Flash Frames

“Some search for battle, others are born into it…” Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti Synopsis: “Bob is a washed-up revolutionary who lives in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited and self-reliant daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her as both father and daughter battle the consequences of their pasts.” __________________________________________________ Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson has already cemented himself as one of the go-to directors of this era, and even if you don’t know that name, you’ve at least heard of the movies he’s made. There Will Be Blood , Punch-Drunk Love , Boogie Nights , The Master , Magnolia , Phantom Thread … He’s rarely missed, at least for me. It’s been tough to wrap my head around his latest film, One Battle After Another , and I’ve seen it twice. I gotta...

“Who will save us from our heroes?” Director: Bryan Andrews Cast: Iman Vellani, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Tessa Thompson, Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Hailee Steinfeld, Wyatt Russell, Randall Park, and Dominique Thorne Synopsis: “After the Avengers are overtaken by a zombie plague, a desperate group of survivors discover the key to bringing an end to the super-powered undead, racing across a dystopian landscape and risking life and limb to save their world.” __________________________________________________ I might have to just get right to the point for this one because I don’t have a bunch to say about Marvel Zombies , the latest Marvel miniseries that has hit Disney+. I really wasn’t too excited for it, mainly because of the other animated Marvel show  What If…? ending up really collapsing in on itself. They had a Marvel Zombies episode that I thought was… fine? I didn’t hate it, but it left my mind pretty soon after watching it. I also just don’t like t...

“The law’s reach never stretched this far.” Director: Akiva Schaffer Cast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, CCH Pounder, and Danny Huston Synopsis: “Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr becomes a police officer like his legendary father and must save the police department from shutting down by solving a case.” __________________________________________________ It’s nice to laugh every once in a while. It’s even better to laugh incredibly often, and that doesn’t really happen these days. By all accounts, that’s mainly because big budget studio comedies don’t really happen anymore. Sure, we’ve got the smaller ones or the ones made for streaming, but that’s not cutting it anymore. The spoof comedies, or the ones with really dumb jokes that got run into the ground in the mid-2000s, used to fill in that gap. Airplane , the original Naked Gun movies, Scary Movie (which is making its own comeback next year), and Mel Brooks comedies like Blazing Saddles and Young Franke...

Caught Stealing (2025) Director: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Benito Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, and Carol Kane. Synopsis: Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.

Together (2025) Director: Michael Shanks Cast: Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Damon Herriman, Mia Morrissey, Karl Richmond, and Jack Kenny. Synopsis: Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads when they move to the countryside, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.

Weapons (2025) Director: Zach Cregger Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan. Synopsis: When all but one child from the same classroom mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

Eddington (2025) Director: Ari Aster Cast: Joaquin Phoenix ,  Pedro Pascal ,  Luke Grimes ,  Deirdre O'Connell ,  Micheal Ward ,  Austin Butler , and  Emma Stone . Synopsis:  During the COVID-19 pandemic, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, N.M.

Materialists (2025) Director: Celine Song Cast: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Zoë Winters, Marin Ireland, Louisa Jacobson, and Pedro Pascal. Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of New York City's luxury-driven dating culture, it follows a love triangle between a matchmaker, her aspiring actor ex-boyfriend, and a charming billionaire.

The Phoenician Scheme (2025) Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, F. Murray Abraham, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Willem Dafoe. Synopsis: Wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, and Sebastain Stan in Thunderbolts* This one’s a little late too, I know, but during the last two weeks of stewing on Thunderbolts* and superhero movies in general, I’ve hit a small realization about comic book movies. There’s a good chance that the glory days are done. I know, just hear me out. Remember when westerns were so insanely popular, and the popularity of them just waned over time? Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re in the middle of that. Oddly enough, maybe that’s why I feel like Thunderbolts* , the 36th (!) film in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe, is such a breath of fresh air. The closest thing to a relative comparison to the Thunderbolts team in other media is DC’s Suicide Squad , but even then, this team is pretty different, at least in Thunderbolts* . The main focus here is Yelena Belova, played excellently by Florence Pugh, a former Black Widow and m...

A Creeper and Jason Momoa in A Minecraft Movie Yes, I know that this is a later than I hoped it’d be, but don’t get it twisted: I feel obligated to write about A Minecraft Movie , mainly because of my experience watching it. You’ve seen the videos of audiences (that mainly consist of children and teenagers) losing their minds over “CHICKEN JOCKEY,” and I’m here to say… that didn’t happen at my screening. It was insanely packed, but there really weren't any rowdy reactions. As someone who respects good theater etiquette, I’m glad to see that it isn’t dead. Either way, there’s no denying that Minecraft , the game, and A Minecraft Movie are now cultural beasts. The game has been around since 2009, and its popularity really hasn’t dwindled since then. It’s the highest-selling video game ever, and I was saying that even before we’d see the record-breaking box office performance it’s currently in the middle of, this thing was going to make so much money no matter what the reviews were. ...

Jack Quaid in Novocaine I’m fully aware that this is probably going to be a shorter post, but I’ve been busy as hell recently and I just gotta get this thing out there. Honestly, though, Novocaine might be the perfect movie to just get a quick post out there and in the open. This is the newest movie in a now-typical sort-of conceptual action movie that’s been going on for the past few years, and I really think John Wick really opened the floodgates with this archetype: someone who’s mild-mannered, whether it’s really who they are or they’re hiding a part of themself, has to get out there and save someone/enact revenge for something that was done to them. If anything, this could also be attributed to David Leitch, one of the co-directors of the first John Wick and the founder of 87North, a studio that specializes in bloody, brutal movies that are reminiscent of the John Wick franchise: Nobody with Bob Odenkirk, Bullet Train , Violent Night , and The Fall Guy are probably the main ...

Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt & Ke Huy Quan in The Electric State There’s been a lot of talk online about the “death of movies” surrounding The Electric State , and from a certain point of view, I can understand why. This is a Netflix-exclusive movie, with no theatrical release that I knew of beforehand. It’s directed by the Russo Brothers; while having made some of the best/most successful movies in the MCU, their movies after their run in the MCU just haven’t landed: Cherry , The Gray Man , and now, The Electric State , an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel of the same name. I haven’t read that yet, although I’ve heard very good things about it, but there’s been a big backlash to this not really being an adaptation of the book. Call me crazy, but if I can call something like Dragonball Evolution for not being a good adaptation even though I haven’t watched a single bit of anything else in that franchise, I might be able to say that about The Electric State . It also...

Robert Pattinson and Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17 I had a certain experience with this movie that I’ve had with very few: bewilderment. When a movie ends, I usually have my mind made up on if I liked it or not. This time, though, I had no idea what to make of Mickey 17 , the latest movie from Bong Joon-ho and his first since the historic, Oscar-winning Parasite . I meant to publish this review a few days back, but I was just stunned by this movie for a while. Whether or not it was positive or negative, Mickey 17 genuinely did stump me for a while. This is based on a novel by Edward Ashton, Mickey7 , and mainly follows Mickey Barnes, a man who joins an ambitious space colony to work as an “expendable,” a disposable employee for the company that’s sent to die in various ways in the name of science to develop ways that humanity can move to a new planet. After he dies, he’s cloned with all of his memories and personality in place and sent back to work, just to die over and over again. Th...

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked Alright, here we are. We’re basically at the finish line, but I’ve now seen every single nominee for Best Picture at the Oscars this year (I’m ranking all 10 of them tomorrow before the ceremony starts). The last of them, as you can see, is Wicked . The beloved musical took a very long time to hit the silver screen, with an official announcement of a movie coming all the way back in 2012. Admittedly, I wanted to watch this much sooner, but I was in the middle of my final semester in college. Them’s the breaks, but I got it at home and was able to get through the just-under three hour runtime at my own leisure. At this point, I’d usually go into what Wicked is, but come on, I don’t think I really have to. It’s Wicked . That being said, I should mention that this is the first part of a two-parter, with the second act, titled For Good, set to release this Thanksgiving. I mention that because I think this was a game-changing decision that really b...

Still from The Monkey It’s pretty fascinating to see how popular Osgood Perkins has become. I’ve really seen all except for one of his films, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. Both The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel almost feel gothic in how dour they both are, but I think if you’re into movies at all, you know that one of the biggest horror movies of last year was Longlegs , an almost-throwback to FBI serial killer thrillers like The Silence of the Lambs . While I didn’t fully love the movie, there’s so much in Longlegs that works in its favor: The atmospheric dread that tinges even the very small comedic elements; the performances from Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, and a delightful Nicolas Cage; even down to the oversized presidential portrait of Bill Clinton. Outside of the main reveal of what was actually happening, I really dug Longlegs , and his next film is already here, which ended up being a massive horror team-up: Perkins directing and adapting a Stephen King sh...

Still from Heart Eyes I’m sort of stunned by the response to this one. I’m not entirely sure where this came from, but Heart Eyes has really become the big discussion of January/February horror movies. Granted, there haven't been a lot of movies or shows (or really anything) that’s come out this year so far, but hey, we’ve got something to talk about now. Why I think this is happening is because of Eli Roth, who’s only really made one good movie, and that’s Thanksgiving . It’s an absolutely ridiculous movie, framing a slasher/murder mystery around the Thanksgiving/Black Friday holiday, but unlike Roth’s other horror movies, it leans much more into how silly the premise of a serial killer dressing up like a pilgrim and cooking one of his victims like a turkey is. That’s silly, and it knows it. Heart Eyes doesn’t lean into how goofy this idea is, which follows the “Heart Eyes Killer,” a methodical serial killer that’s been killing couples on Valentine’s Day in different cities for ...

Sophie Thatcher in Companion For clarity reasons, I actually saw this nearly a week ago. While Companion did open this weekend, the theater near me did a mystery screening and it ended up being an early showing of Companion . That being said, I waited this long to put up my review because this is a *very* tough movie to review without spoiling the main twist. Granted, the twist of the movie is shown in the trailer I linked at the bottom of this post, just below the grade. If you want to just skip to that letter grade, go right ahead. And if you want a very brief review, Companion is just a damn good horror-comedy, which is something that we really don’t get a lot of these days. Okay, now is **SPOILER TIME** , which means I’ll just be going into the main premise of the movie. Not detailed plot points or anything, but what this movie is has to do with why I liked it. What makes talking about Companion so interesting is the two differing synopses for the movie. The first one, which is ...

Still from Transformers One It’s nuts to see that there’s actually a pretty well-received Transformers movie out there now. I know I’m very late to the party with this one, but I just kept hearing about Transformers One and how good it is, from non-fans and fans alike. I know I should take out that bias when I’m reviewing something, but it was so overwhelming that it felt unescapable. One is apparently a prequel to Michael Bay’s live-action Transformers films, but there’s no real connection to them. I honestly don’t even know why this is tied to it. One follows two lonely workers: Orion Pax and D-16. They work in the mines on Cybertron, where the intelligent robots are divided into two classes: the ones who can transform and the ones who can’t. Why they mine for Energon, the fuel that powers Cybertron, is because the planet lost the Matrix of Leadership. Gaining this back could end the need for what’s basically slave labor and restore Cybertron to its former glory. It’s refreshing t...

Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie in Blink Twice We’ve been in an interesting era for pop culture and how we deal with consequences for our actions, and I’m surprised that there really hasn’t been a horror movie that doesn’t directly attack the mentions of “cancel culture” and things like that. Well, at least ones that don’t come off as preachy. Blink Twice really doesn’t come off as preachy in most parts, but it’s practically tackling “cancel culture” head on. Naomi Ackie plays Frida, a cocktail waitress at tech billionaire Slater King’s annual gala. He invites Frida and her friend, Jess, to his private island with his buddies for a dream vacation, where something sinister begins to creep in. It’s not exactly subtle with what it’s trying to say, but maybe it’s best to use a hammer rather than a pair of scissors for this topic. Blink Twice is very much a thriller in the vein of Get Out or even Don’t Worry, Darling (a movie I like quite a bit), with the first half being a very accompli...