Movie Reviews from Chris

★★⯪☆   ( 👍 ) They Will Kill You (2026) Runtime: 94 minutes MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, language and brief sexual content/nudity. It was the year 2019 when I was vacationing with my family in Australia. After enjoying our time walking around the streets and admiring the beach, we checked back into our hotel, and as I washed up, the television was already displaying a movie. In it, a woman in a yellow motorcycling suit was savagely slaughtering people in a Japanese restaurant, severing heads and limbs, causing blood to spray out everywhere. The title at the top-right corner read: Kill Bill: Volume 1. I was reminded about this in Kirill Sokolov's They Will Kill You, where a person's head gets cut off with a sword, causing blood to spray out in the same, ridiculous fashion. There are aesthetic and narrative inspirations, sure, but They Will Kill You has other and much simpler aspirations. Asia Reeves (Zazie Beetz) answers an advertisement to work as a maid in ...

★★ ★ ☆ Hokum (2026) Runtime: 107 minutes MPAA: Rated R for some violent/disturbing content, and language. Just when you think you know where Hokum's going, writer-director Damian McCarthy gives you something else. Here's what the synopsis reads on IMDb: A horror writer visits an Irish inn to scatter his parents' ashes, unaware the property is said to be haunted by a witch. Sounds really simple, right? Don't let that fool you. Hokum blends Irish folklore with guilt, murder and horror, an unpredictable ride that gets slack at points but mostly leaves you constantly guessing in dread. McCarthy juggles multiple things at once - a murder mystery, spiritual rot, supernatural events - and you can sometimes feel the film become a little shapeless and too subtle as you start to question its logic or intent. But the symbolism, atmosphere, sound design, negative space and pure terror generated throughout is so intense, merely this alone is enough to make it worth a watch. The fea...

★★ ★ ☆ KPop Demon Hunters (2025) Runtime: 99 minutes MPAA: Rated PG for action/violence, scary images, thematic elements, some suggestive material and brief language. I'm no stranger to K-Pop. I have many friends who share similar interests. From the aesthetic appeal, songs composed in a variety of genres to live performances, it would be an understatement to say that K-Pop hasn't had significant impact on Korean and the international stage. In some ways, it unites people together. Maggie Kang, with the help of co-director Chris Appelhans, created KPop Demon Hunters to tell a personal story, blending elements like mythology, demonology and K-Pop to create a culturally grounded film. It's clearly a desire to share her experiences to the world. They use a relatively simple good-versus-evil tale but attempts to deconstruct it by fixating on fractured identity, a challenge they rise up to admirably enough. KPop Demon Hunters works best when it examines the conflicted nature of ...

★★★★ Train Dreams (2025) Runtime: 102 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some violence and sexuality. Clint Bentley's Train Dreams draws an uncanny amount of similarities to the more recent Propeller One-Way Night Coach (or vice versa). Both have narration and are essentially throwbacks to life in a specific era. But Train Dreams encompasses the life of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) from the late 19th century to his death, chronicling his story, guilt, loss and search for meaning. It's so human, full of life. Which makes it surprising coming out of Netflix. The same streaming service that releases lifeless products like Red Notice or Heart of Stone. Without diving too much into the details, Train Dreams tracks Robert's life from his orphaned childhood, where he spends most of his years without any purpose or direction after dropping out of school. He then meets Gladys Olding (Felicity Jones), they get married, build a wooden cabin by a river and have a daughter Kate (Zoe Rose ...

★★ ☆ ☆ Propeller One-Way Night Coach (2026) Runtime: 61 minutes MPAA: N/A (Equivalent: TV-PG) I don't think it would be a hyperbole to say that Propeller One-Way Night Coach might quite possibly the most over-narrated movie I have ever seen. Written, co-produced, and directed by John Travolta, this personal project is also based on his 1997 children's book of the same name. It's Travolta's love letter to cinema, an opportunity to revisit childhood nostalgia. Propeller One-Way Night Coach is concise and sometimes sweet. The aesthetic recreation evokes memories of the 1960s, centering on Jeff recounting his childhood, as his 8-year-old self (Clark Shotwell) and his 49-year-old mother (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett) embark on a cross-country trip to Hollywood. The groundwork is there; it seems evocative and even suggests to be affectionate to the characters and era. And there's where the comforting fun ends. It might sound extremely nitpicky, but there’s persistent narration ...

★★★☆ F1 (2025) Runtime: 155 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for strong language, and action. Joseph Kosinski helmed Top Gun: Maverick a few years back, a massively successful blockbuster that also managed to be personal in some ways, while correcting the lightheartedness of its predecessor. Cruise was the grounding element, the film allowing his character to face his inner demons, while reconnecting with old friends in quiet, meaningful ways. It wasn't perfect; it did occasionally retreat from deeper themes and employed one tiny Deus ex machina, but these were minor complaints in what was an immersive ride.  Now, Kosinski returns with the same technical precision and splendor in F1: The Movie, written by Ehren Kruger, with one of the producers being a real Formula 1 driver (Lewis Hamilton). F1 is a fictional story, but set against the backdrop of the real Formula 1 World Championship. Its title is also accurate to the storytelling mechanics. The tried-and-true underdog success formula is...

⯪☆ ☆ ☆ War of the Worlds (2025) Runtime: 91 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some sci-fi action violence, strong language and bloody images. “Students, don't forget to submit your video project by the end of the semester!" a teacher kindly reminds the whole class. This was the exact line that came to my mind watching the newest War of the Worlds remake, directed by Rich Lee and starring Ice Cube. Part of the fun in consuming critical reception and watching the movie yourself is to see whether you agree, disagree of have new things to say about it. Hearing perspectives from everyone, then forming your own independent thoughts and feelings about it, is just exciting in a way. Which brings me to this. Ok, I'll admit that War of the Worlds probably isn't the worst thing made in existence, but it's still unwatchable, morally bankrupt, disorienting (not in a good way) and didn't need to be made at all. Ice Cube plays a DHS officer Will Radford, who has access to a gover...

★★★⯪ I Swear (2025) Runtime: 120 minutes MPAA: Rated R for language throughout and some violence. It's interesting to draw parallels between two biographical movies released around the same time (I Swear was released in the UK in October 2025, but would only reach international markets in April 2026). Michael was a passable, greatest-hits biopic. It somewhat covered aspects of his life, provided solid entertainment value and has experienced great success with audiences, becoming the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time. Most people will overlook the far superior I Swear, unafraid to depict the uncomfortable, full of empathy, and anchored by great performances. John Davidson is a Scottish activist for Tourette Syndrome. It's a condition that comprises of uncontrollable tics - fidgeting, spitting, uttering phrases (sometimes expletives), kicking, sudden movements in hands or other body parts, and other person-specific habits. I Swear, which is based on Davidson's life,...

★★⯪☆ A Minecraft Movie (2025) Runtime: 101 minutes MPAA: Rated PG for violence/action, language, suggestive/rude humor and some scary images. Firstly, a word. I have fond memories playing Minecraft growing up, from building anything that came to my mind in creative mode, to exploring terrains, structures and fending myself against hostile mobs in survival mode. There are also servers where players can interact with each other, play custom-themed maps and do so much more. Minecraft was and is still prevalent in media; funny videos do occasionally pop up when I'm browsing the internet. Minecraft gave you a sense of wonder and inspiration. It also united people together. A Minecraft film adaptation has always been in the works, and it kept getting delays, shifts in directors, producers and writers, until all anticipation slowly died down. Well, for me at least. Until director Jared Hess and a team of five writers (Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, and Chris Galle...

★★⯪☆ Warfare (2025) Runtime: 95 minutes MPAA: Rated R for intense war violence and bloody/grisly images, and language throughout. It surprised me a little when the first thing that appeared in Alex Garland's Warfare was Call on Me by Eric Prydz, which made me wonder whether I even opened the correct movie in the first place. This cuts to platoon members watching the video enthusiastically and mimicking the moves in the next scene. Was it really necessary, huh? Former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza was deployed to Iraq admist the then-ongoing Iraq War which would eventually end in 2011. Drawing from his experiences and the testimonies of platoon members, Warfare depicts an encounter on 19 November 2006 after the Battle of Ramadi. He rounds up an ensemble cast of D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn and Charles Melton. True to its story, Warfare is essentially narratively non-existent, yet focused on the group of soldiers as they recount...

★★ ★ ☆ Iron Lung (2026) Runtime: 125 minutes MPAA:  Rated R for language, bloody images and some gore. Anyone reading this would think that I'm losing my mind at this point, with another connection to, yes, Five Nights at Freddy's. I discovered these indie point-and-click games through popular youtube playthroughs, especially those from Markiplier (real name Mark Fischbach). Several years later, he posted a video gameplay of David Szymanski's horror game Iron Lung. This fascinated him enough for him to adapt it into a film of the same name, his writing and directorial debut, also starring himself. Even more so than Project Hail Mary, this one-man show is clearly a personal project, the whole film giving off-kilter vibes, but surprisingly in a good way. Iron Lung is more of a mood piece, one that has zero jumpscares throughout its entire runtime, instead building and sustaining dread, while simultaneously peeling the psychological deterioration of his character Simon as he e...