Martin Scorsese claims that Raging Bull was where he entirely relearnt how to make films, having reluctantly taken it on after almost dying. In order to do this he may well have gone to his early influences that led him to fall in love with cinema in the first place, particularly Johns Ford and Wayne. Through them a depiction of rage began to act as a mirror for the director himself. I look into these ideas in my introduction for the film.
The audio in the video below was recorded specially based on a rough introduction I had written for a screening of the film at The Little Theatre in Bath in March 2026, shown as part of Picturehouse’s year-long Scorsese season.
Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 24 minutes, Director – Jonah Hill
Since childhood Reef Hawk (Keanu Reeves) has been a beloved and acclaimed star, having gone quiet for a few years he’s making a big return, unless a mysterious video from his past will stop it. Can an apology tour prevent damage before any is done?
Outcome is a film that takes the stance of ‘maybe we shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quickly about cancelled stars’ and to some extent raises the question ‘do these people ever really remain cancelled?’ It also happens to be co-written and directed by Jonah Hill, or more rather the Jonah Hill of around 15 years ago, having found a career in stoner comedies.
His view of Hollywood’s cancellation process sees him playing the lawyer to Keanu Reeves’ movie star lead Reef Hawk. Hawk has been a major player for decades, since appearing on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show as a child he’s maintained fame and adoration, also gaining two Oscars, with very few problems. He may have recently taken some time off to deal with addiction, but nobody seems to have noticed. However, what could cause problems is a mysterious video that an anonymous source claims to have, one that could ruin his image. At the insistence of lawyer Ira – whose offices hold giant pictures of Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey – he embarks on an apology tour, whilst trying to find out what the video is and who it’s from.
Hill’s stoner humour often seems forced. It feels like the script is intentionally trying to go for shock value with not very shocking material. What’s actually present is a set of somewhat flat characters recycling jokes from years gone by – Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer as Reef’s rambling, clichéd friends particularly stand out as suffering from a lack of successful laughs, becoming quickly tiresome. This isn’t to say that the film is void of humour, one or two quick asides get a slight chuckle but there are prominent gaps between them, and a lot that falters. Largely feeling like each scene, or character, is just a new idea for an SNL sketch.
There’s a stale feeling of tiredness to the film that starts to feel like Hill is trying to make a point of his own return – having been labelled as cancelled himself in the past after allegations of abuse – or premature jumps in Hollywood to protect itself, and its stars. It all sits oddly with the directions the film goes in, and always feels as if changes and a sharper, more satirical nature could make it a strong film, one a bit more tongue-in-cheek. Unfortunately, that’s not how Outcome sits, as it places itself outside of a proper genuine feeling for both laughs and overall narrative. It all feels a rather odd endeavour.
Calling back to not-so-edgy stoner humour, there’s no real shock value to any of Outcome as it never really does anything convincing in a comedy that feels like a selection of outdated SNL sketchesthan anything sharp.
Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 58 minutes, Director – Sergei Loznitsa
Russia, 1937, a young prosecutor (Alexander Kuznetsov) arrives at a prison to investigate corruption in Stalin’s secret police across the USSR.
Two Prosecutors is a film all about torment. Viewed sternly, it’s a cold, itching drama that draws out its details. Much of the film, in fact, is constructed with a handful of lengthy conversations and monologues, each delving deeper into the corruption of Stalin’s secret police and a spree of forced false confessions.
The camera remains still and targeted throughout the interactions of young prosecutor Kornyev (Alexander Kuznetsov). Examining the faces of the few characters, almost entirely viewing in close-ups – sometimes forced to due to the cramped nature of train compartments, offices and cells. There’s a hollowness to the drab decoration but not the content of the film which is almost fuelled on the fear and dread that Kornyev learns about, particularly through prisoner Stepniak (Aleksandr Filippenko delivering a standout turn which grinds the fear into place in captivating fashion). It’s through Stepniak that Kornyev learns of possible corruption – claims that prisons are being used for murder and torture to allow for control from Stalin loyalists.
While some of the segments that we see can sometimes feel a slight step down when it comes to the thematic weight being dealt with it may only be because of the excellence of some that come before that – such as Filippenko’s monologues, largely confined to one scene when Kuznetsov looks on and asks very little, his face wearing concern. The face of the film is one that’s targeted, taking specific aim; keeping its coldness. There’s a chance of sections to feel stage-like, and while based on a novella of the same name there’s occasional feeling of a play adaptation here, but the closeness provided by the camera in certain spaces steps away from this somewhat. Making for a personal, occasionally haunting and creeping drama that finds the dread and fear of the corruption at hand through simple up-close discussion.
A film of close-up conversations and monologues that captures dread and fear of torture and corruption through some great performances, Two Prosecutors is a great piece of cold drama.
Cert – Recommended age 16+, Run-time – 1 hour 49 minutes, Director – BenDavid Grabinski
Gangster Mike (James Marsden) wants out of his lifestyle, when colleague Nick (Vince Vaughn) comes to his door he thinks it’s to confront him about Mike’s affair with his wife (Eiza González). It’s not. Nick’s come from the future to save Mike.
It can be easy to judge a perfectly fine film too harshly. It’s certainly the trap I fell into when first watching Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. On first viewing I was expecting, and hoping for, more laughs; I found some of the extended riffs a bit odd and generally didn’t get into the film. Yet, the general consensus was that the film was fine, and watching it I did feel like I was missing something. The simple fact of the matter was that I was being too sniffy. On a re-watch the film is indeed perfectly fine, and those extended riffs – largely based around Gilmore Girls – when embracing the style of a film that has a slight made-for-streaming feel (it finds itself direct to Disney+ and Hulu), have a couple of chuckles here.
A time travel action comedy that doesn’t get bogged down in the time travel, we see gangster Mike (James Marsden) looking to get out of his lifestyle, perhaps with the wife of fellow gang member Nick (Vince Vaughn) – Eiza González’s Alice. However, when Nick turns up at Mike’s door one night he fears the worst, however Nick reveals that he’s from the future and is here to save Mike who’s meant to die that night. After knocking out the Present Nick (also Vaughn) and bringing along Alice, the four try to evade being caught by gang leader Keith David and thick-drink-enjoyer Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro).
As forces close in or try to escape there are patches of likable humour scattered here and there. The cast for the most part are trying to lean into the humour of their characters even if the film itself doesn’t always seem to do so. There’s a tendency for some sequences, especially with the action aspects that are at play, to be treated straighter than perhaps they should be in terms of the tone and style of the moment. While the film may not get bogged down in the time travel elements it’s certainly still quite narratively focused and tries to keep things moving at all times, even with flashbacks and side characters. Sometimes this does mean that it feels as if pushing things along is put ahead of laughs, and not all the tangential moments quite click, especially more drawn-out beats involving brief appearances from supporting characters but for the most part things still manage to move along well enough.
As mentioned, Mick & Nick & Nick & Alice is a perfectly fine straight-to-streaming action-comedy. There are a few mild chuckles scattered along the way and the cast try their best to bring out the laughs even if the surroundings of a scene don’t always allow for them to come through, but the film as a whole is likable and watchable streaming fate. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing and shouldn’t be looked down upon. It shouldn’t be poked at or made to seem like it’s something lower just because of that. It’s still solid and good enough for what it does, and sometimes that’s what you need. Sometimes we (in this case I) need to be reminded of that, and that pretentiousness should be avoided as best as possible.
A perfectly fine and amusing action-comedy, if one that sometimes prioritises consistent plot references over laughs, Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice doesn’t always tonally match the comedic performances of the cast, and feels made for streaming, but it still makes for likable fare with a scattering of chuckles along the way.
Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 36 minutes, Director – David Mackenzie
When an unexploded World War II bomb is discovered in central London a group of criminals use the evacuation as their opportunity to pull off a bank heist.
Fuze is a film of competence. A competent bomb defusal attempt, a competent bank robbery attempt, a competently made film. Everything is done with a general satisfying-enough competence from start to finish. One event’s charge leads to another’s eventual taking over as the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb leads part of central London to be evacuated and shut down. A group of criminals take this opportunity, staying shielded in a block of flats until they can move without being caught, to rob the boxes in the vault of the bank next door.
While the former strand remains more thrilling, and I could have gladly watched 90-minutes of just that, the heist aspect eventually takes over and starts to form the basis of the second half of the film. Yet, Ben Hopkins’ screenplay, and the splicing of the two events, makes it feel as if there are two different films playing out rather than something joint, even when they start to come together in an almost tangling set of events which start to slightly push the feeling of the run-time. One which is extended with a slightly unnecessary tag-on and Fish Called Wanda style ‘what happened’ credits, slightly more baffling due to the lack of comedic push in the rest of the film.
However, there’s still a generally engaging piece of work here. One that captures a tension in the race against uncertain time aspect of the defusal (led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) with help from communications between the army who have been called in to deal with the task and the police (largely represented by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who doesn’t get a great deal to do here). Again, it’s all competently captured with effect scattered around, largely in the bomb aspect which kicks things off and is principally followed for a good time. Things may feel separate for a while, perhaps more than intentionally, and near a tangle, but things still remain engaging with enough to see the various developments through. It’s all rather competently done.
The most competent film of the year. Fuze occasionally feels like two films, largely before the third act, but there’s still a likable and sporadically tense film here that seems to somewhat acknowledge where its strengths are.
Release Date – 10th April 2026, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hours 47 minutes, Director – James McAvoy
Hopeful Scottish rappers Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) and Billy (Samuel Bottomley) are turned down by music executives because of their accents, finding success by pretending to be American they plan to expose the industry, however their personas start to get in the way.
California Schemin’ pulls the rug from under you multiple times. Starting out as an almost Scottish That Thing You Do before becoming a more intense drama part way through a heated exchange between the two central characters I realised how utterly engrossed I was by the film. Looking up at the screen in slightly open-mouthed fascination at the unfolding ‘based on a true story’ of Silibil N’ Brains.
Also known as Billy (Samuel Bottomley) and Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) the pair are hopeful Scottish rappers, creating hip-hop tracks when not working in a broadband call centre. It’s 2003 and major labels are looking for the next Eminem or Wu-Tang Clan, however a Dundee accent doesn’t fit the bill, with the two being mocked at a major audition as the “rapping Proclaimers.” Having had enough Gavin makes a call with a dodgy Californian accent and the pair find themselves being quickly signed up as the USA’s own Silibil N’ Brains, and finding quick success at clubs. Working their way towards a single they plan to expose the industry, and who they really are, on MTV’s The Hook.
James McAvoy, in his directorial debut, gets powerhouse performances from his leads, and those around them. It’s the characters that lead the events rather than the narrative or industry around them. There’s a spark to Ross and Bottomley’s turns which adds to the growing punchiness of the drama. The room spins around them until the tables turn and their characters start to struggle to separate themselves from their American personas; they keep up the act even when noone else is around. You can feel one’s worry for the other as they see how deep in character they’ve become, getting lost amongst drink, drugs and success – even before they’ve properly released any music. Yet, at the same time when performing together in front of a crowd there’s a sense of joint elation.
Natural laughs in the early stages, and there are a good few chuckles to be found, start to fade in line with the shifting tone of the film and its drama, it’s fitting and almost goes unnoticed. The fire of the drama is turned up and there’s a real impact to its intensity. The story could so easily tread conventional lines, and one or two such elements crop up over the course of the film although managing to avoid Dewey Cox territory, but what avoids them from coming out in full flourish is the simple connection we have with the characters and their journey. Their bond is likable, we want to see them succeed. The personas feel more like amusing deception rather than damaging lies; all until things start to turn and others are brought into the picture. Particularly Billy’s girlfriend Mary (Lucy Halliday – really holding her own when getting the chance to outshine the two leads) and the pair’s first-time manager Tessa (Rebekah Murrell), who scouted them at their first club appearance.
With his debut McAvoy creates a stunning, thoroughly entertaining drama. With his leads putting in strong turns for both their characters and their personas there’s light and dark to the deception that’s unfolding and it all lands an effect. I sat struck by the film and the performances from start to finish. It seems the UK continues to make the best musical biopics, even when we have to question whether we can consider the personas of the characters as underdogs.
A punchy, fiery drama with some good chuckles, California Schemin’ is a force that pulls the rug from under you. Ross and Bottomley are stunning as the dreamers who get fearfully lost in their own transfixing deception.
Cert – Recommended ages 18+, Run-time – 1 hour 38 minutes, Directors – Nick Kocher, Brian McElhaney
With just hours to finalise their decision for housing next year, college losers Jack (Gaten Matarazzo) and Montgomery (Sean Giambrone) take a powerful drug and go on adventure through the dorm corridors to collect their pizza order.
There’s always the fear with a new high school or college stoner flick that it’s going to try and be the next big thing for the current generation by referring to much to that for the last one. Pizza Movie opens with worries that it’s just trying to be Superbad, failing to understand that what makes films like that, and Animal House many years before it, work is that they’re so much a part of the time in which they were made. Yet, what becomes evident is that there may not be the next big teen stoner comedy here, but an amusingly silly drug-based venture.
Jack (Gaten Matarazzo) and Montgomery (Sean Giambrone) are the losers of their year group at college. Tormented by the jocks, unable to talk to the girls they like – for Montgomery this is Peyton Elizabeth Lee’s Ashley – if they’re not being chased down and beaten they’re trying to work out what they’re going to do in terms of housing next year. The clock is ticking and with hours left to go they order a pizza, take a drug that promises to make them feel like they’re floating on clouds and must face an adventure through the dorm corridors to get to the delivery robot that can’t get up the stairs.
The drug itself is treated like a video game, with different levels of intensity and a new gimmick each time; some lasting with more confidence in the gag than others. There’s fun to be had with the silliness on display in some of these ideas, even a joke such as the pair having to restart their journey as their heads ‘explode’ every time they swear manages to squeeze a good few laughs out of something that could quickly become thin. It helps that writer-directors Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney have kept things relatively simply in terms of what they do with their narrative.
There’s a subplot for the delivery bot, which provides a good handful of chuckles in its determination to deliver, and run-ins with jocks and a plot relating more to controlling student housing the next year – which feels slightly left behind until the third act where it comes across as more of a way to start to wrap things up instead of the pizza being more of the basis. Throughout all of this it feels like the creatives are simply having fun with their ideas, and that comes across and adds to some of the humour and silliness. Yes, not everything lands and sometimes you can feel a gag really falling flat, or trying a bit too hard to get the new Superbad-style audience, but for the most part there’s a perfectly amusing time to be had.
Things are kept moving with enough pace and focus on humour that there are enough gags which do work to see things through, and something of a surprise after a tedious set of opening events. Flashbacks, visions, truth-effects and an intensely committed robot all make for plenty of amusement in the successful silliness of a film that for the most part remembers that it’s a journey for pizza.
While some moments stray away from the simple pizza collection journey, and not every gag lands, thereare a good handful of laughs in the stoner silliness of Pizza Movie to see it throughits mostly simple narrative.
Seeking refuge, Asia (Zazie Beetz) takes a job working in mysterious building The Virgil as a housekeeper. However, the role turns out to be a sacrifice for Satanists who she must fend against.
You can’t exactly accuse They Will Kill You of being a wholly original film. Frequent homages to Kill Bill, and Tarantino styling, can start to border on overkill as they get near to defining the overall style of the film instead of simply being a mad action-horror – before eventually reaching insane in the third act. The plot is kept relatively simple (and familiar) as Zazie Beetz’s Asia, fleeing for her life, takes a job at exclusive members’ club The Virgil as a housekeeper. However, when some of the members (including Heather Graham and Tom Felton) attack her in her room she discovers that she’s actually the latest sacrifice for a group of Satanists.
Cue a series of bloody fight sequences with a good helping of splatter as Asia tries to escape the building and take down those trying to kill her – led by Patricia Arquette’s Lily, owner of an Irish accent fitting of Wild Mountain Thyme with how much it dances around the UK rather than Ireland. Co-writer (alongside Alex Litvak) and director Kirill Sokolov puts most focus on action, dialogue scenes are just quick breathers before the next onslaught of slashes and stabbings. While sometimes the Tarantino style can feel a bit overused there’s an undeniably amusing nature to the pulpiness of the action which is made with pure popcorn entertainment in mind.
The Satanist angle of the antagonists starts to enter the ridiculous the more we see and learn about it. While sometimes it can add to the over-the-top nature of certain sequences it can also at others, especially in the final 20 minutes, it can start to feel a bit much, even if there is still some humour to be found in the you-won’t-see-it-coming finale. Occasionally it can feel as if certain aspects are present to push the run-time just that bit further, largely those that play into the more familiar beats. However, for 90-minutes there’s enough pulp in the scene-to-scene basis of the action to see things through and make for an amusing popcorn actioner.
A popcorn horror-actioner that understands exactly what tone it wants to strike. On occasion it might lean a bit too much into ridiculousness and Tarantino homage, but there’s still a decent 90-minutes of splattery entertainment here.
Cert – U, Run-time – 1 hour 50 minutes, Director – Ben Gregor
When their family moves to the countryside, kids Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy), Fran (Billie Gadson) and Joe (Phoenix Laroche) discover a magical tree, inhabited by fairies and pixies, that can take them to a new unique land each day.
There may not be a great deal of plot glimpsed throughout The Magic Faraway Tree, but it’s very much a film that takes delight in simply exploring the wonders that the titular tree can lead to. Whether it be the Land Of Goodies (a sweet-tooth utopia) or the Land Of Birthdays (a roller-skate disco party) there’s a simple joy to the lands the quite frankly terrifyingly high and structurally unsound ladder above the tree leads to each day. It’s where siblings Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy), Joe (Phoenix Laroche) and Fran (Billie Gadson) learn to appreciate the countryside, and perhaps the efforts of their parents (Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy), more.
Moving from the city to a dusty barn in the country after mum quits her job designing fridges, used against her knowledge to spy on potential customers, the kids are far from fans. Removed from tech, unamused by the locals and spending each day bored when Fran discovers the Magic Faraway Tree a new world is opened up by the fairies and pixies that live in it (including faces such as Nicola Coughlan, Nonso Anozie and Dustin Demri-Burns). However, all of this could be taken away when grandma (Jennifer Saunders) learns of the family’s move, giving a deadline for dad’s pasta sauce business to take off or she’ll take the kids with her.
Yet, it’s the supporting cast who largely act as figures in the individual lands rather than pushing forward the narrative. Mark Heap provides a humorous turn as a collector in the basement of the Land Of Birthdays, while the standout turn of the whole film is Rebecca Ferguson giving a gloriously panto-style performance as strict headteacher Dame Snap. Ferguson may only get a couple of minutes of screen-time, but for every second of them she’s an absolute joy, relishing the light villain role that I’d personally love to see more of from her. She’s the personality of her land, and much of where the film succeeds is in the personalities and wonders of the lands. There’s a charm to their design and effect which comes through also in Simon Farnaby’s screenplay.
Heart may not fully come through, although it’s there in the making, but certainly charm helps the film along and creates an amusing adventure for all ages. There’s likable humour scattered throughout, including a set of brief appearances from a number of famous faces (and voices), and the familial beats that form the core of the film. This strand might be somewhat light amongst the exploratory surroundings but they still manage to move along well without feeling overly schmaltzy. Perhaps it’s because of the lightness of the surroundings and the amusement there’s to be had from the film and the chuckles it provides, alongside the aforementioned joy of the worlds explored – which the film takes most delight in showing. Regardless, there’s still a charming and entertaining piece of family fare to be found here, and luckily much less of a climb to be immersed in these worlds than for the central characters.
A charming and amusing venture into a set of wonderous lands, The Magic Faraway Tree takes delight in its worlds while managing to form a light, not overly-schmaltzy family narrative around them. It’sgood entertainment for all ages.
After discussing the worst thing they’ve ever done with friends, Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie’s (Robert Pattinson) imminent wedding is thrown into turmoil when tensions rise from Emma’s dark confession.
Rarely have I been as tense laughing than during The Drama. Its humour can be dark but not edgy. The tensions come from those in the central relationship between Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson). After a night testing meals and wines for their wedding at the end of the week, alongside their married friends Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim), the four find themselves drunkenly discussing the worst things each of them have done. Throughout each story Emma sits awkwardly, fidgeting and trying to show genuine reactions while the back of her mind is clearly worried about things reaching her. By the end of her story the tone has dramatically changed. Friendly, if awkward and occasionally regretful, humour turns to shock and anger at Emma’s past.
The tensions follow the engaged couple to their apartment, and carry on in the build-up to their wedding. Charlie wants to know more, unsure of if he sees his fiancée as the same person, while she’s reluctant to revisit this part of her past (successfully left veiled in the marketing). Instead of jumping back into humour after the reveal, writer-director Kristoffer Borgli channels the darker tones of his previous feature Dream Scenario. There’s an anxiety and tension between the central pairing, a wall put up between them that they’re both staring directly at but hoping there could be a way around it. Zendaya and Pattinson are superb, particularly the former with a layered, full-force performance.
Interactions between the pair in their joint and separate lives are thick with unease. It flows from the screen into the screening room, escalating to the point where you want to cover your eyes or stop from gasping at certain lines of dialogue. There are still plenty of chuckles to be found, captured with a slight coldness from Borgli’s Scandi roots. The cuteness of the opening meet-cute and relationship-so-far fade with a lingering darkness hanging over the film. It’s caught in the dramatic sides as flashes of who Emma could now be in Charlie’s eyes are seen in visions and flashbacks. The balance is well handled through the editing which brings through the sharpness and, as the film points out, a slight look at a wider America, although not becoming a broad, reflective film.
Pacing varies throughout from the gradual table discussion that kicks everything off and excruciating events of the wedding day itself to more frequent beats of flashes of uncertainty and regret faced by the pair. All comes together evenly in a sharply written screenplay and focus editing which forms a consistently entertaining film in both the genuine rom-com beats and the bad or awkward decisions made, largely by Charlie as he tries to cope with what he now knows, in light of the unveiling that feels as if it could break out and more could find out about it at any second whilst avoiding falling into cringe comedy. Unease and tension is rarely this funny.
Sharp, searing and tensely funny there are plenty of laughs from and amongst the unease and darkness of The Drama, helped by two stellar performances from Zendaya and Pattinson, surely two of the best we’ll see this year.
Just A Little Bit Random 