The Banshees Of Inisherin is a film filled with powerhouse crafting and talent.

On a remote island off the coast of Ireland, Pádraic is devastated when his buddy Colm suddenly puts an end to their lifelong friendship. With help from his sister and a troubled young islander, Pádraic sets out to repair the damaged relationship by any means necessary. However, as Colm’s resolve only strengthens, he soon delivers an ultimatum that leads to shocking consequences.

The Banshees Of Inisherin has so many layers to it that I truly did not expect, it’s directed by Martin McDonagh (director of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths) who does a masterful job here. Instantly when the film starts you already sense a unique type of atmosphere it’s dark but at the same time very humorous as well which you easily see why that’s the case as the film goes on. The set up is quite simple Padraic (Colin Ferrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) use to be great friends until one day Colm decided not to be friends anymore due to Padraic being “dull” so now Padraic keeps trying to talk to Colm and find out why they aren’t friends. it takes that setup and truly goes pretty meaningful and deep with it. With some symbolism and character study of the characters, plus the town they live in as well. The acting here is tremendous Collin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan truly give powerhouse performances that are very natural. Each of them truly give something unique to the film Colin Farrell gives a humorous yet honest performance of someone who is naturally upset and wants to know why their friend no longer wants to have anything do with him, Brendan Gleason plays a cross between an intimidating but also humorous performance that is truly baffling in the best possible way. Kerry Condon plays Padaric’s sister Siobhan who is very kindhearted and like the previous mentioned performances a very honest one as well, finally there’s Barry Keoghan’s performance that really is the definition of a friend, he plays Dominic who is Padaric’s friend who is always listening and is there for him. It’s truly a honest performance that is actually quite emotional. The writing is truly flawless from the character study, to the natural interactions the characters all have it’s truly the type of writing that really compliments each scene. Speaking of which the cinematography is some of the best of the year. The film was shot in Achill island which is in County Mayo the largest of the Irish isles and the beauty of it all really shows in the film. It really compliments the film’s overall beauty nature while adding very dark humor into the mix that truly works. Every shot has so much detail and a lot going on which leads to it being a massive film that the viewer can explore with the eyes, overall The Banshees Of Inisherin is one of the best films of the year, it’s one of those films that will stick with you for awhile once you watch!!

The Banshees Of Inisherin is currently in theaters.

10/10 A+

Spirited is a decent Christmas movie featuring Will Farrell.

A musical version of Charles Dickens’s story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey.

So Regal had a second mystery movie night last night and it turned out to be Spirited, the movie did not have a strong start. The first bit of the movie is very obnoxious and a lot of the jokes completely don’t land, but if you can get through that you will find that Spirited is actually not half bad, Will Farrell is pretty great here and is definitely one of his better performances in awhile, Octavia Spencer is very charming and actually has a decent singing voice. Speaking of which the songs themselves are actually not too bad, some are definitely better than others and stand out much more. However I wouldn’t call any of them bad, Tracy Morgan is actually pretty fun here despite really not having much to do, I will give the movie credit where credit is due there is a plot point here that was decently clever. Which was the movie connecting itself to the classic Charles Dickens Christmas Carol story, Will Farrell’s character Ghost Of Christmas Present was Scrooge when he was alive. It’s a fun little plot that kind of makes the movie an unofficial sequel to A Christmas Carol (although the movie itself brands itself as a modern twist or take on the story). Ryan Reynolds is easily the weakest part about it, he once again plays the exact same sort of character he does in a lot of previous movies he’s been in. The jerk type character who tries way too hard to be funny, admittedly he does get better as the movie goes on but it really just blends in with the rest of his performances. Overall Spirited is not as bad as expected, it’s a fun little Christmas musical movie that will be nice to put on during the holidays!

Spirited releases in theaters on Friday and on Apple TV+ November 18th.

6/10 C+

Triangle Of Sadness is an insane right from beginning to end.

A cruise for the super-rich sinks, leaving survivors, including a fashion model celebrity couple, trapped on an island.

To say Triangle Of Sadness is truly insane and completely out there (in a good way) would be the understatement of the year, right from the beginning there’s a huge sense of style. Particularly with the cast the standouts being Dolly De Leon who does a tremendous job during part three of the film and becomes one of the film’s biggest highlights. Zlatko Burić gives a quite hilarious performance that offers many laughs and much like De Leon really gets strong in part 3, Woody Harrelson who although doesn’t get the biggest amount of screen time is still a delight to see and much like Burić is quite humorous. Finally there’s Charlbi Dean Kriek who gives a tremendous performance that is one of the year’s best, it’s very unfortunate that we will never get to see more of her as she sadly passed away back in August. She truly gave a really strong performance that really connected the characters in part 3. The film is a satire of the rich and the class element, while it is very on the nose about it that’s part of the fun about the whole film. It really let’s loose it’s insanity while also being very well written, there’s a lot of attention to detail with the filming as well. There’s some personal character moments that help evolve the characters from being just background characters to actual main characters who have much more to say, the only slight criticism is the bit of the third part sort of deflated, it doesn’t quite match with what the rest of the movie was saying and does draw out a tiny bit. But that’s not enough to stop Triangle Of Sadness to be such a really strong film that will definitely make you laugh.

Triangle Of Sadness is currently in theaters.

9/10 A

Wendell & Wild is a creative stop-motion film filled with fascinating topics.

The two devious demon brothers Wendell and Wild have to face their arch-enemy with the help of the nun Sister Helly, who is notorious for expelling demons. However, the brothers are not only plagued by her, but also by her altar boys.

Henry Selick (director of Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline and James and The Giant Peach) is back in the directors chair and it’s such a beautiful sight to see. Wendell & Wild is such a creative film that has a lot more to it than you would expect. The movie has a lot of commentary on capitalism and the prison system and it establishes that quite quickly, a private prison company known as Klaxton Korp has taken over a town and the viewer can tell how damaged and lost the town is due to the clever use of color. Speaking of which the animation is truly beautiful, it’s great to see stop-motion animation still kicking as it’s a genre of animation that is truly creative in every single way possible. There’s so much atmosphere and color to the film that it really makes the film it’s own character, speaking of which the characters are truly well written. Wendell and Wild are truly fun characters with a huge amount of depth to them as well being humorous, Wendell is played by Keegan-Michael Key and Wild is played by Jordan Peele. The film is just another reminder of how well the two work together, their comedic timing is truly unstoppable and when the two want to display serious moments they will definitely display some very strong ones. The protagonist Kat played by Lyric Ross is truly fantastic, the depth to her character goes a very long way. Including some flashbacks and her strong desire of wanting to see her parents again, the cherry on top is the Raúl Cocolotl a character who is trans played by Sam Zelaya. Raul is such a very well written character that adds to the overall film especially the bond between Raul and Kat which develops over time. Wendell & Wild is truly a bold film that really hits it out of the park with it’s themes, characters, character development and atmosphere. This is a film that will definitely go on to be a classic during Halloween time for years to come.

Wendell & Wild is available on Netflix.

9/10 A

Clerks III a surprisingly heartfelt film.

After suffering a massive heart attack, Randal enlists friends and fellow clerks Dante, Elias, Jay and Silent Bob to help him make a movie about life at the Quick Stop.

Clerks III starts with what is quite possibly one of my favorite film openings of the year, the first five minutes is My Chemical Romance’s Welcome To The Black Parade. I could go on forever how this opening really sums up of what ends up happening throughout the film, but in short it‘s old times being becoming new again, the shop is back, the characters we have grown to love over the years in these movies are dancing around having a grand old time. Plus you have a few callbacks to the other movies as well that are truly great, after that we are treated to a surprisingly emotional film…which is something I completely did not expect at all. Clerks III is surprisingly very heartfelt especially with the final act that really tugs at your heartstrings, there’s of course the humor that works quite well not every joke lands of course. However most of the jokes are pretty cleverly written and really entertain the viewer which is something Kevin Smith has always been good at despite what you think of his films. He’s always been good at entertaining an audience and here is no exception, there’s a surprising amount of character moments where they talk about the old times and think about the future, not letting go of the old times and wanting to continue them. It’s actually something that can be very relatable to the viewer and could easily hit said viewer hard, there’s a genuine amount of heart put into the film that you can’t help but smile at. This is one to definitely check out!

Clerks III is available on all VOD platforms.

9/10 A

She-Hulk is a huge missed opportunity.

Jennifer Walters has a complicated life as a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk.

She-Hulk is the eighth Disney+ and MCU series….and it’s by far the absolute worst one. But before that let’s get the positives out of the way because they are very straightforward, for starters Tatiana Maslany is very solid as She-Hulk, that’s mainly due to her just being a really strong actress who can work with any sort of script. She’s hands down the best part of the entire series it’s just such a shame she wasn’t given a better show or script, episode eight is the highlight by far. While it’s not perfect it’s the only episode where the humor genuinely worked, plus having Charlie Cox back as Daredevil was pretty neat, he also gives a solid performance. The chemistry between Cox and Maslany while short is actually really charming and very entertaining. As for the rest of the show it’s a complete and total mess, if you thought the Marvel humor was terrible in previous shows or movies then you are going to have a dreadful time here, outside of a joke every once in awhile a lot of the humor really comes off as obnoxious. There’s a lot of fourth wall breaking humor that at this point way too many films and TV shows have done, I get that the source material has a lot of fourth wall breaking humor. The problem is the writing doesn’t do it in creative ways, in fact it quite honestly gets progressively worse as the series goes on. Heck the final episode ends up being this whole “this series was meant to be bad!” type of thing which again had the writing actually been investing or knew what it wanted to say that could have worked. Then you have the other characters who are just sort of there Jameela Jamil, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth and Ginger Gonzaga are fine enough but they are really not given a whole lot to do outside of unfunny lines. There really isn’t anything else to say here which is unfortunate because a She-Hulk show could have easily work had the writing been a lot more focused and actually attempted with the humor.

She Hulk- is available on Disney+

3/10 D-

Rosaline is surprisingly strong take on Romeo and Juliet.

A comedic retelling of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” told from the point of view of Romeo’s jilted ex, Rosaline, the woman Romeo first claims to love before he falls for Juliet.

When you go by the plot of Rosaline it comes off as yet another tired take of Romeo And Juliet but this time it’s in the perspective of Rosaline who is Romeo’s previous girlfriend before he met Juliet. However the film strangely works really well, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and instead does a pretty humorous and interesting job of retelling the story, with a few changes it ends up being more of a “what if” type scenario which I am a pretty big fan of when it’s done right. And in this case it’s done pretty well, Kaitlyn Dever is fantastic as Rosaline she puts her talent all in the role and gives such a entertaining performance. Sean Teale as Dario is also pretty solid as well, the enemies to lovers element is actually done quite well here which is mainly due to the chemistry of Teale and Dever being so great. Not every single joke lands as there are some eye roll worthy moments, but those really don’t take away from the sharp and clever writing that really gives the story of Romeo and Juliet a breath of fresh air, it’s an entertaining ride from beginning to end that is far better than it has any right being.

Rosaline is available on Hulu!

8/10 B+

Raymond & Ray doesn’t have a lot of substance.

Half-brothers Raymond and Ray reunite when their estranged father dies — and discover that his final wish was for them to dig his grave. Together, the process who they’ve become as men, both because of their father and in spite of him.

Raymond & Ray is definitely a step down from Rodrigo García who previously directed For Good Days. The major issue with the movie is it really doesn’t say or do anything special outside of a few solid performances, Ethan Hawke is pretty solid, Ewan McGregor has his moments mostly when Raymond (McGregor) and Ray (Hawke) have to come to terms about their abusive father passing away and having conversations about it. The problem is those sort of scenes are not as common as you would think, Sophie Okonedo brings some life into the movie which is somewhat enjoyable. But the movie never goes beyond a few scenes that talk about the abuse, a lot of it tries to play off as a comedy which really doesn’t work especially when the tone of the movie completely doesn’t match it.

Raymond & Ray is available on Apple TV+

5/10 C

Catherine Called Birdy is decent enough thanks to Bella Ramsey.

In medieval England, the daughter of a financially destitute Lord thwarts her father’s plans to marry her off to a wealthy suitor. When the most vile suitor arrives, her parent’s love for her is tested.

After the complete mess that was Sharp Stick I had very low expectations for Lena Dunham’s second film this year Catherine Called Birdy, life is full of surprises I guess because this wasn’t terrible. For starters the main reason why the movie works is because of Bella Ramsey, without her this movie would have fallen flat quite easily. Bella Ramsey really makes the script that would otherwise be way too simple and very bare bones into something surprisingly energetic and interesting, it’s essentially criticizing the patriarchy but in medieval times which the movie does pretty fine enough at. The other side of it is a coming age film but set in medieval times, which there are some fresh ideas with the character development mainly having to do with Bella Ramsey’s character Birdy calling out the bullcrap of the patriarchy in a few humorous ways while also having serious discussions about it as well. There are times where the movie does go a bit overboard with sarcastic humor and sort of takes away from the more serious moments, but for the most part the movie does a solid job at what it’s trying to say. It’s definitely not anything groundbreaking plus there are films that are far stronger that tackle the exact same subjects as this one, but this is certainly not a bad choice if you decide to give it a look.

Catherine Called Birdy is available on Amazon Prime Video.

6/10 C+

The Curse Of Bridge Hollow is forgettable.

A man and his daughter must team up to save their town after an ancient and mischievous spirit causes Halloween decorations to come to life and wreak havoc.

I reviewed Spirit Halloween: The Movie last week where I talked a bit about gateway horror or scary films meant for kids. The Curse Of Bridge Hollow is definitely in the same vein, funnily enough this movie is also about possessed Halloween decorations attacking people. Curse Of Bridge Hallow is definitely the better of the two mostly due to the movie actually using it’s premise decently…at least for some parts of the movie. The acting here is not great Marlon Waynes definitely tries his best and admittedly it’s one of his better performances in the comedies he’s recently done. However it’s really not enough to be noteworthy, there are definitely moments where it does feel like a Disney Channel original movie that became a Netflix original. This is also Jeff Wadlow’s most tolerable in a very long time, honestly what really hurts this movie is that it’s forgettable. It’s one of those Netflix movies where you watch it and 4 hours later you forget half of what happened, there’s fun to be had and it’s very inoffensive to kids. But between the poor acting and the terrible jokes this one will be quickly forgotten.

The Curse Of Bridge Hollow is available on Netflix.

4/10 D+