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Predator: Killer of Killers, 2025 - ★★★
Badlands was a genuine surprise favorite of 2025 for me and this is a great companion piece to it. The animation is top notch with excellent set pieces, voice acting, and incredible choreography to boot. Dan Trachtenberg has done such an inspired job with this franchise! Elevating it in story quality while keeping the spirit of the earlier films intact. AvP films excluded of course.
Together, 2025 - ★★★
I went in expecting this to be a meh body-horror film and came away genuinely surprised. This is a decent meditation on co-dependence in relationships and what would happen if that concept suddenly became a literal, physical manifestation. Well put together, well acted, with a decent mixture of practical and CG gore/effects. Some of the human decisions in the film are questionable at times but this is a horror movie so, you are silly to expect anything less.
Oh, and the runtime is perfect at just 90 minutes which, as I’ve mentioned in the past, is a restraint that we need more of these days.
Ebony & Ivory, 2024 - ★★½
Have seen all of Hosking’s movies to date. IYKYK. Not as good as Greasy or Luff Linn, but still bonkers, well made, and every bit as memorable. The best soundtrack of the three too. I like these films because they always illicit an exuberant and genuine “I can’t believe this was even made!!!” out of me, both during, and after the credits. That’s a pretty rare and wonderful feeling. So, yeah, if you ever wanted to see how McCartney and Wonder created their timeless classic, you’ve come to the right place! 😉
F1, 2025 - ★★★
We’ve seen this movie a million times before. Hyper predictable, and yet? Still entertaining somehow. Certainly not Oscar-worthy though, and definitely beneath the actors in it.
Deathstalker, 2025 - ★★★
Made by the same kind folks that brought us Pyscho Goreman and The Void, this one comes in hot as a sincere love letter to the original, and I was 100% here for it. Tons of gore, corny dialogue, wonderful retro effects, and actors that, for the most part, really went for it! I bet this was a blast to make!
One Battle After Another, 2025 - ★★★½
I get the fervent adoration this film has received. There is nothing quite like PTA when he’s given space to shine. That all said, this movie felt flat in places for me and I am going to have to sit with it for a bit before figuring out why. The film looked and sounded incredible, the actors were pitch perfect, the pacing was on point, so I… guess it was the writing? Hrmm…
Worth seeing obviously and one impressive feat was that it really didn’t seem like an almost 3 hour long film.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, 2026 - ★★★½
Went to an early screening of this tonight! These 28 movies are weird so far, but in the best way! I liked this one better than the first in the trilogy. Oh and if you’ve been dreaming of seeing all of Fiennes… then look no further! Respectfully of course.
Good Boy, 2025 - ★★★
There is indeed a very good boy in this one! Definitely an impressive feat of film making! Should’ve been a 30 minute short though. Even at a 70 minute runtime, it felt too long.
Predator: Badlands, 2025 - ★★★★
Predator: Badlands was like the universe picked up 13 year old Tad and said “I still remember you dude, and I still remember how much you LOVED these kinds of movies. This one’s for you. I love you.”
If you have a kid, please share this film with them. They rarely make movies like this anymore, and when they do, they are rarely this good.
Hell House LLC: Lineage, 2025 - ★★
Not gonna lie, this was a completionist viewing. I’ve watched the other films in this series and figured “eh, it’s Halloween, might as well check out the latest chapter…”. It looks great, some of the sound design was pretty effecting at times and the acting is fine for the most part. But that’s where it stops. Pretty mediocre writing, uneven cinematography with a few surprisingly amateurish shots, mar the good stuff sprinkled throughout. But even that good stuff doesn’t save this film from the fact that it’s just straight up boring. Which is always a shame because you can tell the creators are really trying to spin what I imagine they feel is a pretty complex story arc.
What else…. OH! There’s a Bic lighter in the first fifteen minutes, that puts out an absurd amount of light. That made me chuckle I guess.
Warfare, 2025 - ★★★
If there have to be vanity projects about modern war and warfare they may as well be done by soldiers that actually participated in the bloodshed. Otherwise movies of this caliber (and stress level - this movie is intentionally intense) are down right perverse at this point. A tight 96 minutes of real-time chaos, torment, pain, and unbelievable bravery, from a young group of men performing in a war that never should’ve occurred in the first place.
The final shots are haunting alone, but when you take in the historical elements of how all of this loss and suffering were ultimately for nothing… I mean, fuck me….
V/H/S/HALLOWEEN, 2025 - ★★½
I really dug the last entry, “Beyond”, but this one was largely a dud with a few decent and strong effects shots scattered throughout the shorts. I’ve seen every VHS and this one was my least favorite. Worth a spin if you’ve got a SHUDDER account, if only for the key gore moments. But I’d say it’s not worth a rental.
All of Us Strangers, 2023 - ★★★★
Watch this only if you like beautifully shot movies, with amazing soundtracks and tightly written dialogue from tragically sad, mournful characters that are all trying to love fully, before it’s too late.
Oh yeah, and bring those tissues…
The Amateur, 2025 - ★★
Mr. Robot takes on a space monkey from Fight Club with help from Morpheus. Then, eventually, randomly, has a Russian coffee date with the Punisher for no apparent reason, all while on a quest to avenge the death of his beloved Mrs Maisel. He mostly bumbles through murdering three people with a handful of bolts, tubes, nuts, wires and screws that you'd find in a Home Depot return bin. Bullets would be so much cheaper than the mayhem he commits to (because, apparently, shooting someone who you are going to kill regardless is impossible when it’s up close and intimate).
Woof… all this said, all of these actors have been in much better films/TV shows.
I'd watch, or revisit those.
Strange Darling, 2023 - ★★★½
I heard the hype for this one two years ago so I intentionally went in cold and man…this movie fucked with me in a way I’ve never had a movie do in a long, long time.
The writing/acting really elevates the first half which is intentionally derivative, but by the time the second half starts and the story kinda takes a big exhale, that’s when things got really interesting. The soundtrack is kinda bonkers and highly adds to the unnerving nature of the first half. Giovanni Ribisi (who remembers this guy? I sure do!) does a bang up job as cinematographer and the saturation of his work in this just adds to the off kilter weirdness/vibe of the whole piece. It started out as a film I didn’t think I was going to like really, but slowly it became something else entirely that I really dug by the time the credits rolled.
Friendship, 2024 - ★★½ (contains spoilers)
This review may contain spoilers.
It’s never pleasant watching a genuine asshole be a real asshole to everyone he meets. And that’s honestly what this film is. All 101 minutes of it. And you know how no one likes assholes? Well, no one ends up liking Craig.
Perfect Days, 2023 - ★★★★
This just might be my new cinematic comfort food! What a special movie this was… my goodness! Meditative in pace, the soundtrack is literally a character, all actors involved are meticulously exceptional, there’s hope and grace in here… but also genuine sadness and grief. The main character’s patterns in daily life resonated so much with me that, even though it was a completely different culture, I felt seen somehow.
“Worlds can touch other worlds…” indeed!
Thunderbolts*, 2025 - ★★★
Man… such great actors in this and I even liked the characters but sheesh did it all fall flat for me. There were some genuinely funny bits in this, but not enough to save it. It was either bad writing, or I am officially Marvel’ed out for a bit. Possibly both. Probably.
If Harbour wasn’t in this, it would’ve been a complete dud for me.
Final Destination Bloodlines, 2025 - ★★★½
A 2 hour film about the deadliest piece of copper US currency ever minted!
I have seen the entire series and this is the best of the bunch! There’s an actual storyline in this one instead of the movie being a bunch of wildly sadistic set pieces for people to die in incredibly inventive ways. Which, woof, they sure do in this one! Just a lot fun to be had watching this, and there’s a great homage to my second favorite FD movie at the end too! 💀
Weapons, 2025 - ★★★½
This movie could’ve easily been one chapter shorter but, despite the beautifully filmed and acted slog, it does have one hell of a final 30 minutes that made it all worth while. It also has a good entry into my “solid object gets thrown into someone’s face” top ten list. Oh and it does get major points for having a lot of genuinely well timed humor in it and that is REALLY hard to pull off in a horror film like this. While laughter in a horror film is often ill-gotten, this definitely earned its outbursts from the crowd. Which is always fun to experience to share with strangers.
In the end, my spouse said “well, that was fun” when we got in the car, and I agree.