The Monkey (2025) Film Review

When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree, forcing the estranged siblings to confront the cursed toy.

The Monkey is directed by Osgood Perkins director of The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), Gretel & Hansel (2020) and Longlegs (2024).

Osgood Perkins hits it out of the park yet again, after delivering the terrifying and incredibly well done Longlegs (2024) I was already very excited for The Monkey and it did not disappoint. It’s a film that is drastically different than a lot of Perkins’s previous films, it’s far more comedic with tons of dark humor that at first had me a bit worried if the film may overdo it. Luckily the film doesn’t take itself seriously and goes all out on the humor which ends up making the humor have a character of its own.

The performances here are a lot of fun, there’s some nice cameos Adam Scott, OsGood Perkins, Elijah Wood and a few others. Theo James is definitely doing standout performance, I’ve always rooted for Theo James so I am so glad to see him in a film that takes advantage of his potential as an actor, his duel performance here is brilliant it’s able to create two characters with very different personalities Hal and Bill who are fun characters. The interactions between his two characters are some of the film’s highlights and filled to the brim with laughs. There isn’t anything special being said with his characters but there really doesn’t need to be it’s all good fun and the film compliments that with the script.

Christian Convery also has a duel performance he both young Hal and Bill incredibly well and makes so many of the earlier parts of the film that much more entertaining. Tatiana Maslany is fun as well even if she isn’t given that much to do.

The humor of the film is ultimately what makes it work, I have to say it was a very risky move especially when coming out of Longlegs (2024) but the execution is so well done here. Perkins is able to create a dark atmosphere about a toy monkey that kills people whenever it plays and make it a hilarious time, plus when you combine that with the gore and kills you have yourself such a fun package. The gore on its own is used for comedic effect, it’s over the top and ridiculous a much more comedic take on splatter films.

Finally there’s the direction that Perkins does such a great job of remaining consistent throughout the film, while a majority of the film is filled with dark humor there are the serious moments that are just as well done. The film embraces its silliness which it does well, especially when you have the Stephen King feel to it (the film is based on a short story.)

Overall The Monkey is just an incredibly solid and fun film, it’s not trying to be something it’s not and embraces the humorous energy it gives off from beginning to end. Check this one out!

The Monkey is currently in theaters

8/10 B+

Borderline (2025) Film Review

A helplessly romantic sociopath escapes from a mental institution and invades the home of a ’90s pop superstar. He just wants to be loved; she just wants to survive.

Borderline is directed by Jimmy Warden which is his directorial debut.

Samara Weaving in another incredibly fun horror film? That’s news I love to hear and Borderline gets the job done for the most part. This is one of I’ve been waiting to release for a while now and while there are some hiccups in the road for the most part this is a fun and surprisingly quite humorous ride.

The cast are doing a lot of the heavily lifting here, much like in her other horror film appearances Samara Weaving is great here. There’s one particular moment here that caught me off guard that is probably going to end up being a fan favorite moment from Weaving, as always she matches the atmosphere that’s needed and is quite humorous here as well. She’s able to balance the horror moments with the comedic ones, her character Sofia is fun and while we do not really get a whole lot about her as a character. It’s Weaving’s magic to really bring the viewer into the character that helps in the long run.

Ray Nicholson the son of Jack Nicholson is excellent here, one of the film’s strongest assets and really gives off some of the acting power his father has. He’s both creepy and humorous, a character that quickly gets under the viewer’s skin. His mindset going from crazy to even more insane and it just keeps building from there, his back and forth with Samara Weaving is investing to watch as well as quite thrilling. The atmosphere is there to back it up and the end result unfolds into a hilarious and chaotic third act.

Jimmie Fails and Eric Dane are both great as well, not a whole lot to their characters but the two much like everyone else in the film are hilarious and match the tone of the film. Dane has a really strong moment at the beginning of the film that he shares with Nicholson where we see early on how deranged Nicholson really is. Fails shines towards the end of the film, a moment that is both bizarre yet fun and really matches this film’s incredibly strange atmosphere.

The writing and direction from Jimmy Warden are both great, admittedly after the opening scene the film does take a bit a time to get going. Some of the writing is just okay with nothing really special going on. But once the film starts to reach the second act the film’s vision is a lot more clear and the ideas the film is going for start to develop and fully fleshed out. We get some great moments between the character as well, Weaving and Fails have some nice moments together and have some nice chemistry together.

The film’s humor as well as the atmosphere is very Ready Or Not (2019) like, the film does not quite reach the highs that the film did but it does manage to take the approach that Ready Or Not (2019) did and spin it in its own way. Not every single joke lands but at the very least the film backs those up with some thrilling atmosphere and some great gore.

Overall Borderline is not going to reinvent the genre, but due to the cast’s commitment and Warden’s thrilling and humorous writing and direction the film manages to be a lot of fun and is something I would recommend you check out.

Borderline releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms

7/10 B

The Parenting (2025) Film Review

Boyfriends Josh and Rohan plan a weekend getaway to introduce their parents, only to discover that their rental is home to a 400-year-old poltergeist.

The Parenting is directed by Craig Johnson director of True Adolescents (2009), The Skeleton Twins (2014), Wilson (2017) and Alex Strangelove (2018).

The Parenting is what happens when you take The Evil Dead (1981) and comedies where the parents of each party dating each other meet. Nothing exactly we haven’t seen before, but I got to say this surprised me. There’s some genuinely good bits here that did get some laughs out of me, that’s probably due to the cast having a blast (also a surprisingly packed cast as well?)

Speaking of which the acting while not exactly anything excellent is still quite a lot of fun. Brandon Flynn and Parker Posey in particular do a great job here, Brian Cox has some hilarious parts as well and Nik Dodani worked well with Brandon Flynn. Both have great chemistry and the comedic timing for the two is actually quite solid as well.

Admittedly there really isn’t a whole lot going on here, the plot is about what you expect but I do have to give credit for the sort of chaotic energy the movie goes for. It’s very reminiscent of Scary Movie (2000) where the parody movie genre was at least entertaining, there’s some moments like that here that do actually work in this movie’s favor.

As I said before it’s mostly the cast that makes this work, each character is at the very least given something to do which in turn gives everyone a few moments to shine. Even if Cliff (played by Dean Norris) is really not given so much to work with, the moments we do have are genuinely fun and he actually does end up being likable. Directing wise this was alright, Craig Johnson has showed better direction before with some of his previous films mainly The Skeleton Twins (2014) but I do think he did a decent job with the comedy here and some of the horror (even if that took a backseat for most of the film.)

Overall The Parenting isn’t too bad, it’s absolutely not going to be for everyone and I don’t think this is something I’m ever going to watch again. But I will say this was a fun time and if it sounds like your thing I say check it out.

The Parenting is available on HBO Max or Max

6/10 C+

Plankton: The Movie (2025) Film Review

Plankton’s tangled love story with his sentient computer wife goes sideways when she takes a stand and decides to destroy the world without him.

Plankton: The Movie is directed by Dave Needham director of The Loud House Movie (2021).

After the disaster that was last year’s Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024) I went into this one expecting the same sort of disaster..luckily that was not the case here. That doesn’t mean to say that it’s necessarily a good movie but talk about an improvement.

The voice cast does a really solid job here, there isn’t necessarily any standouts it’s very much what you expect from anything SpongeBob related but unlike the Sandy Cheeks Movie there was actual charm here. The relationship between Plankton and Karen is actually explored decently well, again nothing mind blowing but the fact they even bothered at all considering how lacking in writing the last movie was deserves some credit.

The animation styles used are decent, some of the 3D animation does feel a bit empty at times. It’s moments like those that you kind of wish the movie was the typical SpongeBob 2D animation style, but at the very least some of those moments are made up with some song sequences. The music numbers are a mixed bag for me in terms of the songs themselves, but I do think what’s going on the background and the different styles being used are quite great as well as creative at times. The songs themselves are never going to reach the quality and fun feel of the songs from the show, but they are at least tolerable and don’t overstay their welcome (you will more than likely forget about them as soon as the movie is over anyway.)

Finally it’s nice to see that there’s still some charm from the show here, for one thing the voice acting was much more lively especially from Tom Kenny who sounds much more awake than he was in the Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024) leading to this movie just having more entertaining moments. Plus there are some moments that are genuinely funny, nothing that’s going to knock your socks off but entertaining at the very least.

Not much else to say here, Plankton: The Movie is probably the most 5/10 movie ever made but given just how dreadful the last movie was. That should be taken as a compliment.

Plankton: The Movie is available on Netflix!

5/10 C

One Of Them Days (2025) Film Review

When her boyfriend takes her rent money, Alyssa and her roommate race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.

One Of Them Days is directed by Lawrence Lamont which is his directorial debut.

One Of Them Days is a film that answers what if the phrase “can this day get any worse” was a human and made a movie. Well turns out it would be a genuinely hilarious film with incredibly solid performances that are so charming and a whole lot of fun.

The performances from Keke Palmer and SZA are both fantastic here, right from the very beginning the two show their natural chemistry right off the bat and remains strong throughout the film. The two both have excellent comedic timing, filled to the brim with jokes that gave me a ton of laughs and puts the film above so many other modern comedies that struggle to even get a chuckle out of the viewer.

Keke Palmer has the natural charisma, comedic timing and the balance of humorous moments and serious ones to really hit her performance out of the park (as well as this film.) I’ve said before in the past how Palmer is a powerhouse actress and One Of Them Days only reinforces that. SZA is also quite fantastic, she might not be a seasoned actress like Keke Palmer is (in fact this is SZA’s acting debut.) However for an acting debut this was quite solid, as I said before she works with Palmer incredibly well and she really does feel like a natural fit for the film.

The film tackling the theme of everything just going completely wrong has such chaotic energy to it, it’s both hilarious and quite clever at the same time. While there are some cliches in the road the whole “friends have a falling out” plot line rears its head however that doesn’t take away from the film’s writing. The script from writer Syreeta Singleton is hilarious and it helps that Keke Palmer and SZA can turn a what would be ordinary piece of dialogue into something quite funny. There’s even some jokes here that are actually clever and tie into the film in meaningful ways as well.

I also do think the film succeeds in balancing its humor with the serious moments, there is some actual great character moments reflecting on how much the day absolutely sucks and wishing for it to get better. It’s not anything incredibly deep, but it’s incredibly genuine and really does have this charm attached to it.

Overall One Of Them Days is a whole lot of fun! Between great performances, hilarious laughs and a solid story. This is one I absolutely recommend checking out!

One Of Them Days is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

Picture This (2025) Film Review

Struggling photographer Pia is told she’ll find true love and career success within the next five dates she goes on. With her sister’s wedding looming and her family playing matchmaker, her ex soon reappears, throwing her life into chaos.

Picture This is directed by Prarthana Mohan director of The Miseducation of Bindu (2020), All For Her (2021) and Christmas Is Cancelled (2021).

Not a whole lot to report here, Picture This is the first thing you think of when somebody talks about how forgettable a lot of streaming movies are. Outside of a few performances and the cultural aspects that do help this movie at least have some sort of identity. The movie is very much a forgettable romantic comedy that you will forget about after viewing.

The performances I will say are a lot better than you would think, Simone Ashley is easily the standout with her natural charisma and her ability to give her character Pia some actual depth (all be it not anything groundbreaking) is easily the movie’s best asset. Her chemistry with Luke Fetherson (who plays Pia’s best friend Jay), ends up leading to some of the movie’s most enjoyable moments. While not completely original their dialogue at the very least is more engaging than the rest of the movie’s formulaic plot.

Hero Fiennes is fine enough here, but unfortunately the dialogue doesn’t give the necessary character development or chemistry with Simone Ashley to make his character Charlie (ex-boyfriend of Pia) work at all. The only thing we are given about him is the typical cliches the genre likes to throw at the viewer, upon immediately seeing his character you already have a good idea of where the movie is going to go with Charlie.

Everything else is incredibly bland unfortunately, while there is some vibrant depiction of the Indian wedding festivities which adds color and cultural richness. The rest of the filming really doesn’t standout and absolutely suffers from the low budget feel, it feels like it needed more of a stronger push to pop out but can’t quite do it. The writing is about as bland as you can really get with romantic comedies, while not terrible (this actually fairs a bit better than some straight to streaming romantic comedy films when it comes to writing.) but that still does not give the movie the power it needs to reach the finish line.

Overall Picture This isn’t the worst attempt but it’s definitely one of the most forgettable, Simone Ashley’s charming performance and the few moments of potential aren’t enough to save this movie from being forgettable.

Picture This is available on Amazon Prime Video.

4/10 D+

Heart Eyes (2025) Film Review!

For the past several years, the “Heart Eyes Killer” has wreaked havoc on Valentine’s Day by stalking and murdering romantic couples. This Valentine’s Day, no couple is safe.

Heart Eyes is directed by Josh Ruben director of Scare Me (2020) and Werewolves Within (2021).

I actually quite like Ruben’s previous work, while I wasn’t crazy about Scare Me (2020) I really appreciated the small cast and for the most part found it to be quite different from a lot of other horror comedies. Werewolves Within I thought was a huge improvement (also a pretty good example of a great video game adaption film) it’s one of those modern horror comedy films that I do think is genuinely funny and has a lot of charm.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said about Heart Eyes, holiday horror slasher films have always been a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine and was hoping that maybe this could be good one…that’s not what happened here. Outside of a few decent kills, some fine enough song choices and the acting being overall not terrible. This movie quite honestly just feels like yet another horror comedy that really does not add anything new to the table and really tries to be Scream as much as possible rather than have its own identity.

The performances as I said earlier are not bad here, Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding have just enough chemistry to make some scenes work and the rest of the cast are solid. But there’s nobody here that really elevates the material given into something interesting that the viewer can grab a hold of, especially when the disastrous third act rolls around and the acting actually starts to lead into terrible territory. Granted that has a lot more to do with the writing of the movie rather than the performances, as the third act’s killer reveal is laughably terrible and makes everything that came before it so much worse.

The kills as I said before aren’t bad here, but as I say in a lot of terrible slasher movies like this good kills can only get you so far. Some of the song choices aren’t bad either, Amazed by Lonestar is always nice to hear and a lot of the other songs do fit the atmosphere the movie is going for which is actually quite impressive considering how much the writing misses the mark in that department.

The writing does a lot more of the killing than the movie’s villain “Heart Eyes” could ever dream of. The attempt of being a parody of romantic comedy films just doesn’t land here, the jokes are not funny and the characters aren’t interesting enough or even well written enough to make the viewer really care about them. We are given a few character moments but a lot of it is incredibly surface level at best, Holt and Gooding just don’t have the chemistry to really back this movie up at all. Lastly the movie heavily trying to be a Scream clone is what ultimately hurts this movie, it’s painfully obvious that it tries to recapture the magic of Scream but with this romantic comedy feel that never really lands and ultimately starts to fall in line with a lot of other bad Scream clones.

Overall Heart Eyes is completely forgettable, had the movie been better written and tried to find its own identity this could have easily been a half decent movie.

Heart Eyes is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

Dog Man (2025) Film Review

When a police officer and his faithful police dog get injured in the line of duty, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses the two of them together — and Dog Man is born. As Dog Man learns to embrace his new identity, he must stop feline supervillain Petey the Cat from cloning himself and going on a crime spree.

Dog Man is directed by Peter Hastings director of The Country Bears (2003). Dog Man is a spin-off and story within a story of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) and serves as the second film in the Captain Underpants franchise.

Dog Man was a nice surprise, it’s not anything groundbreaking but I would be lying if I said it did not have any charm. There is a lot of detail that went into this movie and much like Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) it’s just a whole lot of fun from start to finish.

The voice cast is pretty strong here, Lil Rel Howery is quite fun here that gives a decent amount of laughs. Pete Davidson is the standout here and actually gives a pretty solid performance as Petey, Petey at first is your basic rival to the hero but eventually does grow into his own character. Davidson’s voice acting does some great work here he gives the character this emotional punch needed to really pull it off while also fitting the atmosphere of the source material, there isn’t really anything new being said about his character but it’s still charming nevertheless.

The animation is gorgeous and has a lot of attention detail put into it, the film manages to capture the spirit of the illustrations from the books and translates it well into CG animation. It’s described as “high-end handmade” and you can really see that while watching, the crafting is incredibly well done here and gives these characters life especially with the range of emotions shown here. It captures the world of the books incredibly well and lets a lot of the animation do the talking even when the characters are talking on screen.

The story is also quite a lot of fun, Dog Man himself doesn’t talk but he still makes the story incredibly entertaining to watch and we can still piece together his character through his emotions. It’s enough to connect the viewer to the character and make you root for him, as I said earlier there really is not anything ground breaking that’s being said here very usual power of love and friendship. Although I do like the theme of loneliness being discussed here, it’s not incredibly deep but showing how lonely Dog Man is or Li’l Petey feeling like a mistake or a unwanted child at times really does give the film the emotional core it needs.

Overall Dog Man is a blast, there was clearly a lot of passion put into the film and the love for the source material just like with the previous film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), really benefits the film incredibly well!

Dog Man is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Love Hurts (2025) Film Review

A realtor is pulled back into the life he left behind after his former partner-in-crime resurfaces with an ominous message. With his crime-lord brother also on his trail, he must confront his past and the history he never fully buried.

Love Hurts is directed by Jonathan Eusebio which is his directorial debut.

I was excited about this one because of Ke Huy Quan being in the lead role, he’s one of those actors where it’s next to impossible to not root for him. He seems like a genuinely nice person who clearly has a love for film and is very thankful, so it’s incredibly disappointing to see how much of a mess this movie really is.

Ke Huy Quan really tries his best with the script but he can only do so much, occasionally there’s one or two jokes that land which is mainly due to Quan’s charm and I do appreciate the enthusiasm he brings to a very familiar character. But for the most part it’s a complete miss, the chemistry between him and Ariana DeBose is bland and fails to even really be romantic. Ariana DeBose is in another role that doesn’t allow her to show her ability as an actress, she’s given such a cliche and underwritten character part that ultimately the viewer forgets by the end of the movie.

Marshawn Lynch is quite honestly the film’s best part, sure his character is really nothing more than “funny henchmen” but he is clearly having a blast and he’s kind of just doing his own thing which leads to the film’s few good comedic moments.

The writing is what completely breaks this movie, it’s not romantic nor is it funny. It’s a huge mess that doesn’t utilize its elements, especially when it comes to characters. Most of the supporting characters are there for nothing more than terrible jokes, cliches or just to fill in some gaps.

Some of the action scenes are fine enough combined with violence there was actually a lot of potential to do something interesting with it here, but what ruins it is the sloppily put together set pieces that really don’t have any distinctive style. Nothing really stands out at all unfortunately, it very much feels like an early terrible 2D fighting video game where it has no really push to it at all. Quan’s fighting choreography can only do so much before the action scenes become incredibly bland.

Overall I’m just more confused than anything else, Love Hurts leaves a lot more questions than answers a couple of them being “what exactly happened here?” How does such a simple concept lead to such a cobbled together mess that wastes so many talented actors and actresses? By far the most disappointing movie of 2025 so far.

Love Hurts is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

Kinda Pregnant (2025) Film Review

When Lainy’s plan to settle down and start a family falls apart, she puts on a fake baby bump, tells a lie – and accidentally falls for her dream guy.

Kinda Pregnant is directed by Tyler Spindel director of Father Of The Year (2018), Deported (2020), The Wrong Missy (2020) and The Out-Laws (2023).

I really don’t think you need me to tell you that Kinda Pregnant is atrocious, it’s one of those movies where just the idea and who is involved is enough to turn anyone off. You remember how last year Katy Perry tried to make a comeback last year but failed miserably? Well that’s Amy Schumer with this movie and would you believe me if I said that this is far worse than anything Katy Perry could have conjured up?

Amy Schumer is of course atrocious here, she’s doing her usual shtick that worked back when she was at the peak of her career. But now it’s predictable, old and incredibly unfunny (I think it was never funny but people clearly liked it), Schumer seems insistent on this type of humor still working throughout the movie but ultimately falls flat with none of it landing outside of maybe two or three jokes from the beginning.

The supporting cast unfortunately can’t salvage a terrible script (which is partly written by Schumer), Will Forte and Jillian Bell aren’t horrendous here but they aren’t given good material to have their characters standout. They are basically here as support for Schumer’s obnoxious character Lainy Newton who I promise by the end of the movie you will absolutely hate, it also doesn’t help that Forte and Schumer have absolutely no chemistry between one another. Leaving a lot of their scenes with such an awkward feel that never goes away.

Kinda Pregnant also drags out for way too long, despite being 98 minutes long the movie feels like it’s 2 hours that’s mainly due to just how the movie is structured. It’s basically Schumer being obnoxious with wacky shenanigans occurring, some unfunny jokes are told and then it moves on to the next scene rinse and repeat until the movie decides to end. It’s no surprise that a Netflix movie starring Amy Schumer is terrible but to be this unimaginative, lazy and unfunny is truly something else.

Overall Kinda Pregnant is horrendous in just about every single way possible, it’s a movie that pretends it’s about female empowerment yet it portrays pregnant women as stupid. This is a prime example of a movie that is sort of baffling to see and wonder how nobody said “actually let’s do a rewrite” easily the worst movie so far this year.

Kinda Pregnant is available on Netflix

No Good Qualities Just Horrendous (that’s the new rating replacing Disgrace To Cinema) F