Review Category: Movie

STANLEY KUBRICK’S DR STRANGELOVE [NT Live]

Instantly sold out for its limited run, the Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley production of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove brought the sharp satire of the classic movie to the stage, with Steve Coogan stepping into Peter Sellers’ multi-character shoes. Thankfully, one of the performances was filmed for the NT Live strand and hitting cinema screens for all to enjoy.

The stage version of the story follows Kubrick’s film fairly faithfully, and Coogan fast-changes his way through the four separate characters with ease – even when two iterations are on stage at the same time (a great gag between the President and an on-screen Strangelove is gold). With the narrative becoming worryingly prescient again, it’s good to be able to laugh at the nuclear situation, even if it’s only for a couple of hours.

This filmed version is excellently shot, however, like many stage-to-screen productions, loses some of the atmosphere inherent in a live performance, with subtle elements feeling more stagey than they otherwise would be when amplified on the big screen. It’s still a fantastic adaptation, which will have you dashing back to re-watch the Kubrick classic to compare notes. We’ll meet again, indeed.

STANLEY KUBRICK’S DR STRANGELOVE (NT Live) is in cinemas from April 27th.

UNSPEAKABLE: BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP

The word ‘bold’ has been used to describe Chad Ferrin’s Lovecraftian-inspired trilogy of films, a trilogy that thankfully concludes with Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep. Perhaps it is a bold move from the producers to have allowed this incomprehensible series to reach a third entry as once again Ferrin has created something so nonsensically incomprehensible as to be all but unwatchable. With clunky, banal dialogue delivered with zero conviction, a story that vaguely references Lovecraft as opposed to embracing the intriguing bizarreness of the source texts, and with Ferrin’s ongoing obsession with weird and frankly obnoxious sexual deviancy, one can only hope this finale releases us from our suffering.

The story, such as it is, focuses on renowned oneirologist Ambrose London (Edward Furlong), who is called in to Arkham Asylum to study a curious case of dissociative identity disorder in patient James Fhelleps/Jow Slater: cue freaky dreams, masturbating psychotherapists and huge red penises with teeth. Many of Ferrin’s regulars make an appearance, including Bai Ling (the aforementioned psychotherapist who appears to be doing some sort of performance art) and Ginger Lynn, who once again acts largely with her ample breasts.

To give credit where it’s barely due, Ferrin does deliver largely on what you’d expect from him, and his cult fan club will surely be happy with the abundance of grossly conceived set pieces. But this is low-brow filmmaking, creating an end product designed to shock and gall while catering for an audience that is in addicted awe of the fetishised action. If this is your thing, good luck to you, but we’re struggling to understand why.

TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS!

Packed with the crème of UK characters, this kooky faux-doc/fantasy has something for everyone.

While foraging for items to sell in their vintage shop in Muswell Hill, Ruth and Megan (real-life shop owners Ruth Syratt and Megan Stevenson) come across a souped-up dodgem car. It turns out this is a discarded time machine, which they use to go back in time to find truly vintage items. The rarity of these pieces brings them to the attention of an odd-bod society of scientists led by the bureaucratic Martin (Guy Henry). Little did Ruth and Megan know that meddling in time travel could have such dire consequences. The creator of the machine (Brian Bovell), teams up with his estranged sidekick (Johnny Vegas) and the rest of the group to attempt to rescue one of the girls from ‘the Unreason’, a void in time where inhabitants play a vast, often-evolving card game that’s rigged so there’s never an outright winner.

Time Travel is Dangerous! is a low-key (and budget!) movie that punches well above its weight thanks to its eclectic cast and sharp script. Director Chris Reading – who co-wrote alongside producers Anna-Elizabeth and Hillary Shakespeare – makes the most of the limited resources and lets the top-class ensemble carry the load. Syratt and Stevenson are great, playing a version of themselves where they come across as loveable chancers trying to make the most of the situation. The effects may be lo-fi, but that also gives the film an even quainter quality. The first half is a Spın̈al Tap-esque mockumentary (with boasts narration by Stephen Fry), which gives the shop owners the perfect platform for deadpan humour, minor squabbles, and absurdist situations and they hold their own against the seasoned pros. There are elements of Spaced and The Office, and later, in the netherworld Unreason, it veers into Python and Goons territory. It might have a very British sense of humour, but we’re glad to say it does travel (as witnessed at the screening in Trieste).

TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS! is in cinemas from March 28th.

FLOW

An unexpected champion emerged this awards season – Gints Zilbalodis’ Blender-rendered animated fantasy adventure Flow. This dialogue-free marvel has sublime visual power and a resonant sense of cinematic wonder and deep spectacle.

The story follows a dark grey cat, who faces an unexpected battle for survival as the earth endures great floods. Along the way, it encounters a band of animals on a boat and joins their company, and this unlikely group face their unsure future together.

Flow is a masterpiece. A soulful, energetic, and fun meditation on life itself and the need for community and friendship in times of great danger and uncertainty. A celebration of the natural world and its remarkable skill for survival even in – or especially in – times of natural disaster and change.

The animals – a cat, dog, capybara, bird, and lemur, among others – are remarkably realistic, yet characteristic in their actions, as the film deftly balances harsh realities with inspiring fantasy, danger with hope, and desperation with defiance. It’s a stunningly crafted, aesthetically enchanting adventure, with innovative music and impeccable sound design. Zilbalodis’ film (which he amazingly co-wrote, directed, edited, and co-scored) is an incredible achievement in animated storytelling, and deserving of every award coming its way. It has already broken records for a Latvian feature at awards ceremonies.

Flow is a spirited and wild film experience that must be experienced and appreciated for the ground-breaking, profound feat of excellence that it is. This writer was moved, engaged and enthralled by its scope, beauty, and heart. An inspiring ode to wildlife and its resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

Assuredly one of the best films of 2025 and a story for our times.

FLOW is our now in UK cinemas.

THE ELECTRIC STATE

An eye-watering $320 million budget. The Russo Brothers directing. Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown in lead roles. Supporting roles of various degrees by the likes of Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, and Ke Huy Quan. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out… almost everything. If the word tiresome didn’t already exist, we’d probably have to invent it just to describe The Electric State – based on Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 illustrated novel – a huge ‘Netflix Original’ movie that, ironically, has barely an original thought in its torturous two-hour running time.

We’re in an alternative 1990s timeline (so already we’re being encouraged not to give much of a damn), robots have risen up against humankind, and there’s been a war that’s left the world in a bit of a mess. Tech CEO Ethan Skate (Tucci) has managed to create ‘Neurocaster’ technology that allows humans to upload their minds into drone robots, bringing the war to an end and banishing remaining rebel robots to a so-called exclusion zone.

Meanwhile, teenage orphan Michelle (Brown) is approached by a sentient robot called Cosmo, who convinces her that he is controlled by her younger brother Christopher (Woody Norman), who has long been assumed to be dead. The pair set out across a war-torn, dystopian landscape in search of the real Christopher, teaming up on the way with former soldier Keats (Pratt, surely in line with David Schwimmer in Goosebumps: The Vanishing for the ‘Stupidest Screen Wig 2025’ award) and a random bunch of odd-looking sentient robots as they attempt to uncover the dark truth about Skate and his ‘Neurocaster’ technology. If you actually care about any of this, then hats off to you.

The Electric State is a deadening, empty experience. It’s a film that doesn’t seem entirely sure what audience it’s aiming at; the robots are childish and simplistic (the leader of the robot revolution is called ‘Mr Peanuts’), their design evoking both Lewis Carroll and 1985’s Return To Oz, but the themes of mind-control and sentient machines seem to speak to AI-jittery adults. It’s not impossible for a film to work on two levels, but the predominant tone here is relentlessly bland, inane, and woefully unsophisticated.

Attempts at humour are facile and witless, and the script gives its talented cast absolutely nothing to work with. Pratt’s “everyman hero” shtick is getting wearying now, and Millie Bobby Brown, the first Netflix-created movie star, looks desperately uninterested (and uninteresting) in a role that plays to none of her wide-eyed strengths. Yes, the effects are astonishing, but they’d really better be on this sort of budget. Perhaps a few bucks could have been diverted from the CGI fund and directed into a sharper, less derivative and lifeless script that paid a bit more respect to its source material.

This is worryingly generic stuff from the Russo Brothers, and we can only hope they bring their A game back into play for their upcoming return to the MCU in the next two Avengers movies. Until then, this film is an absolute state with very little electric about it.

THE ELECTRIC STATE is available to stream on Netflix now

MICKEY 17

You might feel like death after a gruelling shift, but for Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), this is exactly what he does feel – death, much to the morbid curiosity of those around him. That’s the premise of Bong Joon-ho’s latest incisive science fiction entry Mickey 17, which sees one man relentlessly sent on lethal research expeditions both during and after an interstellar journey. Every time he dies, a new clone with all his memories and personality is created in his place – until, one day, he survives, to find a new clone has already been produced. This sets the stage for an ethical and political showdown that combines bleak capitalist oversight with Bong’s trademark black comedic touches.

Mickey 17 starts and ends on dramatically different notes, lacking both the consistency and bite of the still exemplary Snowpiercer (2013), but Bong aficionados still have plenty to relish here. Economic, political, and environmental concerns all combine to produce a fascinating story that feels tragically timely for the moment. A severely downbeat mood is avoided though, courtesy of Bong’s typical flair for strange humour and quirks. Far from detracting from the serious message, it brings it into sharper focus.

Pattinson is extraordinary, balancing his dual role with an entertaining variety and confidence that proves threatening to Mark Ruffalo’s egomaniacal Kenneth Marshall (half Donald Trump, half evangelical TV preacher). The finale nicely blends the epic with the intimate, ending on a more hopeful note than perhaps the plot would lead you to believe. While narratively it may feel less adventurous than Bong’s masterpieces, it remains an engrossing look at death, capitalism, and bodily autonomy.

Mickey 17 is out now in cinemas.

BLOAT

In the same vein of found footage, the screenlife sub-genre – films set entirely on their characters’ computer screens – is one that you either click with (so to speak) or not. No doubt it has been put to great use in the likes of Unfriended, Searching and Host, and now Pablo Absento’s horror thriller meets cryptid creature feature Bloat has all the potential in the world. Sadly, the film never quite achieves those hoped-for highs.

Jack (Gotham’s Ben McKenzie) is called away to service and misses out on his family holiday to Japan, but keeps in constant contact with them over video call. The family is soon thrown into a horrifying scenario as the youngest son Kyle nearly drowns. However, more may be going on here, as Jack’s wife and older son both grow increasingly concerned about Kyle, who seems disturbingly changed by the experience.

Bloat is for the most part a well-constructed monster horror that intertwines age-old monster lore with modern technology, and which builds nicely as the game becomes clearer and clearer. It is also blessed by a few good performances from McKenzie and Kane Kosugi, who, as Jack’s service mate Ryan, adds some much-needed moments of lightness to a story that grows darker.

In many ways an exorcism-style story with a cryptid edge, Bloat still has something to offer even if, at points, its confines do seem to hamper its expansion. The screenlife limitations mean that Bloat can’t quite kick into another gear, and ultimately the final act fizzles out. Absento doesn’t quite manage to accomplish what the likes of Dashcam or Unfriended did, instead offering a finale that is a bit more chaotic but rather flat instead of crazy.

Still, for fans of the many genres being blended, there is something to see here, even if Bloat could have been more.

Bloat is available now on digital platforms in the US.

RUMPELSTILTSKIN [FrightFest Glasgow 2025]

Amid genre cinema’s current obsession with reinventing childhood and fairy tale favourites as grimdark slasher films, one of the original Brothers Grimm stories gets a more traditionalist take, in line with its folk horror roots. Directed by Andy Edwards, Rumpelstiltskin is a surprisingly straight-faced adaptation of the fairy tale of the same name.

Making an enemy of a greedy, desperate King, Miller (Mark Cook) lands his daughter Evalina (Hannah Baxter-Eve) in hot water. Locked up in the King’s dungeon, Evalina is faced with an impossible ultimatum – spin a fortune in gold out of hay, or lose her head. Spotting an opportunity, the local woodland Imp (Joss Carter) offers to lend a hand. But he has a few conditions of his own. He’ll help, for the price of Eva’s firstborn son. Fast-forward a few years, and the Imp has come to collect…

Where the likes of Cinderella’s Curse, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare have been playing fast and loose with the book of fairy tales lately, Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t have to work too hard to turn its eponymous creature into a horror villain. After all, the original story is already pretty unsettling. As the titular goblin, Carter gives an enjoyably grotesque performance, which is backed up by a solid creature design.

Elsewhere, the budget is noticeably low, but the gloomy cinematography and rural England setting only serve to heighten the chilly atmosphere. While Edwards’ screenplay sticks fairly close to the childhood story, the nippy pacing ensures that it never outstays its welcome, even as it heads into its finale. We all know where this is headed (or at least, anyone whose mother ever read them fairy tales as a young ‘un does), and it’s to Rumplestiltskin’s credit that the film manages to eke a sense of tension and dread from one of our oldest stories.

RUMPELSTILTSKIN premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 8th, 2025.

O’DESSA [SXSW]

The remarkable Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) is the titular character in Geremy Jasper’s quirky, visually stunning dystopian love story.

O’Dessa heads off a-ramblin’ to Satylite City, trying to retrieve her father’s unique guitar, which has been stolen by a group she thought she’d befriended. When she reaches the city, she discovers a population brainwashed via television by the ‘lord’ Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett). Trying to earn money, O’Dessa meets and falls for entertainer/prostitute Euri (Kelvin Harrison Jr). This liaison only puts her in more danger.

Writer/director Geremy Jasper presents the story within the frame of a musical, but fear not, it’s not all singing-and-dancing in the traditional fashion; everything fits the situation and the songs are actually very good. This is a future in which people who step out of line are shipped off to ‘Wonderland’, where they have to be entertaining, as they take part in a deadly Saturday night-style TV talent show. With this, Jasper shows the effect the mind-numbing TV output and crowd-pleasing corporal punishment has on the masses.

A wonderfully transgressive tale of love, O’Dessa mixes Mad Max (Regina Hall brilliantly channeling Tina Turner as the foreboding Neon Dion) with Hedwig, wrapped up with Videodrome and the worst episode of Britain’s Got Talent (complete with autotune). However, it doesn’t shy away from nastiness, with some particularly brutal scenes including a wince-inducing finger chop!

Bolstered by the fantastic performances (Sink, Harrison Jr, and Hall are all outstanding), Jasper’s follow-up to Patti Cake$ is more than a vivid, extended music video – it’s got a big heart and is genuinely enthralling.

O’Dessa will be available to stream on Disney+ in the UK from 20th March 2025.

SCARED TO DEATH [FrightFest Glasgow]

If I never hear the name ‘The Grog’ again, it will be too soon. Holding a seance in an abandoned children’s shelter, a group of filmmakers – including in-universe horror legend The Grog, played by Kurt Deimer – rustle up more than they had bargained for when they awaken something terrible from its undead slumber.

This comedy-horror film has a few horror icons of its own in Insidious star Lin Shaye and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Part 2‘s Bill Moseley. Playing the film-inside-the-film’s director and the house’s realtor, Shaye and Moseley will be this low-budget horror’s biggest draw. And, with both genre stars getting a surprisingly generous chunk of screen time, director Paul Boyd certainly gets his money’s worth.

As for the rest of it, Scared to Death offers a reasonable selection of genre fare, ranging from haunted dolls to things that go bump in the night. Which makes it ironic, given the quality of the cast and its obvious love of the haunted house, that Scared to Death is so lacking in… well, scares. The film’s VFX work is solid and some of the visuals are particularly unnerving (especially one involving Lin Shaye and a bed), but between the wooden performances and hit-and-miss writing (take a shot any time someone says ‘The Grog’) the atmosphere simply isn’t there.

SCARED TO DEATH premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 8th, 2025.