Predator: Badlands (2025) | REVIEW

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi’s Dek in PREDATOR: BADLANDS — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg — Screenplay by Patrick Aison.

Predator: Badlands is the ninth (seventh if you don’t include the Alien vs. Predator crossovers) film about the alien creatures that we call ‘predators,’ one of which once went toe to toe with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch in the jungle in John McTiernan’s 1987 sci-fi action classic Predator. In the past few years, 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg has tried his best to take the franchise in a new direction with the fantastic live-action prequel titled Prey, where a Comanche woman encountered a Predator, and, more recently, with the animated triptych-esque Predator: Killer of Killers. Both of those Trachtenberg films were released straight to streaming, but now, with his third outing as a director of a Predator film, Predator: Badlands, time will tell if the higher budget and Trachtenberg’s ambitious storytelling will get the audience they deserve. Because, frankly, I think it is a very cool step in the right direction for the long-running franchise. 

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‘Ballad of a Small Player,’ ‘The Home,’ ‘Det Andet Offer,’ and More | Bite-Sized Reviews

Top Row (L-R): ‘Ballad of a Small Player (Netflix);’ ‘The Home (Lionsgate /Roadside Attractions);’ ‘Det Andet Offer (SF Studios).’
Bottom Row (L-R): ‘Under Stjernerne På Himlen (SF Studios;’ ‘Opus (A24),’ ‘The Amateur (20th Century Studios).’

Every once in a while, I don’t quite have enough to say or the time to put it into enough words for me to write full, dedicated reviews for everything new that I see. So, from time to time, I will just post a short review on Letterboxd, and, as you may have noticed, sometimes these reviews find their way to this site in the form of bite-sized reviews in a compilation article. That is exactly what’s happening today.

In this article, I’ll give you my thoughts on two Danish films starring the same stand-up comedian turned actor, an action thriller that came and went without much fanfare, a mystery thriller that also came and went without making an imprint, a recent Netflix casino flick, and a retirement home-set horror film that may just be one of the worst films I’ve seen this year. Let’s get to it.

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Bring Her Back (2025) | REVIEW

Sally Hawkins in BRING HER BACK — PHOTO: A24 (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou — Screenplay by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman.

In Bring Her Back, we follow Australian step-siblings Andy (played by Billy Barratt), a 17-year-old young man still struggling with previously undisclosed trauma, and Piper (played by Sora Wong), his visually-impaired younger sister, after they find their father dead in the shower. Now, with Andy not being quite old enough yet to be Piper’s legal guardian, they risk being split up by the system, but the siblings put their foot down and eventually get a foster parent to agree to house them. But while this foster parent, Laura (played by Sally Hawkins) hopes to adopt Piper, the siblings still have hope that they can eventually go out on their own. However, Laura, a grief-stricken former counselor who has recently lost her own visually-impaired daughter, has ulterior motives and, it appears, she may have already experimented with occult rituals on another child in her care.

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A House of Dynamite (2025) | REVIEW

Trailer title card — PHOTO: Netflix.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow — Screenplay by Noah Oppenheim.

For most of this young century, Point Break director Kathryn Bigelow has dedicated her filmmaking career to these intensely political thrillers that have sparked a lot of discussion at the time of release (e.g., The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Detroit). Now, eight years after the release of Detroit, Bigelow is back with another political thriller with its finger on the pulse of America and the world with Netflix’s A House of Dynamite, an occasionally thrilling and terrifying apocalyptic triptych about a fictional immediate panicked response to a single nuclear missile headed for America. 

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Black Phone 2 (2025) | REVIEW

Finney Blake (Mason Thames) and the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) in BLACK PHONE 2 — PHOTO: Universal Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Scott Derrickson — Screenplay by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill.

Earlier this year, director Scott Derrickson gave us Apple TV+’s The Gorge, which I found to be a gripping genre-blender with two fun leads. Now, Derrickson, the Doctor Strange and Sinister director, is back with a direct continuation of one of the cinematic horror worlds he helped bring to life with a sequel to 2021’s The Black Phone. When I first saw the 2021 effort, I described it as another gripping horror home run from Derrickson, who has previously shone as a horror filmmaker with Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose being, arguably, his best horror efforts. Although I have had some doubts about how they could continue the story of The Black Phone, given its ending, I’ve been excited to see it for some time. Now that I’ve seen the sequel, I can report that, admittedly, it doesn’t feel like as much of a neatly balanced horror outing as some of his best films, but it does represent a jump up in violence from the previous film, as Derrickson and his frequent collaborator and co-writer C. Robert Cargill have infused the sequel with a giddiness when it comes to implanting genre references and upping the intensity a notch. It mostly works, even if there are some issues along the way. 

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Tron: Ares (2025) | REVIEW

Jared Leto in TRON: ARES — PHOTO: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Joachim Rønning (Young Woman and the Sea) — Screenplay by Jesse Wigutow.

One good thing that Tron: Ares immediately accomplished was getting me to give Tron: Legacy a rewatch. Back in the day, I greatly enjoyed Legacy, which was essentially Disney’s attempt to get their own Matrix clone, but I hadn’t rewatched it in so long. Though Legacy has its issues with performance, runtime, and slightly dated visual effects, it is such a good time.  Its visual style was effective, Daft Punk’s music was sensational, and Olivia Wilde and Jeff Bridges were joys to watch. It may have been style over substance, but it was genuinely entertaining and has rightfully earned a cult following in recent years despite underwhelming at the box office. Now, with Tron: Ares, Disney has switched out Joseph Kosinski for Joachim Rønning, Daft Punk for Nine Inch Nails, the digital world for the real world, and the cold blue look for a reddish one. Unfortunately, while there are things to like about Tron: Ares, the writing and casting let it down. 

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Den Sidste Viking (2025) | REVIEW

(L-R) Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas in THE LAST VIKING (DEN SIDSTE VIKING) — PHOTO: Nordisk Film / Rolf Konow.

Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen — Screenplay by Anders Thomas Jensen.

Only a select few films can fill up theater rooms across Denmark like Anders Thomas Jensen’s directorial efforts can. Ever since he burst onto the scene with Flickering Lights, he has been a favorite for Danish filmgoers, and it is always genuinely delightful to see Danes flock to theaters whenever he has gotten ‘the gang back together’ (the gang always consists of Denmark’s two most popular actors Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Mads Mikkelsen) to tell a ‘black comedy’ narrative with absurd quirks and goofy but strangely lovable oddball characters. Now, he’s back again with The Last Viking (Danish title: Den Sidste Viking), which is yet another instantly successful Danish black comedy with some of Denmark’s most popular actors. It doesn’t quite hit the highs that Riders of Justice (Retfærdighedens Ryttere) did, but it is nonetheless quite good and will be very satisfying to those with a love for the wavelengths of Jensen’s oeuvre. 

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The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) | REVIEW

Keira Knightley in THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 — PHOTO: NETFLIX (Still image from trailer).

Directed by Simon Stone — Screenplay by Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse, and Simon Stone.

The generically titled The Woman in Cabin 10 — not to be confused with The Woman in the Window, The Woman in the Yard, The Woman in Black, The Woman in the Wall, or The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window — is the latest feature from The Dig director Simon Stone. The film, which is based on Ruth Ware’s novel of the same name, is designed as a whodunnit psychological thriller, and it follows a journalist (Laura Blacklock, played by Keira Knightley) on a billionaire’s luxury yacht, who believes she has witnessed a passenger being thrown overboard and possibly killed. However, when she brings this up to anyone on the ship, no one seems to believe her. As our protagonist starts questioning her sanity, she also starts to uncover clues. 

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John Candy: I Like Me (2025 – Documentary) | REVIEW

PHOTO: Amazon MGM Studios.

Directed by Colin Hanks.

Not a month goes by in my family without someone referencing Uncle Buck. It’s fair to say that John Candy has a special place in both my heart and the hearts of my family members. Therefore, I was especially excited to watch Colin Hanks’ film about John Candy‘s life, which, tragically, ended much too soon back in 1994. Actor John Candy, a gentle giant with a special comedic talent, is best known for Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and the many other John Hughes films in which he appeared. This latest Amazon Prime Video documentary paints a beautiful portrait of Candy but is, ultimately, both heartwarming and heartbreaking, as you see how many lives he touched, how much of a positive inspiration he was to others in the industry, but also the hole that he left behind for his family. A beloved father, actor, and comedian, John Candy was larger than life, and the documentary does a good job of emphasizing just how talented he was with archival footage of his Second City skits, his films, and plenty of footage of him making public appearances and still being witty as ever.

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One Battle After Another (2025) | REVIEW

Leonardo DiCaprio trying to figure out a rendezvous location over a payphone call in ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread) — Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson.

One of the most anticipated major auteur works of 2025 has been released. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s postmodern 1990 novel Vineland, One Battle After Another marks the 10th narrative feature from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (often abbreviated as PTA) and the first team-up with the renowned and immensely popular thespian Leonardo DiCaprio. The film follows Bob Ferguson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a paranoid ex-revolutionary, who has gone into hiding from the government to protect his now-teenaged daughter, Willa (played by Chase Infiniti), who has yet to fully understand what he and her mother went through when they quarreled with the government during their time as prominent members of the far-left revolutionary group the French 75, who, among other things, broke out detained immigrants from militarized detention centers. However, on the day of a school dance, it becomes clear that the government — personified by Colonel Steven Lockjaw (played by Sean Penn), who has personal reasons for seeking out Bob and Willa — has finally found them. When Lockjaw and the military’s presence becomes known, Bob goes in pursuit of his daughter, with the hope of getting to her before Lockjaw can, but he needs the assistance of the cool-headed local community leader, Sergio St. Carlos (played by Benicio Del Toro), if he is to have any chance of navigating both the chaos around him and the paranoia inside of him, as well as getting to his daughter before it’s too late. 

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