Films you've seen in 2026 (2 Viewers)

Double Jeopardy (1999)

Ashley Judd is framed by her ROTTER of her husband for his murder & sets out on parole to do the deed for real this time. Probably the last of a string of thrillers that are distinctly 90s (think Sleeping With The Enemy, Single White Female etc), I wasn't too impressed with Judd's performance early on, but by the time she turns into a revenge taking badass I was rooting for her, & the fast pace stops you wondering too much about the various plot implausiblities.
 
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

Missold (to me) as Ridley Scott does an erotic thriller, this was a deathly dull drama about a New York cop falling for the socialite he is assigned to protect after she witnesses a murder. Lorraine Bracco's performance as the cop's jilted wife is wonderful and wasted and deserves to be in a better film.
 
Species (1995).

Ridiculousness burned through this like a cigarette. As it should be.

I give it a B+

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Mother Mary (2026).

.

I give it a C.

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Prometheus (2012).

.

I give it a C.

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Alien: Covenant (2017).

.

I give it a C.
 
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026).

I think this released a year too early going on its box office. It was very good.

I give it a B.
 
Alien Vs. Predator (2004).

Franchise crossover isn't an audience crossover (for fans of genre only). Onto the next obviously.

I give it a C.
 
Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007)

Dustin Hoffman is a magician type who runs a toy store with assistant Natalie Portman & decides to hand it over to her. Magical & whimsical with a melancholy undercurrent, the visuals are incredible & I really enjoyed it despite it dividing critics & audiences upon release. Willy Wonka seems like the obvious inspiration for Hoffman's character but the whole thing reminded me more of Robin Williams' 1992 flop Toys. The saddest part is that I wish I'd watched it as a kid - it hits different as a bitter, cynical, middle aged man :(
 
Sardonicus said:
Double Jeopardy (1999)

Ashley Judd is framed by her ROTTER of her husband for his murder & sets out on parole to do the deed for real this time. Probably the last of a string of thrillers that are distinctly 90s (think Sleeping With The Enemy, Single White Female etc), I wasn't too impressed with Judd's performance early on, but by the time she turns into a revenge taking badass I was rooting for her, & the fast pace stops you wondering too much about the various plot implausiblities.
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Love this one, perfect Sunday afternoon hangover movie when you can't be arsed to do anything.
 
Faces of Death (2026)

It's alright I guess, not as clever as it thinks it is. Dacre Montgomery is a great villain, pity the movie around him turns from a dark meta commentary on people's bloodlust into a standard slasher.
Also features one of the worst wigs in movie history.

Oh and a nothing cameo from Charlie xcx, God knows how she got cast in this.
 
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Underworld (2003)

Vampires vs werewolves with a heavy influence of The Matrix. Has there ever been a film so relentlessly filmed in SHADES OF BLUE as this one? Kate Beckinsale must have seemed a leftfield choice to play an action heroine at the time, being better known for costume dramas, but she kicks ass & this is a highly entertaining watch. It seems to have spawned a whole cinematic universe with numerous sequels, but I think this is the only one I'll ever need.
 
Longlegs (2024)

A serial killer is on the loose with links to the occult. This was highly stylised & ratcheted up the creeping dread really well for the first 45 minutes. Then an unrecognisable Nicolas Cage shows up & appears to be acting in some sort of weird parody. I was guffawing at some of it, but way to squander the early promise, & it can't have been intentional.
 
Fear Dot Com (2002)

Natasha McElhone (with her lookalike of a young Meryl Streep vibes) & Stephen Dorff (with his sexy smouldering Colin Farrell ish vibes) investigate a series of gruesome murders connected to a sinister website. The ludicrous plot doesn't make a lick of sense & the scares aren't up to much either, but when you've got OUR STEVE looking so handsome throughout, who cares about such TRIFLES?
 
Pearl Harbor (2001)

Nurse Kate Beckinsale flits between Ben Affleck & Josh Hartnett as GOD BLESS THE USA gets dragged into World War 2. This was obviously intended to be Titanic 2, right down to the 3 hour running time, & it wasn't as successful as expected, getting derided for years after its release. The acting & dialogue verges on the ridiculous, but overall I did enjoy it - maybe I was just in the mood for a sweeping romantic EPIC with spectacular action sequences.

Oh & COME FOR ME all you want but There You'll Be >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> drearfest My Heart Will Go On.
 
The Reader (2008)

Kate Winslet got her long overdue Best Actress award with this GUARANTEED OSCAR WINNER as an illiterate former Nazi prison guard who has an affair with a teenage boy. Kate is incredible, the film itself is fully gripping & raises all sorts of interesting & thought provoking questions.
 
Welcome To The Dollhouse (1995)

Heather Matarazzo is Dawn, a gawky, awkward teenager bullied mercilessly at junior high & ignored at home by her parents in favour of her ballerina younger sister. Few films can have ever captured the living nightmare that adolescence can be & how evil & cruel kids can be. An awesome watch, but by God it triggered all sorts of horrid memories of the worst of school days.
 
Roma (2018)

The life of a domestic worker in early 1970s Mexico, filmed in black & white with a cast of unknowns, which only adds to the realism. Beautifully made, with every shot so carefully chosen & a story still relevant in 2026. Masterful.
 
Rashomon (1950)

The story of a murder told from 3 conflicting perspectives. A storytelling technique used across all sorts of mediums ever since & one of the main showcases for the directing genius of Akira Kurosawa - his influence on cinema is incalculable.
 
Barry Lyndon (1975)

An Irish rogue cons his way to the top of British society. Widely regarded as one of Stanley Kubrick's masterpieces, the visuals & cinematography are amongst the most stunning you'll see, & the story is compelling enough to belie its 3 hour running time.
 
Interview With The Vampire (1994)

The Vampire is, indeed, interviewed, & Tom Cruise & Brad Pitt are, to all intents & purposes, a gay couple raising their PROBLEMATIQUE daughter through the centuries (props to a young Kirsten Dunst for a wise beyond her years performance as child vampire Claudia). A visual & atmospheric treat, it's crazy to think that 30 plus years ago the 2 biggest actors of that time happily starred in a film with such blatant HOMOEROTIC UNDERTONES.
 
House Of Sand & Fog (2003)

Emotionally unstable Jennifer Connolly's house is repossessed & sold to Iranian immigrant Ben Kingsley & family, with the conflict that arises as a result curdling into something very nasty. Top class performances & a relevant to 2026 still story that draws you in from the word go, I immediately read it as an analogy to the Israel Palestine conflict.
 
Citizen Kane (1941)

The thinly veiled story of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, I'd never gotten round to it before, partly because, rather like, say, Sgt Pepper's in terms of albums, its heavy reputation as the GREATEST FILM EVER IN HISTORY precedes it & it surely couldn't possibly live up to that level of hype. It couldn't, of course, but it's still a technically marvellous, confident, ahead of its time bit of movie making, with its use of lighting, cinematography, time jumps & so much else inventing the language of cinema as we know it today.
 
Sardonicus said:
Interview With The Vampire (1994)

The Vampire is, indeed, interviewed, & Tom Cruise & Brad Pitt are, to all intents & purposes, a gay couple raising their PROBLEMATIQUE daughter through the centuries (props to a young Kirsten Dunst for a wise beyond her years performance as child vampire Claudia). A visual & atmospheric treat, it's crazy to think that 30 plus years ago the 2 biggest actors of that time happily starred in a film with such blatant HOMOEROTIC UNDERTONES.
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I still prefer this over the series, sometimes all you need is a 2 hour film to tell a story and not a 2 season arc.
Tom Cruise is great in this, I really enjoy him as a bitchy queen constantly bickering with his boring partner and ungrateful adopted daughter.
 
Wonka (2023)

Was this divisive or derided on release? WHO CARES either way - I loved it! Visually amazing, nice songs, a story that takes from the original but also does its own thing, & just all around nicely MAGICAL & WHIMSICAL without tipping into VOMIT INDUCING. Timmy is also way better than Johnny Depp as Wonka, I was impressed!
 
Primate (2026)

Gory, some tense moments, stupid characters - what else would you want from a shlocky horror movie. Wouldn't watch it again, but it was entertaining enough.
 
Cape Fear (1991)

Martin Scorsese directed thriller which saw Robert De Niro playing a psychotic ex-con who wages an escalating terror campaign against the defence lawyer who failed to get him off for a violent sexual assault 15 years previously.

I’d never seen this and only really knew it from the Simpsons homage and the much parodied scene of DeNiro clinging to the underside of the car.

Turns out that isn’t even in the top 5 most ridiculous moments in this enjoyably ludicrous potboiler. The Illeana Douglas scene is genuinely chilling, but for the most part it’s deeply, knowingly silly, with DeNiro munching on the scenery throughout.

Shame Jessica Lange has so little to do, and it’s a tad baggy in the middle, but overall a total ride.
 
Just watched two in the plane:

The Housekeeper — Sydney Sweeney thriller. A bit too disturbing at points and a bit of a predictable storyline. The sex scene is OK. 3/5

100 Nights of Hero — lovely, touching story, great actors and direction! Charlii XCX does a nice role. The sex scene is abysmal. 5/5
 
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Pandora's Box (1929)

After reading Louise Brooks' memoirs of the 1920s, Lulu In Hollywood, I had to give her most famous work a watch. Louise is a CONNIVING TROLLOP who inspires lust, violence, murder & what have you everywhere she goes - her look is beyond iconic & influential, her acting & screen presence is magnetic & modern, & the film is way ahead of its time, addressing taboos including the first on screen portrayal of a lesbian. 2 hours plus running time did drag a bit though, & the backing music chosen got RIGHT ON MY TITS.
 
Mahogany (1975).



Do you know where you're going to? Well, the men are going to hell. Campy fun in parts, and yet it could have been more with a better script. Ross is very invested - I've still to see Lady Sings the Blues (1972) or the Brandy one (I'm a bit blurry there, so maybe I have actually), but this is her best performance I've seen.

I give it a B for Beautiful Gowns.
 
The Frighteners (1996)

Michael J Fox as a psychic investigator conman in Peter Jackson's horror comedy, his last film before he took on the epic Lord Of The Rings project. It's all very much along the lines of Ghostbusters & Beetlejuice & it's a fun addition to that mini-genre.
 
Robot Jox (1990).

Belatedly released in late 1990, it was filmed 3 years prior and missed the transformers boom, which is what it's box office failure seems to be attributed to. I think it's quite a high polish B movie and I really enjoyed it on these terms. There is absolutely zero suspense watching these miniature gadgets filmed to look like giants being operated by some Atari joystick. But if you can enjoy that, then it's a hoot. I got this film in an Arrow boxset Enter the Video Store: Empire of Dreams as I had became obsessed with getting to watch another film included.

I give it a B.
 
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)

Jane Fonda & pals enter a torturous dance marathon for food & money during the Great Depression. Fucked up that such events were ever a thing, & this film doesn't shy away from how brutal & dehumanising the whole experience was. TENS ACROSS THE BOARD for this masterpiece.
 
The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne (1987)

Dame Maggie Smith added another Best Actress BAFTA to her CROWDED MANTELPIECE in a role far removed from her usual HAUGHTY types as a lonely Irish spinster who thinks she's found love with Bob Hoskins before it all goes TITS UP. Excellent work from Mags as you'd expect, this is sombre & depressing stuff, although the title might suggest some sort of BODICE RIPPER.
 
The Three Musketeers (1993)

Swashbuckling Sunday afternoon matinee japes, with Tim Curry having great fun chewing the scenery as a moustache twirling villain. Lest we forget this film also gave us Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting singing ALL FOR LOVE in a DADROCK UNHOLY TRINITY.
 
Australia (2008)

Snooty aristocrat Nicole Kidman travels to oversee her late husband's cattle ranch, meets FAIR DINKUM Hugh Jackman, & embarks on a cattle drive across Oz. It's obvious from the start where this is going, but it's enjoyable for all that, if ridiculously overlong, & the sweeping VISTAS of the outback must have looked amazing on the big screen.
 
Withnail & I (1987)

young Paul McGann (hot!) and Richard E. Grant are two broke jobbing actors living squalidly in London who take off to the country cottage of queer UNCLE MONTY. everything is stunningly grim and one or both may be closet homosexuals, and certainly both raging alcoholics.

pretty good film, but I'd read raves and maybe expected something better. it was slightly moving in the end. B+
 
Oh I love it, but I think you have to watch it a few times for the full effect

THROW YOURSELF INTO THE ROAD DARLING! YOU HAVEN'T GOT A CHANCE!
 
Joy Ride aka Road Kill (2001)

A mean CB radio prank goes wrong what with the silly gits targeting a psychopathic trucker & EVERYTHING. All been done before but an entertaining enough 90 plus minutes, with plus points for the gratuitous Paul Walker/Steve Zahn nude scene.
 
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