FILM: Avatar - Fire And Ash (dir: James Cameron, 2025)

"I don't know whether to kiss you or yell at you!"

The third Avatar movie is more Avatar 2 Part 2 than something really new, picking up the story a short while after the end of The Way Of Water, with grief inevitably weighing heavily on the Sully family and acting as a running thread that gives a number of scenes added emotional weight and punch.  With renewed threats from the military/corporate invaders and the Ash People, a  Na'vi  tribe that blends mysticism with cutthroat savagery, the film doubles down on the power of family and its environmental/political messaging, the Sullys are split apart often in order to look for/rescue each other, and uneasy and unexpected alliances form in a more action-driven and episodic storyline that all leads to another ridiculously huge battle finale.  The level of technical accomplishment on display should neither be taken for granted nor underestimated, and the level of detail, the multiple elements in a single frame and the marriage of motion capture and animation is often quite extraordinary and unlike any other movie, with some incredibly beautiful images along the way.  With a running time of over three hours, it is to its credit that the film never drags and is again a truly immersive experience (on a cinema screen in 3D).  The lead cast - especially Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi and Britain Dalton - deliver strong performances, with Oona Chaplin a worthy addition as the sultry, power-hungry and slightly unhinged Ash Queen, even if the new tribe feels somewhat underutilised.  Balancing frequent dynamic action sequences with dramatic moments, Fire And Ash is nevertheless a remarkable achievement that is an absorbing and entertaining experience, even of in terms of the franchise it feels like, sorry, treading water to some extent. It also serves as a reasonable trilogy-capper, but hopefully James Cameron will deliver his original intention of a five-film cycle.

 

VOD: Wake Up Dead Man - A Knives Out Mystery (dir: Rian Johnson, 2025)

"Well...isn't this something?"

The third Knives Out film finds a young priest (Josh O'Connor) punching out a fellow cleric and sent sent to the rural Church Of Our Lady Of Perpetual Fortitude to assist the charismatic and manipulative Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin).  The mystery of a missing inheritance and a quirky and diverse cauldron of small town characters (all with their own issues) making up Wicks's devoted congregation lead to a significant - and seemingly impossible - murder taking place during a Good Friday service, and the young priest teams up with the redoubtable detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in order to crack the case.  The film is very well-written, with sparkling and frequently hilarious dialogue that is extremely enjoyable and a number of perplexing puzzles, delivered by a fantastic cast including a magnetically composed Josh O'Connor, a wry and barely-contained Josh Brolin a perfect character performance from Glenn Close, with sterlin support from Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis and Kerry Washington, all topped off by another winningly unique and accomplished turn from Daniel Craig.  The film luxuriates in its extended Blanc-less first-act set-up which introduces both story and characters extremely well and from which the film benefits greatly, and the rest of the film follows through to great effect.  Wake Up Dead Man is perhaps the most accomplished and pure (in terms of the classic crime mystery genre) of the three films so far, utterly watchable , cleverly constructed, engrossing and hugely entertaining.
 

VOD: The Salt Path (dir: Marianne Elliott, 2025)

"Gee whizz!  Cake police!"

A middle-aged upper-middle-class couple, Moth and Raynor, lose everything in a court case following a failed investment (told in fleeting flashbacks) and - finding themselves homeless - embark on walk around the UK's Southern Coastal Path on a life-affirming journey of (self-)discovery, alongside the husband's diagnosis of a debilitating and terminal rare disease.  The straightforward premise is shown in an unshowy, unhurried and unfussy manner, a quiet reflection on life, love, human resilience and nature through simple but powerful images and the reflection on the core relationship, played with restrained economy by Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.  They briefly encounter largely uninteresting people along the way, the music does a lot of the emotional heavy -lifting, but at least the scenery is always beautiful.  Moth's degeneration and Raynor's calm and gritty determination are engaging, even if this pleasant, slight and meandering tale ultimately feels a bit lacking overall.
 

VOD: The Naked Gun (2025) (dir: Akiva Schaffer, 2025)

"They don't make 'em like your pops any more."
"I'm glad he's not around to see what Police Squad has come to."

The Naked Gun trilogy has long been considered untouchable for remakes/reboots, and 2025's attempt - with Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jnr - shows precisely why, as the hapless detective faces the threat of a crazed tech mogul intent on re-setting the entire population to its basic instincts for his own ends,  The humour (both visual and verbal) offers more misses than hits, but it does raise a smile when it manages to hit the mark, mostly when it apes the originals or mimics their verbal stylings.  Inconsistency is an issue, and the film does perhaps lean into its more serious influences (in terms of music and narrative) rather too heavily.  Liam Neeson is certainly no Leslie Nielsen on the comedic front, but Pamela Anderson makes a reasonable attempt at channelling Priscilla Presley.  When it works, the film is a fair stab at the property, but the originals are so engrained in pop/movie culture that it makes it hard to accept a new and weaker take, but it may play better to a more unknowing modern-day audience. 
 

FILM: Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) (dir: Mike P. Nelson, 2025)

"This...I did not expect."

This unexpected remake of the lurid and at-the-time controversial 1984 slasher takes its core ideas and offers something that is a bit different and surprisingly interesting.  It follows the story of Billy (Rohan Campbell, Corey from the divisive Halloween Ends), traumatised by witnessing the murder of his parents as a child and as an adult donning the Santa suit to mete out deadly vengeance on any wrong-doers, guided by an inner voice Venom-style.  Director/writer Mike P. Nelson obviously wants to give the material a more serious tone than the basic formula slasher original, as he did with his 2021 reboot of Wrong Turn, and his fusion of 80s cinematic stylings and more contemporary psychological shading makes it interesting to follow - the infamous 'antlers' moment makes an appearance, the original's shock schlock value here grounded in something more well-embedded and justified.  Rohan Campbell clearly has the tortured/haunted characterisation pinned down, but here he gives a notably well-thought-out performance that elevates Billy beyond a one-note serial killer and makes his journey and inner justifications more engaging and even sympathetic as a result.  Also of note is Ruby Modine as Pam, dealing with her own significant issues and traumas as his (rather quick) love interest in a sparky and well-balanced turn.  In adding depth and complexity to the simple slasher concept, the film can feel a little overstuffed with its fleeting hits at exploitation in the fostering system and the extreme right alongside elements of child kidnapping and spousal murder, but these are all there to service the overarching theme of everybody having hidden secrets and what lies beneath the surface (of individuals and of the town).  The film inevitably has moments of violence, and the Terrifier-squelch factor increases significantly in the final act.  Whilst far from perfect or indeed significant, this 2025 take on its minor slasher source material has a surprising amount to offer, it is rather well made and it is a lot more interesting than would be expected.

VOD: Troll 2 (dir: Roar Uthaug, 2025)

"You don't know what criticism is until you've been roasted by 12-year-olds on TikTok!"

Now-reclusive palaeontologist Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann) and her team from the first film (with a couple of perfunctory new additions) are re-assembled in this 'go bigger, go dafter' sequel to the 2022 Norwegian Netflix surprisingly-fun fantasy/disaster-movie hit, as Nora inadvertently awakens a hibernating 'MegaTroll' discovered in a top-secret research facility, and when the UV safety system fails, the giant goes on the rampage to wreak vengeance for man's treatment of his kind many years ago.  Once again, there is real ambition evident on screen, the location work looks spectacular, sound design is impressive and detailed, and the serious approach taken gives the mythology some real-world weight (although this time the tongue-in-cheek humour is more evident).  The early ski-resort attack is terrific, but the trolls' face-offs feel rather brief.  It may be at its heart a slightly bigger re-tread of the original with a bit of Dan Brown thrown into the mix, but Troll 2 has just enough warmth, charm, whimsy and well-staged action (and a fun running gag from the first movie) to see it through as a rather messy but still entertaining ride.

VOD: The Roses (dir: Jay Roach, 2025)

"I love this fun banter you guys do!"

This re-imagined update of The War Of The Roses mines its unabashed dark comedy from the get-go with a laugh-out-loud marriage counselling session with chef Ivy (Olivia Colman) and architect Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch), before circling back to trace how their relationship/marriage changed and gradually fell apart, peaking with an excruciating dinner party with their awful friends.  With solid rapid-fire dialogue and two superb actors in the lead roles, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are both at their extraordinary dry comedic best and use their razor-sharp dramatic skills with aplomb.   There is a strong supporting cast, notably Andy Samberg and the fantastic Alison Janney, who almost steals the film in one impeccably-delivered scene.  The script is slick, efficient and unshowily honest, built to deliver consistently with wit, deft humour and a piercing dramatic undercurrent, making The Roses very good, mature fun to watch. 

 

VOD: Jingle Bell Heist (dir: Michael Fimognari, 2025)

"Have you ever been to a mass gathering of Shreks?"
 

In this restrained but sincere and warm-hearted British Christmas movie, downtrodden department store worker Sophia (Olivia Holt) and IT security guy Nick (Connor Swindells) cross paths and plan to steal half-a-million pounds from her despicable boss's office safe on Christmas Eve, using her practical magician/thievery skills and his hi-tech savvy.  This unashamed mix of reluctant rom-com, heist caper and (incidental?) Christmas movie is more drama than comedy with its low-key low-budget stylings, making its protagonists more grounded and easier to root for than most festive offerings, aided by the addition of Sophia's sickly mother and Nick's cute young daughter.  The two likeable leads spark off each other well, with Connor Swindells in particular giving a very sympathetic performance.  Jingle Bell Heist may have a sombre streak akin to the feel of Last Christmas, but with its 60s genre-inflected music, engaging leads and well-used festive London settings, this is a gentle but actually rather sweet film.

VOD: Clown In A Cornfield (dir: Eli Craig, 2025)

"We're all going to be headless teenagers...without heads!"

Starting off in 1991 in classic slasher-movie style with a party of somewhat old-looking youths drinking, smoking weed and having sex that ends in inevitable tragedy in the nowhere America small town of Kettle Springs, the action then jumps forward to present day as new-girl-in-town Quinn and her classmates (the usual mix of unashamed stereotypes) face local legend Frendo the clown as he comes to life and starts picking them off in grisly efficient Final Destination-style ways.  Performed and delivered with a confident energy (from the director of 2010's criminally underrated Tucker and Dale vs Evil), the film takes the well-worn slasher genre and offers a pure and very effective piece of entertainment for its fans.  The mid-point twist (signposted earlier in the film if you pay attention) offers a great reveal and changes the trajectory of the film to good effect.  Clown In A Cornfield is no meta-self-aware-almost-parody horror, as the filmmakers show they know their genre and their audience and simply deliver in a very entertaining manner.
 

VOD: In Your Dreams (dir: Alexander Woo, 2025)

"Maybe they're trying to tell me something...or maybe it's just a dream."

This Netflix children's animation finds young Stevie  trying to support her parents' fracturing marriage and her lively younger brother Elliot, who discovers a magical book at a local antiquities store about The Sandman and making dreams come true, which sets them off on a wild quest of discovery, adventure and imagination to find him in their (shared|) dreams and nightmares.  The film is a colourful, madcap, free-flowing series of ideas that flits between dreamworld and (occasionally) real world and plays like an e-numbers-fuelled fever fantasy.  The sheer weight of the number of visual ideas and their rapid-fire delivery becomes exhausting quickly, all confusingly juxtaposed with the very real trauma of childhood parental separation anxiety, and by the end it seems like an awful lot of bluster for its basic 'life isn't perfect' messaging.  A short mid-end-credits sequence sends up the whole premise in (literally) throwaway fashion.