Dark Match is Shudder's best in quite a while, granted I have slacked on 2025's content but 24 was quite lackluster with a few exceptions (Late Night With the Devil). Here we get a sleazy 80s themed slasher of sorts centered on wrestling. Horror and wrestling my two favorite things. While many in the horror wrestling subgenre are unwatchable this here is alot of fun. Good gore, good characters and an over the top plot. It's cheesy at times but has its tongue firmly in cheek.
Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon I have both become massive fans of this year. I watched all the films and the Dragon series is a strong contender for best animated saga ever. All three are heart warming and touching. Did we need a remake? No, but it is from the same director so let it ride. This is a worthy adaptation. It is not quite shot for shot but feels close, it is more mature but doesn't force it. The cgi is great, the battles, while not as epic as the original still look impressive, the acting is top notch and the score is fantastic. Bring on part 2, bring on part 3.
Most live action adaptations of Disney animation has been less than stellar. Jungle Book and Cruela being the exceptions. Snow White didn't particularly look good but I wanted to see just to kinda piss off those that were so enraged with it. I agree with not doing dated angles for women so I was intrigued how this story would work.....and it didn't. The acting, sets, musical numbers, costuming, and cgi were all God awful with Rachel Ziegler being the stand out. She is solid here and has a presence, just a damn shame the film wasn't what she deserved. The actress had a great stance unfortunately the film failed to meet what she wanted or we needed.
Spin offs need to stop. Ballerina isn't a bad film, but it is unneeded. The John Wick saga is the best crafted action series of all time. They are stylish, which this also is, have great action, which this also has great choreography....which this lacks. The stories had heart, this one doesn't. It's a shoe horned attempt to milk a series with a forced fi al act thst logically makes no sense in the greater universe. I was not bored by this but I didn't particularly care for it.
Jey Uso vs Seth Rollins: World Title: Raw
Iyo Skye vs Roxanne Perez: Raw
Sheamus vs Austin Theory
Stop me if you have heard this, there is a new Mission Impossible film out....and it tops the previous one. Holy fuck what a film, this is how you do a blockbuster series that doesn't feel mass produced, this is a highly thought out and well crafted saga that feels like cinema. Every actor is great, all the stunts are fantastic, the plot is a thrill ride, the kills can be shocking and there is plenty of emotion to pull the heart strings. Thank you for churning these out only when needed and not every 2 years, thanks for taking time and creating the second best pure action franchise of all time in my opinion
Wes Anderson has fully evolved. He started small with Bottle Rocket, found his voice with Rushmore, perfected it with the Royal Tenenbaums, got ambitious with Life Aquatic, took a step back with Darjeeling Limited, tried animation with Fantastic Mr. Fox, tried ambitious live action once more with Moonrise Kingdom, basically was his own genre with Grand Budapest Hotel. He returned to animation with Isle of Dogs was post modern with French Dispatch and then had Asteroid City, a film I loved but no one talked about. He is one of my top 5 filmmakers of all time, and his films will always be events. Phoenician Scheme is his darkest film yet. Typical Wes plot and humor only amped. The best Benico Del Toro and Michael Cera have been in years, the rest of the cast is outstanding especially Mia Threapleton. Bonkers, heartfelt and stylish, what more do you want from Wes Anderson?
