Daniela Forever (2025) Film Review

After his girlfriend dies in an accident, a grieving man joins a sleep trial that allows him to rebuild his life with her through the use of lucid dreams.

Daniela Forever is directed by Nacho Vigalondo director of Timecrimes (2007), Extraterrestrial (2011), Open Windows (2014) and Colossal (2016).

Daniela Forever suffers from having some really great ideas but just not executing them all that well, which is quite unfortunate because I do think the movie has some bright spots towards the end.

The acting is a mixed bag, Henry Golding gives a solid performance…during the last 20 minutes before that however is a bit painful to watch. There’s absolutely no subtlety with his performance or how his character Nicholas is feeling, that’s partly due to how messy the script really is. As I said Golding eventually recovers during the last 20 minutes but by then it’s too little and the viewer has more than likely checked out due to how chaotic and sloppy the movie really is. Beatrice Granno’s performance is serviceable but unfortunately the lack of chemistry with Golding is not doing the movie any favors.

There are some admittedly neat shots with some decent use of visual effects, it matches the sci-fi romance feel the movie is going for. The visuals actually do a better job at moving the story along than the writing in this case (which isn’t saying much given that the visuals are just fine.)

The writing has a lot of genuinely interesting ideas, there’s a somewhat intriguing middle portion but that’s really where it ends. The movie focuses way too much on explanations rather than letting a scene sit with the viewer, there’s even more explanations about obvious rules about dreams in general. This takes away a lot of the intrigue the movie might have had previously and instead leaves the viewer more confused as to why this needed to be explained.

The chemistry between Golding and Granno is just not there at all, the dialogue has very little going for it as well. Outside of a few moments that are genuinely sweet, it feels very bare bones with nothing for the viewer to chew on about these characters.

Overall there really is not much else to say about Daniela Forever, but the execution is incredibly lacking and leaves the viewer wanting more.

Daniela Forever releases in theaters Friday and on all VOD platforms July 22nd

4/10 D+

The Wedding Banquet (2025) Film Review

Hoping to stay in the country, a gay man proposes a green card marriage to a female friend in exchange for paying for her IVF treatment. However, things soon get complicated when his grandmother surprises them with plans for an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.

The Wedding Banquet is directed by Andrew Ahn director of Spy Night (2016), Driveways (2019) and Fire Island (2022). The film serves as a remake of the 1993 film of the same name which was directed by Ang Lee.

The Wedding Banquet is a remake that could have easily went in a terrible direction, but luckily there was incredibly talented people involved who all do a fantastic job here. The film obviously does not come anywhere close to Ang Lee’s film, but that what we have here is nowhere near bad. In fact this just adds to Ahn’s impressive directing work.

The cast is what really makes the film here, The Wedding Banquet is one of those films that actually gives most of the main cast time to shine. While some get bigger moments, the ones who are not present as much or have smaller moments make the most of it which ends up giving some genuinely heartwarming parts of the film. As a whole the cast really does a fantastic job connecting with one another and the chemistry between one another feels quite raw.

Lily Gladstone is really great although a bit under utilized, but the moments we do get with her show her talent off quite well. It’s also quite a different performance from what we have seen. Kelly Marie Tran really hits it out of the park and is the standout, her ability to switch from being comedic and more dramatic is truly phenomenal. Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-jung are also solid here as well, both contribute great performances that are given substantial roles so they have a decent amount to work with.

Something I do love about this film is it’s not trying to be the original, it goes in the direction of how this situation could feel for a different generation of audiences. It’s a very interesting way of going about it but it actually works in the film’s favor, the writing compliments this further as well which leads to some quite beautiful moments.

The direction from Andrew Ahn is really strong here, much like in his previous work Ahn’s main priority is making sure the viewer connects well with the cast and he does that once again with this film. It might not be on a grander scale of his previous work (Bowen Yang does struggle a bit with the more dramatic moments), but due to the sheer likability and the cast connecting so well together Ahn’s direction fits like a glove for this film.

Overall there is not anything groundbreaking going on here with The Wedding Banquet but it is undeniably a charming little film that gets the job done!

The Wedding Banquet is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

Juliet & Romeo (2025) Film Review

Based on the real story that inspired William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, follows the greatest love story of all time, set as an original pop musical

Juliet & Romeo is directed by Timothy Scott Bogart director of Touched (2005) and Spinning Gold (2023)

Romeo & Juliet a story that everyone has heard at least once and here we have another adaption. What does Juliet & Romeo do differently than the rest? Well two things, for one Bogart tells us the “true story” that inspired the play and second he makes it a pop musical…which goes about as well as you would expect. It would be one thing if at the very least the performances were well acted and the songs were memorable which is sadly not the case here.

To start with the leads Clara Rugaard (who plays Juliet) and Jamie Ward (who plays Romeo) are the weakest of the cast. This is one of those movies where the supporting cast are actually far more interesting than the leads, which in some cases it could be debated that’s a good thing. However it’s most definitely not in this case, Rugaard and Ward don’t do a terrible job as the pair, they really try their hardest with what they have but the script is just not giving them an opportunity to make these characters exciting. Rupert Everett, Jason Isaacs and Derek Jacobi have some great moments but unfortunately don’t have a whole lot to do.

Then we have the songs which are hard to sit through, the best way to describe these songs is thinking of the most cliche portrayal of pop music you can think of. Whatever you just imagined is not far off from what’s in this movie, there’s some occasional neat set pieces and the movie itself is colorful which helps pop out at times. But these are small bits that do not overall really help this movie standout all that much. The music itself is also auto-tuned and a lot of the time feels very out of place, there’s times where you can really tell they tried to go for the feel of Jesus Christ Superstar but without any of the energy the play had.

I’m not entirely sure what the goal was here with Juliet & Romeo if it was to make the most dull adaption to the play then I guess it succeeded. Because with a runtime of 122 minutes this is an absolute chore to sit through and there’s very little to entertain the viewer with or bring interest.

Juliet & Romeo releases tomorrow in theaters and in UK Cinemas for one night only on June 11th!

3/10 D-

Winter Spring Summer Or Fall (2025) Film Review

Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.

Winter Spring Summer Or Fall is directed by Tiffany Paulsen which is her directorial debut.

Winter Spring Summer Or Fall is a romantic drama film that sure does exist, I did not go into this one with very high expectations and while it’s nowhere near one of the worst movies I’ve seen so far this year. That really does not make it a good one.

The performances are fine enough here, Jenna Ortega (especially during the last 15 minutes) and Percy Hynes White in particular have moments where they really try to make the film work. The rest of the cast are given very little to do which is to be expected for what the movie is going for. As far as characters are concerned there is just really not all that much going on here, it’s very typical teen romance characters that are filled to the brim with cliches.

The writing is what completely destroys this movie, the script from Dan Schoffer who previously wrote Not Cool (the Shane Dawson movie) goes about as well as a bad high school film project. The final act in particular repeats the exact same plot point twice within 5 minutes of each other, for example at one point after their breakup Remi (played by Jenna Ortega) wants to reconnect with Barnes (played by Percy Hynes White) so they meet up again and Remi realizes she still loves Barnes but doesn’t tell him. That’s simple enough…until they do the exact same thing but reverse only Barnes does not tell Remi that he still loves her it’s almost comical how badly it’s executed, I will admit it this did get a laugh out of me simply due to how much of a baffling decision it was.

I will say that I was not expecting the film to be this low of a budget, I knew it was an indie film obviously but this still caught me a bit by surprise. This does not really hurt or benefit the movie in any sort of way when it comes to how it was shot or other technical aspects because I do think there are some decent shots here and I kind of liked the soundtrack particularly the original song “What Are You Doing Later?” by Evangeline, It’s not anything outstanding but it fits the movie decently well.

I wish there was more to be said here but Winter Spring Summer Or Fall is incredibly bare bones especially for the romantic comedy genre, you could absolutely do far worse than this one but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Winter Spring Summer Or Fall releases tomorrow in theaters and VOD platforms.

4/10 D+

Dreaming Of You (2025) Film Review

Miles Puck meets a girl during a sleep study. He has anxiety-induced night terrors. His stress rises due to the new relationship, job, and nightmares. He uses a teddy bear to cope with the night terrors.

Dreaming Of You is directed by Jack McCafferty which is his directorial debut!

Dreaming Of You is a cute one for sure this is a film that while flawed and loses itself at some points does in the end have a huge heart and passion on its side. The many styles the movie goes for with animation is quite honestly impressive especially given how low budget it feels.

The performances are quite fun here and are part of why the film works as well as it does, Jack McCafferty (who also directs the film as I said before) it’s charming, fun and connects well with the rest of the cast especially Lauren LaVera and Ian Ross. Speaking of which LaVera once again hits it out of the park with another strong performance and really shows she has such beautiful screen presence, her chemistry with McCafferty is solid and the two are just a delight to watch as their simple yet engaging conversations continue through the film. Ian Ross brings the humor to the film and does a pretty good job at doing so, his character isn’t anything groundbreaking but much like the rest of the cast he’s charming so it works in his favor.

The idea of the film is great, the many dreams we get put into is genuinely interesting and the different styles used as I said before are genuinely impressive. Some are definitely better than others but something they all have is a sense of charm, they don’t overstay their welcome and each has their own personality. Admittedly the film does breeze through some of them a bit too quickly which does not give some of them a lot of time to speak for themselves, however the charm is still felt and they are all still quite beautiful to look at as well.

The romance parts are genuinely cute, as I said earlier McCafferty and LaVera have great chemistry between one another, if you have seen any other romantic comedy film their characters aren’t going to be exactly anything new. However what makes them work is due to the passion and charm that’s held, the laughs the movie gives the viewer are genuine and the dialogue while at times corny actually do have some raw moments.

Charm is the word I have been using throughout this review and I think it’s the best way to sum the film up. It’s filled with charm and passion, even when the film has its missteps it gets back up on its feet and still captures this beautiful atmosphere that a lot of romantic comedies seem to really miss nowadays. This might not be one of the absolute best films of the year but to say I did not have a great time with this one would be a lie!

Dreaming Of You releases tomorrow on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Love Me (2025) Film Review

A buoy and a satellite meet online long after humanity’s extinction. As they learn what life was like on Earth, they discover themselves and what it means to be alive and in love.

Love Me is directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero which is their directorial debut.

Love Me is the most disappointing film of 2025 so far and it really stings, the movie has all the right Ingredients to make something truly special. There’s themes of love, what it means to be a human and connection in a post-apocalyptic world. Unfortunately the movie has a ton of tonal shift problems when the movie switches styles and unfortunately does not really explore this world in any impactful way.

Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun both give fantastic performances here, we start the movie off with a Buoy (voiced by Kristen Stewart) and a Satellite (voiced by Steven Yeun) the Buoy seeks connection while the Satellite carries knowledge of humanity. We get a lot of this interesting bits about humans and wanting to connect with one another, this part does admittedly go on for a bit too long and the similarities to WALL-E (2008) are hard to ignore but I do think the movie makes the idea its own.

We eventually get to see Stewart and Yeun as actual people but unfortunately it’s not for very long, for the most part we see them as digital avatars (that’s definitely some of the weaker parts) which results in a lack of real emotional connection for the viewer. I get what they were going for here and there are times it’s interesting but a lot of the time it really feels like a huge waste of two brilliant actors and not utilizing their full talent. The digital avatar elements have their place but they ultimately don’t result into anything impactful, it feels much more like a showcase of what could potentially be a good idea and forgets to use the substance.

Love Me would have absolutely worked better as a short film, I admire the swings the movie was willing to throw but ultimately a lot of the themes are incredibly one note. The movie wants to explore the nature of love and what it means to feel but unfortunately you don’t really get that here at all, the writing is incredibly shallow and the constant tonal shifts completely distract the movie from throwing anything hard hitting or meaningful that could have been said

Overall despite my criticism I don’t think Love Me is a terrible movie, it’s one that has the right ideas just very lacking execution. I am very interested to see what Sam and Andy Zuchero will do next though.

Love Me is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

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+

The Gorge (2025) Film Review

Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from a mysterious evil that lurks within. They work together to keep the secret in the gorge.

The Gorge is directed by Scott Derrickson director of The Black Phone (2022), Doctor Strange (2016), Deliver Us From Evil (2014), Sinister (2012) and a few others.

The Gorge is one of those films that are on the brink of being a half decent movie but just miss the mark due to some elements really holding it back. There is a lot the movie gets right but there’s also a ton that it gets wrong which ultimately cost it.

The performances are by far the best part of the movie, Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy actually have really strong chemistry between one another. There’s some genuine romantic moments that you actually believe as the viewer, it helps that Teller and Joy are already fantastic at what they do, their performances here might not be one of their absolute best or striking. But there’s no denying they really help build the film’s atmosphere and give it some much needed life, the two bounce off of each other well and the moments they first meet are filled to the brim with charm.

There are some neat sci-fi horror elements here that do a bit of world building, the monster stuff also has its moments of fun. The first half of the film does a pretty solid job with its character building particularly with Levi (played by Miles Teller) and Drasa (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) as well as the world building. We are introduced to some of this film’s rules and the dangers of it all which in turn creates a decently suspenseful atmosphere.

Having that said after the introduction the movie starts to fumble, what kills The Gorge is the direction and the struggle to really standout among tons of other sci-fi horror films. It’s a bold choice by Derrickson to combine so many genres at once in this case romance, horror, thriller and sci-fi but that results in the movie becoming a bit of a mess and constantly switching the tone which often gives whiplashes to the viewer. Granted nothing ever reaches a point where the movie becomes terrible, it’s just incredibly bland direction throughout that really does not seem to know where it wants to go.

It becomes a hollow shell that lacks the storytelling to really back it up and give these characters and world more depth, as great as Levi and Drasa were during the first half of the movie they never truly evolve by the end. That’s mainly due to how bland and forgettable the rest of the movie becomes, there’s a few moments during the second half that are fun enough but don’t really result to anything that really helps the movie in the long run.

Overall I don’t think The Gorge is a terrible movie, the acting remains consistently great and there are fun moments. It’s just your very definition of a straight to streaming movie, the one where as soon as you immediately watch it you will forget about it after a few hours.

The Gorge is available on Apple TV+

5/10 C

Quick Review: My Fault: London (2025)

An 18-year-old girl moves from America to London with her mother and wealthy stepfather. She meets her stepbrother, and an attraction brews despite their efforts. Unaware, her estranged father tracks her down after release from prison

My Fault: London is directed by Dani Girdwood and Charlotte Fassler which is their directorial debut. The film serves as a remake of the 2023 Spanish film My Fault which is based on the novel Culpa Mía by Mercedes Ron.

First and foremost I have not seen the original Spanish film, I had no idea this was a remake before watching it and considering how I felt about this movie and the reviews for the original I did not bother watching the original.

I’m not exactly sure what to really say here about My Fault: London there’s the occasional decent shot from cinematographer Ed Moore who does a surprisingly solid job of building certain scenes. It is not anything mind blowing but for a movie like this it was definitely not expected. The acting is rough, Asha Banks and Matthew Broome try the best they can with a script that is very much fanfiction like (it does not help that this was originally a Wattpad story) which leads to a lot of laughably bad moments and ones that really make you regret watching (falling in love with your stepbrother plot is here).

The 119 minute running time also heavily hurts the movie, it overstays its welcome almost immediately and never really picks back up. There are some decent visuals here but they admittedly do not serve any point outside of making the movie look a touch better, I give props for at least attempting to make one of these films based on a Wattpad story look decent visually.

I don’t have much else to say, what you see is what you get with My Fault: London I’m clearly not the target audience for this one, there’s definitely far worse out there but that is not exactly a compliment.

My Fault: London is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-

Wish You Were Here (2025)

A woman searching for a spark finds a whirlwind night of romance with a man only to discover he is terminally ill and commits to helping him spend his last days living life to the fullest.

Wish You Were Here is directed by Julia Stiles which is her directorial debut.

Wish You Were Here is yet another romantic drama film where one person is sick and only has a certain amount of time to live, the message is the exact same thing “spend time with the people you love most” or “never take your time on earth for granted” it’s been done and said countless times at this point. The main difference here however is somehow the writing is worse than usual.

Isabelle Fuhrman is what admittedly got me interested to watch this one, she’s not terrible here but the writing just does not do anyone any favors at all. Same goes for Mena Massoud, they both have nice chemistry but the script doesn’t allow them to properly connect at all. Mainly due to them not sharing the amount of screen time that’s needed to make it work, the script is lacking in powerful moments and filled with moments that completely take the viewer right out of the movie due to how terrible and laughably bad they are.

The supporting cast are the highlight here, Gabby Kono-Abdy was not bad, Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Grey although not given a whole lot to do were fine enough. This is one of those movies where the supporting cast were far more interesting than the main characters, in some cases that can be a good thing but not in this one. Although we get a bit more about the supporting cast we still really don’t learn all that much about them.

That’s the biggest problem here, the movie doesn’t bother to really build its characters. It goes for the most bland character writing possible and mainly sticks with that until the movie ends, there is clearly heart here and an occasional glimpse of a touching moment. But it’s nowhere near enough to really justify anything that will feel moving to the viewer, which is a shame because I do not think the direction is all that bad. It’s mainly the terrible script that keeps rearing its head that completely breaks the movie.

Wish You Were Here is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-