Category: Review

Reviews from all of the movies we have seen lately, including everything in theaters and on DVD.

READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME – Review

Yes, it’s a week past Friday the 13th, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be part of a fledgling fright franchise. Particularly a horror franchise, a concept that probably goes back to the Universal horror classics of the Golden age, starting strong with 19341’s FRANKENSTEIN (DRACULA was not as prolific, really). Hammer picked up the mantle in the late 1950s and into the early 70s with Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein, though you can argue that American International Pictures had a series with the Poe adaptations from Roger Corman starring Vincent Price. He also did two films as THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, around the same time as those blood-suckers BLACULA and Count Yorga. At the end of that decade, extremely long-running franchises sprang from HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH. In the last few decades, we’ve gotten our current scary series, SCREAM, along with the FINAL DESTINATION. And then there’s the sub-genre of horror/ SF with ALIEN and PREDATOR. This new one is a bit of a hybrid, as it’s an action-oriented fright fest. So, are you all prepared for READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME? Ya’ better be ’cause…” ollie, ollie, oxen-free”!

So, this new flick picks up right where READY OR NOT ended (almost seven years ago, c’mon). Bloody and battered Grace MacCaulley (Samara Weaving) is enjoying a smoke as the mansion of her new in-laws, the esteemed Le Domas family, goes up in flames. We hear the arrival of the paramedics and other disaster teams. As they question Grace, she faints from traumatic shock. While she’s “out”, word of the demise of the Le Domas dynasty spreads like wildfire to several other wealthy, influential families, who want to replace them as “Lucifer’s favorites” and rule the globe. It all starts at the Danforth casino/country club, as their trusted Lawyer (Elijah Wood), explains the demands of “Mr. Le Bail” to twin siblings Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Titus (Shawn Hatosy). They, in turn, contact the other powerful families across the world. Meanwhile, Grace awakens in a hospital bed…handcuffed. Seems the police have lots of questions for her about that horrific honeymoon. But before the inquiries begin, Grace is reunited with her estranged younger sister Faith (Kathryn Newton), who is still the “emergency contact”, though they haven’t spoken for many years. As Grace is about to leave the hospital, all Hell breaks loose, and the MacCaulley sisters are knocked out by a gas canister. They awaken bound and gagged in the Danforth estate’s conference room, surrounded by members of the four families. The lawyer lays out the rules for a new “game”. Grace refuses to be “it” until Faith is threatened. The new “contest” involves the killing of the sisters before dawn in order for one of the families to become the new reps for the Devil. Can the still-recovering Grace protect Faith from these packs of wealthy predators and live to see a new day?

I suppose we need to begin with our only returning “survivor”, the fierce Ms. Weaving. Here she gets to add a few new “layers” to Grace, as the experiences of her “wedding celebration” have left lots of scars, physical and psychological. And she’s had little time to heal either (the hospital did do a pretty decent bandaging job). Weaving’s eyes project the fatigue of battle. But now she’s got a big reason to “soldier on”: the rekindled love for her sibling and a hope for reconnection. This introduces a terrific new character into the mix, sister Faith, played with spunky snark by the engaging Ms. Newton (one of the bright spots of the last dismal Ant-Man flick). At the first reunion of the two, she’s full of anger that masks the despair of rejection. However, when the s#*t goes down, Faith proves that the fighter’s spirit is in her, too. Newton sells both the stunts and the emotions. It helps that the ladies have a formidable “murderers’ row to play and literally bounce off. At the forefront is the eternal “slayer” herself, Gellar, who gives Ursula a ruthless, calculating edge and a razor-sharp wit and intelligence that helps her muzzle and restrain Hatosy as the deadly, demented Titus, the wildest of “wild cards.” Hatosy unleashes a white-hot demon who seemly “springs to life” as he delights in the torture of his prey. Here’s another nuanced role for Wood as the unwavering and enigmatic barrister, who is also a referee and executioner. Most of the other “hunters” are played for laughs by a talented ensemble. Standouts are Dan Bierne as the robe-clad, martini-swigging Danforth cousin, Kip, and Maia Jae as the spurned fiancée with a personal score to settle.

I referred to this as an action/horror entry, but it’s also a very dark, almost pitch-black comedic romp. It’s a satiric spoof of all the “evil rich” tropes, while being unafraid to go for big slapstick set-ups with gore-splattered (Jackson Pollock-inspired) gag pay-offs. This seems to be a “calling card” with the directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. They directed two SCREAM installments and the equally bloody-fun ABIGAIL since the last tale of Grace. And Matt co-wrote this with returning scribes Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy. They supplied the MacCaulleys with lots of verbal burns and zingers that often land with more force than their combat skills. Plus, they concoct a multitude of clever ways for the baddies to commit their carnage with lots of dated devices (part of the family fortune’s past). The filmmakers keep the often convoluted plot from collapsing, while knowing when to slow things down a touch for a bit of sibling angst. Sure, the surprises from the first flick (the offerings to Mr. Le Bail) are absent, but the addition of Faith and expansion of the enemies help to make this a frenetic and still fun follow-up. So if you’re not too squeamish (I wince at the actors trying to get the sticky red goo from their skin and hair… yuck), then you’ll enjoy this “sudden-death” round of the “game” in READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME. But, is it now “game over”?


3 Out of 4

READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME is now playing exclusively in theatres

THE FORBIDDEN CITY – Review

When I read the brief summary for the action film, FORBIDDEN CITY, I expected a standard search and avenge tale, rife with martial arts mayhem. A young Chinese woman named Mei (Yaxi Liu) comes to Rome to find her missing sister, and wreak havoc on any what done her wrong. We get that in fine style, plus a whole lot more.

The tale opens with the sisters as children in China’s era of the one child per family law, requiring one sibling to be hidden from public view. Dad manages to teach kung fu to both, in secret, of course. Fast-forward. An adult Mei, who can’t communicate in Italian without her hand-held translator, starts combing Rome’s Chinese district to find Yun (Haijin Ye), who she fears may have landed in some sort of trouble… or worse. She soon finds a bordello run by a Chinese crime gang where Yun had been forced to work. That group shares dominion over the turf with a Roman gang, headed by Annibale (Marco Giallini). The two have a fragile truce, buoyed by their disdain for, and oppression of, every other ethnic group that’s emigrated to their city.

Mei learns that Yun left her servitude to wind up living with a much older restaurant owner named Alfredo (Luca Zingaretti), who seemingly abandoned his restaurant named Forbidden City (Don’t ask why. Either they never explained, or I missed it.), now run by his wife (Sabrina Farilli) and adult son, Marcello (Enrico Borello).

The ambitious script, co-written by director Gabriele Mainetti, covers a lot of thematic territory in its 140 minutes. The action sequences are first-rate. Yaxi Liu is a legit martial artist, with more credits for stuntwork than acting. This is her first leading part. Despite her slight frame, the attractive artist carries off every aspect of what her role calls for, and is likely headed for success as a featured player, following the career arcs of Zoe Bell, Michelle Lee, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and others who earned their shots at stardom the hard way. Literally.

The surprise for me came from FORBIDDEN CITY’s Minotaur’s maze of subplots and social issues they worked into the protagonist’s quest. Atypically, there’s long-lasting suspense in who is responsible for whatever happened to whom. The plot dips into racial prejudice, abuse of immigrants, criminal enterprises, romantic sidebars and the fleshing out of more characters than usual for the action genre. Though most of the proceedings occur in sketchy areas of the city, they toss in one long sequence that serves as a travelogue for the Eternal City. That part may have been subsidized by the Department of Tourism, since it didn’t do much to advance the plot. And they squeezed in some humorous bits to relieve the tension. Otherwise, some of the drama seemed nearly operatic in its emotional depth.

There’s only a small amount of sex and nudity, minimizing the bordello element. Action abounds, with Mei kicking ass bigtime, despite taking her lumps along the way. It’s mostly hand-to-hand, using weapons other than guns. They stay rather light on the gore, considering the body count. As is often the case, I thought it could have been 10-20 minutes shorter without losing anything essential, while enhancing the flow of the rest. Mostly, I’m looking forward to whatever else will be coming from Yaxi Liu after this breakout performance.

THE FORBIDDEN CITY, in Italian, Mandarin and English, with subtitles, is available on Digital formats from Well Go USA on March 17, 2026.

3 stars out of 4

https://wellgousa.com/films/forbidden-city

LONE SAMURAI – Review

Of the several hundred Asian martial arts films I’ve seen, LONE SAMURAI may be the oddest. Even when the Samurai of the title is ethnically unlikely – such leads ranged from Richard Chamberlain to Tom Cruise, among others – one expects the script to lean heavily into swordplay and other action. This one spends most of its time in moody silences before cranking things up to a long, rousing fightfest.

It’s set in 13th Century Japan. Kublai Khan had just been rebuffed in his second naval assault on the country, by a combination of defending warriors and a typhoon that wrecked much of both fleets. We learn that from the opening narration. Our nameless titular samurai (Shogen Ito) washes ashore on some remote island, presumably the only survivor of his vessel’s complement. He sees a few natives, but makes no attempt to engage, possibly because they aren’t really there. He decides to commit ritual suicide – first on the beach, then after schlepping logs and ropes to the top of a mountain to erect a torii – gateway to the afterlife. Just before he plunges his sword into his abdomen for the act of seppuku, he’s kayoed and snatched by a tribe of primitive folk who turn out to be sadistic cannibals. They take him to their own nearby island. The locals like playing with their food, maiming the menu and killing them slowly… but far from softly. Pain on the platter presumably puts pleasure on the palate.

There’s little dialog in the first 90 minutes. We learn mostly from flashbacks that our guy yearns to return to his wife and sons, but despairs of ever doing so.  He’s taken to a cave with other future snacks and entrees, some of whom have already had body parts removed – presumably for appetizers.  As they’re preparing to start dismantling the star’s anatomy, he manages to kill a couple of guards, escape, and grab a dugout to return to the first place he landed. Thus, he dares them to come and get him.

And that’s when the good times roll for fans of on-screen mayhem. A whole scheisseload of loinclcoth-clad, handmade weapon-wielding dudes frantically row their fleet of canoes in pursuit. Our samurai lays in wait as 50, or so, man-munchers comb the jungle for him.  He picks off a bunch of them, one by one. Then the horde assembles back on the beach.

That’s when the one-man army thing really takes over. It’s all swords, spears, clubs and hatchets, with a few arrows in the mix. There’s a generous amount of splatter with some beheadings, though the cannibal catering sequence is generally more gruesome than the later killings.

Writer/director Josh C. Walter made good use of his Indonesia locations. And why not? The country has over 17,000 to choose from. But his script lingered too long on moody silences and time alone with Shogen before getting to the adrenalin stuff. That part is decently staged, with a handful of unique methods of offing his foes.

So, if one has the patience for the dry slog with periodic wistful musings, there is a payoff. Whether one concludes it was worth the time could go either way.  

From Well Go USA Entertainment, LONE SAMURAI debuts on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™ & DVD March 17.

1 1/2 Stars Out Of 4

https://wellgousa.com/films/lone-samurai

LONE SAMURAI has a runtime of approximately 95 minutes and is rated R for strong bloody violence and gore.

“Lakeside Murders” (Koskinen) – TV Series Review

The original title of this Finnish police procedural series, “Koskinen”, is the name of the lead detective and star, Eero Aho. The US title “Lakeside Murders” highlights the city he serves, Tampere, which is located between two lakes, providing plenty of lovely scenery, even in a snow-covered season. The ten 45-minute episodes are five two-part crimes for Koskinen and his Violent Crimes squad to solve within several wintry months. All are based on a series of novels by Seppo Jokinen.

The first centers on a cyberterrorist attack on the whole city, starting with a hack of its computerized tram system. The second features a serial killer preying on young women (Don’t they all? Well, at least the ones in movie and TV thrillers). The third starts with a jewelry store heist that turns fatal, but yields screen time to an unlikely series of heart attacks killing patients in a convalescent center. Koskinen’s former colleague Roine (Pertti Sveholm) is living there, and starts raising suspicions. But they’re the only ones who are open to the idea, and must figure it out on their own.

The fourth revolves around drug thefts from pharmacies and a trio of wheelchair-bound residents of a facility. It offers a unique look at the disabled, including the fact that they can be just as loutish as their fully-mobile counterparts. The last starts with a group of teens committing various crimes, leading to drug dealing as the unifying link among them. They work for a truly dangerous boss, whose capacity for violence was learned on battlefields. 

As such programs go, this one is relatively dry. The cast is more plain-looking than the attractive stars we choose for our prime-time fare. There’s not a lot of emotional range required for any of the cops. Little levity or banter. Most of the emotion comes from Koskinen’s wife and son who resent the hell out of his preoccupation with his work. Those two grow really annoying. The most likable character might be Roine – a rotund, bearded old-timer who has more common sense and insight than Koskinen’s younger colleagues and mostly persnickety superiors.

The series is quite somber in tone, with little violence until the climactic confrontations in each duo. Some romantic subplots, but no nudity. The four episodes dealing with the elderly and disabled add an extra shot of social relevance to the mysteries. One switches formats by letting us know who the perp is long before the cops figure it out – like a “Columbo” episode. Besides his wife’s nagging, Koskinen must deal with recurring nightmares about a traumatic incident, and his loathing of paperwork that is heaped upon him after a midseason promotion. The dude is hard-wired for the field, not the office.

Caution – This season ends with a major cliffhanger. Normally, I’d resent this, as our regular readers know. But the show has already aired in Finland for four seasons, and I don’t expect a long wait for #2 to stream here.   

“Lakeside Murders”, in Finnish with subtitles, begins streaming on MHz Choice on March 17, 2026.

UNDERTONE – Review

UNDERTONE (stylized as “undertone,” all lower case) is an atmospheric horror film that uses innovative sound for much of its effect. It focuses on a young woman, Evy Babic (Nina Kiri) caring alone for her dying mother (Michele Duquet) in the mother’s home, presumably the house where the young woman grew up. The mother is in the finally stages of dying, having stopped eating or drinking and appears to sleep continually. Evy’s major contact with the outside world right now is through a podcast that she and a friend, Justin (Adam DiMarco), co-host together, a podcast about the paranormal called “undertone,” in which the pair of them examine supernatural phenomenon, with him playing the role of the believer and her playing the skeptic.

For most the film, we see only Nina Kiri as Evy, and occasionally the unconcious mother. Justin contributes to the podcast remotely, as he lives in another city. Apart from a couple of brief scenes, everything takes place in the mother’s home, giving the film a claustrophic feel.

UNDERTONE (“undertone”) won the Audience Award at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival and then went on to play the 2026 Sundance Film Festival as part of the Midnight program.

Caring for her mother alone is Evy’s choice, and she gentle turns down her podcast co-host Justin’s offer to flying out to visit her, as well as his suggestion she ask for help from her brother, who in the small town were their mother lives. Evy’s mother is religious and the house is filled with crucifixes, framed religious art and little figurines, but we sense Evy is not. The daughter gently cares for her unconcious mother, checking on her, tending to her needs, talking to her in a gentle voice, and singing the nursery rhyme “Ba Ba Black Sheep” to soothe her.

Downstairs in the dining room, Evy communicates with Justin over her laptop, as she sets up to record their podcast for its weekly release. Justin thinks he has found an intriguing mystery for this podcast, a series of ten audio recordings sent to him by email, from a mysterious, unknown address, and with little explanation about them in the email. Tossing aside any fear of viruses in the the files, he clicked on the first one and listened, hearing a man talking about his wife is saying stranging things in her sleep and that he has decided to record her (with her permission) as she sleeps, to trying to understand them. What Justin hears is bizarre, including some snippets of nursery rhymes, played fast or too slow or backwards, and Evy agrees to use them for the podcast, without hearing them, so she can listen as they record the podcast. They start to listen to them in sequence, discussing each as it ends.

The film is built around what happens as they listen to those audio recordings. Eventually, they learn that they are a married couple and the woman is pregnant, which feeds into some of what heard in the later podcasts. There are tidbitst about dark, hidden stories behind innocent-seeming nursery rhymes (which is true, many do have dark stories behind them) and there something about an evil spirit menances babies.

Most of the film takes place in the house where the woman is caring for her mother, apart from a few hours when she reluctantly agrees to meet her boyfriend at a party for a few hours and when she visits a doctor. Mostly, we just see her and her mother, although there is a scene, perhaps a flashback, where a hospice nurse tells her that once her mother stopped eating, they are near the final phase, which she will recognize by a change in her breathing, but there is no way to know how long that will take.

The looming death and the uncertainty about when the end comes, the eerie recordings Evy listens to alone in a darkened room for the podcast, and references in those recordings to sinister meanings behind some nursery rhymes all combine to create a powerrful sense of unease. That feeling is boosted by the innovative use of sound in the film. Evy hears the recordings and their disturbing sounds through her headphones, but we are never sure those sounds aren’t also echoing through the dark, nearly empty house. The brilliant effect raises the hairs on the back of the neck, and is the most striking aspect of the film.

Additionally, the acting is well done, with Nina Kiri very effective in carrying most of the film alone. The half-lit photography adds well to the unsettling atmosphere and the sets are exactly as they should be for a haunting tale. It always seems to be 3 o’clock but in the darkened home, we are never sure if it is 3am or 3pm.

Everything comes together perfectly to set the stage for horror. And then writer-director Ian Tuasin does not follow through on all that promise. While all those elements are very unnerving and the film has created enormous tension, the film does not give us a full story to make use of all this great material. Things go bump in the night perfectly – but that is never tied into a narrative or an explanation. There is basically no story here beyond the set-up of a woman alone in a house with her dying mother, a woman is maybe feeling some guilt for the past, and the creepy audio recordings for the podcast. There are hints about a true story behind the mysterious recordings, and also hints that Evy may be losing touch with reality in the finally sequence, but it is all very vague and incomplete. There isn’t even enough there to make up an explanation for oneself.

Which is a shame. The film does such a good job setting up the story, setting the tone of dread and fear through it’s masterful use of sound, that the audience is primed to be terrified, But then the film just fails to give the audience any story, any plot to hang all that dread on, which is a waste and so disappointing.

UNDERTONE opens in select theaters on Friday, Mar. 13, 2026.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

REMINDERS OF HIM – Review

And now, borrowing from the sports world, here’s a fairly remarkable literary/cinematic “hat trick”. For the third year in a row, the multiplex becomes a “book club” with the new movie adaptation of a novel by Colleen Hoover. She’s the best-selling author of IT END WITH US (released in 2024, though the legal theatrics seem to drag on and on and…) and last year’s regrettable REGRETTING YOU. Perhaps Ms. Hoover wants to be as prolific in the 2020’s as Nicholas Sparks was for the first two decades of this century, though she got a lot of typing ahead of her. The results of these movie interpretations have been mixed (US) to downright scathing pans (YOU). So will she and the filmmakers hit that cinema “sweet spot” with REMINDERS OF HIM (Hoover has a thing with title pronouns)? Okay, here goes…chapter one…


Actually, the story’s opening is a return, or a homecoming. Keena Rowan (Maika Monroe) takes a taxi into the picturesque village of Paradise, Wyoming. Well, this is after the driver pauses for her to uproot one of those roadside memorials. She is able to rent a room at the somewhat squalid Paradise Hotel after putting up a big deposit, because the landlady tries to give everyone a “second chance” (and a kitten). Yes, Keena has just been released from prison. This makes her employment search even more difficult. Cut to our introduction to Ledger Ward (Tyriq Withers), a former pro-footballer (let go by the Broncos after his arm “blew out”) who also returned to Paradise to run a bar. He lives across the street from old friends Grace and Patrick Landry (Lauren Graham and Bradley Whitford), who are raising their late son’s adorable five-year-old daughter Diem (Zoe Kasovic), almost like an adored niece to him. After a day “pounding the dusty pavement”, Keena is stunned that the old bookstore/ coffee is now a “watering hole” owned by, yup, Ledger. The two exchange a bit of flirty banter while she exits through the back door. She’s stunned again by the sight of a battered orange pickup truck. It’s then that its owner, Ledger, discovers that Keena is the former girlfriend of his deceased BFF, Scottie Landry (Rudy Pankow). Ledger had loaned his truck to him during his short NFL stint. Naturally, the banter soon ends. The next morning, he’s gobsmacked when he sees her marching toward the Landry house to finally meet her daughter. Yes, she had been sent up the river after that fatal crash (the courts determined that she was driving under the influence) while only a few weeks pregnant. Soon after giving birth, the baby was taken away to Scotty’s folks. Ledger prevents her from making a scene, but is a bitter reunion inevitable (it’s a tiny town)? And what will become of the blossoming attraction between the duo connected by tragedy?

Can it really be a dozen years since Ms. Monroe appeared on my “radar” in the indie horror gem, IT FOLLOWS? Oh yes, and she’s been fairly busy in genre films, whether it’s more horror like last year’s LONGLEGS, or thrillers like (again, 2025) the remake of THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, or sci-fi with that silly INDEPENDENCE DAY sequel (whew). She can do wonders with very little in the way of a script, and here she proves more than up to the task of carrying a romantic drama. We see how life has battered Keena through Monroe’s down-turned gaze and her deliberate body language and slow gait. But when Keena begins her quest to reunite with her baby, Monroe is energized and dynamic, then gives way to a “softer side” as Keena cautiously lets love back into her heart. Here’s hoping for an even greater variety of lead roles for her. Withers weathers (see what I did) last year’s dreadful horror/sports mash-up mess HIM, to become a strong, complex lead as Ledger, a man trying to deal with his own past issues while being stretched in a dozen different directions at once by the people he cares so deeply about, but still full of charm and grit. Almost as much of it as Pankow as the doomed and endearing Scotty. As his folks, Whitford, as “Nono” Landry, is trying to leave his loss behind until Keena pops back. Ditto for Graham, as his still-healing wife, as she tries to protect her granddaughter, now the only physical part of her only child. Much has been made of the screen debut of country crooner Lainey Wilson, who does well in the small (only a few minutes) role of Keena’s boss/buddy. Amid the turmoil, Monika Meyers provides some comic relief as Keen’s special needs co-worker/ neighbor, Lady Diana.


With her second theatrical feature film, director Vanessa Caswill keeps the pace flowing, though she leans heavily into prolonged close-ups to convey the budding attraction (and they are attractive) of the principals. Plus, she makes great use of the stunning visuals with Canada (again) subbing for its southern neighbor. But then there’s the script, which hammers the dramatic conflicts, veering into melodrama, and gives way to cloying heart-tugging. frequently in the dialogues with Diem and the earlier-mentioned Diana, going to the “cute well” till it’s nearly dry. I did find it interesting that Hoover, adapting her novel with Lauren Levine, opted to leave the big city, lush settings of US and YOU to focus on those struggling to get by, though the under-constructed home of Ledger seems far too opulent. Still, fans of her work will probably be pleased while the rest of us ponder just how this “basic cable TV’ terajerker “escaped” into the multiplex (those literary roots, I suppose). But the potent chemistry between the engaging Monroe and Withers smooths out much of the potboiler tropes of REMINDERS OF HIM (sound of paperback closing).


1.5 Out of 4

REMINDERS OF HIM opens exclusively in theatres on Friday, March 13, 2026.

THE BRIDE! – Review

If you love classic movies, THE BRIDE! is pure delight, fun with a brain that is a treat deluxe for those who love both classic movies and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s original book “Frankenstein.” That description fits this writer and the novel is having a moment now, with Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN and now this film. But in this wild, smart and inventive film, director Maggie Gyllenhaal not only pays homage to the book, but the Frankenstein and particularly Bride of Frankenstein movies, along with a host of 1930s and 1940s films and genres, ranging from film noir to black-and-white musicals and gangster flicks, with a little more modern films like BONNIE AND CLYDE and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN tossed in. Even author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley herself, the brilliant teenager who wrote the original 1818 novel, appears as a character in the film.

All that plus a fabulous cast, led by Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley, featuring Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz. The film sports a generous sprinkling of movie and even literary references, in dialog or visually, which adds a great deal of fun. And it is all done with an off-beat slight feminist twist that puts the spotlight on the The Bride.

Plus the ghost of author Mary Shelley possesses a gangster’s moll and a woman is the mad scientist in this tale. What more could you possibly want?

THE BRIDE is both clever and a very cinematic film. THE BRIDE! actually opens with the author Mary Shelley (played in a entertainingly crazy way by Jesse Buckley) speaking to us as a spirit from the grave. We see only Buckley’s face, in an oval and in black-and-white, like an antique photo in a locket, while the author spits rapid-fire vocabulary about her biography and literature. The author introduces our story, and then returns as occasional narrator or disruptive spirit. This begins when Shelley possesses, like a demon, a young blonde gangster’s moll named Ida (also Buckley) in 1930s Chicago. The possessed moll, when the author is in charge, spouts poetry and literary references, particularly mentioning Herman Melville’s character Bartleby, who sows chaos by refusing to do things, saying “I prefer not to,” a phrase that pops up continually.

After our (ultimately violent) intro to the woman who will become the Bride, we meet Frankenstein’s monster, played winningly by Christian Bale. A man in a hat pulled low to hide his face and with a scarf covering his lower face (a la Claude Rains in THE INVISIBLE MAN) shows up at a 1930s Chicago medical research facility, looking to speak to a particular scientist, a Dr. Euphronious. He’s turned away at first, but finally a woman comes out to talk to him. She reveals herself to be Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening), as he removes his coverings and introduces himself as a Mr. Frankenstein (Bale). This lonely creation of a mad scientist (and an author) long ago asks the scientist for her help – to build a bride for him. She refuses at first but, good mad scientist that she is, Dr. Euphronious eventually agrees.

Thus launches the tale of the Bride and her Frankenstein, a far more complete story of the Bride than in James Whale’s classic film, including this Bride’s quest for a name, an identity, beyond just that one. The pair embark on an adventure and a journey that sends them out into the 1930s world, against the wishes of Dr. Euphonious, where they sample jazz clubs and movie houses, among other things, and then go on the run as outlaws, “Bonnie and Clyde”-style, after some people turn up dead.

Frank, as the Bride calls him, is movie-obsessed and particularly a fan of one dancing star (Jake Gyllenhaal) of movie musicals, which reveals that the “monster” is a bit of a romantic. When he’s feeling low, at trip to the movies to see his favorite star in one of his dance-filled musical romances or comedies lifts his spirits.

Their adventure is unpredictable, often violent and sometimes bloody, but it is also a monster of a love story. The Bride’s journey of self-discovery is a big part of this film but not the whole story. It is also a wild, entertaining ride, that also involved a pair of noir-ish detectives, played by Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz, on their trail, as well as gangster kingpins, corrupt officials, fancy parties with movie stars, and more. There is singing and dancing scenes, movie-going and movie houses, characters who find themselves in the movie (a la Buster Keaton), and a score that includes “Putting on the Ritz” (thank you, Mel Brooks) and Monster Mash.

The cast is great. Christian Bale is a marvelous Frankenstein, sweetly polite, even shy, but determined and endlessly resourceful. He is also a hopeless romantic when it comes to his Bride and to the movies he loves. Bale plays this movie-loving monster with such charm and grace, he is irresistible, and turns on extra magic in the dance sequences. Jessie Buckley is electrifying in her two-part role, as the wild, fast-talking and brainy author, who periodically possesses the Bride and as the sweet but confused newly-created Bride, who does not even know her name, much less who she is, or should be. The couple waver between love and her desire to be her own person. And along the way, her rule-breaking launches a social movement of women who want to break free of their restraints in this sexist time, women who show their colors by staining their mouths with ink, to look like hers.

Annette Bening is a charmer as well as the crusty, off-beat doctor, who we suspect has secrets and a history that goes unspoken. As the noir detectives, Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz also are wonderful, with Sarsgaard playing a world-weary soul with some hidden pain, and Cruz an ambitious detective who is the real brains of the team but who has to pose as her partner’s secretary rather than his protege due to the sexism of the era.

THE BRIDE! is entertaining, smart, thought-provoking, twisting, and a cleverly constructed creation of borrowed parts (much like Frankenstein) from countless classic films, film history, literature and even a little echo of the “Me Too” movement. THE BRIDE! is a wow of a piece of cinema, and certainly a must-see for any fan of either classic movies or Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic horror novel. Just great fun.

THE BRIDE! opens in theaters on Friday, Mar. 6, 2026.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

HOPPERS – Review

At last, the cruel, cold winter is giving way to a fast-approaching Spring (at least for most of the country). And what do many young men’s (and ladies’) fancies turn to, other than a amor? Why, going back to nature, naturally (see what I did there). Well, it just so happens that for their 30th (wow) feature film, those digital animation gurus at Pixar have fashioned a story about going back to nature in the most literal and fantastical way possible. Wth a bit of science fiction magic, this movie’s young heroine can comingle and even communicate (stop me before I launch into that catchy tune, “If I Could Talk to the Animals”) with the woodland critters that she’s watched from afar. Yes, that includes frogs, though they’re not the story’s main focus, nor are they the inspiration for this flick’s title, HOPPERS.


As this modern fable begins, we meet the aforementioned heroine, Mabel, in the Beaverton grade school system (she’s maybe eight or nine) as she embarks on her mission (and not the first attempt) to liberate the many “class animal pets” from their cages, aquariums, and other “jails”. She’s soon sent home with her mom, who, in turn, takes her to her adored grandmother Tanaka (voice of Karen Hule). To calm down the child, they sit on a big rock near a pond in the forest behind Granny’s home. Mabel is spellbound as she watches the water with a beaver dam at its center. Fast forward about ten years or so, as now 19-year-old Mabel (Piper Curda) still enjoys the tranquility of that sweet spot, even though Grandma” T has passed on. But the quiet is soon shattered by a noisy construction crew, determined to complete a big highway and pave over the place. It’s the dream project of Mabel’s constant nemesis, the affable Beavertown mayor, Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm). Since all the wildlife has left the pond, it’s fair game for the “improvement”. After failing to get enough signatures on a petition to stop them, Mabel heads over to the college (she’s a frequent “class-skipper”) to enlist the aid of Professor “Sam” Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), who explains that a single beaver could bring back all the animals. Mabel decides that she’ll try to lure and trap a beaver…and it works! One shows up, but he ignores the bait and scampers away to the Prof’s campus lab!


It turns out that, to observe the wildlife, Sam and her two aides have created a robotic beaver connected to a device (looks like one of those big “oldie” hair dryers) that can transfer(or the “hop”) the consciousness from a sleeping human subject to the “bot”. Oh, and the facimilile can talk with and understand all the critters. Of course, Mabel “borrows” the gizmo and literally “high-tails it” to the forest. There she learns of the woodland society, ruled (in a nice way) by the “king of the mammals”, a beaver named George (Bobby Moynihan). Mabel bonds with him and convinces George to unite with the other royal leaders (birds, bugs, fish, and reptiles) to stop the impending construction destruction. But when a decision is made to eliminate the “Human King,” Mabel must try to save her arch enemy, all while avoiding Sam and her staff’s attempts to retrieve their device, and wake up the sleeping real Mabel. Suddenly, there’s more at stake than saving that “watering hole”!

After hitting a major bump in their “original” film slate (yes, I don’t count the big sequels) last Summer with ELIO, Pixar comes roaring back with this truly “all ages” cartoon comedy classic. Oh yes, it brings the laughs, but they haven’t neglected the heart (Mabel and Granny’s super-strong bond), and even a message sneaks in (we’re never pummelled by the ecology themes). Again, the studio doesn’t showcase lots of “big name superstars” for the marquee and marketing value, instead opting for a solid cast at the microphone, though a certain “multiple-Oscar-winner” spreads her “wings” (hint, hint). Curda’s an energetic lead hero with lots of “spunk”, while Moynahn makes the most out of his good-natured charm that we saw during his stint on SNL (and he’s not the only “8H’ vet). Leading man Hamm flexes his comedic chops and continues to be a big audio asset (this is his fourth toon gig). I thoroughly enjoyed Najimy even as some of her Peggy Hill (TV’s “King of the Hill”) seeped in, especially as Sam is flummoxed by Mabel (“No! This is nothing like AVATAR!!”). And kudos for all the cartoon voice vets in the incidental animal extras. Oh, and speaking of “ear candy”, what a terrific bouncy score from kids’ TV icon (“Pee Wee’s Playhouse”) Mark Mothersbaugh!


So, which of the gifted minds in Emoryville concocted this bit of delirious entertainment? Hard to believe that this is the theatrical feature directing debut of Daniel Chong (creator of TV’s “We Bare Bears”), who co-wrote the screenplay with Jesse Andrews (ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL). Sure, there are some “lifted” elements, like the earlier-mentioned AVATAR mixed in with lots of DR. DOLITTLE (all incarnations), but they take the old trope conflict of nature versus commerce, and give it a refreshing spin (the bulldozing baddie is really a fairly nice fella). The script is truly lifted to the heights and beyond by the superior visuals that truly dazzle. The Pixar “pack” has really “upped” the level of sophisticated animation acting here. A third act sequence with Jerry being “taken over” has facial exaggeration and body movement that harkens to the works of “toon masters” like Bob Clampett and “Tex” Avery (I think it would work very well without the audio). I must mention the interesting “coding” of the critters. When Mabel is in the “device,” the animals have big eyes with lots of prominent white while gesturing wildly. But to those in “reality”, the wildlife isn’t nearly as wild, as they move with a slower pace, and the eyes are more or less dark brown dots. The design and some “takes” of the humans seem to be influenced by anime (much like what we saw in LUCA and TURNING RED). The overall look of all the characters is lots of fun (now I can call out the “eye candy”), and they mesh expertly with the lush backgrounds (that’s one beautiful forest). Again, this is “all ages” entertainment at its zenith, delivering a great original Pixar “fix” before another big sequel in a few months. I suppose I should end this by saying film fans should run, no walk briskly, rather than hop to the multiplex for HOPPERS.

3.5 Out of 4

HOPPERS is now playing in theatres everywhere.

SIRAT – Review

“Sirat” is an Arabic word meaning a bridge spanning the chasm between heaven and hell, one that is thin as a thread and sharp as a sword’s edge, as we are told at the start of the movie SIRAT, an Oscar-nominated Spanish drama about a man, with his young son in tow, who is searching for his lost 20-something daughter at a rave party in the south Moroccan desert. The word Sirat is Arabic and comes from Muslim belief, but there is little heavenly in SIRAT’s world. However, there is plenty of pulsing techno/electronic music, in this searing tale of a group of people on a dangerous journey crossing the north African desert, a journey that will challenge and maybe break them.

SIRAT, set in Morocco but mostly in Spanish and French, is nominated for both the Best International Feature and Best Sound at the upcoming Academy Awards. Director Oliver Laxe co-wrote the script with Santiage Fillol, and the tender and heartbreaking tale is driven by a tense, propulsive, pulsing techno/electronic score by Kangding Ray.

An ordinary-looking Spanish man, Luis (Sergi Lopez), enters a world of hundreds of mostly young, European revelers dancing trance-like in front of a wall of amps set up in the Moroccan desert, blasting electronic and techno music continuously, along with a laser light show at night. There is a sort of outsider vibe to this large collection of people who have come to the desert to dance away the conventional world. Luis is out of place but he and his son Esteban (Bruno Nunez Arjona) are there on a mission to find his daughter who disappeared at a rave five months earlier.

Esteban looks like he is about ten and has a little white dog with him, as he and his father wander among the dancers, day and night, showing everyone at the rave a photo of the missing grown daughter. The dancers are a ragtag crowd, seeming disconnected from the world, outsiders by choice or circumstance, but they politely look at the photo before shaking their heads, to say they have not seen her.

One group of five, Steff (Stefania Gadda), Josh (Joshua Liam Henderson), Tonin (Tonin Janvier), Jade (Jade Oukid), and Bigui (Richard “Bigui” Bellamy), tells Luis there is another rave after this one, which he might also check for his daughter.

On the second day of the rave party, a caravan of Moroccan army trucks shows up, and tell the crowd that “all EU citizens need to evacuate.” The military officers do not say why, but the event suggests an impending war or conflict. The military convoy is there to escort to Europeans in their trucks, vans and RVS out of the desert.

Luis and his son, in their van, line up with the rest of the vehicles leaving the location, but suddenly the two RVs in front of them, carrying the group of five who told Luis about the other rave party, suddenly bolt out of line and take off across the desert. At Esteban’s urging, Luis impulsively follows them, and they race ahead of military vehicles in pursuit.

That snap decision sends the father and son, with this ragtag collection of friends, on a strange, harrowing trek across very rugged, desolate terrain, to an uncertain fate.

Except for renown Spanish actor Sergi Lopez, the rest of the cast are all non-actors, mostly found by the director at raves he attended. That casting choice gives the film an authenticity in this world where it is set, but they are also compelling and charismatic characters on screen. The sweeping photography of the vast desert landscape combined with the driving electronic soundtrack creates a tense sense that anything may happen as well as an air of foreboding.

We are not told why those five, Steff, Josh, Tonin, Jade and Bigui, made that break, but there are hints that there may be reasons they do not want to return to Europe. We also do not know why the Moroccan army where herding the Europeans out of the country, but we hear snippets on the radio about war, before one of the ravers shuts it off, maybe preferring not to know, although one of them suggests it is WWIII.

Those unanswered questions give the film a party at the end of the world vibe but this is not a Mad Max knock off. The story is both tender and heartbreaking, with danger around every bend.

The ravers seem to know the back roads well, suggesting they may have been in northern Africa for some time, wandering from rave party to rave party. Although Luis is wary of these strangers at first, they extend kindness to him at unexpected moments and a bond forms. They are surprisingly resourceful and self-reliant but this is a harsh environment and circumstances where anything can happen, including death.

Director Oliver Laxe effectively builds tensions as these people wander in the desert hoping to avoid the world and its conflict by running ahead of it. Harrowing things happen, and there is a sense of doom and foreboding that is amped up by Kangding Ray’s techno score, which is a perfect fit. Heartbreak and horrendous things may lay down this rock-strewn road, and when tragedy does strike, things start to spin off unanticipated directions, as this gripping drama wavers between human tenderness and terrifying chance beyond their control. Walking the thin line that that title suggests, SIRAT is unforgettable drama that is worth the heartbreak.

SIRAT, mostly in Spanish and French with English subtitles, opens in select theaters on Friday, Mar. 6, 2026.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

PILLION – Review

A pillion is the seat behind the driver on a motorcycle, or it can mean the passenger who sits there. The movie PILLION is a gay romance between a rather innocent young gay man (Harry Melling) who is introduced to the world of bondage-dominance/sadomasochism by a handsome motorcyclist (Alexander Skarsgard). Although the film is a well-acted, well-made romantic drama about a star-crossed relationship, the subject matter and it’s frank, even graphic, depiction means this is not a film that will appeal to everyone, or even most.

That said, Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard turn in strong, even tender performances as this pair, whose ideas of what their relationship should be doesn’t match up. First-time director Harry Lighton leans into the romantic for this tale of star-crossed love set in a rarely-seen world, and Lighton also wrote the screenplay, based on Adam Mars-Jones’ novel “Box Hill.”

Young Colin (Harry Melling) spots handsome biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgard) at a pub, where Colin is singing as part of a barbershop quartet, when Ray arrives as part of a biker gang. You can sense the thrill from Melling’s Colin from the moment he spots the handsome biker.

Colin is not only a singer in the barbershop quartet (Melling does his own singing and has a lovely voice), but the quartet is a kind of family thing, with his father singing as well. Colin lives in the suburbs with his parents, and seems to be recently out as gay. While his doting parents are very supportive, and his mother has even arranged a date for her son, back at the same pub. They are more wary when Colin goes out to meet up with Ray, fearing that the meeting is a prelude to a beating rather than a date.

However, the encounter introduces the innocent but willing Colin to what nearly-silent enigmatic Ray wants. Repeatedly, as the relations develops, people comment on the difference in physical beauty between homely Colin and handsome Ray, which helps pushed Colin further into the relationship.

The film follows their relationship, where it evolves or doesn’t, with Melling’s character wanting it to be love and Skarsgard’s stoic one basically trying to keep a lid on that idea. It turns out the whole motorcycle gang is part of this SM world, that Colin now joins as well.

How authentic the depiction of that world may be, I couldn’t say, but the scenes are explicit enough to mean this film will mostly appeal to a select audience. Director Harry Lighton frames this in as romantic a way possible but this is a world of bondage and SM, and there are plenty of graphic scenes in this film. The scenes are more graphic rather than pornographic, and there is less full nudity than one might expect, but the scenes make clear what is happening in each.

Skarsgard and Melling give what could be termed brave performances here, with the subject and the graphic scenes, although there is less full nudity than you might expect. There are plenty of sex scenes, often involving SM costumes and bondage, so you have no doubt what kind of biker gang this is.

Colin and Ray couldn’t seem more mismatched but it is more complicated than that. There is yearning and openness on the side of Melling’s character that runs up against Ray’s secrecy and emotional closedness. Skarsgard’s Ray seems to be protecting the other part of his life from this secret one. Still, occasionally there are moments when stoic Ray reveals feeling for his partner. It is this tension between what Ray wants and what Colin wants that the film spends most of its time exploring, along with these SM bikers’ lifestyle, was they go on outings and camping trips, and we get to know the other couples as well.

We get a glimpse of other relationships in this gay SM biker gang, which contrast to our central pair’s arrangement. Some are also chilly and functional, others are emotionally warm, but none seem as mismatched as Colin and Ray, with one member longing for something more.

Again, not a film for everyone, despite being a very well-made movie, with strong performances from a pair of gifted actors.

PILLION opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars