Film Review: Monkey Man (2024)

The directorial debut of Dave Patel is pouring its heart and soul into the film’s energy. The work, even though ultimately a finely-crafted and dynamic film, still fails at the same time precisely because of the insanely high energy it provides. From the sights and sounds to even the dense music soundtrack and the nearly-tangible smells of modern India, Monkey Man keeps relentlessly pushing and pushing.

But it feels like Patel, who is starring in the film at the same time, tried hard to bring across a more poignant and deeper message about the state of the biggest democracy in the world. The story of a downtrodden boy who grows up into a man thirsting for vengeance is easy to understand, though hard to empathise with. The reason for this is that in the film, somehow, everyone seems to be suffering. That plight turns into a series of individual spaces from which no one can escape. 

This applies to the ritual character of Kid, but also to the beautiful women trapped in the glorified brothels of the upper floors of glamorous hotels. It applies to the corrupt cops on the street and to their commanders as well, whose hands are forever bloodied by the deeds they had or wanted to commit. Still, throughout all of this, castes are never mentioned, which is an odd blind spot for a film with these topics and societal context.

Chances are that for the film’s investors, it’s much more appealing to see a scenario where everyone is sort of bad in their own way instead of fully focusing on the powers that be. The main antagonist of the film could have played that role. But the script seemingly pulled away from pushing into the societal space where money is pouring in and very little pouring out, just like it has been for millennia.

Monkey Man is a stand-out action thriller that does both thrills and action really well. Yet, it is no White Tiger when it comes to its ability to address the current state of India’s wealth disparities. It does, sadly, just as little in showcasing what the future course of this unique but troubled nation could be.

Late Bloomer - Award-Winning Short Film on (Very) Short Relationships

 

Meeting new people is never easy or simple. In the case of Late Bloomer, this process is not only daunting but sometimes even ends up in utter failure. In a matter of only five minutes, this short film jumps headfirst into the subject of finding intimate relationships out of thin air. However, unlike most Hollywood cliche romantic flicks, Late Bloomer takes a very somber, although hilarious, approach.

The film opens up with an apartment where two people, Selma and Kane, played by Erin Fleming and Merrell Molly, are waking up. The film quickly showcases the fact that they only recently met at a funeral and immediately after that hooked up. Now, in the aftermath of the same fling, they are both awake and presumably sober, which allows the harsh reality to set in for both of them. 

Directed by Robert Murphy, Late Bloomer is incredibly fun and engaging for a work of art that is barely five minutes long. Even as a short film, it managed to capitalize on the chemistry between the characters, especially that notion of both Kane and Selma feeling that the thing that they had is close to something tangible and long-lasting, but at the same time, it's just not there. Of course, Kane is more than happy and willing to keep it in the same space, but the prospect of that happening seems very slim. In this setup, Molly does a great job in particular, making his character thread a fine line between being desperate and charming, all the while providing a great sense for comedic timing. 

Sharp and witty, Late Bloomer once more shows that a good cast and a wholesome script that avoids both overreaching and underdelivering is a great formula for a compact cinematic work of art. Using that approach, it paints a picture of interpersonal relationships that is very modern and speaks of our contemporary world, but at the same time provides a timeless snapshot of an encounter. This encounter might end as Henry Longfellow's poem describes it, ships passing in the night, but that being said, the same fictional night still provided us with a fantastic short film.

With so much going for it, it’s no wonder that the title has already received critical acclaim. The film won the Best Micro Film award at Cal Film Festival 2025, along with other recognitions. You can watch the entire Late Bloomer right here - if you like it, don’t forget to share it with your film-loving friends as well!

Film Review: Weapons (2025)

 

There’s a recent tendency in filmmaking, especially those circles that gravitate more towards the indie scene than the modern Hollywood approach, to explore the boldest topics through horror. It Follows is now more than a decade old, but it grappled with the topic of STDs probably better than any film since Kids. More recently, Oddity delved into loss and mourning with stunning effectiveness. Now, Weapons has come along and, in my view, immediately became a future cult classic.

The film’s creator, Zach Cregger, grabbed the movie-going world’s attention with the quirky and unexpected Barbarians. In his latest creation, however, Cregger found a way to take that potential and blast not just out of the park, but out of the stratosphere. The story of the film is eerie, strange, yet very familiar beyond its surface – a classroom of children simply disappears one night by running out of their homes and into the darkness. In the same class, only one boy remains, clueless about what has transpired. From that point, a frantic series of individual tales ensues, overlapping and intersecting, which all show a unified epic of fear, determination, survival, and hope, which all stand against an utter, soul-crushing hopelessness.

The cast of the film works marvels with a great script that is laden, somehow, with very effective dark humor. Here, Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, and Josh Brolin shine through in particular, along with what is likely the best role Austin Abrams has had in his career. They all complete their roles spotlessly throughout a film where at least a dozen different facial and cranial injuries occur, many of which result in gruesome, gory deaths. But, even these merge into the bigger whole, along with subtle and not-so-subtle references to one of the biggest collective dreads in the mind of modern America.

A masterpiece of social commentary, nail-biting horror, and out-of-place humor, Weapons is definitely not a film that comes around very often. Cregger already proved that he has a brilliant and remarkably different kind of mind, which is appreciated by everyone who loves art. Weapons show what can be done if the stars (human and metaphorical) align for people like him, and we need that alignment to keep going even stronger!