Stitch, an extraterrestrial entity, comes to Earth after escaping prison, where he tries to impersonate a dog. Things take a turn when a lonely Hawaiian girl, Lilo, adopts him from an animal shelter and he helps mend her broken family.
Lilo & Stitch is directed by Dean Fleischer Camp who previously directed Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2021). The film serves as a remake to the 2002 film of the same name.
Lilo & Stitch might be the better than Snow White when it comes to Disney live action remakes that came out this year, but is that really worth celebrating? I will admit that there’s parts of Lilo & Stitch that work well enough, but much like a lot of these other live action remakes the end result is complete inferior versions of the original.
As far as the cast goes seeing Chris Sanders return as the voice for Stitch is great, he does a great job here and his connection with Maia Kealoha is easily some of the movie’s best moments. Speaking of which Maia Kealoha absolutely carries this movie, she captures the spirit of Lilo from the original and has a lot of sweet moments. You can easily tell there was so much charm that went into her performance and she was able to bring that to the viewer front and center, if it hadn’t been for Kealoha and Sanders this remake would fall flat almost immediately at the start. The rest of the cast are fine enough, Billy Magnussen as Pleakley has some good moments but that’s really about it, a lot of the other characters such as Jumba just don’t have the charm or energy of what made them so great in the original. A lot of the character writing here felt very half baked and severe lack of passion, which is incredibly unfortunate.
The writing is strange to say the least, this is an instance where the movie is at its best when it follows the original not when it brings new things into the mix. The character writing is especially noticeably dipped in quality the main offender being the choice to make Jumba a villain, it’s an out of nowhere decision that hurts the movie in the long run. Jumba being a villain takes away a lot of what made his character so great in the original, he doesn’t have that same connection with Stitch, while yes he was technically a “mad scientist” in the original but he was ultimately a goofy guy, the destruction he made was accidental because he was mostly insensitive and mean in this goofy way. Think about it this way, imagine if someone tried to make Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb into a very serious villain. That’s the equivalent of what this movie did here with Jumba. In this movie Jumba is evil for the sake of being evil, he hates everyone, takes away a lot of what made him such a great character.
As far as the ending is concerned it’s a very puzzling decision and really defeats the purpose of the original, not only that but it’s incredibly out of character for Nani. The original had this message of being Ohana which means no one gets left behind, to see a complete whiplash from this movie is bizarre to say the least.
Overall there really isn’t not much else to be said about the live action remake of Lilo & Stitch. It has its moments that capture the original decently well but then you have moments that completely miss what made the original so fun, adventurous and why people love it so much.
A reformed teenage getaway driver is dragged back into her unsavoury past when a former employer offers her an opportunity to save the life of her chronically unreliable ex-boyfriend.
Eenie Meanie is directed by Shawn Simmons which is his directorial debut.
Eenie Meanie is a movie I appreciate more than I like it, don’t get me wrong I still think it’s a fun time and it’s a decent movie to put on. But Simmons tackling a Baby Driver (2017) sort of approach with his directorial debut is an interesting move that partly works!
The acting is pretty solid here, Samara Weaving is always fun to see and here is no exception. This might not be one of my favorite performances of hers but she is so much fun here and it’s admittedly different from what she usually does. Karl Glusman, Steve Zahn and Marshawn Lynch are all pretty great here as well, they are fun in their own right even if their characters leave a lot to be desired in the character writing department.
The action scenes are what makes the film, incredibly high of energy and they capture the atmosphere the movie is going for. The car chase scenes are a whole lot of fun and give the film’s world more flavor, they aren’t anything we have not seen before but they are filled to the brim with style and capture this grindhouse movie feel that does make them standout a bit.
The atmosphere of the film has this 70s and classic B-movie feel, it’s something that remains consistent throughout the film and captures a lot of the fun nature that B-movies typically have.
The main problem comes in with most of the character writing, while there are some decently heartfelt scenes towards the end that are actually quite touching. A majority of the film does not have that and it becomes a bit of a too little too late sort of situation. I still recommend giving this one a go if you are just looking for a blast, just don’t expect any spectacular character work.
Heather embarks on a European adventure, her journey taking an unexpected turn when she meets Jack. Their encounter opens up new possibilities which neither had anticipated
The Map That Leads To You is directed by Lasse Hallström director of Casanova (2005), Dear John (2010), Safe Haven (2013), A Dog’s Purpose (2017), The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) and many others.
It’s sort of unfortunate that The Map That Leads To You released the exact same month as My Oxford Year a film where they both follow pretty similarly from one another. I did not give My Oxford Year a full review simply because there was just not a whole lot to say, luckily The Map That Leads To You has a little bit more meat on its bones and is actually executed slightly better. That does not make it a good movie, but it at the very least there’s something a bit more here.
For the most part I truly think this was just an acting showcase for Madelyn Cline because she does a splendid job here and has great chemistry with KJ Apa, unlike My Oxford Year you actually buy that these two in this film really care for one another. It’s the bare minimum but little moments go along with helping the movie move along. KJ Apa is also not bad here as well, I don’t think he’s quite as good as Cline is but he does get a few moments to show he can make the material into something somewhat interesting. Cline and Apa both take material that would otherwise be incredibly familiar and manage to bring the viewer along for the ride. Sure that ride might not be exactly great but their performances are enough to keep some interest.
As I said before the film’s story is almost exactly like My Oxford Year, it’s slightly better written and has acting, but a lot of the same cliches are there and unfortunately that’s what keeps this movie down. If you have seen any straight to streaming romantic drama you probably already have good guess to how the characters are going to act. The scenery is undeniably beautiful combined with the filming that is actually not bad for a straight to streaming film, however beautiful scenery can’t help turn a bland script into something great.
The emotional connection is there but barely, it takes a while to fully get invested simply because of how dull the script really is. It’s mainly thanks to Cline and Apa that this is even possible, had the writing been a lot stronger and the direction been a bit more striking there could have been interesting results here.
What we are left with is a below average romantic drama that has solid acting and scenery but that’s really about it. There isn’t anything downright offensively bad here, it’s just a whole lot of nothing that really fails to bring anything new to the table.
The Map That Leads To You is available on Amazon Prime Video.
After learning he’s getting neutered, a dog has 24 hours to squeeze in one last balls-to-the-wall adventure with the boys.
Fixed is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky director of The Hotel Transylvania movies (2012-2022) and tons of TV work such as Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003).
Much like a lot of people Tartakovsky was a part of my childhood, if you grew up with Cartoon Network there’s a huge chance that you have at least seen some of his work. His style of animation was always appealing to the eye, the characters were exciting, had some surprisingly well thought out development that audiences can appreciate. Whether it was something silly and fun like Dexter’s Laboratory or something more dark in tone like Samurai Jack Tartakovsky always had a way to tell a story through animation.
So it makes it all the more puzzling on how Fixed came to be, it’s the direct opposite of what Tartakovsky usually does. Which I do understand directors trying to go for something completely different, the idea of a Tartakovsky directed adult cartoon is not necessarily a bad one. But a lot of what made Tartakovsky such a great director and creator is just not present at all in Fixed, instead we get a movie that somehow makes Sausage Party (2016) look like a masterpiece in comparison.
I will say that the 2D animation is genuinely great, it’s a shame it’s used for a movie that essentially boils down to “haha dog balls” or “haha dick joke” but there are times where the animation is creatively used, unfortunately those moments do not go far enough. One moment you have some genuinely striking animation and the next moment you have dog balls shoved in your face. In fact that goes for more than the animation, every time the movie is trying to have a somewhat serious moment it’s always proceeded by an unfunny joke that completely deflates the feel of the scene that just occurred.
The jokes are basically dick jokes, dog balls or dogs having sex, with none of these jokes being clever at the slightest. With the exception of one genuinely decent joke that isn’t sex related, every single other joke falls flat on its face. It’s an absolute shame because there was a lot of potential here, unfortunately when you have a script that feels like it was written by edgy teenagers you can only do so much.
The voice acting is not terrible, but it’s most certainly not anything to write home about. Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, River Gallo and Fred Armisen are all very talented actors but the material they are given here is flat out terrible. Adam DeVine as the lead is annoying, easily one of the worst parts of the movie (and that’s saying something) and just painful to listen to. None of these characters have any meaningful development, all of it is cliche character types that you have already seen.
Overall Fixed is nothing but 85 minutes of the exact same joke over and over again, the story fails to invest the viewer and could have easily been put into a 30 minute TV episode. As annoying as Sausage Party (2016) got at the very least there was a creative angle the movie took even if it wasn’t very often. Fixed is basically the exact same thing except it’s not clever and never tries to be. Even if you are a fan of adult animation this is something I don’t recommend.
Zora Bennett leads a team of skilled operatives to the most dangerous place on Earth, an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park. Their mission is to secure genetic material from dinosaurs whose DNA can provide life-saving benefits to mankind. As the top-secret expedition becomes more and more risky, they soon make a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.
Jurassic World: Rebirth is directed by Gareth Edwards director of Monsters (2010), Godzilla (2014), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and The Creator (2023). The film takes place three years after Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) and serves as the fourth installment in the Jurassic World series as well as being the seventh installment overall in the Jurassic Park series.
I had some sort of hope that Gareth Edwards could turn the ship around with the Jurassic Park franchise, a franchise that has been struggling in terms of quality for years now. While this movie is a lot better than Fallen Kingdom and Dominion that’s hardly anything worth celebrating, as Rebirth has a ton of issues of its own that completely stop this movie from being any good.
The cast does the best they can with such a bland script that gives them characters who are about as interesting as cardboard cutouts. Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey are all very talented actors who do have a few scenes here that work. But unfortunately most of them are heavily affected by the script that does not give them anything investing to do. I get the audience of these films mostly care about the dinosaurs but when you have your characters reduced to flip notes that are instantly forgettable after watching that becomes a huge problem.
The only real positives here are some of the dinosaurs, solid visuals and the camerawork. The camerawork does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to moving the story along mainly due to the lack of an investing script, the dinosaurs are admittedly pretty neat and it’s nice to see them in action during some of the movie’s surprisingly decent action scenes. But those can only get you so far because soon after you are reminded of how bland everything else really is.
The movie tries to recapture what made the first Jurassic Park so magical and large in scale, they even try to flat out recreate these scenes but of course they don’t match the original. Instead they feel like half baked attempts of trying to recreate it only because they will get people pointing their finger at the screen and saying “Oh I know that scene it’s like from the very first film!” it’s painfully obvious what they were doing here and as you probably have guessed it completely misses. When it comes to scale there’s moments where Gareth Edwards works his magic, even in Edwards’s weaker films he is always bring this large in scale feel which is present throughout this movie. But like most of the movie, the writing really holds it back from potentially having these beautiful moments.
Finally there’s the writing which is the main culprit of why this movie just doesn’t come together, it’s very much a below average adventure movie with dinosaurs. If the Jurassic Park or World name wasn’t on it this would have been ignored. The characters are cliched with very little going on development wise, the story is generic and has no stakes at all. The movie wants to brand itself as this new experience for the franchise yet it desperately tries to do what the first Jurassic Park did.
Overall there really isn’t much more to say about Jurassic World: Rebirth this might entertain some viewers and I guess it’s an improvement over the last two films but is that really anything worth celebrating?
Jurassic World: Rebirth is available on all VOD platforms.
A computer security analyst working for the U.S. government finds his daily life disrupted by an alien attack. Accustomed to dealing with virtual threats, his struggle extends to secrets the government may be hiding.
War Of The Worlds is directed by Rich Lee which is directorial debut. The film is based on H.G. Wells’s 1989 novel The War Of The Worlds.
We all know what The War Of The Worlds is, it’s a classic story when it comes to science fiction. There’s been plenty of film and TV adaptations ranging from varying degrees of quality, I have not seen all of them (and quite frankly don’t plan on it) but War Of The Worlds (2025) is a very special case. It’s one of those films that is so bafflingly bad that you start to ask yourself “is this movie even real?” You know a film is going to be terrible when 6 days before release the trailer gets sent out and is met with so much laughter due to how terrible it looks, the tagline for the movie is “it’s worse than you think” and wow that is incredibly accurate…
For starters Ice Cube gives one of the most bafflingly bad performances in recent memory, Ice Cube is normally pretty okay as an actor but with this movie there is not one single moment where his acting connects with the viewer or even himself. For a large majority of the movie it seems like Ice Cube is confused and lost, maybe that’s due to the terrible screenplay that completely misunderstands the whole screenlife genre that the movie is going for. The conversations that Ice Cube has with the rest of the cast are about as good as when the teacher in your early morning english or reading class would ask you to read a part of the book you are reading for the class. It’s some of the worst line reading you could imagine, there were moments where my jaw was on the floor due to how much of not caring there really is here.
I mentioned this earlier but this movie goes for a screenlife approach, you know films like Searching (2018), Host (2020), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018) and a few others? Making a screenlife War Of The Worlds adaption is not a bad idea. In fact that’s a pretty interesting concept that combined with the science fiction elements could actually make for a decent movie….unfortunately the movie does not do any of that well at all. A large problem here is that there’s heavy Amazon product placement which almost immediately takes you out of the movie (if you were even invested to begin with) and it really sticks out like a sore thumb. The whole screenlife element while may look cool really does not get used in any unique ways, it really seems like screenwriters Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman had absolutely no idea how to make the concept work despite having a lot of the right material in front of their faces.
Finally the movie itself is just painfully hard to sit through, a majority of the characters are terrible and are only there to be killed off hence why I haven’t really mentioned the rest of the case besides Ice Cube. The story itself goes in a very predictable direction that if you watch the first 10 minutes you can easily tell what happens and the CGI is laughably terrible some of the worst you will ever see from a movie this year.
I’m not sure what else there is to be said about War Of The Worlds it completely fails both as an adaption and as its own film, this is definitely one of those movies where it kind of must be seen to be believed. If you like terrible films that are so bafflingly bad then this might be for you.
War Of The Worlds is available on Amazon Prime Video.
A shy waitress and a lovelorn military veteran find themselves in the crosshairs of a ruthless criminal as they try to retrieve a rare Native American artifact.
Americana is directed by Tony Tost which is his directorial debut.
Americana is the result of a film that mixes several different type of genres incredibly well, often times you see some films not very confidently attempt to do way too much in a limited amount of time. While there are the occasional script issues here and there with Americana, the film does a fantastic job of being this neo-western, crime and thriller ride that gets more chaotic and quite fun as it goes on.
The cast and its characters are what make the film and its world standout. Everyone here does a fantastic job even when they don’t get a whole lot to do, Sydney Sweeney hits it out of the park with her performance as Penny Jo Popplin. Even if her character isn’t really explored in great detail it’s Sweeney’s performance that makes the character work. She’s lovable and serves as the viewers POV in some areas of the film plus her interactions with the rest of the cast and their characters is more than enough to connect with her. Sweeney gives such a sweet performance that might be a bit more quiet than some of her other performances, it might not be this big powerhouse performance like her portrayal of Reality Winner in Reality (2023) but it shows range for Sweeney as an actress and she gets the job done incredibly well here.
Halsey who is a singer-songwriter surprised me, up until this point we have only seen Halsey either in a cameo (A Star is Born (2018) ) or an incredibly brief role (MaXXXine). The singer to actor pipeline can be difficult to pass through, however Halsey quite easily makes it through here. She gives a genuinely strong, touching and beautiful performance that quickly gets the attention from the viewer. She plays Mandy Starr who is quite important to the film’s plot and the other character we see this film’s world through, Halsey is able to match the film’s chaotic atmosphere with tons of dialogue thrown in between that make her standout as an actress. Her interactions with her family are some of the film’s best moments giving this look into Mandy Starr’s family and why she desperately wants to run and try to get a better life with her son.
Paul Walter Hauser, Eric Dane, Simon Rex and the rest of the cast are all fantastic, Hauser is hilarious, fun and has great chemistry with Sydney Sweeney which leads to some genuinely heartwarming interactions. Eric Dane is hilarious as well, he can switch from being threatening to downright humorous (whether it was intended or not.) Simon Rex makes for a great antagonist who is genuinely threatening and displays why he’s such a great actor. He might not get the most to do until towards the last act of the film, but it’s still quite a great performance.
The writing holds strong heavily due to the interactions between the characters, each of these characters have these bizarre and interesting traits to them as well as storylines that are genuinely well executed. There’s a heist which while is the main focus of the film still manages to be fun, there’s also these jabs at people who do cultural appropriation (a kid thinks he’s the reincarnation of a Native American and gets grilled for it.) Then there’s also Mandy Starr’s story which I have already said is quite well done and genuinely heartbreaking. Each of these storylines work because of the interactions between the cast, they feel raw at times and really compliment the film’s atmosphere and style it’s going for.
Speaking of which the atmosphere and style have Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino DNA in them that works incredibly well. The atmosphere has this old soul to it that strikes with some action filled moments that are very reminiscent to the classic western film. It’s a fast paced film that has much going on in each shot, the cinematography from Nigel Bluck is sharp and has this certain feel that captures the neo-western genre so beautifully. The last moments of the film and how they are wrapped up are complimented well due to the cinematography and the sharp tight camera angles.
Overall Americana is a fantastic film that not only captures the beauty of the western genre, but is striking in its own right. Excellent character interactions, acting and writing really make this one worth giving a go!
Superman must reconcile his alien Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as reporter Clark Kent. As the embodiment of truth, justice and the human way he soon finds himself in a world that views these as old-fashioned.
Superman is directed by James Gunn director of Slither (2006), Super (2010), The Guardians Of The Galaxy Trilogy and The Suicide Squad (2021). Superman serves as the first film in the new DC Universe and as a reboot of the Superman franchise
I’ve said before in the past (at least I think I did) that I was never personally a Superman fan, outside of the first two Christopher Reeves films and the Superman animated series that came out in the 90s (which you should absolutely watch if you haven’t it’s such a fun series.) I was never that invested into Superman…with that being said I am absolutely amazed by Superman (2025).
It’s absolutely no surprise that Superman is high in quality given that this is yet again James Gunn showing he knows his talent for directing incredibly well done comic book films, much like he did with The Guardians Of The Galaxy movies (2014-2023) and The Suicide Squad (2021) not only does he put excellent action in the film but he captures so many important themes of Superman that has been missing from a lot of these other films for quite a while now.
The major part of what makes Superman so excellent is the cast, whether they play a major role or a small role they all feel like a natural fit into the film’s world. For starters David Corenswet embodies the role of Superman, whether he’s fighting the villains of the film or in more quiet scenes with the many characters of the film. There’s always this kind, empathetic and vulnerable person we see when we look at Superman or Clark Kent, this debunks the idea of Superman being this perfect and unstoppable person. There’s so much heart that Corenswet gives to his portrayal to the character that it even captures a lot of what made Christopher Reeves’s Superman so iconic, his chemistry with Rachel Brosnahan (who plays Lois Lane) is some of the best moments of the film, the conversations they have with another feel surprisingly grounded and we see Clark Kent open up about how he feels about being Superman, what it takes and how much it affects him. Corenswet masterfully captures all of these moments so well and so earnestly that this ends up being one of the best performances in a comic book film in recent memory.
Rachel Brosnahan is also quite fantastic here, when it comes to portrayals of Lois Lane there’s an argument to be made that she’s the absolute best. I’ve said before that the chemistry between her and Corenswet is absolutely beautiful, but her interactions with the rest of the characters are a lot of fun as well. The film starts with Clark Kent and Lois Lane already dating, for some that might be rushing into things but I think that works here. Mainly due to how it’s talked about and acted during one of the film’s first scenes. We can almost immediately gather that the two really care for each other and the chemistry is just oozing out of the screen. Her portrayal of Lois Lane determined to find the truth is also fantastic and leads to some of her best moments throughout the film.
Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor is quite possibly the best portrayal of the character, he captures the incredibly unhinged parts of what makes Lex Luthor such a fantastic villain. He’s both comically evil and genuinely terrifying mainly because he believes every single word he’s saying and believes every action he is taking is justified, we especially see this towards the end where his determination to destroy Superman goes from already being an obsession to downright psychotic. Hoult captures all of this so wonderfully in this incredible performance that ends up being one of the best takes on a comic book villain in recent memory. His interactions with Superman are filled to the brim with destruction and desire that we see how much more corrupted he really gets.
The rest of the performances are fantastic, The Justice Gang which consists of Michael Holt/Mister Terrific (played by Edi Gathegi), Guy Gardner/Green Lantern played by Nathan Fillion) this is one of the many versions of the Green Lantern this universe is going to have) and finally Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (played by Isabela Merced) are all a lot of fun here. Merced does not get a whole lot of scenes but it’s a nice introduction to Hawkgirl as a character and Merced still delivers. Nathan Fillion gets some great moments as well and his interactions with the rest of the group and even Superman have some genuinely funny moments, there’s a moment towards the end while short does a great job of capturing his character. Edi Gathegi gives such a neat performance as Mister Terrific, he’s given the most to do in the group and especially gets one particular moment that is one of the film’s best. It’s very much like some scenes from The Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy but still manages to be incredibly fun especially combined with the song choice, camerawork and the attention to detail with the action.
Speaking of which the action is quite exciting, it really captures the whole Superman vibe especially with the cinematography from Henry Braham, while there might be a few silly shots they actually do fit with the film’s world and they most certainly do not take away from the world building of the cinematography. While Metropolis is not given straightforward world building development it is through the cinematography and it’s citizens, as the viewer when you look around you realize that the film is large in scale and that’s reflected through the action scenes and cinematography. It’s not closed off or limited the film wants you to explore, it’s incredibly fascinating and even quite beautiful at times.
Finally there’s the writing and the themes of the film that are genuinely beautiful, the character development that goes on with Clark Kent, Lois Lane and many of the other characters really feels natural. There’s a few particular moments here that really highlight this, one of them being the conversation Clark has with his parents Pa Kent (played by Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Ma Kent (played by Neva Howell) it’s such a touching scene that really does capture a lot of the heart of the film and even Superman as a character, it helps that the acting in this particular moment is especially fantastic. Ma and Pa Kent are down to earth, humble and care for their son Clark, they are proud of Clark yet are still worried about him. Even if Clark might be one of the planet’s strongest they see that he still needs to understand that he is loved, this is a very real take on parenthood even if it’s only for this scene it’s still incredibly impactful.
The themes of what makes being a hero and the people believing in Superman even when things are dire is captured so beautifully here. There’s one particular scene where Raising The Flag (one of the film’s many great tracks) is played, it’s the song from the first trailer and it perfectly fits here. From the people chanting Superman, to the booming and quiet moments of the song. It’s a beautiful and powerful representation of who Superman is and why so many people love him both in the film’s world and our world, it’s the theme of a hero determined to help the people because it’s the right thing to do. He does not expect anything in return he just does it because it’s bravery and his actions saves lives.
Overall Superman is one of the best films of the year, this is quite a fantastic way to start off the new DC universe. If this is the quality that a lot of these upcoming projects will showcase then I am very excited to see what happens next.
I know I say this every time I do one of these lists but wow time flew! We are already in August, a month that some people kind of consider a “graveyard” for film releases, this time around there’s a lot of promise here. It’s a nice mix of some neat big and small titles that I’m pretty excited for and hopefully you are as well!
16. Eden – August 22nd (Theaters)
15. The Bad Guys 2 – August 1st (Theaters)
14. Hell House LLC: Lineage – August 20th (Theaters)
13. Eenie Meanie – August 22nd (Hulu)
12. Strange Harvest – August 8th (Theaters)
11. Lurker – August 22nd (Theaters)
10. The Naked Gun – August 1st (Theaters)
9. Splitsville – August 22nd (Limited Theaters) and September 5th (Wide Theaters)
8. East Of Wall – August 15th (Theaters)
7. Nobody 2 – August 15th (Theaters)
6. The Toxic Avenger – August 29th (Theaters)
5. Americana – August 15th (Theaters)
4. Honey Don’t – August 22nd (Theaters)
3. Highest 2 Lowest – August 22nd (Theaters) and September 5th (Apple TV+)
After moving to the countryside, a supernatural encounter starts to transform a couple’s love, their lives, and their flesh.
Together is directed by Michael Shanks which is his directorial debut!
Body horror as a genre as a resurgence over the last few years with a lot of excellent films and Together is yet another one to add to the list. This film opts to go for something a bit different…throw this romantic and comedic feel into the mix which works marvelously with the rest of the film.
Dave Franco and Alison Brie are both absolutely fantastic here, part of why the two work so well is because the two are married to each other in real life. The premise along with the film’s themes centers around their characters Tim and Millie’s up and down relationship, bond and exploring their co dependency. All of this is shown effortlessly through their performances, it’s a natural fit that has a lot of quite romantic moments along with this emotional weight that’s shown through the actions of Tim and Millie. Franco and Brie are able to capture everything to make this beast of a film work, there’s even some powerful moments where the two embrace each other in these quiet moments. Franco and Brie being actually married in real life only makes the film’s themes that much stronger and surprisingly quit grounded.
The body horror elements are magnificent, they start small but end up having absolutely bizarre results that compliment the narrative. The body horror mixed with romantic elements to some comedic moments that get a laugh out of the viewer, the body horror elements might not be as extreme or as gory as other body horror films of the past. However the idea of being stuck together and never coming apart is more than enough to really get to the viewer, even still the body horror scenes are spectacular and any fan of the genre will adore them. There’s inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) along with the film’s own unique feel that will make the viewer both terrified but feel charmed (by the romance) at the same time.
The script and direction from Michael Shanks are both wonderfully done, the script allows Franco and Brie to go all out with their performances while the direction is able to make the film surprisingly raw at times. The moments of the two just discussing their relationship is genuinely fascinating and makes the viewer realize that the film isn’t just trying to be another body horror film, it’s trying to be far more and throw many different ideas into the mix which the film succeeds. The use of humor feels natural, it does not feel forced at all it has this passion that connects both Tim and Millie as characters.
Finally there is the atmosphere that is hauntingly beautiful, it has this B-horror movie type of feel mixed with this claustrophobic and unsettling nature that really brings the viewer into the film. At the same time you have moments where the atmosphere is comedic and romantic, the film juggles all of this masterfully and never drops the ball with any of them, there’s striking visuals that compliment each scene that tell the story on their own.
Together is a film that you should absolutely go into knowing as little as you possibly can, it’s an incredibly fun ride from beginning to end as well as just being a fantastic film that will leave you with a lasting impression.
Jerome Reviews... 