Through a surprising twist of fate, single strangers Sarah and David get to relive important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is directed by Kogonada director of Columbus (2017) and After Yang (2021).
Coming off of two quite fantastic films, I was pretty excited to see what Kogonada had in store with A Big Bold Beautiful Journey and unfortunately this was a huge step down from his previous work. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey has a lot of great ideas and ingredients to make a great film is here, but unfortunately none of it is mixing all that well and creates this messy and forgettable experience that leaves the viewer disappointed.
Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are both solid here, there’s a few moments in particular where they easily make scenes that otherwise would be drawn out and dull into something genuinely sweet and somewhat powerful. There’s some moments that show vulnerability that mixes well with Joe Hisaishi’s score, there’s a track called “To Her Mother’s Side” that in particular is genuinely moving and creates one of the movie’s most memorable moments. It’s one of the movie’s longer moments but unlike other moments where they feel drawn out, this one feels a lot more earned.
Unfortunately the rest of the movie does not have the strength and firepower it needs to leave an impression on the viewer, the characters just do not have much in common which in turn makes the whole love story element seem incredibly forced and is not worth investing in. The chemistry between Farrell and Robbie is just not there at all, a large part of it is due to just how shallow the script really is. The two are excellent individually but romantically there is not anything here that feels striking or to really care about them as a couple.
The biggest problem here is the dialogue and how it’s desperately trying in every single scene to come off like it’s saying something profound, rather than going for a more natural direction and letting scenes speak for themselves. The movie opts for this forced dialogue that is the equivalent of those type of quotes you would see on Facebook like pages, the ones about relationships, or ones trying to inspire you. Those are fine in themselves, but when you are writing a script for a movie and that’s how deep your dialogue is then where exactly do you go from here?
Finally there’s the scenes being drawn out, I spoke a bit about this earlier but this is a problem that appears several different times during the movie. It’s repetitive and unfortunately leads to the viewer checking out of the movie early on, there’s just not enough interesting moments for our main characters to explore, their backstories are incredibly cliched and predictable and despite how solid the cinematography looks thanks to cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, the world feels empty and the lacking of detail is incredibly noticeable.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is one of the most disappointing movies of the year, the themes of taking risks for connection, embracing vulnerability and overcoming regret do not have the proper writing to make the exploration worthwhile. The lack of chemistry and investing scenes completely stop this movie from being powerful.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is available on all VOD platforms.
In 1986 paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren travel to Pennsylvania to vanquish a demon from a family’s home.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is directed by Michael Chaves director of The Curse Of La Llorona (2019), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) and The Nun II (2023). The film serves as the ninth installment in The Conjuring film series, the film is also the wrap up story of Ed and Lorraine Warren.
I have long since lost any sort of excitement for The Conjuring series, the first two Conjuring films were quite excellent and then you had Annabelle: Creation (2017) that was decent enough. But outside of that, the series has failed to evolve and has been met with varying degrees of terrible quality. That unfortunately has not changed with The Conjuring: Last Rites a movie that is a supposed final goodbye to Ed and Lorraine Warren’s story but ultimately feels like just another one of these movies both in spirit and in the terrible quality that’s been present for a while.
The performances are by far the best part of the movie, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are once again very charming as the Warrens. Their scenes together have passion, Mia Tomlinson makes a nice addition to the series and works well with Farmiga and Wilson, she has some decent character moments here and there. But unfortunately there’s just not a whole lot going on here with the characters.
The jump-scares are incredibly lazy this time around, this series has always had jump-scares but at least with the first two films there was build up to them, you felt the atmosphere hitting you in the face during those moments and those first couple of films brought you into the background. You just don’t get that here with The Last Rites there is nothing immersive going on throughout the majority of the movie, even during the final act when something does actually happen that is still not enough to really save this movie.
The writing is just not there at all, while it might not be as bad as some of the spinoffs of the series, it’s about as equal to The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) meaning it’s not interesting and feels very empty, you would think after so much build up for these characters that the writing would at least try to deliver something unique or special into the mix. But unfortunately you just don’t get that here.
Overall The Conjuring: Last Rites is a very empty movie, it’s a forgettable installment and it’s a bad final note for Ed and Lorraine Warren’s story. I wish there was more to talk about here but that’s just how forgettable and bland this movie really is.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is available on all VOD platforms.
After learning that one of their victims, Maya, is still alive, three masked maniacs return to finish the job. With nowhere to run and no one to trust, Maya soon finds herself in a brutal fight for survival against psychopaths who are more than willing to kill anyone who stands in their way.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is directed by Renny Harlin director of A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Devil’s Pass (2013), The Legend Of Hercules (2014), The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024) and many others. The film serves as the fourth installment of The Strangers series and the second installment of the new trilogy.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 achieves a quite baffling accomplishment….it somehow ends up being WORSE than its predecessor and that is truly saying something considering how much of a mess the last movie was. This movie doubles down on all of the flaws of the previous movie and even introduces a backstory to The Strangers themselves.
The only positive this movie has going for it is Madelaine Petsch who I really admire for carrying these movies, she captures the final girl spirit well enough and even tries to make the atmosphere feel a bit more threatening with her solid performance. But the rest of the movie is just not agreeing with her and diddle-daddles to the point where it takes the viewer right out of the movie.
The writing somehow gets even worse with this movie, whereas the first movie could be written off as a terrible slasher movie that may have some entertaining moments. Chapter Two for some reason decided to give the villains of the movie The Strangers themselves backstories, an element that completely defeats the purpose of this series in general. Isn’t the whole idea of these movies is to know as little about these antagonists as possible? To show the point that sometimes random psychos target people who they have no connections with, why are we suddenly giving these antagonists backstories? The childhood flashback origin stories are not only poorly done but they feel pointless, they take away a lot from the movie and end up resulting in a complete and total mess.
The rest of the movie is a mess, way too many off screen kills that completely take away from the movie’s atmosphere. Dialogue that is not only terrible but has no interesting character moments for Maya (played by Madelaine Petsch) and a movie that is essentially one long chase scene that quickly bores the viewer.
Overall The Strangers: Chapter 2 is one of those bad movies that is not even interesting in a bad way, it’s boring, not investing and a poorly put together mess that has very little personality. I am deathly afraid to find out how terrible the final movie of the trilogy truly is.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is available on all VOD platforms.
When his past and his debts start to catch up with him, a high-stakes gambler laying low in Macau encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.
Ballad Of A Small Player is directed by Edward Berger director of Jack (2014), All My Loving (2019), All Quiet On The Western Front (2022) and Conclave (2024).
Ballad Of A Small Player is the perfect example of a movie that looks stunning and is acted quite beautifully but is lacking an incredible amount of substance that unfortunately does not get it over the finish line.
Colin Farrell gives a strong performance here, he especially feels striking when combined with the movie’s gorgeous cinematography from cinematographer James Friend. Even if Farrell’s character is lacking in the writing department, he still does manage to create this sort of thrilling atmosphere for his character and luckily due to his acting talent he makes it work for the most part.
Volker Bertlemann’s score at first may not seem like it’s very fitting, the world of Ballad Of A Small Player feels a lot smaller in scale than some of Edward Berger’s previous work. Yet despite that the booming nature of the score still works, especially during a handful of intriguing sequences that end up meshing the movie together into some wondrous moments.
The movie is also a massive departure from Berger’s other films, which is exciting to see him tackle something completely different. Unfortunately the writing is just not there to really back it up, the story itself is a bit of mess with very little direction. The characters are distant which leads to the emotional beats the movie relies on to fail.
Overall Ballad Of A Small Player is a bold move but unfortunately one that leaves a lot more to be desired, there’s just not enough detailed exploration here to really give the viewer anything to chew on.
When a new test matching soulmates together comes between two best friends, they spend the next twelve years trying to resist the urge to disrupt the paths their lives have taken despite the undeniable feeling they belong together.
All Of You is directed by William Bridges which is his directorial debut.
Not a whole lot to report on here, All Of You is a romance movie that starts out promising enough but then quickly runs into a lot of the exact same problems that a lot of modern romance movies do. The main one being that the chemistry between the leads is about the only part going for it.
Brett Goldstein is incredibly charming and Imogen Poots is gives a pretty touching performance that has a lot of beautiful moments. Unfortunately the side characters only serve the story and have very little going on which takes away a lot of the power this movie was building up. The side characters ultimately feel disposable which in turn hurts the movie quite a bit.
The dialogue starts out decent enough but quickly gets tangled in its own web, the idea of time wasted is such a heartbreaking premise that it’s genuinely surprising the movie wastes a lot of time doing way too many time jumps. The sci-fi elements feel incredibly wasted and were begging for a much better script.
Diego and Sage’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate gets upended when they’re forced to share a mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. Their dream getaway soon spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies and manipulation as terrifying secrets come to light, triggering a bloody battle for survival.
Bone Lake is directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan director of Fixation (2022) and Spoonful of Sugar (2022).
Bone Lake has some great ideas at play here, but unfortunately does not quite have the firepower to last very long especially when it comes to its script.
The performances are decent here but there really isn’t any particular moment that stands out. Maddie Hasson definitely gets the bigger end of the stick when it comes to the rest of the cast, but even her performance is left with more of a need to explore.
The movie attempts to touch on modern relationship dynamics and expectations which is all well and good, but the major issue here is the characters lack any sort of development to turn these themes into something investing for the viewer. The characters are very much what you would expect from this type of horror movie and just have very little going on in the development department.
Lastly there’s the writing which plays it very safe, even under the erotica genre this is not as crazy or explicit as much as the movie tries to make itself out to be. There are suggestions and glimpses of more hardcore elements but never anything shocking or daring, there are moments of fun to be had but those are very far and few in between.
Overall Bone Lake is very forgettable, outside of a few decent scenes and some okay performances this is one you will almost immediately forget about after watching.
Married couple Daphne and Darcy Davenport are two musicians who moved from London to a cottage in Wales to complete their new album. By accident they record a mystical sound never heard before and gradually disconnect from reality.
Rabbit Trap is directed by Bryn Chainey which is his directorial debut.
Rabbit Trap is one of those movies that has a lot of the right ingredients to make for an interesting little movie, but unfortunately drops the ball when it comes to adding detail to the story. Especially with its heavy use of being way too cryptic with the story.
The performances are all strong here, Dev Patel has a lot of charisma as an actor and here is no different. It might not be one of his absolute best performances, but he does capture the mysterious atmosphere the movie is going for and does a really solid job with his chemistry with the rest of the cast. Rosy McEwen offers great support for Patel (although I really do wish the movie went a bit more into her character), even if she is given the least amount to work with. Finally there’s Jade Croot who gives a quite terrifying performance, as soon as Croot enters the movie you feel the atmosphere completely change into something haunting. That’s present throughout the entire experience and is by far the movie’s best asset, it’s a mesmerizing performance that gets under the viewers skin very quickly.
When it comes to technical aspects, Rabbit Trap is quite strong. Sound designer Graham Reznick hits it out of the park, he takes the simple concept of sound and made it quite terrifying. There’s a mix of folklore here as well which does bring in some interesting moments. Cinematographer Andreas Johannessen and production designer Lucie Red give the movie this hauntingly beautiful feel and look that helps it standout a bit more. There’s this atmosphere that captures this feel of mystery where anything can happen or appear out of nowhere, the folklore like feel is also there something a lot of movies who try to go for this feel often miss.
Unfortunately Rabbit Trap suffers from a lot of writing issues. As great as the acting is, there’s just not a lot of strong character writing here and the lack of development really shrinks the impact the movie attempts to go for. The story’s cryptic and confused results lead to the viewer getting completely taken out of the movie.
Rabbit Trap falls short in what could have been a hidden gem that’s an atmospheric ride, but ultimately becomes quite forgettable.
Rabbit Trap is available on all VOD platforms.
5/10 C
Haunted by visions and recurring nightmares years after a near-death experience, Vanessa Shepherd finds herself living in the town of Abaddon, unable to break free from its unexplainable hold on her. When people around her suddenly and inexplicably begin to die, she soon uncovers her terrifying connection to the Abaddon Hotel, the Carmichael Manor, and the mysterious murders that have been occurring for decades.
Hell House LLC: Lineage is directed by Stephen Cognetti director of every installment in the Hell House LLC franchise (2015-2025) and 825 Forest Road (2025). Hell House LLC: Lineage serves as the fifth and final installment to the franchise.
Dropping the found footage element of your series with its supposed final installment is an incredibly questionable move. I’m not going to sit here and act like the Hell House LLC franchise are these masterfully written movies, they are flawed but outside of Lake Of Fire (2019) they are at the very least fun and capture this Halloween (not the film) type of feel that works in the series’s favor. The documentary style combined with the found footage element made this series more interesting and enjoyable as the viewer tried to unravel what exactly is happening in these movies. Lineage unfortunately strips all of this a settles for a dull, boring (I hate using that word but it’s very accurate here) and mixed with poor acting, direction along with terrible pacing.
The performances are terrible, everyone here is trying their best but with such an empty script and lifeless direction you can only do so much. The one who looks best walking out of this movie is Elizabeth Vermilyea (that’s not exactly saying much.) Lineage is incredibly lore heavy and attempts to expand the mythology of the franchise, but by this point it’s way too late. We get so many long a drawn scenes of incredibly dull dialogue that fails to bring the viewer into the movie.
I do think the movie’s attempts at trying to breathe new life into the franchise are somewhat admirable but ultimately end up being incredibly misguided. While there are some great shots thanks to cinematographer Brian Keenan, that does not end up meaning all that much when the rest of the movie is a complete and total mess. The direction just does not have the same charm or excitement that the rest of the series had in the past, say what you will about Lake Of Fire (2019) but at the very least the charm was still there. With Lineage it feels like the energy of the franchise is gone, the atmosphere that made the previous movies fun is just not present here.
Overall Hell House LLC: Lineage is easily the worst of the franchise, it’s a very confused and closing ending to the series that offers incredibly little to fans or casual watchers of the series.
Hell House LLC: Lineage is available on Shudder.
1/10 F
An upscale suburban mom brings a new nanny, Polly Murphy, into her home, only to discover she is not the person she claims to be.
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is directed by Michelle Garza Cervera director of Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022). The movie serves as a loose remake of the 1992 film of the same name.
I had some sort of hope for this one considering Michelle Garza Cervera impressed with Husera: The Bone Woman (2022) a few years ago, unfortunately this feels like it was directed by an entirely different person. It’s also one of those remakes that completely fails to add anything interesting or try to tackle the story with a different approach.
Maika Monroe and Elizabeth Winstead are great here, but unfortunately the Lifetime Channel like script bogs down any sort of power that the two’s performances could have brought to the movie. There are moments here where you even wonder “how did this not end up on the LifeTime Channel?” the thinly layered script gives the movie absolutely no room for any sort of suspense or atmospheric moments, it’s all just one implausible situation after another.
The 1992 version is not a film I would say is one of my favorites, but it had the script, firepower and the atmosphere to back it up. All of that combined made it into a thrilling little ride that does not overstay its welcome. The remake however is dull and just does not have anything interesting going for it.
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is available on Hulu.
We are in the home stretch folks! November is going to be a pretty busy month, for starters there are A LOT of reviews I have to do so expect a lot more quicker reviews. Luckily November is not THAT crazy when it comes to streaming releases (I’m going to be skipping a lot of the Christmas Netflix movies and some others this year…sorry), my watchlist is incredibly thin right now which is also great (October really helped knocking so many of them out).
Finally I left Frankenstein, Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent off the list since I saw all three already, funnily enough Frankenstein and Sentimental Value come out on Friday so expect reviews them this week!
Anyway let’s get to the list!
15. Christy – November 7th (Theaters)
14. Sisu: Road To Revenge – November 21st (Theaters)
13. Rental Family – November 21st (Theaters)
12. Rebuilding – November 14th (Theaters)
11. Eternity – November 14th (Limited) and November 26th (Wide)
10. Left-Handed Girl – November 28th (Netflix)
9. Keeper – November 14th (Theaters)
8. The Running Man – November 14th (Theaters)
7. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – November 26th (Theaters)
6. Wicked: For Good – November 21st (Theaters)
5. Train Dreams – November 7th (Theaters) and November 21st (Netflix)
This is something I’m going to experiment with, the “Lightning Round” will be for films that I will give quick reviews due to not having a whole lot to say about them.
Desperate to reclaim her career, once-beloved actress Samantha Lake is drawn into the glamorous world of wellness mogul Zoe Shannon -only to uncover a monstrous truth beneath its flawless surface.
Shell is directed by Max Minghella who previously directed Teen Spirit (2018).
I was considering on giving Shell a full review but then I realized I would just be echoing what the hundreds of other reviews are saying…that it’s a clone of The Substance (2024) and there’s just no way around that.
The positives here mainly come from the performances and the visuals, Kate Hudson is clearly having a blast throughout the movie and Elisabeth Moss as usual delivers a solid performance. The visuals are striking with this retro futuristic style which ends up giving the movie at least some legroom to standout. The cinematography from Drew Daniels compliments this very well with sharp and detailed touches.
Unfortunately the writing is where Shell struggles, halfway through the movie the pacing becomes incredibly uneven, the humor in the writing is a complete hit or miss (with most of it missing), plot threads are either not explored anywhere near enough to leave an impact or are just left dangling. The character motivations are also completely muddled and do not give the movie’s satire-like atmosphere any meaningful strength.
The final act switches gears and becomes a B-grade monster movie that might have worked if the buildup was far stronger and actually matched the tone of the movie. Instead it feels completely out of place and leaves the viewer with a giant question mark over their head.
Shell is a worse version of The Substance (2024) and you can easily spot this within the first 10 minutes of watching.
Shell is available on all VOD platforms.
4/10 D+
Alice returns home after her mother’s death to find the house unchanged-and haunted by a dark presence. As fear builds, buried trauma resurfaces, and a terrifying truth is revealed.
I was pretty excited to see that David Moreau who previously directed MadS (2024) had another film releasing this year, sadly this was a misfire that I left more confused and not in the intriguing sort of way.
Other strangely likes to withhold information from the viewer and treats that like it’s crafting a mystery when in reality it’s only making the viewer quickly lose interest. There’s the repeated point of Alice (played by Olga Kurylenko) still dealing with childhood trauma, but the movie never elaborates on that or does not even explore it either, it’s like a pop up that is constantly telling you the same thing over and over again.
Kurylenko’s face is the only we see clearly throughout the movie, which in theory sounds like a neat stylistic choice. However the way the movie goes about with the execution is incredibly dull, the other characters who are supposed to leave this impact on the viewer do not end up doing so. Olga Kurylenko gives a fine enough performance but it’s not enough to make up for the botched execution.
Lastly there’s the writing which does not have any of the creepiness or thrills that MadS had, it’s a very confused mess that is way too cryptic for its own good and has nowhere near the amount of disturbing or engaging material to connect the viewer to the experience.
Other is available on Shudder.
4/10 D+
A woman spends the night fighting for her existence as she slips down a rabbit hole contained inside a gift from a late-night visitor.
Bryan Bertino director of The Strangers (2008), Mockingbird (2014), The Monster (2016) and The Dark and the Wicked (2020) is back with Vicious and the best way to describe this movie is it feels like this horribly put together Frankenstein’s Monster combination of all of his previous films.
First off there’s the nonconsensual premise of Mockingjay (2014) which at first is a bit interesting before Vicious starts to run into a wall with incredibly stupid decision making on Polly’s (played by Dakota Fanning) part. Next we have the claustrophobic feel of The Strangers (2008), there is a few moments here that do capture that feel decently well. But for the most part it comes off as a desperate attempt to aim for something that worked because it felt far more grounded, constantly trying to reach for it throughout the movie takes away from the writing and ultimately makes the movie suffer for it.
There’s also the supernatural violence and dark atmosphere of The Dark and the Wicked (2020), Kathryn Hunter tries her best to bring this sort of energy into the movie but the script flat out refuses to give any meaningful story or interesting developments with the supernatural parts of it to work with. It’s a very basic haunting type of movie that attempts to throw in a bit of Saw (2004) which quickly ends up being more ridiculous than anything else.
Finally there’s the anxieties and the thrills of The Monster (2016) something that once again this movie does not capture at all, there’s one or two jumpscares that are somewhat effective but a large majority of the movie is forgettable and has no investing way to bring the viewer into the movie.
Dakota Fanning and Kathryn Hunter give solid performances but they are nowhere near enough to save this movie from ultimately being forgettable, I can absolutely see why the plans to release this in theaters was changed.
Vicious is available on Paramount+
3/10 D-
A ruthless thief and his expert crew stumble onto the heist of a lifetime.
Play Dirty fails to capture the charm of Shane Black’s earlier crime films. While LaKeith Stanfield and Rosa Salazar do what they can with such a shallow script, the rest of the movie is yet again another terrible straight to streaming action thriller movie that offers very little to the genre.
There’s a few entertaining action scenes that somewhat attempt to bring back what made Shane Black a solid crime film director in the first place, but those are quickly overshadowed by Mark Wahlberg giving yet another phoned in performance that leads no depth to his character. This is yet another case of the supporting characters being more interesting than the protagonist and where you wish the movie was about them.
Whatever Shane Black had with The Nice Guys (2016) is long gone.
In modern Transylvania, vampire hunts and labor strikes mix with sci-fi, romance, and AI tales. Multiple storylines blend folklore, horror and contemporary elements for a fresh take on Dracula’s legend.
Dracula is directed by Radu Jude director of Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023), Sacred Hearts (2016), Everybody in Our Family (2012) and many others.
To say that Radu Jude’s Dracula is a very odd film would be the understatement of the year, the very first moments of the film is a bunch of AI-generated renditions of Dracula saying a variation of “suck my dick” the film is a take on how AI is sucking the life out of filmmaking and even how people think. It’s an excellent satire that although a bit too long is still incredibly effective.
The performances are all quite fascinating, each of the cast goes all out with what the script requires and are not afraid to add their own flavor into the mix. They also capture the satirical atmosphere well and bring the viewer into the film quickly due to just how bizarre they act. There are some genuinely meaningful moments during the film’s final moments which lead to some of the best acting of the film.
The main part of what makes Dracula successful is the themes and how they are executed, as mentioned before there’s the theme of AI and how it’s ruining filmmaking. This is not a case where the movie just ends up saying “AI bad” the film points out how ridiculous AI is in this humorous way, people’s line of thinking is lost since they do not have that special connection of filmmaking especially when relying on ChatGPT and OpenAI.
This is made clear with the character simply known as “The Director” (played by Adonis Tanta) who talks to the camera about using generative AI which creates a bunch of subplots that are nonsensical, the director is used as a vehicle for Radu Jude to explore the themes of technology and society, such as how modern society or AI is bloodsucking and taking away from human connection and filmmaking. Adonis Tanta does such a fantastic job with his performance as the director, he’s unhinged and completely matches the film’s overall atmosphere.
Then there’s the film’s final moments which says that the nature of being human is starting to feel less human each day, which is an incredibly scary thought to think about and explore. But it’s done in this way that is truly meaningful and while it can feel like a whiplash after you have sat through the majority of the film’s bizarre nature, you still feel impacted and it’s a genuinely clever place to end on.
Do not go in expecting a faithful adaption to Bram Stoker’s material, you are just not going to get that here. However if you are looking for something completely different this is definitely the film for you!
Jerome Reviews... 