Review: Weapons (2025)

I'm a bit surprised at the critical response to this film.  As I write this, Rotten Tomatoes has the film at 95% positive from critics and 87% positive from audiences with Metacritic also having it at an 81. This is a very acclaimed horror film in a year filled with such, and this is possibly the weirdest one to be so warmly received.

Not that the plot is too far out there.  As famously shown on the poster and in trailers, the basic plot is that all of the students (save one) of a third grade class taught by Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) get up at 2:17 a.m. and leave their houses and disappear.  The film starts about a month after the event with Justine ostracized and the parents still angry that no progress has been made on finding their children.

The movie is broken into several different parts, each named after the character that it focuses on.  It starts with Justine, but also follows parent Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), police officer Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), principal Marcus Miller (Benedict Wong), drug addict James (Austin Abrams) and Paul (Cary Christopher), the lone student that came to class that fateful day.

The timelines of all of these characters all intermingle with one another - Justine's part starts after Archer's but before James, that sort of thing - but tie together in ways both obvious (seeing a scene start from a different character's point of view) and subtle (the film shows but does not tell who vandalizes Justine's car).  None of this is hard to follow, though it might take a moment to figure out certain timeline events until the point where they collide occurs, and it likely rewards the audience for multiple viewings.

The movie takes its time getting to the eventual reveal of what happens, and uses its story structure to show escalations out of order to keep you guessing as to the answer.  All of the actors do a great job tying everything together and no performance feels out of place, either in the various timelines or the film overall.  Tonally, there isn't much to criticize: the film is somber all throughout with just enough jump scares - usually delivered via dream sequences - to keep the audience from getting too comfortable or complacent.

There are a few minor criticisms to be made. The first would be the ending of the film.  Not the entire ending, mind you, but part of it.  Part of the ending is so darkly comedic and perfect that I almost don't want to criticize it at all, but what follows that particular moment of catharsis feels rushed.  I don't want to give spoilers, but the cathartic moment and what leads up to it is amazing, so having the movie end so quickly after it feels like a proper denouncement is missing.  Again, not a large complaint, just a small wish for a bit more to properly wrap up.

(The other complaint involves some very minor spoilers, so feel free to skip this paragraph to avoid those if so inclined)  The other problem is that, for a very large portion of this film, it reads as an metaphor for a school shooting - even going so far as to show an AR-15 with the time of the children's disappearance in one of the dream sequences.  It plays into the title of the film and hangs over movie up until the actual reveal.  But once it drops that, it completely drops it.  Nothing even hinting at the previous metaphor comes up for the remainder of the film.  It makes it lose a bit of energy.  Nothing too detrimental to the film, but I can't help but wonder how it would've changed the film if they had held onto it all the way to the end.

It also indulges in the 'bury your gays' trope that I could very much do without.

But aside from those small quibbles, this is a solid film.  Not my favorite of the year, but a damn good piece of filmmaking that really makes me feel like I should check out director Zach Cregger's previous feature Barbarian.

8.5 out of 10

Review: Elio (2025)

Sometimes, a studio is a victim of its own success.  Pixar has created so many stone-cold classics in the animation genre that even a mediocre outing feels like a huge disappointment.  And while I'd argue that Elio is a perfectly fine animated film, I can see why so much about it is considered such even before getting into its anemic box office numbers.

Elio follows the titular character, Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab), a young boy who longs to be abducted by aliens after his parents die and he moves in with his aunt, Olga Solis (Zoe Saldana).  Elio is an outcast who spends the majority of his time in his pursuit of abduction.  Eventually he actually is abducted and finds himself representing Earth as its ambassador in the Communiverse.  And I'll stop the summary there.

There are so many tropes in that short description of the film that it could easily be a dozen other films up until the alien abduction.  The film originally had a bit more characterization for Elio and you can feel the gaps in the screenplay (I won't go into details but the removal of said characterization was enough that original director Adrian Molina and original voice actress America Ferrera both left the project).

It's sad, because the film is missing a personality that it desperately needs for both its lead character and for its alien plot.  Several of the alien ambassadors are a marvel of animation, but 15 minutes after the movie it's almost impossible to name a single one of them.  Even the antagonist of the film is a stock character that's been seen a hundred times before and will be seen a hundred times after.

None of these criticisms are unforgiveable sins, they just add up to make this one of the lesser efforts from Pixar.  It's worth seeing, especially compared to the lesser efforts of the other major animation studios, but it might be that Pixar film that most people forget about.

6.5 out of 10

Review: Death of a Unicorn (2025)

There's a delicate line that must be walked when doing a horror comedy, particularly one that indulges in gore in the manner of Death of a Unicorn: If someone is going to be killed by a unicorn kick to the face - and we are meant to laugh at said death - the character needs to have 'earned' that end and we need to be removed enough from the horror that we can laugh at said death.  Death of a Unicorn mostly succeeds at this, though not enough that it doesn't complete avoid tonal issues.

The film follows Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) as they travel to visit Elliot's dying boss Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant).  As they travel through the Canadian Rockies, they hit and apparently kill a unicorn which they end of bringing with them to the secluded Leopold estate.  Once there, they discover the healing properties of the unicorn and encounter its angry parents.

The film tries to be a bit of a satire by having the Leopold family - Odell, wife Belinda (Tea Leoni), and son Shepard (Will Poulter) - aggressively start working to monetize the use of the dead unicorn while also having Ridley be a 'pure-hearted maiden' who happens to espouse many liberal viewpoints, but there isn't too much meat to it, and the film could've easily left most of it on the cutting room floor without hurting the overall product.

The film is much stronger when it goes wider in its target through the use of The Unicorn Tapestries - focusing more on those that want to capture and abuse the magical powers of unicorns vs. the more specific target that the Leopolds represent - and might've benefitted from a more subtextual approach to the politics.

All of the actors do a great job: Paul Rudd plays a slightly more mature character than normal, and Jenna Ortega continues to cement her Scream Queen status.  It feels as if Tea Leoni is playing a reference to a particular person, but I couldn't name who, though she is very much having fun with the part.  Of the smaller parts, Sunita Mani somewhat surprises with much richer character work for her Dr. Bhatia than I think the film called for, but it was appreciated nonetheless.

Really, it's just frustrating that the film almost hits a home run but keeps getting in its own way with the early asides that go nowhere and throwaway bits that too sparse to break the tension effectively or played down in a way that limits their effect.  A reference to a character eating unicorn steak could've been a darkly hilarious moment or could've pushed the satire further, but instead it's just a quick sequence where the meal is handed to a character and then... moves on.

Those quibbles aside, it is still a mostly-funny movie that I think most people would enjoy.  It took a big swing (I don't think I have seen unicorns used as a movie monster outside of a short bit in 2011's The Cabin in the Woods) and while it might not have gone the distance, I appreciate that it went for it.

7 out of 10.

Review: Superman (2025)

At one point during James Gunn's Superman, our titular hero is trying to prevent casualties during a kaiju attack and among those he saves is a squirrel.  Test audiences hated it, but as James Gunn himself put it: "I really miss the squirrel. He's gotta save the squirrel."  And nothing better proves how perfect he was to direct this movie than his insistence on keeping that in.

See, I've never really connected with Superman as far as superheroes go.  I never held anything against him, he just always seemed a little too cheesy, a little too corny, a little too earnest for my tastes.  Granted, I grew up in the cynical 90s and as a gay teen in Texas, I was dripping with said cynicism, so it was going to be an uphill battle for me given that I only casually read comics even at that point.

Despite that fact, I knew enough about him to know that the movies that came out in my later years were either misreadings (Superman Returns, 2006) or outright insults (Man of Steel, 2013) to the character.  Even worse, many of the movies themselves were mediocre or bad, so it seemed like he was doomed to forever be sidelined as Marvel became a juggernaut while the DC movies were only occasionally good.

Then along came this movie.  I won't say it completely changed my opinion of the hero - I'll always be a bit too jaded to fully embrace him - but at last it appears we have a director who not only understands but leans into the corniness that is a cornerstone of the character.

And this Superman, as played by David Corenswet, is a cornball.  Trying to avoid killing at all costs - even against enemies - and working to save anything and anyone while saving the day.  He hardly swears - the one notable one is darkly funny when it occurs - and the incident that sets off the main plot of the film isn't because of an attack or because his fortress was broken into, but because someone took his dog.

Speaking of that main plot, the trailers (thankfully) don't reveal much of it.  The basic elements are there - Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) wants to get Superman out of the way, people mistrust Superman after Lex's shenanigans, and ultimately Superman has to save the day - but so much of the meat and potatoes is left out of the trailers that I hope the film's success convinces other studios to stop showing so much.  It also takes the bold step of beginning at a point where Superman is already established and known - saving us from rehashing his well-tread origin story yet another time.

I also have to hand it to Gunn for his casting choices - not a single actor feels out of place and in many cases it feels like the perfect person was chosen for the role.  Hoult absolutely nails Lex Luthor and I only hesitate in giving him best-in-show because Edi Gathegi (as Mister Terrific) comes close to stealing the movie out-from-under the rest of the cast.  Rachel Brosnahan, as Lois Lane, also nails the character in a way we haven't seen since Margot Kidder and even the smaller roles of Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) all add flavor that feels just right for what the film is going for.

Gunn has proven with his previous superhero films that he knows how to stage an action scene, and that continues here.  None of the fights feels derivative of his other films however, and it weirdly feels like he matches the action to the 'vibe' of the character (for lack of a better word) in inspired ways.  It's an underrated aspect of his direction.

All this to say: This is a damn good movie.  It might not ever be among my favorites, in general or even within this genre, but this is damn good filmmaking.

8.5 out of 10.  And thank God he saved that squirrel.

Review: I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

Man, the feelings I have for this movie are mixed...

I really don't think I can give a better review than that simple sentence, but I will try.  The 2025 version of I Know What You Did Last Summer (which I will refer to as I Know... for the rest of this review) does so many things right that I want to give it a high score simply for avoiding so many of the dangerous mistakes that have plagued legacy sequels in this genre (think the 2022 Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the two worse movies in the recent Halloween trilogy) but manages to make a few new ones of its own that make me want to almost immediately take back all the points it earned.

Set 27 years after the original movie, this sequel follows a new group that makes a similar - though noticeably different - mistake that results in the death of someone they don't know.  They agree to keep it a secret, but one year later Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) receives a note very similar to the one received by Julie in the original.  People start to die, the police are of no help, and the group of now-estranged friends have to figure out who was connected to their victim and how to stop them.

If this sounds the same as the original, that is intentional.  The movie knows the formula and isn't going to mess with it too much - there will be subversions and twists, but nothing that will seriously rock the boat.  It's honestly kind of refreshing that the movie isn't pretending to be more than it is (a problem that has plagued many other legacy sequels) and the subversions it does scatter throughout are enough to keep it fresh.

The performances are mostly good, with returning actors Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr being best in show.  Which is not to say the newcomers are bad: Chase Sui Wonders does a great job, and Madelyn Cline as lead Danica Richards is a worthy successor to Hewitt's Julie James.  The other members of the friend group - Milo, Teddy, and Stevie (Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, and Sarah Pidgeon) have less to do, but all of the actors do a good job of portraying a fractured friend group.

Again, this movie gets so much right that it is frustrating to see it fail in several substantial ways.  The biggest is the reveal of the killer.  I don't think anyone was really surprised at the reveal, which really kills the tension as the climax approaches, and it also doesn't feel very earned.  It's a weird thing to feel about a teen-oriented slasher, but for the character selected to be the murderer to work, there needs to be better build-up - especially if they are going to have to sell a 'killer monologue' at the same time.

The movie also struggles a bit with the side characters.  While some are very obviously meant to be cannon fodder, some still feel like substantial portions of their character were cut.  In particular, Tyler (Gabbriette Bechtel) feels like she should have been a much larger character than what was in the final cut of the film.

I can't say that casual fans of the genre won't enjoy the movie - I Know... moves at a good pace and is judicious in how it spreads out the kills - but there isn't much in the way of gore or even inventive kills so it the movie so the more hardcore horror fans might only see it if they have nostalgia for the original.  However, it is nice to see the familiar faces in this movie, and it is smart enough to hint at two possible hooks for sequels (no pun intended).

I'll tentatively give it a 6 out of 10 - but I could see it moving in either direction after more time sitting on it.

Review: Jurassic World Rebirth

I was lucky enough for Jurassic World Rebirth to be the selection of a Mystery Movie showing at my theatre of choice, and ever since, I've gone back and forth on this movie.  Not in its general ranking (I'd put it on par with Jurassic World - a ranking of all movies will be at the end of this review), but as to whether or not I think this movie is a needed step in the correct direction of the franchise.  To wit...

 

On the plus side:

This movie did a good job of bringing a sense of wonder to seeing the dinosaurs.  In particular, a scene with Titanosauruses works incredibly well due to Jonathan Bailey's Dr. Henry Loomis experiencing genuine joy at seeing and interacting with the creatures.  While other movies in the franchise have tried to mimic that first scene of Dr. Grant seeing the Brachiosaurus from the original Jurassic Park, this is the first time since then that the actor's performance really hit that same level.

 

On the down side:
This movie continues the franchise trope of forcing a child into the story to give an artificial stakes. If there are enough likeable characters, we don't need a child to worry about! The stakes are still there!  In the case of this movie, we end up having very strong emotional reactions to the deaths of the various crew members of Zora and Duncan (Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali) without any of the development associated with such a reaction.  I don't know if the filmmakers were afraid of killing anyone the audience would like, but as it stands, the movie makes it clear that most of these people are red shirts.

 

On the plus side:

Director Gareth Edwards does a great job with the action scenes.  The mosasaurus sequence does a great job of capturing what would likely be a chaotic interaction with such an animal on a smaller boat.  Even better, Edwards gives the audience a good layout of the ship so that when the Spinosauruses get involved, the audience can keep track of where the various characters are as they try to survive the suddenly-more-dangerous encounter.

On the down side:

The script-writing needed some more work.  First off, the film posits that the world at large is 'over' dinosaurs - so much so that museums about them are shutting down because no one goes.  And I'm sorry, but sharks have been around even longer than dinosaurs and people are still fascinated by them to the point there is an entire industry around interacting with them.  You expect me to believe that 25ish years after they were revealed to the world at large, people are done with them?

The script suffers from the noted lack of character-building for the emotional reactions of the main characters, as noted, but also inconsistency from the characters that do get developed; most notably some quips that don't really fit the character that delivers them.

 

On the plus side:

Scarlett Johansson continues to prove that she is a great action heroine.  She gives the movie just the right amount of seriousness and goofiness that it needs to work, while believably coming across as a mercenary for hire.  None of the cast are terrible (though some are unnecessary), but Johansson is the standout performance of a fairly talented group.

 

On the down side:
The editing of this movie - outside of the action sequences - makes me think that quite a bit of the movie was cut for time.  Weird payoffs and character interactions occur throughout and it feels like something is missing that would bring it together better.  The movie as it is takes over 2 hours to finish, and perhaps some better editing might've helped it feel more cohesive.

 

On the plus side:
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo's character might be completely unnecessary to the film, but at least they had the good sense to put him in some short-shorts for the majority of it.

 

Overall, I'd give the movie a 7 out of 10, though it could swing to a 7.5 or 6.5 depending on the day.

 

Jurassic Franchise Rankings:
Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
(big drop)
Jurassic World Rebirth
Jurassic World
(big drop)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
(even bigger drop)
Jurassic Park 3
Jurassic World Dominion

2025 Movie List

The Movies:

28 Years Later
Clown in a Cornfield
Death of a Unicorn

Elio

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Jurassic World Rebirth

The Naked Gun

Sinners

Superman

Weapons