Recent theatrical viewings

[Rev. Powell]

HOT SPOT: A detective living in a city run by a totalitarian AI, surrounded by wastelands, investigates a murder at a refugee camp and a series of cyberattacks that are accelerating the rate at which citizen's heads are exploding. Many will complain that genuinely interesting sci-fi concepts are left by the wayside in favor of meaningless psychedelic trip sequences, but this is still likely the most entertaining movie about a telepathic post-apocalyptic detective in a blond mullet who is slowly turning into a big cat after an encounter with a cyber witch that you will see all year. 3/5. I was the only person in the theater, which made the world feel right again.

[Rev. Powell]

BUDDY: Big orange unicorn Buddy turns homicidal whenever the children don't play along with his lessons. Told almost entirely from within the reality of a kid's TV show, it's like if a demon-possessed Barney became dictator at Pee-Wee's Playhouse. There are hints, if not a complete explanation, of what Buddy really is and how his world works. It's also at times very cruel, and probably metaphorically represents what it's like to have an abusive father. Despite all this, it's not as unhinged as what I would have expected from Caspar "Too Many Cooks"/"Adult Swim Yule Log" Kelly; it's coherent enough that it's almost aimed at a commercial audience. I remember standing at the urinal afterwards thinking to myself, "he really toned down the weirdness for mainstream audiences" when a perturbed patron walked in muttering to himself, "what a weird movie." 3.5/5.

[M.10rda]

I remember standing at the urinal afterwards thinking to myself, "he really toned down the weirdness for mainstream audiences" when a perturbed patron walked in muttering to himself, "what a weird movie." 3.5/5.

^^^My entire filmgoing existence!

[Rev. Powell]

COYOTE VS. ACME (2026): Wile E. Coyote contacts an ambulance chaser to start a personal injury lawsuit against mega-corporation ACME after being injured by dozens of defective products. Surprisingly clever, funny for kids and adults, lots of nostalgic Looney Tunes cameos (cartoon Peter Lorre!), technically stunning, and for once, Will Forte isn't annoying; hard to understand how this was shelved. Yay Ketchup! 4/5. 

[Rev. Powell]

SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM: A farmer is mistaken for a monster after a mixup between hair gel and an experimental miracle pumpkin growing potion. Clever slapstick farce that's nonstop gags (reminiscent of a 20s silent, but animated and sustained), with a pleasant Halloween theme and no coherent words spoken. 4/5. My niece didn't want to see this with me because it wasn't branded, so I was the only person in the theater---as it should be.

[M.10rda]

Resident Evil - Very solid adaptation of the games.  Funny, great lead performance, terrific pacing, constantly moving. Guess Cregger don't miss, eh?

RESIDENT EVIL (2026):
Jim liked it, Zombie No.One didn't....... I can imagine objections to it, such as:

The simplicity and linearity of the plot could be seen as reductive; the main character is at least a little bit of an idiot and it takes a while to warm to him; the stylistic and metatextual acknowledgments to the (video game) source material are unapologetic; and (pursuant to those acknowledgments) the humor verges occasionally on the ridiculous (though less so than in, for instance, the generally beloved and entirely puerile "Resident Evil 4").

However, none of those criticisms stick for me, because (as Jim suggests) Zach Creggar is such a strong director, w/ such an outstanding grasp of geography (always invaluable in the horror genre), and such a capable hand for pace and tone. So I found RESIDENT EVIL non-stop suspenseful fun w/ some chuckles and some good gooey gore and even some scares.

It's only 99 minutes, it ain't quite as artful or thoughtful as WEAPONS, but it way overdelivers for a RESIDENT EVIL movie or really any mainstream zombie movie.    4.5/5!

Also, per this comment:

another (15) certificate that is easily gorier and grosser than any of the banned 'video nasties'... in fact if this is a (15) for gore, what the heck would an (18) require?

C'mon, gorier and grosser than CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST or MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY? Maybe there's more blood in RESIDENT EVIL, but there's no torture or slow mutilation/dismantling of bodies or prolonged human suffering (well, besides maybe the lead character at the end). RESIDENT EVIL isn't even as disturbingly violent as Eli Roth's most violent films, let alone Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD (still a high-water mark for onscreen brutality). I think Carpenter's THE THING times two is a more reasonable comparison here.

...But also, who's complaining?!  It's Rated R (17+) over here by the way but I would've loved this at age 15!

[zombie no.one]

Also, per this comment:

another (15) certificate that is easily gorier and grosser than any of the banned 'video nasties'... in fact if this is a (15) for gore, what the heck would an (18) require?

C'mon, gorier and grosser than CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST or MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY? Maybe there's more blood in RESIDENT EVIL, but there's no torture or slow mutilation/dismantling of bodies or prolonged human suffering (well, besides maybe the lead character at the end). RESIDENT EVIL isn't even as disturbingly violent as Eli Roth's most violent films, let alone Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD (still a high-water mark for onscreen brutality). I think Carpenter's THE THING times two is a more reasonable comparison here.

...But also, who's complaining?!  It's Rated R (17+) over here by the way but I would've loved this at age 15!

I guess it's maybe not a fair comparison then... to me the new ultra CGI spatter type stuff just seems so much more visceral and in-your-face compared to the older stuff, that I see it as 'worse'

glad you enjoyed the movie though. - in my short review I didn't mention the ending 15 mins or so
 which I actually thought was so hammy and over the top I (kind of) enjoyed it.