In the 1950s, notorious New York crime bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese vie for control of the city streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that reshapes organized crime forever.
The Alto Knights is directed by Barry Levinson director of Rain Man (1988), Sleepers (1996), Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), Wag the Dog (1997), The Bay (2012) and many others.
There really is not a lot to be said about The Alto Knights, this is about as generic and cliched as you can really get with the crime drama genre. Everything here has been done better elsewhere leaving this movie to be a chore to sit through.
Robert De Niro does a fine enough job with the dual performance but even then this is a role he’s already done in far better films. Fans of De Niro will get absolutely nothing out of this performance outside of a few moments that are genuinely great and at least attempt to try and move the story along. The rest of the cast however really do not have that much to work with, that mostly comes from the writing which fails to offer any interesting moments.
The writing is terrible and repeats itself over and over again to the point where it feels like this is an elaborate bit. The editing is bafflingly awful with tons of scenes that go on for far longer than they really should, the movie itself fails to get the viewer engaged as it throws just about every mobster movie cliche in the book at the wall with none of it sticking.
What more can I really say here? The Alto Knights is a chore to sit through and there’s very little going on here. There might have been a good movie here had the writing been anything of substance, but as it stands this is hands down one of the most forgettable movies of 2025 so far.
The Alto Knights is available on all VOD platforms.
An NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teenage punks, neo-Nazis and a debt collector embark on a collision course in 1987 Oakland, Calif.
Freaky Tales is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck both of which directed Sugar (2008), It’s Kind Of A Funny Story (2010), Mississippi Grind (2015) and Captain Marvel (2018) while Fleck also directed Half Nelson (2006).
I knew very little about Freaky Tales going in, the only thing I knew was the incredibly large cast in the film which is only one of the main reasons why Freaky Tales works as well as it does. It’s anthology movie that is not afraid to be as bizarre as possible, a lot of what makes a great anthology film is present here. There’s a heavy Creepshow (1982) and Tales From The Hood (1995) feel here that completely works in the film’s favor.
As always with these anthology films I’ll talk a bit about each segment and then give my final thoughts of the overall film at the end so let’s start with the first segment.
The first segment is straight to the point, it’s punk rockers vs neo-Nazis. Subtlety is thrown out the window but in this case in a good way, the filming style is wild and the writing is loud, exciting and a blast of fun. Ji-young Yoo gives a strong performance here that really compliments the atmosphere being shown. The exaggerated violence, callbacks to grindhouse cinema and the score all blend together to create something truly exciting. The rebellious tone captures the theme of the segment incredibly well, some might argue that the segment lacks in depth and while that is true. All you really need here is the energy and atmosphere to really do the talking and it does that very well. Not anything mind blowing but a whole lot of fun that is a huge adrenaline rush.
The second segment dials things back a bit, we follow ice cream workers and aspiring rap artists Barbie (played by Dominique Thorne) and Entice (played by Normani), the main reason this segment works so well is due to the performances from Thorne and Normani. They both have such excellent chemistry and charm that they bring to the film, Normani should strongly consider doing more acting because she really stands out being one of the film’s best assets. The climatic rap battle scene is also one of the film’s best moments, not only is the battle itself so much fun and well written when it comes to songwriting. But there’s this theme of triumph and even some gender barriers in the industry, the segment might not break any new ground but it does capture the atmosphere the film is asking for which ends up letting this one reach the finish line!
The third segment is an acting showcase for Pedro Pascal who does such an incredible job here, what we get here is this interesting noir type of short. A hitman named Clint (played by Pedro Pascal) is looking to exit the business after a tragedy at home. Where is the atmosphere for the first two segments were more exciting (different levels of it) this one is much more quiet, we get to see the mind of Clint and how guilt and grief are taking over him. Pascal shows this with his facial acting particularly with his eyes that look incredibly haunted from the events throughout the segment. The late Angus Cloud also gives a strong performance here (this was his final performance) even if it is not that long, he still leaves an impact and his conversations with Pascal help further segment in its theming. There’s this theme of what does it take to walk way from violence when it’s been apart of you for so long? It’s an incredibly haunting theme that really works with Pascal’s acting and the atmosphere, combined together it makes for an excellent segment.
Lastly we have fourth segment, which has Sleepy Floyd (played by Jay Ellis) who is a NBA legend that turns into a sword-wielding vigilante after a huge loss. This is by far the most bizarre of the segments, delivering fight choreography that is very exaggerated and oozing with stylization. It’s a revenge fantasy that we do not get a whole lot of depth outside of why it’s happening, it very much feels like a bizarre Adult Swim show and for what the film is going for I would say it works. I will say it definitely is the weakest out of the four segments but that’s not entirely a bad thing when each of the segments all pass the “good” line.
Freaky Tales is truly a blast of fun, I absolutely admire the decision of going for very different feels and styles. This is something a lot of anthology films mess up on most of their segments feel almost identical which makes a lot of them fail to standout by the time the movie ends.Freaky Tales avoids this and keeps each segment incredibly interesting with different goals, style choices and the atmosphere they want to capture. It leads to a lasting impression on the viewer and can form discussion on which story you liked the most. When you combine that with some fantastic acting and writing you have yourself such a fun film that really goes all out.
A pastor and a detective, driven by their beliefs, pursue a missing person case, with the pastor seeking retribution after a divine revelation identifies the culprit who abducted his son.
Revelations is directed by Yeon Sang-ho director of The King Of Pigs (2011), The Fake (2013), Train To Busan (2016), Seoul Station (2016), Psychokinesis (2018), Peninsula (2020) and Jung_E (2023).
Revelations feels like it’s saying a lot but yet so little at the same time, there’s a mix of narratives going on here with a lot of them failing to stick in any meaningful way. Sang-ho is a great director but a lot of what makes him so great is just not present here at all.
The performances are at least solid, Ryu Jun-yeol slowly turns more and more insane as the movie goes on and that’s captured decently well from his performance that is at times pretty intimidating. Shin Hyun-been is the standout, he completely takes crushes it whether he’s alone or sharing the screen with someone else in the cast. We get so much power from his performance which leads to some quite solid scenes!
The first hour of the movie is definitely the most successful, we slowly get to know the characters and what their story is. Theres some genuinely interesting dialogue with some striking imagery that will absolutely standout to the viewer, especially when combined with solid cinematography, beautiful lighting and strong production design. This all paints a very mysterious picture that the viewer is intrigued to explore.
Unfortunately after the first hour of the movie it starts to slowly collapse, the writing is nowhere near as strong as it was. With the genuinely interesting exploration of religion starting to go the more cliche route and the characters just not having anymore striking moments they need to further their development. Despite the second half not being as good, the final moments of the movie at least give the viewer something to think about, there’s some nice wrap around with the theme of religion that has some sort of power but at the point it’s a bit too late.
Overall Revelations just does not have a whole lot going on here, it’s not a bad movie in fact I still do recommend checking it out as I do think this is something people would like. This one just did not work for me.
A former criminal’s ordinary life turns upside down when his old family shows up for a long-awaited reunion.
Riff Raff is directed by Dito Montiel director of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), Fighting (2009), The Son Of No One (2011), Empire State (2013), Boulevard (2014), Man Down (2015), The Clapper (2017) and Critical Thinking (2020).
I was strongly considering on just not giving this a full review because honestly what is there to really say here? Riff Raff is one of those movies that heavily relies on its stacked cast to do all the heavy lifting, the rest of the movie is entirely nothing special at all. It’s not anything offensively bad but it hits way too many familiar beats and isn’t very funny for a comedy movie that’s mainly due to the tone that ends up being a complete and total mess.
The acting is probably the best part of this movie, Ed Harris is not bad here and actually does give the movie some of its best moments. Gabrielle Union and Jennifer Coolidge are solid here as well, I do like that the movie slowly introduces new characters and we follow each of them until everyone sort of just comes together we get some new layers of the story. The end result of these characters might have not been great, but at the very least you can tell there was some level of attempt here.
Writing wise the movie is a mess, the comedic elements have their moments but a large part of it just does not land at all. That’s mainly due to the tone constantly switching (as I said before), at times it feels like this family holiday movie other times it’s a crime movie and other times it’s a comedy. There’s way too much going on here and it all just starts to crumble to the ground when the third act rolls around, combine that with tons of exposition that’s spewed all over and you have yourself a very dull watch.
I wish I could say more but there just is not a whole lot to comment on, I’m sure there will be some people who may like this one. But this is definitely something I wouldn’t recommend.
Lawman “Big Nick” O’Brien gets embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves as he pursues career criminal Donnie Wilson to Europe.
Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera is directed by Christian Gudegast who previously directed Den Of Thieves (2018). This film serves as a sequel to Den Of Thieves (2018).
Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera could have easily been one of those sequels that felt like it came out way too late and just end up being forgettable. In some ways it is but for the most part I do think this is a pretty solid sequel, that may not do a whole lot different but there’s actually some surprisingly great bits here worth acknowledging.
For starters I do think the acting this time around is actually quite great, a large part of what the film focuses on is chemistry which may seem odd given that the previous film was filled with action and such but it works here. Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. are given a real lot to work with here in the dialogue and they go all out. This is definitely one of Butler’s better performances in quite awhile, he’s able to really into his character Nicholas O’Brien (or Big Nick) and expand upon the character from the first film. There’s a decent amount going on here with the chemistry of the two and the conversations they have, it feels like natural progression for these characters and the film’s direction of where it takes these two characters is quite interesting. The supporting cast while great don’t have a whole lot to work with, this is very much the Butler and Jackson Jr. show, which in this context isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it would have been nice to see the rest of the cast have bigger moments and be more involved.
Pantera is less action filled than the previous film, the action scenes that are here are very well done and take advantage of the atmosphere that the film builds. They aren’t quite as over the top or expansive as the first film but they are fun in their own way, especially the third act’s big heist showdown that is grand and really makes all the build up the film was creating worth it in the end. The suspenseful atmosphere and the chemistry between Butler and Jackson Jr. make it all the more satisfying when the third act rolls around.
The main flaw mostly comes from the exact same problem the first film suffered from and it’s going on for a bit too long, to be fair this film isn’t as bad when it comes to that but it’s still a very noticeable problem. There’s filler here that really doesn’t serve the plot all that much that could have easily been trimmed.
However between the chemistry, third act and the surprisingly solid acting Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera at least has a lot going on here, it’s a film I may not ever return to (much like the first one) but I still do think it’s a satisfying film that accomplishes what it’s sent out to do!
Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera is currently in theaters.
A juror for a high-profile murder trial finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma that could influence the verdict and potentially convict, or free, the accused killer.
Juror #2 is directed by Clint Eastwood director of Unforgiven (1992), Space Cowboys (2000), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Gran Torino (2008), American Sniper (2014), The Mule (2018), Richard Jewel (2019) and so many others.
It is an absolute shame what Warner Bros did to what might be Clint Eastwood’s last film Juror #2 only putting it into 50 theaters, while the movie did end up getting released in 300 theaters in the UK. It still felt like a huge slap to the face to a director who has been working for years and has given audiences so many fantastic films.
If Juror #2 is indeed Eastwood’s last film then he finished incredibly strongly, while yes the film is a lot like 12 Angry Men (1957) and is a very traditional courtroom drama. The film itself does a lot more than that and really manages to have this old school feel that tackles the themes of justice, what doing the right thing really means and a haunting examination of guilt. All of this combined together paints a very interesting picture that the viewer slowly examines throughout the film.
The performances are fantastic especially Nicholas Hoult who plays Justin Kemp the main character we follow and we slowly but surely get to know more about him throughout the film. Hoult’s performance is incredibly authentic and really captures the mind thinking of many different scenarios, when he’s interacting with the rest of the jurors we get to see inside his mind or even when he’s at home with his wife Ally Crewson (played by Zoey Deutch.) sure the interactions may not seem like much but you can tell from his facial expressions that he’s hard at work thinking of both outcomes of the case. Deutch is also the heart of the film as well, even if she doesn’t get a lot of character development she still gives such a great performance that really lifts Justin Kemp as a character.
Toni Collette is also quite great here as well, her acting is incredibly raw much like everyone else in the film and while her character Faith Killebrew is a bit of a traditional prosecutor type of character her performance is what makes it worth it.
The direction from Eastwood is fantastic here, you can absolutely feel the tension between the characters. Especially when they challenge each other. When they question each other’s viewpoints on the cast, it’s all very fascinating and is once again an example of how Eastwood captures the old school feel of the courtroom drama film while also adding his touch to the mix.
The film tackling themes of justice, doing the right thing and guilt are all very well done. Almost immediately when the jurors start to deliberate they want to find the man guilty, with one of the main reasons being that they just want to go home and get it over with. Which brings the question is this really justice? Eventually when we do get to know more about Justin and his past he changes his position from wanting to not convict to convict due to a twist that I won’t spoil here. That’s where the theme of guilt comes in and we see it play out through the rest of the film in a very haunting way that is sure to shock the viewer.
Overall Juror #2 is a fantastic film that might seem simple enough at first, but gets much more interesting and has a lot of twists that are sure to keep the viewer on a excellent ride from beginning to end.
Skilled in the art of killing, a young assassin defies her mentor to save a boy from a ruthless crime syndicate.
The Shadow Strays is directed by Timo Tjahjanto director of May The Devil Take You (2018), The Night Comes For Us (2018), May The Devil Take You Too (2020) and a few others. He’s also co-directed a few films such as Killers (2014), Headshot (2016) Macabre (2009) and a few others!
Timo Tjahjanto is a director I always look forward to when I hear a new film of his is coming out. Tjahjanto is arguably one of the best modern action film directors, he very clearly has a passion for them and really goes all out with each of his films. The exact same can be said for his most recent film The Shadow Strays.
The performances are fantastic but the main standout by far is Aurora Ribero who prior to this film did drama and comedy films, so it’s really impressive to see how much she really goes all out here. You would think she had to have done at least a few action films before this considering how incredible she really is here. Ribero pours everything she’s got into this performance both emotionally and physically which leads it to be such a thrilling and exciting performance. Her character 13 or Nomi is very well developed and really brings so much emotion towards the end of the film which leads to one of the best choreographed one on one fights I’ve seen in a while.
The action scenes are Tjahjanto’s specialty so it’s no surprise that they are once again top notch, they are just as violent and well choreographed as they have always been. Seeing Ribero crushing anyone in her path is just truly satisfying and really gets the viewer pumped and brought into the film. She’s on this journey and we are along for the ride, sure the action might be a bit more of the same thing from Tjahjanto’s previous work but if it isn’t broken don’t fix it.
There really isn’t much more to say, if you love Tjahjanto’s work you already know what you are getting into with this one!
Avery Graves, a CIA operative, is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive.
Canary Black is directed by Pierre Morel director of Taken (2008), The Gunman (2015), Peppermint (2018), The Ambush (2021), Freelance (2023) and a few others.
Oh Pierre Morel you made Taken (2008) a really good action film and never had that home run when it comes to action movies again. Canary Black is arguably his worst movie to date, think of the most cliched and terrible action thriller spy movie and the end result is Canary Black.
Kate Beckinsale is by far the best part about this movie, she actually gives a surprisingly decent performance that really makes you wish the movie itself was a lot better. The late Ray Stevenson is also pretty decent. There’s a few action scenes that are fine enough especially given this was a movie that was immediately sent to streaming.
Having that said the rest of the movie is so painfully bare bones that it hurts, as I said before it’s about as cliched as you can get. Running through a ton of bad guys without the elements that make a good action thriller spy movie, sure there are some decent action scenes every once in a while . But that’s all you really get, the writing is terrible and about as predictable you would expect, the characters are bare bones and have no real personalities outside of what’s given to them and the pacing is so incredibly slow that this movie feels far longer than 101 minutes.
I’m not sure what else I can really say? This is the very definition of release date fodder, a movie that the studio put out there because they needed something to fill in the gap.
A Mexican lawyer is offered an unusual job to help a notorious cartel boss retire and transition into living as a woman, fulfilling a long-held desire.
Emilia Perez is directed by Jacques Audiard director of A Self-Made Hero (1996), Read My Lips (2001), A Prophet (2009), Rust and Bone (2012), Dheepan (2015), The Sisters Brothers (2018) and Paris, 13th District (2021).
I’m not even sure where to exactly start with Emilia Perez, what mostly got me interested in the film was the cast and Jacques Audiard a director who’s work I usually really like, he’s done some incredibly strong work in the past….however Emilia Perez is hands down worst film by a large margin. This movie is one of those “what the hell happened?” moments that you ask yourself as you watch it.
There are positives but very few of them, Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofia Gascon both give strong performances. Gascon in particular has a nice singing voice and does bring some much needed emotion to some of the songs even if it’s not nearly enough for a lot of these songs to stick out. Saldaña carries a lot of scenes on her back without her the movie would collapse far faster than it did, the conversations between Gascon and Saldaña show that even with such a terrible script they really try to bring at least something out of it. I do think the two do give strong performances but unfortunately can’t exactly go all out due to the script.
The other positive is Paul Guilhaume’s cinematography which captures a lot of beautiful shots that are quite interesting to look at, there’s this certain spectacle it has that at the very least makes parts of the movie look grand. It’s sort of a whiplash to see such beautiful shots and then soon after be thrown terrible music numbers and terrible dialogue that is baffling.
Everything else about Emilia Perez is terrible and truly baffling, there’s one song number in particular that has song lyrics consisting of “Man to woman, or woman to man? From penis to vagina! Rhinoplasty! Vaginoplasty!” It’s absolutely baffling and something that I genuinely couldn’t believe I was hearing, combine that with it being horribly sung and you got yourself a torturous moment. The rest of the song numbers while not nearly as baffling aren’t good, most of them are quite forgettable and don’t really leave an impression.
Selena Gomez is the weakest here which is a shame, I don’t even dislike Gomez as an actress I think she gave a very strong performance in Spring Breakers (2013) and Only Murders in The Building. But she leaves such little impression here that she might as well not be in the movie. There’s an attempt to try and make her character into something but it does not work due to just how piss poor the writing really is.
Speaking of which the writing is a complete and total mess. There’s themes about regret and wanting to do better which is all well and good but presenting tone deaf elements at the beginning and portraying Emilia Perez (played by Karla Sofia Gascon) herself as a cartel leader (also at the beginning) who’s responsible for so many deaths makes it so much harder to really feel any sort of sympathy towards Perez. The film doesn’t really bring anything striking as to why the viewer should feel bad for her, it just sort of expects you to feel sorry because it says so.
Overall Emilia Perez is a trainwreck, it’s not even a so bad it’s good type of movie. It’s a movie that really makes you question what exactly happened here?
In 1970s Los Angeles, as a wave of murders makes headlines, a young woman aspiring to become an actress and a serial killer cross paths during an episode of a dating show.
Woman Of The Hour is directed by Anna Kendrick which is her directorial debut! The film is based on the true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala and his 1978 appearance on The Dating Game in the midst of his murder spree.
It’s no secret that the true crime subgenre has been a bit of a mixed bag over the years, there’s been so many debates on whether or not a certain TV show or movie is exploitive, does said film or TV show do justice to the story, what does or does not count as being exploitive?Those are questions that I’m not sure anyone can give a definitive answer to, however what is noticeable is the quality of said films and TV shows. While there are exceptions, a lot of them really do seem like they are sent out to cash in on a certain case. That’s why Anna Kendrick’s Woman Of The Hour feels incredibly refreshing, there is clearly a lot of passion and skill put into this film.
For starters the performances all around are quite fantastic Anna Kendrick delivers one of her best performances of her career, she’s able to adapt to each scene she’s in and fit in with the atmosphere. When she needs to be funny she’s able to tell some jokes that fit with the atmosphere, when she needs to be in distress especially in uncomfortable situations she’s able to do that quite easily. She captures this raw portrayal of a woman who’s very much victim of being stalked and targeted, these moments are incredibly terrifying due to just how real Anna Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto’s performances really are.
Speaking of which Daniel Zovatto as Rodney Alcala is one of the most terrifying and at times disturbing performances of the year, the way he’s able to switch from being somewhat charming to a cold blooded killer that stalks his victim in a matter of seconds is unbelievable and leaves the viewer with fear. Every time he’s on screen you can absolutely feel the tension in the air, it’s closing in on the viewer with no way out until the scenes ends with there horrifying results.
Autumn Beast is also quite fantastic here as well, much like Kendrick she captures what it’s like to be stalked and targeted. Every scene of her trying to find a way to run from Alcala and call for help is tense and completely drags you into the film. The interactions between Beast and Zovatto are also some of the film’s most suspenseful, as one sudden move from Alcala could be horrible for Amy (played by Autumn Beast).
Anna Kendrick as far as a director is truly wonderful, she’s able to capture a balance of suspense and humor. The humorous moments mostly occur in The Dating Game portion of the film, even though these moments are humorous there’s moments during the show such as when Sheryl Bradshaw (played by Anna Kendrick) asks questions such as “Which one of you will hurt me?” This is definitely one of Kendrick’s best moments in the film both as a director and as an actress, its heavy reminder that not everything in this game show is laughing.
The suspenseful moments Anna Kendrick handles just as well, as I said before they capture such a raw feel that completely takes the viewer into the film, what’s great about these moments is they do not rely on gore to be disturbing, it’s purely atmosphere, actions of the actors and actresses and tension. This is something a lot of these true crime films and tv shows seem to be missing, they want to disturb the view by showing gore and other disturbing elements. Which while yes sometimes it does work, a lot of the time it comes off as very exploitative and shows that focus is going into the wrong priority. Anna Kendrick clearly understands this and uses classic atmosphere tools to tackle a disturbing case which in turn creates a horrifying picture without needing to be over the top.
Overall Woman Of The Hour is a breath of fresh air for the true crime genre, I really hope we get to see more of Anna Kendrick’s directing career because this was incredibly interesting!
Jerome Reviews... 