r/moviereviews

TL;DR: I really enjoyed watching Supergirl (2026). But i am critical of the movie making part of it. Its is okay to like things that aren't perfect.

Movie Review: Supergirl (2026)

Rating: ⭐⭐ of 5

Summary: Supergirl is a comic book (NOT super hero, more on that later) movie. It is the second film in the new James Gunn universe, following the strong opener, Superman (2025). It takes you on the existential crisis of Kara Zor-L, Supergirl, as she struggles to find her own identity in a universe with Superman. (much like the movie itself) On this journey she is forcibly recruited by a young girl, Ruthye, to seek vengeance for the murder of her family. Luckily for Ruthye, Supergirl's dog is also a victim of the murderer Krell, requiring Supergirl to hunt down Krell to retrieve a unique antidote. We stumble upon Lobo, the gruff immortal bounty hunter, and through insertion of Kryptonian plot points crucial to future movies, we do eventually over take Krell, retrieve the needed quest item, protect Ruthye from her own vengeance, and find Supergirl's self.

HEAVILY inspired by Screenplay: Supergirl is an adapted HEAVILY inspired by screenplay, based heavily off of the Woman of Tomorrow (WoT) comic book series. Seems like a natural choice considering that WoT is generally heralded as the best depiction of Supergirl of all the many, many attempts DC has made to reboot the character. Which is exactly where we run into our first, and in my opinion, biggest problem. WoT is visceral, tragic, and harsh to the realities of the universe. This does NOT fit the Gunn DC Universe at all. Superman was fun, bright, and exciting. Shoe horning WoT into that package was a blunder. It would have been much better served with the Dark Knight treatment in it's own standalone feature. (for the comic nerds, New 52 or DC all in Era would have been much better, or just a fresh take on Supergirl all together). Edit: They announced that it is not adapted, but "inspired by." Pick a lane folks. If it's not adapted from then it is HEAVILY inspired by.

Acting: Milly Alcock (Supergirl), Eve Ridley (Ruthye), Jason Momoa (Lobo), David Corenswet (Superman), and Emily Beecham and David Krumholtz as Supergirl's parents were all FANTASTIC. The casting director should win awards as they all understood the assignment. Despite all the problems of the film, this group visibly pushes through it all and crushes it. Every single one made me wish they had more on-screen time. Supergirl feels heavy, in desperate need of a life reset, but unsure of where to go and what to do to find it. Consistent and constant subtle nuances in nearly every frame carry this through to the film's satisfying conclusion of personal, internal redemption. We don't deserve this master class in a comic book movie, and like with Corenswet's Superman, we are yet again blessed with it. AND THEN, we get another; Ruthye. I assume that this child actor forced herself into the production and made Milly be her partner and sister, because that is exactly what we got on screen, and then the shifts to tear jerking climaxes were effortless. I could go on and on about the rest of the cast, but i'll just mention that Momoa was made to play Lobo. Every other movie he's been in now seems like an afterthought and yes i mean Aquaman and Dune.

Cinematography and art: BIG MISS. The gritty universe, melded with the pallet of the Gunn universe is just weird. As previously mentioned this is a failure in mission from the start, but man. PICK AN AESTHTIC! PLEASE! Feels like I watched 3 different movies....

Directing: Is it characters? is it a big universe? should we just jump cut through a plot point? Sure why not?!? the rest is a total mess mine as well. While we're at it, lets tell the actor to look in the wrong direction during a build up to a critical action sequence (lead up to the bar fight). Good or bad, It's often difficult to tell the impact of a director on a movie. Not this time. 👎👎

Pacing: Pacing is usually a screenplay OR a directing issue. This time it's such a mess i think it needs it's own category. I felt like i was watching a marathon that had five 100 yard dashes unevenly distributed through out it. I don't know who messed this up, but you're fired.

The Villain: I didn't mention Matthias Schoenaerts as Krem of the Yellow Hills because i can't tell if he failed or if the entire support system collapsed around him. The character was poorly adapted from WoT. I expected an evil Conan the Barbarian character accidentally thrust into the galactic stage. But instead i got a bland male chauvinist that did evil things just because and exists only because they showed up on screen. Every scene he was in seemed like an intern, or an AI, was tasked with making sure we didn't forget him. I suspect the actor has very little of the blame, but man is it bad. I'm sorry Matthias.

Failure of concept: We just spent like 15 years acclimating to Super Heroes via Iron Man and the Avengers, and Man of Steel and the Justice League. They DOMINATED the action movie category to the point that an entire generation will be bored by Terminator 2. I LOVE that James Gunn is flipping the script and showing us what comic book adaptations/movies really can be. But he's climbing mount everest trying to convince everyone that Marvel's way is not the only way. Supergirl... especially WoT Supergirl.... immediately after Superman? HUGE, MASSIVE, UNFORGIVABLE mistake. Give us Batman. Give us Wonder Woman. Heck give us Superman 2... but Supergirl? suffering an existential crisis? It's Batman vs Superman following Man of Steel all over again. Please, James, show me on the doll where they hurt you.

Norm, then why did you like it?: Omg it was so much fun! Superman's voicemails and vid calls were filled with buckets of nuance. The exploration of kryptonian powers under different suns... chef's kiss. The pirates high jacking a space bus? I was on the edge of my seat. Supergirl punching people into the stratosphere.... Lobo dragging bad guys behind his motorcycle... I mean by the end of it i wanted to impale Krem for Ruthye myself. This movie was made for someone... ...and that someone was me.

Summary: Releasing it on the same day as the PERFECT Toy Story 5 was a huge fumble as to a cinephile who isn't invested in the universe, you should for sure pass on it. But for the pure fan, which is me, it is a fun adventure 100% worth your time. I can love a movie that is a 2 out of 5. Mighty Taco is delicious, Idc that's it's not actually a taco, and I love Supergirl (2026).

P.S.: Why didn't i mention Krypto? I hate Krypto and I always have. The best part of the movie is how he leads off in the first 5 minutes, and then how we don't see him again until the movie is over. 🤮**

I just watched this movie, and I couldn't understand the hype surrounding it.

I've nothing against the performances of actors, they played brilliantly according to the script and trajectory that this movie was given.

However I believe the theme of this movie is entirely to blame.

It tries to act as a cultural critique but at the same time wrestles with making itself unsettling, and more so tries to frame itself as a psychological horror. It fails here.

If it's a critique, it's such a petty and negligible aspect of the present world that hardly a few and segregated men or women will synchronize with its theme. However, how many people have walked out of the cinema, claiming how unsettling this movie's premises was is a horror in itself; that so many can identify with this specific aspect of male loneliness and toxicity was chilling for me.

However my point is that the critique that this movie circles around is too trifling to be moulded into a motion picture.

A short film of almost 10 minutes would have conveyed the same story and theme with the same intensity without wasting 2 hrs of your time.

Now as we have established (if you agree with me) that it fails as a ground breaking psychological horror, let's move onto something more foundational; the Plot, which I believe you all might help me understand better.

How is Bear's wish of Niki loving him more than anyone else in the world translates into how this movie's plot unfolds for the next 1 hr?? Just how tf it took such an intense form?

Love be it the way bear asked for it, is by no means supposed to take this form. It's totally logically inconsistent that his desire to be loved more than anyone else in the world gets materialised in the form of his girlfriend watching him from the dark corner in the night.

Like what the flying load of crap was that.

How love or even obsessional love materialised into her duct taping the entire door? Or other ventures that Miss Nicky takes in the remaining plot in order to solidify her bond with Mr Bear? Is that even obsessional love? It just made no sense.

It could have been a more constructive love, even a beautiful one but to convey the theme it ruins the entire logic of how this indie adventure unfolded, Pretty rushed here I would say in script writing.

Now many of you will say, Hey She was possessed!!!

Well Bear asked for her to love him not some other entity to take over and get loved. The whole logic of that stupid wish is ignored just so the writer could add the element of horror and stretch the film for two damn hours to surround the narrative they were trying to build was pretty much bonkers and, logically inconsistent for me to digest.

For me the pinnacle of a cultural critique blended with a psychological horror, a deeply unsettling narrative and an ending that'll leave you scarred, traumatized and shattered for days was "SPEAK NO EVIL (DANISH VERSION OFC)".

I think it's an ambitious project for an independent filmmaker, for someone trying to enter such a fast paced world of cinema and to make his mark.

But it devastatingly falls short in conveying a coherent theme and providing you with a psychological horror which it claims for itself.

Excuse my vocabularial and grammatical inconsistencies, if you find any. I'm not a native speaker.

Citizen Vigilante, what can be said about this movie?

Well, in truth it can be summarized in a handful of words. "White Male Murder Fantasy". That's it, That is quite literally the entire movie. It's no surprise it comes around the same time White Nationalists marched DC(and where Grindr saw nearly 300% spike in activity). One can't help but wonder if this is the movie they went home to and watched with their loved ones. Reinforcing the ideals that anyone that has different skin color or from another country = bad.

What's even worse is Citizen Vigilante doesn't even make sense as a title. He isn't a citizen and wouldn't be tried in court as a citizen. Since you know, he goes to a foreign country to murder a bunch of people who live there. Sounds pretty typical of a white guy am I right?

What I really don't understand is the obsession that it needs to be watched because one country banned it. I suppose I could understand if it was worth actually watching but the action feels clunky and overall the cinematography is.....average? It's not winning any awards and certainly not something I would watch unless it was on Tubi for free or something lie that.

You know that one guy who always has like...this elaborate plot for how he is going to murder someone when they break into his house? Goes into way too many details and makes everyone uncomfortable? That's basically this movie, white man murder fantasy.

4/10 at best.

I truly hate this generation, and not knowing a good movie when they see one.

Like what is happening nowadays???? Are movies nowadays such great shit that the decent ones are looked upon as the greatest films to ever exist.

I talk a lot about obsession but y'all overhype the fuck out of this movie it's ridiculous. It's a decent fucking movie, it's not this once in a lifetime film. If this movie had came out in the 80s or 90s it wouldn't be getting this much press.

Sinners. For a while now people wasn't allow to say they didn't like this movie or else you were raisct. I didn't care for this movie all that much. To me it was once again a decent film, but nowhere near as good as people trying to make it out to seem.

Nope. Was fucking boring as fuck. I fall asleep on this movie multiple times. Maybe I would watch it again with a gallon of coffee by my side.

Oppenheimer. I found this movie to be the most interesting out the 3. I liked this more than I liked nope, but thought obsession, sinners were the far better movies.

Actually between all these movies obsession was better than all of them.

These movies are fine. I don't think their bad movies, I'm not saying their bad movies. But they are no where near as good as y'all try to make them out to be. Stop overhyping decent movies.

The only character I liked was Dr Helen (Nicki Guadagnini). Kazan had no fault because he was disabled so I stay neutral. But the others, I forgot how unpleasant they were: Quentin, a psycho, David made too many major mistakes and Leaven was really bitchy and full of herself in the first hour.

I liked Dr Helen the most. She was kind to Kazan and she stood up to Quentin from day one. >!Killing her off halfway through was a mistake, she was a stronger lead than Leven!<

Now, I won't be rewriting the whole film cause that's not my issue and I don't have the time. But the movie kinda lost me after Victor and Paul's tussle for Bernstein's brain. These are just my suggestions.

Paul damages Bernstein's brain beyond repair. Victor knowing Paul was the one to educate him since childhood and his stance of creating the monster decides to change his mind on the matter, literally, by using his brain for the monster. Victor kills Paul, takes his brain and the monster is alive!

Similar to the ending the monster goes berserk. Victor shoots Elizabeth trying to shoot the monster, fatally this time. And the monster is engulfed in flames and burns down the house. Victor loses everything. Victor's ego being what led to his downfall is great, I just wish they fully committed cause there were still six more films after that one.

If you have any suggestions or criticisms please let me know.❤️

Who wrote 28 years bone temple??? cause it couldn't have been the same people that did 28 years later Most of my complains I had with 28 years later bone temple did pretty well into fixing it. I like how this movie jumps right back into the end of 28 years later. No long intro or long monologue about what happened before, straight into it.

I Did like this intro far more than I did with 28 years later. I feel like it perfectly explain each character​​, without the need of this ridiculous amount of character development into the movie. 5 minutes in and I already know what each character goal, personality is. The best character in this film is the doctor. I feel like the doctor is what really made this movie. What I did find pretty sad in this movie is how he spend his whole life, trying to find a break though with the virus and the minute he does he dies. What makes it even more fucked up is how no one would ever truly know what he did to save samson. Unless he left books and stuff for people to read, but I highly doubt anyone is going to go that far into the main land. I feel like they wrapped up his story pretty well. The satanic stuff.

I didn't really like this part at first cause I seen the same story like this over and over again. But the more I saw it, the more I liked it. You can tell these people are lost, they wanted to find a reason for everything that has happened, and they went to the one dude that was even more lost then they were. I actually got a question was it ever confirmed that it was jimmy the so called anti-christ in the beginning of 28 years later??? I feel that explains his obsession with teletubbies, and him even being a satanist in the first place. Part of me feel bad for the finger seven group. Cause they were lead under a false believe, under a false prophet, the other could give two shits that most of them died because they killed so many people. I'm not going to lie half way through the movie when the finger seven attack the home, and spike was sent to kill the pregnant lady, I thought for a second after she punch him that he was going to crossbow her ass in the back of the head lol.

I knew that wasn't going to happen but it would have been a twist lol spike is too much of a good kid I think they established that through both movies. I liked this movie far more than 28 years later. It didn't try to be scary, or try to have this forced sad story. It was right in your face top to bottom. Everything had a reason.

I did like this more than obsession, yall can cry all you want about that in the comments.

7.5/10

I was holding off for a while now from watching 28 years later, but I finally decided to watch it and we'll..... I thought the opening scene was the weakest in the series history. U had 28 weeks later opening up with the dad leaving his wife and child for dead, 28 days later with the dude waking up in a abandoned hospital, to a world full of zombies and 28 years later with kids watching Teletubbies and getting eaten by zombies. I just find it very lazy and a downgrade from the previous 2 flims. I now know in retrospective, the kid that got away was definitely jimmy the so call anti-christ I guess it's good foreshadowing for what to come but not so much a good opening. Now we jump into the main story. Spike his father and his sick mother. I thought the strongest part of this movie was spike and his dad hunting down zombies. I felt like that was the only part of this film that felt like a 28 days film. However I did not like the amount of flashbacks and false scenarios, that was played thought out this film. I feel like they tried to hard to make this movie more emotional then it had to be, I feel like that's the main problem wit this movie for me. the jump scares are just horrible, I find myself rolling my eyes more than being scared. I did not like any of the stuff involving spike and his mom. Literally when he left the village to get to the main land to meet the doctor is when this movie fall apart for me. It stop being this zombie movie, and it start being this mello drama soap opera movie. Which for one didn't make sense how a scared child and his sick mother managed to live that long outside the main land is beyond me. I also didn't like the gas station scene. I don't really understand how they manged to survive that with no burns or anything, Plot armor of a god when it comes to these two. They finally meet the doctor, he tells them the mom has cancer. He kills the mom so she can have a peaceful death, spike tells the village people he's not coming back. Why that is, well he found out his father was cheating on his mother and when he confront him about it his dad slap him across the face, and that's when spike and his mom went on their adventure to find a doctor. the movie ends with spike meeting jimmy and the seven fingers, basically satanics. This movie to me, the last half didn't feel like a 28 days movies. THis movie felt more like a backstory for it's next installememt rather than it's own movie.

Bone temple review is next, I just don't feel like typing any more.

28 years later 6.1/10

edit:

there's a part in this movie that I completely forgot to mention, I even went back to watch it again. the zombie pregnant lady scene. this right here was so goofy. I feel like that baby might become a major part in the third film or maybe he would be half zombie half human. maybe like that disney movie zombie lol I can't believe I didn't talk about this part, it's so silly. ​

I have been waiting for years, since this movie came out, To talk about this. Talk about a disgrace of a film.

"Letting go and trying to move on" would work well if it wasnt michael myers, the mother fucker that doesn't know when to quit. Halloween 2018 was about laurie obsession with getting to Michael. The obsession that caused her family, her daughter, her entire life have been all Michael. Halloween kills, Was about revenge. The town wanting to get revenge on Michael myers for all the killing he has done, laurie wanting to finish michael once and for all. To end it all off with a bang, Michael kills laurie daughter, laurie finally gets out the hospital and is now set on getting revenge on Michael for killing her daughter. Halloween ends, starts with Laurie baking a cake and trying to get over the events that happened in kills. what???????? Michael murders your daughter and your trying to move on???? You would think that would light her obsession even more.

I understand what the movie is trying to do with her character here. She spend her whole life trying to get to michael and it cost her everything. That's fine. Then wtf was the point of halloween kills ending??? You had kills end​ like we was about to get a final showdown between laurie and michael, just for ends to open up with Laurie trying to get over michael??? What are we doing here.

So let's talk about our main character in ends. Cory. Whose cory well he is a nobody that shows up in ends and takes up all the screentime, cause evil never dies. The intro is of cory who accidental kill the child he was baby sitting. then we jump into cory get bullied by a group of band students, laurie of course comes to save the day. Cory is like 25 and he's getting bullied by a bunch of highs school kids. ​cory is also likes allyson laurie granddaughter. Allyson who still for some reason hate laurie. I guess she blames her for everything that happened with Michael, Now she's dating michael clone.

So finally 30 minutes in we see michael. And for the past year or so he have been living in a Sewer. Cory runs into that same sewer after getting bullied by the band kids and cory meets michael. Michael doesn't kill him, better yet he transfer his dark art powers from himself to cory. Now cory is the new michael myers. He acts like a badass around allyson now. Laurie sees this and now laurie can see in cory eyes how he's slowly turning into the new michael. Cory and michael goes on a killing spree. Cory literally bitching michael around, michael moving like a 80 year old grandpa. cory kills the band kids, and a random dj, now he's on his way to laurie's house, to kill her as well. Cause she doesn't want allyson to be with him, and he's obsessed with allyson. This whole movie is such a great big stinky shitter.

We are near the end of this film. Michael haven't even being in this film for 10 minutes, laurie is just there, allyson is madly in love with cory, someone she only knew for a few days, cory the new character have taken up more screen time than anyone. They should have called this halloween ends with cory. I already know what their trying to do. Evil never dies now cory the new michael, I just don't fucking care. Nobody watch halloween 2018, and kills, to be rewarded with this. Now we get to cory and laurie fighting. Laurie winning, but cory has something underneath his sleeve. If he can't have allyson no one can, then he fucking kills himself 😂 allyson sees and she think her mom did it, she runs away. Now laurie the new michael lol.

So........ Was cory supposed to be the next michael cause michael wouldn't have killed himself, like what are we doing. Now we move into the final fight scene of the movie. Michael versus laurie it ends in less than 10 minutes. Laurie literally bitched the man that killed half of the town in under 10 minutes. Laurie takes michael body outside and have him get ground into ground beef in front of the whole town, the end lol oh my Lord. I can already read the comments

"Oh this movie was about letting go of the past, and shows how evil never truly dies"

Ok, there's way you can do that without introduce a new character in a final trilogy of a movie.

Oh this movie was about letting go of the past,"

Laurie was literally obsessed with michael for what he did to her friends and now she's trying to let go after he killed her daughter??? Not to mention kills ended with her TRYING TO GET REVENGE!!!!! ONCE AGAIN WTF WAS THE POINT OF KILLS ENDING!!!! if you wasn't going to have a pay off after it. Allyson the most annoying stupid girl I have ever seen, falls in love with a guy she met 15 minutes ago, Still doesn't trust or believe her grandmother even after everything that has happened. what exactly are we doing here??? This movie have ruin everyones character. I didn't care for kill and I thought hallowed 2018 was ok, but this right here, this????? You can not Imagine how disappointed I was in this.

3.1/10

The movie is well executed and has great acting with iconic horror scenes.

However, the plot is holding the film back IMHO. The plot is painfully mid, here's why:

1. The plot is highly predictable. I found it very easy to predict what was going to happen next, there is one scene where I even predicted what was going to happen and in what way - that's exactly what happened. This is how it is the entire movie.
2. There are a lot of "why" questions left at the end. Forexample, why does she not love him like a normal person? Why is she acting strange? This is never explained.

a. If there are split personalities, then the wish never really came true. He wanted HER to love him, but instead another "entity" takes over, that is not HER. Why does another entity take over?

b. If the company holds the original soul, then why is she able to take over the body?

c. Why didn't he just manipulate her by saying "if you love me, then stop doing x behavior?" She clearly listens to him and at times he is able to manipulate her, but she keeps doing weird things.

d. Why does she decide to stand there and wait all day? There is a WHOLE montage of her doing her job like a normal person and loving him, but suddenly she decides to pee/poop and smile awkwardly while standing facing the door the ENTIRE day? This makes absolutely no sense to me and feels like it was there to be an iconic scene and nothing more.

e. If she really loves him, why does she stand there and watch him sleep weirdly? Again, if she loves him, she can sleep right beside him - be closer to him, why is she doing this? Her actions make no sense.

f. If she loves him, why does she feed him his cat? Even when he clearly said he wants a proper burial for the cat. Feeding him the cat, could potentially kill him...again it also doesn't make sense here.

g. Also why does his friend, after getting a billion dollars, comes into get shot in the face lol?

3. The main character is too much of a pussy to ever take a stand, I mean, at a certain point you'd expect the character to take a stand with all of what is going down. But, that never really happens, it just doesn't make sense.

This movie is great or amazing if you don't value the plot and shut off your brain, yes the acting and sequences are amazing - but the plot is mid at best. The plot is a critical part of a movie, because that is the sequence of events - ideally every move should make sense within the set universe.

Here, the plot is only there to take you from one iconic well-acted and executed horror sequence to another - like a checklist. Instead, of feeling like a cohesive well thought out story.

I have watched the director's YouTube shorts and honestly it really feels like the plot was taken from there. The key elements:

1. Have a dumb/naieve/pussy character that is unable to question or have the courage to do so.
2. Make awkward and weird stuff happen.
3. Laugh or get scared and profit???

It works in a YouTube short that I watch for free, I expect better things from the plot of a movie.

I am not sure how people look at this movie and give it a 9 or 10 out of 10. If the actors/actresses did not go above and beyond with their abilities, this movie would be a 5 out of 10, it really lives on the performance of the cast (which was amazing). Overall score: 7/10

The gang’s all back, and this time the introduction of devices jeopardizes the toys’ livelihood.

Another adventure with characters that are now over 30 years old. It works because they’re great characters. This time around, Jesse’s at the forefront. We get the Woody and Buzz dynamic, which is great as always, and the army of Buzz side quest must have been one of the best parts of the movie.

It’s tech vs. toys, and I have to say I liked where the movie landed with everything at the end. I did think it was a little rocky at first, and it took a bit for me to get into it. But realistically, it was the perfect idea and story to tell at this time. It fit so well with today’s reality of technology in toys and devices in general. All of the subplots are also fun and really help drive the movie.

The animation is fantastic, which isn’t a shocker at this point. I especially liked the imagination/play sequences. The voice cast, both returning and new, once again bring the characters to life.

The big question was… did we really need a fifth TOY STORY movie? Honestly, my answer to these kinds of questions is always… why not?

It’s not like we keep getting terrible movies. They’re always a fun time. And although I think it’s the weakest of the bunch, it was still a good movie. People obviously love these movies and go out and watch them (the amount of money it’s already made is a clear indication of that).

Personally, I think having these big franchises that keep making lots of money just leaves room for studios to take chances on original stories. They might not make as much, but because they’ll always have the franchise to fall back on, they make the risk more affordable. But that’s just my take, and I’ll take as many more TOY STORY movies as they make if they keep staying consistent quality-wise.

TOY STORY 5 was a good time. The whole family enjoyed it. There was a good message, a fun adventure, and some laughs. Check it out! It’s worth it.

It’s a solid…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
7/10

That whole Star Command bit was awesome. My daughter and I keep saying that.

First of all let me say this is NOT AI and I am writing this in my car after literally just seeing it (!!!) After my Toy Story 5 review got accused of AI since I use em dashes... anyway guys... I really wanted this to land harder. Went in as a sympathetic viewer — indie, queer, John Early doing something ambitious with tough subject matter — and I left conflicted.

What IS working for me: The bulimia thread genuinely lands well in places. There's a scene between Maddie and her mother in the doctor's office that's in my opinion, one of the best moments in the film — the mother uses comedy to armor herself until she can't anymore, and then she just quietly steps out of the joke and says "this is all I can do today." That's real writing since the whole thing tries to balance humor with dark subject matter, culminating in this scene. The culinary through-line is also VERY strong — the idea that people who become EXCELLENT at something.... often carry their deepest wound inside that thing?? We all are grappling with what we're inherently good at because we want to be the best at it.

Maddie cooking for the other patients in inpatient with basic ingredients from a flavourless kitchen is one of the more moving choices-- it reminded me of a moment in your life when everything just completely collapses. You tend to reach for the thing that you are naturally good at and build with the basics from scratch. Cooking is one of these things for Maddie and doing it with basic ingredients vs. the sophisticated chilli crisp from her old kitchen at the height of her bullimia is a crafty metaphor.

The birthday cupcake scene (for Amanda, another patient) — where something as joyous as a birthday collapses into the nightmare of being made to eat food — is conceptually one of the best moments in the film for me. Seriously! It's a good mascot for what the film is reaching for: the jubilation of celebration and food, colliding with the absolute DREAD of... actually having to eat it?This is absolutely something that most adults watching their weight have to deal with at an office party, kids birthday, or any "free food" event. This set up is exactly that but on steroids considering the context of bulimia -- But the execution just… happens. No visual weight, no camera language matching the emotional stakes. If the cinematography and dp direction was more sophisticated, this could have been even more moving than it was. It felt rough around the edges.

High school play: This is what I keep coming back to. The wigs are a bit crunchy. The lighting feels almost pantomime-y at times the way spotlights drill in for drama. The gossipy patient characters read the same as the gossipy characters at the food content studio, they all lacked depth. The mean girls are mean, the good ones are good, the transformation moment is a spotlight. Scenes felt like I say my line, you say your line. When the lights go down on the cupcake scene and everyone just watches Amanda crumble, it's less film-and-TV and more community theatre. That premium finish a film hitting the big screen needs — it just wasn't there for me sadly.

What isn't working for me: The film is doing too many things at once — ED, gender, sexuality, voyeurism/public image, identity, friendship, betrayal — and can't give any of them their full weight. (This review would be twice as long if I tried to address every theme this film tries to tackle.) If it had committed solely to the ED and image thread, this could have been a small masterpiece. Instead it's spread thin. It REALLY reminded me of Jennette McCurdy's book I'm Glad My Mom Died thematically, but doesn't earn its ground the way that book does. Ironically the book is also imbued with comedic charm surrounding a topic as important as EDs.

Parenthetically, the "Deena" character is a real casting problem for me — the performance reads as uncertain and it distracts every scene she's in. Sorry!!! She's not scary-unsettling, she's the-actor-isn't-sure unsettling, which is a different problem. Especially the intro which is the MOST important part of getting buy in from an audience! Her acting performance was really distracting and did not land well for me.

On the gender/ambiguity: I'm a gay man rooting for trans representation, but the film uses ambiguity as a substitute for clarity rather than as a technique. We never quite know whether Maddie is a trans woman, a drag persona, or something else, and that ambiguity isn't productive — it's just unresolved. A trans actor in the role would have brought embodied truth the ambiguity is denying us. As it stands, the film touches queer and trans themes without committing to what it's actually saying about them. Which I think might be the point? But it is hard to do well when it's not the focus. For a run time of 98 minutes, it's a tall order to tackle with ED.

The ending: Unfortunately, it's a symptom of the film itself — The open ending felt like it can't make up its mind HOW to end because it's trying to hold too many threads at once. There needed to be more editorial discipline and more concrete decisions about where we're going.

Overall: 6.1/10. Real writing talent, real ideas, real moments. But the film needed more than an edit — casting, cinematography, and structural discipline all needed sharpening. It bit off more than it could chew, and the execution couldn't carry the load the script was reaching for.

Anyone else see this? Did the balance between dark humour and the real weight of the themes work for you, or did it feel off?

I genuinely don’t understand the hype around this movie.
Going in, I’d heard people calling it “the most panic attack-inducing movie of all time,” so my expectations were sky high. Instead, I walked away feeling like it never came close to earning that reputation.

My biggest issue is the writing. The entire plot depends on characters making unbelievably stupid decisions.
Bear gets fed his own cat, and instead of calling the police, leaving, or seeking help after his girlfriend’s increasingly disturbing behavior, he just shrugs it off. Every time someone points out how unhinged Nikki is, his response is basically, “I don’t know, she’s just going through some stuff.” It stopped feeling like a believable character and started feeling like the script forcing him to stay stupid so the plot could continue.

The horror itself didn’t work for me either. Most of the scares were just loud sound effects masquerading as jump scares. There wasn’t much tension or suspense being built. Nikki screaming for most of the movie also wasn’t scary..it just became repetitive and annoying.

The story was also incredibly predictable. About 20 minutes in, I knew exactly where it was headed: cursed wish, obsessive girlfriend, friends start dying one by one, Bear refuses to let go because he’s blinded by love. There wasn’t a single twist that caught me off guard.

Tonally, the movie felt completely confused. It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a horror movie or a comedy. I found myself laughing during scenes that were clearly supposed to be terrifying. Nikki repeatedly peeing and defecating on herself came across as unintentionally hilarious instead of disturbing. The sequence with the money raining from the sky felt like slapstick comedy, which clashed with the serious tone the movie had been trying to establish.

The Sarah death scene perfectly sums up my issues with the directing. The framing practically announces where Nikki is going to crash through the window. Instead of creating suspense, I just sat there waiting for the obvious jump scare to happen. By telegraphing it so heavily, the director completely killed any tension. Then, when it finally happened, the aftermath looked so goofy that it reminded me of the shrunken heads from Beetlejuice.

Overall, the movie felt like something written and directed by someone with a cool premise but very little understanding of character behavior, suspense, or tonal consistency. There are ideas here that could have worked, but the execution never rises above mediocre.
Final rating: 2.5/5.

I found the film a fun watch, and I loved the ideas about language being the key to understanding one another and math and empathy being universal languages. Lots of great things to think about and handled really well within the script. I think the film was really well cast, and the acting is superb. And I swear I heard some sounds from the original Star Trek bridge in the background from time to time and it kind of warmed my heart (I know could be wrong about that but I'd love to be right. . . )

However--why, why, why does a film about the possibility of life somewhere other than on earth have to include a giant salve for religious earth people? This minor subplot with the stigmata and the nuns and this business about the Judeo-Christian God having created the entire universe with the intention that it'd be be shared amongst all the beings he peppered throughout the planets -- I found to be extremely eye-roll inducing. Why would this ONE specific guy be running every show everywhere? Do all the extraterrestrials know "him" and all his stories too, or if they come to earth will they be greeted by bands of religious zealots who'll round up them for conversion in the usual earthly violent manner? Rather than resorting to bible-ish tropes (the "technology vs the cross" scene, naming a main character "Noah," the Adam and Eve-ieness of the child "experiencers") the film could've added more taut thriller bits or spent more time securing some of the Jane- or Scanlon- or device-related ends that were left a little loose. Can Spielberg (who wrote the story) not imagine anything outside of the western-style god business or is he such a strong believer he won't write an alternative for fear of being smited (or is it smote)? And honestly, does every alien have to look like ET--? Oh...I'll leave that for another rant -- and in the meantime rate this film 7 out of 10.

In light of the recent success of this movie, I finally decided to watch Obsession, and here are my honest, unbiased thoughts.

The film has a strong concept, portraying the protagonist, Bear, as someone who fantasizes about romance while sexually objectifying a woman. While the premise is interesting, I found the execution to be very basic. Many of the scenes felt predictable, and the story became boring at several points.

Throughout the movie, I never truly felt scared or shocked. The only moment that stood out was when Nikki stabbed herself in the face, but even that scene felt heavily telegraphed and lacked the impact it was clearly aiming for.

That said, I do think Curry Barker is—and will continue to be—a talented filmmaker. However, this film is ultimately a predictable, ironic thriller that I believe could have been executed much more effectively.

The strongest aspect of the movie is the acting. Inde Navarrette delivers a performance that I genuinely appreciated and helps elevate the material she's given.

Final Rating: 5.7/10

I enjoyed this movie. It gave me that creepy unsettling feeling that I find is hard to get from movies these days. There is a couple jump scares but they fit well into the story.

This reminded me of an M. Night Shyamalan movie. I thought Nikki (Inde Navarrette) was great and very creepy. How she would just blend in with the background or just sit and stare for a few seconds. You'd be saying to yourself wtf? Lol. Very good.

Definitely would recommend this movie. I enjoyed it. Would more than likely watch again. I'll say 9/10.

If this movie was the only evidence of human existence, aliens would immediately cease all studying of human life out of a sobering mix of boredom, pity, and disappointment.

I literally left the theater thinking it was the worst movie I’d ever seen. I’ve seen this sentiment expressed elsewhere and to call it an exaggeration is truly disingenuous. My expectations were already low, but it really was that bad.

I had seen Obsession and Backrooms already, both of which were amazing and good, respectively. But this, this was truly agonizing. I’ve never seen multiple sets of people leave a movie and virtually the whole rest of an audience go on their phones.

Seriously. I had read all of the reviews and still did not think Disclosure Day could be AS BAD as everyone said. It was every bit as bad and then worse. It felt like 3 bad 90s movies with unrelated plots mashed together into a 2 and-a-half hour lifeless and uninspired disaster. The trailer is literally the whole movie.

Do anything else with your 2.5 hours—Scrabble, watch paint dry, go to the DMV—but please, I beg you, do not see this. If I can spare one person from watching this movie perhaps my (and my family’s) sacrifice was not in vain.

Lastly, there will of course be someone to downplay how bad this movie is. After all, that’s why I saw it. But please—have some empathy for others and do not be the reason someone has to sit through this.

You’ve been warned.

EDIT: For the Spielberg burners who say I must not have seen many movies—I’ve seen Cats, the Monkey, and Terrifier 3. Those were all better than this.

Just watched 28 Days Later and yeah—Cillian Murphy was great, as usual. 

The movie would’ve blown my mind if I’d seen it pre-2014. Watching it now though, I mean still a solid movie with great story. But also kinda predictable. Like you can see most of it coming if you’ve watched anything similar in the last decade. 

So yes, not bad at all. Just very much a “this hit different when it came out” kind of film.

Now I’m curious and wondering if 28 Weeks Later and 28 Years Later are actually worth it, or am I about to repeat the same experience?