Movies, Films & Flix

Quick Thoughts:

1. Between Osiris and Man of War, I’m enjoying the LaMonica Garrett/William Kaufman/Linds Edwards crew.
2. The action blends together after a while, but the dedicated actors and stunt crew make it feel professional and tactically sound.
3. Daniel Bernhardt!
4. Andrew Howard!
5. It’s nice watching William Kaufman find his groove with The Channel, Osiris, and Man of War. He’s an excellent action director who can stretch a budget to make films that punch above their weight.

Man of War is a refreshingly straightforward action film about a private military contractor named Connor (LaMonica Garrett – 1883, The Lioness, The Terminal List)) fighting his way through the back roads/streets of Ukraine to rescue his niece Riley (Rosmary Yaneva). There are no bells and whistles or balletic gunplay; instead, it’s a muscular experience filled with dedicated actors and confident direction from action maestro William Kaufman (Osiris, The Channel, One in the Chamber, Sinners and Saints). It helps that the villain is played by Daniel Bernhardt (Nobody, John Wick, The Matrix Reloaded, Deathstalker), who clearly enjoys playing a psychopathic Skorzeny mercenary who is lethal with a rocket launcher.

Filmed in Bulgaria and shot in 25 days, Man of War is a solid action film that features gunfights in deserted roads, dense forests, empty streets and a massive police station, Connor bulldozes his way through countless masked mercenaries with the help of his local guide Dany (Andrew Howard – Limitless, Inception, The Odyssey), and Bunny (Linds Edwards and his beard) a British mercenary who leads a group of soldiers (played mostly by real-life stunt performers). The actors were trained by tactical advisor Max Kraus (Red Sonja, The Princess), who put the crew through a weeks-long training regimen involving movement and gun handling. The training and smart casting decisions paid off as the actors look believable and fluid as they battle countless mercenaries.

In the press notes, Kaufman mentions that he wanted Mark Rutledge’s camerawork to feel rough and immediate, and the results are perfect for the low-budget action film. Rutledge went hard on close-ups to keep the budget down (less to dress in the background), but they work because Garrett, Bernhardt, Edwards, and Howard can hold the screen. The camerawork is never too shaky, and Rutledge does a fine job of following the actors during the final police station battle (a lot of rehearsal went into this film because the movements are well-synced). Like Osiris, the action scenes become less distinctive during the long battles in the police station/space ship. The action scenes are technically impressive and well-designed, but there are only so many ways to stage a shootout in a hallway.

The color palette is loaded with blue-grays, muddy browns, and muted greens, which decimate the world of color. Man of War is a dour affair, which makes sense because of the content (Bernhardt has some bleak moments), but it does zap some of the energy out of the air. The film opens with Garrett’s character contemplating suicide as he haphazardly drinks whiskey from a bottle (most of it makes his beard drunk). From there, things stay bleak as he travels to Ukraine to rescue his niece. I’m not saying humor or pratfalls were needed, but I will say that things perk up whenever Linds Edwards or Daniel Bernhardt have screen time because they clearly relish their various roles.

Final thoughts – Man of War is a well-made film made by professionals. It’s worth a watch.

Quick Thoughts:

1. Director/writer Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) tackles AI, rapid information exchange, and collective consciousness by creating zombies who work as one horrifying unit.
2. The plot is familiar, but the “upgrading” zombies who share information through a hive mind bring a fun new element to the genre.
3. Gianna Jun (My Sassy Girl, Windstruck, My Love from Another Star)  is a solid lead. She is intelligent, sassy, and capable.
4. It might be the goo-iest movie of 2026.
5. South Korean actors go all-in when playing zombies. I don’t think another country can match their skills.
6. Ant mill!

In a bit of a Catch-22, director/writer Yeon Sang-ho probably didn’t have a hard time finding funding for his latest zombie film, Colony. However, since he directed Train to Busan, an all-time zombie film, every zombie film he makes will be compared to the propulsive classic. Doors were opened because of Train to Busan, but matching the lighting-in-a-bottle qualities of the fast-paced zombie film is a tough task. The good news is that Colony is a big step up from Peninsula (2020), and while it doesn’t come close to Train to Busan’s excellence, it proves Sang-ho can still bring the zombie goods.

In the press notes, it’s mentioned that the “zombie genre will be rebooted” by Colony, which is a bold prediction considering director Sang-ho already rebooted the genre. Colony isn’t a game changer, but it’s an ambitious film that goes out of its way to tackle collective consciousness and create new variations of undead angry people. What makes these zombies unique is that they’re created by a biologist named Suh Young-chul (Koo Kyo-hwan) who believes “imperfect communication” needs to be eradicated by creating an information-sharing hive mind. He unleashes his zombies during a biotech conference located inside the Doongwoori Building, a high-rise filled with long corridors, vast parking garages, and a shopping mall. When people get bitten, they almost immediately become zombies who walk on all fours as they hunt for people to chomp on. What’s interesting is that they communicate through a gooey hive mind, and every time they learn something, they share the information during a reboot phase, which halts their movement as they download new information. Whether it’s how to open doors, learning new scents, or realizing that cardboard cutouts aren’t humans, the constantly evolving zombies add a ticking clock to the proceedings because humans like the industrious Professor Kwon Se-jeong (Gianna Jun) and security guard Choi Hyun-seok (Ji Chang-wook) need to stay proactive to avoid the evolving undead.

Like in Train to Busan and Peninsula, Yeong Sang-ho and motion choreographer Jeon Young worked together to make the zombie movements distinctive and unique to the film. They hired some of Korea’s best contemporary dancers to perform the twisting movements of the newly created zombies (who might remind you of the evil dancers in Smile 2) as they bond together to create a gooey blob of violence. The “zombies” in Colony are simultaneously more vulnerable and dangerous than traditional zombies because they can be killed with relative ease (headshots aren’t necessary), and their problem-solving skills mean people can’t hold up safely in a shopping mall for months (they will find a way in).

Action director Heo Myeong-haeng (Badlands Hunters, The Roundup: Punishment) does a fine job choreographing the action, which evolves as the characters traverse the high-rise. Fights happen in hallways, clothing stores, elevators, parking garages, and other unique locations, which makes them feel fresh. Most of the fighting scenes belong to Choi Hyun-seok, who batters zombies with metal rods, hard elbows, and various knives. What’s really impressive is that Hyun-seok does most of his fighting while carrying his paraplegic sister Choi Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rock) on his back. It’s a fun twist and great advertisement for camping stretchers.

Production designer Lee Mok-won does a fine job of recreating the high-rise shopping mall and various interiors. It would’ve been impractical to shoot on location, but the sets look and feel real, which adds a lot to the production. Mok-won also designed the train sets in Train to Busan, so his shorthand with Sang-ho paid dividends as they worked together to create a labyrinth of corridors and rooms to make up the Doongwoori Building.

The 123-minute film won’t break big like Train to Busan, but it’s a worthwhile exploration of collective consciousness and communication. The technically polished film will put a smile on your face, but won’t linger in your memory, which is totally fine. The world needs ambitious genre filmmakers who aren’t content with stock carnage and destruction, and it’s neat that Sang-ho keeps pushing the genre forward.

Quick Thoughts:

1. I may or may not have thrown my fist into the air and said something like “hell yeah” when a certain character made their first appearance.
2. Elise > The Avengers.
3. I love the Insidious franchise. I like watching nice people battle horrible demons.
4. Amelia Eve is a likable hero.
5. Grapefruit tattoos!
6. Pillow fort chase!

The Insidious franchise may be about horrifying spirits tormenting nice people, but there’s a comfort-food element to it that keeps me coming back. There are always jump scares, lanterns, fog, sleeping people, a final boss spirit who attempts to get into the real world, and it’s great. The franchise works because, at its core, it’s about innocent people dealing with something out of their control. It also helps that Lin Shaye plays Elise, a bada** ghost fighter who helps people because she’s the nicest and most noble person on the planet (her former partners Tucker and Specs are cool too). The Insidious movies are told with earnestness, and their PG-13 scares have helped them collect $741 million worldwide on an average budget of $8.5 million.

Insidious: Out of the Further focuses on what happens when a spirit from The Further (a terribly dark place between heaven and hell) attempts a jailbreak by using a “Traveler” (a person capable of astral projection) to escape the bleak dimension. The “Traveler” is a woman named Gemma (Amelia Eve), a hygienist who lives in a creepy house with her daughter Maya (Island Austin). Since it’s an Insidious film, the house is filled with shadows, long corridors, and rooms constructed to facilitate jump scares. Things take a turn for Gemma when a trio of maniacs starts lingering around the home (which isn’t haunted; moving won’t help anything), and she starts having nightmares in which she has to battle them whilst inside a never-ending pillow fort. The silent villains also visit her at her office, which results in a teeth-cleaning sequence that will be hard to forget. It would be a shame to spoil the rest; know that one night while traveling, Gemma comes across a super cool lady named Elise (Lin Shaye), who tells her to visit a tattoo artist named Clare (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), who can help her defeat the evil spirits with the help of Gemma’s police office boyfriend Nick (Brandom Perera).

Director/writer Jacob Chase sticks to the Insidious playbook by retaining the visual aesthetic (lots of fog) and maintaining its earnest storytelling. Insidious: Out of the Further isn’t trying to reinvent the franchise; instead, it’s a fun/familiar experience for Insidious fans who’ve grown to love the inventive jump scares and creepy spirits associated with the film series. In a unique twist, the $18 million production budget makes the film look super polished, which isn’t something normally associated with an Insidious film. James Wan directed the 2011 OG Insidious film on a $1.5 million budget, so it takes a while to get used to an Insidious movie with an actual budget (which is still small for most movies) to make The Further look like more than a dark room filled with fog. The lack of scrappy aesthetics works against the movie at first because the crisp aesthetic feels a bit generic. However, I quickly stopped worrying about the look and started enjoying that the film features a tattoo artist/medium explaining a plan with grapefruits (that have tattooed faces on them – it’s great).

The cinematography by David Garbett (Evil Dead Rise, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy) does a fine job of setting up jump scares without leaning into comedic territory. There’s a fun shot from the perspective of a mouth that works really well when combined with squishy sound effects. The practical effects and prosthetics created by Adam Johansen (Evil Dead Rise) and Chiara Tripodi (Upgrade, Send Help) are perfectly gooey, with the highlight being a dental scene involving a silent villain with horrible teeth/gums/everything (Joseph Lopez).

Garbett’s dedication to delivering an Insidious film for the diehards will prevent it from pulling in huge box office numbers. However, with an $18 million budget and a dedicated fanbase, Insidious: Out of the Further will be another success for the folks at Blumhouse, who will want to keep their successful franchise rolling. I’d love to watch five more of them so I can witness Elise beating up more demons.

Final thoughts – I love it.

Quick Thoughts:

1. Excellent usage of a Counting Crows song.
2. As always, Jane Schoenbrun’s visuals are unique, expressive, and handcrafted.
3. There’s a great bit about the perspective of a film being told through the shower curtain from Psycho.
4. Zombie IP is real.
5. Interesting tree burl work.
6. Best worst Zoom call of 2026. I’d hate to pitch a film to the executives.
7. We’re living in a golden age of gummy candy.
8. Schoenbrun describes the film as “Portrait of a Lady on Fire set in a Friday the 13th sequel,” and it’s a solid descriptor.
9. There’s a great Wes Craven’s New Nightmare bit.

Between We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, I Saw the TV Glow, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, director/writer/producer Jane Schoenbrun has produced three thrillingly original and long-titled films. All three are deeply personal yet appeal to universal emotions. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is Schoenbrun’s most mainstream-accessible film to date and should be watched in a theater so you can immerse yourself in the world.

The film revolves around a young director named Kris (Hannah Einbinder) who is tasked with rebooting the dormant horror franchise Camp Miasma after her successful Sundance debut. Her film, which spent a large chunk of its screen time from the perspective of the shower curtain from Pysho (I love silly meta-commentary), gave her enough cred to reboot the franchise. In an interesting twist, Kris was hired to bring the “zombie IP” back to life because she’s a twenty-something queer director who can make the problematic material less problematic, which is wildly cynical. But she’s fully aware of why she was hired. Kris’s first bit of research involves interviewing Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson), the “final girl” of the first Camp Miasma film. Billy retired from acting shortly after appearing in Camp Miasma, and Kris wants to meet Billy because her memorable performance (Amanda Fix plays the younger version of Billy) greatly affected and molded Kris.

Kris sets up a meeting with Billy, the original “final girl”, who lives a hermit-like life in an isolated cabin located on the property where the first Camp Miasma movie was filmed. The two share a fried chicken dinner, smoke weed, and converse while eating loads of candy. From there, the two bond as they rewatch the original film and go on a bloody journey of self-discovery in the stylized world. Schoenbrun was smart to pitch a high-concept horror-ish idea so they could create a “meaningful exploration of desire, pleasure, and gender in genre filmmaking.” (thank you press notes). The easily digestible story allows for the film to be visually ambitious and genre-fluid. One of the best things to come out of my research is learning that Schoenbrun is incredibly well-studied in the horror genre. It’s neat that this film was influenced by Sleepaway Camp, Friday the 13th, Evil Dead II, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, Peeping Tom, Psycho (the OG and remake), Secretary, Psycho II, and Sunset Boulevard. It’s obvious that Schoenbrun loves horror cinema, but also understands its problematic history, which makes Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma a unique and worthwhile watch.

Shot over 25 days on Vancouver Island, the film is loaded with inspired matte paintings (inspired by the movie Kwaiden), lovingly constructed sets, and fake snow created by snow guru Kyle Moore. Costume designer Kendra Terpenning and Schoenbrun drew inspiration from the plastic surrounding Laura Palmer’s body in Twin Peaks to create Little Death’s plastic outfit, a visually distinctive and meta creation. Terpenning and Schoenbrun also loaded Gillian Anderson with furs, silks, and velvet outfits that are very Norma Desmond-esque. As always, Anderson looks great, and her Dolly Parton-inspired accent works perfectly in the surroundings. Also, it shouldn’t be spoiled, but one of the funniest wardrobe moments involves Einbinder leaning into the final girl trope by doing something unexpected in the woods (you’ll know).  

Horror franchises are known for their killers, and the killer here is Little Death (Jack Haven), who was once a camper, and now lives in a subterranean world in the middle of a lake. Decked out in a plastic body suit and wearing what looks like an air vent on his head, Little Death (which means a couple of things) stalks the campground and uses a harpoon to impale horny teenagers. Little Death’s backstory is that he was a gender-confused child who was bullied, drowned in a lake, and now stalks the campground. Little Death’s highlight is a fantastic one-take rampage soundtracked by a Counting Crows song. Haven’s physicality is admirable as they carried a 60-pound SnorriCam (body-mounted camera) on their back and moved gracefully during the murderous musical moment.

Final thoughts – Catch it in theaters and enjoy the world.

Quick Thoughts:

1. David Robert Mitchell loves featuring swimming pools in his films. 
2. It’s a good time. The world needs more 100-minute movies featuring dinosaurs.
3. Anne “Action Hero” Hathaway!
4. Don’t watch any trailers or look for spoilers.
5. Cinematographer Mike Gioulakis (It Follows, Us, Split, Old) deserves praise for some cool shots. The running scenes are legit.
6. Sit back, relax, and don’t think too much about the plot mechanics.

With a brisk running time of 100 minutes, The End of Oak Street is a fun creature feature that harkens back to Spielberg’s 1980s Amblin films, in which families were forced to deal with science fiction (or supernatural or horror) shenanigans. The high-concept films mostly took place in the suburbs, put kids in danger, and featured boring lives being upended spectacularly  (think E.T., Goonies, Back to the Future, etc..). After directing his Amblin-homage Super 8, J.J. Abrams teamed up with director/writer/producer David Robert Mitchell (It Follows, Under the Silver Lake) to bring the summer blockbuster to life. It’s nice to see Mitchell’s name in film credits again because he’s been in director’s jail since directing the $8 million budgeted A24 film Under the Silver Lake. Typically, director’s jail is meant for directors who helm massive stinkers, so it’s been a bit mystifying that an indie film (and now cult classic) sidetracked his career. It’s smart that he made his comeback with an accessible PG-13 monster movie that doesn’t feature hidden clues, a smelly protagonist, and homeless kings.The End of Oak Street was manufactured for summer audiences looking for a fun movie that keeps them out of the August heat for a couple of hours. The result is a fun summer popcorn film that has the potential to be a sleeper hit. During the press screening, the audience cheered multiple times (I won’t spoil anything) and genuinely seemed to be engrossed in the mayhem. 

The End of Oak Street begins with an idyllic summer barbecue in a well-manicured suburb. The main characters are Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway), a tough housewife (and secret writer), and her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor), who, despite having a day job, still spends his nights delivering pizza for extra cash. Their kids, Audrey (Maisy Stella – watch My Old Ass) and Brian (Christian Convery), are reasonably well-behaved and the family seems to exist in a pleasant world where the biggest problem is money and job security. Since it’s an Amblin-type film, the parents are having marital struggles, and it’s affecting their children who know exactly what’s going on when their parents step away to “talk.” Before the marital issues can be investigated further, a bright light appears, and the following morning Mel (P.J. Byrne), their grumpy neighbor, pounds on the Platts’ door to complain about a massive pile of poop in his backyard. The following day, there’s another bright light, and the family wakes up to a world that’s stuffed with hungry dinosaurs treating the suburbs like an all you can eat buffet. From there, they need to survive in a dangerous suburb that makes the post-apocalyptic world of Love and Monsters (wonderful movie) seem quaint. 

Once the action starts, the film never lets up and features solid athletic work from Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, who must’ve been in great shape when the film wrapped. Together, they sprint around the Georgia-filmed suburbs (which were also used in Stranger Things) and evade huge snakes, hungry raptors, and slow-moving turtles. The production design by Maya Shimoguchi (Werewolf By Night, Hawkeye) utilizes on-location work and sound stages to recreate the 1980s. The costume design by Erin Benach (The Bikeriders, Roofman, Drive, Loving, The Place Beyond the Pines, Devil) is perfection, and I love how it incorporates Saucony shoes, short shorts, high socks, and nightgowns to capture the spirit of the 1980s. 

The cinematography by Mike Gioulakis (It Follows, Us, Split, Old) is the film’s MVP as it allows the various characters to run for their lives in expertly constructed wide shots. The chase scenes in The End of Oak Street were intelligently conceived, and when more information becomes available, I’m going to research how they were brought to life. There is something thrilling about watching actors test their cardio during long takes that see them sprinting across multiple lawns to avoid the hungry dinosaurs chasing them. Also, Anne Hathaway has showcased her physicality in The Dark Knight Rises and Mother Mary (excellent dancing), but it was a fun surprise seeing her play a tough-as-nails mom with cardio for days. 

Final Thoughts: David Robert Mitchell is back!