Adriana and I have been watching more movies than we can write full reviews for, so it’s time for our second ever Review Roundup! These will be shorter than our typical reviews, but will still give you enough information to gauge whether these movies are worth checking out or not. 

Also, stay tuned for individual reviews for I Saw the TV Glow and Furiosa from Adriana and Thelma and Longlegs from me! 

Anyways, these movies will appear in order from least enjoyable to the most enjoyable for me. Let’s dive in!

The Fall Guy

So flat out, I really disliked this movie. It had a good cast and a solid budget but I was less than enthusiastic about the rest of the team. Helming this movie was David Leitch. The best thing Leitch has done as a director was when he co-directed the first John Wick movie with Chad Stahelski. Since they parted ways, Stahelski has continued to make John Wick movies that, at least in my opinion, have consistently gotten better with each entry. Leitch on the other hand has made, what I consider, to be perfectly forgettable slop that you may enjoy enough when you watch it, but you’ll never think of again. The writer didn’t do much to excite me either, as his credits include movies like Hobbs & Shaw and Iron Man 3. 

This is a movie about a stuntman and is supposed to be a love letter to stunt performers. I will take a quick second here to note that the Academy Awards still do not have a category for stunt performers and this is an egregious omission considering the history and importance of stunt work to cinema. However, what Leitch clearly lacks as a director when compared to Stahelski is the ability to really make stunts in his movies shine. I know from clips that there was significant stunt work required for this movie, but they can’t help but make it look and feel as bland and fake as possible. 

The real tragedy of this movie though for me is the wasted potential. When it comes to top-tier action cinema these days, it’s coming from the team behind the Mission: Impossible and John Wick films like Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Christopher McQuarrie, and Chad Stahelski. I would much rather have seen people like them given this budget and cast to make a movie that’s supposed to be a love letter to stunt performers. At least in their hands it would have been pleasant to look at and fun to watch, none of which this movie was. 

Verdict

I will acknowledge that I might be a bit of a “hater” on this and general audiences that did turn out for this seemed to enjoy it more. I really did want to like this one, but there just was nothing noteworthy or special here for me. When Ryan Gosling isn’t even able to make your movie good, that’s a big problem. You may have more fun with this movie than I did, but you won’t remember it after you watch it and there are plenty of better movies out there if you’re looking to kill a couple hours.

Arcadian

This was another one Ty and I watched together because it featured one of our all time favourite actors, Nicolas Cage. Unfortunately, this one falls into the more forgettable of the bunch. There really isn’t much here to enjoy beyond the creature designs, which are admittedly pretty cool. The child actors are fine too, but I just never got really invested in anything that was happening. 

The biggest issue for me though is that typically in movies like this, Cage is able to elevate the experience so you can at least have a fun time. Without spoiling anything, Cage is not given much time throughout the movie to do a whole lot. His role could have been played by anyone and the experience would be the same and that should never be true about a role played by Nicolas Cage.

Verdict

You can definitely skip this one. The reason it doesn’t get a worse score is because this is a really small movie that has at least some redeeming factors, including the creature designs and the serviceable performances. I wanted to like this one more, there just wasn’t enough of anything there for me to really sink my teeth into.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Have you ever wondered what Inglorious Basterds would be like if it was worse in every conceivable way? Well wonder no more, because this is the movie for you! Does this mean the movie is bad though? Not exactly. 

Now sure, it’s really unfair to compare this to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, but if you do watch this you will be blown away by just how similar they are narratively. It even has one of the actors from Basterds as the main bad guy in the film! However, if you can let that go, this is a perfectly fine movie. There is a big ensemble cast here including the likes of Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson who were the standouts here for sure. 

The movie never really aspires to be more than it is and that’s definitely to its benefit. Nothing really stands out as particularly memorable or exceptional, but there are some fun action scenes and good chemistry from the main cast. 

Verdict

It’s definitely not my favourite Guy Ritchie movie, in fact it’s not even close, but if you just need to throw something on that is fun and you don’t mind it being forgettable, you can do a lot worse than watching Cavill and Ritchson slaughtering some Nazis!

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

Oh boy, where do I start with this one? I guess it makes sense to properly set your expectations. This is perhaps the most “part one” movie ever. To provide a score here is difficult because this is not a complete movie in its own right. You are never going to want to put on Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 just to watch it because there is no payoff and no standard three act structure. You’re just basically being introduced to all the characters with some things happening to them to start them off on their arcs.  

With that said, I am optimistic about the rest of these movies. While this movie doesn’t reinvent the Western or do anything new with it, it does feel like an old Western and we don’t get them anymore so in some way this feels almost fresh. 

I haven’t seen Yellowstone but I suspect if you have enjoyed that show then you will enjoy this movie too. The cast is really good and there are a TON of characters in this movie. It isn’t interested in being anything more than a straightforward Western with plenty of characters but it does leave all of the narrative threads dangling by the end of the first movie.

I also really want these movies to succeed on a personal level. It’s no secret that I love movies and in particular the theatrical experience. The reason I want these Horizon movies to succeed is because they are being independently created and financed by Kevin Costner himself. He left Yellowstone to be able to have the time to make them. He even took out a mortgage on one of his homes to help finance the movies. He wanted to create something wholly himself without studio interference or a network imposing their desires upon it. 

In 2024 especially, I respect the hell out of that. This movie had enough for me to want to see this through and I hope this movie finds an audience and they turn out to support this movie (and the next three)! 

Verdict

At three hours long, I’m happy to say that the time absolutely flew by for me with this too. While it lacks any real narrative structure and doesn’t stand up as a solid film on its own, it does start the supposedly four part series off strong enough. By the time the credits hit, I wanted to see the next chapter and I was committed to seeing this through to the end. Here’s hoping that Costner is able to finance and film the rest of it!

Abigail

This movie stars Alisha Weir as Abigail, Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud (in his last role), and Giancarlo Esposito. If you haven’t heard anything about this movie, I won’t give away anything here and I absolutely recommend that you DO NOT watch the trailer for this movie before you watch it as it gives away nearly every important detail of the setup. The only thing I will say is that a group of criminals are hired to kidnap a little girl and stay with her in a house until ransom money is paid. Unfortunately, this job doesn’t go exactly as planned…or does it?

If you have seen the trailer, you spend the first fifty minutes of the movie waiting for the characters to get to the point where you already are. Once they do though, the movie gets going and there are a lot of fun moments. 

Aside from the trailer giving away too much, my biggest gripe with the movie was with writing. I can’t say too much without giving things away, but I was really turned off by these more serious moments the movie forces. This is a funny, absurd, and bloody movie and too often it screeches to a halt so we can get some super serious character moments in a movie that doesn’t need it. These moments didn’t make me care about the characters at all and it actively detracted from the fun I was otherwise having with the movie. 

I also had a significant issue with the movie’s logic, particularly at some decisions made near the end of the movie. Again, no spoilers here, but I was left very frustrated by the direction it went towards the end and I was very disappointed by particular reveals that didn’t live up to the mysteriousness that the movie clouded them with.

I said earlier in the other reviews in this recap that they knew exactly what movies they were and they didn’t try to be more than that. I wish Abigail had that same level of awareness because every single time it tried to be more than what it was, it took me right out of the movie and the great time I was having.

Verdict

Overall though, Abigail was able to overcome the slow start and the shoehorned in serious moments thanks to the stellar cast and the genuinely fun moments that were had. Alisha Weir and Dan Stevens were the big standouts here for me. Stevens has one of my favourite line readings of the year so far, which will most definitely be featured in our own little Screen Love Affair award show at the end of the year. 

I liked this movie enough to say it’s worth a watch if you don’t have anything better on your list. 

The Bikeriders

The Bikeriders stars Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Jodie Comer and was written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Nichols has made other movies before including 2012’s Mud and 2016’s Midnight Special. Butler and Hardy play members of a motorcycle club that really begins at the start of motorcycle club culture in the 1960s. Comer plays Kathy, the wife of Butler’s Benny. Kathy is really the main character of the movie and most of the film’s narrative flows through her character. 

The 1960s setting felt more interesting to me and the era that this movie covers feels new compared to the more modern biker stories we see more often today. For example, this movie focuses on the earlier vision of club culture before they really became the idea of motorcycle “gangs” that most people think of today. 

While I was vibing with the movie and particularly the performances from the entire cast, which also includes great performances by Michael Shannon and Norman Reedus, the movie never really came together in a cohesive whole that felt satisfying by the end. 

Verdict

Overall, this movie oozes cool and has enough going for it that it’s still a good time at the movies that you won’t regret. What holds this movie back from a higher score is that it never really comes together in a way that feels really satisfying at the end. 

Hit Man

Hit Man stars one of my favourite actors working today, Glen Powell, who also co-wrote the movie with director Richard Linklater. 

Powell plays Gary Johnson, a college professor that also works part time assisting the police in undercover sting operations. Eventually Gary takes on a more prominent role in his part time job and that’s all the setup I will give you for that! What follows though is in the vein of a romantic-comedy I suppose if I had to pick a genre, but it’s more than that too. 

Powell is most definitely the standout here, getting to play a variety of different types of characters in the same movie and has a damn fun time with it. Powell just has the it factor that few actors have. If you saw him in Top Gun: Maverick you know what I’m talking about already and if you watch Hit Man you will notice it there too.

Adria Arjona co-stars as Madison, who comes across Gary through his undercover work. She does a great job in this role and the chemistry between her and Powell is off the charts. The movie has laughs, some interesting twists and turns, and keeps you engaged throughout!

Verdict

This is an easy recommendation from me. It’s worth a watch for Glen Powell alone, but if you’re just looking for something fun and easy to watch with or without a date, this is better than most other things you can find these days. Some bits eventually feel a little repetitive and I felt like we could’ve had a bit more fun with the undercover work than we did. Overall though, I liked it, but I didn’t quite love it. 

MaXXXine

MaXXXine was definitely my favourite of all of the movies in this roundup. This is the culmination of Ti West and Mia Goth’s X trilogy that started with 2022’s X and was followed up with Pearl later that same year. Each movie feels completely different from each other, with X being more of a classic 70s slasher while Pearl was more like Todd Philips’ Joker movie, with more technicolor style. 

MaXXXine on the other hand takes place in the 1980s in Hollywood and evokes that same era’s tone for this movie. What sets this one apart from the other three for me was just how much fun it was. I enjoyed X more than Pearl, but I think Maxxxine is my favourite of the trilogy.

Mia Goth shines again as Maxine Minx, reprising her role from X. She really is the entire lifeblood of these movies and despite knowing how good she is, I’m always impressed by how much range she has. Aside from Goth as Maxine, Esposito and Kevin Bacon are the next best things here. This is the second movie in this roundup that features Giancarlo Esposito, who plays Maxine’s Agent. Bacon plays a private detective that is looking into Maxine for a mysterious client. Everything Bacon does from his wardrobe, to his voice, to his run, is so over the top and fun, I couldn’t stop smiling whenever he was on screen. 

This movie has been getting some mixed reactions from people though. I’ve read some of the reviews of people disappointed about the lack of social commentary or the movie not being exactly what they had in mind. I tend to have issues with critiques like that because it’s not the job of a movie to fit your expectations of it. I went in knowing very little, and what I got to experience was a really fun (if not fairly predictable) movie that had some amazing performances and an absolute classic of a soundtrack. 

To agree with some of the criticisms, the mystery of the movie was instantly clear to me purely from having seen X. On that note, while you can skip Pearl, I do think you should watch X before you see MaXXXine for the most complete and full experience. Pearl was a prequel about a different character from X while MaXXXine is a direct sequel to X. The third act has gotten a few negative reactions, but again, I had a great time and was laughing the whole way through, cliches be damned!

Verdict

I had a blast with this movie! So many aspects, especially Kevin Bacon’s performance, will stick with me long after I’ve seen this movie. I definitely will revisit this one again in the future too. If you’re willing and open to having some fun with a movie that mixes bleak darkness with some humour, you will have a great time with MaXXXine.