TRON: Ares - Review: As Alive As You Need Me To Be

It's funny that, as iconic as the film's visuals and aesthetics are, “TRON” as a franchise has almost always been the black sheep of the Disney IP factory. The original film made some decent money at the box office, but it took almost thirty years for a sequel in the form of “TRON Legacy.” Despite the deluge of merchandise seeming to signal a new age for the franchise, the modest box-office success resulted in Disney putting the series on ice for yet another extended period. Which is why it’s taken fifteen years and quite the development hell to bring “TRON: Ares” to fruition.

Set years after the events of “Legacy,” the film follows Eve Kim, played by Greta Lee (“The Morning Show,” “Past Lives”), the CEO of ENCOM as she searches for the “permanence code,” a piece of code written by Kevin Flynn years prior. At the same time, rival CEO of Dillinger Systems Julian Dillinger, played by Evan Peters (“Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past”), is also after the code and has decided to bring his highly advanced security software Ares, played by Jared Leto (“Suicide Squad,” “Dallas Buyers Club”), into the real world. He sends Ares and Athena, played by Jodie-Turner Smith (“After Yang,” “Anne Boleyn”), in search of Kim and the code, allowing whoever gets it first to bring their creations from the virtual world known as The Grid to the real world, permanently.

For better or worse depending on who you ask, “Ares” has been a Jared Leto project from the jump. His face has been on almost all the marketing, and he even has a producer credit on the final project. His performance therefore seems like even more of a lynchpin than it otherwise would; he's not just the lead character, but the reason the film exists. It’s somewhat anticlimactic then to learn that his performance is just fine. It’s completely serviceable. He does a good job with the more mechanical, cold aspects of the character, but the moment the film tries to push for some kind of an evolved emotion from Ares, Leto is reduced to hammy, wooden community theater acting.

The rest of the cast fares far better though. Lee is doing the best she can with the material she’s given, and she manages to turn out a pretty good performance as a result. Peters is surprisingly great as the villainous little brat running Dillinger Systems, and Smith is fantastic, stealing virtually any scene she’s in with menace and a smirk. Beyond that, the supporting cast is unfortunately filled with pretty forgettable side characters who seem to exist to say a half-decent bit of comedic relief or have the plot up until that point explained to them. Jeff Bridges (“The Big Lebowski,” “True Grit (2010)”) is back to reprise his role as Kevin Flynn in a far more interesting way than one might initially expect, and he does provide the film with a welcome shot in the arm. But he’s a borderline cameo, not a major supporting player in the cast.

A large reason that the supporting cast is so forgettable and where a lot of the film’s problems come from is the incredibly hit-or-miss script. Co-writers David DiGilio (“Eight Below,” “The Terminal List”) and Jesse Wigutow (“It Runs in the Family,” “Daredevil: Born Again”) stuff the film with far too many supporting characters that do virtually nothing substantial for the overall plot, as well as numerous concepts and subplots that have been well explored in other science fiction media over the last thirty years. From Ares learning how to “be human” to the idea of a true directive, it's all hashed up and glued back together in ways that don’t add anything new to the conversation. It doesn’t help that, again, Leto’s performance makes the film’s big emotional moments fall flat, and there are even a handful of moments where he recaps the plot and what the central emotional theme is to the camera, as if he’s stating things after the film has come back from a commercial break.

Which makes it all the more confusing that one of the biggest ideas of the film itself, what to do with the permanence code, is one of its coolest and most fascinating. It’s by far the most interesting part of the film, and it's a lasso that director Joachim Rønning (“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” “Kon-Tiki”) uses to keep the audience’s attention. His direction excels in the numerous action sequences and effects heavy moments, while being simply serviceable in quieter moments. The crazy camerawork from cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (“The Social Network,” “Gone Girl”) is a reason to see the film alone, and like the previous “TRON” films, it's been conceived of as a “style over substance” affair instead of accidentally ending up as one.

That style is excellent when it’s allowed to thrive, but the film seems almost self-conscious about its origins and franchise. While the sequences within the Grid are gorgeous and inventive, they take up a fraction of the film. Not only are the scenes outside of the Grid far less interesting as a whole, but it feels like the film is almost apologizing for what it is. As if it’s “too cool” to spend too much time in the science-fiction world it made its name on. It means that the film is likely the most general audience friendly TRON film thus far, but it also robs a large chunk of the film of its identity.

With each frame of black and pulsing red stretching across the seemingly endless Grid landscapes to the contrast of bright flashing lights and colors against the real-world environments, the film is an insanely gorgeous feast for the senses. It’ll likely be the kind of proejct used to demo 4K TVs and home stereos for at least the next decade, thanks to the visuals being matched with a pulsing, grinding, crunchy original score from Nine Inch Nails. It looks so cool and sounds so cool, so instantly transporting that it almost helps make up for the film’s cliched, routine, overstuffed story. Almost.

While getting a new “TRON” film made starring the likes of Greta Lee and Evan Peters, shot by Jeff Cronenworth, with a Nine Inch Nails score and all the visual sumptuousness that a $180 million budget can afford seems like a dream come true, when you then mix it with a wonky creative team and an actor as polarizing as Jared Leto, you start to see where the monkey’s paw has curled its finger. While certainly not a disaster, it's not hard to see a better version of this film somewhere in another Grid. As it stands, it’s the most audience friendly “TRON” film yet and die-hard fans will gladly eat it up. But waiting another fifteen years for something just “good” shouldn’t be seen as a victory. Like one of the tracks from the soundtrack states, Disney seems to have pushed this one out just to keep the franchise “as alive as you need me to be.” 3/5 

The Smashing Machine (2025) - Review: Rock Solid

 

It’s always fun to draw parallels between an actor and their latest projects. Tom Cruise starred in two films about real people doing real things against an automated way of doing things in the midst of the Hollywood vs. AI talks, and now Dwayne Johnson (“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” “Black Adam”) is here in a role that he also shares some similarities with. It's not surprising that Johnson saw a biopic about a man wanting to be the best in the world, stumbling at the finish line early on, and spending years working his way back up to that shot once again. After all, this is the man who once tried and kind of failed to become the biggest movie star in the world. Why wouldn’t he see himself in a role like this?

The film follows Mark Kerr, played by Johnson, an MMA fighter participating in the early years of the sport’s mainstream success from 1997 to 2000. Mostly fighting in Japan, Kerr struggles to maintain his professional career alongside his opioid addiction and relationships with his on-and-off again girlfriend Dawn Staples, played by Emily Blunt (“Mary Poppins Returns,” “Edge of Tomorrow”), and his best friend and trainer, retired fighter Mark Coleman, played by real life UFC fighter Ryan Bader in his acting debut.

Given the involvement of writer/director Benny Safdie (“Uncut Gems,” “Good Time”), it’s safe to say that most moviegoers shouldn’t expect a typical biopic formula from this project. This isn’t the kind of director who seems like he’d make a film like “Bohemian Rhapsody” after all. So, it should come as no surprise that what “The Smashing Machine” is is far closer to a tone piece in the likes of the original “Rocky” or “Raging Bull.” It’s certainly not as violent as the latter, but it deals with Kerr’s internal struggle and ends up only loosely following the three-act structure of a typical dramatic biopic. Safdie’s film may be constructed in a more unconventional way, but his script can’t escape the cliches apparent within these sorts of stories.

It’s a good thing then that his central trio of actors are all giving their all with that material. Johnson is clearly putting in more effort than he’s given since his days of weirdo films like “Southland Tales” or arguably ever. It’s not the finest performance ever seen, but it’s the sort of role that is just nice to see him do. You can actively see him trying to improve his craft and he is inarguably compelling; if there was an Oscar for “Most Improved,” he’d be a shoe-in.

Blunt is excellent in a twisted, easily hate-able way. It’s a performance that’s hard to watch given the nature of the character and her back and forth toxic nature with Kerr. She’s great almost in spite of the character. Bader meanwhile is a calm, soft spoken portrait of a gentle giant. You truly believe he and Johnson’s friendship and chemistry from the start, and he gives the sort of performance that makes you wish he was in the film more often.

On the technical side, Safdie’s creative decisions are mostly for the better. The musical score, the first film score by electronica artist Nala Sinephro, is a really interesting textual mixture of jazz fusion and electronic droning, flowing with the mental state of Kerr as the film progresses. The cinematography from Maceo Bishop (“The Curse,” “Somewhere in Queens”) is the expected handheld shakiness seen in previous Safdie films and it works well here, putting you right in the fights. What works less so is the film’s editing and pacing. Edited by Safdie himself, the movement from scene to scene can be quite odd. For example, everything about the editing seems to imply that one scene takes place in the same location and time as the previous scene, until a character says it's a completely different day and place. The film’s pace also feels like it takes twice as long in the first half and then goes twice as quick in the second half.

While much of this film has been marketed as “Dwayne Johnson’s serious acting role,” there’s plenty to like here as well. He is great, as is Emily Blunt and a surprising debut turn from Ryan Bader, and the musical score and ambitions of the film are fantastic. You can see exactly what the film wants to be, and it almost gets there most of the time. It has a lot in common with Kerr in that way, and it makes for a tale that’s absolutely interesting if not particularly exceptional. 3.5/5 

One Battle After Another - Review: Viva la Revolución!

 

By his second film, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson had made a name for himself. Not only did he manage to land the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, and John C. Reilly for his first movie “Hard Eight,” but he decided to follow up a smaller scale gambling drama with a sprawling 1970s porn epic titled “Boogie Nights.” Since then, he’s made a name for himself with films that manage to capture his idiosyncrasies while also delivering a very specific portrait of human emotion and drama. Films like “Punch Drunk Love,” “Phantom Thread,” “Licorice Pizza,” “The Master,” and “There Will Be Blood” have captivated audiences across the board, with a few even being regarded as some of the greatest films of the 21st century.

Following up any stretch of films like that would be a seemingly monumental task, but with his biggest budget yet, Leonardo DiCaprio (“Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood,” “Titanic”), in the starring role, his first film set in the modern day, and his most politically poignant film yet, PTA has jumped headfirst into a tale of “One Battle After Another.”

Bob Ferguson, played by DiCaprio, is a member of a revolutionary far-left group known as the French 75. The group focuses on freeing immigration detention camps and bombing abandoned banks and politician’s offices, among other actions, most commonly facing off against Colonel. Steve Lockjaw, played by Sean Penn (“Mystic River,” “Milk”). After their DeFacto leader and Bob’s lover Perfidia Beverly Hills, played by Teyana Taylor (“The Book of Clarence,” “Straw”), becomes pregnant, she vanishes, leaving the organization scrambling and Bob with their daughter. Now sixteen years later, Bob is washed up and paranoid, smoking and drinking while trying to parent his daughter Willa, played by Chase Infiniti in her film debut (“Presumed Innocent (2024)”).  He’s forced to snap into action though after Lockjaw reappears in his life looking for Bob and Willa, forcing the two to go on the run.

The film gets far more complex than that, and Anderson’s script, loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland,” keeps everything taught and wonderfully absurdist. Make no mistake, there is plenty of harrowing material here that will likely drive many away from the film. But Anderson handles it all deftly. After an extended prologue sequence, things kick off and never let up, mixing action genre sensibilities with an almost satirically serious view of modern America. It’s a delightfully funny and unexpected tale, but it never shortchanges any emotion or character. For example, Perfidia might disappear from the film after the prologue, but her presence is intertwined with the entire rest of the film. She hangs over the events like a ghost, and Taylor’s brief but exceptionally impactful performance meshes with Anderson’s script to create that lingering effect.

DiCaprio’s performance, meanwhile, feels like an aged mixture of a wannabe action hero and Jeff Bridges’s performance in “The Big Lebowski.” He’s consistently stumbling and getting turned around, but his unshakeable determination and love for his daughter make for an intensely compelling lead role. At no point is anything ever certain for him and even as he repeatedly falls on his face, literally and metaphorically, you never doubt that he has the ability or drive to save the day. It also helps that the person he’s trying to save is exceptionally compelling herself. In a film full of incredible performances, Chase Infiniti might very well be the film’s greatest aspect. She’s completely magnetic, zeroing in on the complexity of this role, an already fiercely independent child being thrown headfirst into a world of actual danger, and becomes impossible to look away from. Numerous moments speak magnitudes without her even talking thanks to the physicality of her performance. One scene towards the end of the film showcases her silent physicality book ended with moments of loud ferociousness to borderline perfect results.

Penn meanwhile is an absolute menace. The most despicable kind of villain, one so sure of his own goodness, is played to terrifying effectiveness here. He never saps Lockjaw of any of his own absurdity though, delivering a performance for the kind of man so assured in his own self-confidence that it spills back around to being completely silly in numerous aspects. Like this film itself though, these moments of silliness never cheat you out of the pure evil he’s able to encapsulate throughout the film. While undoubtedly in smaller roles, Regina Hall (“Scary Movie,” “Support the Girls”) and Benecio Del Toro (“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Sicario”) fill out this world with characters that make major impacts within even their first few moments of screen time. Hall has a haunted look to her character Deandra and manages to be a perfect microcosm of the “old way” of revolting. Del Toro is arguably more Zen than DiCaprio’s Bob, providing yet another interpretation of revolution in the modern day. He’s an instant scene-stealer, and his role would be a standout in any other film not already filled with standout performances.

It would be one thing if PTA and this film wanted to tell a story like this, as there have been plenty of big budget politically charged films in recent memory. But what sets this tale apart is not only the hope at the core of it, but the attitudes it has towards the older and younger generation of revolutionaries. He doesn’t hold the older folks up as infallible nor is the younger generation shown as incompetent or hot headed. It creates a more complex tale that refuses to paint either side of the resistance as the “correct” way of doing things and allows the performances to benefit from the additional dimensionality.

Completely separate from the film’s creative elements, the technical merits on display are absolutely exceptional. Jonny Greenwood’s (“There Will Be Blood,” “The Power of the Dog”) musical score is fantastic, plain and simple. It flows and chills each scene, moving from an already chaotic pace and vibe to something borderline cacophonous by the end of things. Likewise, Michael Bauman’s (“Licorice Pizza”) cinematography plays with numerous viewpoints and angles, flying across waves of long sun-soaked asphalt roads and nights lit with fireworks and the hazy smoke of tear gas. It’s a gorgeous film and ridiculously easy to become fully enveloped in as things exploded outward for Bob, Willa, and the rest.

Making a film with this kind of material, in this kind of climate, may just be an unwinnable task. “One Battle After Another” manages to be an exceptionally tight film in its focus without ever becoming oppressive. Anderson keeps things hopeful as well as just absurd enough to remind you that, even in times like this, things will eventually be toppled. The future generations will keep working just as much as the previous have to keep moving forward. By wrapping that narrative and idea in a film so completely thrilling and entertaining as this, he’s made what just might be the film of the moment, one that so perfectly encapsulates what we’re living through right now in feeling and action. It might also be the best movie of the year. 5/5

The Long Walk - Review: One Foot in Front of the Other

 

While most know him as a master of suspense and horrors, Steven King is also a writer easily known for tales that wrench guts with emotions as much as they do with... actual guts. While plenty know him for “Carrie,” “Cujo,” “It,”” or “Pet Semetary,” plenty also know him as the mind behind “The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile,” or “Stand by Me.” While not the first work of his published, the first work King ever wrote way back in 1966 was “The Long Walk,” a grueling work combining both his coming-of-age emotional pathos and his gruesome violent horror skills. And up until now, it was one of the few works of his to not have a film adaptation.

Set in a future after the second American Civil War, the film follows a group of boys, including Ray Garraty, played by Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza,” “Saturday Night”), Peter McVries, played by David Jonsson (“Rye Lane,” “Alien: Romulus”), Billy Stebbins, played by Garrett Wareing (“Ransom County,” “Manifest”), Arthur Baker, played by Tut Nyuot (“Dark Money,” “Steve”), Gary Barkovitch, played by Charlie Plummer (“All the Money in the World,” “Looking for Alaska”), and Hank Olson, played by Ben Wang (“American Born Chinese,” “Karate Kid: Legends”), as they participate in the yearly Long Walk, led by The Major, played by Mark Hamill (“Star Wars: A New Hope,” “Batman: The Animated Series”). The competition sees one boy from each state volunteer to walk until only one remains, with the winner receiving monetary riches and one wish of anything they desire. However, each must maintain a speed of 3 miles per hour at all times, receiving only three warnings for stopping or slowing. After the third warning, they are shot dead with no exception.

Regardless of your opinions on the material, Hoffman and Jonsson’s chemistry and performances are absolutely incredible. Hoffman’s everyman stylings mix wonderfully with his innate charm and selflessness to create a protagonist that feels unpredictable. Even as he’s telling us what he will or won’t do, his character’s evolution makes his journey a fascinating one to watch. Jonsson meanwhile has a calmer, wiser approach to his character, which makes him endlessly enjoyable to watch. When they bounce off each other, volleying lines and thoughts like ping-pong balls, it's a completely captivating experience. This chemistry extends to the rest of their castmates as well, as each boy manages to perfectly encapsulate their own archetypes while branching just enough outside of them to keep things interesting. It’s easy to fall in love with each of the walkers, and even those that feel too despicable to care for, they’re nevertheless completely engrossing.

Given director Francis Lawrence’s (“I Am Legend,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”) experience with other violent dystopian films centering around teens, it’s easy to imagine this material being a repeat of his previous works. However, his direction not only stands in stark difference to those previous works, but the script by JT Mollner (“Outlaws and Angels,” “Strange Darling”) works especially hard to ground this material in a believable feeling of reality. Despite their circumstances, these kids feel believably like they could’ve been plucked right out of any modern high school. They joke, they rib, they cry, they fight, and each passing mile draws you further into their plight. It’s a poisoned chalice of a film, as the very concept means only one kid will make it to the end, with Lawrence and Mollner using that slow dread to ample effect.

Lawrence’s experience with a pseudo-post apocalypse not only works with the script, but the visuals of the film as well. This is a low-budget affair, especially by modern Hollywood standards, and Lawrence and cinematographer Jo Willems (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “His House”) both use the journey as a showcase for mid-western American landscapes. There are all manner of small towns put on display, for better or worse, and numerous sequences in the pouring nighttime rain, illuminated with mobile spotlights, are just breathtaking. It’s an almost impossible task to shoot a film like this, with nothing but walking, and make it something interesting to look at. Willems camerawork is a quiet and gorgeous portrait of some otherwise down-trodden American scenery, and the fantastic musical score by first time composer, and co-founder of the band The Lumineers, Jeremiah Fraites is the cherry on top.

Ironically, the basic concept of the film does lead into one of the film’s lesser aspects. Obviously, given the nature of the subject material, one should expect some gruesome visuals and uncomfortable violence. But there’s a stark shift halfway through the film. After the mid-point, the violence becomes more thoughtful and harrowing. Prior to that, there’s almost a sense of over-indulgence, as if the first elimination is meant to be a “woah look at how cool and gruesome this is” moment, which stands in stark difference to the film’s central themes. Likewise, the film pulls no punches in the grosser moments one might expect from a tale like this but that might be considered “unfilmable.” Given that these kids simply can’t stop, it shows the trials of that journey warts and all. Your mileage will definitely vary with those aspects.

“The Long Walk” might not be many’s first choice for a Stephen King adaptation. Hell, King himself even said he thought it would never be made given the subject matter. But with a writer and director committed to telling this tale in a deeply heartfelt and genuine way, with a game cast led by two powerhouse performances, they’ve turned it into something special. It’s certainly still a violent, unsettling, and grim tale. But they find that beauty and humanity in the core of it, putting it on display to great effect. 4.5/5 

Twinless - Review: Just the Two of Us

 

There’s something about grief that brings people together. Doubly so if it's someone particularly close. Losing a sibling is a difficult thing no matter the circumstances, but the idea of losing a twin is borderline unthinkable. That concept isn’t exactly what most would think to mine for dark comedy/light thriller material, but writer/director James Sweeney (“Straight Up”) has decided to do just that for his second feature film. It’s certainly an interesting concept, and it’ll absolutely go in a direction few will be expecting.

Dylan O’Brien (“The Maze Runner,” “Love and Monsters”) played Roman, a young man mourning the loss of his twin brother Rocky, also played by O’Brien. After he and his mother Lisa, played by Laura Graham (“Gilmore Girls,” “Parenthood (2010)”), clean out Rocky’s apartment, Roman decides to stay there and attend support group meetings for other “twinless” twins. This leads to him meeting Dennis, played by Sweeney, at one of those meetings and the pair hit it off. They go to hockey games and grocery shopping together, however something about Dennis is not what it seems.

Despite being a fairly low-stakes and low-tech independent film, Sweeney manages to wring a lot of dramatic tension from Dennis and his secrets. There’s a distinctive shift early on in the film that results in what came before being viewed in a completely different light. It’s a tricky tonal balance, mining comedy from this kind of tragedy, but it works, and Sweeney’s script is exceptionally sharp. He manages to set up each character remarkably well, showcasing their sadness without pity and giving them each little moments to shine before enveloping them within the others.

O’Brien is absolutely fantastic here, and while this is clearly a double bill opposite Sweeney, he completely steals the show. His few scenes as Rocky as perfect, working the character with broad swings to make a deep and specific impact. Because of that work, we get a great impression of who he was even without spending the whole film with him. His work as Roman is just as impactful. As we hear him describe his brother, the differences between the two become even more apparent as he and Sweeney mine the material for some excellent emotional growth. Roman is clearly not the sharpest bulb in the drawer, and O’Brien rides the line between being an oaf and stupid. At no point does he overplay things to the point of silliness, making him feel like a truly grounded character. It’s a stark and heart wrenching portrayal of sibling love, even outside of the twin concept, and it’s easily some of the finest work O’Brien has ever turned in.

Sweeney is just as excellent, and the tonal shifts the film makes allow for what could be a simple role to something far more interesting. His isn’t as nuanced of a performance as O’Brien’s, but it's nevertheless engrossing to watch. When the two of them as on screen, things are just absolutely fantastic. Graham is also excellent as a grieving mother figure, but she’s only on screen for mere minutes, lessening her impact. Aisling Franciosi (“The Nightingale,” “Black Narcissus”) appears as Dennis’s co-worker Marcie in what could have been a minor role that blossoms thanks to her performance and Sweeney’s script. They take the character and run with her into a twisty evolution that’s completely different from where she begins. She becomes one of the film’s central linchpins and is excellent the whole time.

Sweeney’s script would turn even the most boilerplate, plain film into something twisty and entertaining, but the tight camerawork and musical score help to push it above that. There’s a fantastic sense of depth with cinematographer Greg Cotten (“The Thinning: New World Order,” “Straight Up”) and he plays constantly with high angles and distant voyeuristic shots. A segment at a party in the middle of the film cements itself almost immediately with a fantastic usage of split screen that punctuates a turn in the film as a whole and in the individual scene. Meanwhile Jung Jae-il's (“Parasite,” “Squid Game”) musical score is far more inventive than one might expect for a movie like this, standing out in each scene and propping up the events as they unfold with an off-kilter electronic beat.

“Twinless” is a film that would likely skirt right underneath the radar of most audience members but absolutely shouldn’t. This sharply funny, dark comedy manages to kick itself into the zeitgeist thanks to its wonderful technical merits and performances, with O’Brien standing out as a highlight of the film and his entire career. It makes full use of an oddball premise and shows that Sweeney’s first film wasn’t a fluke. He’s a writer/director/actor talent that should be here to stay. 4.5/5

Caught Stealing - Review: A Baseball Player, A Cop, Some Russians, and Two Hebrews Walk into a Bar...

Calling a director like Darren Aronofsky (“The Whale,” “The Wrestler”) a “general audience” filmmaker would be like calling extra-spicy siracha a “light condiment.” While his films are beloved and acclaimed, he is still the director behind “Requiem for a Dream,” “Pi,” “Black Swan,” and “mother!” to name just a few. So, to see him direct a crime thriller starring Austin Butler (“Elvis (2022),” “Dune Part Two”) might be a bit of a leap. But make no mistake, even if “Caught Stealing” is the most audience friendly film he’s yet made, it's still far from an easy pill to swallow.

Set in 1998 New York City, the film follows Hank, played by Butler, a high school baseball star turned bartender puttering along in life. He spends his days drinking, bartending, and hanging out with his girlfriend Yvonne, played by Zoë Kravitz (“The Batman (2022),” “Big Little Lies”). After his next-door neighbor Russ, played by Matt Smith (“Doctor Who,” “House of the Dragon”), has to rush back home to London, Hank finds himself caring for Russ’s cat in the meantime. Things quickly take a turn though after Hank finds himself hunted by police detective Roman, played by Regina King (“The Boondocks,” “If Beale Street Could Talk”), Hebrew gangsters Lipa and Shmully Drucker, played by Liev Schreiber (“Doubt,” “Ray Donovan”) and Vincent D'Onofrio (“Men in Black,” “Daredevil (2015)”) respectively, Cuban gangster Colorado, played by Benito Martínez Ocasio (“Bullet Train,” “Happy Gilmore 2”), and two Russian gangsters Aleksei and Pavel, played by Yuri Kolokolnikov (“Game of Thrones,” “The Americans”) and Nikita Kukushkin (“Captain Volkonogov Escaped,” “Attraction”) respectively, all of whom are looking for Russ.

It's a fairly simple premise for a crime caper like this, and screenwriter Charlie Huston (“Powers”) uses that simplicity to stack bodies and misunderstandings as high as possible to further complicate Hank’s adventure. It’s the sort of film that doesn’t have a mystery at its core, rather everyone withholding information from each other. It means that each moment feels exceptionally tense, as if a backstab could occur at the drop of a hat. Huston does an excellent job bringing his own novel to the big screen, and he and Aronofsky makes great use of the material together. Most notably, it feels like a true “New York” film in a way one hasn’t in quite a while. As opposed to most others that use the landmarks for set dressing, Aronofsky gets into the streets and alleyways and lets it all breathe. There’s not a single shot of the Statue of Liberty or Grand Central Station or any place like that, but it feels more “New York” than a movie that just shows you New York.

Butler makes for a great patsy here, playing Hank’s naivety for the situation to a great effect. He never feels like an idiot or clueless; he’s the kind of guy who can piece together what’s going on but genuinely is mistaken in his position in it all. It’s a great kind of role, as opposed to films that have their “good guy” actually be a not so good guy after all. It adds meat and tension to his role in the story and to Butler’s performance as things go on. King is a fantastic force of nature against him, peppering her role with classic bits of New York cop attitude and dialogue. Smith is a delightfully fun British crust punk and is so much fun to hate. Ironically, the film’s two best performances are two that deserve far more screen time: Kravitz, Schreiber, and D’Onofrio are all great but leave you wishing they had a larger role in the film as a whole given their excellence and chemistry with Butler.

As Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique (“Black Swan,” “A Star is Born (2018)”) dip and weave through alleyways and supermarkets, the wonderful score from composer Rob Simonsen (“Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “Deadpool & Wolverine”) and rock band Idles worms its way into your ears and sets the entire escapade alight. The film certainly looks the part, bloodied, beaten, and tattered, and yet Aronofsky’s more brutal touches are here in full force. While not as psychologically brutal or full of gore as his previous works, it's a film that’s brutal in its story. No one is safe in this tale, and it straddles the line between emotional devastation and catharsis. It makes the journey feel worth it, knowing lives are on the line as opposed to being a film wherein there’s an absence of danger. That being said, Aronosfky isn’t the sort of director to hide any of the brutality even in a lighter fare film. Just know that, if a character gets shot, you’re going to see them get shot before, during, and after.

It’s odd to call a film like this, a dark comedy crime thriller from Darren Aronofsky, a crowd pleaser, but it's as close as we’re likely to get from him. Because for all its tension and toughness, this is a film wherein he and Huston clearly just want to take you on a wild ride through New York City. It just so happens that this ride is bumpier and bloodier than you might expect. But with a cast, musical score, and generally grimy look like this, it's a ride well worth taking. If you can stomach a few dead bodies. 4.5/5

The Toxic Avenger (2025) - Review: The Goriest Do-Gooder of Them All

 

Way back in 1984, a little company burst (pun entirely intended) onto the low budget scene with “The Toxic Avenger,” a tale of a mutated and mutilated janitor that poked fun at superhero stories and monster movies in equal part. That film helped put its studio, “Troma Entertainment,” on the map, and they’d later be responsible for helping to spawn the careers of the likes of Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Oliver Stone, James Gunn, Eli Roth, and Samuel L. Jackson. They even originally released “My Neighbor Totoro” in the U.S! Now, over 40 years after the original splattered onto the silver screen, we have the long in purgatory remake from writer/director Macon Blair (“I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” “Green Room”) of “The Toxic Avenger.”

Winston Gooze, played by Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones,” “The Station Agent”), is a down on his luck stepdad reeling from the death of his wife and looking after his stepson Wade, played by Jacob Tremblay (“Room,” “Good Boys”), in the aftermath. After being diagnosed with a fatal disease, Winston begs for the help of his boss Bob Garbinger, played by Kevin Bacon (“Footloose,” “Tremors”), the CEO of evil pharmaceutical company BTH, who declines to help. This results in Winston becoming mutated into a half-melted, mangled version of himself that becomes known as the Toxic Avenger, voiced by Dinklage and performed by Luisa Guerreiro.

While the plot takes a wildly different approach to the material than the 1984 original, the guts of it are still the same. There’s a surprising sweetness to the material and the way the film sets up Winston’s transformation. A lot of time is spent setting up Winston’s character and lonely feeling in the world and it makes his emotional and physical transformation far more interesting as a result. It doesn’t prevent the first act of the film from grinding to a halt at times as various characters are set up, world building is established, and things are generally fleshed out. Once Winston becomes Toxie, things ratchet up: the pacing gets better, and things get more interesting.

Dinklage does a great job completely throwing himself into as sad of a sack as Winston is, both physically early on and in his vocal performance. He has a great talent for imbuing his voice with even subtle emotions and that, coupled with an excellent physical performance from Guerreiro, makes Toxie really come to life. Tremblay does some interesting work, as he gets the most emotional material to deal with outside of Dinklage, and the pair do have a great awkward father son relationship to work through. The rest of the cast, meanwhile, completely chews through the material in the best possible way.

Bacon is a hoot, and Elijah Wood (“The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King,” “Happy Feet”), playing opposite him as his deformed mad scientist brother Fritz, keeps that energy up phenomenally. Taylour Paige (“@Zola,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) appears as BTH whistleblower J.J. and she plays the straight man in all of this madness to excellent effect. A surprise standout is scene stealer David Yow (“Dinner in America,” “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore”) as Guthrie, a homeless confidant of Winston’s post-transformation. Not only is he hysterical, but there’s also a slight madness and sweetness to his behavior that makes him stand out in a crowd of equally insane side characters.

Despite its low budget and scrappy technical merits, this modern version of St. Roma’s Village (aka Tromaville) is effectively stylized and cartoonish in the best ways. Washed out colors paint the daytime events in a flat trashy persona, and the nighttime shadows and neon give things a liveliness that manages to still be trashy without betraying the daytime styles. Toxie’s practical effects are exceptionally impressive, especially on the low budget, and the film’s heavy usage of stylized colored lighting accentuates everything. Virtually every piece of practical makeup and prosthetics looks excellent. When it comes to the CGI blood and gore however, those effects are decidedly less good looking. While these elements are copious, they suffer the most from the lower budget, popping off the screen in the worst way with lower quality spurts and an unintentionally fake look.

Speaking of blood and gore, just as much as the original film and virtually anything baring the Troma Entertainment name, “The Toxic Avenger” is not for the faint of heart. Eyes pop, brains spurt blood like fountains, and there’s all manner of blood, viscera, and body parts strewn about the scenery. This violence is part of the appeal, certainly, but it doesn’t betray the brain working behind the scenes as well. While it certainly feels overstuffed, Blair’s interpretation of Toxie’s origins takes on organized crime, polluting pharmaceutical companies, and corrupt politicians. It absolutely doesn’t go for the cheap way of rehashing the original film, but it's hard to say it pulls these themes off gracefully or to their fullest potential.

That’s likely because, for as much as it is its own version of events, Blair’s film is a clear love letter to not only Toxie and Troma, but to the entire kind of B-movie shlock fest films that the company helped exist. Without Troma, we don’t have “Evil Dead,” “South Park,” likely the U.S. releases of Ghibli films, or even the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. While references to those aren’t involved, Blair still treats the studio with the reverence it deserves and invites. There are references and tributes to various Troma works spread throughout, including a cameo from original “Toxic Avenger” director and studio founder Lloyd Kaufman, and it not only fleshes out the world of the film even more, but it showcases just how much heart the film has beating underneath, almost in spite of its other, more objectionable aspects.

"The Toxic Avenger” is certainly not for everyone, but a big beating heart and love of the genre and character helps catapult this film above the shlocky “direct to video” remake status it so easily could have claimed. Dinklage delivers a fantastic new version of the character, and despite a slow start and some low-quality CGI effects, the film remains a mushy, splattery good time with a surprisingly big heart beating underneath its charred, half-melted husk. 3.5/5

Honey Don't! - Review: A Lesbian Noir That Gets Lost Along the Way

 

After the writing and directing duo behind hits like “Fargo,” “The Big Lebowski,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “Inside Llewyn Davis” split in 2020, the Coen Brothers each began directing projects that fit their own specific interests. Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke (“Drive Away Dolls”) began writing and directing a trilogy of “lesbian B-movies” meant to be of a far less serious tone than his previous works. That first film, “Drive Away Dolls” had a fairly muted reception in 2024, and now the second film in that disconnected trilogy is here with “Honey Don’t.”

The film follows private investigator Honey O'Donahue, played by Margaret Qualley (“The Substance,” “Maid”), who finds herself stumbling into the mysterious death of a potential client. This death leads her to a mystery involving many faces around town, including Drew Devlin, a pastor and leader of a local religious cult played by Chris Evans (“Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Knives Out”), MG Falcone, a police officer played by Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation,” “Agatha All Along”), O’Donahue’s sister Heidi played by Kristen Connolly (“The Cabin in the Woods,” “Zoo”), her niece Corinne played by Talia Ryder (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Do Revenge”), and police detective Marty Metakawich played by Charlie Day (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “The Super Maro Bros. Movie”).

From the start, it's clear that Coen wants to leave his more outlandish sensibilities behind and make a film that represents a more serious vision of the classic “Noir” genre films he and his brother love. There’s still plenty of off-kilter humor here, and plenty of queerness as well. However, by stripping out the almost cartoonish sense of reality that his previous works, and particularly “Drive Away Dolls” had, what remains is an amateurish imitation of these detective driven noir films from the past. There’s a handful of great camera angles from cinematographer Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog,” “Zola”) and Carter Burwell’s (“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Anomalisa”) musical score captures the noir vibes well, but they both simply slot into their genre rolls without ever standing on their own. It certainly feels like a professionally made film, but like the humor, the ramshackle sense of filmmaking shown in “Drive Away Dolls” or other Coen productions gave their films a sense of personality. Here, it works but it works plainly.

Qualley’s lead performance does some heavy lifting, and she plays the stone-cold sleuth role well, constantly propping the film up but she can only do so much to save it. Evans and Plaza are fine enough, but don’t do anything remotely remarkable with their roles. Plaza in particular starts out well enough, but the plot takes a complete nosedive with her character in the last act in the worst possible way. Meanwhile everyone else simply putters along. Day manages to turn a borderline annoying character into a slightly charming one, and Connolly and Ryder are fine enough, if only because the characters are the most plain in the film.

It would be one thing if the film felt plain and yet kept the mystery engaging, but that might be the film’s worst aspect. Coen and Cooke initially set things up as a slow, meandering sort of tale with multiple different directions things could go, before essentially knocking everything down at the end in the most unsatisfying way. Nothing connects or loops back around on itself, essentially making a good eighty percent of the mystery completely pointless. It's not hard to see a vision here, as if they wanted things to be subversive in how it all culminates. The dialogue is great, keeps the rat-a-tat rapid fire nature of other Coen films and noir genre movies, so each scene does at least have a quick pace. But it feels like a massive twist just to have one, instead of something rooted in pre-existing characters or clues spread throughout the film.

“Honey Don’t” might have a compelling and charming lead performance, and it's certainly admirable that the film wants to center queer characters outside of a coming-out story. However, Coen’s seeming desire to make a more “serious” film means that all sense of personality has been stripped away, leaving a mediocre film with a lukewarm cast and a bad ending. Even without comparing it to Coen and Cooke’s previous so-so queer comedy, there’s a good deal left to be desired here. There’s certainly worse out there but given the “whodunnit” renaissance that’s occurred recently, you can also find far, far better examples of the genre. 2.5/5

Ne Zha 2 (English Dub) - Review: A Little Dubbed Demon Reborn

With a box office of over $1.8 billion in China alone, it's safe to say that “Ne Zha 2” has turned into something of a phenomenon. It’s become the highest grossing film ever in China, the highest grossing film in a single country ever, the highest grossing animated film ever, the highest grossing film of 2025 so far, and the fifth highest grossing film of all time. To say the film has become a phenomenon would be an understatement, and after a theatrical run earlier in the year, A24 has now released an English language dub with an all-star cast as an attempt to capture the small sliver of the market that has yet to see this new hit.

Picking up directly from the end of the first film, this sequel follows the mischievous demon child Ne Zha, voiced by Crystal Lee (“Barbie Dream Besties,” “Kageki Shojo!!”), and his friend, the good-hearted Ao Bing, voiced by Aleks Le (“Demon Slayer,” “Solo Leveling”). After Bing’s body is destroyed, Ne Zha agrees to complete a trial to become immortal and win a potion that can create a new body for Bing to hold off Bing’s father, Ao Guang, voiced by Christopher Swindle (“Ultraman (2022),” “Boruto: Naruto Next Generations”), and the villainous Shen Gongbao, voiced by Daniel Riordan (“Transformers: Robots in Disguise”), from attacking Ne Zha’s home as revenge. Ne Zha enlists in the help of his master, Taiyi Zhenren, voiced by Rick Zeiff (“The Tom & Jerry Show,” “Olivia”), to help him complete the trial, while sharing a body with Ao Bing to prevent his soul from being lost.

The first and most important thing to understand is that “Ne Zha 2” is a sequel in the truest sense, meaning it makes no accommodations for those who haven’t seen the first film. While a brief summary of the first film’s events appears at the beginning, it will still be quite difficult to piece together what is going on for the first fifteen-twenty minutes. Once things get going, it picks up enough for things to be relatively intelligible, although it's obvious that this is the sort of film that will play best to those readily familiar with each character, location, and previous story beats. Things are still plenty entertaining though, as the material has its roots in the basics of the “Hero’s Journey” trope, and are easily understandable by all with a little bit of paid attention. Director/writer Jiaozi (“Ne Zha”) flows smoothly, and the English translation keeps things moving just as briskly. Each scene manages to be a thrilling display of Ne Zha’s childlike sensibilities and raw strength, while also working as individual pieces of the evolving larger narrative, full of twists and unexpected turns.

The tradeoff for that brisk pace though is that, like many films dubbed like this, there are numerous moments where it feels as though the English cast is rushing to say their lines as quickly as possible. It’s a verbal whiplash at times, and it’s one of the reasons the film can be hard to parse for its initial fifteen-twenty minutes. The sense of humor is something else though; while it can be entertaining to watch Ne Zha poke fun at stuffy gods and angels, numerous moments of the film grind to a halt for fart and pee jokes that feel straight out of the kiddiest of kid’s films. They feel so out of place that you’d think they were added by an American studio if not for the fact that they were fully animated scenes.

Crystal Lee’s vocal performance is one of the highlights of the film, a wonderfully spunky bit of antihero and preteen boy mischief. She brings her vocal talents to bare and turns what could have easily been an annoying protagonist into a lovable little ball of spitfire chaos. There’s a heart of gold underneath his brutal exterior, and it makes the film’s eventual emotional arc work wonders. Aleks Le provides a great balance as Bing, and the both of them bicker and spar back and forth, providing a yin and yang of the film’s central conflict and sense of humor. Zeiff is a charming bit of comic relief as well, and he’s a delightful bit of raspy voiced respite anytime he appears.

The vocal performances across the board are all generally good, with each filling their spots well. Riordan, for example, plays a menacing reluctant villain and delivers the exact kind of vocal performance you’d expect for a role like that. Oddly enough, the weakest performance of the bunch comes from the most well-known actor: Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Crazy Rich Asians”) as Ne Zha’s mother Lady Yin. She isn’t bad but compared to a cast full of performers giving full-throated, over-the-top voices, her reserved nature seems out of place. Even in the moments where she attempts to match the nature of the others, she just falls flatter than them.

What certainly does not fall flat is the film’s action and visual style. This might not be the most detailed looking film in the world, but it makes up for it in sheer grand size. It’s an ever-expanding sense of space and world, with each action sequence taking place with seemingly hundreds of thousands of characters on screen. Battles erupt forth with mobs of people moving more like dust clouds or liquids than individuals, leading to a greater sense of scale and epic combat. Characters appear, made of jade, mist, ice, fire, and it all feels remarkable to behold. It’s a dizzying sense of scale, and each subsequent event builds on the previous ones. Quite simply, it's the kind of film made for as big a screen as possible. The musical score from Wan Pin Chu (“Ne Zha,” “Rainbow Sea Fly High”), Rui Yang, and Roc Chen (“The Wandering Earth,” “Autumn Cicada”) isn’t particularly incredible, but it underscores each moment with thrilling intensity. It’s a truly awesome kind of film, pushing the animated medium in what it can showcase on a pure scale level.

“Ne Zha 2” certainly has had an unexpected journey in the theatrical landscape. Beating “Inside Out 2” to become the biggest animated film of all time in just three weeks, it's clear there’s a fervor behind the film. And for good reason, as it takes a well-worn style of storytelling, drenched in the “Hero’s Journey” tropes, and dresses it up with some exceptional animation and thrilling battle sequences. The script and vocal performances might be slightly rushed, more a factor of the English dub than anything, and it's certainly not the kindest to blind viewings, but it’s the kind of film that justifies its existence on a visual level alone, with everything else simply being icing on the cake. 4.5/5

Freakier Friday - Review: Thank God It's Friday... Again

Despite not drawing nearly as many box office dollars as others, the “Freaky Friday” franchise has proven to be one of Disney’s safest mainstays. With three theatrical films, four made-for-TV movies, and a stage musical, it’s safe to say this version of the story lives somewhere in the head of most audience members, whether they realize it or not. Now, the first direct sequel and the third theatrically released film is here, bringing back the cast of the 2003 remake and seeking to further push Disney’s recent brand of sweet nostalgia within the theatrical market.

Set twenty-two years after the 2003 film, this film follows Anna Coleman, played by Lindsay Lohan (“The Parent Trap (1993),” “Mean Girls (2004)”), and Tess Coleman, played by Jamie Lee Curtis (“Halloween (1978),” “Everything Everywhere All At Once”), struggling on the cusp of Anna’s wedding. Her daughter Harper, played by Julia Butters (“The Fabelmans (2022),” “American Housewife”), refuses to get along with her future stepsister Lily, played by Sophia Hammons (“The Absence of Eden,” “Under Wraps”). When their feud comes to a head, the four of them find themselves swapping bodies: Anna swapping with Harper and Tess swapping with Lily. While this would already create confusion and complications leading up to the wedding, Lily and Harper have even worse plans: to call off the wedding between Anna and Lily’s father Eric, played by Manny Jacinto (“The Good Place,” “The Acolyte”).

While none of the original writers or directors return, this latest film does great work in keeping the same tone and style that the original had back in 2003. Director Nisha Ganatra (“Late Night,” “The High Note”) and co-writers Elyse Hollander and Jordan Weiss (“Dollface,” “Sweethearts”) keep the light snark and family friendly amounts of rebellious attitude in ample supply. This is still a Disney film after all, but they push right up against the boundaries and, like the first film, create what most tweens would call the edgiest film they’ve ever seen. They also load the film with far more subplots than the first, creating a longer, more bloated film as a result.

Gone is the simplicity of the first film’s premise of mother and daughter in each other’s shoes. Now, with four characters switching, more time is spent on the awkwardness, the differing bodies, and the jokes surrounding them. This material is still fun, but much of this was also done in the first film in the same way. And the fact that they’re now doing it for twice as many characters can lead to plenty of great lines lacking impact given how many times jokes like it are repeated. The multiple characters also means a longer film, and this sequel is almost a half hour longer than the first. While there’s certainly more material here, it also means that the film drags in the middle as all the pieces are starting to fall into place and definitely does so before the switch takes effect.

Luckily, this is the perfect example of a film elevated by a cast completely letting loose. Curtis and Lohan are completely fantastic, easily sliding back into these “kids in trench coats” kinds of performances that they excelled at twenty-two years ago. They not only play off each other fantastically, but they do a great job at the “playing a person playing someone else” element of the role that most others would likely stumble over. Butters and Hammons are also great together and turn what could have easily been two annoying “kids as adults” performances into something special. Like Lohan and Curtis, their turn from annoying teens to their “adults in kid bodies” performances are impressive and effective. Jacinto is a surprise as well, channeling his awkward heart of gold persona into a shredded single dad that plays his “too good to be true” aspect for comedy in the best ways. He’s completely in on the joke and is all the better for it.

The most disappointing aspect of the film, especially in comparison to the 2003 film, is simply how bland everything looks. The costumes are fun, especially when you see a teen’s version of adult clothes, but the look of the film is closer to a Capital One commercial than a theatrical film. The cinematography is flat, the lighting is flat, the colors look washed out. Yes, this is a Hollywood mid-budget comedy, but there have been and are still Hollywood mid-budget comedies that look exceptionally better than this. And one of them was the 2003 film. 

“Freakier Friday” is the sort of film that gives you exactly what you expect, no more no less. Curtis, Lohan, Butters, and Hammons are great, and the script has fun with the material and colliding conflicts as things progressively get messier. If it was cut down a bit or had a tighter pace, or even looked better, it's not hard to see this being just as beloved as the 2003 film. As it stands, it's a fun little nostalgic flick that is definitely worth your time, even if it doesn’t excel. 3.5/5