John’s Horror Corner: Talk to Me (2022), an effective and shocking Australian horror movie about teens taunting the spirit realm.
MY CALL: This movie is solid and well-made at every corner. There’s nothing original to be found here, and I just don’t care. It’s shocking, brutal, well-written, well-acted, and well-executed with great scares. MORE MOVIES LIKE Talk to Me: There are undeniable stylistic comparisons to be made with Smile 1-2 (2022, 2024)—and all of those comparisons are positive.
As a sort of party game, a group of high schoolers grasp an embalmed severed hand, see the dead, and “invite them in.” Sounds like the kind of thing that ends up nowhere good and with a few teens not making it to graduation day. Playing this game results in temporary spiritual possession, some very creepy possessed ranting maybe harbingering bad things to come, and lots of laughs… because they’re teenagers and consequences don’t yet exist in their minds.
Addicted to the thrills, they all rush to play again, and again, and again. This party montage is outstanding. These cackling party teens are enjoying this reckless taunting of the spirit realm to such degree that I find myself looking forward to their punishment that the film inevitably holds.
Of course, things get weird when a conjured spirit turns out to be the deceased mother of one of the partying teens, and subsequently a spirit attempts to kill its possessed teen fare most brutally by relentlessly smashing his face against every edge of every piece of furniture within reach. It’s quite the shocking scene, and I’m now thrilled with my decision to watch this movie. Like Smile 1-2 (2022, 2024), the self-harming scenes are truly jarring.
It seems that a spirit may have slipped through the cracks… and now Mia (Sophie Wilde) sees dead people and receives guidance from beyond. And we all know how well that generally works out in horror movies. Is this spirit really trying to help?
Long story short: a group of teens dabble in the occult and get what they deserve.
This movie doesn’t take us anywhere we haven’t been or show us anything we haven’t seen. There’s nothing particularly novel in the premise or storytelling either. Yet… this was still pretty damn good! Sometimes we don’t need highbrow concepts and pithy lore. Sometimes we just need simple horror stories told well. This is one of those. And for this reason I’ll again compare this film to Smile (2022), for which I feel the same way and find yet even better.
Everything about this film is well done, from casting and acting, to editing and execution. Directors Danny and Michael Philippou’s first feature film is a triumph in the horror genre. I’m looking forward to Talk to Me 2 and even more to perhaps different horror thriller endeavors.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 616 – The William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture Draft
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Radiohead! Everclear! Garbage! The Cardigans! Des’ree! Kym Mazelle! Butthole Surfers! The Romeo + Juliet (1996) soundtrack rules and Mark and Zanandi have a great time talking about their favorite songs from the triple-platinum selling album. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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The Amateur (2025) – Review
Quick Thoughts:
- Grade – C+
- The core idea is solid, but the adaptation of Robert Littell’s 1981 novel of the same name packs way too much into its 123-minute running time.
- Between Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Laurence Fishburne, Caitríona Balfe, Michale Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany and Julianne Nicholson, the cast is stacked.
- It’s boring to say but this would’ve worked better as an eight-episode TV season because there is a lot of cool stuff that would work better with more time
- I’d happily watch Malek engage in more CIA shenanigans
- It’s nice seeing The Pacific reunion between Bernthal and Malek
Produced by and starring Rami Malek, The Amateur should’ve been a fun showcase for Malek to showcase his physical prowess and action chops. Instead, the adapted screenplay from Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli loads the film with conspiracies, globe-trotting adventures, mysterious hackers, dead wives, rakish spies, assassins, good Russians, bad Russians, good CIA employees, bad CIA employees, hacked computers, chase scenes, bathroom explosions, mourning periods, the Finnish navy, stages of grief, and Laurence Fishburne popping up all over the world. It’s a lot.
The 2025 film wisely ditches a few of the elements from the 1981 book (EG – vengeance has therapeutic characteristics), but it should’ve laser-focused on the exploits of CIA cryptographer Charles “Charlie” Heller (Rami Malek), a brilliant hacker with an IQ of 170 who goes on a mission to murder the people who killed his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan). The unique twist is that Charlie has zero combat training and his slight build doesn’t do him any favors while tussling with burly mercenaries. This means that Charlie has to rely on his computer skills and brains to hunt down the four people who killed his wife – while going through the five stages of grief. It’s a tough task made tougher by the fact that his corrupt CIA boss Director Moore, (Holt McCallany) hires a field operative trainer named Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) to hunt Charlie down because his revenge mission unearthed incriminating evidence that could lead back to Moore. From there, a lot of story happens and it takes away from the swimming pool explosions.
The idea of a brilliant guy with zero fighting skills traveling the globe to kill hardened soldiers is pretty great. However, The Amateur plays things a little too seriously and only comes alive when Charlie does things like subverting the “walking in slow-motion away from explosions” trope by comically flinching when an explosion goes off behind him (He credits Heath Ledger’s Joker performance in The Dark Knight for the flinch). The highlight of the film happens inside a Parisian allergy clinic and features Charlie being rag-dolled around the facility by a female mercenary who isn’t happy about the pollen bomb Charlie unleashed on her. There are no Jason Bourne-esque theatrics, instead, the trained killer (with a severe allergic reaction) kicks, flips, punches and knees her way out of the building and leaves Charlie trailing behind her. It’s also fun watching Laurence Fishburne’s character Henderson using minimal effort to keep up with Charlie during a foot chase because he keeps plowing into nightclub patrons, bystanders and anything else in the Paris streets.
The biggest problem with The Amateur is that there are way too many actors taking screen time away from Malek’s adventure. The cast is stacked, but when you have Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal, Laurence Fishburne, Caitríona Balfe, Danny Sapani, Alice Hewkin, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany and Julianne Nicholson fighting for screen time, not all of their characters will get the time they need to be anything more than one-dimensional problems. The director James Hawes knows his way around the spy genre as he’s directed six episodes of the excellent Apple+ show Slow Horses. However, he doesn’t put enough of his personality into The Amateur and the result feels a bit bland. The technical highlight is the cinematography by Martin Ruhe (Control, The American, Harry Brown), who knows how to create interesting frames in dimly lit sub-basements and Paris nightclubs. Ruhe is no amateur and his work gives the film a classy vibe that is always visually interesting.
The Amateur is the type of film that would’ve played well on cable in the 1990s and 2000s, and the fact that a Rami Malek action film is getting a big theatrical push is great. However, when adapting the 1981 book it would’ve been nice if the writers took a step back and focused on what was important (Malek getting tossed around).
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Warfare (2025) – Review
Quick Thoughts
- Grade – B+
- Cosmo Jarvis and D’Pharaoh Won-A-Tai steal the show.
- Get ready to have the Eric Prydz song “Call On Me” stuck in your head
- Don’t expect the bombast (big speeches, epic moments) of other war films. Warfare tosses you into the action and doesn’t have time for extraneous plot.
- The sound mix is the MVP
- Mendoza and Garland (co-directors) shot it in 21 days. Dang…
Shot in sequence over 21 days, Warfare is an effective and lean experience that comes from the memories of the Navy SEALs who fought alongside co-director Ray Mendoza during a 2006 mission in Ramadi, Iraq. The 95-minute film takes place mostly in real time and refreshingly doesn’t have time to feature big speeches, over-dramatized theatrics or pretty much anything outside of what’s happening to the NAVY seals.
After working as a technical advisor on movies and TV shows like Lone Survivor, Act of Valor, Jurassic World, The Terminal List and The Outpost, Ray Mendoza was hired to be the Military Advisor on the Garland-directed film Civil War. Mendoza impressed Garland with his technical know-how and ability to stage well-executed skirmishes (especially with the final gunfight). After production wrapped Garland asked Mendoza if he had any stories that could be adapted into a feature-length film. Mendoza told him about a particular mission in 2006 when one of his fellow SEALS was injured during a skirmish and didn’t remember the event or the lengths his platoon went to keep him alive. The two then co-wrote a script with events pulled from the memories of Mendoza’s former platoon members who were there with him in Iraq that day. During a Q&A, Mendoza stressed that Warfare isn’t one of those “based on a true story” films that play fast and loose with a true story. Instead, Warfare closely sticks to what was remembered about the event and it’s an interesting storytelling exercise because it adds an authenticity to the proceedings that is lacking in most war movies.
Instead of opening with a massive battle or dramatic skirmish, Warfare opens with Eric Prydz’s famous Call on Me music video that features the scantily-clad Australian dance choreographer Deanne Berry teaching an absurd aerobics class. It comes across as gratuitous but that’s when editor Fin Oates pulls off the best editing transition of 2025 (so far) by cutting to a platoon of SEALS loving every second of Berry’s dance routine. It’s a fun moment and most importantly it features all the main characters in front of a computer screen as they enjoy a moment of levity before they engage in warfare.
After the fun moment, the platoon led by Erik (Will Poulter) enters Ramadi under the cover of night and selects a home to run their operation out of. The strategic location allows them to see in all directions, however, there is a walled-off section that separates the two families who live in the concrete two-story home. The decision is made to knock the wall down, which alerts local soldiers to their whereabouts and leads to a large gathering of soldiers who encircle the platoon. The following morning the local soldiers start probing the second floor with gunfire, and sniper Elliott (Cosmo Jarvis) is injured. His hand injury is bad enough for medical attention to be needed so a tank transport is called to get him back to base for medical attention. The major inciting incident comes when the tank hits an improvised explosive device (IED), which seriously injures Elliott and Sam (Joseph Quinn) Because of the IED, future transports are called off, and it’s up to another platoon led by (Charles Melton) to come to their aid.
Warfare is the type of film where concussive blasts rattle brains and cause concussions. Nobody walks away from explosions in slow-motion and there aren’t any hero moments. Because of this, every single skirmish is stressful because if one of the thousands of bullets fired by the soldiers on either side hits a soldier – it could mean death (this isn’t Commando). The dialogue written by Mendoza and Garland is interesting because it’s mostly radio chatter about enemy movement, and then characters repeat the radio chatter so it can be handwritten into their notebooks – which they are constantly writing in. All of the artifice is stripped down and the 95-minute running time forces it to be supremely focused on warfare (which makes sense considering the title).
Another neat tidbit picked up during the Ray Mendoza Q&A is that the film is dedicated to a platoon member named “Elliott,” who is played by Cosmo Jarvis (watch Shōgun). It’s because of this that Jarvis is given the most to do before his character’s legs are almost blown off. Whether it’s taking a much-needed stretch break after being propped on a table for hours, or making silly faces at D’Pharaoh Won-A-Tai (who is playing Ray Mendoza), Jarvis can show off a little more personality than most of the actors. That being said, the actors give authentic performances and even though they are wearing matching uniforms and helmets, each one of them comes across as an individual with a personality. Also, it’s nice that it’s a mostly young cast because it’s a reminder that the average age of most Navy SEALS is around 27.
The cinematography by longtime Steadicam operator David J. Thompson is fantastic as he moves through the London-based set with fluid movements and a welcome avoidance of shaky cam. His years working on Homicide: Life on the Street, Civil War, Oz, and The Wire, have taught him how to keep things grounded and real. Also, the production design by Mark Digby (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men) is fantastic as the houses feel suitably solid and the geography of the locations is easy to understand. A special shoutout needs to go out to Ben Barker (Civil War, Men, Devs), Glenn Freemantle (Civil War, Men, Devs), and Mitch Low (Annihilation, Men, Ex Machina) for their sound mixing and editing. The sound mix and design are essentially characters and whether it’s the noise created by a fighter jet creating a “show of force” or the tinnitus created from the concussive blasts – I was constantly wowed by the impressive ways sound is used.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 615: The Zone of Interest (2024), Jonathan Glazer, and A24 Movies
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Jonny Numb (https://bsky.app/profile/jonnynumb.bsky.social) discuss the 2023 historical drama The Zone of Interest. Released by A24 and directed by Jonathan Glazer, the Academy Award winning film is perfect for the “Feel Good” series that Jon and Mark started in 2019. In this episode, they also talk about dolly shots, terrible fishing trips, and sound design. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Striking Rescue (2024) – Review
Quick Thoughts
- Grade – B
- When it comes to action cinema, things don’t get much better than watching Tony Jaa use his fists, elbows, legs and knees to obliterate villains
- There are way too many characters
- It’s nice that Jaa wants to flex his acting chops by playing a widowed husband/dad, but the dramatics slow down the face-punching dramatics
- The hallway fight will make you very happy.
After Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003) and The Protector (2005), Tony Jaa became an instant legend in the action community with his insane stunts and brilliant fight choreography (watch this scene from The Protector – it’s amazing). However, after a few misfires, the leading man roles stopped pouring in and he had to settle for supporting player roles in fun action movies like Skin Trade (2014), xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017), Furious 7 (2015), Triple Threat (2019), Monster Hunter (2020). When news came out that Jaa would be starring in a new action film distributed by Well Go USA, the action world celebrated because the action genre is a better place with an in-form Tony Jaa elbowing overmatched drug dealers.
The good news is the excellent fight scenes in Striking Rescue allow Jaa to beat people up in warehouses, drug dens, city streets, hotels, motels, underground clubs, hallways, balconies, and country roads. During the opening fight Jaa knees a stuntman so hard that the song “Nobody Does it Better” started playing in my head. Jaa’s physicality is unrivaled and it’s nice that director Siyu Cheng (Land Shark, Desperado, The Tai Chi Master), understands that a wide shot of Tony Jaa kneeing a drug dealer in the face is pretty great. The action highlight takes place during a hallway fight that was featured in Mubi Notebook’s excellent “The Best Action Scenes of 2024” list (always a good read). The great part about Jaa’s fighting style is that it works in wide open spaces and tight hallways because his knees and elbows don’t need much space to deliver concussions.
Striking Rescue tells the story of Bai Ann (Tony Jaa), an unstoppable violence machine who seeks revenge on the criminals who killed his wife and child. His quest for revenge puts him on the radar of a gang of over-the-top villains who will murder anyone (kids and women included). Led by a mustache-twirling villain (Xing Yu – Flash Point, Kung Fu Hustle, Ip Man), and his axe-wielding maniac bodyguard (who is the junior varsity version of Hammer Girl from The Raid 2) the gang is comprised of hundreds of disposable goons who get obliterated by Bai Ann and a guy named Wu Zheng (Eason Hung). Zheng works as a bodyguard for He Yinghao (Philip Keung), a millionaire Chinese businessman whose imported goods aren’t inspected when they arrive in Thailand. Since his imported good aren’t inspected, this puts him in the crosshairs of drug dealers who would love to avoid inspections. Things soon turn sour between YInghao and it leads to a lot of chaotic rescue missions.
The rescue that involves a lot of striking happens when Yinghao’s pre-teen daughter Ting (Chen Duoyi) is kidnapped by the criminals. This forces Bai Ann (who thought Yinghao was responsible for his family’s death) and Zheng to fight their way through dozens of villains as they try to save Ting and get revenge on the criminals.
There are way too many characters in Striking Rescue, and the plot gets pretty muddled with Bai Ann dealing with Mandarin-speaking villains, but it didn’t bother me because I got to watch Tony Jaa break neck bones with his elbows. If you are a fan of Tony Jaa, you will love the showcase he gets in Striking Rescue.
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John’s Horror Corner: Starve Acre (2023), a bizarre tale of grief, rural folklore, and a rabbit.
MY CALL: Not really sure what I just watched. It’s slow, awkwardly interesting, bizarre, and sad. MORE MOVIES LIKE Starve Acre: Maybe Lamb (2021) or Don’t Look Now (1973).
A quiet, rural couple doesn’t know what to do when their son is involved in a troubling incident mutilating an animal at school. The boy refers to the voice of a rabbit speaking to him, one of dark local folklore. Shortly thereafter, their son dies from an asthma attack. With time, the couple’s tensions build, leading to doubt in one another, distancing, grief and fixation. And then the boy’s father Richard (Matt Smith; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) discovers the “the rabbit” buried on their property, with other components of the troubling folklore.
The delicateness with which Richard unearths, excavates, cleans and reassembles a rabbit skeleton is odd gripping. The rabbit skeleton slowly begins to reconstitute (a la Hellraiser), with the beginnings of nervous and cardiovascular tendrils extending and connecting across the bones; and then sinew and more. Or is it all a delusion? Apparently not. But does freeing this rabbit free them of their problems?
A sort of séance reveals a presence most unwelcome. The film becomes more about Richard’s investigation into this rabbit, and Juliette (Morfydd Clark; Saint Maud, Crawl, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) tending to it like a child, than it does their son’s loss. The local folklore is about sacrifice, a long-cut tree, the rabbit, three sacrifices… what is to come? Folklore is realized as horrible legend, sanity is lost, people are cursed.
Director Daniel Kokotajlo’s film is pretty much an intriguing slow burn… and I’m not even sure what this movie is meant to be or mean other than a bizarre story of parental grief. Still, it’s a somewhat interesting watch, well-acted, well produced, and very weird.
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John’s Horror Corner: Meander (2020), a claustrophobic, trap-filled death maze of a Sci-Fi Thriller.
MY CALL: Let’s be clear, this film owes everything to Cube (1997). But that withstanding, this is an excellent unofficial sequel/spin-off. MORE MOVIES LIKE Meander: Cube (1997) and sequels.
A hitchhiker Lisa (Gaia Weiss; Vikings) catches a ride with the wrong stranger and awakens in a Tron or Running Man jumpsuit, trapped in a high-tech chamber with a light source affixed to her wrist with a timer counting down. The chamber connects to a system of tunnels that feel like being trapped in the ventilation system of a spaceship or some labyrinthine complex a la Cube (1997). Where do the tunnels lead? What happens when the timer counts down to 0:00? Is there anyone else here?
To advance Lisa must crawl though long dark tunnels, squeeze through ever-tighteningly claustrophobic spaces, escape tunnels with crushing trap ceilings a la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, navigate trap doors and flamethrowing traps (a la The Rock or Galaxy Quest), flooding waters and acid baths, and more deadly obstacles.
Truly, it’s like Lisa is Player 1 in a videogame death maze. Her spelunking brings her to a similarly equipped cadaver of the last “mouse” to run this maze. It’s completely putrid, gooey, slimy, falling apart, and deliciously gross. More developments are uncovered… but I’m not here to spoil it all for you. Let’s just say it involves other meandering maze entities and their motives, some interesting cybernetics, and some answers.
As simple as it was, I really enjoyed this. Tense, well-paced, energized, and occasionally shocking. This was a solid Sci-Fi Thriller Adventure with some good gore to spare! Something for everyone… except for those who want a proper explanation of that’s going on. Those folks will surely be a bit annoyed by the ending. Director and writer Mathieu Turi (The Deep Dark, Hostile) made something pretty great here. And for all it owes to Cube (1997), it spelunks a different corridor by focusing on one person’s story, experience and motivation.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 614: The Punisher (2004), Thomas Jane, and Florida Movies
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and John talk about the 2004 comic book adaptation The Punisher. Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Rebecca Romijn, and a large Russian hitman, The Punisher earns its R-rating and has built up a loyal cult following. In this episode, they also talk about cheeky assassins, fire skulls, bathroom booze, and Florida movies. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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John’s Horror Corner: Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep (2024), an occasionally wild, bizarrely sexualized, Lovecraftian B-movie.
MY CALL: For fans of Lovecraft adaptations, this is a “bad movie” that’s actually pretty good. It boasts way more special effects that the budget would suggest and really swings for the fences! MORE MOVIES LIKE Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep: There are Lovecraftian movies to be taken much more seriously. For more recent Lovecraft-adapted fare, consider Dagon (2001), Dreams in the Witch-House (2005), Cold Skin (2017), The Color Out of Space (2019) and Suitable Flesh (2023). For some clearly Lovecraft-inspired movies, move on to The Shrine (2010), Black Mountain Side (2014), Harbinger Down (2015), Baskin (2015), The Void (2016), The Beach House (2019), The Superdeep (2020), Glorious (2022), and Deus Irae (2023).
Upon his placement in Arkham Asylum in 1998, new inmate James Fhelleps (Robert Miano) hits it off immediately with his cellmate, who finds himself mutilated and separated from his manhood in a most grotesque manner by a seemingly possessed Fhelleps.
25 years later, oneirologist Ambrose London (Edward Furlong; Brainscan, Night of the Demons) is summoned to Arkham Asylum by Dr. Barnard (Susan Priver) to study the strange case of dissociative identity disorder in the patient James Fhelleps, or more so his murderous alter ego Joe Slater. Like a high priest of Cthulhu, Slater preaches Lovecraftian prose of madness beyond great oceans of space and beyond the wall of sleep.
The imagery is often as graphic (and quite provocative) as the limited budget permits. There is some very low budget CGI—like, laughably silly low budget. But this CGI is complemented by maximum effort latex monster makeup, like when Slater’s neck monstrously elongates and he eats an orderly’s face. Likewise, some of the writing (e.g., Slater’s monologues) is most thoughtful, whereas the execution of other scenes (e.g., possessed mobs of patients) is forgettable B-movie fodder. This movie is clearly self-aware of exactly what it is. But, at times, it still aims a good bit higher and, frankly, pleasantly hits above its weight class at times.
PSA: I rented this on Amazon and was most enraged by the large black box censoring out images from the opening scenes. Don’t worry. It’s just this one scene. But again—in the moment—enraging!
Director Chad Ferrin (HP Lovecraft’s The Old Ones, The Deep Ones) had fun with this one. He toys with us with dreams within dreams within dreams, and bizarre macabre imagery. But things elevate to the next level when Ambrose hooks himself and patient Fhelleps (and Slater) up to his dream analysis machine to connect with his mind. This dream sequence explains the origin of Jim Slater (a Color Out of Space-corrupted peasant who lived over 100 years ago), his exposure to a meteorite that corrupted him, and some mutant alien “manhoods.”
More ultra-low budgetiness is observed when the Arkham patients touched by madness behave like manic zombies, but are only recognizable by behavior—some bags under their eyes or blood smears around their mouths. But hey, at least they are eating coils of rubber guts! We also see someone’s face pulled off by a garbage disposal. A high point for sure! And for those who like padded casts, additional small roles are played by Bai Ling (Crank: High Voltage, Samurai Cop 2, Sharknado 5), Ginger Lynn (New York Ninja, 31, The Devil’s Rejects, Buried Alive) and Steve Railsback (Alligator II, Lifeforce).
For being of such low budget, this was a pretty fun bad movie. Worth it if you know what you’re getting into, and more so if you’re a fan of Lovecraft adaptations. This makes me curious to see more of Ferrin’s movies. Although I’m told this one is the best by far, I liked this enough to take the leap.
Movies, Films & Flix 