FOLLOWING FILMS

Ultraman Arc marks another milestone in Tsuburaya Productions’ ever-expanding Ultra Series, debuting in 2024 as a story about hope, imagination, and responsibility. Rather than following the usual formula of an alien hero swooping in to save humanity, the series reframes Ultraman as a symbol of human creativity itself. It is a show that blends heartfelt character drama with the wonder and spectacle of classic tokusatsu. At the center is Yuma Hize, a rookie member of the Scientific Kaiju Investigation and Prevention team, or SKIP. Yuma is kind, idealistic, and often unsure of himself, but his compassion becomes the bridge between humanity and Ultraman Arc, a luminous being who takes shape from Yuma’s imagination. Unlike many previous hosts, Yuma is not chosen because of strength or bravery, but because of empathy and creativity. His partnership with Arc feels less like a contract and more like a dialogue between human emotion and cosmic potential. The supporting cast gives the series it...

Ari Aster’s Eddington is a film that defies easy classification. It is a sprawling, strange, and hypnotic reflection of a nation unraveling under pressure, a psychological and political fever dream set against the fractured landscape of 2020 America. Part social satire, part descent into madness, it captures a moment in history with such raw intensity that it feels both uncomfortably familiar and impossible to look away from. The story takes place in a small desert town in New Mexico, a place that seems forgotten by the world until it becomes a battleground for the country’s cultural and ideological wars. The film opens with a haunting image of a lone figure staggering across the desert at dawn, a visual motif that recurs throughout the story, people lost in vast, empty spaces, searching for meaning in an age of noise. From the beginning, Aster establishes that this is not just a portrait of a town but a mirror held up to an entire nation. Joaquin Phoenix plays Joe Cross, the town’s we...

When Tenacious D release something under the “Complete Masterworks” banner, there’s always an expectation that it will be more than just a concert video. These collections are designed to serve as historical records, celebrations, and playful artifacts of a band that’s always blurred the line between comedy duo and serious rock act. With The Complete Masterworks Vol. 3, Jack Black and Kyle Gass once again attempt to capture lightning in a bottle, this time presenting their arena-filling modern incarnation alongside the eccentric animated visions that have defined their last creative phase. It’s ambitious, sprawling, and very much a love letter to fans—though not without a few quirks that reveal the challenges of bottling up the “D” experience. At the center of the release is a full concert filmed at London’s O₂ Arena in June 2023, part of their Spicy Meatball Tour. From the opening notes it’s clear the duo have no trouble scaling their act for an arena setting. One of the dangers for T...

Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, adapted from Stephen King’s novella, is one of those rare films that defy easy categorization. It is not a horror film, despite King’s reputation and Flanagan’s own long résumé of gothic tales. Instead, it is a meditative piece that explores what it means to live, to connect, and to leave traces behind. Told in reverse chronological order, the story unspools like a puzzle, inviting the audience to piece together a life that feels both intimate and vast. The film begins not with a birth but with an ending. The world is falling apart—technology sputters, societies unravel, and the sky itself seems to be collapsing. Amid this chaos, strange billboards appear carrying a simple message: “Charles Krantz, 39 Great Years. Thanks, Chuck.” No one knows who Chuck is, or why his life seems linked to the unraveling of reality. In this opening act, the apocalypse is less a spectacle than a metaphor. Cities crumble quietly, people cling to each other, and the end of...

Victor Danell’s film Watch the Skies—released in Sweden as UFO Sweden back in 2022 but only arriving internationally in 2025—emerges as a curious hybrid: part adolescent adventure, part heartfelt family drama, and part nostalgic throwback to the era of VHS tapes, synthesizer soundtracks, and Spielberg-inspired encounters. At its core is a story about searching: a teenager scouring for the truth about her missing father, a ragtag community of ufologists chasing evidence of alien contact, and filmmakers experimenting with new technology in the hope of connecting across cultures. The result is uneven but memorable, a picture that dares to mix earnest emotion with sci-fi spectacle and cutting-edge presentation. The narrative orbits around Denise, played with a striking mix of toughness and vulnerability by Inez Dahl Torhaug. Denise has grown up in foster care, hardened by abandonment but still carrying the wound of her father’s disappearance. Her father was not just a parent but a passiona...

Celine Song’s second feature, Materialists, arrived with considerable anticipation after the quiet impact of Past Lives. Where that debut leaned into memory, fate, and transnational longing, her new film turns to the glossy, transactional world of contemporary romance in New York City. The story follows Lucy, a professional matchmaker played by Dakota Johnson, whose work involves pairing wealthy clients with ideal partners according to an unspoken calculus of desirability, pedigree, and prestige. Her skill at navigating this terrain is challenged when she finds herself caught between two men: John, an ex-boyfriend (Chris Evans) who represents a more precarious, emotionally raw kind of intimacy, and Harry, a wealthy, polished suitor (Pedro Pascal) who embodies the kind of security and social perfection her business is designed to sell. The conceit allows Song to probe a world where dating often resembles a marketplace more than a personal journey. By choosing a protagonist whose profess...

The Last Horror Film is one of those curious artifacts from the early 1980s that lives in the borderland between exploitation and meta-commentary. Directed by David Winters and starring Joe Spinell alongside Caroline Munro, the movie is often overlooked in the broader horror conversation, but it has qualities that make it worth discussing. Part slasher, part satire, and part psychological portrait, it occupies a strange, messy but fascinating place in horror history. The story follows Vinny Durand, a New York cab driver with big dreams of making movies. His life, however, revolves almost entirely around his obsession with horror actress Jana Bates. When Jana travels to the Cannes Film Festival, Vinny follows her, carrying a camera and his delusions. He is convinced that if he can just get close enough, he will convince her to star in his film. Once he arrives at Cannes, however, events spiral. Jana finds herself surrounded by threatening phone calls, unexplained disappearances, and vio...

Rebel Wilson has built her career on broad comedy, but in Bride Hard she takes a swing at mixing slapstick with action heroics. The premise is playful enough: a secret agent agrees to be maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding, only for the big day to be hijacked by mercenaries. What follows is a mash-up of spy antics and bridal chaos. It’s the kind of idea that almost feels like a parody sketch stretched into a feature, but the film leans into the silliness with enough enthusiasm to keep it moving. The story centers on Sam, Wilson’s character, who is torn between professional instincts and personal loyalty. She wants to support her best friend Betsy, played by Anna Camp, on her big day, but when heavily armed villains crash the ceremony, duty calls. The structure borrows from the classic one-hero-against-many template, but instead of an office tower or airplane, the battlefield is a lavish wedding venue covered in flowers and lace. That contrast between danger and décor creates som...

Al Pacino’s 2025 film The Ritual is a striking entry in the long tradition of supernatural horror, one that fuses chilling atmosphere with a story grounded in faith, doubt, and redemption. Directed by David Midell, the film dramatizes the infamous 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt, often described as one of the most intense and documented cases of possession in American history. Pacino steps into the role of Father Theophilus Riesinger, a veteran priest whose age and disillusionment weigh heavily upon him, while Dan Stevens portrays Father Joseph Steiger, a younger clergyman confronted with the same terrifying forces but from the vantage point of skepticism. The result is a work that not only delivers moments of genuine horror but also offers a meditation on belief and mortality. The story begins in a quiet corner of 1920s rural America, where Emma Schmidt, played by Abigail Cowen, becomes the center of a terrifying spiritual battle. Her condition is framed not simply as hysteria or illnes...

When Tsuburaya Productions announced Ultraman Decker in 2022, it was clear the series would be more than just another entry in the ever-expanding Ultra franchise. Marketed as a spiritual successor to Ultraman Dyna—just as Ultraman Trigger had honored Ultraman Tiga—the show set out to bridge nostalgia with a modern sensibility. Now, with the full series collected and capped off by the feature-length Finale: Journey to Beyond, fans can see the story in its entirety, and it proves to be one of the franchise’s most balanced blends of heroics, humanity, and high-stakes spectacle. The story begins in a not-so-distant future where Earth has enjoyed relative peace since the events of Trigger. But as is tradition in the Ultra Series, that calm is disrupted when a new wave of kaiju threats emerges. Humanity once again forms an elite defense team, GUTS-Select, updated with sleeker uniforms, new technology, and fresh recruits. At the heart of this is Kanata Asumi, portrayed by Hiroki Matsumoto. Ka...

Friendship (2025) is a bold, often uncomfortable exploration of adult male connection that blends dark humor with moments of genuine emotional insight. Directed and written by Andrew DeYoung, the film stars Tim Robinson as Craig Waterman, a suburban father whose quiet, uneventful life is disrupted by the arrival of his charismatic neighbor, Austin Carmichael, played by Paul Rudd. What begins as casual neighborly interaction quickly evolves into a tense and often awkward exploration of obsession, loneliness, and the fragile nature of human bonds. Robinson’s performance is both remarkable and polarizing. He captures Craig’s social anxiety, desperation, and awkward charm in a way that makes the audience both cringe and empathize with him. There is a rawness to his portrayal, an unfiltered honesty that turns ordinary moments—awkward small talk, failed attempts at humor, and invasive curiosity—into powerful storytelling. Rudd, by contrast, brings a grounded charm that makes Austin feel real...

The second and final season of 1923 arrived this February with enormous expectations. After a first season that balanced sweeping landscapes with brutal intimacy, the continuation had the task of deepening character arcs while also drawing this chapter of the Dutton family story to a close. Set against a merciless Montana winter, the season leans into themes of survival, sacrifice, and the inevitable march of progress, offering a narrative that is both visually stunning and emotionally devastating. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren anchor the season with commanding performances. As Jacob and Cara Dutton, they embody the resilience of a family pushed to its limits, their chemistry as believable in its tenderness as in its simmering tension. Ford’s quiet gravitas and Mirren’s steel-edged resolve lend the story an authenticity that grounds even its most heightened moments. Brandon Sklenar’s Spencer, still struggling to return home after years abroad, provides the season with much of its emot...

Danny and Michael Philippou’s Bring Her Back is a bleak and harrowing exploration of grief, trauma, and the terrifying consequences of trying to undo loss. If their 2022 debut Talk to Me carved out a space for the twins as new masters of supernatural horror, their follow-up shifts gears into something heavier, more suffocating, and far less forgiving. This time, the horror does not come from playful party tricks with the dead, but from the crushing weight of sorrow and the violent, desperate ways it manifests. The film opens with a gut punch: Andy, played with raw vulnerability by Billy Barratt, comes home to find his father dead in the shower. Suddenly, Andy and his blind sister Piper (Sora Wong) are orphaned, forced to navigate a system that threatens to separate them. They are taken in by Laura, a former social worker whose own child drowned years earlier. Laura, embodied with unnerving intensity by Sally Hawkins, initially appears compassionate, even maternal, but there’s something...