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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 September 2025

I wasn’t sure where they’d go with this sequel.  The original, released in March 2022, was centred on five animals – a wolf, a snake, a spider, a shark, and a piranha – who shrugged their preconceived reputations and were transformed from “bad” into “good”.  Instead of robbing banks and stealing valuable artifacts, they teamed up to take down a villainous guinea pig with more sinister motives.

Now that these characters are on the right side of the law, where do you take the narrative?  Adapting again from the children’s books authored by Australian Aaron Blabey, the two-person writing team have crafted a great idea.  We open with our five protagonists struggling to find employment.  Just like a rehabilitated criminal released from prison, they find no one wants to give them a chance with honest, paid work.  It’s a kick in the guts which has them questioning whether they made the right choice.

It soon gets worse when they encounter a fresh gang of felons, headlined by a snow leopard (Brooks) who blackmail them back into a life of illegal activity.  Unless they agree to help steal a rocket ship, they’ll be framed for a series of other criminal acts.  Further, they’ll expose the secret identity of Mr. Wolf’s girlfriend, Governor Diane Foxington (Beetz), which will destroy her own career.  It leaves our heroes in a tricky spot as they are forced to walk the fine line between good and evil.

The Bad Guys 2 is a step-up on its predecessor.  The first movie was watchable but pushed its themes too hard.  That’s not the case here.  This is a quality adventure with a story that’s engaging from start to finish and has a few surprises along the way.  It moves at a frenetic pace but, to the film’s credit, it’s still easy to follow.  It’s also ideal family fare where both kids and adults can enjoy at different levels.

All the characters get a chance to shine with fun subplots (like Mr. Snake and his new lover) and the actors do an impeccable job with their distinctive voices.  It’s hard to imagine a better fit for the cunning Mr. Wolf than Oscar winner Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).  The same could be said for Awkwafina (The Farewell) as Ms. Tarantula and Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd) as Professor Marmalade.

The Bad Guys was overlooked for an Academy Award nomination in the best animated feature category (perhaps fair) but as one of the better releases of 2025, I’d like to see this sequel get the nod.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 September 2025

The talents of Australian writer Tony McNamara were evident back in 2003 when he made his feature film debut with The Rage in Placid Lake, one of my top 10 movies of that year.  It’s taken time but only in the last decade has his career picked up serious momentum.  McNamara earned two screenwriting Oscar nominations in the past 7 years (only 5 others can say the same) for The Favourite and Poor Things, both directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.  He also created the 30-episode streaming series The Great which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nod and two awards from the Writers Guild of America.

McNamara returns to the big screen with perhaps his most challenging assignment yet.  The War of the Roses, authored by Warren Adler and first published in 1981, has already been adapted into a successful movie.  The 1989 cinema release was directed by Danny DeVito and starred the memorable Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.  It turned a handy profit at the box-office and earned three Golden Globe nominations including best musical/comedy (losing to Driving Miss Daisy).  What could McNamara extract from the source material to improve on the well-liked original?

I’ll applaud him for going with a fresh, modern take.  The differences are so numerous that, aside from the “Roses” reference in the film’s title, you can barely recognise this as a remake.  Even the character names have been changed.  Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) and Olivia Colman (The Favourite), who deserve praise for their outlandish performances, step into the shoes of the protagonists, Theo and Ivy.

The pair start out as a happily married couple living in Northern California but over the course of several years, their relationship deteriorates.  A simple, no-fault divorce would be the obvious solution but they’re intent on dragging out the misery as long as possible.  It reaches a point where things are so bad, they’re gleefully sabotaging each other’s lives in the most embarrassing and most financially expensive way possible… and they’re doing it with a smile on their faces!

Intended to be a dark comedy, The Roses is weak in places.  The supporting cast, which include Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Kate McKinnon (Barbie), aren’t given much to do.  They drift in-and-out of the story and peddle the same material in each scene.  This is highlighted by the affection McKinnon shares for Cumberbatch’s character.

Further, while I appreciate the film’s final punchline, the closing half-hour lost me with its over-the-top antics.  It’s too much of a screwball comedy.  Guns?  Really?  I much prefer the opening two acts which contain witty barbs and a humorous exploration of household power struggles.  While it shouldn’t be binary question, the movie has fun with their arguments over who should be the primary breadwinner and who should be raising the kids at home.

See it for the charm of Cumberbatch and Colman but The Roses is a modest letdown.    

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 11 September 2025

I think that’s it.  After 52 episodes of the television series and 3 subsequent movies, we’ve milked all we can from the fictitious residents of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, England.  This concluding instalment, appropriately subtitled The Grand Finale, isn’t intended to win over new enthusiasts.  It’s a simple, slight period piece that taps heavily into nostalgia and allows fans to be charmed by their favourite posh-talking protagonists for one last time.

There are many subplots, but the individual given the most prominent screen time is Lady Mary Crawley, played by Emmy nominee Michael Dockery.  The film opens with her divorce papers being finalised after a short-lived marriage to Henry Talbot (previously played by Matthew Goode who doesn’t appear here).  Being a divorcee was scandalous in 1930s Britain and so the fun-loving Lady Mary now finds herself a social pariah.  She’s uninvited from gatherings and no one wants to visit while she’s in residence at Downton Abbey.

The responsibility falls upon those around her to set things right.  Many have a part to play but the central event is a lavish dinner at Downton where the guest of honour is to be acclaimed playwright Noël Coward (Arty Froushan).  The hoity-toity members of the community may want to shun Lady Mary… but they’re not going to pass up the opportunity to sit alongside an A-list celebrity and listen to him skilfully play the piano while sipping on champagne and cocktails.

It’s easy to see what messages Oscar winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) is striving for to close things out.  Audiences will have enjoyed delving into the details of rich English folk in the 1910s and 1920s but, to borrow a classic song lyric, the “wind of change” has arrived.  The servants are retiring, public standards are loosening, and Downton’s long-ruling patriarch (Bonneville) hands control of the historic mansion over to the next generation.  It’s time to stop looking back… and start looking forward instead.

There’s nothing wrong with Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale but it’s not particularly memorable either.  Tension is lacking (everyone is so polite and nice) and the character arcs close out with minimal fuss.  Further, in the absence of the late Maggie Smith, the humour isn’t as fervent.  Penelope Winton (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) gets the best of the one-liners with performance as the fair-organising Lady Merton but she’s the lone comedic standout.  New cast members include Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck) and Alessandro Nivola (American Hustle) but their roles lack significance.

It’s not exactly “going out with a bang” but this is a serviceable climax which provides safe, crowd-pleasing content as opposed to anything new.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 01 September 2025

I’m not sure what sparked the idea of screenwriters Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona but Fight or Flight comes across as a quirky combination of Snakes on a Plane and John Wick.  It’s got a barrage of contract killers trying to claim a $10 million USD bounty by killing a specific target… and the action takes place mid-flight on a passenger airplane where escape options are limited.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense but the deliberately silly plot, and the apt title, grabbed my attention.

The film also continues the career renaissance of Josh Harnett.  Thrust back into the spotlight after his distinctive supporting performance in Oppenheimer and his lead turn in Trap, Harnett is once again a box-office draw.  Here, he steps into the shoes of Lucas Reyes, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who now resides in Bangkok after his job went pear-shaped.  It’s a strong outing from Hartnett who finds the right blend of humour and masculinity in creating the character.

Reyes has a chance to “clear his name” and return to the United States but to do so, he needs to help the Government identify and apprehend a computer hacker who is onboard the flight.  The intelligence agency has limited information on the hacker and so the first part of the mission is identification.  Once that’s sorted, and I won’t spoil who it is, the next step is survival.  They must evade the skilled, contracted assassins looking to make big bucks.

Directed by first-time feature filmmaker James Madigan, who has a lengthy career as a visual effects supervisor, Fight or Flight succeeds in providing surprising laughs and bloody battles.  It’s outlandishly violent and while that may alienate the squeamish, the shock value adds to the film’s dark humour.  The body count is high with a mix of broken bones and eyebrow-raising facial injuries.  Cinematographer Matt Flannery, best known for his work on the excellent Indonesian action flicks The Raid and The Raid 2, delivers in spades.  I’m amazed how many great angles his fast-moving camera was able to access aboard a passenger airplane.

The back-and-forth scenes which take place at the U.S. agency are iffy.  They’re a bunch of boring, one-note characters.  Fight or Flight works best when things are at their most nutty and chaotic – in the air with an increasingly exhausted Josh Harnett killing bad guys.  See it for that reason!

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 08 September 2025

Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin first met while working in the advertising industry.  They put aside a little money, helped produce a few movies, and then waded into feature films with The Climb which premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.  It was a low-budget, independent film with the pair credited as screenwriters, starring in the two lead roles and, in the case of Covino, serving as director.  It didn’t find much love at the box-office given its release during COVID-19 but was an important stepping stone in establishing their talent and credibility.

The duo has returned with a bigger budget and a more high-profile cast for their sophomore outing, Splitsville.  Both take on acting roles again and have been joined by the recognisable Dakota Johnson (Materialists), Nicholas Braun (Succession), and Adria Arjona (Father of the Bride).  The poster describes it as an “unromantic comedy” and it’s a suitable description.  We start with two (seemingly) happy married couples but over the course of several chapters, their respective relationships deteriorate in humorous fashion.

We begin with Ashley (Arjona) having a not-so-near death experience and deciding to confess to her boring husband, Carey (Marvin), that she’s been unfaithful many times and now wants a divorce.  He is floored by the unexpected revelation and runs/swims to the lakeside home of his wealthy friends, Paul (Covino) and Julie (Johnson).  As a modern, free-spirited couple, they’re not as perturbed by the news.  In addition to have almost no social boundaries, evidenced by an eyebrow-raising moment when Carey uses their bathroom for a shower, they reveal their marriage is an open one.  It’s a shock for the conservative Carey who is now starting to see the world differently when it comes to masculinity and monogamy.

Splitsville goes on wild, unexpected tangents.  From a cacophony of new lovers which enter Ashley’s life, through to a crazy-long fight sequence, through to a subplot involving a trouble-making child (Webster)… this is a comedy which uses a mix of randomness and edginess to generate its well-earned laughs.  Perhaps a touch more subtlety could have been added to characters (the Carey we first meet is such a clueless dork) but the actors deserve praise.  Despite the absurdity of each situation, they play their roles with an intense, straight-faced seriousness.  It never feels like the cast are deliberately trying to be funny… which only makes it funnier!

Also fortunate enough to be picked for a debut at Cannes, back in May 2025, Splitsville is nutty entertainment.