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

DCU Blog - July 2026 Edition: The Batman Part II Delayed, SDCC Highlights And More

It's been a very busy July with a lot of DC related news to get through. Most of it good but some less good too.

The Batman Part II has been delayed to February 18th 2028. There's also rumours that Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan and Brian Tyree Henry are playing Poison Ivy, Victor Zsasz and Harvey Dent respectively.

Supergirl has gone to digital this week. It grossed $125 million at the box office.

Once again, James Gunn has debunked DCU Batman. This is getting ridiculous.

Tom King has confirmed that he's keeping Jack Kirby in every part of the upcoming Mister Miracle animated show.

Clayface (October 23rd) got the full SDCC treatment with a new trailer and a panel, which included Tom Rhys Harries.

Xolo Maridueña will reprise his role as Blue Beetle in Man Of Tomorrow (July 9th 2027). The character of Brother Power may also appear.

Alan Ritchson has confirmed he's had conversations about a role in the DCU.

All ten episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 have been released today on Amazon Prime. Matthew Needham voices the Joker.

Also at SDCC were the cast for Lanterns (August 16th on HBO). A new trailer was also unveiled. 

Adria Arjona hasn't confirmed if she's been cast as either Wonder Woman or Maxima for Man Of Tomorrow. She's due to start filming soon.

The first part of Batman: Knightfall will be released from August 25th on digital and September 8th on physical copies.

While the character might be returning in live action, the Blue Beetle animation series has been cancelled.

Jimmy Tatro will voice and provide some motion capture for Gorilla Grodd for the upcoming Jimmy Olsen spin off show for HBO Max. Rumoured to be titled American Villain.

HBO have passed on the V For Vendetta script from Pete Jackson. It may be redeveloped with another writer at a later stage.

Dean Lorry has confirmed that Creature Commandos will have ten episodes for its second season. GI Robot will also get a massive story.

Barry Keoghan will reprise his role as the Joker in The Batman Part II.

That's it for this month. Hopefully more exciting casting news is on the way.

My Review of Die My Love (2025)

 

Written by Enda Walsh And Lynne Ramsay And Alice Birch

Directed by Lynne Ramsay 

Grace: "A thing you love is suffering."

Sometimes you'll watch a movie and you really want to enjoy it, but try as you might, you just don't. This would be one of those movies.

For the last few years, Jennifer Lawrence has been doing a job in rebuilding her acting career and I can see why this movie would've been something that she would've gravitated towards. It's a film that tackled weighty issues and felt like a perfect awards bait. Then there's the movie itself.

You've got a young couple named Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson). They're expecting a baby and traded New York for Montana. They also moved into Jackson's uncle's house and it's moving in there that started to cause then problems.

Throw in the arrival of a baby boy, an unruly dog and Jackson's mother, Pam (Sissy Spacek) disclosing the fact that Jackson's uncle killed himself in the house and it's a powerkeg of madness. Mostly Grace constantly being furious at Jackson. Oh and she shot the dog, so that certainly didn't endear her as a character.

Anyways Grace's erratic behaviour ended up getting her sectioned for some of the movie and when she was released, she wasn't any better either. I mean that whole welcome home party that Jackson organised just proved that she wasn't out of the woods.

As for the ending, Grace burned her own book and that after she spent a large portion of the movie struggling with writers block. If the last scene was meant to be cathartic, it really didn't feel like that.

- The film was based on Ariana Harwicz's 2012 book of the same name.

- Other performances this film included LaKeith Stanfield, Nick Nolte, Gabrielle Rose and Sarah Lind.

- Standout music: Toni Basil's Hey Mickey.

- Chronology: It was mainly set in Montana over several months.

I did want to like Die My Love, I really did. I do think there's good chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson but the script was average at best and neither of their characters are likable, sympathetic or even interesting enough for this to work.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) - SPOILERS INCLUDED

 

Written by Chris McKenna And Erik Sommers

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton 

Peter: "Hi. My name is Peter Parker. You don't remember me, but we used to know each other. Something bad was gonna happen, and the only way to stop it was to make everyone forget about me. Because I'm not just Peter Parker. I'm Spider-Man. And sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing, even if it breaks Peter Parker's heart."

Has it really been nearly five years since Spider-Man: No Way Home? It was the perfect end to Tom Holland's first Spidey trilogy. Now it's time for the beginning of what I'm assuming would be a new trilogy for this particular iteration of the infamous web slinger.

For those hoping for a more grounded film after the Multiverse heavy previous one will be happy with this one. It's as grounded as you can get but there's still some big potatoes as Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) would like. Yup, she's in two scenes and her banter with Peter and later MJ Watson (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) was rather delightful to watch.

Peter's got a lot on his plate. He started the film by stopping a few of his own rogue gallery members like Scorpion (Michael Mando) and Tombstone (Marvin Jones III) while also forming a rather snarky rapport with Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal). Honestly their dynamic might be the best thing about the whole film in itself.

Of course the other highlight would be Sadie Sink herself. Yes, she's Jean Grey and the film didn't waste too much time in revealing both that and the extent of her powers. However for a large chunk of the film, she's more of an antagonist who had no problem trying to get into Peter's head and everyone else around him.

Jean's actions saw both Frank and even Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) being under her control. It's particularly for the latter who ended up losing himself to the Incredible Hulk yet again. Although I do generally like the character in the MCU, I don't think this was the best use of the character for this film.

While Jean definitely caused a lot of chaos in the film, I don't really think she was the baddie here. It's clearly meant to be Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman). As the head of the Department of Damage Control, he appeared as a neutral party until what transpired with Jean's sister, Sara (Olivia Booth-Ford) revealed him to be the absolute worst. No wonder Jean was the way she was here.

As an introduction to a side of the MCU that's on the way, I do think the film handled Jean Grey interestingly enough. She's volatile but sympathetic and of course, it would be a shared loss between her and Peter to be the thing to get her come around. I also think that Peter saving her from a bullet might have factored into things as well.

Going beyond the big threats (which also included The Hand but they were underused), I liked the way in which both MJ and Ned ended up remembering who Peter was to them. Both done in separate moments and both effectively handled. In particular, Zendaya got some of the best material she's had in this franchise. I hope that bodes well for further appearances.

- Peter's friendship with Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) was rather sweet. He even knew her kids names.

- I loved the use of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) in this film. I still miss her. 

- MJ's boyfriend (Eman Esfandi) seems nice enough while characters such as Cindy Moon, Ramrod, Boomerang and Tarantula also popped up briefly.

- Yelena's office was a bathhouse while Frank had a boat as his base of operations. Bruce was sent to a mental health facility.

- The credit scene teased about Spider-Man returning. A fifth solo movie will definitely happen but I'm betting he's in the upcoming Avengers movies as well.

- Chronology: It's been four years since the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day turned out to be the second best movie from this iteration. There's strong performances from Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink and Jon Bernthal and an obscene amount of man flesh on display. Not everything worked (Hulk, The Hand) but they're minor quibbles. As a later summer blockbuster, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The Breakfast Club (1985)

 

Written And Directed by John Hughes

Andrew: "We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all."

If you've watched any teen drama in the last thirty years, chances are you'll have seen a homage or reference to this specific film. I've only watched it once a long time ago and sought it out last night to remind myself. My god, what a film.

It's so gloriously simple. Five very different teenagers spending a Saturday in detention. It's so simple but so effective and so brilliant to see play out. Now let's look at the teenagers in question, shall we?

There's the popular Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), wrestling champ Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), delinquent John Bender (Judd Nelson), brainiac Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) and compulsive liar, Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy). All of them being badly supervised by vice principal, Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason).

As a group, they mostly clashed and antagonised one another. In particular, John absolutely enjoyed getting a rise out of both Andrew and Claire and was pretty scornful of Brian's healthy choice in lunch. John was also the target of scorn for Vernon. The latter seemed to enjoy being an absolute bastard towards John, purely just because he could.

There's at least one scene where Vernon did give some context for his behaviour. Much as I disliked the guy, his conversation with janitor, Carl (John Kapelos) revealed a very real fear about the next generation. It at least gave some context behind his attitude towards the teens in this film.

Getting back to the teenagers, in between all the sniping, discussions of virginity, family life and flirting, all of these characters were full fleshed out. We learned so much about them and saw a bond form between them. A few different ones actually.

- There was a plan for a sequel that never came to pass. I'm glad this was a one and done tbh.

- John Hughes has an uncredited cameo as Brian's father. 

- Standout music: Simple Minds Don't You (Forget About Me).

- Chronology: Took place on March 24th 1984, which was a Saturday in Illinois.

The Breakfast Club is the perfect teen movie, regardless of when you were born. It's as relatable now as it was upon it's initial release and all five teenagers are brilliantly fleshed out as characters. It's an incredible movie.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of The Number 23 (2007)

 

Written by Fernley Phillips

Directed by Joel Schumacher 

Walter: "There's no such thing as destiny. There are only different choices. Some choices are easy, some aren't. Those are the really important ones, the ones that define us as people."

Twelve years prior to the release of this film, director Joel Schumacher and lead actor Jim Carrey had of course worked on Batman Forever. Their second team up. I really wanted to like this.

Trading DC Comics for a more horror crime thriller, this film had Jim Carrey in one of his more serious roles. He's a dog catcher named Walter Sparrow. He's a bit fixated on the 23 enigma (the basis for this film) and a certain book has become an obsession of his as well.

It's enough to cause concern for his wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen) and son, Robin (Logan Lerman). In the book, Walter's also a detective named Fingerling who killed his lover, Fabrizia (who's basically Agatha) when he learned that she was having an affair. There's a few dark sex scenes involving Walter and Fabrizia in the film.

The death of a woman named Laura Tollins (Rhona Mitra) drove a lot of the movie. It especially drove Fingerling into talking to the convicted Kyle Flinch (Mark Pellegrino). The latter denied killing Laura and also denied writing the book that was making everyone crazy in this film.

The more things went on, the more convoluted this whole thing was. Walter failed to commit suicide, which he forgot about for the most part. Then there was the reveal of Agatha's own part in Walter's past and also the involvement of Dr. Leary (Bud Cort). 

Honestly, Walter's 23 obsession destroyed his past family and it was on the verge of doing the same again. It took a lot for Agatha to get through to him and even by the end of this film, I got the impression that Walter wouldn't be free of his 23 enigma.

-  Numbers 32:23 - "Be sure that your sin will find you out." That certainly was applicable to Walter here.

- There's some supporting roles for Danny Huston, Lynn Collins and Corey Stoll.

- Standout music: Dean Martin's Blue Christmas.

- Chronology: Walter/Agatha met when the former was 23. He had thirteen years of peace before the events of the film.

The Number 23 had a good idea and an interesting director/lead actor combo but the results are a mess. It's a fairly dull thriller that moved too sluggishly for its own good. I wanted to like this one, I really did but I just couldn't get into it.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

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

 

Written by Jon Bernthal And Reinaldo Marcus Green

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 6 out of 10 

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

 

Written by David Hancock And Shyam Popat

Directed by Loni Peristere 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 7 out of 10 

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

 

Written by Sari Cooper 

Directed by Jen Bennett 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

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

Rating: 7 out of 10 

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Series Of Glorious Failures

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

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

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

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

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

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

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