2020-2029, Film Review

The Drama (2026)

Posted on April 11, 2026May 17, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

The Drama – Film Review

Cast: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamadou Athie

Director: Kristoffer Borgli

Synopsis: The seemingly perfect relationship of a couple preparing to tie the knot is put to the test following a startling revelation…

Review: Depending on your familiarity with modern-day or Gen Z slang, you may or may not have heard the phrase: “Spill the tea”. For those unaware, it means to gossip or share new, potentially juicy information. As human beings, we certainly love to natter and share fun or amusing stories on a whole array of topics when hanging out with friends. You would assume that if you’re with your significant other on such an occasion, the person you trust more than anyone in the world, you wouldn’t share anything you haven’t already told them. But what if, while on a double date ahead of your upcoming wedding, a secret is shared that makes you question everything you thought you knew about the one person you thought you would spend the rest of your life with? This is the juicy pull of this riveting drama from Kristoffer Borgli.

The couple at the centre of this is Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson), who are in the midst of planning their wedding, with only a week to go before the big day. After a busy day finalising arrangements, they go wine-tasting with their friends Mike (Athie) and Rachel (Haim), who will be the best man and the maid of honour. After several bottles of wine, the conversation turns to a drunken game in which they spill the tea and reveal the worst thing they have ever done. Some uncomfortable truths are exposed, including cyberbullying and neglectful behaviour.

However, everything comes to a head when it’s Emma’s turn to reveal that, in high school, she had planned to carry out a mass shooting at her school after being bullied by her classmates, but ultimately did not go through with it. In an instant, the group’s friendly, jovial atmosphere shifts to one of horror, confusion and apoplectic anger, with Rachel in particular left absolutely disgusted by the trauma of seeing a family member severely injured in a shooting. All the while, Charlie begins to question his entire relationship with Emma, wondering whether she is really the same person he met years earlier and whether he should go through with the wedding.

Just as we humans love a bit of gossip, we watch with a mixture of unease and apprehension as the blissful romance we thought was impenetrable between our happy couple is instantly shattered. The fallout they grapple with makes for absolutely riveting viewing, and as awkward and uncomfortable as it is in places, you just cannot look away. Humans are most assuredly not perfect creatures; we all have at least one skeleton in the closet that we would prefer never see the light of day. However, Borgli’s screenplay is bold in its examination of the relationships we hold dear, and is not afraid to ask some difficult questions of the characters, and by extension the audience, about how far those relationships will be put to the test when confronted with the most alarming of discoveries that may fundamentally change how you once perceived that person. How far would we be willing to go to grapple with and ultimately forgive a person for any flaws they may have in their character, especially at a time when their mental health was probably not in the best shape?

In light of the fact that gun violence is a recurring problem that is never far from the headlines, and given the frequency with which such tragic incidents occur in the United States, credit where credit is due for attempting to broach this topic to begin with. It may only be scratching the surface and could have delved much deeper into how such incidents can tear apart entire families and communities. In this increasingly polarised and deeply divided world, using this as a framing device is a courageous move and a valuable starting point for addressing an issue that blights American society.

Such is the script’s controversial and challenging nature that it demands confident, brave performances to dive deep into these characters and ensure it doesn’t amount to a complete misfire. Zendaya and Pattinson rise to the occasion. Arguably two of the hottest (meant in every sense of the word) actors working today, they bring effortless, abundant chemistry to scenes in which they fall madly in love with one another. Not the most difficult task for such popular actors, but everything changes once Emma’s past indiscretion comes to light. It adds a whole new layer to their performances, as Emma is left scrambling to confront the dark truth about her past she hasn’t faced in years, while Charlie flickers between disbelief and quintessential British awkwardness and bewilderment about what his soon-to-be bride nearly carried out. This is emphatically not the case for Alana Haim’s Rachel, who, despite revealing an arguably even worse indiscretion than Emma’s, exhibits pure, venomous hostility towards a woman she once considered her closest friend.

Life is no picnic. It has its joyous moments, such as a wedding (in normal circumstances). Yet it can also present us with difficult dilemmas that don’t offer easy answers. This is the essence of what makes The Drama such a compelling, sometimes awkward, and sometimes hilarious watch. Your tolerance for how it chooses to confront a thorny subject may vary depending on whether a traumatic event has occurred in your family. But above all, it challenges us to accept that the love we have for another person will have its ups and downs. Ultimately, would you be willing to forgive and accept the person you thought you would spend the rest of your life with for who they are, no matter their flaws or mistakes they might have made in the past? Now there is one question you won’t find in any wedding vows.

It may make you squirm with discomfort like a bad speech at a wedding, but with committed performances by Zendaya and Pattinson, The Drama spills the tea to offer a fascinating look at the emotional complexities of a relationship.

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2020-2029, Film Review

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

Posted on March 28, 2026May 3, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

© Searchlight Pictures and Radio Silence

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come – Film Review

Cast: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

Synopsis: After surviving a brutal game of hide-and-seek, Grace (Weaving) learns that her nightmare is not over and is pulled back into a new game…

Review: The morning after one’s wedding night would, in most cases, be a joyous celebration as you prepare to mark a new chapter with the one you want to spend the rest of your life with. Except for Grace ~~Le Domas~~ MacCaullay, it didn’t quite work out that way, as she was forced by her devil-worshipping in-laws to play a brutal game of hide-and-seek as part of a twisted ritual. Though she didn’t emerge unscathed, she ultimately prevailed and got the last laugh after her deceased family members met a rather explosive demise at the end of the first Ready or Not, a film that turbocharged the careers of Weaving and the directing duo collectively known as Radio Silence. Such was the film’s brilliant culmination, though it may have raised the question of whether a sequel was really needed. Fear not, and no sacrifice to Mr Le Bail is needed, because this is another bloody delight.

We pick up immediately where the last film left off as Grace, her wedding dress torn and splattered with blood, lights a cigarette outside the home of her (former) in-laws, now engulfed in flames, before promptly collapsing due to sheer exhaustion. Emergency crews attend to her before taking her to the hospital, where she reunites with her long-lost and estranged sister, Faith (Newton). However, the police are understandably interested in hearing Grace’s side of the story about how she went from happily married to a widow in less than 24 hours. But before that can happen, both sisters are promptly kidnapped and taken to a vast private resort, where Mr Le Bail’s mysterious Lawyer (Wood) tells them that, due to Grace’s survival and the deaths of the Le Domas, this has triggered a new game. Simply put, whoever kills Grace first will win control of the High Seat of an all-powerful Council that runs the world from behind the scenes.

Although Grace is initially adamant she does not want to go through this nightmare once again, she is left with no other choice when the council threaten to kill Faith if she does not agree. A new game is afoot, with brand-new players, but the rules remain the same. Grace and Faith must do whatever they can to lie low and prevent the other four families, namely the Danforths, the Wan Chens, the El Caidos and the Rajans, from killing them and claiming all the power in the world for themselves. If it isn’t broke, there’s no need to tamper with it was clearly the mindset of returning writers Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, because it is, more or less, a very similar film to its predecessor in terms of plot. Such familiar beats risk making this sequel stale very quickly, so to counter this, the screenplay expands the world these families inhabit and their motivations for finishing what the Le Domases could not. Furthermore, with it being a battle of super-rich, smug as fuck families vying for control of an all-powerful seat on a council, one could almost liken it to a certain HBO show, only with more than a dozen bucketfuls of blood.

What also makes this sequel a refreshing burst of energy is the introduction of Faith. After damn near stealing the show in Abigail, Newton once again brings that feisty energy to deliver another memorable performance. There is clearly no love lost between these two sisters after years of not speaking to one another. Although Faith is understandably furious with Grace for getting dragged into this game of life and death, she realises that the sisters must set their differences aside and stay alive against the countless numbers of Satanic-worshipping, uber-rich arseholes coming to kill them. The most memorable individuals are the mysterious lawyer and Wood, who is devilishly delightful in yet another role where he is carrying an all-powerful ring. Of those new characters tasked with doing the hunting, the most memorable are the Danforth siblings: Ursula, played by the one and only Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Titus, played by Shawn Hatosy. Like the MacCaullay sisters, their relationship isn’t perfect, but they know what could be theirs for the taking if they succeed, and they’re extra motivated to reclaim the seat once held by their father, Chester (Cronenberg).

After being entrusted with the reins of a legendary slasher franchise featuring numerous killers who like to don ghostlike masks, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have only gone from strength to strength as directors. Such was the understandable reverence they held for the Scream franchise that their perfect blend of horror-comedy took a back seat. However, now they’re back in this wacky world of the supernatural, the gloves are once again off. No longer being confined to one admittedly rather large house and its grounds allows them to go bigger with truly bonkers action setpieces, including a brutally memorable, fierce showdown between Grace and her late husband’s former fiancée, who harbours a deep grudge against Grace for stealing her man. Hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Ultimately, it all comes back to Grace, and Weaving slips back into this role (and her bloodied wedding dress) effortlessly, and delivers another killer performance to further establish herself as a truly iconic modern-day scream queen. In a world where the rich seem to be getting richer with each passing day, films which channel an “eat the rich” vibe are worth their weight in gold. Despite its obvious similarities to its predecessor, this sequel goes all in to deliver balls-to-the-wall bloody action. For that, you can’t do anything except sit there and quietly give it a nod of approval.

Upping the stakes from its predecessor, this is another delightfully batshit and blood-soaked serving of over-the-top comedy-horror with a killer sisterly double act in Weaving and Newton.

2020-2029, Film Review

Project Hail Mary (2026)

Posted on March 22, 2026April 9, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**© Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Lord Miller Productions and Pascal Pictures**

Project Hail Mary – Film Review

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara

Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Synopsis: After waking up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, an unlikely astronaut is tasked with a desperate mission to save the Earth…

Review: What would you do if you awoke from a coma and found yourself the only person alive on a spaceship light-years away from home, with no recollection of who you are or how you got there? At first, your reaction might be one of confusion, which soon gives way to panic and sheer terror. However, as the pieces of your memory slowly but surely reassemble, you realise that you’re humanity’s last hope for a desperate mission, a Hail Mary if you will (a term defined as a last-ditch pass in American football), where failure will mean life as humanity knows it will witness a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions as the sun slowly dies. No big whoop (!).

This most unlikely of heroes is Ryland Grace (Gosling), who while living on Earth, was a high school science teacher and molecular biologist. We learn through a series of flashbacks that Grace was recruited by the non-nonsense, straight-talking Eva Stratt (Hüller) to study astrophage, leading to the troubling discovery that this microorganism absorbs energy from our sun and infects other stars. Upon realising that astrophage is a fuel source, the governments of the world form a plan to send a crew of astronauts on board a ship, the Hail Mary, on a one-way trip to a distant star unaffected by the substance. Upon waking up from his coma, and looking like a long-lost member of The Beatles during their hippy era, Grace learns he is the sole survivor. Yet, despite being millions of miles away from home, Grace soon discovers he may not be alone in his mission to prevent the sun from dying.

Throughout film history, and indeed as history itself has taught us, the vast, infinite void of outer space can understandably seem like a truly terrifying entity, showing us how infinitely small we really are within the vast spectrum of our solar system. In addition, it also shows how perilous a place it can be if you make even the slightest wrong move. Yet the reverence for space, and the science by which humanity propelled itself into it, are evident in Andy Weir’s novels. That veneration was captured so magnificently by Ridley Scott and screenwriter Drew Goddard in the adaptation of The Martian. Therefore, it is no surprise that Goddard has, after making his directorial debut in 2018, returned to Weir’s to adapt his 2021 novel, again depicting another man isolated and cut adrift from any other human soul. Only, instead of the rest of the planet banding together to get one man off the Red Planet and return home, it falls to one man (and a companion) to save the Earth and humanity from their slow and inevitable doom if the Sun were to die.

In the same vein as The Martian, Goddard’s script effortlessly balances the bleak reality of humanity’s fate if the mission fails with the humour of finding the most reluctant hero of them all in space. “I put the not in astronaut,” Grace defiantly states during a crucial meeting. He might not be able to do a moonwalk, but he has the necessary scientific knowledge to pull off a miracle. It is fitting in a movie where the fate of Planet Earth rests in the hands of one man, where the film will live or die on this performance, that Gosling meets the moment and delivers a cosmically brilliant performance. Here’s an actor who has the range to deliver the stoic and serious when required, but can also effortlessly switch it up with humour when required, especially when it comes to Grace’s extraterrestrial company. The details of which shall not be spoiled here, but suffice to say, the chemistry between Grace and this mysterious being is perfectly delivered, proving that no matter who is acting opposite him, Gosling has chemistry with anyone and possesses charm that can last for days, maybe even light-years.

In a world that is more bitterly divided and fraught with each passing day, with certain sections of society going so far as to question well-established science, the film’s championing of science and its central theme of humanity and alien life working together to achieve a common goal feel particularly pertinent. If two creatures who have never met before can come together to achieve a common goal, it should serve as a lesson for all of us to do the same, given the very existential threat we face in the 21st century. The exact specifics of the science that is causing the sun to die might whizz over audiences’ heads initially, but the film’s key message about the importance of science as a means of working together to solve problems shines through and will not be lost on anyone.

Greig Fraser’s majestically dazzling cinematography adds plenty of awe and spectacle throughout, making the audience feel like they’re along for this ride with Grace. After more than a decade away from the director’s chair(s), Lord and Miller’s confident direction, with another cerebral score from Daniel Pemberton, allows the film’s humour, science, and mission to mesh perfectly like scientific samples in a test tube, arriving at the perfect conclusion. Space can undoubtedly be hazardous and perilous, but anyone who doesn’t find themselves swept up in the enthralling and heart-warming interstellar ride about the most unlikely of friendships in the most unlikely of circumstances, then you might just have a heart made out of stone.

Crafting the perfect formula of science, a life-affirming friendship between man and an extraterrestrial being gives you a visually stunning out-of-this-solar-system adaptation of an extremely timely story about working together to achieve a common goal.

Amaze amaze amaze.

Film Review

Hoppers (2026)

Posted on March 6, 2026April 23, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

© Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Studios

Hoppers – Film Review

Cast: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Meryl Streep, Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Director: Daniel Chong

Synopsis: A nature-loving teenager hatches a plan to save a deeply meaningful spot of land by using technology that transfers a human consciousness into robotic animals…

Review: For more than 30 years across their distinguished filmography, Pixar Animation Studios have never failed to find innovative ways to tell stories that tug on our heartstrings. Toys that come to life, an overprotective fish forced to embark on a perilous journey across the ocean to find his son, a final adventure for one man to keep the promise he made to his beloved wife, the emotional struggles of the emotions in our minds, and the importance of family, tradition, and the everlasting power of music. Whatever they turn their hands to, chances are they will find a way to charm us with characters and moving storytelling that audiences won’t forget in a hurry. They do all this and more with their 30th film, which is one of their funniest in years.

Mabel Tanaka (Curda) is a free-spirited animal-loving college student who lives in the town of Beaverton. Thanks to her grandmother, Mabel grew up with a deep appreciation for nature and, in particular, for a forest glade and all the animals that call it home. Thus, she is left furious when the town’s smarmy mayor, Jerry Generazzo (Hamm having a ball), announces plans to build a freeway straight through the glade, since all the other animals have left. With her options limited, Mabel hatches a plan to utilise technology developed by her college professors, known as the Hoppers programme, to transport her consciousness into the body of a robot beaver and convince the other animals in the glade to return before the mayor’s urban expansion project irrevocably destroys it.

“It’s like Avatar!” Mabel exclaims after being told by her college professors how the Hoppers programme works. The inherent similarities between the technology on display here and that of the Avatar programme in James Cameron’s behemoth franchise are undeniable. However, director Daniel Chong and screenwriter Jesse Andrews choose to use these similarities as a funny, self-aware joke rather than emulation. Having also been inspired by nature documentaries where a robotic animal is deployed with a camera to observe animals in their natural habitat, the film gleefully combines elements of science fiction, a coming-of-age story, a spy/heist movie and comedy, and the result is a riotous blast of furry energy that delivers laughs by the dam load throughout its 104-minute run time.

Hoppers wears its animal zaniness firmly on its sleeve, or should that be fur? But like all the greatest films the studio has produced, it packs a deeper meaning. You only need to burrow beneath the surface of the humour and the truly wild set pieces that shall not be spoiled here, as it bears an important message about the value of nature and the environment, and how humanity would be wise to cherish these spaces for the benefits they bring us and the wildlife that calls them home. Furthermore, it underscores how urbanisation at the expense of rural land can be catastrophic for the survival of certain species, and humanity would be wise to heed this warning.

Pixar have given us plenty of likeable protagonists over the years, and Mabel is no exception. An animal lover to her core, having tried to rescue and set free the classroom pets when she was a child (spot the Finding Nemo reference), she becomes determined to take a stand against the mayor’s urbanisation expansion, especially since no one else seems willing to do so. As a species, it would be fair to say humanity is fixated on its own survival needs, and that in doing so, we forget that millions upon millions of others also call this planet home. Allowing Mabel to venture into the animal kingdom offers a witty interpretation of how animal societies might function, and absolute hilarity ensues when the human and animal worlds collide, with one moment in particular a hilarious standout moment. You will know it when you see it.

Through all the humour, spectacular animation, stellar voice work across its entire cast, and animal-related shenanigans, the case could be made that Pixar has somewhat faltered in its ability to consistently hit the audience on an emotional level as it has in the past. However, let their 30th feature film bear witness to the fact that they remain very much at the top of their game and can still beaver away to bring delightfully wacky and heartfelt adventures for the whole family to gnaw on and enjoy.

Delightfully and gloriously absurd in concept, Hoppers holds nothing back with its fuzzy swings and hits it out of the glade to deliver a flurry of furry laughs and heart in equal measure. This is a walk on the wild side you’ll want to take again and again.

2020-2029, Film Review

Send Help (2026)

Posted on February 15, 2026March 19, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**© Raimi Productions and 20th Century Studios**

Send Help – Film Review

Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang, Dennis Haysbert

Director: Sam Raimi

Synopsis: Two employees become stranded on a desert island after being the sole survivors of a deadly plane crash…

Review: Navigating the world of work can feel like a lottery. If fortune smiles upon you, you might hit the jackpot and land a job that you truly love, surrounded by a fantastic team that brings laughter and camaraderie as you go about your tasks. Furthermore, you may have a boss who genuinely supports your growth, helping you harness your potential. However, some may find themselves stuck in a gruelling daily grind, trapped in a thankless role under the thumb of an overbearing manager for a company that does not value them in the slightest. Now, imagine flipping that script entirely: what if the employee suddenly found themselves in charge during a harrowing, life-or-death scenario? This intriguing setup sets the stage for a gripping survival story brought to life by the visionary master of horror Sam Raimi.

Linda Liddle (McAdams) is a diligent strategist at an unnamed Fortune 500 financial management company. She is good at her job, but is not always aware of her unkempt appearance and her socially awkward mannerisms, which alienate her colleagues and her new boss, Bradley Preston (O’Brien). Linda is expecting a promotion, but is left furious when this opportunity is awarded to one of Bradley’s frat buddies. To add insult to injury, Bradley seeks to humiliate Linda further by demoting her to a dead-end role, but not before taking her on an overseas business trip to help close an important deal. However, the plane suffers a catastrophic failure en route and crashes into the sea, with only Linda and an injured Bradley as the sole survivors. With no immediate hope of rescue, the two must put aside their differences and fight to survive. However, the ace up Linda’s sleeve is that she once auditioned for the game show Survivor and possesses the skills to help them both survive.

After a nine-year hiatus from directing, Sam Raimi pushed the boundaries to the limit by pushing the Marvel Cinematic Universe into its first big-screen foray into the realm of horror. Alas, such are the confines of the MCU, it held him back and prevented him from venturing deep into the realm of brutal and bloody horror that helped him to make his name in the 80s with the Evil Dead trilogy and latterly 2009’s Drag Me to Hell. Absolutely no such restrictions are holding him back here, enabling him to play in the endless sandpit of a desert island, where you never know what may be lurking in the terrain and resources to stay alive are few and far between.

Gone is the office environment where the boss sits at the top of the corporate pyramid, looking down on their employees with complete and total authority. Such a power dynamic where biases, corporate misogyny and sexism can go unchecked simply does not hold water on a remote island where civilisation is far off into the distance and no amount of money, power, and control can change your circumstances. Damien Shannon and Mark Swift’s script is a delightful and entertaining examination of this upended power dynamic. Imagine if Cast Away and Triangle of Sadness were combined into one big melting pot (minus the yelling at volleyballs in the case of the former) with an extra side of “eat the rich” and Raimi’s signature gore. This is the delicious and bloody outcome.

Having worked together on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Raimi was eager to reteam with Rachel McAdams, and it is easy to see why. Her performance is simply sensational and might just be a career-best. At first glance, it might seem a bit of a stretch for such a charismatic actor to play a socially inept and dishevelled loner who lives with her pet bird, but McAdams leans into it and completely owns it. Like a superhero, when they wash up on that island, off go the glasses and suddenly the Linda we know is gone. In her place is someone who is ready to take charge, and she will not stand for any nonsense from the man who, on paper, is her boss.

But a new location means new rules. It is delightful to see the role reversal, with O’Brien equally brilliant as the smug, pompous, and utterly full-of-himself CEO who has immense difficulty accepting the fact that the power he once wielded over this woman has been swept away. Though when you’re as entitled as he is, that is not something he will give up without a fight. The ensuing power struggle is utterly riveting and leaves you wondering how far these two will go to assert their authority over the other. You might root for her to begin with, given the fact that he is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, but Linda pushes this to its absolute limits. In typical Raimi fashion, there are some particularly gory scenes, and one dark, ominous moment in particular that will likely have at least 50% of the audience squirming with nervousness and dread.

Having two souls engaged in a psychological battle, on an island with a finite amount of space and resources, runs the risk of getting a bit stale. However, thanks to Raimi’s exciting and lively direction, Bill Pope’s lush cinematography, and the charismatic performances, any lapses in the film’s pacing are momentary and not enough to completely skew its momentum. With a $40m budget, perhaps this was stretched too thin, as certain elements of the CGI left a bit to be desired and could have been spruced up. Nevertheless, the film meets all the key performance indicators and is a perfect illustration of why bosses and company executives everywhere would be wise never to belittle or diminish their employees. You just never know when you might need their expertise to get out of a tricky life-or-death situation.

A deliciously grisly and bloody tale of a business excursion gone wrong, with committed performances from Dylan O’Brien and especially Rachel McAdams, ensures this is a thrilling return to form for Sam Raimi.

2020-2029, Film Review

Mercy (2026)

Posted on February 1, 2026March 16, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**© Amazon MGM Studios, Atlas Entertainment, and Sony Pictures**

Mercy – Film Review

Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Synopsis: After being accused of murdering his wife, an LAPD detective must stand trial before a judge and prove his innocence or face execution…

Review: It would not be an exaggeration to say that artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most discussed buzzwords in recent years, and for good reason. This technology has increasingly been integrated into our daily lives in various ways. However, a pressing question remains: to what extent will this technology advance, and could it ultimately lead to the eradication or replacement of certain jobs that one would assume could only be done by humans, such as judges? A futuristic hellscape where a system that has been in place for centuries is made obsolete, and the fate of human lives is entrusted to a machine. After sitting through over 100 minutes of this sci-fi “thriller” from Timur Bekmambetov, the dystopia we’ve seen in countless media where machines have taken over and conquered humanity might just sound a little bit more appealing.

With futuristic Los Angeles gripped by an increasingly severe crime wave, the government establishes the Mercy Capital Court, where defendants appear before AI judges and are given all the resources they need to prove their innocence. If they can put their probability of guilt below 92% within 90 minutes, they will be spared. LAPD officer Chris Raven (Pratt), who helped to develop the concept of the Mercy court, wakes up and finds himself strapped to a chair before Judge Maddox (Ferguson), accused of murdering his wife Nicole (Wallis). With any and all of the evidence he has at his disposal, including CCTV footage and police footage, Chris must establish the chain of events that led to his wife’s death and to find the evidence that will ensure he is not executed and leave his daughter, Britt (Rogers), an orphan.

In this day and age, it would be nearly impossible to find a more relevant film. With the AI genie well and truly out of the bottle, deeply troubling scenes of police and, more recently, immigration officers using brutally excessive force against whoever they please, combined with the widening wealth gap to fuel societal inequalities. All these potent themes would surely be fertile ground for a story that weaves together these pressing issues in our society, raising the question of whether we could really trust the justice system and the fate of human lives to AI.

Unfortunately, Marco van Belle’s screenplay spectacularly squanders this potential. The first mistake is to limit his leading man to being strapped to a chair for the majority of the runtime, a crime in and of itself, given he has proven himself to be more than capable of leading an action movie both on Earth and in the outer reaches of the galaxy. But far more egregiously than wasting Pratt’s potential, the film’s approach to the thorny issue of AI and the defendants’ access to any piece of technology with a camera is extremely sloppy and lazy. It leaves so many unanswered questions about the whole concept of the Mercy Court, its jurisdiction, and its function that it will make you wonder why on earth you’re putting yourself through watching it.

As if that wasn’t enough, the ensuing mystery is just unbelievably dull, and Raven is not nearly given the development needed to make the audience care for his plight, rendering the majority of the 100 minutes of its runtime exceedingly dull in both concept and execution. Ironically, it reads as though someone asked a chatbot to come up with a generic sci-fi thriller about the dangers of technology, and, as an addendum, asked it to make some strange, bizarre choices in some characters’ motivations along the way. It amounts to little more than a poor and hollow reinterpretation of a certain Steven Spielberg film released nearly a quarter of a century ago.

The third act (or more specifically, the final 20 minutes) does perk up a little bit by offering audiences a set that is not just some empty courtroom, if you can really call it that, with a humanoid AI judge watching over you. Imagine it as though HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey became human, only instead of that red light ominously glaring at you, you would have the steely and unflinching gaze of Rebecca Ferguson. Ferguson, perfectly cast for the role of a judge though she may be, her performance amounts to just a spectacular waste of her incredible talent. Someone get this woman a gavel so she can play a judge for real! The threadbare excitement offered up is ultimately too little, too late to make it redeemable. It is an act of relief, or indeed, you could say mercy, for everyone when the credits finally begin to roll.

A premise that offers so much potential and intrigue around a topic that is only going to become more prevalent as the years progress is instead frittered away into a hollow, insipid thriller that doesn’t have an ounce of personality in its hardware.

Verdict: guilty. Sentence: banished to the cinematic doldrums for eternity.

2020-2029, Film Review, London Film Festival 2025

Hamnet (2025)

Posted on December 30, 2025December 30, 2025 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**© Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Neal Street Productions and Amblin Entertainment**

Hamnet – Film Review

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, Jacobi Jupe, Olivia Lynes, Bodhi Rae Breathnach

Director: Chloé Zhao

Synopsis: A fictional account of the tragic circumstances which led William Shakespeare to write his timeless masterpiece “Hamlet”…

Review: “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” It is one of the most instantly recognisable quotes from among the nearly 40 plays that make up the works of the great William Shakespeare. A line delivered in the third act, when the play’s protagonist is deeply contemplative, pondering whether to end his own life. A line so powerful that it has taken on a life of its own over the centuries since it was first written on parchment. What may have inspired one of the greatest writers in history to craft this line and, indeed, one of his most significant works? Enter Academy Award-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao with an equally compelling and tragically heart-wrenching interpretation of how one of the greatest writers who ever lived channelled his grief into creating a masterpiece.

After a prologue revealing that the names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable, we meet a young William Shakespeare (Mescal) working as a Latin tutor at a local school, long before he became the renowned playwright history remembers him as. On one fateful day, he catches sight of Agnes (Buckley) practising falconry and quickly falls head over heels in love with her. Despite protests from their respective parents, they wed and swiftly consummate their union, with Agnes first giving birth to a daughter, Susanna, followed by twins Judith and Hamnet. As the children grow up, the bonds within the family strengthen, even as William begins to find success in London and is forced to spend time away from his family, making the moments he shares with his children, particularly Hamnet (remember the name Jacobi Jupe), all the more precious. This makes it all the more harrowing when tragedy strikes.

From a moving (and Oscar-winning) story about a woman who chooses to live as a modern-day nomad to the all-encompassing Marvel Cinematic Universe, to tell the (underappreciated) story of a group of all-powerful, immortal Marvel deities, to Shakespeare, Chloe Zhao’s filmography is undoubtedly eclectic. Yet there is a common theme that beats at the heart of all these films, exploring the humanity and spirit of people who, for one reason or another, find themselves cut adrift and/or isolated from society. Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell’s script (based on O’Farrell’s book of the same name) leans into this and patiently explores the loving and tender romance that develops between Will and Agnes. With one having the gift of the written word and the other a deep connection to the forest, they are isolated from their families, and their relationship feels wholly incompatible. It wouldst appear that opposites doth attracteth, and though their love and the love they have for their children blaze like wildfire, it is severely put to the test in a way that no parents should have to go through.

Grief is a shared experience, something we will all go through at some points in our lives, though it affects us in different ways. Zhao’s masterful and measured direction empowers her actors to deliver performances that are both subtle and profoundly moving. For a film that focuses on the life and one particular work of Shakespeare, he doesn’t have the most substantial amount of screen time. Nevertheless, Mescal delivers another captivating performance, capturing the emotion and humanity of the man and the wordsmith. With her husband out of the picture and away on business for a considerable portion of the film, it falls on Agnes to be the glue that binds the family together. Jessie Buckley is nothing short of sensational here and gives maybe her career-best performance. She captures the fierce maternal instinct of a mother who will stop at nothing to protect those closest to her. Yet, when something as potent as a deadly illness comes, she is completely powerless to stop it from claiming her child’s life. The emotion is raw, guttural, and she will split the audience’s hearts into a thousand pieces.

Such an unfathomable and devastating loss would severely test the most resolute and unbreakable bonds that hold a family together. How would one even begin to comprehend, make sense of their life and purpose, and process their sorrow? Despite her own unbearable pain, Agnes knows she must endure and be strong, if not for her own sake, then for the sake of her other children, even more so with her husband more distant than ever and lost in his own grief. Such grief serves as the inspiration for the creation of his ultimate tragedy, his timeless magnum opus, which forms the basis for the film’s poignant third act as the play is performed for the very first time, with Agnes in the audience.

With Fiona Crombie’s incredible production design to faithfully recreate the Globe Theatre, we see through Agnes’ eyes the anguish of the loss she has felt since his death, being released as fury and confusion as to why this latest play bears her son’s name. Yet, this dissipates when she begins to understand the play’s meaning, allowing for a moment of emotional release felt not just by Agnes, but by the whole crowd in the Elizabethan England theatre and the audience themselves. Max Richter’s emotionally resonant score features Elizabethan instruments to wonderful effect throughout, but it is the use of the composer’s most well-known piece that you will have heard in previous films that will have the tears flowing, unless thou art a robot. It is fitting that in the same way the Bard’s grief inspired him to create a literary masterpiece, the creation of that play has enabled another team of artists centuries later to create a masterpiece of the cinematic variety.

A deeply moving and human portrayal of the universal experience of grief and the everlasting power of art to help us understand and come to terms with our heartache and sorrow. A film destined to be as timeless as the works of the Bard himself.

Film Review, London Film Festival 2025

No Other Choice (2025)

Posted on October 18, 2025February 24, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

No Other Choice – Film Review

Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won

Director: Park Chan-wook

Synopsis: After being laid off from his long-term job, one man takes matters into his own hands to land a new one…

Review: A beautiful sunny day with a family meal, capped off with a group hug in the garden of their beautiful family home. At this moment, the family patriarch Yoo Man-Su confidently proclaims “I’ve got everything”. It is hard to argue with his assessment: a loving wife, two children, two beautiful pet dogs, a stable long-term job and an idyllic house. This is a man who has it made. Yet, in this fierce and uncompromising satire from Park Chan-wook, such is the unpredictable nature of the workforce as we know it that in the modern day and age, all that serenity and blissful happiness can be obliterated in the blink of an eye, bringing you crashing back down to earth with an almighty thud.

After working for 25 years as a senior employee at the paper manufacturer Solar Paper, Man-Su (Lee Byung-hun) is one of many workers who have been made redundant after an American takeover of the company led to a brutal cut in its workforce. Initially confident that he would find a new job within a few months, he begins to lose confidence as the weeks turn into months, with no prospect of being hired again. With several other candidates in the exact same boat as him, Man-su is left with little alternative, or indeed, no other choice, but to take matters into his own hands to ensure that it is he who gets the role should another job opportunity come knocking.

As Dolly Parton famously once sang, “Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living”. Such is the nature of the harsh and unforgiving capitalist system that demands everyone in society must find a job to contribute, which will, in turn, help to pay for life’s essentials. Sometimes it can lead people to find and prosper in their dream job, but it can also leave people trapped in a job they hate, or as Man-Su discovers, can be so utterly heartless as to cut someone adrift even after many years of service. Adapted from the novel “The Ax” by Donald Westlake, the script by Chan-wook and co-writers Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar and Lee Ja-hye, is a blisteringly sharp critique of this economic system and the pressures it puts upon people, where the loss of income necessary to survive can cause any sane individual to do things they otherwise wouldn’t. But, as the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Furthermore, the film excoriates the culture of toxic masculinity, as such culture demands that the man of the house must be the one to be the provider or the breadwinner for his family, a concept that deserves to be left in the past where it belongs. Given his dire predicament and the fact that Man-Su is literally resorting to crime to provide for his family, it would seem unlikely to be fertile ground for humour, but master filmmakers find a way, and Chan-Wook does exactly that. For a man who’s worked in the paper industry for decades, perpetrating acts of violence is, well, something he is not exactly experienced at. It makes it all the more amusing to watch as Man-Su goes from a veteran of the paper industry to a hitman not-for-hire. Absolute chaos ensues, and thanks to some extremely brisk editing, the pacing never lags to allow the audience to revel in the extremely pitch-black humour of Man-Su’s mission to literally eliminate the competition.

To have lost one’s gainful employment, especially due to factors beyond their control, is never a pleasant experience. Byung-hun’s outstanding performance evokes sympathy for Man Su’s situation, although such sympathy quickly dissipates when the severity of his plight leads him to use violent methods to improve his employment prospects. Nevertheless, it remains endlessly compelling and entertaining, from how he chooses to pick off his targets to the manner in which he ensures that there is not a trace of suspicion that could tie him to the murders when the police inevitably begin to investigate. This puts his family, especially his wife Lee Mi-ri (Ye-jin), in a tricky situation when she begins to suspect what her husband may be up to.

Combined with some truly brilliant and innovative cinematography from Kim Woo-hyung, who effectively deploys the camera in a variety of innovative ways, including at the bottom of a glass, Chan-Wook’s direction is some of the finest you will see all year, keeping the audience in suspense. Filmmakers of recent years have often focused on the disparity of wealth between the 1% and the majority whose hard graft usually leads to the 1% acquiring such wealth. Chan-wook builds on this and in so doing, delivers a scathing and timely rebuke of a system where you can work for many years at a particular company, and yet, that company would likely have no hesitation in dumping you without a second thought. A paper cut of the most brutal and unforgiving variety, who knew such an industry could be so cutthroat and brutal?

An extremely powerful and pertinent satire on the ruthless nature of the capitalist society, all seen from the perspective of one unfortunate and desperate man driven to his limits, anchored by an absolutely killer performance from Lee Byung-hun.

Film Review, London Film Festival 2025

Roofman (2025)

Posted on October 16, 2025December 7, 2025 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

Roofman – Film Review

Cast: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Ben Mendelsohn

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Synopsis: After breaking out of prison, a former soldier and professional criminal on the run from the police seeks to avoid detection from the police by hiding in a branch of Toys ‘R’ Us…

Review: Upon hearing a film entitled Roofman, you might well think that without any prior knowledge, it would be the latest attempt to capitalise on the popularity of the superhero genre, especially one of the more obscure variety. Yet, this actually does not draw inspiration from the pages of a comic book and is emphatically not about a hero of any description. Incredulously, it is based on the bizarre true story of the escapades of a former soldier turned criminal and a rather ingenious plan he devises to avoid being caught.

It is the late 1990s, and Jeffrey Manchester (Tatum) is a divorced US Army veteran struggling to provide for his three young children. Acting on the advice of his army colleague Steve (an underutilised Stanfield), he uses his powers of observation and ability to take advantage of routines to break into more than three dozen McDonald’s restaurants to steal cash from the safe, giving the morning shift employees the fright of their lives. Earning the nickname of “The Roofman” via the media, he is eventually caught and sent to prison. While locked up, he uses his meticulous eye for routines to escape prison and to avoid detection by the law, choosing to lay low by hiding in a Toys R Us store for months, completely unbeknownst to the store’s employees.

Derek Cianfrance is no stranger to finding humanity in the life of someone who is forced to turn to crime as a means to support individuals he so dearly loves, albeit from a distance. Therefore, Cianfrance and Gunn’s screenplay has a deft balancing act to find a way to sympathise with Manchester, in spite of his criminal antics. Fortunately, when you have an actor as charismatic and as likeable as Tatum is, that is certainly going to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Yet, it is evident that though he resorts to stealing to financially provide for his children, he is not the sort of ruthless criminal who would enter a store all guns blazing with no care for who could get hurt, quite the opposite as he goes out of his way to ensure the employees he encounters are safe and comfortable, shortly before locking them in a walk-in freezer.

The film is certainly at its most enjoyable and gleefully silly when depicting Manchester’s antics in the store. He uses an ingenious way to keep a watchful eye over the store and its employees to ensure that the coast is clear. Furthermore, when he knows he has the entire store all to himself, the antics he gets up to with all the toys in the world at his disposal to play with and living off candy, essentially living any child’s dream. He really is one big kid, and those who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s will certainly get a great big dose of Toys R Us nostalgia.

Never is Jeffrey’s kind heart more evident than when he escapes the confines of his hideout in the store and makes his way into the local community, where he meets and quickly falls in love with Leigh (Dunst). Leight is a working mum with two daughters who recently went through a divorce, and also happens to work at the very same store Manchester is hiding in, and has to deal with an unforgiving boss in Peter Dinklage’s Mitch. Having gotten into his criminal life out of a desire to take care of his kids, it is easy to want to root for him as he tries to make a positive impression on Leigh’s daughters, and the chemistry between Tatum and Dunst is sincere and delightful to watch. Given his status as a wanted fugitive, you know it is not going to be a lasting relationship, but it is easy to root for them and, against all odds, find a way to make it work.

Despite being someone whose heart is in the right place and who strives to be the perfect family man, unfortunately, he is not that. As endearing as Tatum’s performance is, the film is a little too kind to him and completely overlooks the fact that he got himself into his current predicament for a reason. The phrase “don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time” comes to mind. Despite this mishap, Cianfrance brings plenty of humanity, humour and heart to this stranger-than-fiction tale that will make you laugh, smile and also make you wish you could transport yourself back to the 2000s, or back to being a kid again and having that wide-eyed look of wonder on your face when you walk into a toy store. Simpler times.

It could have certainly been much more critical of its leading man’s misdeeds, but thanks to Tatum’s witty and sincere performance and the hilarious shenanigans that ensue, this witty comedy crime caper will cut a hole in the roof of your heart and win you over.

Film Review, London Film Festival 2025

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)

Posted on October 12, 2025January 12, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – Film Review

Cast: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church

Director: Rian Johnson

Synopsis: In a parish church in Upstate New York, renowned detective Benoit Blanc takes on his darkest case to date…

Review: In terms of the most memorable and wholly original characters to have emerged on the big screen in the last ten years or so, there can surely be no doubt of the inclusion of gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc in the conversation. When audiences were first introduced to him in Massachusetts to investigate the death of a wealthy, renowned crime novelist in 2019’s Knives Out, with his sharp suit, keen detective eye, eccentric mannerisms, and last but by no means least, that iconic Southern accent, it was a match made in cinematic heaven. A new icon of the great detective genre was born.

It is true that not everything that comes out of Hollywood indeed warrants or needs a sequel and/or a cinematic universe. It would have been a crying shame if audiences never got another chance to join Detective Blanc as he puts his skills to the test to solve another case. Thankfully, a bumper deal with Netflix allowed Johnson to craft two further sequels. After joining a bunch of self-described “shitheads” on a private Greek island for a murder-mystery party in the equally brilliant Glass Onion, the master detective is back once more for his darkest case to date.

As with the previous two films in the franchise, when it comes to plot details, the less you know, the better. We’ve moved away from the private island of a vainglorious billionaire and back to the United States to an Upstate New York parish where Jud (O’Connor) has been recently reassigned after he let his temper get the better of him towards a fellow priest. He becomes the assistant to the pious Monsignor Wicks (Brolin), and they do not see eye to eye at all. The firebrand manner with which he delivers sermons doesn’t go down well with many of the congregation (including Jud), leaving only a select few loyal and devout regulars. During one such sermon, when the Monsignor goes off to a locked pulpit, he is stabbed to death. The “impossible crime” has been committed, with suspicions immediately falling on Jud, and it soon becomes clear there is only one detective in the world who can solve it.

After two fantastic previous instalments that breathed new life into the murder mystery genre, the pressure would have been on for Johnson to maintain his impressive streak and satisfactorily complete the trilogy. Therefore, it would have been easy for him to deliver a similar follow-up to what came before and put down the magnifying glass. Yet, the writer/director is having none of it and really challenges himself by leaning into much darker and bordering on horror material. As one would suspect, given that the scene of the crime is in a church, religious imagery is present in abundance, with the power of one’s faith in their religion and their beliefs being thoroughly put to the test. Though, this merely scratches the surface, with global politics being the way they are in the year of our Lord 2025, the screenplay has much to say about how Christianity, particularly in the US, is used by lunatic and dangerous demagogues whose who use poisonous and hateful rhetoric to simultaneously solidify their rabid base of supporters and attempt to convert those who don’t believe to their cause. Johnson’s writing has lost none of its sharpness.

In his third outing as Blanc, this time with a lush and voluminous head of hair and a very sharp suit, Craig once again shines as the master detective. Even though it takes a while for him to arrive on the scene, Johnson perfectly sets the stage and establishes the events that lead to Blanc’s arrival. Ultimately, this means that the film takes its time to get going until Blanc makes his grand entrance and immediately has at least a couple of pages of dialogue, and that is a conservative estimate. Like with previous films where Blanc had his key accomplices in Marta Cabrera and Helen Brand, Jud is the centre of this mystery, and O’Connor runs away with the film and delivers the best performance, outshining even Blanc, which is no easy feat. It wouldn’t be a Knives Out film without a stacked and glittery ensemble cast. While they’re all enjoyable to watch and play a part in the centre of this mystifying murder, some have significantly larger roles than others, with one particularly devout follower being the scene-stealer.

The location and the ensemble may change, but Johnson keeps the faith with his familiar crew. Rick Heinrichs’ production design fully leans into the gothic vibes, while Steve Yedlin’s cinematography masterfully uses striking lighting and shadows to illustrate the dark and shadowy secrets at the centre of this particular church. Both help to create the rather troubling illusion that the church building itself is almost a living organism, with wickedness, corruption and unholiness at its centre. It might not reach the highs set by its predecessors, but the murder mystery genre continues to be in rude health thanks to Monsieur Johnson. Blessed be to him and to Monsieur Blanc for providing audiences with a modern trilogy of marvellous murder mysteries, and let us hope that their sleuthing adventures will continue for many more years to come.