Although July was a bit smaller release wise, there was still plenty of fantastic films such as The Odyssey, Spider-Man, Her Private Hell, Evil Dead Burn and a few others. August for whatever reason this year is quite packed and there’s a whole lot to look forward to.
August 7th
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Theaters Limited)
Tony (Theaters Limited)
Late Fame (Theaters)
One Night Only (Theaters)
August 14th
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Theaters Wide)
As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient
Night Nurse is directed by Georgia Bernstein which is her directorial debut.
Night Nurse is an incredibly odd one that is almost certainly not going to be for everyone. However it’s a quite effective erotic thriller that takes its time to build an atmosphere that quickly gets under your skin, which leads to some terrifying results.
The performances are quite fantastic here as they all capture the film’s unpredictable atmosphere. Cemre Paksoy gives a hypnotic performance that has a ton of screen presence and is quite unpredictable, at first her character Eleni Sadik might just seem like your average night nurse. However once the film slowly starts to peel the layers that’s when the character becomes something a whole lot more, Paksoy’s performance here is fantastic and very easily fits the atmosphere the film is going for.
Bruce McKenzie is quite terrifying, he plays this incredibly creepy old man named Douglas in such a scarily raw way that immediately gets under your skin as he slithers around in the film. His tone, body language and the strikingly creepy atmosphere around him is truly effective, the interactions between Douglas and Eleni alone make the film’s atmosphere that much more thrilling and terrifying.
The film’s atmosphere as mentioned before is terrifying when you combine that with the cinematography from cinematographer Lidia Nikonova who does a brilliant job of capturing the creepy sexual nature of the atmosphere, the way the camera moves up and down plus slowly reveals shocking moments makes the film all the more memorable. The music from Steven Jackson and Sam Clapp is also quite effective and brings this sense of dread into the mix.
The film is an erotic exploration of compulsive scamming and caregiving gone horribly wrong that is set in a nursing home, it has this very David Cronenberg like approach in some areas with a little bit of David Lynch thrown in for good measure. But the film does manage to stand on its own quite effectively, the character writing can feel a bit missing at times. But I do think in this case the body language from Paksoy and McKenzie gives the viewer a general idea of how they regularly behave and who they are as people.
If you plan on watching Night Nurse go into it knowing as little as possible, it’s an experience that is truly fascinating that really makes use of thrilling atmosphere and characters. I am very curious to see what Georgia Bernstein does next.
A talented piano tuner who suffers from hyperacusis discovers an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down
Tuner is directed by Daniel Roher which is his first narrative film.
When it comes to bringing in all sorts of different type of styles, Tuner really delivers on that front. What may seem like a very typical crime thriller on the surface actually ends up being a whole lot more investing, captivating and is able to differentiate itself from a crowded genre.
Leo Woodall really impresses here, not only is he able to capture the film’s thrilling atmosphere but he’s also able to completely adapt to the film’s more light hearted atmosphere when we get some romance between Leo Woodall and Havana Rose Liu. In a lot of cases film’s like this would not be able to juggle two very different atmospheres however the film is able to do this simply because it’s well paced and fits everything in like a glove. Which gives Woodall the opening to deliver the performance required, he’s able to show a level of skill here that is not only fun but investing.
Havana Rose Liu is also quite fantastic here as well, she gives this proud and spirited performance plus her chemistry with Woodall is honestly the film’s best moments. There is this natural like feeling that connects Niki White (played by Leo Woodall) and Ruthie Waymon (played by Havana Rose Liu) one of the film’s best moments is when they are simply talking about life goals, it’s a quite beautiful moment that really brings the film together and really shows the talent of Woodall and Liu incredibly well.
The writing is quite strong here, there’s a lot of character moments that work and just have this natural feel that the viewer can connect with. There are a few hiccups plot wise during the film’s third act however that is truly not enough to stop it from being quite investing. The story also might not be anything new, but it’s how the film goes about executing it is what makes this one stand tall.
The technical aspects are truly fantastic, the sound design is effective and turns several scenes into giant paintings that the viewer explores with their eyes and ears. The editing is snappy and quickly brings the viewer into the experience, it helps keep the pacing in line and as a result feels like a quick watch (in this case that’s a very good.)
Overall Tuner is a quite effective crime thriller that takes a plot that would be otherwise a bit forgettable and manages to turn into something investing and thrilling. The film does cross some familiar territory but the execution is effective enough to bring this one to the finish line.
Grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder, Robin Hood finds himself gravely injured after a battle he thought would be his last. In the hands of a mysterious woman, he is offered a chance at salvation.
The Death Of Robin Hood is directed by Michael Sarnoski director of Pig (2021) and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024).
The Death Of Robin Hood goes for a much darker yet balanced approach to the story of Robin Hood, Sarnoski does a quite fascinating job of commenting on the light and dark of a figure and the toll it takes on them. The character writing might not be at its full potential, but I do think with what is presented and how well Sarnoski paints this world makes the film all the more worth experiencing.
Right off the bat Hugh Jackman gives yet another strong performance, there are some similar traits to Logan in Logan (2017) a figure who is at their last moments and thinking about everything they have come across in life plus how it affected them. Jackman’s version of Robin Hood is luckily not just him doing a repeat with Logan, we get this picture of a man who carries the scars of violence with him. Jackman does a tremendous job of showcasing this with tons of quiet moments as well as painful ones that reflect in his mind. This isn’t so much as a hero’s journey and more so a path of facing the violence you caused during your last moments of life.
Jodi Comer as Sister Brigid is quite strong here as well, we don’t get that much character writing for her sadly. But what we do get is a grounded and restrained performance that works well with Jackman. Her performance here definitely elevates the material in some areas where the film definitely needed it most.
Murray Bartlett as The Leper is quite an intriguing performance, The Leper is covered in bandages yet from the little we see of his face he instantly draws you in. He compliments the atmosphere incredibly well just by his presence alone, he’s one of those characters where even if we do get basic information about him. We still wonder what his complete story is, Bartlett does a fascinating job with his dialogue and interactions with the rest of the cast as well.
The first 40 or so minutes of the film is quite brutal, it’s clear that for this portion of the film it wants to focus on painting this raw, dirty and quite dangerous world. The violence here is shown in this quite unsettling way, we can also see this from the cinematography from cinematographer Pat Scola who pays extra attention to the detail and makes sure to highlight well. When you combine this with the performances of the film plus its dark atmosphere you do get some quite haunting results.
The film’s greatest weakness is it’s character writing, which is a bit shocking to me since Sarnoski did such an excellent job with his previous two films Pig (2021) and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) especially in the character writing department. But here a lot is either not really elaborated on or just forgotten, Sister Brigid seems like she was supposed to be far more important but is restricted to rather surface level character writing. I understand that the focus is Robin Hood, but there is a ton of moments here where you wish you were seeing more meat on the character writing from the other characters.
Despite the character writing however, I do think The Death Of Robin Hood sticks the landing. It really comes down to Sarnoski’s more raw and brutal approach along with Hugh Jackman’s excellent performance as Robin Hood. It does a solid job of painting this road of guilt and reflection of violence you caused. Very strong film that I recommend giving a go!
The Death Of Robin Hood is available on all VOD platforms.
In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster’s girl. In retaliation, the gangster enacts a frame job to send the innocent man to prison. Life ruined, Miller plots a revenge campaign against the man who took his girl away.
Motor City is directed by Potsy Ponciroli director of Old Henry (2021) and Greedy People (2024).
Motor City is an interesting one when it comes to its style, the whole idea here is it’s a very 70s pulp style revenge thriller but with very little dialogue. While it might not be anything mind blowing, it does take what normally would be an average action thriller and turns into something decently interesting and a fun time.
Alan Ritchson gives a great performance here, due to having barely any dialogue, Ritchson in most scenes has to use his body language to tell the story and he does that quite well. He’s in his element and his familiarity with the action thriller genre absolutely comes into play here, I have not seen that much of Ritchson’s work but this was genuinely a great showing from him. Ben Fosters plays the slimy antagonist Reynolds who is quite effective, Shailene Woodley is pretty solid here as well although definitely lacking in the character department.
The film heavily relies on its visual language and needle drops to tell the story and while the latter can be a bit to on the nose, I do think combined together they both do a great job of telling the story. Especially when you combine this with cinematographer John Matysiak’s camerawork, there is one scene in particular that is not only well choreographed but it’s shot incredibly well.
The atmosphere of the film is thrilling, brutal and has this very 70s feel that you can’t help but be transported into, the music does such a great job of complimenting everything around it especially the atmosphere and the brutality of the film. While the story is admittedly pretty predictable, everything else really brings the viewer along for the ride and completely makes up for it.
Overall Motor City might not be anything exactly new plot wise, but it’s still a fun time that is elevated by the film’s technical aspects and the performances!
The fan favorite champions — now joined by Johnny Cage himself — are pitted against one another in the ultimate battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.
Mortal Kombat II is directed by Simon McQuoid director of Mortal Kombat (2021). The film serves as a sequel to Mortal Kombat (2021) and is the fourth installment in the Mortal Kombat film series.
Mortal Kombat (2021) is one of those movies where I really liked it at the time it was released, but slowly it got worse and worse for me. I can definitely still say that I enjoy it, but there were definitely glaring issues that could easily be fixed. Luckily Mortal Kombat II gives some answers to those issues, while it is not perfect and definitely has room for improvement. I do think Mortal Kombat II sets out to capture a lot of the spirit of the video game franchise and does quite a great job at doing so, which leads to a pretty fun time that any fan will be satisfied with.
For starters a main criticism with the previous movie was the very odd choice to make the focus on Cole Young, a character who was made entirely from the movie. Well this movie fixes that by not having him as the focus (he’s still in the movie but now as a side character), the focus now is Johnny Cage played by Karl Urban who really knocks it out of the park. The moment Urban appears on screen you can just feel how much he captures Johnny Cage as a character, his reactions to the ridiculous nonsense that is going on actually got a few laughs out of me. Plus I think making Cage the focus was a very clever move, he’s basically an audience surrogate which means we basically go on this journey with him. It adds a little bit more of a connection between the viewer and the film, I know that might sound a bit silly to say about a Mortal Kombat movie but it strangely works.
The rest of the characters are quite great here as well, Kitana, Sonya Blade, Kano, Liu Kang, Jax, Jade, Shang Tsung, Lord Raiden and many others appear. Josh Lawson who was arguably the best part of the previous film returns as Kano and is just as effective and hilarious. Adeline Rudolph as Kitana and Tati Gabrielle as Jade are newcomers who do a great job in their respective roles. I do like the film also focusing on Kitana as well even if the character writing is not absolutely perfect, there is at least understanding of what makes these characters such as Kitana interesting to the viewer. The cast overall does a really solid job here and easily made this such an entertaining ride.
The nonstop action scenes are also quite fantastic, this time around the film is very self aware as it does make little references to modern action films and the things that fans expect mainly the whole John Wick type of action (stabbing so many people brutally with a pencil.) Which the film actually delivers on these references and manages to make them funny. The film is luckily not so self aware to the point where it becomes obnoxious and where it refuses to have fun with itself, it’s just the right amount to really draw in the viewer due to the thought of “where is it going with this?”
As far as story goes, this is very standard Mortal Kombat and that’s no where near a bad thing. If anything the film benefits from this, the film knows exactly what it wants to be and does not pretend it’s something else. It’s a film that wants to entertain the viewer throughout the experience and it mostly succeeds in the end due to just how fast paced it really is along with the cast and atmosphere.
Overall Mortal Kombat II is a much needed improvement from the previous film, there was definitely a lot more determination to really capture the spirit of the video game franchise and the end result is quite a fun time!
Mortal Kombat II is available on all VOD platforms.
In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice–launch the most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.
Pressure is directed by Anthony Maras director of Hotel Mumbai (2018).
Pressure on the surface may seem like a textbook telling of D-Day, however the film goes for a different approach. It talks about the weather and how to plan the Normandy landings during World War II. Somehow and someway they made this actually quite thrilling which leads to plenty of excellent moments over the course of the film.
Andrew Scott as James Stagg gives a very investing performance, he is the center of the film and luckily Scott is very versatile as an actor. He can go from more quieter moments to more louder ones in an instant, Chris Messina as Irving P. Krick is also just as great here especially during the disagreements between Kirk and Stagg. You have these moments where they are arguing over the weather and it actually becomes quite thrilling, which is mainly due to how committed Scott and Kirk were to their performances.
Brendan Fraser as Dwight D. Eisenhower was quite great, there are definitely criticisms to be made about how Fraser and Eisenhower look quite drastically different. Despite this however, Fraser really nails his performance as he lands tons of explosive moments along with more quiet ones. There’s a few moments in particular towards the end where his performance goes from being great to actually pretty excellent.
What mainly helps Pressure here is the different perspective, we don’t see much of the battle and instead we are placed in meetings regarding the best course of action with the weather. Which is actually quite thrilling due to the film’s strong atmosphere that is thanks to director Anthony Maras’s experience with his previous film Hotel Mumbai (2018). Stagg’s weather forecasts were essential to green light the go ahead for the D-Day Invasion and the film does a great job of capturing these actions incredibly well, at times it can feel like reading out of a textbook. But I think for the most part the film accomplishes what it’s sent out to do and mainly sticks to offering a much different perspective from the usual war movie.
Overall Pressure is a quite solid war movie that offers a different perspective, a lot of what you see is what you get here so there really is not that much to it. Despite that however it’s still a very solid film that I recommend giving a go.
Amber and her friends visit Joshua Tree for a fun girls’ trip but face hostility from locals. As tensions escalate and Amber’s dark past surfaces, their rebellion ignites – turning their desert getaway into a jaw-dropping game of revenge.
Find Your Friends is directed by Izabel Pakzad which is her directorial debut.
Find Your Friends is a movie that explores a quite heavy subject which is the dark side of party culture and how truly dangerous it can be under all of the lights, energy and music. The major problem here is the movie opts for a ton of terrible writing decisions that completely take the viewer out of the movie, it ends up being a very confused mess of what it is exactly trying to lay down to the viewer.
Helena Howard tries her best to hold the movie together, but the rest of the performances are just not great here at all. Bella Thorne, Zión Moreno, Chloe Cherry and Sophia Ali have little to work with for their characters. There’s times where it’s just a screaming match or who can say the most edgiest thing in the room, the character building just does not happen here at all.
While watching Find Your Friends, I could not help but think of a far better film that tackled the exact same subject matter and that’s Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex (2023). A film that takes its time building its characters and goes for a much more grounded approach with exploring the unpleasant side of party culture, it’s a film that was confidently directed and went into detail on the topic. Find Your Friends makes the mistake of going for a much more unnatural direction when we are introduced to the movie’s antagonists who are incredibly one dimensionally evil. I get there are some people out there that are evil for the sake of it, but the way this is executed combined with the terrible script does not do the movie any sort of favors.
It’s frustrating because there is a good movie here, it’s just piled on by so much bad writing, mediocre acting and a direction that feels very confused.
Find Your Friends is available on Shudder.
3/10 D-
Hana, a lovelorn medical student, becomes terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.
Saccharine is directed by Natalie Erika James director of Relic (2020) and Apartment 7A (2024).
Unfortunately not a whole lot to comment on here, while Saccharine is a step up from Natalie Erika James’s last movie Apartment 7A (2024), it still does not come close to Relic (2020).
The movie starts out strong enough, we see that the movie is attempting to explore diet culture and extremes women go through to be fit as well as a lot of expectations. Midori Francis gives a solid performance that does help convey the struggles of her character Hana.
Unfortunately around the ending of the second act is when this movie’s message gets lost and a lot of different ideas are just lazily thrown at a wall. Supernatural horror elements are thrown in, the script from Natalie Erika James seems to not know where to exactly take itself and the movie’s 113 minute runtime especially kills it due to the slow pacing.
There are definitely some nasty and gross body horror elements that are decently effective, but it unfortunately is not quite enough to save the movie. It’s clear that Saccharine wanted to tackle many different topics regarding diet culture, but it fails to execute these ideas in any meaningful or interesting way that gets the viewer’s attention.
Detective Enola Holmes heads to Malta, where her aspirations merge in her most complex and dangerous case yet.
Enola Holmes 3 is directed by Philip Barantini director of Villain (2020), Boiling Point (2021) and Accused (2023). The film serves as a sequel to Enola Holmes 2 (2022).
I’m not going to write an extensively long piece about the Enola Holmes series and my experience with it, because honestly the first two movies were cute movies that had their charm and that is really about as deep as it goes. Enola Holmes 3 shows that this series has overstayed its welcome and it might be time to move onto something else.
Millie Bobby Brown does a fine enough job here, but the spark she had in the first two movies is very noticeably absent. The performance just does not land as it did previously, Henry Cavill takes a backseat for a large portion of the movie and much like Brown, his performance has gotten noticeably worse as well. Which this is a bit of a shame because I did find Brown and Cavill decently charming in the previous two movies.
To say I was shocked that Barantini directed this would be an understatement, coming off of last year’s highly successful and acclaimed series Adolescence to this is quite baffling. The direction here is incredibly poor and has no idea what it wants to say or focus on, when you mix this in with the script from Jack Thorne you lead to some very underwhelming results.
The theme this movie attempts to tackle is British colonial history which for a movie series that prides itself on talk about important subjects, the movie does a quite poor job of exploring the subject. It makes surface level observations such as “look guys this was really bad” which is quite honestly embarrassing, it truly does feel like studio executives patting themselves on the back for being performative. It can very well be argued that the previous two movies are just as guilty of this (and I would agree with you), but at the very least they were competent movies that had good things about them. With this movie you do not get that at all and the studio executives feel is a lot more blatant here.
Overall Enola Holmes 3 is quite easily the worst of the series and it’s really not even close. It adds nothing new to the series and only brings the series backwards.
Enola Holmes 3 is available on Netflix.
3/10 D-
A handwritten manuscript of Dante Alighieri’s poem “The Divine Comedy” makes its way from a priest to a mob boss in New York City, where it is taken by Nick Tosches after he’s asked to verify its authenticity.
In The Hand Of Dante is directed by Julian Schnabel director of Basquiat (1996), Before Night Falls (2000), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), Miral (2010) and At Eternity’s Gate (2018).
In The Hand Of Dante is a prime example of movie that the only question going through your mind is “how on earth did this happen?” I’m going to keep this short simply because this is one of those terrible movies where it’s not even bad in an interesting way. It is a pretentious mess that thinks so highly of itself yet its saying very little with incredibly poor acting.
Martin Scorsese is the best part about this movie and not even him being dressed up as a Gandalf and Dumbledore hybrid could save this mess (he only has a couple of scenes as well, keep in mind this movie is 2 hours and 33 minutes long.) Scorsese seems to be the only one who is able to give a somewhat decent performance, it’s not terrible and it is almost certainly not something that belongs in the looney bin like some of these other performances.
If you want to hear one of the worst Italian accents ever put to film like no further than Gal Gadot. It’s truly baffling how not a single person on set questioned this, she has no chemistry with Oscar Isaac and the movie trying to build her character does not work at the slightest. Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler feel like cartoon characters trying to copy the behaviors of humans (some of these scenes go on for so long it becomes awkward.) Oscar Isaac does not necessarily give a bad performance it’s just one that is so forgettable and feels like a whole lot of nothing.
Lastly the movie trying to capture the whole Classic Hollywood noir of the 1940s and 1950s is embarrassing. The atmosphere that made those films so great is just not present at all here nor is the thrills. There are some admittedly beautiful locations but that’s where it really ends, the movie’s mystery is confused and does not offer any sort of strong connection with the characters or its themes. It’s a complete and total mess that can only be described as a science fair project that was done the day before it was due.
Overall, In The Hand Of Dante is a disaster of a movie that is truly baffling to watch. This is one of the most bafflingly bad movies I’ve seen in quite some time.
In The Hand Of Dante is available on Netflix.
1/10 F
Jackie, President and CEO of Air Cruz, runs a tight ship in her business, including a rigid anti-fraternization policy for all her employees, which is severely tested when a sexy new lawyer begins working for her.
Office Romance is directed by Ol Parker (or Oliver Parker) director of Imagine Me & You (2005), Now Is Good (2012), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) and Ticket to Paradise (2022).
Office Romance does not have a whole lot going on here with the exception of the birthing scene that seemingly comes out of nowhere. It’s clearly only here for shock value and that’s really about as deep as it goes. Everything else about this movie is incredibly bare bones romantic comedy cliches.
Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein and Betty Gilpin give fine enough performances, but none of them are quite enough to save the movie from being a chore to sit through. They each get one or two moments to shine, but really that’s where it ends.
The movie heavily relies on its cast to do all of the heavy lifting and carry the movie to the finish line, but completely forgets that you need a good script to help give the cast something to work with and that is just not present here at all.
After a young couple witnesses a gruesome highway accident, they soon realize they did not leave the crash scene alone, as a demonic presence called the Passenger won’t stop until it claims them both.
Passenger is directed by André Øvredal director of Trollhunter (2010), The Autopsy Of Jane Doe (2016), Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark (2019), Mortal (2020) and The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023).
I really wish there was more to say about Passenger, I typically love Øvredal’s work and even with some of his weaker films I do appreciate with what was attempted. I cannot say the same about Passenger, this is one of those cases where you ask yourself “what happened here?”
The cast does the best they can, Jacob Scipio and Lou Llobell at least have decent chemistry between one another and they are both given some moments to shine. Joseph Lopez as The Passenger is pretty solid as well, he manages to bring a thrilling atmosphere to the table that the writing failed to bring to the table.
The cinematography is by far the best part of the movie which makes it all the more frustrating when the writing completely does not match the visuals or atmosphere at all. Cinematographer Federico Verardi does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to what the movie is trying to communicate, his work with the camera is able to blend in with the different locations of the film and capture the whole idea of the eeriness of highways during the night.
What completely destroys this movie is the writing, it starts out decently strong with the opening scene (scene from the trailer) but quickly falls into a forgettable and lackluster mess. There just is not anything that stands out here, which is frustrating because it has the right ingredients to really create something thrilling and engaging for the viewer. But unfortunately the movie opts to go for being more on the cliched side of things. The characters have very little development and the direction from Øvredal feels surprisingly underwhelming, a lot of the heavy and confident feel of his previous work is just not here at all.
Overall Passenger is an incredibly forgettable movie that you basically put in the back of your brain after viewing. I would not say it’s a terrible movie, but in a year that so far has been quite great for the horror genre. This is almost certainly not one of them.
Passenger is available on all VOD platforms.
5/10 C
A group of international passengers en route from Los Angeles to Shanghai are forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters. Now they must work together in hopes to overcome the frenzy of sharks drawn to the wreckage.
Deep Water is directed by Renny Harlin director of The Strangers trilogy (2024-2026), A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), Deep Blue Sea (1999) and many others.
Renny Harlin is back yet again with another terrible movie, who is surprised? Although to Harlin’s credit, Deep Water is not AS bad as a lot of his more recent movies. However that most certainly does not make it good and there really is just not a whole lot to discuss here in the end.
The acting ranges from terrible to fine enough, out of the cast, Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley and Lucy Barrett are the ones who at the very least squeezed some decent moments out of this movie. Eckhart is actually somewhat trying here which is a bit of surprise given his latest performances and Penny (played by Lucy Barrett) is one of the only likable characters of the movie so it’s a bit of a shame to see her go early on. Ben Kingsley unfortunately isn’t in the movie for very long, he gives by far the best performance of the movie as his scenes with Eckhart are decently fun.
The main issue with this movie is it could have been a fun shark b-movie but it takes itself WAY TOO seriously, the direction the movie goes is focusing way less on the shark and focusing a lot more on the characters who don’t have any sort of strong writing to back them up. A majority of them are incredibly unlikable and not in the interesting kind of way, the “redemption arcs” are incredibly corny the only reason being there is for the viewer to suddenly care these characters who you have only seen for about 10-20 minutes.
It’s a shame because there are parts of this movie that are decent enough, the plane crash was surprisingly decently directed. You could actually feel some sort of tension in the air and ask yourself “who’s going to survive and who isn’t.” Unfortunately all of that goes away the moment the plane crashes and we are stuck with a very bland shark movie that just does not have a whole lot going for it.
Overall Deep Water is incredibly forgettable, there is some fun to be had here with some unintentional hilarious moments and the thrilling plane crash. But that’s really about it.
Deep Water is available on all VOD platforms.
4/10 D+
After becoming lost in the Louisiana swamplands, a group of holidaymakers must fight for their lives against a rampaging hippo on the loose.
Hungry is directed by James Nunn director of Wildcat (2025), One More Shot (2024), Shark Bait (2022), One Shot (2021) and many others.
I appreciate that someone attempted a killer hippopotamus movie (enough with the sharks!), unfortunately Hungry misses the mark on elements that should have been a home run.
Hungry has two halves, the first is a group of people stranded on a boat while the second half is the hippo starting to attack the group. The second half is by far the better portion since after all that’s the main reason the viewer is here, I must give credit where credit is due, the hippo actually looks quite great at times. There’s a some simple shots of the hippo peeking its head out of the water that are genuinely unsettling.
What really holds Hungry back however is mainly the movie taking way too long to get going and how it takes itself a bit too seriously at times. It’s a bit of a whiplash since the movie tries to both play in a silly and serious nature, the PG-13 rating also does not do the movie any favors especially when it comes to limiting the kills. When you combine that with budgetary restraints there are a lot of moments that end up being a mess.
When you combine all of this, Hungry just kind of exists. It’s not a terrible movie as there is some fun to be had and for a low budget movie it does with what it can, but overall there is just not a whole lot going on here at all.
Jerome Reviews... 