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