My Review of I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)

 

Written by Mary Harron And Daniel Minahan 

Directed by Mary Harron 

Valerie: "Give me fifteen cents, and I'll give you a dirty word."

Maurice: "What's the word?"

Valerie: "Men."

Pride Month might be over but I'm still going through a catalogue of LGBT themed movies for the remainder of the year. I'm aware of man hating feminist activist Valerie Solanas (Lili Taylor) and her history with Andy Warhol (Jared Harris).

This film opened with the main itself. Feeling that her work was being held to random by the famous pop up artist, Valerie resorted to shooting Andy and others. This of course led to her arrest where she owned up to shooting Andy.

Then the movie flashed back to the events that led up to her attempted murder of Warhol. We got to see her as a struggling artist where she was friends with fellow lesbian Stevie (Martha Plimpton) and transgender woman, Candy Darling (Stephen Dorff). As well as hating men, Valerie didn't have much time for the trans community either.

Within the movie, Valerie despite being a lesbian often had sex with men to pay her rent or was dominating them. She was also writing her SCUM Manifesto as well as the play, Up Your Ass that she desperately wanted Warhol to produce. Warhol found it too vulgar even for him to take on.

Saying that, Valerie did get a part in Warhol's movie, I, A Man and she had the publisher of Olympia Press, Maurice Girodias (Lothaire Bluteau) but she felt stifled by both of them. She also didn't do herself any favours by not reading the fine print of her contract.

The film went back to the beginning where she shot Andy Warhol where the latter lived in fear of what had happened to her. There's a brief look into her later life and eventually death, leading to an overall miserable existence. On the other hand, her manifesto did find the appreciation she wanted even if she was no longer around to enjoy it.

- Originally this was intended to be a BBC documentary before it was made into a theatrical film. SCUM stood for "Society For Cutting Up Men".

- The filmmakers had permission to reproduce done of Andy Warhol's works but had to destroy them after filming was done.

- Standout music: Donovan's Season Of The Witch, Bob Dylan's I'll Keep It With Mine and John Cale's I Shot Andy Warhol.

- The film covers the Factory years in New York, in particular to 1968 to the event itself. Valerie died in 1988.

It may have had it's origins as a documentary but as a movie, I Shot Andy Warhol did work rather well with a great lead performance from Lili Taylor. I'm not particularly sympathetic to Valerie Solanas but the movie did give a balanced depiction of her activism.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

DCU Blog - June 2025 Edition: Superman World Tour, The Batman Sequel Script Completed and Clayface Cast

When I say this was the busiest month for DC this year, I mean it. So much information came out. There's a lot to go over.

The World Tour for Superman (July 11th) kicked off with cast and crew visiting various countries to promote the movie.

Additional cast members for this movie include Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan as Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. Alan Tudyk, Jennifer Holland, Michael Rooker, Pom Klementieff, Grace Chan and Michael Rosenblum will voice robots in the movie. Stephen Blackehart will also appear as Sydney Happersen.

Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow will now be titled Supergirl (June 26th 2026). The movie is currently in post production.

James Gunn has confirmed that a Wonder Woman film is in development being currently written. It'll be connected to prequel series, Paradise Lost.

After waiting for the longest time, Matt Reeves and Mattson Tomlin announced that the script for The Batman - Part II (October 1st 2027) is now complete.

Meanwhile, James Gunn has confirmed that he's also working closely with the writer for The Brave And The Bold. 

A draft for the Deathstroke and Bane movie has been written. So far, that's it really.

Peacemaker Season 2 (August 21st HBO Max) will be the focus at Hall H for SDCC next month.

Tom Rhys Harries has been cast as Clayface (September 11th 2026). Filming will start in the UK in October.

James Gunn has also started writing his next film after Superman. I'm sure that'll be announced after next month.

Filming for Lanterns will be completed next month. The show will air on HBO in 2026.

It's also been confirmed that Waller is still in development and that a Teen Titans script is being written by Ana Nogueira.

Season 2 of The Sandman arrives this month on Netflix. Eps 1-6 from July 3rd, eps 7-11 from July 24th and a final special from July 31st.

Creature Commandos will air on Sky for UK/Irish viewers from July 8th at 2am/11pm respectively.

An R-Rated animated series for Mister Miracle is in development. Tom King will be involved with the show.

James Gunn has confirmed that there are complexities involving Static Shock. I wouldn't expect it anytime soon.

Now that Pride Month is coming to an end today, I thought I'd list my favourite LGBT characters. A Top 10 list so to speak. You won't be shocked by it. Here goes.

1) John Constantine

2) Harley Quinn

3) Red Robin (Tim Drake)

4) Poison Ivy 

5) Midnighter

6) Dreamer (Nia Nal)

7) Wonder Woman 

8) Catman

9) Apollo

10) Extrano

Well, that's it for the month of June. Next month is going to be DC at it's most crazy with the release of Superman.

My Review of Breakfast On Pluto (2005)

 

Written by Neil Jordan And Patrick McCabe

Directed by Neil Jordan

Kitten: "Not many people can take the tale of Patrick Braden, aka St. Kitten, who strutted the catwalks, face lit by a halo of flashbulbs as "oh!" she shrieks, "I told you, from my best side darlings.""

My final LGBT themed post for Pride Month and I had to pick another movie. I've always had a soft spot for this movie and rewatched it late last night. When it comes to performances, this one doesn't get talked enough with Cillian Murphy.

In this movie, Murphy played a transwoman named Patricia "Kitten" Braden. At the start of the movie, we see a woman named Eily Bergin (Eva Birthistle) leave baby Patrick with his father, who happened to be a priest named Father Liam (Liam Neeson). The father then left baby Patrick with a foster family.

The foster family - Ma Braden (Ruth McCabe) and daughter, Caroline (Charlene McKenna) weren't exactly the most understanding of people as Patrick rebelled in school and then began to make the steps to transition into Kitten after leaving home. From that point onwards, Kitten's adulthood got very chaotic.

Kitten was on a mission to track down her biological family while at the same time, she became a supportive system for her friend, Charlie (Ruth Negga) while going through some rather volatile relationships with men. Kitten had quite a few male admirers but most of them were just bad news for her.

Kitten's relationship with glam rock singer Billy Hatchet (Gavin Friday) ended badly when his IRA connections boiled to the surface. Then there was working in a Wombles theme park with the punch happy John Joe Kenny (Brendan Gleeson), a disastrous time as a prostitute, being a hypnotist (Stephen Rea) assistant and dancing with an English soldier (Dominic Cooper) resulting in a club being bombed.

The last segment of the movie took a more personal tone. Kitten got a nice reunion with her father (minus the peep show aspect) while also coming into contact with her mother and helping Charlie through her pregnancy. It's almost a shame that Kitten didn't reveal who she was to her mother because she had some nice scenes with her half brother but at least the movie did end on a positive note for her.

- In the book, the nickname is actually "Pussy" but honestly, I think changing it to "Kitten" was a better idea. There's also a Dalek at one point in the movie.

- Other actors included in this movie were Liam Cunningham, Laurence Kinlan as well as writer Patrick McCabe.

- Standout music: The Rubettes Sugar Baby Love and Joe Dolan's You're Such A Good Looking Woman.

- Chronology: Started in 1958 in County Cavan before moving to London in the 1970s during the Troubles.

Breakfast On Pluto is an absolute joy of a movie. Insanely funny, totally chaotic and often quite touching. It's undeniably one of the best performances that Cillian Murphy has delivered in his career.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of The Wicker Man (1973)

 

Written by Anthony Shaffer

Directed by Robert Hardy

Sergeant Howie: "I believe in the life eternal, as promised to us by our Lord, Jesus Christ."

Lord Summerisle: "That is good. For believing what you do, we confer upon you a rare gift, these days - a martyr's death."

I felt like watching some British horror this week and of course, it was time to give this one another go. It's been a long while since I've watched this and to be honest, I probably should've watched it last month. Would've been more fitting tbh.

With this film, our protagonist was Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) of the West Highlands Constabulary. The dusappearance of a girl named Rowan (Geraldine Cowper) has brought him to the island Summerisle and his life would be made difficult by the locals.

In the pub, he has to fight of the advances of the landlord's (Lindsay Kemp) daughter, Willow MacGregor (Britt Ekland) as she attempted to seduce him throughout the film. By the end of the film, his resistance to her dubious charms didn't work in his favour.

Then there's the local schoolteacher (Diane Cilento), who was teaching the kids material that Neil deemed inappropriate while also lying about Rowan being a student. Add a series of photographs of young girls as the May Queen and a grave for Rowan and things were definitely weird about Summerisle.

It didn't help that the mysterious Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) also added to the weirdness of the surroundings before Neil realised that the locals were doing ritual sacrifices on May Day to save their crops. This was where Rowan factored into things but it was Neil's attempts to rescue her that delivered the brutal twist.

It wasn't Rowan that was the intended sacrifice. Nope, it was Neil instead. Being a virgin (he was staying faithful to his wife to be), a man of authority who came to the island willingly and was made a fool. None of these helped Neil and the last scene where he was sacrificed ended this film on a brutal note.

- Other prominent actors in this movie, included Ingrid Pitt, Roy Boyd, Irene Sunter and Aubrey Morris.

- A US remake came out in 2006 while a spiritual sequel titled, The Wicker Tree with Christopher Lee and Lesley Mackie (Daisy) came out in 2011.

- Standout music: The chilling use of Middle English folk song, Sumer Is Icumen In.

- Chronology: April 30th and May 1st. 

The Wicked Man does make for a chilling early summer horror with plenty of shocks and nice reveals. The second half of this movie in particular and that last scene were especially chilling.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Justice League Unlimited - Episodes 6-10 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, Supergirl has met her match, there are returning characters aplenty and new groups being formed.

Episode 6: Fearful Symmetry 

Supergirl vs. Power Girl anyone? That's basically the premise of this episode as the former found herself getting blamed for the latter's antics. Green Arrow and The Question were paired with Kara, attempting to crack down the reasons for her bad dreams and low and behold, it's Cadmus at the heart of her problems. Of course Power Girl is actually a character called Galatea but this episode kicked off the ongoing Cadmus arc for the series. 6/10

Episode 7: The Greatest Story Never Told 

And there's Booster Gold. He's a man from the future with aspirations of being a hero. Instead, he's more of an annoyance to the ever growing Justice League, who don't want to really deal with him. However this episode gave him a chance to step as a hero by going up against a scientist who turned himself into a black hole. Oh and he got a love interest too. 7/10

Episode 8: The Return

Oh this one lived up to its title. There was the return of Lex Luthor, who for once wasn't the villain of the piece. There was the return of Amazon, who was after Lex and a new purpose. There was also the return of Hawkgirl but that literally happened at the very last minute of the episode. Add to that the use of characters such as the Atom, John Stewart, the Guardians and Doctor Fate and this was quite the episode. 8/10

Episode 9: Ultimatum

A few episodes we were introduced to Project Cadmus and now, we're back with them. That meant having the likes of Amanda Waller, Professor Hamilton and Maxwell Lord pop up on screen. It also meanst the introduction of their group known as the Ultramen. The same group who turned out to be a problem for the Justice League with the exception of Long Shadow. An okay introduction for the short-lived group. 6/10

Episode 10: Dark Heart

Another average episode but one that's pretty packed with a lot of characters. This one had General Wade Eiling leading a military unit battling the Justice League. There was also a powerful alien nanotechnology that provided the biggest obstacle to the team. It's mostly Atom who saved the day with this one. 5/10

Next blog I'll tackle Wake The Dead, The Once And Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales, The Once And Future Thing Part Two: Time Warped, The Cat And The Canary and The Ties That Bind.

My Review of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

 

Written by Trey Callaway

Directed by Danny Cannon

Julie (to the Fisherman): "Just. Fucking. Die!"

On to the sequel. The end of the first movie set it up and time has passed by. Our leading lady, Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has been attending summer classes in Boston. She's also been having nightmares about the Fisherman (Muse Watson) terrorising her.

Not only that but Julie was seemingly at odds with Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.). He wanted to spend time with her and propose. Instead Julie decided to take a summer break to the Bahamas with college friends, Karla Wilson (Brandy), Tyrell Martin (Mekhi Phifer) and Will Benson (Matthew Settle). The first two were a couple and the latter had a crush on Julie.

Being in the Bahamas should've been a good time. Instead, it was constantly raining and after putting poor Ray in the hospital, the Fisherman thought to take a trip to finish Julie and her friends off. Of course there were some random characters to kill off first. 

These characters included stoner Titus (Jack Black), the almost all knowing Estes (Bill Cobbs) and bitchy bartender, Nancy (Jennifer Esposito). Out of the new friends group, the increasingly unsympathetic Tyrell ended up getting a gruesome death by the third act. He was pretty horrible to Julie as the bodies began to pile up on the resort.

Then there's the reunions that Julie not only had with Ray but also the one with Ben Willis. Oh and it turned out that Will was actually Ben's son and a bit too eager to help his father out with the revenge plan. It's a reveal that should've had a major impact but it's so anticlimactic along with the murderous father and son's comeuppance.

As for the remainder of the movie, Karla was fortunately alive (I did like her character) and Julie and Ray were now living together. There was another sequel hook made but this one felt more goofy than actually foreboding. It also never really came to pass.

- There was a third movie unrelated to the first two. I've seen it and it's awful but I'll review before I get to the new one.

- Knowing the capital of Brazil really would've messed with Ben and Will's great plan, huh?

- Standout music: Lamb's Gorecki and Imogen Heap's Getting Scared.

- Chronology: A year since the events of the first movie. It was also a year when this sequel was released.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer made for a serviceable but hardly exciting sequel. There's a few semi decent moments but it doesn't do a lot to make you care about any of the characters or even the killers themselves.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

 

Written by Kevin Williamson

Directed by Jim Gillespie

Ben: "You in some kind of trouble child?"

Julie: "Yes, yeah I'm in a lot of trouble."

Ben: "That's a shame, being that it's the 4th of July and all. Kids like you should be out having fun. Drinking, partying, running people over, getting away with murder... things like that."

Confession: As a franchise, I've been more lukewarm to this compared to some others. Slapped in between both Scream and Urban Legends, this franchise just didn't grip me as much. This first movie though did offer a decent start.

In the movie, you've got a group of students about to graduate. There's the girl next door in Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and her best friend, Southport's Croaker Queen, Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar). They're easily the best characters of the four main ones. There's also aggressive jock Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe) and fisherman, Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.). One of thems's awful, the other one a bit boring.

Anyways, they're celebrating the 4th of July and end up running over a man that got most of the movie they assumed was someone who had lost his girlfriend the year before. How do they deal with accidentally killing someone? They dump the body and pretend that nothing ever happened and go their separate ways.

Then a year passed and it was July 4th again. Julie had gone to college in Boston, Helen was working on the family business and being belittled by her jealous sister, Barry was threatening other characters like Max (Johnny Galecki) and Ray was mostly pining for an uninterested Julie. Of course, the four were brought back togethef because someone knew what they did the previous summer.

Not only that but they were determined to kill each of the four members as revenge. Julie and Helen were savvy enough to try and get answers from Missy Egan (Anne Heche) but it would later appear that their victim was both alive and not the young man they thought they killed. In fact, he died by their victim before the disastrous event.

As for the killed/victim, it was Benjamin Willis/the Fisherman (Muse Watson) and it's a fairly unsatisfying reveal. I mean we didn't really know the character until his reveal and his defeat at Julie and Ray's hands just wasn't that satisfying tbh. As for the last scene, talk about blatantly setting up that sequel.

- Kevin Williamson really was on the slasher front in the last 1990s with this, the first two Scream movies and writing parts of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.

- The movie's based on a 1973 novel of the same name though the town is Silver Springs instead of Southport.

- Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr met on this movie and the rest is history with them.

- Chronology: July 4th, both in 1996 and 1997 for the majority of this movie. Southport and Boston.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is fine as a slasher movie playing into aspect of the hook legend with okay enough protagonists. It does often lack the spark of Williamson's other slasher work but the main cast do carry it along.

Rating: 7 out of 10