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.

Everyday Evil: A Horror Analogy - Powerful and Frightening Visions of the Human Beast

 

The horror genre is by far the most welcoming domain of cinematography when it comes to bold and unusual visions. After the relative slump of the Hollywood-style teen slashers that marked the 1990s, the 21st century brought about a true renaissance of this filmmaking domain, and now, Patrick A. Albright has added another fantastic film to the same body of artistic work. 

The film created by this award-winning black photographer and director is called Everyday Evil: A Horror Anthology, and from the first shot, it beckons the viewer into what seems like a beautiful and very ordinary world, but one that also hides unspeakable horrors behind it. That way, it will turn out that Albright is actually telling us about our real world.

The anthology covers six separate stories told from a first-person perspective. In all of them, the common theme is the notion of evil itself, but not as some grand, majestical, and even attractive force. Here, instead, it is something more similar to a deep-rooted but ultimately randomly dispersed energy that does not come with a complex backstory or detailed explanation. To the horror of all of us, it simply exists. 

Visually, the film does an amazing job with a very minimal budget, mostly by using a lot of natural lighting and liminal locations that in themselves offer a note of terror. From empty parking lots to desolate roads and green fields with odd, out-of-place details, Albright finds ways to boost the sheer quality of photography in the film to a level of a much bigger film production. The same goes for ambient sounds and the film’s soundtrack, which also enhances the experience through these stories. Generally, it’s tough to find independent films that do their sound right, and especially those that blend it with music that is neither overused nor underplayed. Everyday Evil manages to do just that, creating a balancing act that was clearly worth the substantial effort in post-production. 

There is no doubt that this film shows the value of having a powerful vision and employing it to the maximum effect, regardless of the size of the production’s budget. Everyday Evil: A Horror Anthology and Patrick A. Albright created a marvelous sequence of films and brought them together into one of the best independent horror films of this year. Be sure to watch it now on Fawesome.tv, where you can be impressed and terrified in equal measure.

Film Review: Jujji (2024) - Gripping Pakistani Thriller on the Demons that Haunt us All

The world that Jujji presents immediately pulls the viewers deep into the dark, silent, and violent space. From the first shot and the slow, tension-building monologue of an apparently random street vendor, the film shows that it can more than handle its central mystery. 

The premise of this Pakistani thriller centers on a serial killer pursued by two police officers. One officer is young and motivated. However, despite the fact that he's driven by his sense of justice, he is fighting his own demons from the past and many somber realities of his country. His partner, on the other hand, is an older and more morally flexible police veteran, who provides a completely different perspective not just on the case, but life itself, and their role as officers of peace. 

Jujji is masterfully directed by Habib Shahzad, who does wonders with the photography of the film. Each frame is crafted almost perfectly and uses the most out of natural lighting. The same rings through in both day and night scenes, along with the fact that Shahzad never forgets about its characters. This is best seen in the flashback story near the end of the film, which shows a tragic rescue of a kidnapped girl. The entire muted sequence is a small masterpiece of atmosphere and suspense. 

Through this relentless focus on characters, each setting or situation, Shahzad still manages to revert to the people in it. This approach remains steadfast, regardless of whether they're the main characters or someone like a poor passerby who stumbles upon a lifeless body. 

Finally, it is amazing to see that Jujji manages to do so much with a film based on a true story in just under 80 minutes. This too is the testament of the directorial skill of Shahzad and the natural storytelling talent, which is why he never loses a single beat in the film. The same makes the film one of the best Asian thrillers in recent years and should place Pakistan on the international map of all cinema goers. 

Film Review: A House of Dynamite (2025)

Don't fear the nuclear reaper is what most of the characters in A House of Dynamite are constantly trying to say to one another. At the same time, they're doing it through bewildered, terrified, or tearful eyes, continually trying to phone someone in the government or their uknowing family members. 

All of this is taking place as a single nuclear missile is traveling towards the continental US, which is a cycle of about 20 minutes that the film shows three times. In each of those, the director Kathryn Bigelow presents a different set of individuals making decisions around the same launch. The first group tries to intercept it, the second to understand it, while the last, spearheaded by the President of the county, should react to it - in a nuclear fashion, naturally. 

The concept of the film is gripping, and its stellar cast makes good on the script's promise to keep us glued to it until the very end. But, there's also a rational and realistic void in there as well. We're never really in the mind of anyone for long, while some characters, like Cathy Rogers, a FEMA official with the Office of National Continuity Programs, make no sense whatsoever.

The best way to perceive A House of Dynamite is likely to understand it as a deep dive into the US nuclear doctrine by a top-notch reporter team from an outlet like The Guardian. It's incredibly well-researched, somewhat liberal-leaning, and intensely smart, but doesn't allow for any feelings nor does it linger very long after you read the final, cautionary sentence.