Night Call

There was a time in the early 2000´s i used to watch certain French films in cinema between the years of 2000 up until the year of 2016. I still watch French ( and Belgian films as well ) but usually rent the films on VOD or buy some physical releases. I will be honest and say that sometimes French films can be far more better than American films when it comes to acting, telling a powerful story and how professional the film looks. One genre especially where i feel French films have proven to be really good is the genre known as action. A true French action classic is without a doubt the 2000 psychological thriller action film The Crimson Rivers with French actors Jean Reno and Vincent Cassell. A well made film with great performances and the murder invstigations are effectively constructed. I reccommend this film if you enjoy crime films in general and i know there is a sequel released in 2004. Jean Reno returned to the sequel as his character Commissaire Pierre Niemans. I have not seen the sequel so far but it´s on my future watch list. If you want to watch a great French film on streaming i would recommend you to watch the French action thriller Netflix film known as The Stronghold ( BAC Nord ) directed by Cédric Jimenez ( director of the really good French crime action thriller The Connection, a must watch). This film tells the story of three Marseille cops, Grég Cerva ( Gilles Lellouche ), Antoine ( Francois Civil ) and Yass ( Karim Leklou ) who are fighting against drug gangs every day in the city with the highest crime rate of France. It takes a little while before The Stronghold really kicks in with the action scenes, but when it does you get some intensive police action. A well made film from director Cédric Jimenez and definetely worth a watch on Netflix. Last year i remember seeing a poster of a French / Belgian action thriller Night Call. I later found out that this is the directorial full feature debut film for director Michiel Blanchart and i did find the plot to look interesting for this film. I also noticed that Belgian actor Jonas Bloquet is in this film who i recognized from the horror films The Nun and the sequel The Nun II. Is the action thriller Night Call one of the better French movies in recent years or should you avoid this one and watch The Stronghold on Netflix instead?

Mady Bala ( Jonathan Feltre ) is a student by day and during night he works as a professional locksmith, always helping anyone who needs his assistance. While sitting in his work car he gets a phone call from a woman who says her name Claire ( Natacha Krief ). She needs help to get inside her apartement. Mady travel to her adress and help her in, but she doesn´t have any cash on her so need to get money from the cash machine. While she is there she calls Mady to get out while he is waiting in her apartment, apparently this is not her place after all. A large man attacks Mady and it all ends with the man dying. A group of men arrive to the apartment looking for a bag, finding the dead man. Mady is captured and being interrogated by a criminal gang, why was he in this apartent? No one have seen this locksmith before and they see no other way out, they have to take him out. Mady have no time to wait and have to try and escape.

Making a film in general takes a lot of work and your very first full feature film is of course something you will always remember as the director. If you make your very first film to turn out to be good then chances are you will be noticed around the world. When it comes to Night Call this is actually better than i expected. Not that i had very high expectations from the beginning but this film have a lot of redeeming qualities. Not only does this film look really good with many beautiful night scenes over the city, but the acting in this film is one of the true highlights from several characters. You can actually sense that some of the actors really went all in for their characters and that´s exactly what you want in a criminal action thriller such as this. When the characters give strong physical performances with hard hitting dialogue, it feels like we are inside the underground criminal world where there are no rules except getting the job done, no matter what it takes. I feel that the character of Mady ( played really well by actor Jonathan Feltre ) is a great match as the main character in Night Call. How do you react when someone tricked you as a locksmith to get inside an apartment to find out they used you? Worst of it all is of course is that Mady kill another person while hes protecting his own life. He have never killed a person before, how do you go on after something like that happens? There are several questions Mady struggle with and it´s not getting any easier as criminals chase him around the city. Thankfully Mady is a professional locksmith and this is something he will be able to use his knowledge of, especially in one specific scene in this film. The violence and the high speed of the film Night Call is a very effective combination, it´s very difficult to get sleepy by this film as intensive as certain moments are in specific scenes. Director Michiel Blanchart deliver a really effective action thriller and show that he knows this genre really well, even though this is his full feature directorial debut film. This is a must see for everyone who loves criminal thrillers and i am already looking forward to future films of Michiel Blanchart. Night Call is definetely one of my personal favourite thrillers of this year.

Rating: DDDD

We Kill Them All

A perfect season to make especially thriller films a bit more complicated is when the film takes place during winter time. The weather is rough, if you get stuck out there in the wilderness without the right clothes you could freeze to death. You may also die because you may get ill because of the terrible weather, let´s say you may have a heart problem or other health issues. Then you also have wild animals out there who may attack you, especially in wild nature locations such as in Alaska. Speaking of Alaska and the bad weather there are several films that takes on these subjects combined. One film that comes to my mind instantly is the survival thriller film known as The Grey from director Joe Carnahan ( director of the really well made neo-noir crime thriller Narc from 2002, one of my personal favourite Jason Patric films with legendary actor Ray Liotta ). The Grey tells the story of a group of oil-men workers travelling by plane in Alaska during rough weather and the plane crash. The men who survives try and make the best out of the situation by using what´s left of the airplane but have something far more dangerous to worry about. A pack of grey wolves have found their location and they are hungry for flesh. Sharpshooter John Ottoway ( Liam Neeson ) and the surviving men realise they must change location to be able to survive. But how do you survive out there with no cabin in near sight and the grey wolves coming after you? The Grey is a very well made survival thriller with great acting performances and the cinematography from Masanobu Takayanagi ( who also did the cinemaography for the really well made martial arts sports drama film Warrior from director Gavin O´Connor ) looks really beautiful. I would argue that this is one of the better Liam Neeson films in his film career if we are talking about the films from the early 2000´s up until the late 2020´s. Worth checking out on Netflix, Amazon Prime or on any other streaming service where you can find The Grey. I try to check for thrillers that takes place during winter now and then since i feel these films can be interesting in this category. Doesn´t have to be survival thriller just being a winter film may caught my attention. And here we have one example of a film i discovered on VOD and that is the winter thriller known as We Kill Them All. I love the movie title, it sounds like something i would wear on a tshirt if Jehovas Witnesses keep knocking on my door. Is this a solid winter thriller worth a watch or is We Kill Them All as forgettable as the American news show The Culture War with Tim Pool?

Megan Hughes ( Chloe McClay ) is travelling with her girlfriend Lane Davis ( Emma Newton ) to a secluded hotel resort, that´s owned by her criminal father Lee Hughes ( Kent Allen ) to spend time with her father and introduce her girlfriend as well. But that all changes when Meghan arrives when she founds out her father´s dark past have come to haunt him with a criminal gang run by Jimmy Montague ( Leo Fafard ) ending his life. Out in the middle of nowhere in the wilderness Megan have no other option but trying to survive.

If you are looking for a winter thriller similar to The Grey with Liam Neeson i can tell you right now that We Kill Them All is not as good as that film. I would say that this is more of a simple winter thriller that reminds me of a Lifetime movie except with more guns and more physical violence. This film also reminded me of thrillers such as the 2007 horror thriller Vacancy from director Nimród Antal, except this would be the low budget version of Vacancy with a diffrent plot and completely different characters. So let´s get into what i enjoy about We Kill Them All and i have to say the resort hotel is quite impressive. This is the perfect location to make a thriller during winter time considering the weather conditions, and i also feel that this location is perfect since this resort is supposed to be far away from any town so you have no one to ask for help. When it comes to the characters we do have a few that stands out and my personal favourite is the criminal boss known as Jimmy Montague ( played by actor Leo Fafard, who fans of the B movie world knows as the actor who plays Wolfcop in both films ). Jimmy is the kind of character you remember seeing in 80´s and 90´s gangster films. He doesn´t care about anyone but himself and will do what it takes to make money, that included killing anyone if he have to. The second character i feel works well is the large criminal known as Roman Burke ( played by actor Michasha Amstrong who i remember from the horror film Underworld: Evolution ). Roman is a ruthless mean criminal and this is the kind of guy you need to start chaos. Female actors Chloe McClay and Emma Newton gives performances that matches their characters. Anything i feel could have been improved? Considering the limited buget and this is not supposed to be a very intensive thriller i feel that We Kill Them All have enough qualities to appreciate rather than finding any negative details. It´s a throwback to TV thrillers we used to watch in the 90´s that looks good and works as a basic thriller. Director Jeremy Drummond have directed Christmas movies in the past but i think he proves with We Kill Them All we need him to make more thrillers such as this one. A simple but enjoyable film for TV audiences who appreciate a classic thriller formula.

Rating: DDD

30 Years Anniversary Review Of Just Cause

Usually when we talk about movies we mostly think about who directed the film or perhaps the cast of the film as well. But it´s not often you hear who the producer is / producers behind the film. If you know how the making of a film works you know that a producer is very important. For example did you know that the 1988 film Dead Ringers from legendary director David Cronenberg have Marc Boyman as on of the producers, who also produced David Cronenberg´s 1986 horror classic The Fly? So this is clearly a nice teamwork from both of these gentlemen considering both of these films should be seen. It is possible you might recognize Marc Boyman in one of the episodes of Mr. T TV series known as T and T, where he played the character known as Lorne. Speaking of producers and let´s stick to the year of 1988, some of you might remember the very dramatic and powerful drama film known as Gorillas In The Mist from director Michael Apted ( who also directed the 1992 film Thunderheart with Val Kilmer, a film worth checking out ). One of the producers of Gorillas In The Mist is known as Arne Glimcher. If you don´t recognize the name you might if i mention that he directed the 1992 music drama film The Mambo Kings. When ever i am asked about a really good drama film i highly recommend Gorillas In The Mist for a number of reasons. First of all because of the fantastic performance from actress Sigourney Weaver playing Dian Fossey, who was an American primatologist and conservationist. Sigourney really took her role very seriously and you can tell in this film, where you get to understand how passionate Dian Fossey were in studying mountain gorillas and later protect them from hunters. The cinematography from John Seale ( who also did the cinematography for the 1986 thriller classic The Hitcher ) looks really good in this film and the jungle locations matches very well with the plot. Not only is this a very dramatic and powerful story regarding how much Diana really struggled to save gorillas, but this film also show the price she had to pay for standing up against evil people. This is a must watch on DVD, blu ray or on streamimg. Speaking of Arne Glimcher in the year of 1995 he released his film Just Cause. a crime thriller based on the novel by the same name from author John Katzenbach. I watched this film in cinema back in the 90´s and rented it on VHS as well. Since this film turn 30 years old this year i decided to make a 30 years anniversary review to revisit the film and see how it feel about it today on DVD. Is this still a solid criminal thriller or have Just Cause lost some of that cinema magic over these 30 years since this film was released?

Paul Armstrong ( Sean Connery ), a liberal Harvard professor and former lawyer opposed to capital punishment, during one of his lectures an elerly woman named Evangeline Ferguson ( Ruby Dee ) give Paul a letter where she explain that her grandson Bobby Earl Ferguson ( Blair Underwood ) is convicted of raping and brutally murdering a young white girl named Joanie Shriver ( Barbara Jean Kane ) eight years prior. Evangeline tell Paul how badly her grandson was mentally and physically abused by two police detectives to get a forced confession. All she ask is that Paul take a look at this case and see if he might be able to help her grandson. At first Paul isn´t sure until his wife Laurie Prentiss Armstrong ( Kate Capshaw ) read the letter Paul was given and she convince him to take this case.

The thing that made thrillers from the 90´s was not only the casting but especially the characters in several classic thrillers from this time period. When it comes to Just Cause this film also have some really good characters included, but what i especially appreciate with a film such as this is the twists and turns this film takes. Who is really guilty? Who really did murder that young little girl? Is there enough evidence to tell the real truth? Just Cause manage to feel like a matching 90´s ciminal thriller that have the classic ingredients of racism, pedophelia and murder all mixed together in a smoothly told plot. I think most people wouldn´t be surprised if i said that legendary actor Sean Connery absolutely deliver in his brilliant acting ability as the character Paul Armstrong. Just the way Sean give his dialogue and it feels like you don´t want to stop listnening, he had a very unique way to make a powerful impact through his characters. It feels like the character of Paul Armstrong could be inspired by a former lawyer in real life, or perhaps Sean just wanted to make his character feel realistic so you could sense that he took this role seriously. The acting performance that really stands out in this film is legendary actor Ed Harris as the mentally disturbed serial killer Blair Sullivan. This is definetely one of my personal favourite acting performances i have seen Ed Harris do and i have watched a lot of his work for more than 35 years. I love the way Ed tries to portrait this seriously disturbing man by using certain facial expressions, anger and mix it together with bible verses. There is especially one magic scene where Blair feels like hes losing power where Paul knows that he has to remain control and don´t let Sullivan believe he can manipulate him. Legendary actor Laurence Fishburne as the rough but honest Detective Tanny is a perfect match for this character while actor Blair Underwood deliver as well as the convict Bobby Earl. The investigations through the whole film is told effectively and it´s easy to follow along without getting lost in criminal facts. Even though this is a great thriller with great performances i still feel that the 1995 thriller Seven is still my personal favourite if i had to choose of thrillers relased this specific year. With that said Just Cause still manage to stand on it´s own and is definetely worth a watch from director Arne Glimcher. A 90´s classic thriller in the amazing filmography of Sean Connery.

Rating: DDD

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

During the year of 1994 i used to play a lot of different video games. I owned a lot of games on my Amiga 500 computer but also had quite a lot of video games on Nintendo 8-bit home video console as well. I used to go over to my school friend Anders home because he owned both Super Nintendo and Sega Megadrive ( or Sega Genesis as it´s called as well ) and his parents bought a lot of games. For example it was in their home i tried the video game adaptation of Bram Stoker´s Dracula on Super Nintendo, clearly inspired by legendary director Francis Ford Coppola´s 1992 horror film. I still remember the game and how cool i thought it was back then. If we would play this game today i think a lot of young people would probably not think it looks cool considering the game graphics. I still have good memories from the hours we spent playing this game. On the Sega Megadrive i got to try a lot of different cool games such as Castlevania: Bloodines, Cliffhanger ( based on the Sylvester Stallone film of the same name ) wich is pretty much a kung fu game while you play the character Ranger Gabriel from the film. This was also the very first time i played Sonic The Hedgehog 3 ( i actually never played the original game or the sequel at that time simply because i was much more interested in martial art games, action games and sci fi games ). In general i thought Sonic The Hedgehog 3 was an ok game, nothing wrong about the game graphics but it just wasn´t my type of game. So on the Sega Genesis i would rather play Double Dragon 3 than Sonic The Hedgehog 3 to be honest. I didn´t really play any other Sonic games after this one, even though many more were releasd. For many years i heard rumours on a live movie adaptation of Sonic The Hedgehog and i wasn´t really interested to be honest. But in 2020 we did get a film adaptation released by director Jeff Fowler and i ended up watching the film. Actually better than i expected and legendary comedian / actor Jim Carrey as Dr. Ivo Robotnik really was the perfect casting choice for this role. In 2022 we got the sequel Sonic The Hedgehog 2, also directed by Jeff Fowler and this turned out to be a charming surprise. I did not see the sequel in cinema either so picked up a physical copy instead. So here we are with the third film in this franchise that i picked up in physical media and the question is, does this sequel deliver even more entertainment compared to the previous films or is this the worst film in this franchise?

In 1974, a meteorite containing the alien hedgehog Shadow crash lands in Oklahoma and is seized by the U.S. military. Shadow´s power is experimented on by Professor Gerald Robotnik ( Jim Carrey ) at a Guardian Units Of Nation ( G.U.N ) research facility under thee supervision of  Captain Walters ( Tom Butler ); Shadow also develops a close friendship with Maria Robotnik ( Alyla Browne ), Gerald´s granddaughter. One night, as Gerald, Maria and Shadow try to escape the facility to prevent Shadow from being taken away. Maria is accidently killed in an explosion. Walters shuts down the facility, imprisons Gerald, and places Shadow in suspended animation. Fifty years laterr, in 2024, an unknown individual hacks into G.U.N. prison facility´s system off the coast of Japan and release a vengeful Shadow. In Green Hills, Montana, Sonic celebrates the anniversary of his arrival on Earth with Tails, Knuckles, and their adoptive parents Tom ( James Marden ) and Maddie Wachowski ( Tika Sumpter ). Their celebration ends when G.U.N Director Rockwell ( Krysten Ritter ) arrive to recruit Sonic and his friends to apprehend Shadow in Tokyo.

If you have read my movie review blog for many years you may have noticed that i never reviewed any of the previous Sonic The Hedgehog films in the past. Even though i enjoyed each film i just didn´t end up writing any reviews, simply because i picked other films instead to review. Considering that Sonic The Hedghehog 3 was the very first game i tried of the Sonic games i figured this would be a perfect timing to review the third film. Let me start of by saying if you are not a fan of the previous films then this sequel will definetely not change your mind. It has a similar tone when it comes to the style of the previous films, and lots of speed scenes combined with family friendly action scenes. To the positive i would definetely say that the CGI effects of Sonny and his friends do look good. Especially in the most effective action scenes and i feel that this film manage to find the right balance of humour and violence combined, but still make it family friendly enough to be entertaining for all ages. Sonic The Hedgehog character is charming as always with sarcastic dialogue. His friends Tails and Knuckles also bring some charming moments as well with their different personalities. The biggest surprise of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is definetely Shadow The Hedgehog ( voice done by actor Keanu Reeves ) and his scenes fighting against Sonic and his friends. You do kind of feel sorry for Shadow when you find out his background story that might explain why he looks so angry. Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnick is exactly as you might expect, crazy and a funny performance that i appreciate. James Marsden ( who i always rememember from the X-Men franchise as Cyclops ) matches well with his character Tom. I have to mention Criminal Minds actor Shemar Moore, he is more charming than i expected in his role as Randall. In general i would say that Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is a great choice if you want to be entertained by a simple, but well made family film. It may not be perfect or bring anything ground breaking to the table but will definetely be appreciated by fans of the character Sonic. Director Jeff Fowler knows how to make video games come to life in cinemas and he understands how you transform videogames into a movie fomat. A great choice this summer if you want to be entertained on physical media and i recommend the previous films as well.

Rating: DDD

Babygirl

Aound autumn of 1988 i was at a birthday party at the home of friends of my family known as The Robertsson Family. They lived in a pretty big house quite far above the city known as Uddevalla ( my hometown ) and we would spend time together many times, especially during certain weekends. The Robertsson Family had 3 children, André, Marcus and David. At the time i was 11 years old and while the adults sat downstairs, me and the other kids of the family watched movies on VHS. I remember Marcus running into his room getting a VHS tape of a film called 9 1/2 Weeks and this was supposed to be some kind of erotic film that Marcus have heard about. We watched the film but being as young as we were we only wanted to see the erotic scenes to be honest. So i remember Marcus trying to find certain scenes rewinding the VHS tape forwards and backwards and i honestly had no idea what the film was about. This was the very first time i witnessed certain scenes of 9 1/2 Weeks and i didn´t really remember anything else other than how hot actress Kim Basinger was. Fast forward to the year of 1992 and i noticed in the TV magazine that Swedish TV channel TV3 was showing 9 1/2 Weeks on a Saturday. Since i was a Mickey Rourke fan at this time ( especially for the action comedy Harley Davidsson And The Marlboro Man ) i had to record the film 9 1/2 Weeks and watch the film completely from start to finish. I remember thinking that it was alright for what it was, but still nowhere near as good as the Mickey Rourke classics Year Of The Dragon or Angel Heart with Robert De Niro. I have watched this film again a couple of years ago and i would pretty much say the same today, it´s ok but not much more. I think it was more shocking for that time period in the 80´s and we are so used to sexual content in modern cinema films so there are plenty of more erotic films to choose between. I personally think that when it comes to erotic films then i would definetely say the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct worked much better than 9 1/2 Weeks, this film have a more powerful story and a great plot as well. And how can you aviod not mentioning how hot actress Sharon Stone is in this film? Another really good film from legendary director Paul Verhoeven and a film you should see. Last year there was quite a buzz on film festivals regarding actress Nicole Kidman´s erotic thriller Babygirl where some people were surprised over the sexual scenes especially. I enjoy a lot of Nicole Kidman´s films in the past ( especially Stanley Kubrick´s last film Eyes Wide Shut and the brilliant 2001 horror film The Others ) so of course i had to give this film a chance. Is Babygirl another proof of how brilliant Nicole Kidman really is as an actress or does this film not deliver as much as i was hoping for?

Romy Mathis ( Nicolee Kidman ), the CEO of a robotic process automation company in New York and she is very fustrated with her private sex life with her husband Jacob Mathis ( Antonio Banderas ), a theatre director. All the years they have been together she had to fake having orgasms and it turns out she have never experienced a real one with her husband. While on the way to work one day, she is almost mauled by a dog until a young man stops and calms it down. That young man, Samuel ( Harris Dickinson ) turns out to be an intern at Romy´s company and picks Romy as his "mentor" through the company´s mentorship program. As they spend more time together a wild sexual affair begins. Romy knows if this gets out in public it could destroy her life completely, but can she resist her wild urges?

I know some might say that Fifty Shades Of Grey were hot erotic films, and they might be for those who are not used to see something similar. I can tell you right now that Babygirl beats all of the Fifty Shades films when it comes to capturing the feeling of sexual power, being in control over someone and finding a sexual tone that matches the characters in certain dominant scenes. The most fascinating parts of Babygirl is where do we draw the line to what sexual needs we might need? Is it ok to cross certain boundaries just to please yourself or is this perhaps a sign that this can become more destructive than actually do something positive? There are several issues i feel this film manage to balance very professional, especially when it comes to the subject of sex and how important this might be for some people to be able to function in their lives. There is also the story of a very respected, successfull mother who seems to have it all, a beautuful family, a beautiful home, but still something is missing in her life? I love that this film uses songs from the 80´s such as INXS classic Never Tear Us Apart and the George Michael classic Father Figure, almost as if they wanted us to be reminded of erotic films of the 80´s while reminding us how magical the 80´s really was. I have to say that lead actress Nicole Kidman have no problem showing how incredible she is using both facial expressions, dialogue and body language in her powerful performance as the character Romy. Antonio Banderas as her husband Jacob is another perfect example of how he knows to express himself with his unique acting skills. The cinematography by Jasper Wolf ( who also did the cinematogaphy for the powerful Dutch drama film Instinct, worth checking out ) looks really good in this film. To the negative detail of this film i simply have to mention actor Harris Dickinson ( who you might have seen in the great wrestling drama film The Iron Claw ). He is not terrible by any means but compared to Nicole Kidman and Antonio Banderas in their scenes he have a long way to go until he can reach their level of acting. If it wasn´t for the less strong performance of Harris Dickinson i might have given this film a higher rating but this is still a solid film and worth a watch. Director Halina Reijn deliver a smooth erotic thriller drama that not only feels very sexual but looks great as well. Babygirl knows what audience it was made for and i am definetely a part of that audience.

Rating: DDD

Popeye´s Revenge

Right around Christmas of 1989 my dad fixed a completely new channel box home for our TV. This would give us the oppurtunity to watch a lot more TV channels we have not seen before such as Super Channel, The Children´s Channel, TV 1000, TV 3 and many more. This was at the time the most incredible Christmas weekend ever because we could actually watch a lot of movies on TV and not just the ordinary TV channels known as SVT 1 and SVT 2. It was the day after Christmas Eve we were watching Christmas movies on TV 3 and one of the films showing that i had not seen before was the 1980 musical comedy known as Popeye ( based on American cartoonist E.C. Segar´s character Popeye The Sailor Man ). I had seen several of Robbie Williams comedies over the years during the late 80´s and this was one of the few performances i still had not seen. Seeing comedian and legendary actor Robbie transform into Popeye The Sailor Man was actually quite fun. I had seen the Popeye cartoons back in the early 80´s on VHS at children birthday partys, but to see a live action adaptation that actually worked was a great surprise. This film is actually directed by legendary director Robert Altman ( director of the classic 1992 black comedy The Player with a brilliant performance by Tim Robbins, definetely worth picking up on DVD or blu ray ) and tell the story of Popeye, a gruff but good-hearted sailor, arrives at the smalll coastal town of Sweethaven while missing for his missing father. He rents a room at the Oyl family´s boarding house, where the Oyls plan to have their daughter, Olive ( Shelley Duvall ), be engaged to Captain Bluto ( Paul L. Smith ). The night of the engagement party, Olive sneak out and she encounter Popeye who she feels deeply connected to. This film is almost like a Bud Spencer and Terencee Hilll comedy where people fight but with a good sense of humour, silly dialogue and feels like a comic book adaptation. If you want to see Robbie Williams do a crazy performance than by a means pick up a physical copy of Popeye. So here we are in 2025 with 3 different Popeye The Sailor Man inspired horror films who have been released this year so far. I just decided to pick one of them and review the film and i ended up picking the title Popeye´s Revenge. Is this one of the films you should put on your watch list this late spring or is this even far worse than i ever could have imagined?

A group of councilors want to open up a haunted house attraction of the childhood home of Popeye ( Steven Murphy ), where he was locked inside the cellar of the house after killing a child. At first it seems like a good idea, until they found out Popeye still exist when the fog comes out around the forest. And he doesn´t want any new visitors near his childhood home.

Im a big fan of low buget horror and practical make up effects and i can accept a lot of flaws of a film that´s made on a limited budget. The only thing i really demand is that the film entertain me and have some fun practical effects included. In the case of Popeye´s Revenge this is a film that have a lot more flaws than positive to talk about. Let us talk about what i appreciate with this film and i have to say the kills are definetely the most fun parts of Popeye´s Revenge. We don´t get to see bodies being ripped apart but there are some bloody scenes ( that should have been even more violent ). There is especially a killing in a hot tub that´s one of the highlight killer scenes. Popeye played by actor Steven Murphy looks like a deformed hillbilly Vin Diesel as if he stepped out of an ecstasy party and never wanted to leave. I will say that in certain scenes i do feel Steven Murphy manage to make his character Popeye at least entertaining. We get to see some female nudity in here and that matches slasher films from the 70´s and 80´s well. Ok so let´s get into the negative and i have to be honest and say these are some of the most boring characters i have seen in a long time. You don´t care if anyone of them gets killed and there is no character development at all, except for Popeye who only seem to have a background story at least. The plot is just as thin as an episode of reality TV show The Housewives Of Orange County. Im not saying that a slasher film has to have a big plot but at least try to have some kind of story. The animated scenes in the beginning of this film at least gave us some interesting details regarding Popeye´s difficult childhood but that´s all we get. I think the design of Popeye could have been made better than what we get here, i would have liked to see him even more deformed and bigger arms. At the end of the day Popeye´s Revenge is a slasher horror film that will most likely forgotten. There is really not much to be pleased about and this should have been much more fun than what we get. Director William Stead may be a big fan of slasher films but this is just a lazy attempt to cash in on the horror audience.

Rating: DD

The Electric State

Robots have been a part of cinema history for many years in Hollywood. I remember one of the very first robot films i watched on VHS back in 1987 and that was a film known as The Terminator. Most of you probably know this is the classic science fiction action film that really gave director James Cameron a big career step into Hollywood. Of course this was also the film that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a huge cinema star as the cybernatic assassin The Terminator. I remember back in 1987 when my school friend Nicklas had a VHS copy of this film in their living room among their VHS video collection. In this VHS video collection they had a lot of Clint Eastwood films because both Nicklals and his parents loved the spaghetti western films with Eastwood. It was here in this collction i saw one of the coolest VHS covers i had seen at that time and it was of course the VHS cover of The Terminator. Nicklas let me borrow the film and i watched this film constantly. Imagine being 10 years old watching a film like this that looked like nothing i have ever seen before. Seeing Arnold Schwarznegger as The Terminator was definetely one of the true epic moments in 80´s cinema history as we were introduced to iconic female character Sarah Conner ( played by actress Linda Hamilton ). During this time back in 1987 i remember my father rented a film called Short Circuit on VHS. It was a science fiction comedy telling the story of robotic soldier, S.A.I.N.T. Number 5, who is struck by lightning and gains a human-like intelligence, managing to escape the NOVA Laboratory facility. The robot finds itself in Astoria, Oregon and is found by Stephanie Speck ( Ally Sheedy ), an animal caregiver, who mistakes him for an alien. She takes him home and begin teaching Number 5 different things through "input", a way for Number 5 to learn new information. Short Circuit is a really charming 80´s classic robot family movie that´s definetely worth watching on physical media. If you get the blu ray listen to the commentary track. The sequel Short Circuit 2 is also worth a watch if you are able to get a blu ray copy. Speaking of robots i heard early this year a new robot film was coming to Netflix known as The Electric State. When i heard the budget was over 300 millon U.S. dollars i knew this probably would have a lot of technology in the film. With a big famous cast ( where some of the actors do the voice of some of the robots in this film ) and a big budget based on the illustrated science fiction novel by autor Simon Stålenhag , is The Electric State a film better than i expected or is this almost as bad as the entire Twilight franchise?

In 1990, a war between humans and robots has left the world in disarray. With the help of Sentre CEO Ethan Skate ( Stanley Tucci ), who developed Neurocaster Technology that allowed humans to upload their minds into drone robots, humanity managed to win the war, while robots were banished to the exclusion zone. However, the success of this technology meant many people opted to live their virtual lives in a semi-vegetative state while drones did most the work, In 1994, teenager Michelle Greene ( Millie Bobby Brown ) lives with her incompetent foster dad, Ted Finister ( Jason Alexander ). One day Michelle get a home visit by robot Cosmo who have been looking for her. He can only communicate using gestures and pre-recorded words, but convince her that he is controlled by her deceased younger brother Christopher ( Woody Norman ), who was a child prodigy. It turns out that Sentre found Christopher´s body after the accident and they decide to use his exceptional intellect and integrating his consciouness into the Neurocaster. Cosmo and Michelle travel to locate her brother, while teaming up with some new faces along the way.

I have seen several reviews of The Electric State and i understand why some people don´t like this film. But im going to give my own opinion regarding this film and it´s completely fine if you disagree with me, after all not everyone likes the same kind of movies. When it comes to a film like this i think you need to enter it without holding high expectations. I mentioned the Short Circuit films earlier in my review and those films were pretty simple family entertainment films made for a family to watch. The Electric State feels like a family movie just like the Short Circuit films did back in the 80´s. The story is very simple, the characters are not complicated at all and there is a lot of robots in this film with different designs ( which is good since i like diversity ) and in some ways you could say this film may have been inspired by films such as Short Circuit. The fact that this film takes place in the year of 1994 makes everything a little bit more fun, especially when certain robot designs actually reminded me of 90´s influences from films of that time period. Chris Pratt ( who plays the beloved character Peter Quill in the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies ) is without a doubt one of the most charming characters in The Electric State. His character Keats is loud, want to look cool but fails by having a similar hairstyle of Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger used to look like in the early 2000´s. Actor Stanley Tucci is here as well and even if his performance is nowhere near as good as his best film, i do appreciate seeing him in here. The CGI scenes of robots do look pretty good so you can tell they have spent a lot of money for a reason. So on to the negative side and i don´t think that many robots have some kind of personality. Johnny 5 in Short Curcuit had some kind of personality and i would have liked to have some robots with a different look. Actress Millie Bobbie Brown´s ( who i do enjoy in the Netflix TV series Stranger Things ) character Michelle doesn´t come off to be interesting at all. Since she is one of the main characters that is a big missed oppurtunity. The robot war itself doesn´t feel that dangerous, at least not compared to what a war looked like between robots and humans in the 2011 sci fi action film World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles. I will say though that what we still have here is a charming robot adventure that might entertain certain ages in your family. Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo have made a film that feels like a throwback to the 80´s and we need adventures like these films in modern days. The Electric State do have flaws but i find this film more enjoyable than i expected. Worth a watch on Netflix if you just want to get into the 80´s or 90´s vibes without a complicated plot.

Rating: DDD

Kraven The Hunter

Let us be reminded of a glorious moment in cinema history that will forever be remembered especially by comic book lovers. Let us go back to February of 2024 when the film Madame Web opened up in cinemas worldwide that was the latest ( at that time ) Sony Pictures superhero movie after they had released several Spider-Man movies and Morbius as well. The hype of the film Madame Web was kind of big at that moment because we would get to see actress Dakota Johnson ( mostly known as her character Anastasia in the Fifty Shades Of Grey franchise ) as the superhero character Madame Web. What happened after the premiere weekend of Madame Web was a disaster, not only the box office numbers but even actress Dakota Fanning regretted being in this film who even left her agency WME because of this film. Reviews of Madame Web was in general really bad where some movie critics already predicted that this could be one of the worst movies of 2024. I even remember reading one film critic from England calling this one of the worst superhero movies he have ever seen. I have never honestly never read any of the comic books of Madame Web so i basically knew nothing about her. As a kid i always read The Incredible Hulk at our local comic book store and Conan The Barbarian, so Madame Web was someone i knew nothing about. I did see the film Madame Web but not until it landed on VOD so i could rent it. I will say this it´s not the worst comic book inspired film i have seen ( that could be the 1990 film Captain America from director Albert Pyun, a really terrible film in so many ways ) but i can understand why people dislike this film. It has a lot of problems such as terrible acting, bad dialogue, bad CGI effects and a story that´s not interesting. Madame Web ended up getting 6 nominations to the Razzie Awards 2025 and ended up winning three awards. Not bad right? Speaking of Sony Pictures late last year they released their superhero movie known as Kraven The Hunter, a film that also became a box office bomb like Madame Web but at least had some more positive reviews. I was supposed to see this film in cinema but waited for the blu ray release instead and picked up a copy. Is this film far more better than Madame Web or is this just as bad or possibly even worse than i expected?

Crime lord and drug trafficker Nikolai Kravinoff ( Russel Crowe ) is taking his two sons, Sergei Kravinoff and his half-brother Dimitri to a hunting trip in Ghana after they find out their mother killed herself. During the hunting trip a lion suddenly appear and Sergei is badly injured by the lion while he tried to protect his brother. The lion carry Nikolai away as a young woman named Calypso watches the lion drop him infront of her. Calypso heals him with a serum and calls for rescue, leaving a tarot card behind. Sergei wakes up at the hospital and finds out he was declared dead for a few minutes and clearly something has happened to him. He begin to learn that he have physical attributes that are animalistic. When Sergei finds out his father Nikolai killed the lion to teach his sons a lesson, a disgusted Sergei flees to a sanctuary owned by his mother in Russia. Sixteen years later, Sergei ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ), now going by Kraven, is a vigilante who hunts criminals. After killing an arms trafficker in a Russian prison, Kraven travels to London for Dimitri´s ( Fred Hechinger ) birthday. The reunion is short-lived when mercenaries abduct Dimitri. When Nikolai refuses to pay the ransom, Kraven tracks down Calypso ( Ariana DeBose ), now working as a lawyer, and convinces her to help

Remember the action horror film The Last Witch Hunter from 2015 with Vin Diesel kicking witches ass? Kraven The Hunter reminds me of that type of action film, it feels like a throwback to simple action films of the 90´s with super powers and no complicated plot is needed. I am actually a fan of The Last Witch Hunter and in fact this is one of my personal favourite Vin Diesel films. Kraven The Hunter is not as entertaining as that film but i still appreciate what they were trying to do here. This is a very simple film in so many ways and to be honest that can actually be a good thing. If you just want to be entertained and don´t need things to be complicated then this could be something that you would appreciate. Since i have not read the Kraven The Hunter comic books i don´t know the background story. This film does tell you how he got his super powers and how the lion attack led him on a completely new path in life. So let´s get into the positive regarding Kraven The Hunter and let me say that the action scenes are fun enough to appreciate. I wouldn´t say they are unique in any way but for a superhero movie i would say there are some scenes where they manage to find the right balance. There are some unexpected brutal action scenes where bodies get ripped open, i do appreciate that. His way to communicate with animals reminded me of the classic adventure 1982 film The Beastmaster with Marc Singer ( which is worth checking out if you have not seen it ) except Kraven clearly have more super powers than The Beastmaster. Lead actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson is alright in the lead role as Kraven, not a unique performance in any way not matches the character. Ok so some of my issues with this film. The acting from Russel Crowe as Kraven´s father Nikolai is not a good performance. We have seen Russel do several great performances over the years but here is not even trying and his Russian accent is honestly terrible. The film feels a bit too long, some dialogue scenes are way too stretched out and uninteresting for you to care about their conversations. At the end of the day Kraven The Hunter is not a superhero movie that will be remembered for being different. Interesting that this film is directed by J.C. Chandor ( director of the really good crime drama A Most Violent Year ), and this is without a doubt his most polished Hollywood film for sure. This is a very simple film made purely to entertain people who just want action scenes and bad dialogue. If this is your thing then i would say give this film a chance. Definetely a better choice than Madame Web.

Rating: DDD

In Memory Of Val Kilmer

Greetings everyone.

This is a very sad day when im doing this blog post after hearing that actor Val Kilmer passed away at the young age of 65 years old this week. Since i was a lot in VHS rental stores during the 80´s of my childhood i remember seeing Val Kilmer on VHS shelves in films such as Top Secret! and Real Genius. By that time i had seen Top Gun of course and let´s be honest, without Val Kilmer as his iconic character Iceman this film would have never been the same. Iceman was the man every man wanted to be and will always be one of the true 80´s legendary characters. In 1988 it was so awsome to see Val Kilmer take on the role as Madmartigan in legendary director Ron Howard´s high fantasy adventure Willow. I remember seeing this film on VHS after it was released here in Sweden renting the film with my grandfather. Seeing Val Kilmer as a swordsman was really fun and he had great chemistry with actor Warwick Davis as the main character Willow Ufgood. Willow had everything you could wish for in an 80´s sword fantasy film and this is a film you simply have to see. For me personally it was in the year of 1991 when Val Kilmer proved his incredible acting abilities in legendary director Oliver Stone´s American biographical film The Doors. A film that tells the story of the legendary American rock band The Doors where Val Kilmer gives an amazing performance as The Doors singer Jim Morrison. To really understand what a great actor Val Kilmer really was you simply have to see The Doors. In my opinion no one could play Jim Morrison other than Val Kilmer, he was the perfect casting choice for this character. In the 90´s he continued delivering unforgettable films such as Thunderheart, Tombstone, True Romance ( this is one you simply have to see ), Heat and of course playing Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever. This is a film that have divided a lot of Batman fans, some fans love it while others have issues with it. I personally feel that Val Kilmer did what he could with his Bruce Wayne character and i do think he did a good job acting in the Batman suit. The cast in this fim with Chris O´Donell, Nicole Kidman, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones and martial arts legend Don "The Dragon" Wilsson in a smaller rolle, all of this makes Batman Forever a fun ride with the unique style of director Joel Schumacher.

After releasing several films during the late 90´s i feel that Val made some interesting choices regarding different characters and different genres of films. For example in the year 2000 he played the character Robby Gallagher, an engineer in the sci fi action film Red Planet. A film that didn´t do well at all at the box office but found an audience on VHS and DVD instead. In fact i actually bought a DVD copy of Red Planet to several of my movie nerd fans back in the day. Red Planet is actually not a terrible film, i think the film has a cool look and i do like the acting performances from actors Carrie Anne Moss, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, Tom Sizemore and legendary actor Terence Stamp. If you are a Val Kilmer fan i think you should check this film out, seeing him do a big budget science fiction film like this is a fun reminder of his diversity in trying different genres. In the year of 2002 we saw Val Kilmer play the wild character Danny Parker in the neon-noir crime thriller The Salton Sea. This is quite different film experience in Val´s career and this film almost have some Quentin Tarantino vibes in the style of this film. Another really good performance by Val and i have to appreciate how bizarre this film is in certain places from director D.J. Caruso. Let´s move forward to the year of 2003 when Val Kilmer got some positive reviews not only for his performance as the adult film character John Holmes, but the film Wonderland did get some positive reviews as well ( except from some, for different reasons ). I think Val did a great job playing legendary adult film actor John Holmes and this film have a very impressive cast with actors such as Kate Bosworth, Carrie Fischer, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, Tim Blake Nelson and Janeane Garofalo. The look of the film matches with the time period and captures the look of the adult movie insudstry as well the crimes that were commited during this time. A film worth picking up on DVD if you are interested in the story of adult actor John Holmes and what a crazy life he lived. Just 2 years after Wonderland came out Val Kilmer released one of my personal favourite films in his career in the film known as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with legendary actor Robert Downey Jr. This is such a fun neo-noir black comedy crime film from director Shane Black and the acting performances between Val and Robert are both brilliant and you simply have to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ( i know the title is silly but i promise this is a really good film ).

We can go on for hours talking about some of the amazing films Val Kilmer did in his long movie career but you might have some good advices now of films you should check out. The memories of Val will always be with us and we are grateful for the cinema magic he gave us for so many years. Let´s all check out his different films and remember the good times and i will be doing a special movie tribute review of Val Kilmer to one of his films called Spartan from 2004, directed by David Mamet ( who directed the 2001 crime drama film Heist with Gene Hackman ).

R.I.P. Val Kilmer