One last job in Montreal draws a seasoned thief into uneasy partnership - where precision matters, and trust is everything.
Directed with calm control by Frank Oz, The Score is mature, restrained and quietly gripping. Robert De Niro gives the film weight as the weary professional, Edward Norton adds sharp-edged tension, and Marlon Brando, in his final screen role, commands every scene he's in.
Cool, deliberate and grounded in atmosphere rather than spectacle, it's a heist film that trusts performance over noise, and is all the stronger for it. Recommended.
When a dangerous parasitic fungus escapes from a long-sealed military facility beneath a storage complex, a small group must contain the outbreak before it spreads beyond control.
Directed by Jonny Campbell and written by David Koepp from his own novel, Cold Storage opens with a strong setup. The premise is engaging, though some of the exposition is a little repetitive in the opening. Koepp’s script has a few novel surprise sequences throughout, including infected people, rats, cats and deer. It’s sharp, with plenty of nods and references that never become tiresome.
The tone carries modern echoes of The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Lifeforce (1985), The Cabin in the Woods (2011), Slither (2006), and The Last of Us — pulpy creature horror with a knowing sense of fun. Laid-back Joe Keery and the grounded, excellent Georgina Campbell make likeable leads, while Liam Neeson adds gravitas as the veteran bioterror operative. The supporting cast are on top form: Smile’s Sosie Bacon appears, along with Lesley Manville — acclaimed for Phantom Thread and Mrs Harris Goes to Paris — and the legendary Vanessa Redgrave, to name a few. Richard Brake cameos as Wesley Jerabek, and leather-clad Justin Salinger is memorable.
What stands out most are the production values. The production design and on-location feel give the film weight, and even the tighter interior spaces feel convincingly claustrophobic rather than stage-bound. The subtle score by Mathieu Lamboley, along with a solid soundtrack including Blondie, complements the on-screen shenanigans, while cinematography by Tony Slater-Ling helps maintain the tension throughout.
The CGI is pretty good for the most part. There’s a strong contrast between the military and the storage workers.
Entertaining — a pulpy, modern B-movie with plenty of atmosphere and craft to make it worth a watch, with plenty of Campbell spore-creature chaos to elevate it even further. Destined for cult status…
Over a single Easter weekend, a London crime boss's carefully built empire begins to collapse as unseen forces strike from all sides, turning ambition into paranoia.
Directed by John Mackenzie and written by Barrie Keeffe, The Long Good Friday is a sharp, grounded British gangster film that thrives on tension and character. Shot on real London locations, the film gains a raw authenticity, elevated by Phil Meheux's strong, naturalistic cinematography, which captures the city with grit and scale.
At its centre, Bob Hoskins delivers a commanding performance as Harold Shand, while Helen Mirren (known for Excalibur) brings intelligence and quiet authority. A young Pierce Brosnan also makes an effective early appearance.
The supporting cast is packed with recognisable faces. Paul Freeman appears as Colin - known to many from Raiders of the Lost Ark. P. H. Moriarty stands out as Razors, later seen in Dune. Derek Thompson (long-running Casualty) also appears, alongside a host of familiar British character actors that give the film texture and credibility.
The band plays Dancin' (on a Saturday Night), sung by Joe Fagin, later known for That's Living, Alright from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
Driven by performance rather than spectacle, the film builds tension through dialogue, presence and atmosphere, underscored by Francis Monkman's distinctive score.
Lean, tense and character-led - a defining British crime film, elevated by its cast, its locations, and its authenticity. Caped off by a subtle and unforgettable conclusion.
A group of mercenaries are brought together to retrieve a mysterious briefcase, but shifting loyalties and hidden agendas quickly turn the job into a tense, dangerous game of survival.
Directed by John Frankenheimer, Ronin is a masterclass in grounded action and atmosphere. Set against real European locations, the film has a cold, lived-in feel that adds weight and authenticity to every scene.
The cast is exceptional. Robert De Niro leads with quiet authority, while Jean Reno provides a strong counterbalance. Stellan Skarsgård adds depth, and Sean Bean, in a smaller role, leaves a memorable impression.
The standout remains the car chases — still among the best ever put to screen — raw, fast and expertly staged without reliance on excess effects. Frankenheimer builds tension through precision, letting the action breathe and the stakes feel real.
Lean, smart and gripping — a modern action throwback done properly.
An escaped alien prisoner lands on Earth, forcing the authorities to dispatch a relentless extraterrestrial hunter to retrieve him - leaving a violent trail through small-town America.
Directed by Fred Olen Ray and written by Paul Garson, Alienator feels very much like an '80s sci-fi actioner that simply arrived late. It opens with an exposition text crawl and a lengthy prologue before the main credits roll - a structure that immediately signals its era.
There are several recognisable genre faces. Jan-Michael Vincent, famous for the television series Airwolf, appears here late in his career. Unfortunately he looks - and often sounds - inebriated, which is a shame given the strong screen presence. Horror fans will also spot Joseph Pilato, remembered as Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead, alongside cult favourite John Phillip Law of and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Teagan Clive cuts an imposing figure as the mechanical bounty hunter.
The plot carries echoes of Critters, more than Alien or The Terminator - a dangerous creature loose on Earth pursued by something even deadlier. Despite the small budget, the film has energy. Even though costumes look recycled, some of the practical effects, including creatures burrowing into victims' faces, are enjoyably tactile, while the action editing and optical effects are better handled than one might expect..
The pulsing electronic score by Chuck Cirino adds welcome drive, and cinematographer Gary Graver makes solid use of real locations rather than obvious studio sets.
Cheap, rough and unapologetically pulpy, Alienator survives on enthusiasm, practical effects and late-'80s B-movie charm but once they get to Earth it never matches the highs of its opening sequence.
A remote estate becomes a pressure cooker when a group of women find themselves hunted by a lethal primate, descending their weekend into brutal survival horror.
Directed by Johannes Roberts and written by Roberts and Ernest Riera, Primate leans firmly into slasher territory. It wears its influences openly, with flashes of Cujo (1983), The Shining (1980) in its isolating atmosphere, Halloween (1978) in its stalking rhythms, while structurally it replaces the masked killer with a rampaging ape. There are also shades of aquatic entrapment thrillers like The Pool (2018), 12 Feet Deep (2017) and Night Swim (2024), particularly in its confined set-pieces and tension-driven staging. And a touch of animal communication that was seen in Congo (1995).
Visually, the film impresses. Director of photography Stephen Murphy lights the estate with moody precision, evoking the sleek menace of The Invisible Man (2020) and the nocturnal unease of The Night House (2020). The score by Adrian Johnston is a standout - its synth-driven pulse clearly echoing John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) themes without feeling derivative. The sound design is equally sharp, amplifying every scrape, breath and distant movement to unnerving effect.
Performance-wise, Johnny Sequoyah delivers a memorable turn as Lucy. Victoria Wyant is also notable, while Miguel Torres Umba gives Ben real presence, the character realised convincingly through a blend of practical effects and digital augmentation. The dialogue is solid throughout, and the ensemble commit fully to the escalating carnage.
The gore and special effects are strong and impressive, the kills are particularly brutal, though the film works best in its tense, stalking sequences rather than its broader action beats. It echoes animal-attack predecessors like Monkey Shines (1988), Shakma (1990), Nope (2022) and especially Link (1986), though it lacks the emotional weight of the aforementioned and the likes of Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) or The Ape Man (1988). There's even an opportunity missed with a "good ape versus bad ape" dynamic or twist that (it wasn't Ben at all, but a second ape) which might have elevated it beyond straightforward slasher mechanics.
Ultimately, Primate plays as a modern, gorier, sharper riff on the killer-animal template - more slasher horror than psychological exploration. It's worth checking out if you favour brutal creature features, though the on-screen animal 'cruelty' and violence may prove too much for some especially in the closing, which denies it an emotional connection or pay off.
James Sunderland returns to the fog-drenched town of Silent Hill, drawn back by memory, grief and the promise of lost love, only to descend once more into psychological and physical torment.
Watching Return to Silent Hill felt like I’d slipped a DVD into a player in 1996. I admire what Christophe Gans achieved with Silent Hill (2006), bleak, visually committed, and genuinely unsettling. That film embraced despair and strangeness with conviction.
This, however, is something else entirely.
The costumes feel synthetic, the hair and make-up distracting, and the CGI distractingly artificial. The setting lacks texture; the voice-over narration overexplains rather than deepens; the flashbacks drain momentum instead of enriching character. Where the earlier film felt oppressive and immersive, this feels assembled, not conjured.
It’s frustrating because the foundations are there. Silent Hill thrives on mood, ambiguity and dread. Instead, the film stumbles through hollow recreations of imagery without the weight behind them. One keeps asking: did Gans really direct this? The confidence, the atmosphere, the control that defined his earlier effort seem absent.
A bitter disappointment, not merely flawed, but strangely lifeless.
Maddie and Trish seek solace in a remote Thai atoll-like lagoon. Their escape becomes a nightmare when Ceto—a vengeful, mistreated orca freshly freed from captivity at a water park—invades the trapped waters. Stranded on a rock with no food or rescue, the women battle a brilliant, merciless predator.
Directed by Jo-Anne Brechin and starring Virginia Gardner as Maddie, Killer Whale leans into a tried-and-tested survival template familiar from 47 Metres Down, The Shallows, Open Water and many other shark survival films. Opening with a great kill setup, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the staging or even the premise. An apex predator remains a solid foundation for tension. Gardner, in particular, gives the film credibility. Her performance is committed, physical and emotionally grounded. She carries the narrative through sheer screen presence, making Maddie – alongside Mel Jarnson’s Trish – resourceful, vulnerable and watchable throughout.
Where the film falters is in its execution: the special effects, sadly, let it down. In a subgenre that depends heavily on believability, the visual renderings – including the backgrounds – often pull the audience out of the moment rather than immersing them in it. What could have rivalled the tight suspense of its aquatic predecessors instead becomes overshadowed by effects that lack weight and realism.
It’s especially frustrating because Jo-Anne Brechin and Katharine McPhee’s writing rightly gives the orca its emotional intelligence and rich thematic potential. There are hints of something more layered beneath the surface, a suggestion that the creature is more than a simple monster. And if it weren’t for the special effects, the film had clout which may have elevated it beyond standard predator fare. The final act, too, feels like a missed opportunity. A more satisfying resolution – something closer in spirit to a Free Willy-style but grounded ending – may have provided emotional payoff rather than what we were given.
Killer Whale is not without merit. Virginia Gardner’s performance deserves praise, and the core concept remains strong. But in a genre where atmosphere and credibility are everything, the weak effects ultimately hold it back from the gripping survival thriller it might have been.
After a devastating viral outbreak leaves parts of the population infected yet not entirely gone, a fractured group of survivors navigate grief, suspicion and the lingering question of what it truly means to be alive — or buried.
Directed and written by Zak Hilditch, We Bury the Dead takes a creepy slow-burning, introspective approach to the zombie-virus subgenre. Rather than leaning solely on carnage, it focuses on broken relationships and unresolved trauma. At times, however, the film becomes bogged down in flashbacks and emotional backstory that dilute the forward momentum of an otherwise compelling premise.
Daisy Ridley leads the film with quiet intensity, delivering a great performance that anchors the film. She knocks it out of the park, carrying the emotional weight with conviction. Alongside her, Brenton Thwaites and Mark Coles Smith provide strong support. Their tensions often prove more engaging than the infected threat itself.
Technically, the film impresses. The make-up effects are excellent, restrained but unnerving, and several eerie set-ups linger in the mind long after. There are genuine jolts and a creeping dread that recalls the more contemplative end of the genre. The film also toys with interesting ideas about infection, memory and identity, though some of these themes are never fully explored.
If anything, a tighter edit, trimming some of the subtext-heavy relationship exposition and focusing more directly on Ridley’s journey, might have elevated it further. As it stands, We Bury the Dead is thoughtful, atmospheric and worth a watch. With a few sharper tweaks, it could have been something truly special.
Kermit the Frog gathers the gang to celebrate fifty years of The Muppet Show, revisiting classic sketches, musical numbers and behind-the-scenes memories while reflecting on what made the Muppets such a cultural fixture in the first place.
It’s genuinely fantastic to see Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo and the wider Muppet family (and newer characters) back together under one banner, celebrating half a century of felt, chaos and heart. Streaming on Disney+, the special leans heavily into nostalgia — and rightly so — reminding us just how sharp, anarchic and oddly sincere Jim Henson’s creations always were at their best.
There is, however, a slight caveat. Some of the voice work feels a little off, which is a shame given how many talented performers can replicate the originals almost spot-on. It never derails the experience, but longtime fans will notice the tonal shifts more than casual viewers.
That said, the warmth, humour and legacy carry it through. This is a loving tribute rather than a reinvention — a celebration of characters who still matter, still charm, and still know how to put on a show. For fans old and new, it’s a welcome reminder of why the Muppets endure.
