Diary
May 2026
The Mastermind
53/100 Fuck around and find out. Bro is not a Mastermind. I started this on a flight and just didn’t have the patience to continue due to a lack of sleep. But after a month long hiatus from film, I’m back; unfortunately this was not it. On the bright side, whatever I watch next will probably be much easier to get into. I’d never seen the director or knew the director prior to this and I don’t mean to be rude but her film is reflective of her face, painfully dull. Not ugly, just not interesting. The amount of times they were just extending a shot for no fucking reason got me scratching my head towards the end. It’s like she was doing it on purpose. There’s so little in this film that she felt she had to showcase every action of his as he was doing it. From parking his car to fucking organising the boxes which took 5 whole minutes to replacing the photo on his fake ID and so much more. And I must be honest, I thought it started off well. It looked like he was about to pull some sort of a genius heist but turns out it’s the tagline I mentioned at the start. Sorry to be talking like Gen A or whatever but bro is not built for this shit and the rest of the film is just him trying to make his way out until he gets caught for something he didn’t even do. Karma hits you in some way or the other. Although one thing is quite clear - the art of stealing has been killed by the cameras. Back then, all you needed was a mask and one more guy than the security which also was minimal and now one alarm, one sighting and it’s over. You ain’t making it out of the building my friend. But people still do pull off heists and those are the real artists, not these 70s frauds. Good to see my guy Victor from Penguin even though it was an useless appearance and yeah much of the second half was just a test of your will to complete a movie. Josh is good I guess for what little this demanded of him. And the rest tag along. Alan Haim was good too. And for the way this is shot with that grainy filter or camera, this is one ugly ass film even though it ought not to be. A failure of a project in more ways than one.
March 2026
Wuthering Heights
69/100 2026 ranked - https://boxd.it/RPy5O Okay look I’ve not read the book and I never will. So I don’t much care for the discourse online dissing this film for omitting major and more serious themes from the book which was set in a tumultuous time in the 1800s of course and maybe even changing the direction of the film itself. Yes I hope it’s not completely different otherwise it’s just an injustice to name it the same and show the words “adapted from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.” Now I’m not empathetic to any of them because Mr. Linton was a good fucking dude. If he was a crook, I’d maybe root for Cathy more but in that case, the entire direction and circumstances of the film would have to change. This film had to be under 2 hours easily. There’s so much to be bored by. For some time, it’s a loop of the same bullshit over and over again. Cathy Heathcliffe getting freaky tonguing and what not. Now I do realise that most nudity in film is completely unnecessary but if there’s any film which was screaming for loads of it, it was literally this. We didn’t even get a single tit or buttcheek ffs. For a movie filled with sexual tension, close encounters, infidelity and even some erratic situations, this was incredibly tame as a result. And you’d think considering how successful Saltburn was while being so freaky, Fennell would at least venture down the same stylistic choices but not. Cathy being a bitch to Nelly and expecting kindness and advice was something I did not get. I feel we definitely needed more context and hence more screen-time with the kids who were actually fucking British btw and didn’t have manufactured accents unlike these two Aussies. And Isabella jesus… I don’t know what sort of debt Alison Oliver owes to Fennell but the number of embarrassing scenes she does for her are absurd. I actually liked her and always like her performances. A visually stunning film making great use of the landscapes it was shot in and another one of those films let down like The Smashing Machine by a director who just wasn’t bold enough especially stylistically.
The Chaser
85/100 The Best Thrillers - boxd.it/p7sYS (https://boxd.it/p7sYS) Happy endings don’t exist. This film might be a very accurate depiction of how a case like this would be handled in real life. The incompetence from the cops, the lack of basic police work and fucking desire to get justice was astonishing to see but really do we ever see anything else in this world? This is a reflection of us and the people we’ve given way to. All this really always kill any chance of survival that the victims would’ve had. Mi-jin fucking escaped after almost having her head bashed in, she got out, managed to inform the cops, the Jung-ho and you motherfuckers couldn’t do the basic duty of attending a call with some urgency? Yeah I honestly thought we were gonna get a proper torture scene at the end which would leave us somewhat satisfied that we at the very least wiped him off the face of the Earth but Na Hong-jin wants to make you suffer. The number of times they gave us hope that it could actually work out and just fucking broke our hearts is mental abuse. I must admit when they first nabbed the killer, Jung-ho was still quite casual about the ordeal, he was tired of losing his assets (sorry but he’s a pimp idk what else to call the girls he paid for) and wanted some payback, then the gradual increase in tension is what I applaud them for and what made this film what it is. Jung-ho was so unconvinced that he didn’t even think Yeong-min killed anyone. This is an ex detective fuelled by his hunger to get his property back and still his instincts never kicked in. Then he meets the daughter and his concern grows, his guilt grows, he starts feeling bad for not believing Mi-jin in the first place and his effort coincides. What was the breaking point however was when he went to Yeong-min’s sister’s house and saw her son have a massive scar which was inflicted onto him when he was alone with Yeong-min. That paired with the confession and trend finally made him realise that Mi-jin is in real danger and that was the first time the thought of her being dead actually popped in his mind; that slow realisation that he’s been taking this too lightly all along, the realisation that he’s dealing with the devil himself. One of the worst feelings I get in cinema is the regret of not having realised sooner. I suppose that’s universal and not limited to film and TV but visualising it really hurts. I remember the most impactful being Rust remembering the third and main killer in True Detective S1, remembering that he had seen him years ago and only if he had known. This one isn’t quite the same because here Jung-ho had captured the guy but the cops got involved and they just could not get any proof out of him. This is possibly worse because you know who you’re dealing with, you know what he’s done but there’s not a single fucking thing you can do about it. It’s extremely painful. Although the ending wasn’t exactly what I wanted it to be, I thought they did it really well for the path they took. They wanted to kill us and they almost did. Jung-ho finally used his cop instincts but just could not finish the job but upon reflection, that at least allowed him to be with Mi-jin’s daughter, that gave him a little chance at redemption for all the mistakes he’s been making for years. That little girl was the one glimmer of hope this film did not kill. My heart shattered when he heard the voicemail, oh the regret and simple rage at yourself that someone would have at that point, the fucking weight would kill you. I broke apart right then. That is what the word “haunting” really signifies. A great film that gets better as it goes on but be prepared to get depressed, I wasn’t. We’ve got two really strong characters, an antihero fighting for the last good left in him and a serial killer who is as deranged and heinous as can get. Ha Jung-woo was terrifying and genuinely despicable to listen to and look at, special performance. And Kim Yoon-seok - as much as I wouldn’t praise his performance, I’ll give him so much credit to the cardio sesh. That man was fucking running, his heart must’ve given out. He put some real physical effort here. That uphill chase sequence had me exhausted just looking at it. Another dark Korean thriller that delivers an unique experience.
Resurrection
90/100 2025 ranked - boxd.it/Fn1G4 (https://boxd.it/Fn1G4) That last hour or from whenever the New Year’s arc begins is one of the most breathtaking pieces of cinema I will ever see. I was in awe, I was in trance fuelled by M83 and love and red light cinematography. That sequence alone makes this journey worth it. I am out of words. The first person shot invoking this dreamy feeling of Silent Hill and Cyberpunk is something you have to see to understand, I don’t know how to describe it but it made me feel melancholic that I might never get to experience something like this ever again. The club sequence with Butterfly by Smile.Dk ringing in the background and Teresa Li singing in pain had me replaying on repeat while watching the movie, I simply couldn’t get myself to move forward for a while. Oh how I wish I could just project the entire sequence to play on repeat while I dream away into the night! You know when they say there’s nothing new these days, cinema is at a recycling phase and mind you I don’t mind the same style and stories being repeated if they are well told, you show them this. You show them that there’s so much left to tell, so much left to our imagination, so many emotions left to feel that had never felt before. You show them this and you understand the kind of person you are showing this to. Dare I say this is a litmus test of persistence because the hour before the NYE sequence is testing. It does flow in waves, one moment you think you’re understanding it all and the next you feel stuck, begging to gain the ability to even crawl out of this storytelling you do not connect with, storytelling that you do not want to be a part of. But alas it’s so rewarding, so entrapping and simply masterful. It’s Lynchesque to a point where it’s afraid to commit itself entirely until it takes a turn and elevates you into a world you’d hate to be a part of but also cannot keep your eyes off. How does one think of such a thing, how does one even begin to make such a thing, genius exists and we see it unravel right in-front of our eyes. If this didn’t make you feel something special, something missing from your life, you my friend are as good as dead. You don’t deserve to dream because it’s only dreams where we can let ourselves go, let ourselves be the happiest we can ever be. This is an ode to cinema and imagination with the aid of fantastic sound design and stunning visuals. It is mandatory to watch these with AirPods or any noise cancelling buds on because you have to be lost, you have to immerse yourself and only then will you come out of this wishing you never left. My last three films have been the holy trinity of Asian films - Japanese, Korean and now Chinese. Not intentional at all and not equal in terms of the level of filmmaking either but each appealing to the strengths of their ambition and culture. So much left to see and so little time left to see it but we will be marching on, one by one day after day for a feeling like this. Generational. Also, I loved that recreation of the Sméagol LOTR 3 opening.
The Wailing
83/100 Edit #1:Not my best review at all, a bit jumbled up and my English left me for this one. Okay I was doing a bit of reading after finishing this film and that’s when I felt a bit of fear. The film itself poses moments of horror but nothing too outlandish to make you feel something creeping up on you but reading about it, clearing some doubts and learning new things that you didn’t notice make you realise the level of detailing and deception going on here. So the film doesn’t leave you stranded at the end, it’s clear that the lady was the good one and the shaman and jap were in cahoots but the flower hanging at the door in one of the victims’ house and the cop do leave me confused. Reading online, it says that the shaman hung the flower but there are many who share my opinion that the lady hung the flower in those homes in an effort to try and capture the spirit or simply protect those homes. I believe this theory is true because the flower withers once Jong-gu enters the house implying that the process failed. While I do hear the theory that the shaman hung the flower sometime during his rituals, it just doesn’t add anything except speculation. Whichever way you search online, you’ll get an answer and some form of explanation but I believe it’s quite apparent that the lady hung the flower. Now apart from that, I only got confused during the ritual scene and that’s pure credit to the director. By showing the shaman and the devil in parallels, it felt as if the shaman’s ritual was working and the devil was dying. I thought as many must’ve that Jong-gu was dumb as hell to stop the ritual but it’s clear his impulse to protect his daughter was right. Unfortunately, in the grand scheme of things, it did more harm than good but the action at that point of time worked. That ritual scene was shot incredibly well, pure cinematic bliss. The third act of this film is really strong. You put yourself in Jong-gu’s shoes and you are totally confused. You have forsaken the shaman until that point but you’re feeling real fear confronting that lady; that fear in turn renders you stuck to your place and makes you listen to her. But the panic buttons hit and he gives up and finally listens to the shaman all to his deficit. The intensity was portrayed incredibly well. I thought the shaman looked like a fraud dressed like that and something about his face screamed foolish and turns out he was a fraud but that bitch was cunning as hell and the devil got to him. This is one of those films that gets you thinking, leaves you stuck for a while after watching it and dare I say leaves a larger impact after watching as compared to during. I’m not gonna increase my score because I thought the second act did drag, Jong-gu was rushing the way he did later and any sane man would’ve done so already. The decision making was off and I understand panic and grief comes brings out different versions of people, some beg while some lash out but either way, he took too long. It rendered the prior confrontations useless for a large part and at times felt like the director prioritised taking us on a ride of twists rather than moving forward with the arc. There was always a sense of mystery right from the start and it’s something about these Korean thrillers - I don’t know if it’s the rain or the countryside setting, you always feel on the edge. I suppose making something like this in the city would be too difficult but I do say often when I watch such thrillers that tackling that problem with this modern world in context is still massively unexplored and has huge potential. Shoutout to the young actress who played Hyo-jin, a phenomenal performance, very strong and extremely energetic. I don’t see too many before and after spirit performances done well to this degree especially with such an extended screentime. And lastly why are there so many mountain shots throughout? That’s why at times I felt like the director was taking the piss a bit and doing bullshit every now… idk if he had a target runtime but he made sure he got there somehow.
13 Assassins
77/100 There’s evil and then there’s Naritsugu, this motherfucker the ultimate sadist and what made it worse was that no one dared say or do anything against him because of his position of power. The ending was not satisfying enough I’m sorry. You took your time to arrive there and a big motivation was the note written by the incapacitated girl and you don’t give him the same treatment? Chop his fucking limbs, chop his tongue, cut down slowly and kill him with suffering. Such men do not deserve the honor of having their head chopped off. I thought the Edo period was peaceful fam but you had scum like him rampaging through people. Now turns out my definition of an assassin is shaped by media cuz I went into this with the full expectation that we’d have 13 members most likely ronin who would go all Ghost of Tsushima on their opponent, attack from the shadows, play on stealth but an assassin is quite simply a murderer motivated by a political or personal agenda. Not my definition but it is what it is. So naturally I was a bit disappointed when they went all out, yes planning and all because how else do you go against 200 men but it gave way to an all out chaotic and grand action sequence which I’m not the biggest fan of in general. The bull CGI was fucked though lol. I thought the film started off extremely well, it was dark, nonlinear, steadily building upon the grotesque nature of Naritsugu and invoking the rage within us and Shinzaemon, masterfully done. I mean starting with seppuku itself is mad. Then we got Makino’s story which was worse then we got the peasant girl. I liked the dynamic between Hanbei and Shinzaemon, two competitive students who are now distinguished lords and members of the shogunate but rivals by nature, rivals by allegiances and the definition of samurai, defined by serving the lord for Hanbei and defined by defending the people for Shinzaemon. Of course the true Samurai is the latter. Two great tacticians and a great fight to end it all. It was tough to keep up with names and faces at the start with the same haircuts for all and the non linearity but we got there quite easily later on. And I was shocked when Koyata was fucking alive after being speared in the neck but turns out the extended edition does delve into his forest spirit storyline which would’ve made it more apparent. I suppose this theatrical edition gave us that shock factor and I read that it’s implied in the film but I didn’t quite notice it. Either way, a good twist of a world coming together to defeat evil. Grounded, bloody and at times poorly directed but a very good film on most fronts. I need to see more samurai films but I doubt there are too many.
Network
84/100 RIP Robert Duvall. Okay I’ll tell you where I am with this. The first 40 minutes of this was a struggle. The idea that a deranged anchor gets free rein of whatever he wants to say on live television was hysterical, maniacal and frankly absurd. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen or heard of such a situation had me baffled. They were exploiting Howard in real time, anything for the ratings. Then things started to pick up. We got into the whole ideology that Howard’s trying to put forward, how at a time of depression, his words were resonating with the young American public, how they were persuading a movement, inflicting a desire for change, how the network didn’t care for what he had to say as long as they got the numbers. The film could’ve stayed on that path, stayed adamant on that line but delved into personal relationships and with Nelson’s monologue, revealed how horrid and hollow the world around us had become. This film is far ahead of its time in the sense that we are just realising how we’re too far gone, how the Saudi prince still dictates the major decisions made by the President of the United States, how money controls the words and in turn the actions of the corporations and the state, how everyone is indoctrinated to a humanoid reality. Back then things were just getting started under people’s noses; now it’s all fucked. “He’s saying that life is bullshit and it is! So what are you screaming about?” I could quote the entire film, every monologue and every argument because that’s just how strong the script is. Watching this in 2026, 50 bloody years after this film was released and it’s now more reverent than ever but maybe it’s the fact that I was aware of the reality of our world before watching this is what didn’t leave such an impact on me as I’m sure it must’ve had on the people back then. For anyone with an open mind, this must’ve been life changing. As for the characters, I really liked Max, he was a good friend and perhaps the only sane man in this film. He was aware of his situation and he stepped away even though he said he wouldn’t. He’s perhaps the only truly mature character on the show both professionally and personally. William Holden’s performance was definitely the highlight for me. Faye Dunaway as Diana was a psycho, she was the modern day woman willing to do anything to get her name to stick, to get a stronghold of the position she was infatuated with. She was all work work work and she made sure to do anything for her life which she repeatedly implied a product of her work to sustain. That’s how we got that ending. I was shocked watching it unfold because it all seemed like a joke until it actually happened, the ease of how they just pulled the trigger on this human who was of course a commodity to them, the ease of how they changed tunes the moment shit turned South. An impressive film that does test your patience and even your intelligence until it starts unfolding prior to the halfway mark. Great performances and an excellent script make this worth a one time watch. This might be the greatest script I’ve ranked below a 4.5 but that’s in line with the subject at hand and approach about it.
How to Make a Killing
65/100 2026 ranked - https://boxd.it/RPy5O I was gonna say that your first love is always a bitch but all Julia here wanted was some security. She did come to his rescue at the end, just as the lady with the fortune in her hands. If you were 6 kills away from a generational inheritance, would you not do it? I would. What this film does show is that too much money isn’t good, it follows that quadratic curve where there’s one point where everything is just perfect, you go above that threshold and you start making sacrifices, you start losing people, start losing privacy and most importantly your security. “They all wanna be millionaires but none of them want an actual job.” Most real line said in the movie. I personally relate to it so strongly. Dreams are dreaming but the mind is just not determined enough to do what needs to be done. I thought the film started really well, got into the action quite quickly but did falter away in the end although I can’t quite think of what else they could’ve done. Perhaps the script on paper had potential but this is all that was possible. Ed Harris’s voice man, that’s a man. Heavily underused unfortunately. Jessica Henwick and Glen Powell were good. Margaret seemed like a happier version of her character in Honey Don’t which was a bad bad film btw.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
58/100 2026 ranked - boxd.it/RPy5O (https://boxd.it/RPy5O) By the order of the peaky fookin Blinders! I’ve just wanted to write that for the longest fucking time because I finished the show before I found Serialzd. Had to smoke one after the film in honour of Tommy fookin Shelby as well. Now this film suffers like many TV films suffer, a series or the characters of a series simply do not translate to a movie, I can’t remember if it ever has. This film was reduced to some highs such as that love scene, the grenade scene and Ada’s death. The rest of it felt like filler. “Once I nearly got fucking everything. But nearly doesn’t count.” That for me is the film itself. Nearly doesn’t count. There’s absolutely zero reason this film had to be made. We got a really effective ending in S6 and although it wasn’t the best season, I was satisfied with the journey. This movie is at times boring b it because I love Peaky Blinders, I marched through appreciating the world, the context and with hope. Tim Roth was a lousy villain. Rebecca played a Romani well but again not much there. Barry did well, looked good too. Cilian had too much on his shoulders to carry a nothing script. What made Peaky Blinders so good was the uncertainty, the fear that shit would go down and not the way you thought it would and this film doesn’t achieve that, it’s extremely predictable and doesn’t make it particularly enjoyable at that. Some montages are good and some are so random and a clear filler. This could’ve been wrapped up in an hour 20 tops. Like Tommy Shelby once said, I’m already broken.
Dhurandhar: The Revenge
72/100 2026 ranked - boxd.it/RPy5O (https://boxd.it/RPy5O) Jameel Saab I knew you were my goat. My star in the first film and he came clutch in this, liked the twist but I suppose many must’ve anticipated it, I didn’t, I don’t like to look too far ahead when watching anything. Okay let’s start with the positives. That opening right until the director credit, about 35 mins or so is special. What I wanted most from this film was young Ranveer, I want Jassi, his backstory, his pain, his entire situation explained, his struggle to get there, the tragedy he’s had to go through and they did a really good job of highlight the pain. Unfortunately though, that is it, that’s all we get. I wish it could’ve been an hour or even longer because this film is long enough to warrant a look into the past, a detailed look into it. We could’ve had delved deeper into his story, his motivations, kept the graphic violence but also the emotional toll so it hits you harder, it hits you that there are villains everywhere starting with your own fucking village. The buildup would’ve enhanced the effect a lot more but they wanted to rush to the present. And of course Ranveer was the star in this, Arjun was very good too, the acting was on par with 1. Oh and Aalam bhai your sacrifice will be remembered, I thought that scene in the flashback was handled well. Unfortunately there are plenty of negatives, mostly minuscule but they exist. What made part 1 great was the attention to detail, it was a proper spy film so they had to be cautious, view it through the lens of an actual spy, not say suspicious things, not act suspicious, just blend in and be one. This film suffers from modern Bollywood action porn. Now I anticipated a lot of action and yes I’m not a huge fan of such dirty chaotic action but I do well with good fights here and there. This film though does not even achieve that. Apart from the opening, there is nothing memorable. Now the details - Hamza was talking to the Baloch guy so casually and the scene after, they give him an entrance like they did with Rehman, I didn’t like that cheesy shit in the first film and hated it in this more so because this could’ve easily been placed before with the following conversation continued afterwards, the entrance felt mandatory for the director and it felt like they had to push it in for the aura moments or whatever. It’s cringe. Then you have Pinda who’s become a terrorist, now I understand that all this was for the Aalam sacrifice but that seemed so coincidental. Out of thousands or millions of men in UP and Punjab, his best friend is the one to be a mass terrorist? Come on brev. Then Hamza tells his people to burn their bodies and gets praised by SP, sure SP does doubt him later but only because of his previous connection to Aalam. Didn’t it occur to him that Hindus are burned and Hamza instructing to burn them is exactly the end they’d want? How did the almighty intuitive SP not catch that? Those are some of the few key moments. And for the rest, it suffers a lot at the hand of this aura gimmick that infiltrated Indian cinema, the fetish for cinematic reveals are killing logic. Why is the fucking rocket launcher specifically covered under a sheet at the end of the fucking car trunk? Literally no one would keep it like that. There are many such moments where it feels performative and disrupts momentum. SP’s death was really tame and I suppose it is a ploy of double crossing the double cross, staying two steps ahead, knowing your opponent’s potential thinking but for all the useless cinematic moments they gave us, this was one where they should’ve actually delivered. It didn’t need to be fancy and over the top but it could’ve been more tactical and definitely more personal. Also when I mention the extension of the past, I don’t mean to make the film longer, could’ve easily cut down on the killing of the 20 odd terrorist and their affiliates, just got boring and repetitive. This film suffers from serious pacing issues at times and isn’t quite the easy watch that 1 was. Yami Gautam’s cameo was only a matter of when and it was cool, you’d expect it from Dhar otherwise he’d be on the couch. A film that has its moments, starts off extremely well but suffers from the expectations and for me, suffers from the short timeline after the first film as well. They could’ve delivered a much better product with 3-4 months more in hand. Editing was rough. Overall though, it’s been a very good two parter, something that Indian film has failed to deliver massively in recent times. Also, was that not the Logan music in the first Modi scene at Iqbal’s house? I’m sure that’s the music, edits of Logan have ingrained it into me.
Crime 101
88/100 2026 ranked - https://boxd.it/RPy5O Blanck Mass with another banger of a score after ‘She Rides Shotgun’ last year, quickly becoming one of my favourite composers. Okay let’s get the obvious out of the way. Yes it’s built on the template of Heat, in fact most of the first half is quite similar. Things start to shape in the second half and while it doesn’t quite achieve the heights on its own merit, it’s still a very satisfying heist thriller. I got vibes of Thief, Heat, GTA V which was of course inspired by Heat and some parts of The Place Beyond the Pines; I won’t elaborate further there. Now calling this a ripoff is a lazy review imo, there’s nothing wrong with building on the greatest heist thriller ever made (in fact I wish they’d do it more but I suppose the lack of such films is why this felt as it good as it did) and for most of it, they do a really great job of selling the different character arcs. There are parallels with Chris being Neil, Mark being Vincent and Barry being Waingro. The real difference in the proceedings is if Chris was actually Neil, he would’ve smoked Barry outside that store but he’s an ethical thief, he’s not about hurting anyone by any means at all. That does come back to bite him but that’s where we get our happy ending. And I have to say, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with happy endings every once in a while. Sure it doesn’t make up for the ultimate thriller experience but sometimes, you just wanna see your leads go about their ways after contact. I found out about this film when I was making my list for the most anticipated film of the year and I had a feeling this would be good, the cast was really solid and you simply cannot go wrong with the setting. The title on the other hand is one of the worst jobs you can do. Sure in context after watching the film, you see the thinking behind it but for the amount of effort and quality invested into this, you can surely do much better than fucking “Crime 101.” Thrillers are my favourite genre and heist thrillers in particular make me feel really good, it’s an instant attraction. The romance, the action, the planning it’s the makings of a perfect film for me. This is my kind of movie. I was really digging the Monica and Chris romance too, wish they made the film longer and built upon that a bit more but I suppose with the lack of other crew members like in Heat, there’s only so much you can work with. The film looks beautiful, the color grading is again my kinda look and yeah this got many things right. Lastly, is Mark gonna be playing a cop in everything these days? He does an excellent job as usual but change up my man, this is the not the age to be typecast.
Dust Bunny
74/100 2025 ranked - boxd.it/Fn1G4 (https://boxd.it/Fn1G4) Yet another surprise of 2025. I had no clue about this film until I came across it earlier this week and boy was it a ride. We got Mads Mikkelsen the monster hunter/ assassin trying to protect a little girl who was simply saying the truth. There’s a fucking monster under her bed. Now the first thing you notice is obviously the painfully thin aspect ratio. It’s literally 3:1, 3 to fucking 1, it’s a third of the screen! I thought this was some error and maybe cropped out in download or something but this is the real deal. And funnily enough, it really grew onto me. It helps that it was shot really well but that extremely wide aspect ratio makes it beautifully cinematic and I say this as a massive fan of Open Mattes. Instantly got Harry Potter vibes at the beginning the way Aurora was walking through the streets, looked like Hogsmeade. Firecrackers in the sky, a lively Chinatown and gorgeous silhouettes. That camouflage later on was insane work. In the first half, you do get the feeling that Aurora might be a bit of a psycho. She robbed a church and was so nonchalantly talking about her parents get eaten. But of course as you find out she’s a foster kid who’s been through some shit, she’s just a victim of her wish and doesn’t really care anymore. We get a beautiful little father daughter relationship developing between Mads and Aurora and it comes to fruition at last at the expense of Sigourney Weaver the final boss. How are you looking like that at fucking 76? I was in awe. Anyway, it suffers from pacing and despite some quality action and creative sequences, you’re left waiting for everything to unravel in front of Mads because you’ve already seen the monster, well the actions of it anyway. It’s new, this is one of those films that offers something for everybody, quite literally. 2025 has lowkey been a brilliant year for cinema.
Anniversary
78/100 2025 ranked - boxd.it/Fn1G4 (https://boxd.it/Fn1G4) Most unexpected movie of 2025. All this because Josh could not resist that Nazi pussy who gave his worthless ass an overinflated sense of importance. Bro destroyed it all but of course the architect of it all was Liz. That’s a real hater right there. Destroy an entire country to show up the woman who shamed you. Apart from Paul, this film doesn’t really feature any likeable characters. Birdie is cute but she gets brainwashed. Cynthia is fucking annoying throughout the film except for the end where she kinda redeemed herself, justice for Rob though at least from the little we saw. Anna shows you how miserable comedians can get in real life and although she’s on the right side, she’s a pain in the ass before the attack. And Ellen bears the burden of being the only sensible human being who also happens to be a mother-in-law thereby painting her in a bad light of hatred and borderline disgust. “You know I used to be afraid of you. But I don’t think I am anymore.” Maybe the worst thing a mother can hear from her future daughter-in-law. Shit had me terrified for her. This movie despite being under 2 hours is packed with content that had the potential of a series. There’s so much family drama, political ideologies, potential quarrels which are all constricted to imagination by the runtime. The potential was huge and the anniversary theme didn’t add much other than a chance to get together. I feel like very little happened when they were together. Paul was too passive and Ellen spent the entire time trying to control herself. The most unexpected thing about this was McKenna Grace ending up as a suicide bomber lmaooo. I was shocked. Mind you this might seem like a political movie by the end of it but it’s a film about being the greatest hater you can be. And why does a rich guy automatically wear a turtleneck? It’s 2026 bro, switch up now. Anyway, hater of the year goes to Phoebe Dynevor as Elizabeth Nettles.
The Ides of March
84/100 Mere intelligence simply does not cut it in politics, never has and never will. The people we call scums of the Earth are where they are because they have an understanding of the pieces fall, they are predictive machines who make moves that destroys people they want out of the way, it’s the subtlest of things that can make or break a campaign or at least that’s the way it used to be. Now America has a man with Epstein ties, rape charges, pedophilia accusations and countless other issues who was given the clear run to become president while competing against an incompetent moron. Now if that doesn’t tell you the state of the country itself, I don’t know what will. This is an indictment on the American public as well but charm and a contrarian attitude goes a long way to brainwashing the increasingly dumber public. Standards aren’t what they used to be and perhaps the times will never recover. Films like the Insider, Michael Clayton, JFK essentially political and corporate thrillers are in my opinion the real litmus test for a writer’s calibre. Most people aren’t “interested” in politics, in corporate drama but if you can make that very topic thoroughly engaging, you are capable of doing a good job in any genre. Some stick to this niche like Oliver Stone and some dabble across genres like Tony Gilroy. From an espionage thriller to a corporate thriller to a full fledged sci-fi drama featuring everything there is to learn about this world in Andor, great writers can do it all. Now I don’t think this is quite in the upper echelons of this particular genre but with the limited filmography in this type, I can only appreciate the the little that comes our way every now and then. “People are scared of you. They don’t understand how you do it and they love you for it. That is the most valuable thing in this business. The ability to win people’s respect by making them mistake their fear for love.” This film is about a campaign consultant in Ryan Gosling as Stephen who believes he is fighting the good battle, who believes he is fighting for the right man in this election and essentially believes in everything this man in George Clooney as Mike stands up to be. Then the betrayal hits; Stephen realises that everything he believed in was wrong, he knows politics is not simple but he doesn’t quite realise how far things can go before they get out of hand. He thought honesty and wit would get him far but it only almost cost him everything. Now everyone is always trying to do the right thing except of course when the tide turns against them. All that morality goes out the window when you realise you have to use that upper hand to get the ball to fall in your court rather than trying to take down everyone and everything with you. The selfish attitude comes in. This film has an insanely stacked cast and while this doesn’t particularly get the best out of them and isn’t quite the complex film that it potentially set out to be, it does deliver on many fronts outside politics and that I think goes over many people’s heads when watching this film or maybe it doesn’t and people just don’t seem to care. Either way, it is not boring for one second and although it loses the steam by the end, it does deliver an enticing drama. I must also mention that if Evan Rachel Wood gave me that look, I’d faint in a fucking heartbeat. That woman is right out of a fairy tale.
Hustlers
68/100 There are so many untold stories revolving around the time of the financial crisis, it’s a filmmaking pot of gold in my opinion and quite underused. The stories of so many people trying to get back up by any means possible, stories of people being destroyed it’s all there, a dark time for humanity. Also this isn’t necessarily limited to that time itself, the journey starts from the outcome of the crash and honestly if I knew this was a real story based on that, I’d have watched it much sooner. We don’t realise this but horny dudes actually fund the livelihood of so many women out there, even now with Onlyfans and all those personal content, it’s guys just willing to throw money to rub one out. It may sound apologetic but these Wall Street guys ran these strip clubs before the crash, they made their money of innocent people but eventually their money went into the pockets of many people helpless people like these women trying to make a living. Money just goes around. “Well how am I supposed to get retail experience without retail experience?” Preach Destiny preach, such is the job market even today and I’d argue it’s much worse. Even skilled workers cannot find a job because every job has a 100 people lining up to take it willing to accept getting underpaid. It’s tough out there and always has been. For these women, making an honest living wasn’t an option because no one would give them to opportunity to do so and even if someone did, our desires cannot be fulfilled by minimum wage can they, whose can really? This movie is not particularly about understanding why these women did what they did but about how they did it. It’s a fraud that keeps going on until you cross that line and hurt that one innocent guy who didn’t have the pockets these women could loot without taking it up on their conscience. This is the Wolf of Wall Street for strippers. Sometimes or truthfully a lot of the time, I do envy those Wall Street guys especially around that time because sure they preyed on the working people’s money but they fucking lived their lives man, if you could just spend a day in their shoes, you’d know how good life can be. It’s the way of the world man, just ignore your conscience and you’ll experience everything lavish this world has to offer. Money does buy everything. I liked this film but this is one of those that suffers from the lack of continuity. If they really wanted us to see how their lives went throughout this journey of a few years, it’d have been better to just keep it chronological. Now I don’t know if this film is entirely accurate but you’re telling me there really was the perfect diversity quota of an Asian, Latina, black and white together just hustling? I don’t know but it works. Lizzo as a stripper though, boy the less I say the better. Also G Eazy what the fuck were you doing here bruh! Lastly, Ben Affleck I get it man, I get why you keep going back to JLo, that is a woman at her finest, physically at least. I thought her and Constance Wu gave strong performances while Lili and Keke were massively underutilised.
February 2026
His & Hers
71/100 2026 ranked - https://boxd.it/RPy5O A thriller that relied heavily on the twists it had planned for the end and there are many such shows that follow the same model and I honestly don’t mind it. In fact I loved the twist but one thing you must do to elevate your show is to have something to talk about or something of substance to show in the episodes prior to the last 2 and this unfortunately did not. For a while there nothing was going on. They were killing time dwelling on the same relationships, added irrelevant drama and a lot of Netflix bullshit. A very strong ending but that does not negate what I had to go through in the previous episodes. With all that being said, I can say that I was ultimately satisfied. I didn’t root for anyone at any point and you could say everyone was at fault in every instance bar Priya of course who was trying to do her job as best as she could. The writing isn’t the strongest suit here and the acting is nothing extraordinary either. It’s shot well as it every show and movie these days really, these new cameras are the shit, it takes half a competent DP to get the job done. A decent story that doesn’t quite use the small town vibe and know how to its advantage but does deliver a good thriller despite it. I wish there’d be someone brave enough to plan a thriller series in a big city, maybe use that anonymity, that dark undertone of a lonely person in a big city to its advantage. We’ve seen it in movies but I’d like to see a good TV show too.
I Swear
92/100 2025 ranked - boxd.it/Fn1G4 (https://boxd.it/Fn1G4) I know this is me giving him the attention he does not fucking deserve over this but seriously fuck off Jamie Foxx, fuck right off you ignorant pathetic cunt! You have no right. I came across this film a month or so ago and naturally I didn’t know what it was about so I skipped it thinking I’d watch it down the line. In line with the controversy, I had to watch it as I suppose many people are doing so now and I was amazed. I’ve only come across Tourette’s in the mainstream with that girl who’s active on YouTube in different pods and videos and I never did realise how difficult her life actually is. On the face of it, she’s pretty and her tics are funny so you just brush it off but now take the hardship she’s had to endure and multiply it by 100 and you get the life of John Davidson played by Robert Aramayo. A man suffering from Tourette’s in the fucking 80s when almost no one was aware and hence understanding of what actually goes on with this condition. Watching this just makes this whole controversy that much more infuriating because you’d think people being aware of this condition would know how to ignore any words coming out of his mouth but such is the world that every fucked loves acting the victim. “In this house, where we know you can’t help it, where we know you don’t mean it, well it all means diddly squat. It’s the apologising that drives me mad. You don’t need to apologise.” In a world full of Foxxs, find yourself one Dottie; she was God’s angel sent to help Tourette’s get the proper attention it deserves. She worked with John towards actually living a life with your condition as opposed to suppressing it with constant medication that in the long run only worsens your condition. That one person can change your life and in this case effectively change so many lives by shaping this man John who has done so much for Tourette’s patients. John’s dad left him, he couldn’t have a relationship, he couldn’t complete his education, he couldn’t play the sport he loved, that he could’ve had a career in, he kept being punished constantly for something that was out of his control, they called him an attention seeker and Tommy said it best in his monologue in court. Why the fuck would anyone willingly invite all this unwanted attention to themselves, all this trouble that they know they’d get in. There’s literally zero benefit in having Tourette’s, zero. Can you just imagine if your intrusive or offensive thoughts just spurted out of you in every situation or person you’re with. Life would be literal living hell. This man went to prison, to court, got beaten up, was suicidal, it’s a mental health catastrophe. To come out of it and actually have the courage and desire to help thousands of people with your condition is the greatest thing any man can do and that’s what is so inspiring about John. “Give me your cock in my hand. Fuck’s sakes.” That whole sequence with Tommy had me laughing my ass off and I’m glad they acknowledged it towards the end just so that I didn’t feel like an asshole. It is funny at times even for the man himself, they say shit which is oddly creative, offensively comedic and quite frankly surprisingly to themselves even. It’s how he curses himself after saying that shit which always got to me. That performance from Robert Aramayo - as good as it is, what’s most impressive is how exhausting it must’ve been. The barrage of sudden movements, twitches, to act Tourette’s is insanely difficult and not for a moment did I feel this man was normal. Until now Ethan Hawke was my vote for the best actor of 2025 and well done to the Baftas for giving this man a thoroughly deserved award because the ignorant Oscars nominated fucking Michael B and Wagner Moura over him. I’ll have to get over it but I’m glad that this movie is getting the attention it deserves, the condition is getting the attention and hopefully the understanding it deserves and from an artistic point of view, Robert Aramayo getting the praise he deserves because that really was an exceptional performance and most definitely my favourite of last year. A really impressive film as well that didn’t just dwell on the emotional side of things and actually showed the work that John has accomplished, the steps he has taken to live a normal life. It was excellently paced and very well told. Also, Moaning Myrtle is that you??? I only recently found out that Shirley Henderson was in her fucking late 30s when she played Myrtle. I could’ve sworn she looked like a kid in those movies. Insane shapeshifting going on there. Lastly fuck off Jamie Foxx and every prick out there who’s accusing John of racism, you cunts should either educate yourselves or shut the fuck up for being a bitch.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
77/100 What in the Last of Us? Until Thomas and Brenda got drugged, they were cooking. This movie was absolute peak. Now the question is who copied who because the infected, the world, everything was so similar. Sand v plants is all. I was really vibing with the action as well but then they went ahead fucked up. Now Teresa, there are millions of people out there who need your help but for that, let me just get these few people who have helped me into trouble first, make it make sense! Top 10 betrayal moments. That whole third act was a cinematic twist marathon. This and that, this and that all leading to that corny ass ending. Bro all those people in that last scene are actually decent actors so I can just imagine how embarrassing it must’ve been for them delivering those lines. It’s a disgrace how quick it fell apart. The first film was a steady 7 throughout and nailed the ending so was elevated and this film was a solid 9 for the first half or so and then fucked up to a 5.5 6 so we even it out. Newt was dressed out here like Nathan Drake lmao, that had to be on purpose. And Brenda is fucking Alita isn’t she??? I’d recognise those eyes anywhere! She also reminded me so much of Dina, few years younger and we’d have gotten the perfect Dina.
The Maze Runner
77/100 Nooooooooo Chuck nooooooooo! Fuck you Gally fuck you you piece of shit incompetent pussy ass motherfucker. That hurt me man, yes there was foreshadowing but the order of events were too unexpected. Banger ending though. This is the most Stephen King novel not written by Stephen King. Yes it’s arguably not as dark as some of his work but I see his vision in this. Regardless, credit to James Dashner for writing this stuff. Until the end, I kinda sympathised with Gally, I understood why after 3 years, you would have lost all your nerve, all that curiosity and just try and survive however it is, survive and sustain that harmony that you’ve worked hard to achieve. But… Minho gave my boy Thomas an instant PR boost there at the start of his running journey. Minho basically the MVP of this film because he’s been getting that cardio sesh in for years mapping that humongous maze. Some of the close calls had me squeamish. Like I’m particularly claustrophobic but my mom is and she would’ve lost her mind watching them escape. And I’m sorry but I have to end it on this darker note. This world is too cute because any real world where 3 years have passed by and 30 odd men haven’t seen a woman results in the woman getting raped instantly. Yes I’m sorry but such is the nature of our horrendous world. Teresa lucky these boys neutered by brain.
Days of Heaven
72/100 The Perfect Shots - boxd.it/caUEU (https://boxd.it/caUEU) Despite this being 1.5 hours, I found it tedious. Yes it’s one of the most gorgeous films I’ve ever seen and in many ways, there are similarities to his previous and first film Badlands. This ended in a similar fashion, the silhouettes were similar except this was of course much more in the golden hour and attaining that perfect shot, numerous times. We got the Exodus in paradise and have you ever seen so many locust close ups before? I liked the film overall, I liked how bad intentions always lead to hell and that’s what the opening line was about but it took a rather mundane approach to it whereas visual storytelling was heavily prioritised over the main story at hand which to be fair was quite simple in itself. I suppose that’s just Terrence Malick, a beautiful experience but not necessarily a man of expansive dialogue. This is one of those films which I’m sure looked incredible even before the Criterion remaster. Regardless, Criterion always delivers.
