My Review of Final Destination 5 (2011)

Written by Eric Heisserer

Directed by Steven Quale

Sam: "Are you saying we can't stop this?"

Bludworth: "You were supposed to die on that bridge. You're not supposed to be here. You shorted death. So you let death have somebody else in your place, and you take their spot in the realm of the living. All the days and years that they have yet to live. And they take *your* place in death. Then the books are balanced."

I didn't realise that back in 2011 this franchise had a moment that tried to tie events from the first movie into the ending of this one. I mean it kind of worked but how much better would it have been if certain cast members had properly reprised their roles for this one.

Anyways, once again we've got a male protagonist who can see impending death coming a mile off. The guy in question being Sam Lawton (Nicholas D'Agosto). Sam's quick thinking saved the lives of his fellow co-workers, Peter Friedkin (Miles Fisher), Candice Hooper (Ellen Wroe), Dennis Lapman (David Koechner), Nathan Sears (Arlen Escarpeta), Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Isaac Palmer (P.J. Byrne). He also saved his ex girlfriend Molly Harper (Emma Bell).

The disaster being a collapsed bridge. The survivors but specifically Sam attracted the attention of both sceptical Agent Jim Block (Courtney B. Vance) and coroner, William Bludworth (Tony Todd). I was happy to see the latter back to being his rather cryptic self. 

Of course death went out of its way to correct the timeline but the one death that stuck out was Olivia's. Now, I have a thing about eyes and watching Olivia being brutally killed after getting LASIK freaked me out big time. One of the most horrible deaths in this franchise and one of the few to make me visibly squirm.

Then there's the final three. Yes, everyone else died with only Sam, Molly and Peter initially surviving the events. Of course, Peter went mad and wanted to kill Molly in order to prolong his own life. Needless to say, it didn't work out that well for him.

Now going back to the first ever movie. I was surprised that Sam and Molly were on that ill fated Flight 180. I just wished they had actually gotten Devon Sawa back for that one scene but I'll admit, it was a great way to end this one.

- Did they intend this to be the last movie in the franchise? The way it linked back to the first movie and the montage to the previous movie kills.

- This was the first movie not to feature female nudity. 

- Standout music: Kansas's Dust In The Wind.

- Chronology: It took place two weeks before the opening scene of the first movie.

Final Destination 5 was the best movie since the first one with some very strong kills and various nods to past movies. If anything, it would've made a good ending to this franchise but horror franchises never truly die.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Final Destination (2009)

 

Written by Eric Bress

Directed by David R. Ellis

Nick: "There's gonna be a huge crash."

Hunt: "Of course there's a crash. There's always a fucking crash."

I'm on the fourth instalment of this franchise and it's the most standalone of the bunch. Also, after two female leads in the previous two films, we've got a new male lead for this one. 

Though not quite as charismatic as Alex Browning, I guess Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) was likable enough. His visionary came into play during a double date at the auto race with girlfriend Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten) and their friends Hunt Wynorski (Nick Zano) and Janet Cunningham (Haley Webb). As usual it played out with Nick seeing impending doom, preventing it and the consequences of cheating death.

Not only did Nick save his girlfriend and friends but he also saved racist driver Carter Daniels (Justin Welborn), mother Samantha Lane (Krista Allen), mechanic Andy Kewzer (Andrew Fiscella) and his girlfriend Nadia Monroy (Stephanie Honoré)  and security guard George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson).

Some of these people were a lot less likable than past survivors. In particular, Carter was one of the least sympathetic survivors in the franchise. His death in particular was somewhat satisfying to watch.

The best scene in the movie was Nick believing that he had cheated the death loop, only for that movie scene with Lori and Janet. Who would've thought that going to the movies would've resulted in death? Aside from Scream 2 of course.

Of course that wasn't the true end. That cinema death obviously got undone. The actual ending itself was more lacklustre by comparison. Probably the most lacklustre ending so far for a protagonist in this franchise.

- Although it's a largely standalone film, there's a very blatant reference to Clear Rivers.

- This is the only film that doesn't feature Tony Todd. His presence was very much missed.

- Standout music: Shinedown's Devour.

- Chronology: It's an unspecified timeline but two weeks later for that last moment.

My least favourite of the franchise so far. The Final Destination isn't terrible but it's a rather bland outing compared to it's predecessor. The movie scene's good though.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "The Treasons At Tumbleton"

 

Written by Ryan Condal And Ti Mikkel

Directed by Andrij Parekh

Rhaenyra: "I am the Prince That Was Promised."

And just like that, Rhaenyra's on her way to becoming the Mad Queen, losing the good will of the small folk and her crown. This season decided there was some aspects of book Rhaenyra that they wanted to explore after all.

Rhaenyra has been making a lot of questionable choices this season and she really did herself no favours in this finale. Being paranoid about her legacy brought out the worst in her treatment of Helaena. I was pretty shocked with Rhaenyra having Helaena force fed like that. That was brutal.

Speaking of Helaena, that book scene happened but not quite the way it was from the book. I expected her death and it was certainly a way to end the season. Rhaenyra being left with a certain gift from her half sister will increase her madness next season. 

On the plus side, the whole attack on Tumbleton at least gave Rhaenyra one positive. Ormund finally got taken out of the mix with Roderick giving him quite the painful death. A minus would be the loose cannon now known as Ulf. Not only did the latter defect to Team Green but he took a lot of joy in setting Ormund alight with Silverwing. Daemon better take him out quickly.

Keeping with Daemon, he managed to get Rhaenyra back on side, didn't indulge Gwayne's attempts of peace and even wasn't thrilled with Corlys either. Daemon also got a pretty brutal fight scene with Jon before the latter got taken out of the equation.

As for Aegon II and Aemond, I loved their little reunion in this episode. Aemond genuinely couldn't believe that his brother was alive and was eager for forgiveness. Aegon was more determined to reclaim the Iron Throne than kill Aemond, so there was that. I'm still not Team Green but that scene was undeniably funny to watch.

- Baela had every right to call out Rhaenyra the way she did. In fact, she should've went a lot harder like Helaena did. Jeffrey seemed freaked out by his own mother.

- Alicent really is like Teflon because once again, she appeared unscathed after all of the chaos played out.

- Mysaria got the severance package and a relocation to Pentos. She looked pissed off when Rhaenyra declared herself to the small folk.

- Daeron earned the nickname "the daring" but also disappeared with Tessarion. Alys also filled Aemond in on her own backstory.

- Other deaths that occured in the episode included Hugh's wife, Kat and the High Septon that Alyn killed on Rhaenyra's orders.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Treasons At Tumbleton isn't the best finale we've had but my God, a lot went down here. So many deaths, Rhaenyra going full blown Mad Queen and she's got so many people coming after her in the final season. Let the chaos unfold.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "Vae Victis"

 

Written by Jake Wyatt

Directed by Grace Liu

Jonathan (to everyone): "Like I said. I am Superman."

On to the penultimate episode of the season, we've got two separate plots both fighting for the right amount of screen time. There's the one involving Superman and the one involving everyone else's.

Focusing on the latter one first, Jonathan spent a lot of this episode just getting it wrong. He's openly hostile and unhelpful when Lois tried to mobilise a plan and stop Amanda Waller from having total control of everything. 

I was hoping when a recovered Supergirl got him to come back that Jonathan might have learned to be a better team player. That went out the window when the Eradicator appeared and Jonathan overestimated his abilities. It did lead to a good cliff hanger though.

Then there's Clark and Bizarro. Brainiac had them both and there was something of a Krypton origin story thrown into the mix. Clark was put through a series of tests to prove his worth. This meant attacking the Coluans, which Clark didn't want to do.

It's a good plot that gave more history into Krypton while providing more context into Beainiac's descent into villainy. Saying that, we've got a finale to get to and we need Clark back as Superman pretty sharpish.

- There was nice scenes with Lois and Lara, who the former was able to bond with better than Jonathan.

- Kara and Jimmy had their own nice scenes in this one. 

- Amanda seemed to have a respect for Lois during their scenes and Jimmy even got through to Lex.

- Chronology: From where the last episode left off.

Vae Victis split it's time between two stories that were handled well enough. I do think that I preferred the Clark side of things in this one though.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Final Destination 3 (2006)

 

Written by Glen Morgan And James Wong

Directed by James Wong

Kevin: "Is there something wrong?"

Wendy: "The train..."

Kevin: "Oh Shit! Not again!"

I'm halfway through this franchise and it's all very familiar as to what to expect. If Alex and Kimberly worked as protagonists who were visionaries, then I guess Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) did too.

She's a high school and a night at the amusement park with her boyfriend, Jason Wise (Jesse Moss) and their friends, Kevin Fischer (Ryan Merriman), Carrie Dreyer (Gina Holden) got chaotic with the inclusion of Ashley Freund (Chelan Simmons) and Ashlyn Halperin (Crystal Lowe), Frankie Cheeks (Sam Easton), Lewis Romero (Texas Battle), and goth couple Ian McKinley (Kris Lemche) and Erin Ulmer (Alexz Johnson).

Yup, they all went on a certain ride in the amusement park that should've killed all of them on the spot but only Jason and Carrie perished while the rest of them survived. Throw in a sisterly rivalry of sorts between Wendy and Julie (Amanda Crew) and things got a bit heavier here.

While Alex and Kimberly spent their respective movies dealing with cynicism on all sides and trying to save lives, they weren't quite as full on about it as Wendy was. She's the ultimate control freak. I guess that made her failure to keep the survivors still alive even worse.

I mean there's some truly horrible deaths in this one but both Ashley and Ashlyn getting barbecued to death in those sunbeds was one of the worst I've seen. The rest are pretty gnarly but they don't really top that one if I'm being honest.

As for Wendy, did this film really kill her off at the end? It seemed to be the end of her and the remaining survivors and it certainly felt fitting, given the events of the film. 

- Tony Todd had a voice cameo as the voice of the Devil/subway train conductor. Cory Monteith and Dustin Milligan had small roles in the movie.

- John Waters listed this as his favourite from this particular franchise. High praise indeed.

- Standout music: Tommy Lee's version of Love Train.

- Chronology: Six years after the events of the first movie and set in Pennsylvania.

Final Destination 3 isn't as good as the first two movies but it had some gruesome kills, an interesting enough use of the Devil and I guess Wendy Christensen made for a decent protagonist.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

Heated Rivalry - Season 2 Begins/Harris and Troy Cast

Yup, the second season of that one show that people haven't stopped talking about since November 2025 has now begun production and there's casting news ahoy.

First up, in terms of new casting fot Heated Rivalry, we have our Harris Drover. Assuming the role of the sports agent will be Justice Smith (I Saw The TV Glow) and it took less than an hour for the hot takes to come in. In the books, the character was depicted as white and on the stocky side of things with the latter being a major plot point. I'm assuming there's going to be major changes to Harris's story that accomdates Smith's casting and while I can understand why some are disappointed, I actually like the casting choice here.

Taking on the role of Troy Barrett would be Charlie Gillespie (Juliet And The Phantoms). The commentary hasn't been as severe on his casting as he's likely closer to the book depiction of the character. Troy's a character who gets caught up in a scandal while getting romantically involved with Harris. Suffice to say the Troy/Harris romance will generate a fair chunk of the screen time for the second season. I'm betting one episode in particular will have the pair very much front and centre.

Now what of our main couple? Don't worry, the second season very much will have Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov at the heart of everything. In the last eight months, we've seen both Hudson Williams and Connor Stories skyrocket in terms of popularity with both men appearing in a slew of upcoming tv and movie projects. The second season will keep Shane/Ilya as the main focus with Troy/Harris as the secondary couple.

As for Scott Hunter (Francois Arnaud) and Kip Grady (Robbie GK), they will also factor into the second season as well. Their romance was so beautifully handled in the first season, I'm glad we're going to see more of them. Especially if it pisses off certain toxic fans who made it their mission to be as horrible to Francois Arnaud for no good reason. I do think their screen time will less but I'll savour every minute of it.

Heated Rivalry Season 2 starts filming from next week. It'll be released on Crave, HBO Max and Sky/Now TV from Spring 2027.

My Review of Carrie (2002)

 

Written by Bryan Fuller

Directed by David Carson

Carrie: "Jesus will help me. He will help me if I really need him."

Margaret: "Not if he doesn't love you anymore."

Carrie: "Jesus loves everybody, Momma - even me!"

As I prepare for the upcoming Amazon Prime miniseries, I went and watched the first of two remakes of the 1976 classic. This one was quite a lot and not entirely in a good way.

It opened with the police interviewing survivors of that particular incident at the prom. It's here where we're introduced to characters such as student Sue Snell (Kandyse McClure) and gym teacher Rita Desjarden (Rena Softer). Yup, two of a certain someone's biggest supporters.

The certain someone being Carrie White (Angela Bettis/Jodelle Ferland). Carrie's story for the most part wasn't too different from what we've seen before. Social outcast, latent powers and of course, having to live with an abusive mother with Margaret White (Patricia Clarkson).

Carrie and Margaret's relationship was explored and this version of the latter was even more unsympathetic than the 1976 version. Her comeuppance at the end was absolutely warranted. I hated this version of the character a lot more than I thought I would.

I also hated the likes of Chris Hargensen (Emilie de Ravin) and her bitchy friends. They certainly upped the nastiness of the character this time around but it also made her a lot less interesting as they did with the rest of her horrible friends.

The movie did succeed with Carrie and Sue's friendship, even if the latter's boyfriend, Tommy Ross (Tobias Mehler) still ended up a casualty. There's a change here to the ending that I'm not sure I particularly like. It's not what I would've done.

- Bryan Fuller, who wrote the script for this would go on to make cult favourites with such shows like Pushing Daisies and Hannibal.

- This is the only version that featured the interviews and the scene with rain rocks in the neighborhood.

- Standout music: Hypnogaja's Outside, Looking In.

- Chronology: Clearly meant to be set in the 2000s. Sue took Carrie to Florida.

I didn't love this version of Carrie (2002) but it had it's moments. Angela Bettis did a good job with the character but this choice of ending was a mixed bag for me.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Final Destination 2 (2003)

 

Written by J. Mackye Gruber And Eric Bress And Jeffrey Reddick

Directed by David R. Ellis 

Kimberly: "I know what I have to do to save us. I have to die."

Following the success of the first movie, a sequel was inevitable and for a second outing, it's here that one of the most talked about moments in this franchise came from this movie. Yup, that scene appeared here.

While there's a sole survivor from the first movie that had a prominent role, this movie was more interested in developing it's new protagonist. It's a college student named Kimberly Corman (A.J. Cook) and like her predecessor, she had the gift of premonition.

Kimberly didn't waste time in using her gift to prevent multiple deaths from happening. This included characters such as her friends Shaina (Sarah Carter), Dano (Alex Rae) and Frankie (Shaun Sipos). It also included mother and son Nora (Lynda Boyd) and Tim Carpenter (James Kirk) as well as state trooper Thomas Burke (Michael Landes), high school teacher Eugene Dix (T.C. Carson), stoner Rory Peters (Jonathan Cherry), businesswoman Kat Jennings (Keegan Connor Tracy), lottery winner Evan Lewis (David Paetkau) and pregnant delivery driver Isabella Hudson (Justina Machado). 

It's a lot of characters to have actually survived and it's not long before Death was correcting Kimberly by killing off as many people as possible to address the balance. It's also because of this that Kimberly interacted with two people from the first movie. Just not the person I was hoping she would see.

For some annoying reason, this movie had Alex Browning killed off screen but Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) was alive and trying to help Kimberly. Clear also suffered the same fate that most Final Girls do upon entering a sequel. Fortunately, there was also the return of mortician William Bludworth (Tony Todd) who had a handy hint for solving this particular conundrum.

This time around the arrival of Isabella's baby was the key to stopping death. There was also the use of a loop involving Kimberly temporarily dying and then another loop involving the unfortunate Brian (Noel Fisher) somewhat resolved this blood bath.

- Did Alex really get killed by a brick? What an anticlimactic way to write his character.

- Clear was in the same institution that Laurie Strode was in Halloween Resurrection. We could've had a crossover here.

- Standout music: The Sounds Dance With Me.

- Chronology: This movie took place a year after the events of the first movie. Kimberly was heading to Daytona. 

Final Destination 2 made for a surprisingly good sequel with some nice kills and a decent protagonist in Kimberly. On reflection, I enjoyed this more than I remembered.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Final Destination (2000)

Written by Glen Morgan And James Wong And Jeffrey Reddick

Directed by James Wong

Bludworth: "In death there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps, and no escapes."

Over the next few weeks and leading into Halloween, I'll be tackling a few horror franchises. This one isn't a favourite of mine but I thought it was time to have a look back at these films.

Focusing on High school student Alex Browning (Devon Sawa), who's got the gift of seeing deaths happening. It's a power that saved the likes of Carter Horton (Kerr Smith), Tod Waggner (Chad E. Donella), Terry Chaney (Amanda Detmer), Valerie Lewton (Kristen Cloke), Billy Hitchcock (Seann William Scott) and Clear Rivers (Ali Larter).

At the airport, Alex managed to prevent all of their deaths, even though it had him fighting with Carter and put him in the firing line of Agent Weine (Daniel Roebuck) and Agent Schreck (Roger Guenveur Smith). They weren't exactly quick to believe that Alex could see future deaths but the likes of William Bludworth (Tony Todd) was more open minded.

Of course it turned out that Bludworth knew about the rules of death and the consequences of what happened when death is cheated on. Let's just say that it's not good and in the end, death ultimately will win out. As expected.

The rest of this film was Alex and Clear and eventually Carter working together to not only survive but to keep their peers and teacher alive. Of course, they'd fail on the latter front but as a team, the three did manage to mostly keep each other alive. It even looked like they broke the cycle until they didn't.

The movie needed a final twist and one of the three had to die. Character wise, it did make sense for it to be Carter. He was the weakest of the bunch and the movie seemed more invested in developing both Alex and Clear as a couple. Carter was ultimately expendable in service of them.

- All of the characters are named after famous horror directors, producers and actors.

- The idea behind this movie almost ended up being an episode of The X-Files. 

- Standout music: John Denver's Rocky Mountain High.

- Chronology: There's a six months time jump where the trio ended up in Paris. It was where Carter would die.

Final Destination (2000) isn't a favourite horror film series of mine but I did like this first film. There's some good scares and kills, rules set up for the manner of death and Devon Sawa was a sympathetic lead as Alex Browning.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)

 

Written by Rafael Moreu

Directed by Katt Shea

Sue: "You've heard of Carrie White, haven't you?"

Rachel: "Supposedly, she set the fire as some sort of revenge-suicide thing, Elvis was her date and they escaped in a UFO."

I've gone many years not watching this. Not out of avoidance, I just couldn't be bothered but with an upcoming Amazon Prime show in two months time, I thought it was time to finally give it go.

Despite having Carrie in the title, it's not her story and save for some clips of the first movie, she doesn't feature at all. In fact, the focus was on her half sister, Rachel Lang (Emily Bergl/Kayla Campbell). Yup, turns out that Daddy White really playing around behind Margaret's back.

The film opened with the younger Rachel being tormented by her mentally ill mother, Barbara (J. Smith Cameron). The latter's sectioned and Rachel along with her dog, Walter went to live with Boyd (John Doe) and Emilyn (Kate Skinner). They're not better as foster parents and Boyd in particular had no problem striking Rachel.

Of course school wasn't any better but Rachel had a friend in Lisa (Mena Suvari). Sadly Lisa died early in the movie. Actually, Lisa killed her and it was a result of a bunch of jocks seducing girls and scoring them. In particular, it was Mark (Dylan Bruno) was ran and this and it was Eric (Zachary Ty Bryan) who drove Lisa to taking her life.

This storyline largely triggered Rachel's latent powers and the presence of Sue Snell (Amy Irving) did it's best to tie this one into the first movie. She was the one to reveal to Rachel about Carrie being her half sister and she broke Barbara out. Neither of those things ended up being helpful in stopping the inevitable with Rachel.

Of course Rachel's relationship with the much nicer Jesse (Jason London) and budding friendship with Monica (Rachel Blanchard) went horribly wrong. The jocks publicly humiliated Rachel, Rachel went on a fair impressive killing spree, Jesse managed to talk yet around and she ended up being a casualty of her own powers. 

- Jesse ended keeping Walter and had a nightmare about Rachel visiting him.

- Sue becoming a guidance counsellor was a nice turn of events of the character. I like that Amy Irving reprised the role.

- Standout music: 5 X Down's Looking Down The Barrel.

- Chronology: Started in 1989 but the majority of the film was set in 1999.

The Rage: Carrie 2 isn't bad as a sequel and there's decent connective tissue to the first movie. Emily Bergl did her best with trying to differentiate Rachel from her more infamous sister. Some moderately good kills also help.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Victim (1961)

 

Written by Janet Green And John McCormick

Directed by Basil Dearden

Detective Inspector Harris: "Someone once called this law against homosexuality the blackmailer's charter."

Melville: "Is that how you feel about it?"

Detective Inspector Harris: "I'm a policeman, sir. I don't have feelings."

Now this was a movie that I've only heard of recently and apparently it's quite the staple for British gay cinema. I had to see it for myself and I did late last night.

Set during an era where homosexuality was illegal in Britain, this movie focused on the blackmail of several gay men. In particular, there's a focus on the rather tragic Jack "Boy" Barrett (Peter McEnery). He's resorted to stealing from his employers to save himself from being outed but no success.

Boy also tried to enlist closeted barrister Melville Farr (Dirk Bogarde) to help him out, only for the latter to reject him. When Boy ended up committing suicide, it forced Mel into confronting a lot of things about himself.

Notably there was his marriage to Laura (Sylvia Sims). There was some love between the two but Laura wasn't that shocked that her husband was into men and she didn't seem too surprised that he had some previous relationship with Jack to boot. Despite Mel giving her a free pass to leave before the inevitable scandal hit, she chose to stay.

It's the scandal that I guess made this film brave. Mel was determined to flush out the blackmailer and he knew that doing so, he'd end up being outed and lose his career. The guilt of also failing Jack also seemed provided a strong motivation too.

As for the blackmailers themselves - Miss Benham (Margaret Diamond) certainly outed herself as a nasty piece of work after spending most of the film under the radar as secretary of book owner Harold Doe (Norman Bird). The clearly gay Sandy Youth (Derren Nesbitt) was the other blackmailer and did seem to serve as a foil to Mel.

- Dirk Bogarde was gay in real life and gave the production notes on using the word "homosexual" instead of "inverts" for the film.

- There's some strong supporting performances from Donald Churchill, Dennis Price, Anthony Nichols, John Barrie, John Cairney and Alan MacNaughtan to name a few.

- Standout music: Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 18.

- Chronology: 1960s London.

Victim (1961) really does live up to its reputation. It's a superb look into a tough era with a brilliant central performance from Dirk Bogarde. An absolute must see with a rather haunting final scene.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of The Birdcage (1996)

 

Written by Elaine May

Directed by Mike Nichols

Armand: "Yes, I wear foundation. Yes, I live with a man. Yes, I'm a middle- aged fag. But I know who I am, Val. It took me twenty years to get here, and I'm not gonna let some idiot senator destroy that. Fuck the senator, I don't give a damn what he thinks."

This was another film that was on my mind recently. It's been years since I've watched this one and it's held up pretty well as two very different families were about to be paired together by their kids getting married.

There's drag club owner, Armand Goldman (Robin Williams). He's the owner of The Birdcage where his long time partner/lover, Albert (Nathan Lane) was the main attraction. Oh and they've got the rather lively Agador (Hank Azaria) living with them. It's a very modern relationship between the three.

Unfortunately, Armand's son, Val (Dan Futterman) got engaged to Barbara Keeley (Calista Flockhart). She's genuinely nice but her parents, which included Senator Kevin (Gene Hackman) and his wife, Louise (Dianne Wiest) lean a bit more conservative. Kevin's also on the verge of being outed for a scandal too.

Anyways, Val wanted to straighten up his father, keep Albert hidden, relegate Agador to the role of a servant and bring his mother, Katharine Archer (Christine Baranski) into the fold. All of this made me want to hate Val a lot and it was naturally a recipe for disaster.

The meeting of both families, which included Albert in drag went as badly as it could have gone and when Katharine was added in the mix, it did force Val to step up.for his family. The fun part was seeing Kevin having to embrace And and Albert's world when he needed an exit from the paparazzi.

There's a lot of time spent on both families that if the movie had a flaw, it would be Val and Barbara themselves. There's good chemistry between both of them but they do somewhat fade into the background at times with their chaotic families standing out a lot more by comparison.

- The film was based on Jean Poiret's La Cage aux Folles. 

- Robin Williams was originally cast as Albert but wanted to be Armand after Steve Martin dropped out for the latter part.

- Standout music: We Are Family, She Works Hard For The Money and I Could Have Danced All Night.

- Chronology: Set predominantly in South Beach, Miami.

The Birdcage (1996) for me continues to be a laugh riot. It's a genuinely entertaining mash up of two families, a young couple in love and some nice digs at the conservative agenda. Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria and Gene Hackman are the highlights.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of A Single Man (2009)

 

Written by Tom Ford And David Scearce

Directed by Tom Ford 

George: "You know that only thing that has made the whole thing worthwhile has been those few times that I was able to truly connect with another person."

Okay, now this was a film that I watched once a long time ago but yesterday I felt compelled to revisit it. I'm a fan of Colin Firth and this was something of a tour de force for him.

This movie focused on Firth playing an English college professor named George Falconer. He's a man who suffered the loss of his long term partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). The latter died in a car accident and George hasn't been able to move past it.

Throughout the film, there's several flashbacks that helped flesh out George and Jim's relationship. They met at a party and immediately clicked. They had a time on the beach discussing George's sassy friend, Charlotte Roberts (Julianne Moore), whom George referred to as Charley among other times together. George and Jim genuinely seemed like they were in love.

George's relationship with Charley felt like the archetype of the classic gay man/straight woman friendship. They smoke fancy cigarettes, get drunk on posh booze and talk very freely with one another. It's a fun relationship but a misstep from Charley about Jim nearly ruined things between her and George. Fortunately for Charley, she was able to walk it back.

Then there was George's relationship with his student, Kenny Potter (Nicholas Hoult). The latter made it his mission to spend time with George outside of class and George did nothing to discourage that. Saying that, there was a purpose to Kenny's insertion into George's life.

George had spent of a lot of the film planning to commit suicide but it was spending time with Kenny that got him to feel again. George's eventual death was far more poignant and a better way of ending the film.

- The movie was based on a story by Christopher Isherwood of the same name.

- Jim didn't approve of George smoking and was going to visit his mother on the day he died. One of the dogs also died with him.

- Standout music: Serge Gainsbourg's Le Serpent qui Danse.

- Chronology: November 30th 1962 in Los Angeles. It was the day after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

A Single Man was a lovely debut from Tom Ford. A great adaptation of one of Christopher Isherwood's works and strong performances from Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult to boot.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Batman: Caped Crusader - Season 2: Episodes 6-10 Reviews (2026, Amazon Prime)

The second half of the season offered a redemption for one villain, introduced others, showed the sidekick seeds and gave us a chilling Joker.

Episode 6: Sudden Fear

The title alone made it clear that we were getting an episode focused on the Scarecrow (Josh Brener) and it's Jonathan Crane Jr. who donned the Plague Doctor look of the popular villain. It's a decent enough take on the character with him terrorising college students once again. It's also an episode that revealed that Renee Montoya was secretly hiding Harley Quinn and the latter not only helped Batman to take down Scarecrow but she even turned herself in. 7/10

Episode 7: Her Dark Reflection

I genuinely thought this was going to be a Poison Ivy episode but the villain was actually Thorn aka Rose Forrest (Fryda Wolff). Rose was a timid woman working in a family florist and then the Riddler callously murdered her father. I really have disliked this version of the Riddler, so I was fine with seeing him succumb to Thorn's charms before she took him out. A very effective episode with Thorn being a very effective villain. 7/10

Episode 8: Zero Hour

Anyone remember a time when Mr Freeze was actually called Mr Zero (Kevin Michael Richardson)? I mean, it was a very long time ago but this show decided to bring the idea back. Despite some good acting, this was a rather generic take on the more complex character we've had for decades. On the plus side, the return of Carrie Kelley was a highlight. From clashing with and bonding with Batman over The Grey Ghost (her costume choice btw) to the snarky rivalry with her and Officer Bullock (very Annie coded) and the fact that she found a loving adopted family. Carrie was better handled than the villain of the piece. 7/10

Episode 9: Dead Before Dawn

He's been skulking around in the background for most of his appearances this season but now was his time to shine. The Joker made his debut in Gotham by quickly murdering Hattie Tetch on her own talk show with his special gas. On top of that, he made it his mission to kill the Mayor and neither Batman nor Flass could do much to protect him. Matthew Needham played the role pretty sombre and there was a nice twist that had Alfred also a victim of the Joker's. 7/10

Episode 10: The Laughing Death

And now the finale. Or is this the series finale? Only time will tell. You've got the Joker poisoning all of Gotham and Batman and Alfred coming up with the cure to save the city. There's a nice enough confrontation between Batman and Joker with the latter trying to draw a brotherly comparison between the two. The Joker was given something of an ambiguous exit, which means he'll definitely resurface if this show gets a third season. 7/10

That's my overall review of the second season. It's mostly a strong second outing though some villains are handled better than others.

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "The Dragon In Winter"

 

Written by Philippa Goslett And Zenzele Price

Directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado

Rhaenyra: "Do you think I'm worthy?"

Mysaria: "In this moment, my Queen Rhaenyra, I have never been more certain."

This was such an odd episode. If anything, despite Mysaria's insistence, it's really not looking good for Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne. I'll keep book talk out of it but yeah, Rhaenyra might need to watch her back because she's been making so many bad decisions since assuming the throne.

Not wanting to listen to her small folk voice their concerns and relegating that to Mysaria was such a dumb thing to do. I'm actually glad that Sylvi somewhat called Mysaria out on it as well. I'm also glad that Rhaenyra also called out Mysaria for stirring the pot between her and Daemon.

Saying that, Rhaenyra and Mysaria actually having sex with each other seems to have made a lot of people angry online. I sort of get it to be honest. A lot of people actually like Rhaenyra and Daemon as a couple and these last two seasons have not been great on that front for them. Rhaenyra even found out about Daemon covering for Rhaena and Sheepstealer and that was another source of conflict.

I really didn't like the scene of Sheepstealer being nearly mauled to death by Syrax, Seasmoke and Caraxes. It bothered me a lot more than it probably should've done. It also seemed incredibly short-sighted of Rhaenyra to want Sheepstealer killed when she needs all the dragons she can get. I felt really bad for poor Sheepstealer. They got nearly killed and abandoned by Rhaena. 

However I think Rhaenyra's worst scenes were actually with Helaena this week. She was actually quite cruel to Helaena in the scene they shared together and I don't blame the latter at all. Rhaenyra's really doing a lot to instill a lot of doubt in her reign these last few episodes.

As for Team Green, they were mostly having a better time. Ormund had Corlys as a prisoner and was able to get Ulf on side. It really didn't take much for the latter to switch sides. Ormund really has emerged as a proper threat to Team Black this season.

Then there's Aegon II. He managed to get his groove back and realised that he wanted to be King after all. It also helped that Sunfyre managed to be alive and appeared at the right moment to back Aegon up. I still don't want Aegon as ruler but this was a good episode for him.

Last but not least, there's the Harrenhal stuff. By far, the worst element with more unnecessary incestrous undertones between Aemond and Alicent. The latter's attempts to also kill her own son was foiled by Alys. Never send Alicent to do anything. That woman's propensity to make things worse continues.

- Helaena dreamed of winter, of her children and chickens and taking control of Dreamfyre.

- Alas poor Ser Adrian Redfort (Barry Sloane). We didn't get the chance to know the guy before Aemond decided to kill him.

- Baela seems to have gotten herself into a love triangle with Alyn and Addam. She was a lot kinder to Rhaena as well after the Sheepstealer debacle.

- Both Gwayne and Daeron were plotting against Ormund in this episode while being out of the loop on the latter's plans.

- I appreciated this episode having Daemon actually admit to failing Rhaena and having him try to amend that. 

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

The Dragon In Winter isn't the strongest penultimate episode and there's certainly some strange choices being made with the source material. Rhaenyra's quickly losing allies and the Greens are definitely gaining the upper hand.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "It's Reigning (Super) Men"

 

Written by Angela Entzminger

Directed by Chris Palmer 

Lois: "So when we changed the future"

Clark: "We rewrote Jon's entire life."

Well, that was to be expected, wasn't it? Gone was the more cheerful Jon Kent and in his place, we have a more cynical version of the character. Oh and the woman with him turned out to be Lara Lane-Kent.

Lara's a little softer compared to Jonathan (which this version went by) but at the same time, she was also keen to complete the mission to kill Lex Luthor. Lois was shocked upon learning that her alternative self was the one to order to a hit on Lex. I guess Lois does take after Sam in another universe.

Lara and Jonathan went back to this time to kill Lex but also to stop the latter from successfully launching the Eradicator onto the general population. If anything their presence in the timeline caused the very thing they were trying to stop. The siblings duo made things worse here.

Their actions even caused a lot of severe damage to Kara. Despite her best efforts, Supergirl and her super powered niece and nephew weren't enough to take out the Eradicator. However the events of this episode have Clark a clue as to how he could get his powers back. For that, he needed the help of Bizarro.

Going back to the Fortress had Bizarro render Clark unconscious. This lead to a decent cliffhanger and I guess by the end of next week's episode, Superman will be fully restored. As for the Eradicator, it's amazing how quickly Lex lost control of it. Not even five minutes out of stasis and it had a mind of it's own.

- Amanda Waller and Slade both enjoyed putting Lex in his place throughout the whole episode. Waller even threatened to have LexCorp shut down.

- Jimmy and Kara are still in an awkward place with each other. Kara was pretty annoyed with him.

- They really did dress Jonathan and Lara as twins. I assumed they are twins in this continuity. They look about the same age.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

It's Reigning (Super) Men did a decent job with it's newer take on Jonathan Kent and it's introduction of Lara. The Eradicator scenes packed enough of a punch along with Kara's sacrifice. This season has been so good. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Leviticus (2026)

 

Written And Directed by Adrian Chiarella

Ryan (to Naim, re entity): "If I'm going to live with this, I don't want it to look like some other dickhead. I want it to look like you."

I feel like I've been waiting an eternity to see this one when it's only been a little over a month. I finally got to watch it yesterday and I'll admit that while I wasn't totally blown away, there's a lot to admire about this film.

The obvious being our two lead actors. Joe Bird (who I remember from Talk To Me) and Stacy Clausen turned out to be suitably cast in their respective roles of Naim Reid and Ryan Whelan. Both of these lads will likely go onto bigger things from this film.

Set in a more conservative part of Australia, the film saw Naim and his mother, Arlene (Mia Wasikowska) move to an Evangelical town in Victoria to start a new life, following the death of Naim's father. There's something of a fractured relationship with Naim and Arlene throughout the film.

Being in the town he's now in, Naim wasn't having an easy time making friends but he did form a connection with Ryan and got extremely jealous when Ryan was kissing the pastor's (Ewen Leslie) son, Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt). Naim even went as far as to out the pair, causing both Ryan and Hunter to be subjected to conversion therapy of sorts.

Outing both Ryan and Hunter also backfired on Naim because he ended up in the same camp as they did. He also got violently attacked by a possessed Ryan while Hunter became a casualty nearly halfway through the movie. Throw in some homophobic peers and Hunter's vengeful sister, Izzie (Davida McKenzie) and a Deliverance Healer (Nicholas Hope) and there's a lot for both Naim and Ryan to work through.

The strength of this film was definitely the chemistry between Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen. Both lads did a brilliant job in making their characters fully believable and their romance something to root for. Did the entity terrorising them win or was it their love that conquered all? Perhaps, it's a little from both.

- There's a fairly gruesome opening scene with unfortunate lifeguard Marnie (Tyallah Bullock) being one of the entity's first victims.

- Yes, the title of this movie does reference a certain Bible passage about homosexuality. That was the point of course.

- Standout music: 18YOMAN and tiffi's Show Me The Way.

- Chronology: Present day in an Evangelical town in Victoria, Australia.

Leviticus (2026) faltered a bit towards the end and I'm not sure I was satisfied with how it concluded the entity tbh. Saying that, how fantastic are Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen throughout the entire movie? Excellent performances and very believable chemistry. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Batman: Caped Crusader - Season 2: Episodes 1-5 Reviews (2026, Amazon Prime)

Yup, new format for the second season of Batman: Caped Crusader. This post will cover the first five episodes. Written by Tyrone Finch & Bryce Abood, Geoffrey Thorne, Margaret Dunlap and J.M. DeMatteis. Directed by Christina Sotta, Matt Peters and Christopher Berkerley.

Episode 1: Brute Force

The opening episode debuted the Riddler (Ronan Raftery) and it's a much more trigger happy version of the character. In fact, he's kind of being set up as the main antagonist of the season. There's a large emphasis on Rupert Thorne's trial with this show's version of Calendar Man aka Julian Gregory (J.P. Karliak) also factoring into proceedings. Anyways, Rupert managed to secure a victory until a fatal encounter with the Joker (Matthew Needham). Oh and we've got a female version of Mad Hatter called Hattie Tetch (Laraine Newman) that's an anti-Batman news reader and hostess of her own show. 7/10

Episode 2: Roxy's Red Glare

Roxy Rocket (Wunmi Mosaku) got her own reinvention for this episode and it's actually more of a sympathetic turn as well. While it initially looked like she was being set up as a villain,  it was actually revealed that she was the one trying to stop her corrupt bosses from abusing her inventions.  It's a good take on the character. Oh and if taking out Rupert Thorne wasn't enough, the Joker made quick work of Hugo Strange (James Urbaniak) and we barely got to know the latter. 6/10

Episode 3: Deep Cover

This episode had Joker spying in the background but largely, it was focused on Riddler taking over Rupert Thorne's organisation. In this episode, he killed more henchmen to instill loyalty but his attempts to kill Desmond proved to be a bit trickier. I got to be honest, I don't really like this version of the character and the reason for his name here isn't great either. I did like Bruce going undercover as Matches Malone. That bit worked well enough. 6/10

Episode 4: The Devil's Due

I like a good supernatural themed story and this one had a welcomed return for Papa Midnite but the Mad Monk (Blythe Melin) wanting to sacrifice both Jim Gordon and Hattie Tetch just didn't quite work for me. Mad Monk was all ranting and little menace or fun in their interactions with Batman. Hattie's vendetta towards Batman definitely feels like something that needs to be fleshed out but she's a very different type of antagonist for him. It's also another episode with a silent Joker cameo. 5/10

Episode 5: The Spectral Hand

Oh, it's a Christmas episode and the return of Jim Corrigan. Having nearly killed Barbara Gordon, he signed up to an experimental procedure to get a reduced sentence. The procedure seemingly killed him but instead it turned him into the Spectre. I gotta be honest, he felt more like Solomon Grundy at times. Jim spent most of the episode going after past failed arrests and resolving them in a very final way. It appeared he had the same idea for Barbara until it was revealed that he wanted her forgiveness. This was by far the best episode in this season with the gorgeous Christmas setting and Corrigan's story ending on a poignant note. 8/10

Next blog post I'll cover Sudden Fear, Her Dark Reflection, Zero Hour, Dead Before Dawn and The Laughing Death.

My Review of Pretty In Pink (1986)

 

Written by John Hughes

Directed by Howard Deutch

Andie: "If somebody doesn't believe in me, I can't believe in them."

The other day I was watching The Breakfast Club and it came to my attention that I've never watched that other infamous Molly Ringwald film. Yup, I'm talking about Pretty In Pink. Last night, I rectified that.

Ringwald was somewhat at the height of her fame in the 1980s and I know from reputation, this film was an iconic role for her. In this film, she was Andie Walsh. The character's a bit of a contrast from Claire Standish. For starters, Andie's more working class or poor.

I bring this up because Andie's financial background was a source of commentary within the movie itself. While she had a mostly good relationship with her father, Jack (Harry Dean Stanton). He's barely struggling to get by and hasn't gotten over Andie's mother leaving them but he also loved Andie, even if he wasn't the best at keeping a job.

Andie being poor also factored into her relationships with men. There was her best friend, Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer) who wanted a deeper relationship than Andie was willing to give him. He behaved like a manchild at first but did somewhat come through as a good friend by the third act. He also briefly hooked up with Andie's boss and friend, Iona (Annie Potts).

The other two men drawn to Andie were both rich in status and friends with each other. Steff McKee (James Spader) didn't just seem to hate Andie for being poor but also because she rejected him. He really hated that she wasn't impressed by him. Steff's generally a charmless dolt throughout with his own bitchy girlfriend.

The other guy was Blane McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy). He was supposed to be the nicer of the "richies" and for a good part, he kind of was. Then he screwed Andie over by not taking her to the prom because he conveniently had another date. Of course both him and Andie do reunite but it's done in a rather rushed way.

- Benny Hanson (Kate Vernon) was Steff's girlfriend and she really hated Andie.

- Charlie Sheen was considered for Blane and Robert Downey Jr. had been suggested by Ringwald for Duckie before Jon Cryer was cast. Duckie was also based on a gay best friend of Ringwald's.

- Standout music: The Psychedelic Furs Pretty In Pink and New Order's Shellshock.

- Chronology: Set in the Chicago suburb of Elgin.

Pretty In Pink did have a bit of a pointed commentary on the class system between many characters but the Andie/Blane romance itself was so hastily handled by the prom scenes, it kind of lost it's momentum. Saying that, I did largely enjoy this one with the main cast on great form.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Road Games (2015)

 

Written And Directed by Abner Pastoll

Jack: "What is wrong with these people?"

Véronique: "I think it's because of the killer of the road."

Road trips never end well in horror movies and the ones that venture into encountering families are often the worst. That was something our leading man found out first hand.

Jack (Andrew Simpson) was a British hitchhiker on holiday in France. It's established early enough that he had a girlfriend who ended up with his former friend, so he was now on his own. At least for a few minutes.

To show that Jack was a good guy, he rescued the mysterious Véronique (Joséphine de La Baume) from an abusive boyfriend. Both were effectively stranded in the middle of nowhere but there was an instant attraction between Jack and Véronique. It's one that's acted on later in the film itself.

Jack and Véronique managed to get some help from Grizard (Frédéric Pierrot) who brought back to his nice house to meet his American wife, Mary (Barbara Crampton). Yeah, it's definitely obvious by now that Grizard and Mary aren't what they appear to be. Véronique was a bit too quick to point that out as well.

Within the second half of the film, Jack's been taken captive by Grizard's handyman, Delacroix (Féodor Atkine) and the latter seemed to take a lot of pleasure in terrorising Jack. I'm not really sure what the plan was but Jack managed to escape and then rescue Véronique from Grizard and Mary.

The movie then took something of an odd twist. Véronique was revealed (though not to Jack) to be Grizard and Mary's daughter and with the way this movie ended, I got the feeling that Jack was on borrowed time with Véronique.

- Jack admitted to being a vegetarian and was mocked for it by both Grizard and Delacroix at different points.

- Andrew Simpson would appear in Abner Pastoll's follow up film, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find.

- There's no opening credits but you do get a scene after the closing credits.

- Chronology: Present day France for the entire film.

Road Games (2015) had the initial mystery of an unknown road killer before through it's British hitchhiker lead into a dangerous family and a fight for survival. It's nothing too inventive but diverting enough.

Rating: 6 out of 10