Jay Kelly (2025)

Director: Noah Baumbach
Screenplay: Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer
Cast: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup
Cinematography: Linus Sandgren
Editing: Valerio Bonelli, Rachel Durance
Score: Nicholas Britell
Genre: Comedy-drama
Runtime: 132 minutes

Jay Kelly. A quick three syllable name, repeated often enough that you almost forget he’s a man, not a concept. George Clooney stars as the titular actor, at the apex of a decades-long career as a leading man. At the funeral of the director who gave him his big break, everyone assumes he’s doing fine, like being rich and famous cancels out any emotions someone has. In reality, he’s a shell of a human being with no authentic identity of his own.

He’s divorced, estranged from one daughter and trying to salvage the relationship he has with his younger daughter. She’s going travelling across Europe, leaving him alone with no genuine friends. He decides to track her journey by using her friend’s credit card data, even if it means having to rough it on a train full of normal people. Unfamous people.

They’re surprised to see him in such an ordinary scenario. And of course, treat him like a god among men. That’s the thing about fame though, only those at the eye of the storm know just how destructive a force it is. Here’s Jay Kelly, with a wrecked domestic life, celebrating with complete strangers in a train carriage. They are outsiders, with no knowledge of who he is as a living, breathing person. They’re praising a name; he’s a visual representation of heroism as if his roles onscreen have bled out into the real world.

It takes a small army to construct the image of the perfect film star – his publicist, his stylist, his assistant, reinforcing the idea that he’s a project to work on. With him every step of the way is his manager Ron (Adam Sandler), too loyal to resign even with his own family situation reaching breaking point, getting too close to the squall of celebrity.

Clooney conveys Baumbach’s ideas of fame successfully. He’s never been my favourite ever actor but he’s the only one that could fill this role. He is one of the last great movie stars. His polished charm harks back to the glamour of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Jay Kelly, in a moment of self doubt, rattles off a list of classic actors – Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Clark Gable – inserting his own name in there, as if to assure himself of his place amongst the greats. George Clooney easily belongs in that list. His peers in the field are bankable yet he has that sense of maturity about him. Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio are bona fide icons but they’re all too boyish, clinging onto some sort of youth when they’re over half a century old.

There’s a scene that sees Jay Kelly running through a forest dressed in a white suit reminiscent of a unicorn – magical, mystical, legendary.

My rating: 8 / 10

The Long Walk (2025)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Screenplay: JT Mollner
Cast: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer, Mark Hamill
Cinematography: Jo Willems
Editing: Mark Yoshikawa
Score: Jeremiah Fraites
Genre: Dystopian survival thriller
Runtime: 108 minutes

Another month, another Stephen King adaptation.

After the muddled fantasy that was ‘The Life of Chuck‘, we’re back on solid ground with a horror-adjacent concept. It’s a step in the right direction.

In an America stricken by poverty and under the thumb of a totalitarian regime, a group of young men enter a competition: the titular long walk. There is no finish line in sight. The victor is the last man standing (or walking in this case). They’ve voluntarily submitted to this arduous challenge to win ‘the prize’: anything their heart desires. In many cases, it’s cash – conditions are so poor economically by staying home and sitting it out, you’d probably die of starvation anyway.

The walkers are required to travel at a speed of three miles per hour consistently. Water is supplied along the way. No stopping for a quick doze though. Absolutely no time for a toilet break either. Audiences won’t need one; the film keeps you glued to the comfort of your seat.

The boys are given three warnings if they lag behind. They aren’t excluded from the expedition if they fail to keep up with the crowd. Instead, they’re shot dead, cold and mercilessly; the corpse just left there to bleed out. It’s part of the routine. With each walker meeting his maker, it doesn’t get easier down the road.

Nobody is there to make friends upon entering the contest although a few gang together and call themselves the Musketeers. All for one and one for all. There can only be one winner.

Doyen of dystopia Francis Lawrence, known for directing nearly every ‘The Hunger Games‘ movie, maintains a steady pace. The cast is top-class; Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Charlie Plummer and an unrecognisable Mark Hamill as the Major, dark sunglasses stuck to his face. The eyes are the window of the soul. Their absence epitomises a country lacking any humanity, where unfortunate men are slain without a pause for reflection.

‘The Long Walk‘ is soul-crushingly bleak – stick with it to the end even if, like the walkers, your resolve is broken.

My rating: 8 / 10

The Life of Chuck (2024)

Director: Mike Flanagan
Screenplay: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill
Cinematography: Eben Bolter
Editing: Mike Flanagan
Score: The Newton Brothers
Genre: Fantasy drama
Runtime: 111 minutes

If I told you this was a Stephen King cinematic adaptation, you’d think it would be classed in the horror genre, right? Wrong answer: it’s one of King’s forays into fantasy. ‘The Life of Chuck‘ is a short story contained in his 2020 collection ‘If It Bleeds‘ (another such tale, ‘Mr. Harrigan’s Phone‘ has already been adapted).

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Nobody feels fine though. Chunks of America are lost to earthquakes and sinkholes, the internet goes down and there’s reports of flooding from around the globe. Even the stars start to vanish from the night sky. There is a constant throughout this apocalyptic scenario: billboards that proclaim: “Charles Krantz: 39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck!”.

If you keep watching, (almost) all will be revealed. This is Act Three – we’re seeing Chuck’s life unfold backwards. Starting the narrative with the demise of everything signifies we’ve experienced the climax early. The remainder meanders along. Stretching 128 pages into a feature-length film means a fair bit of what is seen on screens could be chucked away, including an extended dance number featuring the adult Chuck (Tom Hiddleston).

This is Mike Flanagan’s third adaptation of a Stephen King plot, following ‘Gerald’s Game‘ and ‘Doctor Sleep‘. He’s clearly a fan but couldn’t he choose a story to interpret that wasn’t so ponderous?

Nonetheless, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mark Hamill provide strong performances and the young actor playing 11-year-old Chuck, Benjamin Pajak, has serious dance moves. Dare I say this, but perhaps Mr. King should stick to doing what he does best: scaring the wits out of us?

My rating: 5 / 10

Bring Her Back (2025)

Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Screenplay: Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman
Cast: Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally Hawkins
Cinematography: Aaron McLisky
Editing: Geoff Lamb
Score: Cornel Wilczek
Genre: Supernatural psychological horror
Runtime: 104 minutes

An Australian horror film is the last place I’d expect to see Sally Hawkins. She’s built her career on Mike Leigh projects (‘Vera Drake‘, ‘Happy-Go-Lucky‘), period pieces (‘Jane Eyre‘, ‘Great Expectations‘) and the family-friendly ‘Paddington‘ series, with the occasional left turn (the blockbuster ‘Godzilla‘ and romantic fantasy gem ‘The Shape of Water‘). This is completely unexpected.

Hawkins plays Laura, a counselor dealing with her own trauma; she lost her daughter in a drowning accident. Her reluctance to move forward is evident: she’s had her dead dog stuffed and on display for visitors. Laura also works as a foster mother. Already looking after a selectively mute boy, she takes in step-brother/sister duo Andy and Piper following their father’s recent passing.

Grief pervades the air. You might assume Laura would be mopey, distant and dressed in black as is customary. Nope. There she is, accompanying Andy and Piper to their dad’s funeral wearing a purple cardigan, garish lipstick and dangly hoop earrings, her hair a curly mop. She’s in the mood to celebrate, not to mourn. She’s got a sinister plan up her sleeve. Coping with loss is never easy, as a counselor should know. When it’s your own child, however, one may venture down a dark path. Laura watches fuzzy VHS tapes of a demonic-looking ritual involving a host cannibalising a corpse and transferring the soul of the deceased into a new body.

It’s visceral and bloody – not for those of you with weak stomachs. Hawkins’ performance captivates throughout and with ‘Bring Her Back‘, the Philippou brothers cast a spell stronger than any magical circle could.

My rating: 7 / 10

The Amateur (2025)

Director: James Hawes
Screenplay: Ken Nolan, Gary Spinelli
Cast: Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Caitriona Balfe, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Laurence Fishburne
Cinematography: Martin Ruhe
Editing: Jonathan Amos
Score: Volker Bertelmann
Genre: Vigilante action spy
Runtime: 123 minutes

Charlie (Rami Malek), a basement-dwelling CIA encryption nerd, is widowed when his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) is killed in a botched hostage situation during a terror attack at a London hotel. Uncovering workplace corruption on a higher level and knowing nothing will be done in regards to Sarah’s death, Charlie blackmails his superiors to give him basic field preparation in order to seek some retribution.

Blinded by grief, Charlie believes he has what it takes to avenge his spouse. “You couldn’t even beat a 90 year old nun in an arm wrestling match” he’s amusingly told at one point. He struggles to fire a loaded gun. He’s out of his depths. Not completely. He’s scrawny of build, but has the expertise and technology to surveil people and craft explosives. Picture Q undertaking the duties of James Bond. Underestimate weedy tech guys at your peril!

Obviously taking lives is wrong. But you can’t blame Charlie; he’s got this underdog quality; a minnow versus a shiver of sharks. I could not help rooting for him to succeed in his quest for vengeance in the face of unassailable odds.

This approach to the spy/action genre is refreshing. I counted only two short fight sequences (one of which Charlie features in) so overall it’s less brawling, more cat-and-mouse game-oriented, which makes it especially enthralling. Amateur (couple of) hour(s)? Absolutely not. Malek is a fine actor, perfectly cast as the unlikely action star, and there’s strong support from Laurence Fishburne as Charlie’s training mentor.

My rating: 8 / 10

Restless (2024)

Director: Jed Hart
Screenplay: Jed Hart
Cast: Lyndsey Marshal, Aston McAuley, Barry Ward
Cinematography: David Bird
Editing: Anna Meller
Genre: Thriller dark comedy drama
Runtime: 89 minutes

Neighbours. Everybody needs good neighbours.

Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) could only dream for some. She lives alone (her son is at university) in a semi-detached house; the other half used to belong to her deceased parents. Underpaid and underappreciated at her job as a nurse, she spends what little free time she has baking cakes, listening to classical music and watching snooker. Pretty idyllic. Everything changes once next door acquires a new occupant, the aggressive Deano (Aston McAuley). In stark contrast to Nicky, Deano enjoys nothing more than inviting his mates over and blasting obnoxious rave tracks all night. Every night. Relentlessly.

The constant pounding of a bassline invading her bedroom renders poor Nicky an insomniac. She’s become a prisoner inside her own domesticity. A brief respite: a thunderstorm-induced power cut occurs, an exaltation in between bouts of noise pollution. She leaves home one morning and ends up stepping in dog poo, which she assumes is the fault of her neighbour. In a darkly comedic flourish, she scrapes the excrement off her shoe and adds it to her mixing bowl. She presents to Deano: a plate of delicious chocolate treats.

‘Restless‘ is the kind of film that works best in the United Kingdom. If the events had unfolded in an American suburb, Nicky would’ve marched up to Deano’s door and blasted him away with a shotgun after just the first sleepless night. Bang – problem solved. Instead, this is a taut thrill ride where, as the dread gradually mounts, you think things couldn’t get worse…you’re proven wrong. Lyndsey Marshal is fantastic – an underrated actress. Don’t miss it!

My rating: 8 / 10

Novocaine (2025)

Director: Dan Berk, Robert Olsen
Screenplay: Lars Jacobson
Cast: Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh, Jacob Batalon
Cinematography: Jacques Jouffret
Editing: Christian Wagner
Score: Lorne Balfe, Andrew Kawczynski
Genre: Action comedy
Runtime: 110 minutes

Nathan Caine (Quaid) can’t feel pain. That’s his deal. His special power. He suffers from CIP – a congenital insensitivity to pain. It makes him a superhero of sorts, his identity complete with a name, his middle school moniker: Novocaine, like the anaesthetic drug.

All superheroes have an ordinary life as a cover story. Nathan’s is that he works as an assistant manager at a bank. He’s smitten by his co-worker, Sherry (Midthunder) but when she gets taken hostage by robbers, Nathan takes it upon himself to rescue Sherry, with messy results. Break a leg, Novocaine! (Not that he’d even register if that happened). Nathan needs to remember this condition doesn’t make him immortal so he can’t afford to have too cavalier an attitude. No pain, no gain? Well, not quite in this case.

It’s a delightfully diverting action romp which fully delivers on the madcap premise at every given opportunity. I think I laughed as much as I winced – more than a dozen times. You’d expect to become desensitised to seeing an implement plunging into Nathan’s body after the umpteenth time yet I still recoiled with horror.

There’s plenty of set up at the start to develop the characters enough for you to root for them and great comedic performances from man of the moment Jack Quaid, Midthunder and Ray Nicholson (the spitting image of his father Jack) as the lead goon. As you’d imagine, there’s gobs of gore as Nathan is battered, bruised, burnt and beaten. He’s in hot water – literally at one point, scalding his hand. Ouch!

My rating: 8 / 10

Marching Powder (2025)

Director: Nick Love
Screenplay: Nick Love
Cast: Danny Dyer, Stephanie Leonidas, Calum MacNab
Cinematography: Simon Stolland
Editing: Pani Scott
Score: Alfie Godfrey
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 96 minutes

Ah, the ‘c word’. Not ‘cocaine’, on display in copious amounts here. Nor is it ‘cockney’. Or ‘cringe’, though that fits best. I shan’t spell out the real word – if you want to hear it fired in quick succession like a machine gun with Tourette’s, go see ‘Marching Powder‘; it’s about an absolute sod, Jack Jones (Danny Dyer), who has an addiction to drugs and zero self-control. He has a wife too, treated like an afterthought. What she sees in him is anyone’s guess.

Following a brawl with rival football supporters, Jack faces a prison sentence unless he can prove to the court he can turn his life around. What does he do? He picks another fight. He snorts another line of crack. Every time he comes within a 5 mile radius of cleaning up his act, he self-sabotages, paying his old friend nose candy a visit. So much coke was inhaled, I was worried he’d end up resembling Danniella Westbrook.

Danny Dyer is definitely no actor, his fourth wall breaks make it seem as if he’s presenting his life story, if it were the most pathetic biography ever told. A Wikipedia entry doesn’t even exist (at time of writing), as if to say ‘we don’t wish to soil our site with this filth’.

This movie didn’t do anything for me. Wait, that’s not strictly true – it polluted my ears with its incessant swearing. It’s the type of thing that would appeal to a certain ilk; the beer swigging, non-woke men you’d find chanting and cheering their favourite footy team at the pub with the lads.

The short runtime of 96 minutes felt like a stretch; we get it – he’s a loser beyond the point of redemption. It reminded me of something I flushed down the toilet. Did not leave me in ‘high spirits’.

My rating: 3 / 10

Love Hurts (2025)

Director: Jonathan Eusebio
Screenplay: Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, Luke Passmore
Cast: Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, Marshawn Lynch, Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Rhys Darby, André Eriksen, Sean Astin
Cinematography: Bridger Nielson
Editing: Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir
Score: Dominic Lewis
Genre: Action comedy
Runtime: 83 minutes

Marvin Gable (Quan) has the perfect white picket fence existence; he bakes heart-shaped cookies, wears awful sweaters and his job as a realtor brings him the respect of the community. From almost everyone anyway, aside from a vandal defacing his advertisements. This person is Rose (DeBose), a reminder from Marvin’s previous occupation as an assassin, who he was sweet on. Her appearance on the scene threatens his chance at living an ordinary life as with her return comes his estranged brother Alvin ‘Knuckles’ Gable, seeking revenge for a past misdeed. ‘Love Hurts‘ is born of the same production line as ‘Nobody‘, another story of the ‘average Joe with a secret history as a killer’ so you know what to expect here.

Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan is a delight; a hybrid of adorkable charm and nifty fighting abilities. Ariana DeBose, on the other hand, is underused yet again – so soon after her talents were squandered in ‘Kraven the Hunter‘. The blend of comedy and action is inoffensive; if only the jokes hit as hard as the punches did. The muddled plot (stolen money, familial conflicts) is a distraction from what could be something much more fun than what the finished product turned out to be.

Heavily marketed as a Valentine’s Day date night movie through the overuse of the love heart motif, there’s a distinct lack of affection. I suggest you book tickets to see the latest installment in the ‘Bridget Jones‘ series in which you’re certainly guaranteed a bucketful of romance.

Love hurts, doesn’t it? Well this hurt my sensibilities.

My rating: 4 / 10

Hard Truths (2024)

Director: Mike Leigh
Screenplay: Mike Leigh
Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber
Cinematography: Dick Pope
Editing: Tania Reddin
Score: Gary Yershon
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 97 minutes

Master of the mundane Mike Leigh returns with ‘Hard Truths’, a character study about a grouchy middle-aged woman, Pansy Deacon (Marianne Jean-Baptiste, star of Leigh’s critical acclaimed ‘Secrets & Lies‘), who is perpetually angry at people – berating shopworkers, picking verbal fights with customers waiting behind her in the supermarket queue. She literally wakes up shouting.

Unbelievably so, she has a (long suffering) husband and an overweight son (whose only escape from his mother’s wrath is by taking daily constitutionals around the block). Pansy and her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) are like night and day; while Pansy rails against the world, Chantelle is warm and considerate. They could’ve come from two different planets.

Pansy is a sick woman – as she keeps on reminding us. Exhausted by chronic fatigue, crippled by social anxiety combined with an compulsive obsession with cleanliness, she’s being kept prisoner by her own illness. Obviously there’s something deeper than the basic surface-level anger; it’s akin to trauma, arising in outbursts of ire.

Jean-Baptiste delivers a masterclass in hostility; Pansy is a real force of nature and her brashness is amusing. She’s an active volcano prepared to erupt at some poor soul. Even in the moments of quiet, she commands the audience’s attention with the anticipation of what vitriol will spew out of her gob. Despite her unbridled rage, she’s not a monster – I have a lot of empathy with Pansy’s struggles with the general public. In fact, I’ve never related more to a fictional person.

My rating: 8 / 10

A Real Pain (2024)

Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey
Cinematography: Michal Dymek
Editing: Robert Nassau
Genre: Buddy road comedy-drama
Runtime: 90 minutes

You wouldn’t think the combination of a comedy-drama and a tour of a concentration camp would work but under the deft writing of Jesse Eisenberg (who also directs and stars), the two opposing forces of humour and sorrow don’t swamp each other; the former is used effectively to balance out the heavy subject matter.

A pair of American Jewish cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin, often hilarious) embark on a trip to Poland to honour the memory of their recently deceased grandmother. As part of a group of fellow Jews, they visit the Grodzka Gate, the Old Jewish Cemetery and lastly, the Majdanek concentration camp. But for the boys, their final stop is to see their gran’s house to reconnect with their roots.

Benji is gregarious, with no filter and wears his heart on his sleeve. By contrast, David is more reserved, uptight and envious of Benji’s effortless ability to integrate himself socially. The duo are both grieving for their grandmother – David doesn’t display it as externally, but that’s the nature of grief; we all process it in our own unique ways, it doesn’t make the feeling less valid than someone who was bawling their eyes out.

Their pain is a microcosm of the horrors their forebears endured, which really puts things in perspective – what is a ‘real‘ pain exactly? As the bunch are travelling first class on a train, Benji makes a thoughtful point about how they live in luxury while their ancestors were treated like cattle, suffering in terrible agony during the Holocaust.

When the group visit the Warsaw Uprising Monument (which depicts courageous Polish World War II resistance fighters), the tour guide highlights the fact these bronze men are striking back, not being meekly led to their deaths – a reminder of a show of strength in the face of antisemitism.

An interesting look at personal anguish, well acted throughout by the two leads.

My rating: 8 / 10

Conclave (2024)

Director: Edward Berger
Screenplay: Peter Straughan
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini
Cinematography: Stéphane Fontaine
Editing: Nick Emerson
Score: Volker Bertelmann
Genre: Mystery thriller
Runtime: 120 minutes

Similar to how a potential president of the United States needs 270 electoral votes to win, a cardinal requires a specific number of votes to become the next Pope. This process is laborious and can take several days if the first round of voting doesn’t yield a clear winner. And like the aforementioned political election, it can get just as tangled; secrets are drawn out, accusations are flung around.

Featuring a top-tier cast – Misters Fiennes, Tucci and Lithgow as cardinals and Isabella Rossellini as a steely-eyed nun, ‘Conclave‘ is an incredibly engrossing watch – you never know who you can quite trust. Every cardinal has their foibles, some hold antiquated opinions – but where do you draw the line on who is honourable enough for the papacy?

It’s a fascinating look at a system so hidden from public view. Behind closed doors, the formalities are treated with the utmost sanctity and the level of secrecy puts me in mind of a holy Fort Knox. This film may be the only way us regular folk could ever bear witness to such events unfolding.

I liked cinematographer Stephane Fontaine’s use of empty space; I felt it heightened the isolation of the clergy from the outside world, as they’re already in seclusion for this conclave. Does the church have relevancy in modern times? It’s remarkable that this ostentatious, theatrical ceremony still occurs in the 21st century – it feels almost out of place in a digital era. There’s one particular shot of a cardinal clutching an iPhone, perhaps representing the church’s feeble attempt to keep up with the times. Fontaine also has an eye for colour; the red cassocks dominating the pale marble halls of the Sistine Chapel.

I would’ve given this my fabled 9/10 rating (I don’t give 10s, perfection is unattainable), but the twist at the end (bound to rile a few Catholics) came out of nowhere and completely threw me, with little resolution.

My rating: 8 / 10

Anora (2024)

Director: Sean Baker
Screenplay: Sean Baker
Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan
Cinematography: Drew Daniels
Editing: Sean Baker
Score: Matthew Hearon-Smith
Genre: Comedy-drama
Runtime: 139 minutes

‘Anora‘, Sean Baker’s latest in his string of tales of ‘adult performers’ (‘Starlet‘, ‘Tangerine‘, ‘Red Rocket‘), follows young stripper Anora (Mikey Madison), or ‘Ani’ for short, as she embarks on a whirlwind romance with Vanya, the son of a Russian oligarch who she meets in the strip club. He’s barely a grown up – his father has paid henchmen to watch over him and he’s incapable of even making his own bed.

In a space of mere weeks, Vanya proposes to Ani. She accepts, and they get hitched in a Vegas chapel. Turns out, he’s only after a green card – I called it pretty early on. News of their wedding reaches Vanya’s dad and, thus he sends his lackeys to annul the marriage tout suite. They turn up at the door, Vanya hightails it down the road, leaving his new bride to deal with the fallout.

Initially putting up a good fight against them, Ani reluctantly joins forces with the men in the search for Vanya, believing she can prove their love is genuine. What ensues is one long, compelling odyssey as the group trawl through possibly every nightclub in Brooklyn in the hunt for the wayward youth.

I struggle to find sympathy for Anora; whilst charming enough with her Brooklyn accent, she’s clearly wise beyond her years (Vanya thought she was older than she actually was) and has dealt with all sorts in her profession. So why didn’t she recognise Vanya as the utter man-child he was? And marrying someone you hardly know?! She sped past so many red flags, she may as well be a Formula One driver.

Although the character elicits no compassion from me, Mikey Madison’s performance anchors the film – she runs the gamut of emotions; naively optimistic, apoplectic, and ending with the sobering acceptance of the situation she’s found herself in. I won’t be surprised if Ms. Madison gets nominated for (and wins) the major awards this season.

My rating: 7 / 10

Juror #2 (2024)

Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Jonathan Abrams
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Kiefer Sutherland
Cinematographer: Yves Bélanger
Editing: Joel Cox, David Cox
Score: Mark Mancina
Genre: Legal thriller
Runtime: 114 minutes

This may well be Clint Eastwood’s last project in any capacity; whether in front of, or behind the camera. He’s 94 after all. It’s possibly working on this movie that’s kept his mind focused, and therefore, alive.

The story concerns a murder trial; a man is accused of murdering his girlfriend (her body is discovered by a hiker below a bridge). The couple had had a disagreement in a bar one night and when the girlfriend stormed off, he followed her outside. The man, who was witnessed being aggressive towards her, is guilty in the majority of the jury’s eyes – the irony here is that the young woman is played by director’s daughter Francesca Eastwood, who was recently arrested for domestic violence.

Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) believes the man’s innocence but only because…Kemp actually committed the crime himself, initially thinking he’d just hit a deer with his car. As this is revealed early on, we see his attempt to sway the unanimous jury to reconsider their dogmatic view of the accused and save an innocent soul from spending the rest of his life in prison. 12 Angry Men? 1 Guilty Man.

With a solid supporting cast (Toni Collette as the ambitious prosecutor running for District Attorney, and Chris Messina as the defence), ‘Juror #2‘ is an excellent courtroom drama, and beautifully shot; fans of the genre will appreciate Eastwood’s take on it. It makes you think about the consequences if the guilt-ridden Kemp turned himself in; he and his partner are expecting a baby a year on from a miscarriage – would he be depriving that child of a father figure? Would this be a worse outcome for the community? It reminds me of Superman’s slogan: ‘Truth, Justice, and the American Way’. Are truth and justice mutually exclusive?

Should it be so, ‘Juror #2‘ serves as a respectable final entry in the filmography of the legendary Mr. Eastwood.

My rating: 8 / 10

The Critic (2023)

Director: Anand Tucker
Screenplay: Patrick Marber
Cast: Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Ben Barnes, Alfred Enoch, Romola Garai, Lesley Manville
Cinematography: David Higgs
Editing: Beverley Mills
Score: Craig Armstrong
Genre: Period thriller
Runtime: 101 minutes

Seeing a film called ‘The Critic‘ then writing a critique of it afterwards felt very appropriate. Who dares to criticise the critic? Well, I’m sure the people who created this yawnfest won’t appreciate my opinions in any shape or form.

Ian McKellen is Jimmy Erskine, a theatre critic with an acid tongue and a poison pen. Through his harsh but honest reviews, he wields power over the actors of London’s theatres. Erskine is waspish and tart, McKellen does this so well it’s as if he’s not even acting – he gets to deliver a few Oscar Wilde-esques lines.

What follows is a major disappointment – not the film I was expecting at all. Billed as a thriller, it’s more of a romantic drama with a hint of threat. Erskine is fired because of cost-cutting measures at the newspaper he’s the resident entertainment critic of, along with the rest of the old guard. Thus, he plots his revenge against newspaper editor David Brooke (Mark Strong), using actress Nina Land (Gemma Arterton) as a pawn in his game. But about a third of the way through, McKellen is no longer the focus – the love triangle between David, Nina and David’s son-in-law (Ben Barnes) takes centre stage. By not focusing on its main asset, I lost interest quickly. They could have made Erskine’s homosexuality (illegal in 1934, when this is set) more of a plot point than it was (it’s touched on in the first part) – this would allow him extra screentime and possibly add an interesting angle to it. McKellen is 85, I hope this doesn’t constitute a flat coda in his esteemed career. At least he didn’t off fall the stage here.

It’s mercifully not an overlong runtime – I’m glad; I was starting to doze off towards the end…

My rating: 3 / 10

In a Violent Nature (2024)

Director: Chris Nash
Screenplay: Chris Nash
Cast: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Lauren-Marie Taylor
Cinematographer: Pierce Derks
Editing: Alex Jacobs
Genre: Slasher
Runtime: 94 minutes

I can’t think of another slasher film that follows the point of view of the killer themselves. In this gory flick, we observe our seemingly indestructible central figure from behind as he plod-plod-plods around the Ontario woods, slaughtering everyone in his path. It takes this format for the majority of the duration, save for the scenes focusing on a bunch of teenagers camping in the wilderness whom our mutilator hunts down person by person. I feel there’s little tension or threat because, for the most part, you can probably tell how things are going to pan out. I mean, axe-wielding murderer versus a group of teens; I wonder…? Also, you can’t exactly kill off the ‘main’ character in a flash or that’d be it over, right?

The title interests me; the word ‘nature’ is used in two ways. One alludes to emotionless killing having been woven into his psyche, and his inability to change this mindset. The other relates to the ecosystem; on display abundantly here as we take a slow burn adventure through the Canadian forests. It almost seems as though the murderer himself constitutes part of the landscape, given that he wakes up from beneath the forest floor at the start.

The gradual pace requires a bit of patience – something some audiences are perhaps lacking these days due to a culture of instant gratification. However, there’s no real payoff for being persistent and nothing new in slasher qualities but I do appreciate the fresh approach taken with the shift of perspective.

Warning: do not watch this immediately after you’ve eaten.

My rating: 5 / 10