The Reel World

“Stop filming me!”

Interestingly enough, this 2025 remake/adaptation is a more faithful reproduction of its source material than the 1987 version. The 1987 adaptation, while popular, took liberties when it came to the main character’s backstory and motivations, such as him being a wrongfully accused and convicted policeman getting his shot at freedom by participating in a TV game show where convicts called Runners must battle killers for their freedom. In the 2025 remake, Ben Richards, now played by Glen Powell, is a blacklisted blue-collar worker living in dystopian anarchistic police state with his wife and infant Cathy. Unable to afford medicine for Cathy's influenza, Ben attends tryouts for the network's game shows, where his anger, misanthropy, and physical fitness see him selected for "The Running Man", their most popular and dangerous show. That backstory is much more in line with the 1982 Stephen King novel. Rounding out the cast are Josh Brolin, William H Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, and Colman Domingo. Arnold Schwarzeneggar even makes a surprise appearance. It’s quick, though. Blink and you could miss it.

“The Yautja are prey to none, friend to none, predator to all.”

This has certainly been a resurgent year for the Predator and Alien franchises. In the case of the Predator franchise, Badlands builds on the momentum and resurgence established by prequel film Prey. In the case of this iteration, we are treated with a film from the perspective of a Yautja warrior as he embarks on the rite of passage needed to be inducted into the Yautja clan. This was the unique perspective needed to take the franchise to new heights. For the first five films, we have watched the Yautja be the antagonists, and now we get to see what drives them as they come to the forefront for the first time. I expected that there would be a great deal of action, which was the lure that got me to the theater. What I didn’t expect was the healthy amount of humor that was also infused into the story.

It’s hard to believe it has been nearly a decade since we last had a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. I’ve been a fan of hers from her early years when she was doing films like Near Dark, Point Break, and Strange Days. I’ve always felt she’s never been given the credit she deserves, but when she finally got recognition for films like The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, it just felt long overdue. Now that she has A House Full of Dynamite releasing on Netflix, I’ll be honest; I immediately expected this to be one of my top films of the year, and considering when it was being released, it seemed like a sure frontrunner as an awards contender. Sadly this film might be my first major disappointment of the year, and what’s frustrating is that it still might have one of the most riveting opening acts of the year. So where did it go so wrong? The film takes us on a journey in a “what if” scenario where the US has a nuclear weapon fired at it from an unknown origin

Ever since I first heard about Good Boy earlier this year as it was making the rounds at film festivals, it instantly became one of my most anticipated films of the year. I was sold just on the idea of this being a supernatural film told through a dog’s perspective. Sure, it sounds like a gimmick, but I really liked the sound of this gimmick. I’ve always been a sucker for the paranormal, and I was always intrigued by the idea that animals could see things that we could not. So after months of waiting, I finally got the opportunity to watch Good Boy. Did it live up to my expectations, or did it turn out to be a dud? The film follows Indy, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever. He is extremely loyal to his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen), who we see from the opening scene is extremely ill

“The things you do for the ones you love.” In this case, this saying has a bit of double meaning, one for the movie and one for me personally. For the movie, it is about how far a parent will go to protect their child from an ugly truth. And for me, it’s about how far I will go to ensure that my wife is happy and entertained. Regretting You, the second film adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel after It Ends with Us (2024) and the third adaptation overall, after the television series Confess (2017). In the case of this film, the audience gets two love stories for the price of one. One is centered around young love between a very talented pair in McKenna Grace and Mason Thames, and the other about second chances, between Dave Franco and Allison Williams. In my opinion, the young-love story is the more vibrant and uplifting story arc, hence why it received far more focus than the second-chance one. Scott Eastwood and Willa Fitzgerald also help round out the cast, but their roles are limited to the opening portions of the film, particularly because it is their actions rather than their presence that help drive the story as a whole.

It’s been a long time since a movie gave me goosebumps. The last real time I can remember it happened is when I first watched Nightmare on Elm Street, which is pretty ironic, as there are some pretty clear parallels between that film and Black Phone 2. Taking place at a summer camp, the film clearly also draws inspiration from the Jason Voorhies franchise as well. However, despite these parallels. Black Phone 2 is still a very entertaining and engaging horror sequel. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, and Jeremy Davies reprising their roles, while Demián Bichir joined the cast. Interestingly, Miguel Mora also returns. However, while he played Robin Arellano in the first movie, in the second movie he plays Ernesto, his brother. I was initially skeptical about this sequel because of the demise of Hawke’s character in the first film. I found myself asking, “How are you going to have a sequel when the villain was killed in the first film?” However, it appears that Joe Hill, the author of the short story that the first film was based on, had the answer

It was only a matter of time before we would see those who found success on platforms like TikTok and YouTube try to make the transition to the big screen. Sam and Colby found moderate success with their fans, but really, to the rest of the world it was barely noticed. Now later this month we’ll get the highly anticipated Shelby Oaks from Chris Stuckmann, who got his start with movie reviews and creating content on his YouTube channel. But now we have House on Eden, a small-budget found-footage film from content creators Kris The Girl and Celina Spooky Boo. I’ll admit I’ve actually been following their content for a few years, and I was a little optimistic about what these two would come up with, but I have to admit this was disappointing and frankly just lazy. To be blunt, it is an insult to those out there who are grinding to create the best film they can on a shoestring budget. The film follows a trio of content creators (they are basically playing exaggerated versions of themselves, not even bothering to change their names) led by Kris Collins.

You likely know Scarlett Johansson best as Natasha Romanoff aka The Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic universe (MCU). But Romanoff has been killed off with a heroic death, and even with all of this multiverse stuff going on in the MCU, she has made it pretty clear that she doesn't see the character returning. Her resume has taken a bit of a turn, and it looks like she's out there trying to reinvent herself a bit. Her most recent role was on the latest Jurassic World film, and I would argue her character wasn't very far from the one she's left behind, but it's a start, I assume. Where the actress has really reinvented herself is as a first-time director with Eleanor the Great. She's starting small. No huge budgets and mega-CGI stuff going on here. She's keeping it simple and as far away from the image as possible. But that might be your surface reaction.

“Viva la Revolucion.”

I don’t say this lightly, but One Battle After Another is without question the best movie that I’ve seen this year. With a star-studded cast that includes at least three Oscar-award winning actors (Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio Del Toro), several other Hollywood veterans (Regina Hall and Wood Haris), and up-and-coming talent (Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti’s film debut), the film establishes itself from its opening credit and held my attention till the very end. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland, this epic dark comedy follows DiCaprio as Pat Calhoun and Taylor as Perfidia Beverly Hills are lovers and members of the far-left revolutionary group known as the French 75. While breaking out detained immigrants from a detention center, Perfidia humiliates the commanding officer, Steven Lockjaw (Penn), who develops a sexual fascination with her. With the French 75, Pat and Perfidia carry out attacks on politicians' offices, banks, and even the power grid. Still obsessed with Perfidia, Lockjaw leverages his position to pursue the group, more specifically Perfidia.