband played by Eric Roberts. He had problem blasting her on Roseanne Barr's show. John Waters and Mink Stole had minor roles.

- We got to see some of Cherish's pornographic past on the big screen. One of her moments involved a gerbil. I can't imagine who that was referring to.

- Standout music: Substance D's Everyday and Liberace's Ciao!

- Chronology: Baltimore of course in 2000.

Cecil B. Demented did take a bite out of so many trends in Hollywood that are rather relevant to today. I wasn't sure about this one at first but I found myself  pretty taken with this movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Rules Of Attraction (2002)

 

Written And Directed by Roger Avary

Sean: "I didn't know where I was going, some place unoccupied I hoped, at first I thought there were things about her I would never forget, But in the end all I could think about was-..."

I saw this movie only once and it was a few years after it's initial release. It wasn't a movie that particularly impressed me but I decided to go back to it recently. I can't say that time has altered my view on it.

Based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name, you've got well college students. None of whom are particularly likable but this movie did something of a deep dive on these particular characters.

Going in for LGBT representation first, there's Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder). He's a bisexual guy caught up in a love triangle with fellow students Lauren Hynde (Shannyn Sossamon) and Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek). Yes, that last is related to who you'd expect him to be related to.

It's a rather toxic triangle to watch unfold with all three characters being frustrating to watch and none of them on the same page as one another. Paul pined for Sean. Sean pined for Lauren but had no problem sleeping with Kelly (Kate Bosworth). Lauren also pined for her ex boyfriend Victor (Kip Pardue).

There's a whole segment in the movie that nearly delved into Victor's European exploits that were moderately entertaining enough to watch. Victor also had sex with Lara (Jessica Biel) and there's also a purple letter subplot involving Sean to boot.

It's a film where none of the three got what they truly wanted. Sean didn't get Lauren and left. Paul didn't get Sean but reflected on things with Lauren. Lauren didn't get back together with Victor.

- Casper Van Dien was cast as Patrick Bateman but his scene was ultimately cut from the film.

- There's some good support roles from Faye Dunaway, Swoosie Kurtz, Eric Stoltz and Fred Savage to name a few. Lot of recognisable people appear in this one.

- Standout music: James Van Der Beek's version of Anna Begins and George Michael's Faith.

- Chronology: Set at Camden College in New Hampshire.

The Rules Of Attraction was more of a frustrating than fun experience. Thr performances are fine and there's some interesting character bits but it didn't really come together that well as a film.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Pecker (1998)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Pecker: "I love you Shelley! I love you more than Kodak!"

I'll admit that 1990s era John Waters might be his most interesting time. There's a clear attempt to be a little mainstream while also keeping with the shock value that his earlier works have done.

There's also more of a conscious effort to have a sympathetic main character and Pecker (Edward Furlong) might be his most likable to date. Pecker's genuinely a nice kid with a hobby and talent for taking photos.

Pecker's got a family he adored - parents Jimmy (Mark Joy) and Joyce (Mary Kay Place), sisters Tina (Martha Plimpton) and Little Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey) and his grandmother (Jean Schertler). The latter had a talking Virgin Mary statue and Pecker's family and girlfriend, Shelley (Christina Ricci) were incredibly supporting of his photography. They were also subjects too.

Anyways Pecker quickly caught the attention of New York art dealer Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor) and pretty much became an overnight success. On the downside, it made Pecker a tad unpopular in his own town and his family a victim of burglary to boot.

There's a look into Pecker taking apart the elitism of the art work during the second half of the movie as well as getting back into the favour of his home town. It's a funny turn of events with Pecker this movie by proclaiming his own aspirations to make a movie himself.

- There's cameos and voice roles for John Waters, Mink Stole and Mary Vivian Pearce respectively. Tobey Maguire was originally considered for Pecker but turned it down.

- Apparently Christina Ricci wasn't a fan of either Baltimore or laundromats. Shelley ran a laundromat obsessively.

- Standout music: Paul Evans's Happy-Go-Lucky Me.

- Chronology: 1990s Baltimore as well as a brief trip to New York.

Pecker (1998) does have a certain charm to it. It's not John Waters best effort but neither would it be his worst. I think Edward Furlong did a good job in making the character as likable as he could've done.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Inception (2010)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Cobb: "I need to get home. That's all I care about right now."

Ariadne: "Why can't you go home?"

Cobb: "Because they think I killed her."

One of my favourite films from the 2010s and one of the best movies from Christopher Nolan himself. Released between his two billion dollar movies from a certain trilogy, Nolan was cooking something truly extraordinary here.

Most of his players from The Dark Knight trilogy factor into this film but it's Leonardo DiCaprio who was leading the events as Dom Cobb. Cobb was an extractor along with Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Their mission involved striking their targets subconscious to extract information. Needless to say there was going to be a fall out from that.

The fallout being the death of Cobb's wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). She served both as a femme fatale and a guilty conscience of sorts for Cobb with some rather heated moments between both former spouses. There's some genuinely strong chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard throughout the movie.

Cobb however had a mission courtesy of Japanese businessman, Saito (Ken Watanabe). The mission involved extracting information from Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) and for that Cobb needed a team.

This was where characters like Ariadne (Elliot Page), Eames (Tom Hardy), Yusuf (Dileep Rao) and Stephen Miles (Michael Caine) factored into things. All of them had certain skill sets that Cobb and Arthur needed for the mission.

It's a chaotic mission with various details into the complexity of the dream world, including limbo being outlined. There's a lot of mind bending sequences, a deep dive in Cobb's own family guilt as well as the use of a totem to see if the real world was still out there. 

- Various actors, including the likes of Kate Winslet, Emily Blunt and James Franco. Some of these actors also turned Nolan down for certain parts.

- Other actors included Lukas Haas, Peter Postlethwaite and Talulah Riley. The latter's role was rather amusing.

- Standout music: Édith Piaf's Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.

- Chronology: Largely set in the dream world, but also in Lis Angeles.

Inception (2010) deserves the accolades bestowed upon it. It's a mind bending madness of delight with weighty themes and a series of exceptional performances. It's really one of the best things I've seen Leonardo DiCaprio in and I hope that one day he will work Christopher Nolan again.

Rating: 9 out of 10