June Movie Reviews + Some of May

Bring Her Back is a horror film from RackaRacka, following their excellent 2023 debut, Talk to Me. The film centers on a brother and sister who uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother. Similar to Talk to Me, Bring Her Back is a masterfully crafted and wonderfully acted horror film that is both disturbing and brutal. I loved this movie from start to finish. Every cast member delivers excellent performances, truly elevating the intense and gruesome horror sequences. The horror is top-notch, featuring virtually non-stop intensity and showcasing some of the bloodiest and most brutal imagery possible, all while maintaining suspense and tension.
Despite the film's intensity, it occasionally includes witty and funny dialogue, a hallmark of the directors' style. Rest assured, the humour never compromises the film's darker tone. Danny and Michael Philippou have once again proven themselves to be outstanding directors with bright futures ahead of them. Bring Her Back is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year so far, and I highly recommend it to anyone in search of a great horror movie.

GRADE: A+

Movie Details:
Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Release Date: May 30, 2025
Run Time: 104 minutes
Studio: A24
MPAA Rating: R (for strong disturbing bloody violent content, some grisly images, graphic nudity, underage drinking, and language)

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is the spin-off and fifth installment in the John Wick franchise. It is directed by Len Wiseman and stars Ana De Armas as a ballerina who embarks on a revenge quest after her father is killed. I was excited for this film because I love all four previous John Wick films, and I must say, this movie was wonderful! Ana De Armas was great in her role; she excelled in the action sequences and performed admirably in dialogue scenes as well.

Given that this film is part of the John Wick franchise, we have to discuss the action sequences. The action is stylish, fun, and very bloody, with plenty of it throughout the film! Len Wiseman skillfully directed these action scenes, making them consistently exciting and enjoyable to watch! Also, seeing Keanu Reeves in his glorified cameo reprising his role as John Wick was fun to see. Also like the first four films, the film is also extremely well shot and very well edited. There is only one flaw in this film, it's not a huge one but I wish the story felt a bit fresher. The first John Wick movie felt fresh as a revenge story because instead of a family member being avenged, it's a dog; here, it's a woman avenging her father. It wasn't a major problem to me in the end because the film was so much fun, but I did have to point that out. Ballerina is a terrifically fun action movie with more than enough shootouts, blood, fights and more to satisfy fans of this franchise. It sure satisfied me! I can't wait to see more if any future spin-offs are just as good as this!

GRADE:  A

Movie Details:
Director:  Len Wiseman 
Release date:  June 6th, 2025
Run time:  125 minutes 
Studio:  Lionsgate
MPAA rating:  R (for strong bloody violence throughout, and language)

How To Train Your Dragon is the live-action remake of the very popular and excellent 2010 animated film. It's directed by Dean DeBlois, who also co-directed the original. No need to explain the plot here, if you've seen the original film you know exactly what the plot is. I was skeptical about this because I am a very well-known hater of 99% of the Disney live-action remakes, and when I saw that DreamWorks was hopping onto that bandwagon, I just thought, "why?" Seriously, not every animated movie needs to be made into live-action! What's next, Madagascar? Anyways, what did I think of this remake? I thought this was a well-made but narratively lazy remake. The film has exciting action sequences and visually it's stunning. The designs of the dragons blend in very well with the live-action environment. It is also very well acted, and the entire cast gives great performances! Gerard Butler is the standout here as Hiccup's father. As for flaws, I know most people don't care about this, but it bothers me to no end! The story and how everything plays out are exactly the same as the original film. They do add small things to pad out the run time to over two hours, but other than that there's absolutely no changes made here. In my opinion, if you're going to remake a movie, make some changes to justify its existence; otherwise, there's no reason for it to exist other than to milk the original for everything that it's worth. This film is pretty much just an extended version of the animated film that also happens to be live-action. Also, the film is too long. I'm not usually one to bitch and complain about how long a movie is, but the original film told its story perfectly in just 100 minutes, and this film is nearly 30 minutes longer, and I felt it when scenes were made longer than they needed to be. So in the end, your enjoyment of this movie will largely depend on your ability to care if a remake to a good movie is shot for shot or not. If you don't mind, you'll probably enjoy this movie. If you do care and want something to actually differentiate it from the original in a way that could make it stand on its own and be just as enjoyable, it won't be for you. It's not a terrible movie, but I'll just stick with the original.

GRADE:  C+

Movie Details:

Director:  Dean DeBlois 

Release date:  June 13th, 2025

Run time:  125 minutes 

Studio:  Universal Pictures 

MPAA rating:  PG (for sequences of intense action, and peril)

28 Years Later is the long awaited third installment in the 28 Days franchise, and features Danny Boyle returning as director and Alex Garland returning to write. In 28 Years Later, a group of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year, mainly because I'm a massive fan of the first two films, 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later are both wonderfully intense and brutal horror films that should be seen by anyone who hasn't yet already. What did I think of 28 Years Later? This was a masterpiece! 28 Years Later is easily another movie I can call one of the best of the year. This film is intense, brutal, gory and tension filled, and I loved every single minute of it! Danny Boyle has brought his best work as a director in years, and Alex Garland wrote a terrific screenplay with a fantastic story and some great dialogue. The acting all around is phenomenal, including some of the best acting I've seen from a child actor in many years. This movie does have some shaky camera work but it's done very well, it's never to the point where it's migrane inducing. AI also loved how this wasn't just a terrific and intense horror film, but also a compelling and tragic coming-of-age film, as much of the film focuses on this kid who discovers dark things about his parents that changes his views on them gradually throughout the film. If you love gore in your movies then you'll love 28 Years Later, because there is tons of it and it looks spectacular! So in the end 28 Years Later is a sequel that was absolutely worth the wait! It was every bit as intense, compelling and most importantly, entertaining as I was hoping for it to be! Please check this one out if you loved the previous movies, because it is 100% worth your time!

GRADE:  A+

Movie Details:

Director:  Danny Boyle

Release date:  June 20th, 2025

Run time:  115 minutes 

Studio:  Columbia Pictures 

MPAA rating:  R (for strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality)

M3GAN 2.0 is the sequel to the surprisingly good 2023 film M3GAN, Gerard Johnstone returns to director and in this time, taking place two years after the first, her creator, Gemma, resorts to resurrecting her infamous creation in order to take down Amelia, the military-grade weapon who was built by a defense contractor who stole M3GAN's underlying tech. As I have said at the start, the first film was shockingly good, so I had some very high expectations for this one! So what did I think of this film? While it's not as good as the first one, this was a damn good time! It's pure dumb fun at its finest! If you have not seen this film yet you must keep this in mind, this is NOT horror film, this is an action film. As an action film this was a blast, the action sequences are ridiculous but they are so much fun to watch! Much like the first film, I very much enjoyed M3GAN as a character, she has that smart-ass attitude and just enough of a sense of humor to make her a fun character. If you're a person who only likes movies with a shred of intelligence in them, this won't be the movie for you, this a dumb, cheesy, campy movie and if that is not your thing, you will not enjoy this. As for flaws I had with this movie, while I very much had fun with this movie, it was a tad too long. Also I like the first one, it would have benefited with an R rating, it would have been nice to have a lot more blood here, but thankfully it's coming with an unrated cut on Blu-ray!

GRADE:  B+

Movie Details

Director:  Gerard Johnstone 

Release date:  June 27th, 2025

Run time:  120 minutes 

Studio:  Universal Pictures

MPAA rating:  PG-13 (for strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language, sexual material and brief drug references)