Film Review: The Long Walk (2025)

 

There's some truly deep cinematic magic in the way Francis Lawrence can make things ordinarily extraordinary. His first film, Constantine, did this quite literally, but his latest, another adaptation of a great literary work, returns to this topic. This time he does it from a completely different angle that is anything but magical. In the alternate contemporary world of Stephen King, a group of teenage boys begins a challenge where they need to walk continuously, getting shot by their military escort if they slow down, until only one remains.

This stripped-down version of so many Battle Royale tales is here much more visceral. King's novel is a minimalist masterpiece of absolute doom and this sense of being stuck in a hell of one's own choosing. The film fatefully adapts this notion into a film that keeps going, even though its cast struggles to fill the worn, bloody shows of the much more impactful individuals from the book. Lawrence solves the problem of limited time and exposure by focusing on the constant movement of both characters and the plot. 

With that, The Long Walk is a film that probably broke the record of lines being said by actors in motion and with it, made a disturbing work of art about grim perseverance. That perseverance doesn’t let up even when it fails to make anything or anyone anything but dead. But, that's ultimately also the story of life itself, isn't it?

Film Review: The Gorge (2025)

Movies like The Gorge often cannot escape similarities with one or more episodes of The Twilight Zone. In this case, the similarities are noticeable almost immediately when two distinctly different individuals - both of whom are professional snipers - get a job protecting a mysterious gorge on its opposing sides. Inside are incomprehensible horrors, but outside are many oddities and unknowns as well.

From that hook, the film's director Scott Derrickson, who recently made The Black Phone, does a Super-G-level of slalom, flipping through genres in no time at all. From a thriller to a drama, then to a romance, and finally to a horror science fiction, The Gorge covers broader genre setups than an average movie theatre does over a weekend. Here, the film would often be too loose and disconnected, if not for Anya Taylor-Joy. For the most part, she carries the film on her slender back, providing a character that is constantly evolving and growing, but does so without stealing the spotlight. The same makes The Gorge overall a fun experience, even when the premise and the plot struggle to keep the audience engaged and interested in what, ultimately, hides the weird fog of the gorge.

The Last Unknown Boozers - Motion Comic Series on Challenges of Substance Abuse Recovery

No matter where you grew up or what your upbringing was like, chances are that you have some personal experience with substance abuse. It could have been someone you barely knew, but it could have also been a family member. In fact, it could have been - or still is - even you. In our modern world, substances like alcohol and narcotics are seemingly more present and widespread than ever, causing this issue to become more prevalent.  

At the same time, the fallout of their vicious addiction all too often reaches beyond the affected individuals. Instead, it impacts families, neighborhoods, and entire communities. That is why The Last Unknown Boozers: We don't drink, no matter what - not even a zombie apocalypse is such an important piece of contemporary art. This motion comic series deals with the problems one faces on the hard road of substance abuse recovery, but does it in a really unusual, novel, and interesting way. Check out the full first episode right here:

The series, written by Mike Zee, was produced with the help of Sober Mic and focuses squarely on the idea of the 12-step program to recovery. However, the series also starts with a zombie apocalypse. Here, a newcomer to the program meets two young men who have been sober for a while. In these extremely unusual circumstances, the ideas of sobriety, danger, addiction, and the everlasting desire to change for the better clash in front of the viewers.

The series is well-written and produced as a form of a moving comic book. Here, visually, the characters and their out-of-this-world zombie setting provide a great backdrop to the emotional and spiritual demons of addiction and self-destruction. Throughout the length of the series, which is available in its entirety on YouTube, this dynamic plays out as the 12 steps take place as well. 

If you're interested in sobriety and how one reaches it, check out the entire series on this YouTube playlist right now. It very well might be one of the most important things you discover on your road to becoming someone else.

Film Review: The Rip (2026)

If anyone is making a film about potentially corrupt police officers working in a huge US city, the shadow that Training Day casts on the same genre remains incredibly long. Even two plus decades since its release, that film is to the police crime thriller what Saving Private Ryan is to the war films. That’s why the director of The Rip, Joe Carnahan, didn’t have an easy job in front of him.

In his case, the unity under scrutiny is a narcotics team working in Miami. The same crew is suddenly placed in a tight spot after it raids a property where millions of US dollars are stashed, which are most likely directly connected to a narco cartel. In the night that follows, all bets are off as each of the team’s officers has someone to suspect.  

From the get-go, it’s clear that the biggest center of gravity in the film is the relationship between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The duo has been writing modern Hollywood history since the late 1990s, and they can still click together. But the same gravitational pull is also pushing everyone to the other rims of that star-studded solar system. That includes the very important Steven Yeun, but also a number of female characters that almost disappear in the last third of the film. 

Here’s where the biggest flaw of The Rip lies. Carnahan apparently didn’t fully decide if there’s too little or too much Damon & Affleck in his film. That’s why it ends up feeling somewhat under-cooked at its end, with several phases of the film that never completely deliver. That doesn’t make The Rip ultimately bad or unentertaining, but it does make it far away in terms of enduring quality from films like Training Day. The comparison might be unfair; however, it is still unavoidable. 

Film Review: One Battle After Another (2025)

 

The latest and biggest film from Paul Thomas Anderson has that very rare characteristic of modern cinema - it gets better as time passes. Initially, the story of several members of French 75, a fictitious rebellious militant organization in the early 2000s, seems incredibly shaky. The visuals are there, but the essence of its violent actions, undertaken by a motley crew of insanely colorful characters, fails to build in any clear direction. 

It does, however, offer a glimpse into the main characters on both sides of the law, played well by Teyana Taylor, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sean Penn. The problem is that it does it in a confused, insecure way that is neither fun nor disturbing. Instead, it presents some odd form of an alternative present that is mostly goofy and corny, even though it clearly resonates with the actual US political divide.

However, when the film moves to the present day, it kicks up a gear, mainly through the introduction of the revolutionary child of Charlene, played exceedingly well by Chase Infiniti. In the following mayhem, One Battle After Another becomes not just fun to watch, but also very moving. Here, the starting oddness combines well with the rest of the plot and delivers thrills just as much as great character development. In the end, both Anderson and his movie manage to win their final battle.

Film Review: Frankenstein (2025)

 

Guielrmo Del Toro is well-known for his vocal and very negative stance towards all manner of CGI effects, generative AI, and other digital-only movie-making tools. In his latest film, he tries his hardest to put his money where his mouth is, making the latest version of the classical Mary Shelly tale about playing god and being the victim of that playtime. 

The result is a very moving film with a fantastic showing by Jacob Elordi, who created one of the most iconic monsters/poets that the cinematic world saw in both this and the previous century. Oscar Issac also did exceedingly well with Victor Frankenstein, a man whose genius was only shadowed by his dark ambitions. Once more, we can see just how effective Issac is as the support character and lending his efforts to the film as a whole, not just his part in it.

However, it’s still Elodi who manages to provide such an original, animalistic entity. His monster is not a monster at all, but a being born unto a strange and violent world, who does not give up on seeking both meaning and connection. At the same time, Elodi manages to transform into pure and utter aggression, where his body becomes a weapon and his voice a harbinger of death. Throughout, his presentation is snake-like, both when it comes to his curiosity and his willingness to hurt others when he chooses to.

The film’s only odd downside is the strange post-production that Del Toro decided upon. Because of it, gorgeous physical sets and props, just like costumes, too often feel overly-cleaned and sparkling, as if most of the things we’re seeing are made from some weird CGI plastic. Yet, this doesn’t manage to drown out the performances, and ultimately, for a film about a man made from parts of others, this might be ultimately strangely fitting.