amazedemon

Bio: "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." - Roger Ebert

Feel free to message me if you want to start a discussion.
I'm also posting my mini-reviews on letterboxd now: https://letterboxd.com/amazedemon/

Recent Ratings

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65 _62%

Coyote vs. Acme (2026) - Rated 07 Oct 2026

Coyote vs. Acme is cute film driven by nostalgia and the re-narrativization of Wile E. as a sympathetic, industrious, down-trodden carnivore. The plot is alright; the Looney Toon bits are timeless whereas the approach to the American legal system is cartoonish. Forte is his usual low energy self, leaving Condor to pick up most of the slack. There are plenty of amusing moments, and the film is rarely boring, but it lacks enough wow moments to make it great.

66 _71%

Minions & Monsters (2026) - Rated 30 Sep 2026

Maybe it's because I watched Minions & Monsters straight after Enola Holmes 3, or maybe this film's homage to Hollywood's Golden Age and early film comes across as genuine, but I actually really enjoyed this. The designs & animation are good and the jokes are silly but funny. For the first time I actually enjoyed picking out the relevant foreign language words from the gibberish, and they sounded less annoying than Milly Bobby Brown. Overall a cute film about the love of cinema.

61 _25%

Enola Holmes 3 (2026) - Rated 30 Sep 2026

Enola Holmes 3's mediocrity should come as no surprise. The cast is fine though often let down by purposefully on-the-nose writing. Character consistency comes behind making Enola look like a badass & the grating need to view the 19th century through a modern lens, resulting in a weak plot with weaker character motivations. The pacing is a bit lacklustre & I noticed myself getting bored repeatedly. I'm also done with the stylised 4th wall breaks that add nothing to plot that decent acting can't.

63 _39%

Mayday (2026) - Rated 15 Sep 2026

Reynolds has the range of a putter, while Branagh is typecast as a kooky Russian almost as much as Reynolds typecasts himself as Ryan Reynolds. Their pairing still feels a little odd. Mayday is a decent film, albeit a little underwhelming. The anti-war messaging is the strongest aspect of Daley and Goldstein's screenplay, while their direction focuses on stylised action sequences that can sometimes feel a little over the top. The homage to top Gun is explicit, but it doesn't really surpass it.

63 _39%

Mortal Kombat II (2026) - Rated 17 Aug 2026

Is Mortal Kombat II an improvement over the first film...probably not; but this time round I was prepared for the terrible dialogue, the mediocre acting, the gratuitous violence and the pleather outfits. The plot is super thin but the cheese is dialled up and I didn't have a terrible time.

60 _21%

Backrooms (2026) - Rated 15 Aug 2026

I disliked the found footage opening. I liked Ejiofor. I didn't enjoy this film. Backrooms garners more praise for its unorthodox production than for the actual film. I was expecting conceptual sci-fi but got indie psychological thriller instead. Ultimately, the film is about processing trauma, but whatever it has to say isn't particularly interesting and the characters weren't present enough for me to connect with. The narrative is weak, the cool ideas scattered and it's left feeling pointless.

66 _71%

Le jeu (2018) - Rated 15 Aug 2026

Le jeu is a dinner table dramedy that provides a few laughs, a few thoughtful moments & doesn't overstay its welcome. The writing & cast are quite good, quickly establishing a sense of each character such that their reactions feel totally natural, with tension built in between each phone going off. The more I think about the ending the more I like it, as it poses the question, while everyone is happier are any of them actually better off. De Groodt's Vincent is the most stable of the lot.

61 _25%

Supergirl (2026) - Rated 09 Aug 2026

This incarnation of Supergirl has a few interesting ideas but the execution is questionable at best. The acting is okay but the direction is questionable. Alcock and Ridley are good, but the latter's character varies from frightened child to revenge-seeking badass in between scenes. Schoenaerts leans into campy villain which works half the time. Momoa's Lobo feels like a generic Gunn side character. The feminist theme is also handled poorly. Overall the film feels rushed, choppy & disappointing.

62 _31%

Savage House (2026) - Rated 05 Aug 2026

Savage House is a dry comedy shot like a like a horror/ thriller akin to a Lanthimos film. It's a perfectly decent film with a good cast spearheaded by Grant (as the rest of the cast didn't need to be carried). Unfortunately, the film is also a tad unexciting. Be it the persistent wry narration, the dreary colour palette, or the unrelenting misfortune and bourgeoisie, the film misses the mark on scathing wit landing instead in depressing fairy/ cautionary tale.

72 _87%

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) - Rated 04 Aug 2026

Brand New Day is probably my favourite of Holland's Spider-Man films. My nitpicks first; Bernthal's character's inclusion was clunky (mainly the lack of introduction) though it did work well. There's a scene near the end that has the audacity to skip the logistics but tack on a dubious hand-wavey explanation. The rest of the film is great. The characters & their interactions are more mature. Quite a few aspects (the emotion & movement) harken back to Maguire's era but feel more modern. Fun time.