DCU Blog - January 2026 Edition: TBII/MOT Update, Lobo Spotlight And More Blue Beetle

As we reach the last day of January, the DCU certainly provided some tantalising information about upcoming projects. Let's dive right in.

Sebastian Stan has been cast for The Batman - Part II (October 1st 2027). It's rumoured that he'll be playing Harvey Dent. Filming begins in April.

Cristin Milioti has confirmed that Sofia Falcone won't be returning for The Batman - Part II. 

Superman (2025) and Peacemaker have been nominated for Saturn Awards. The former bagged eight nominations while the latter got three nods.

Superman and Spider-Man will share an upcoming crossover in their respective comics.

Christina Hodson has been confirmed as the writer for The Brave And The Bold. This reunites her with Andy Muschietti as the two previously worked on The Flash for the DCEU.

Ana Nogueira could also be reuniting with Craig Gillespie for Wonder Woman, depending on the success of Supergirl.

Man Of Tomorrow (July 9th 2027) will introduce the character, Maxima. Expect casting news soon.

A recent spotlight for Supergirl (June 26th 2026) focused on Jason Momoa's Lobo.

Diarmaid Murtagh will be playing a space pirate in Supergirl. Krem will lead a bad of space pirate/human traffickers in the movie.

Lanterns star Kyle Chandler recently talked about his experience working on the show on Today. The show will premiere on HBO late summer.

Angel Manuel Soto has confirmed that we will see Blue Beetle and his family soon in the DCU. We still need progress on that animated show.

Filming for the Jimmy Olsen spin-off will take place around the same that Man Of Tomorrow will start filming.

The Mister Miracle animated series will take place in the DCU and will see the debut of Darkseid.

Hamish Linklater has confirmed that Season 2 of Batman: Caped Crusader will be released on Amazon Prime this year.

A good start for information in the first month of 2026. I'm expecting bigger casting news over the next few months.

My Review of Industry - Season 2 (2022, HBO/BBC1)

 

Written by Mickey Down And Konrad Kay

Directed by Birgitte Stærmose And Isabella Eklöf And Caleb Femi 

Eric: "People are just knots of fear. We loosen them and we win."

Yup, I'm still flying through this show in order to catch up and this second season once again brought back Harper, Yasmin, Robert and Gus, albeit all four of them feel a tad more disconnected from one another.

In fact, this second season removed Gus from Pierpoint altogether, having him working in a different area altogether. However the presence of main Pierpoint client, Jesse Bloom (Jay Duplass) did manage to keep Gus still connected, especially when the latter hooked up with Bloom's son, Leo (Sonny Poon Tip).

Of course, it's Jesse's presence that was more prominent for Harper. She was the one who got Jesse into business with Pierpoint but she was also the one who somewhat struggled to maintained his business. Jesse turned out to be a rather slightly and volatile client.

Harper this season still had the ability to completely fuck people over. This extended to Eric but also Rishi. The latter bubbled along in the background in the first season but here he was given a more expanded role. He's actually a great foil to Harper at times while pretty boy, Daniel Van Deventer (Alex Alomar Akpobome) was a near love interest for Harper.

As for Yasmin, I did find this season gave her some interesting things to do. The relationship with her father, Charles (Adam Levy) felt like it was going to mend before being completely shattered. There's a brief "friends with benefits" dynamic between Yasmin and Pierpoint Private Wealth Manager, Celeste Pacquet (Katrine De Candole) but even that ended badly as well for her.

Last but not least, there was Robert's arc. He lost his mentor, tried to be sober, tried to mentor Venetia Berens (Indy Lewis) and also worked through his mommy issues with Nicole. It's not as strong as the first season and I did miss the interactions between him, Harper, Yasmin and Gus as the four interacted less with each other.

- Episode titles were Daddy, The Great Squid, The Fool, There Are Some Women ...., Kitchen Season, Short To The Point Of Pain, Lone Wolf And Cub and Jerusalem.

- Robert likened his mother to a tyrant and briefly reunited with his father during Christmas. He has a brother too.

- We met Harper's brother, who resented her and Yasmin learned that she had a half sister because her father got her former nanny pregnant.

- Rishi was engaged but despite his overtime dislike for Harper, he nearly copped off with her. Kenny was also trying to be a nicer person.

- Jackie got to spend time with Harper and Yasmin for an episode. Daria returned and got her own back at Eric and Harper. Venetia also accused Nicole of sexual assault.

- Chronology: COVID-19 factored into this season. Harper, Yasmin and Robert were in their third year.

While a little lagging compared to the first season, I am loving this show in general. Most of the new characters worked well enough and once again, the show really did show the cutthroat world of Pierpoint succinctly.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Firestarter (2022)

 

Written by Scott Teems

Directed by Keith Thomas

Charlie (to Hollister): "Liar, liar. Pants on fire."

If it takes me a lifetime, I will tackle every Stephen King adaptation going. This isn't one thst I imagine will be anyone's favourite list but it was first time watch for me last night.

Focusing on a couple with abilities. There was Andy McGee (Zac Efron) had telepathic powers while girlfriend Vicky Tomlinson-McGee (Sydney Lemmon) had a daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong). The latter had powers of her own and they were rather dangerous.

Charlie was a kid who literally lived up to the title of this film. She could cause things to burn and because she was a child, she wasn't able to control. Andy and Vicky tried to protect Charlie from the world and from others. Needless to say, they weren't successful.

In fact Charlie's power got so out of control, not only did she end up burning her own mother but the latter also ended up being killed by the villain, Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes), a bounty hunter. It turned out that the government had designs on using Charlie as a weapon.

Throw in DSI villain Captain Jane Hollister (Gloria Reuben) and the disgraced Dr. Joseph Wanless (Kurtwood Smith) and you had both Andy and Charlie on the run. There's an alliance of sorts with Irv Manders (John Beasley) but it's rather short-lived.

Ultimately, the movie pretty much put Charlie in a position where she had to embrace her powers and had to burn everything down. There's also a redemption of sorts for Rainbird but it's rather rushed.

- One thing I didn't need to see was Charlie scorching a cat but that's exactly what we've seen.

- In the book, Hollister was a male character but here the role was written for a woman.

- Standout music: Marty Cooper's Tell The Singer I'm Sorry.

- Chronology: Present day America.

I wouldn't highly recommend Firestarter (2022) but it's not that bad either. It's just an okay remake that plodded along nicely enough. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of The Beauty: "Beautiful Chimp Face"

 

Written by Ryan Murphy And Matthew Hodgson 

Directed by Alexis Martin Woodall 

Cooper: "Do I know you?"

Jordan: "It's me. It's Jordan."

When this episode opened with a flashback with Cooper and Jordan in Rome, I had a feeling it was going to end with Cooper meeting the newer version of Jordan. Suffice to say that I wasn't wrong here.

In flashbacks, Jordan quizzed Cooper on how well he actually knew her and Cooper passed. At a fountain, Cooper was hoping and praying that Jordan wouldn't fall in love with him. Somehow I don't think his wish came true.

Back into the present day, Cooper talked to a former partner of Harper Rose's named Ashley and it appeared that he was possibly infected. More time however was spent on Manny (Ben Platt), who worried about his dogs/mother/boyfriend before he broke free and changed into Isaac Powell halfway through the episode. This led to quite a scuffle between Manny ang and Cooper.

Between Jordan's transformation, Manny nearly beating the crap out of him and a discovery of some mad scientist antics, Cooper had enough. On top of that, his cat Nine Lives (unfortunate name choice) had been dead for two months. It really wasn't his day.

As for the baddies of the piece, while they didn't have as much screentime as the previous episode, The Assassin and Jeremy still make for a good team. The Assassin taught Jeremy how to navigate sex now that he's been transformed while also upgrading his wardrobe.

Last but not least, Byron Forst wanted to move up official release of his product on World Beauty Day (September 9th). This also meant him ignoring the advice of lead scientist, Ray (Rob Yang) and generally being obnoxious. I'm so hoping for Byron to get the worst comeuppance before the end of this season.

- Jordan liked Dr Seuss and Simone de Beavoir as well as movies such as Last Tango and Conformists.

- Manny had a labradoodle and a terrier. Cooper mentioned having a Jack Russell when he was younger.

- Standout music: Nice use of opera music during one scene with The Assassin and Jeremy.

- Chronology: It's been 1238 days since Byron started this whole beauty mess.

Beautiful Chimp Face was weaker compared to the first three episodes. It's not a bad episode but it did feel like it was plodding in parts. Hopefully things move a bit faster from next week onwards.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of I Saw The TV Glow (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Jane Schoenbrun

Owen (re Maddy): "What if she was right? What if I was someone else? Someone beautiful and powerful? Buried alive and suffocating to death on the other side of a television screen?"

I've been meaning to watch this movie for a while and yesterday, I managed to get around to finally seeing it. It's premise certainly intrigued me.

Television shows can be a bonding experience for a lot of people and for two outcast teenagers, one particular show resonated with them. The show was called The Pink Opaque and it focused on the connection between girls Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Lindsey Jordan). Oh and their ongoing battle with Big Bad Mr Melancholy (Emma Portner).

Now that's the TV show I'm talking about. In the real world, the connection was between Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Jack Haven). Owen wasn't allowed to watch the show at home, so he'd go to Maddy's to see it or she'd tape it for him. Either way, The Pink Opaque was a source of comfort for the both of them.

Both Owen and Maddy had crappy home lives. Owen's mother, Brenda (Danielle Deadwyler) was dying and his stepfather, Frank (Fred Durst) was a bit of a jerk. Maddy also had an abusive father that she was desperate to get away from. Halfway through the film, she ended up missing and Owen's life didn't exactly go anywhere positive either.

Before their big reunion, Owen lost both parents and was barely scraping by with his life. Maddy then reappeared and told him a fanciful story about being buried alive and that both her and Owen were really Isabel and Tara from their now cancelled show. Of course Owen wasn't willing to be buried alive in order to find out if Maddy was correct or had lost the plot.

The idea in itself that both Owen and Maddy might be from The Pink Opaque and that the world they've been living in isn't real, well it's a good idea. Unfortunately, I do think the execution let it down with the ending being incredibly frustrating.

- The Pink Opaque seemed to be something akin to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers than Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The Ice Cream Monster feels like something the former would've done more than the latter.

- Speaking of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Amber Benson had a nice scene with Justice Smith. I miss seeing her in things. 

- The movie did seem to imply that Owen was gay and Maddy was trans. Owen also battled asthma and depression in later life.

- Chronology: Started off in 1996, moved into 2006 and 2010 before getting closer to the present day.

The more I think about it, the more I do like I Saw The TV Glow than I dislike it. I do think the ending was something of a letdown but the build up was great, there's something about the 90s setting I loved and yes, I think boys my age at that time had that show for girls that we loved unashamedly.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Return To Silent Hill (2026)

 

Written by Christophe Gans And Sandra Vo-Anh And Will Schneider

Directed by Christopher Gans

James: "Our place. Our town. Our love."

Okay, so this will be the first movie released in 2026 that I'll be reviewing for this and I really should've picked something. For clarity purposes, I haven't watched the previous two movies and I've never played the game series, so this will be fun.

Last year I watched Jeremy Irvine in two gay themed movies. One I loved and the other I didn't. In this movie he's playing the leading protagonist James Sunderland. As an actor, he's a bit hit and miss and sadly more in the latter category here.

The movie started with James meeting the love of his life, Mary Crane (Hannah Emily Anderson). She was trying to get out of Silent Hill but thanks to James, not only did she return to her hometown but also got into a relationship with him. Things between James and Mary were good until they weren't.

Present day had James as an alcoholic that was seeing a therapist named M (Nicola Alexis). She wanted James to work on his issues. A letter from Mary brought up old issues for James. Mostly they brought him back to Silent Hill.

The rest of the movie felt like something of an unsatisfying mess. There's flashbacks that revealed Mary to be in a cult that she wouldn't leave for James. James had several creepy encounters and there was a pyramid monster called Pyramid Head (Robert Strange). Like I said, I never played the games.

As for James and Mary, I was thoroughly bored by their love story throughout. Both actors were absolutely devoid of chemistry and the ending was an absolute cop out. It should've hit differently but it was an ending that failed to stick the landing.

- The previous movies came out in 2006 and 2012 respectively. I may review them later in the year.

- Evie Templeton reprised her role as Laura from the Silent Hill 2 remake. She was Agnes in the second season of Wednesday.

- This movie was based on the second Silent Hill game.

- Chronology: James and Mary were together for a few years before everything went to hell.

I know we're only a month into 2026, but I definitely can see Return To Silent Hill being a contender for one of the worst movies of the year. A dull, lifeless and plodding exercise in pure tedium.

Rating: 4 out of 10 

My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "Hard Salt Beef"

 

Written by Aziza Barnes And Ira Parker 

Directed by Owen Harris

Tanselle (to Dunk): "All men are stupid. All men are Knights."

That might be a tad harsh there, Tanselle. Saying that, she might not be entirely wrong with that statement. This episode may have made too fine a point about the perception of Dunk's general intelligence.

I don't think Dunk might be the sort of person who's well read but he does seem to have a practicality about him and this week, he seemed to be getting closer to being a Knight. While unaware of Egg's true identity, he did meet some of the latter's family throughout the episode.

Yup, this episode was overloaded with the presence of House Targaryen. In the space of thirty one minutes we were introduced to Egg's father, Prince Maekar (Sam Spruell), brother Prince Aerion (Finn Bennett) and uncle Prince Baelor (Bertie Carvel). Out of the three, Baelor taking an interest in Dunk made him the most likable of the pair.

Even when Baelor was correcting Dunk on Ser Arlan of Pennytre's true achievements, he was surprisingly considerate to Dunk's feelings. By contrast, both Maekar and Aerion in their most fleeting interactions were both condescending, rude and disdainful towards Dunk.

Circling in on the strength of the show so far, I really do love the rapport between Dunk and Egg. They're a fun duo to watch and while Egg was desperate to avoid being spotted during a night just, Dunk was more than happy to talk more about his relationship with Ser Arlan. Yup, there's more flashbacks with the latter to start and end the episode.

As for the only woman on the show so far, I'm really liking Tanselle as a character. Her interactions with Dunk are endearing and both being tall was something they could bond over. I don't know if a romance can work long term but their scenes are sweet together.

- Another Targaryen we met was Prince Valarr (Oscar Morgan). He's the son of Baelor. We also met Ser Roland Crakehall (Wade Briggs), Ser Donnel of Duskendale (Bill Ward), Lord Ashford (Paul Hunter) and his daughter, Gwin (Cara Harris).

- Did we need to see all of Ser Arlan in that regard? This show might be giving audiences the type of nudity they don't want to watch.

- Ser Dunk wanted a signal of an elm tree and stars. Tanselle was tasked with that due to her puppeteering expertise.

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

Hard Salt Beef felt a bit more of the same as the first episode. I get this will be more of a smaller scale story compared to the other shows and I did like the jousting bits but will it retain it's audience? I guess we'll see but no more gross nudity wouldn't go amiss.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman - Rage Of Atlantis (2018)

 

Written by Jim Krieg And Jeremy Adams

Directed by Matt Peters

Aquaman: "Well, what are we waiting for? People need our help!"

A couple of months before Jason Momoa's solo outing as Aquaman hit the big screen, Lego had their own adventure with the character. Granted, it's more of a Justice League movie with Aquaman (Dee Bradley Baker) but it's the thought that counted.

In this movie, Aquaman's the King of Atlantis and in a serious relationship with Mera (Susan Eisenberg). He's also far too trusting of his half brother, Orm/Ocean Master (Trevor Devall). It's rather jarring as Orm did a bad job of keeping his resentment towards Aquaman at bay.

On the surface world and thanks to Lois Lane (Grey Griffin), Aquaman was something of a laughing stock during his altercation with Lobo (Fred Tatasciore). Then again, the rest of the League - Batman (Troy Baker), Superman (Nolan North), Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Cyborg (Khary Payton) and Jessica Cruz (Cristina Milizia) didn't fare much better.

The reason for Lobo being at the scene of that particular crime did play a much bigger role. For example, Orm was successfully able to remove Aquaman as Atlantis's ruler and took over the kingdom himself. He was also aided by Atrocitus (Jonathan Adams) and Dex-Starr (Dee Bradley Baker). Both characters emerge as the true villains of the piece.

Anyways, the League ended up on a different world with the water being in short supply and forged a reluctant alliance with Lobo. Mera succumbed the Red Lantern as did most of the Atlanteans and Orm learned pretty quickly that he was being duped by Atrocitus. Needless to say, Orm decided to switch sides as well.

There was fun to be had with Aquaman, his half brother, the remaining League members and Lobo working together to stop both Atrocitus and Dex Starr. It's a fun team with two characters getting to redeem themselves and Aquaman getting his Kingdom back.

- Other character appearances included Jimmy Olsen (Eric Bauza), Batgirl (Alyson Stoner) and Robin (Scott Neville).

- The ending set up that Gorilla Grodd was attacking Kathmandu.

- Jessica Cruz had a whole subplot about being able to control her ring and gaining self confidence. She's a newcomer to the Justice League.

- Chronology: Present day Atlantis, Dread Lake and a desert world with a red sun.

Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman - Rage Of Atlantis made a decent movie splash for the often ridiculed character. I did like the use of Atrocitus as a main villain in this one as well. The character was utilised well.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Industry - Season 1 (2020, HBO/BBC1)

 

Written by Mickey Down And Konrad Kay

Directed by Lena Dunham And Tinge Krishnan And Ed Lilly And Mary Nighy

Harper: "I only want to ever be judged on the strength of my abilities."

Eric: "And paid for it."

It should go without saying that I've been late to this party and for that, I do apologise. As much as I wished I had caught onto this show sooner, I've finally decided to watch it from the start and I now see why so many have gravitated towards it so much.

Set in the cooperate world of investment banking, this show introduced five new entry level workers - Harper Stern (Myha'la Herrold), Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), Gus Sackey (David Jonsson), Hari Dhar (Nabhaan Rizwan) and Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey) into the world of Pierpoint & Co abd needless to say, it's a tough world to be a part of.

Yes, the trading/banking industry has been portrayed as a ruthless and mercenary one and within the first episode, Hari ended up working himself to death as a result of the environment being such a pressure cooker. I mean, it's a really brutal world as the four remaining protagonists found out.

This first season alone largely focused on Harper, Yasmin and Robert with Gus getting less screentime than the other three. For Gus, he's got a good friendship with Robert, the fallout of Hari's death and a relationship with a closeted research analyst named Theo Tuck (Will Tudor). I would've liked more screen time with Gus.

That's not to say that Harper, Yasmin and Robert because they are and it's not surprising that those characters and respective actors have become the face of the show. There's a lovely triangle of sorts with the three of them throughout the first season that can be as frustrating as it was interesting. Outside of that, there's plenty of tension with the way they navigate themselves professionally.

Harper in particular was shown to be an utterly ruthless character. She ended up being a protégé for Eric Tao (Ken Leung) while occasionally stoking her line manager, Daria Greenock's (Freya Mavor) ire. Then there's also Harper's dynamic with client Nicole Craig (Sarah Parish) and the way Pierpoint often failed to seriously tackle issues such as sexual harassment.

Yasmin and Robert by comparison were a lot less ruthless but also rather determined to prove themselves. Yasmin tolerated abuse from Kenny Kilbane (Conor MacNeill) until she didn't while managing to bring in a new client with mixed results. As for Robert, there's a nice subplot with his manager, Clement Cowan (Derek Riddell) as well as hints of him having a less privileged background compared to the rest of his peers.

- Episode titles were Induction, Quiet And Nice, Notting Hill, Sesh, Learned Behaviour, Nutcracker, Pre-Crisis Activity and Reduction In Force.

- While the show wasn't shy in sex scenes and overall nudity, one of the most shocking scenes was Robert allowing Usman Abboud (Amir El-Masry) to snort cocaine off a certain area during the office Christmas party.

- There's a few hints of Robert being bisexual but mostly he spent the season trying to get closer to Yasmin. A threesome with Harper almost happened in the penultimate episode.

- There's some supporting performances from Priyanga Burford (Sara), Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Greg), Mark Dexter (Hilary), Andrew Buchan (Felim) and Caoilfhionn Dunne (Jackie) to name but a few.

- Standout music: Nathan Micay's score was nice, there's certain Christmas songs used well in the sixth episode and the title sequence was short but I like it.

- Chronology: The first season seemed to span over several months before our main characters got officially hired at Pierpoint.

Better late than never I guess. This was a brilliant debut season, throwing both the audience and these characters into the cutthroat world of finance. The characters are flawed, believable and engrossing to watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The Beauty: "Beautiful Christopher Cross"

 

Written by Ryan Murphy And Matthew Hodgson 

Directed by Ryan Murphy 

Jeremy: "What do you need?"

The Assassin: "A protégé. A killer."

Oh now this was quite an episode. The decision to pair Anthony Ramos and Jeremy Pope as actors. Brilliant. These two work so well together. They're easily the highlight of the whole episode. I'm not kidding.

The Assassin started his day by killing the guy that infected Jordan before being ordered by Byron to clear up another mess caused by Dr. Dilegre. Yes, that pesky surgeon came afoul of The Assassin by not before tricking Jeremy into revealing his location.

Jeremy apparently didn't bother going home. Instead he stayed in that hotel and continued to sleep with and kill women. Then Jeremy found himself coming face to face with The Assassin and he was forced to bring the latter to the home of the last woman he slept with.

Needless to say the newly infected woman ended up being dead and Jeremy's lack of concern for his own life softened The Assassin's stance towards him. In fact, both The Assassin and Jeremy had riblets at Applebee's and by the end of the episode, the latter became a new protégé for the former.

As for The Corporation aka Byron Forst, well he's such an obnoxious jerk that even his wife, Franny (Isabella Rossellini) prayed for his demise. The woman had one scene and she already made me want to root for her. I do hope she gets to see Byron die in such a horrible manner.

Last but not least, the incident that was supposed to bring Cooper and Jordan back to New York was shown at the start of the episode. If you wanted to see someone going feral on Ben Platt and Meghan Trainor, then the character of Harper Rose (Amelia Gray Hamlin) more than sufficed in that regard. It's a comically violent opening scene that's capped off with Cooper back in New York to face the survivors of that incident.

- Jordan was a no show this episode, while Meyer advised Cooper to detach himself from her. Meyer also had some backstory about his brother.

- The Assassin's name was revealed to be Antonio, he had a son and he's 65. Jeremy's father abandoned him and Byron/Franny also have a son.

- Standout music: Phil Collins Easy Lover and Christopher Cross's Sailaway. The Assassin's a massive fan of the latter.

- Chronology: Venice, Croatia, New York and Indianapolis.

Beautiful Christopher Cross brought about a great double act with Anthony Ramos and Jeremy Pope. They're a brilliant pair to watch and got the best scenes of the episode. Everything else was pretty good too.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Beauty: "Beautiful Jordan"

 

Written by Ryan Murphy And Matthew Hodgson 

Directed by Alexis Martin Woodall 

Byron: "Beautiful people seem to think that the rules don't apply to them."

If we needed a face/villain for The Beauty, then low and behold, we've got Ashton Kutcher. I mean the guy's not the most likable of people in real life, so he's aptly cast as The Corporation here. He's also known as Byron Forst.

He's only given one scene in this episode and it's a scene where he's instructing his henchmen, known as The Assassin (Anthony Ramos) to dispose of a traitorous former partner named Mike (Joey Pollari). The Assassin's too good at his job because we don't get a chance to get to know Mike before he's promptly killed off.

With the bad guys making their presence known, we also had both Cooper and Jordan hitting up Venice before being ordered to go back to New York. I said in my review for the first episode that Cooper was more into Jordan than she was into him. This episode proved me right.

Jordan even took Cooper to task when his clear jealousy of her sleeping with other men reared it's head. Of course, Cooper also downplayed by pointing out how their job was incompatible with a relationship but Jordan didn't seem entirely convinced. However, the exciting stuff with them happened away from each other.

For Cooper, he was nearly killed by two men in black types in an action packed sequence that I didn't think Ryan Murphy had it in him to write. Nor did I expect Evan Peters to deliver quite the action man performance he did. Cooper got to be something of a bad ass in distress. Someone sign Evan Peters up for another action role now.

As for Jordan, she got the biggest shocker of the episode. She hooked up with a hot Italian guy, only for the episode to end with her being the latest recipient of that transformation. I guess it's goodbye Rebecca Hall and hello Jessica Alexander moving forward with the show. I'm surprised the show did this so early.

- The Assassin really did look like a Bond villain with a silver eye patch.

- How many people other than Byron are dispensing this miracle drug? Mike surely wasn't the only one. 

- Standout music: Massive Attack's Teardrop.

- Chronology: Mostly Venice bound for the whole episode. 

Beautiful Jordan was shorter than the opening episode (and likely won't be the only short episode this season) but the fact that it'd switch up actors this quickly, that genuinely surprised me. How will Cooper react to Jordan's new look when they meet again?

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Beauty: "Beautiful Pilot"

 

Written by Ryan Murphy And Matthew Hodgson

Directed by Ryan Murphy 

Jordan (to Cooper): "Beauty is pain, my friend."

What would happen if Ryan Murphy decided to go into the sphere of comic books? Well, he'd picked up an obscure title like this one and the results would be if Nip/Tuck and American Horror Story had a love child.

This ambitious, globetrotting show opened at the Balenciaga show in Paris where a model named Ruby (Bella Hadid) went feral on the crowd in order to quench her insatiable thirst. Spoiler alert: the thirst didn't quench, people died and she spontaneously combusted.

Ruby's violent death led to our protagonists - an FBI pairing of Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) and Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall). They're a likeable and seemingly competent pair who are also sleeping with each other on the side. Already, there's strong chemistry between Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall.

I can't believe how quickly I liked Cooper and Jordan. They genuinely had some funny banter between them and while I get the feeling that Cooper's feelings run deeper than Jordan's, both of them spark off each other so well. I guess this means that they're clearly doomed as the show will progress.

For the duration of this episode, they're in Paris and deep into trying to figure out what happened to make Ruby combust. This resulted in learning that Ruby along with other models that went the same way looked very different beforehand and their gorgeous features weren't plastic surgery related.

As the premise for the show made it clear, it's an STD that's caused this transformation. Cooper and Jordan's superior, Meyer (John Carroll Lynch) likened it to a cross between HIV and rabies but not quite. This episode also focused on another recepient of this treatment.

That recepient being an incel named Jeremy (Jaquel Spivry/Jeremy Pope). He was as stereotypical as you could get with his desperation making him a target for an exploitative surgeon, Dr. Dilegre (Jon Jon Briones) and some party girls. Eventually an encounter with a woman named Claire turned things around for him for the better. Jeremy became a Chad in almost no time whatsoever. 

- I had to laugh when the consultant referred to Glen Powell as a Chad seeing as that was the character the latter played in Scream Queens (2015-2016).

- We learned that Cooper's a former Navy SEAL, Jordan had a boob job and there seems to be a two year limit on the recipients of the Beauty.

- The show opened with a triple bill for FX. Half the regulars appeared in this first one.

- I know Cooper was likely joking about Grindr but if he hooks up with a man in a later episode, I won't complain.

- Standout music: The Prodigy's Firestarter and Modjo's Lady (Hear Me Tonight).

- Chronology: Current day Paris. Cooper and Jordan also left for Venice, Jeremy was from Jersey but travelled to Indianapolis and there were similar incidents in London and Berlin.

For an opening episode, Beautiful Pilot managed to have the right amount of everything needed. It wasn't too shocking or exploitative, set up the general premise well enough and gave us two likable leads in Cooper and Jordan. I'll catch up with the next two episodes within the next day.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Oddity (2024)

 

Written And Directed by Damian McCarthy 

Darci: "Curses are lifted at the time of purchase."

Yesterday I reviewed Damian McCarthy's debut Caveat (2021) and today, I'm gonna talk about his second one. These movies aren't connected to one another by the way. This one had a very different story.

The opening scene had a married couple - a psychiatrist named Ted Tinnis (Gwilyn Lee) and his wife, Dani (Carolyn Bracken). They're doing up a nice house in the middle of nowhere. Dani's at the house by herself one night when she encountered Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy).

A year later and it turned out that Dani was murdered and Olin was the main suspect. Ted moved on to a new girlfriend named Yana (Caroline Menton) and the latter didn't particularly care for the fact that Ted had kept the house where his wife had been murdered. 

Yana was also less keen on the presence of Dani's twin sister, Darcy (Carolyn Bracken). It turned out that Darcy wasn't convinced that Olin killed Dani and wanted to track down the real killer. Yana just wanted to be as far away from Darcy as possible. Yana might have been the only sensible one here.

Taking some notes from his previous movie, once again we've got a killer husband. It turned out that Ted was cheating on Dani with Yara and hired creepy Ivan (Steve Wall) to do the job. Darcy tried to use a Golem in order to get revenge/justice but overestimated her brother in law.

The Golem plot was handled pretty well as it had been seeded throughout the movie along with Darcy's own abilities. There's hints of a comeuppance of sorts or Ted when he foolishly decided to ring a call bell. 

- I do like that the movie made an effort to make both Dani and Darcy look different from one another.

- We can add cannibalism to this movie as Ted managed to find cannibal to get rid of Ivan.

- There's more backstory for the character of Olin in a short film called How Olin Lost His Eye (2013).

- Chronology: Present day West Cork, filmed in the same location as the previous movie.

Oddity (2024) was definitely the stronger movie. I think Damian McCarthy really nailed the tension with all the characters and even delivered a stronger ending as well. He's an interesting voice for the Irish horror genre.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Caveat (2021)

 

Written And Directed by Damian McCarthy

Moe: "I don't see what the problem is. This is a job. Every job has a uniform."

Isaac: "That's not a uniform. It's a leash, and I'm not putting it on."

I thought it was time for some Irish horror this month and during the last two days, I watched the movies from Damian McCarthy. Needless to say that I preferred one over the other but both managed to intrigue me.

For this debut film from McCarthy, there was a man named Isaac (Johnny French). Hes got amnesia and he's a bit of a drifter. He's also been suckered into a job by his landlord, Moe Barrett (Ben Caplan). It's the kind of job that Isaac should've turned out. 

I mean, looking after Moe's niece, Olga (Leila Sykes) seemed simple enough but the girl was prone to catatonic attacks and for some reason, Isaac had to wear some harness that limited his mobility. Oh and he was stuck on a remote island. He definitely should've said no to this job.

Looking after Olga resulted in strange things happening rather quickly. It didn't take Isaac long to figure that Olga's mother (Inma Pavon) was murdered by her father (Conor Dwane) and Moe. Isaac also ringing the latter was also something that he shouldn't have done. 

I do think where the movie succeeded a bit more was the gradual reveal of Isaac's true relationship with both Olga and Moe. Isaac spent most of the film not remembering a past event, only for the reason why Moe wanted him looking after Olga to become clearer. After all, Isaac was responsible for the death of her father.

It's a good reveal and there's an interesting enough cat and mouse with Isaac, Olga and Moe as the three fight for survival from one another. Saying that, the movie did end on something of a frustrating note.

- The movie went to a few film festivals before it ended up getting released on Shudder.

- There's a dog in the movie that fortunately made it out of the movie alive.

- Isaac brought no supplies for a job that was going to last for five days.

- Chronology: The movie was filmed in West Cork and it's clearly meant to be set in Ireland in the present day.

For a debut horror, I'd say that Caveat was a modest start for writer/director Damian McCarthy. The ending was a letdown but mostly everything else prior to that worked well enough. 

Rating; 6 out of 10 

My Review of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: "The Hedge Knight"

Written by Ira Parker

Directed by Owen Harris

Egg (to Dunk): "Every knight needs a squire and you look like you need one more than most."

We go a year without a Game Of Thrones prequel show to enjoy and 2026 we get two of them. While the third season of House Of The Dragon won't air on HBO until the summer, this somewhat lighter show finally made it's modest debut.

Based on George R.R. Martin's Tales Of Dunk And Egg series, this opened with Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) burying his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb) while also claiming three horses as well. Oh and he really wanted to be a Knight.

That's pretty much the premise of this opening episode. Dunk was determined to get into a tourney and that meant encountering several characters along the way. The most important character being Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). Every knight needs a squire after all.

Egg's determination to become Dunk's squire, I'll admit it's admirable. He didn't give up until Dunk agreed and considering how nearly every other character was more dismissive of Dunk, I can see why the latter relented and agreed. Already on this episode, the dynamic between Dunk and Egg seemed spot on.

As for the rest of the characters, there was Plummer (Tom Vaughn-Lawlor). He thought of Dunk as a farmer but pointed him to Ser Manfred Dondarrion (Daniel Monks). The latter wouldn't vouch for him but that didn't seem to deter Dunk.

There's some better scenes with Dunk's interactions with Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford) but his scenes with Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) were also a highlight in this opening episode. Lyonel seemed a little similar to a certain character who made it out of the main show alive. I'll let you guess which one.

- There was no title sequence for this episode and it's the longest one we'll get in this series. The rest will be shorter.

- We were also introduced to Ser Steffon Fosdoway (Edward Ashley) and his cousin Raymun (Shaun Thomas). Oh and we also saw Prince Daeron Targaryen (Henry Ashton) upon meeting Egg.

- I definitely could've done without seeing Dunk actually doing his business so graphically tbh. I'm guessing the flashbacks to his younger self and Ser Arlan will be a weekly thing.

- Dunk earned his nickname because of Tanselle and her friend. We also got a dragon puppet show.

- Peter Claffey is a Galway man. It's nice to see someone from my county in this franchise.

- Chronology: 209 AC. It's after the events of House Of The Dragon and before the events of Game Of Thrones.

The Hedge Knight made for a decent opening episode. It's definitely a lighter show compared to what's come before and the comedic scenes definitely feel broader as well. It's not as strong as either of the first episodes of the shows but there's potential here.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Lost Daughter (2021)

 

Written And Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal

Leda: "I left. When the oldest was seven and the youngest was five, I left. I abandoned them and I didn't see them for three years."

Nina: "What did it feel like without them?"

Leda: "It felt amazing."

Going into the Oscar season, I decided to go back and look at a movie that previously got an award contender much needed attention. That and the fact that the director has a certain movie coming out in March I cannot wait to see.

Yes, my first paragraph into this review was hinting at both Jessie Buckley and Maggie Gyllenhaal and they're quite a combination here too. Of course, there's also Olivia Colman at the heart of this drama. This might be one of Colman's best performances to date.

Taking on the role of translator and university professor, Leda Caruso, both Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley were able to delve into the character in both the present day and the past. Their performances perfectly compliment one another.

In the present day, Leda's on vacation in Greece and encountered a roughish New York/Greek family. In particular, Leda seemed to see something in young mother, Nina (Dakota Johnson). The latter was married to Toni (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) but was sleeping with Will (Paul Mescal) while also clearly going through a form of depression. Oh and Nina's daughter's doll went missing, which made up a huge part of this movie.

In flashbacks, the younger Leda struggled to be a mother to her own daughter's Bianca and Martha and often seemed exasperated by them. This led to conflict with her partner, Joe (Jack Farthing) and an affair with Professor Hardy (Peter Skarsgard). At one point, Leda even abandoned her children for three years. 

I did think this movie balanced the use of flashbacks and present day rather well with Leda given some moments of sympathy amidst her coldness at times. I would've liked a bit more time with Leda and Nina as the latter seemed fated to do something similar to the former. Oh and maybe a hatpin isn't such a good gift to give someone who you've stolen from. Just a thought.

- The movie's based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante.

- There's some nice supporting performances from Ed Harris and Dagmara Domińczyk as Lyle and Callie in this movie.

- Standout music: Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer and Talking Heads People Like Us.

- Chronology: Present day Greece. Leda mentioned being 48 during Callie's birthday celebrations.

The Lost Daughter turned out to be a sobering debut for Maggie Gyllenhaal as a director. It's not an easy watch but it's anchored by a trio of terrific performances from Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Dakota Johnson. All three of them are given great material to work with.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Totally Killer (2023)

 

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

Directed by Nahnatchka Khan

Jamie: "Fucking time travel!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Pillion (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Harry Lighton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Standout music: Alessi Brothers Seabird.

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

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

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Steve (2025)

 

Written by Max Porter

Directed by Tim Mielants

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Chronology: Set during 1996 in an English school.

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

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Avengers: Doomsday Trailer And Other MCU Bits

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

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

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

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

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

My Review of The Home (2025)

 

Written by James DeMonaco And Adam Cantor

Directed by James DeMonaco 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 6 out of 10 

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

 

Written by James Gunn 

Directed by Raja Gosnell 

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

Velma: "Tied with what?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Scooby-Doo (2002)

 

Written by James Gunn And Craig Titley

Directed by Raja Gosnell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 6 out of 10