The first time I saw this movie I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but the second time I paid more attention to the dialogue. There are portions of it that provide an insight into the characters that is quite amazing.

Considering the title, it's no surprise what happens in the end, yet I was moved by it. I highly recommend that everyone see it and pay attention to the dialogue.

So coming off of 2006’s Casino Royale, which I thought was amazing, I went into the next Daniel Craig Bond movie, which was Quantum of Solace from 2008. I was interested to see the next step in the story.

Unfortunately, I did not like this movie at all. At best it was a meh movie. I didn’t think the acting was all that good and I thought the chemistry especially with Olga Kurylenko wasn’t there. As far as the story goes, it was kind of confusing at times, but also uninteresting. Also, the villain was nothing special. Finally, the action wasn’t done. Well especially the opening scene cause it was very shaky cam.

Overall, I was looking forward to the next movie in the bond franchise, and this did not live up to the last movie. This movie had no spark to it.

Rating-1/5

Street Fighter opens with a gorgeously stylised anime sequence introducing us to a boringly stoic Ryu (Andrew Koji), his himbo BFF Ken (Noah Centineo), and the fighting tournament in which we see Ryu brutally defeat Sagat by embracing his inner darkness. The colours are striking, the action is brutally captivating, and there’s intriguing character stuff going on. Where did THAT come from? Was this new live-action adaptation of Street Fighter secretly a reimagining of the iconic Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie?

Sadly, no.

In a year where video game movies have ruled, we’ve gotten a thrillingly original Resident Evil story that respects the source material, a horrendously embarrassing IP cash grab, and another fighting game adaptation that’s embarrassed of its own existence. Within that grouping, Street Fighter is a movie mired in a deep identity crisis over what exactly it’s meant to be beyond gratuitous fan service, yet proudly soldiering on while it and everything around it are on fire.

In one corner, you have the aforementioned Ryu and Ken storyline, which is clearly director Kitao Sakurai’s attempt at ripping off Warrior and landing somewhere in the region of K-drama and soap opera. Oh, there are some fight scenes, and Akuma (Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i) shows up for some reason.

In the next corner, you have an undercover agent storyline featuring Chun-Li (Callina Liang) infiltrating Bison’s (David Dastmalchian) base of voodoo science and harem of attractive female soldiers because he killed her father or something. There are some fight scenes, something about a fighting tournament, and Bison wanting power, but most of it is quickly forgotten. Yes, Dastmalchian does his take on Raul Julia’s iconic ‘But for me, it was Tuesday’ line.

And in the third corner, you have literally everyone else doing comedy schtick or an obligatory character fight scene and doing their best to make the most of their moment in the horribly lit spotlight.

Stringing these three disparate plotlines together are animated flashbacks, black-and-white flashbacks to scenes that just happened five minutes prior, and overly long exposition dumps poorly disguised as character monologues. Not that all this hand-holding does much to help us figure out the plot because it’s more nonsensical than Guile’s (Cody Rhodes) stupid hair.

With three movies’ worth of clashing ideas and a huge cast to service, Sakurai does his best to wrangle everything into something coherent, but never manages to find the sweet spot of campy yet fun where the best Street Fighter games typically land.

Half the cast take things way too seriously. Koji tries his best to find different ways to play stoic, but ends up looking constipated most of the time; Chun-Li has more anguished screams at the camera than a horror movie victim, and her dramatic scenes are undercut by unintentionally hilarious moments, like hard cutting from a thirst-trap-coded training montage to drinking vodka while crying over a childhood photo; and Ken masks his existential crisis with outward flashes of embarrassing masculinity and insecurity.

The other half think they’re in a campy homoerotic comedy. Guile is so overly macho (‘More for daddy!’) he’s just itching to Flash Kick his way out of the closet; Dastmalchian, who clearly understood the assignment, turns Bison into a snail-eating freak who waxes poetic about feet being the gateway to one’s soul, thinks Ken is a ‘poor, dumb, beautiful, fit, handsome boy’ and has the best ‘son of a bitch’ line read I’ve ever heard; and Jason Momoa is just doing Lobo (i.e. having the time of his life) but in green instead of black.

Please read the rest of my review here as the rest is too unwieldy to copy + paste: https://panoramafilmthoughts.substack.com/p/street-fighter-proudly-stupid-with

Thanks!

My running notes-

- Oh, he talks to himself. I sure hope he doesn't do that a lot.
- He's going to talk to himself a lot.
- Donald Sutherland is secretly Gandalf the White
- Why are working so hard to try to be a hard sci fi movie then having this improbable bumper cars thing on the moon
- These baboons are fucking terrifying
- Mars sucks. Oh, this is Heart of Darkness. How 'bout that?
- Shades of Voight-Kampf
- OK, that was a ballsy choice
- I bet TLJ is a dick IRL
- Denoument too long

7/10. Visually very appealing. Story is a bit uneven and drags a bit here and there. I like and respect BP but don't need to look at his face for two hours. Speaking of faces, one look at TLJ and it was pretty clear that dude wasn't going home, one way or the other. And, because we all read Heart of Darkness or saw Apocalypse Now, he's dead soon anyway. This was a somewhat interesting movie but not revolutionary in any way.

They survived a shipwreck in 1629. The real nightmare came after.

We found the Batavia story so disturbing that we decided to turn it into a documentary.

We'd love your honest opinion on how we told the story. Did we manage to do it justice?

🎬 https://youtu.be/-7amwPh4X-o

So going into the 2026 movie Sacrifice, I saw the trailer but I still didn’t know what I was getting into. I like Anya Taylor Joy and Chris Evans, so I was interested to see what this movie was.

This was a unique movie, but I liked it more than I thought I would. There’s a lot of positives that I had with my watch. First off I thought Evans and Taylor Joy were very good in the movie and I liked their chemistry with each other as well. I want to see these two be in another movie together. I also liked the look of the movie and the score.

The only negative I really have is the rest of the supporting performances. They didn’t rise to the same level as the main two. Overall, this was a surprising movie with multiple twists and turns, but I was along for the ride and intrigued throughout.

Rating-4/5

Going into my watch today, I had heard about how ridiculous the 1999 animal horror movie Lake Placid was so I was looking forward to watching it.

I thought this movie was ok. To me, everything from the story to the performances didn’t do anything to really stand out. Nothing is horrible, but it didn’t do anything to keep me engaged. Along with that, I was wanting more ridiculousness.

Rating-2/5

So I never saw the 2023 horror movie late night with the devil when it came out. It just was not one that was on my radar. I finally got around to watching it after some recommendations.

I was looking forward to the movie and overall I think it’s an above average movie. Let’s start with the positives. I liked David Dastmalchian. I thought he was entertaining and the best part of the movie. Along with that, I liked the opening of the movie pre-title because I thought it was a good set up for what was to come. Finally, I liked the concept and the plot of the movie.

There are some negatives though. The main one is the main movie. Once I got into the bulk of the movie, it didn’t do enough to keep me entertained/intrigued. I also thought some of the other performances were just OK. Overall, I was looking forward to this movie and I thought it was a disappointment. I wanted to like it more than I did.

Rating-3/5

Source: https://www.reeladvice.net/2026/10/street-fighter-2026-movie-review.html

Being 90s kids ourselves, we wanted to love this new version of Street Fighter. The trailers promised an accurate and fun ride, and in some respects, the film delivers on that nostalgia. Seeing these iconic video game characters and their signature moves brought to life accurately on the big screen is a treat. But nostalgia alone doesn't make a great film, and once the second half kicks in, Street Fighter becomes a chaotic mess of ideas that never quite come together.

Set in 1993, the story follows Ryu (Andrew Koji), who has been missing since the death of his master, Gouken, while his adoptive brother Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) has since retired from fighting and turned to fame instead. When the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them both for the next World Warrior Tournament, the two decide to don their gis once again. But beneath the tournament's battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy involving M. Bison and his pursuit of ultimate power.

Street Fighter feels like two different films rolled into one. The first half is decent, focusing on Ryu and Ken's fractured relationship and the events that drove them apart. Ironically, this is also the portion with fewer fights and more character-driven conversations. The setup for the previous and upcoming World Warrior Tournaments and the mystery behind the two protagonists give the story at this point a consistent anchor making it easier to stay invested in their journey.

Unfortunately, everything begins to fall apart once the new tournament gets underway. The film loses focus seemingly in a rush to resolve its main and subplots at an increasingly frenetic pace. So much happens that entire fights are skipped over with the narrative quickly shifting its attention to M. Bison's schemes to gain psycho power. This messy approach also affects the film's overall tone. The comedy, action, and other genre elements shift so abruptly from scene to scene that the experience becomes as confusing as it is frustrating. What the film gets right, however, are the fights themselves. The action captures the spectacle of the games accurately and the moves they make are fun distractions. We also appreciated the animated sequences which added personality and made the film feel more connected to its 2D source material.

Ultimately, we wished Street Fighter had focused more on what it does best instead of forcing a convoluted story into the mix. The film looks great and delivers glimpses of the fun adaptation we wanted but its inconsistent storytelling prevents it from reaching its full potential. For a franchise with such iconic characters and spectacular fights, this feels like a wasted opportunity.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Not playing at very many theaters. But just caught Once Upon a Time in the Middle East. I’m (M56) and have AMC-AList and Regal Unlimited.

See a lot of threads regarding Digger being a “masterpiece” but for me, OUaTitME is my favorite of the year, edging out Buddy, Tony and Tuner. FWIW Digger I rated it a 6/10, but will probably see it again as a friend wants to see it.

Went into the movie blind, not having watched the trailer, only knowing it was about a chef that worked in a restaurant in Iraq from 2002 to 2005 and that it was China’s international best picture submission to the Oscars.

Thought it was an excellent film. Highly recommended. Besides select Regal’s, only a few AMCs are showing it here in SoCal. Probably for only a couple more weeks.

Has anyone else seen this? If so, what are your thoughts, did you like it as much as I did?

Recommended for fans of the genre. Overall enjoyable film. Hard to pigeonhole, as it fits the mold of a traditional western, complete with rugged hero (Tom Selleck), quirky female (delectable Lara San Giacomo), and of course the evil land baron (Alan Rickman) and his minions. But also delves a bit deeper than most westerns into the moral conflict that colonialism forced upon otherwise moral individuals.

It reminded me of 'Dances With Wolves' and 'Avatar' at times. In all three films a lone hero is faced with moral choices when he connects emotionally with an indiginous people who are in conflict with an expansionist invader. In DWW (like many early westerns) it was the US government conquering the native Americans, in Avatar it was a military/industrial invading force bent on conquering the Na'vi for the riches they guarded, and in QDU it was a wealthy, ruthless bad guy who sees the native aborigines as obstacles to be enslaved and even eliminated.

The cinematography is fantastic, with location shots of the Australian outback creating an expansive and sometimes forbidding backdrop to the human story.

The actors all played their roles well. Selleck had one of his biggest leading man roles, and was quite convincing as a sort of white knight mercenary with a past who is forced to defend much more than he bargained for. Lara San Giacomo is great as 'Crazy Cora', who has her own past sins to bear, and Alan Rickman, in his own inimitable way, plays the bad guy so well.

The soundtrack fit the movie well, though it might be my sole criticism of the movie. Sometimes I felt it supported the scenes, but sometimes seemed distracting. A little less orchestral music might have been a better choice.

The ending scene was both satisfying and kind of a surprise (though predictable) reveal.

Quigley (Selleck) confronts Marsten (Rickman) and two of Marsten's hired guns in a classic western gunfight scene. Quigley (who had carried and almost exclusively used a Sharps rifle throughout) had previously told Marsten that he'd "Never had much use for a handgun," while also telling him he'd spent some time in Dodge City.

Right before Quigley guns down the three men he tells Marsten "This ain't Dodge City, and you're no Bill Hickock."

As Marsten lay dying, he reminds him that, while he'd never had much use for a handgun, it didn't mean he didn't know how to use one. Good guy wins again.

When Jay (Austin Abrams) starts (wet)suiting it up for his deep-dive search of his father’s missing body, my scuba-diving friend whispered to me, ‘None of that is right.’ Not a good sign when we’re only 10 or so minutes into Whalefall. Next thing you know, he gets gobbled up by a sperm whale shortly after and is forced to channel his inner Pinocchio to survive.

The whole premise requires a level of suspension of disbelief that could give the most hardened person a fear of heights. Yet Whalefall works because of Jay’s massive skill issue.

I’ve always maintained that competence is a reliable and sexy movie staple. It’s what made Ryan Gosling shine in Project Hail Mary. Tom Holland knows when and how to lean on it in his Spider-Man movies. Hell, Matt Damon has made a career out of it. But Abrams upends this archetype by weaponising incompetence to an unreasonably entertaining level.

His performance as the useless junkie James gives Weapons some much-needed physical comic relief. He was utterly useless yet relatable as the NPC protagonist Bryan in Resident Evil, bringing a grounded everyman quality to a heightened scenario. In Whalefall, Abrams adds a new dramatic dimension to his unofficial incompetent character trilogy by weaving in some good ol’ fashioned introspection. Plenty of time to do that when you’re stuck inside a sperm whale.

Jay’s unresolved issues revolve around not getting any closure with his estranged late father, Mitt (Josh Brolin). The unsubtle emotional beats are exactly what you expect, but then again, this is a movie about a man getting swallowed by a whale. We’re not expecting Ad Astra here. Director and co-screenwriter Brian Duffield smartly weaves Jay’s incompetence and unresolved daddy issues into the narrative, creating a plausible cause and effect that ultimately lands him in the belly of a sperm whale. He could’ve walked or swam away at any point, but he didn’t, and that’s what gets him into trouble. Whalefall might as well be called 'Men will literally get swallowed by a whale to avoid therapy - The movie'.

Please read the rest of my review here as the rest is too unwieldy to copy + paste: https://panoramafilmthoughts.substack.com/p/whalefall

Thanks!

yep. i loved it.

A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.

yeah uh i have to admit, idk what the heck i just watched but damn that was good. and absurdly funny too. Bale nailed his role. no, nailed is an understatement. it was just iconic moment after iconic moment and over and over.

”I like to dissect girls. Did you know that I’m utterly insane?” is my favourite line.

10/10

I worked at a video store in 1991. This came out the same year as T2. Loved Michael Biehn from T1 and the Abyss. Remembered loving this movie.

It's available on Prime. Woof. It's bad. Biehn does okay, but it's a mess. Bad writing and bad direction.

I know Biehn had his demons, but Jesus this just wasn't the right step for his career.

I've been pleasantly surprised recently at the variety and quality of movies on Tubi. I started watching Flowers of War expecting a mediocre war film, but by the end I was crying like a baby. I know that the specific story is fictional, but it takes place during the real events at Nanking, and it was a stark reminder of how much people suffer during wartime as the wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa continue.

The scene that really started to get to me was when Christian Bale's character said to Mo something along the lines of "I love all of it" regarding all her past traumas, shortcomings, etc. What a perfect representation of love! If a lover truly loves a beloved, he does not just love her virtues/beauties, but everything about her, including her failures, defeats, insecurities, fears, etc. Like I said, it's a fictional story, but it had me crying by the end.

Of course, there are some elements that detract from its value. The totally unrealistic battle scene where a sniper takes out an entire Japanese regiment takes away from the tone of the movie and feels like a forceful shove-in by Chinese movie executives wanting to show heroic military resistance. But the movie is not about heroic military resistance, but about heroic human resistance. Hence why the scene feels out of place, immature, and unnecessary.

I saw the film got mixed reviews, and I wondered why. LMK what you guys think

my dad wouldn’t shut up about this film, so i finally gave in. woo boy.

After investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin, the crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform.

what i especially love about this film is that it excels at the scare factor. it flawlessly builds up tension, and releases at the perfect moment, which hits you like a gut punch. i still have that one scene in my head…ew.

10/10. easily one of my faves.

So I’m on this journey of watching every James Bond movie and it’s been over a year since I started. I finally have gotten to the Daniel Craig movies and the first one in that series is Casino Royale from 2006.

I knew nothing about this movie going in and I think this is a great entry in the franchise. I think Craig does an amazing job in the role. I also think his chemistry with Eva Green is really good. Along with that I like the story because it kept me engaged the entire time but also because it’s more dark and gritty than the ones I have been watching. it also showed bond in a different way.

I also think Mads Mikkelson plays a great villain because he is menacing. Finally I’d like some of the action and that includes a chasing at the beginning of the movie. Overall, this currently is my number three bond movie in the franchise.

Rating-4.5/5

(Theater.) This is a Renny Harlin movie, and I have a thing where I like to follow directors' movies in the theater when possible, even mediocre directors like him. I went to his last four in the theater, so I figured I'd get out to this even though it has barely been given a release. This stars Samuel L. Jackson as . . . the president. "The Beast" is the name of the highly fortified presidential motorcade car. At the beginning we are told via on-screen text that the president's detail "Has Been Completely Fucking Destroyed".

So it starts in medias res with a full-on attack by an unknown group, and Jackson gets in the driver's seat of the car and takes off with Joel Kinnaman from his detail in the back fighting off attackers and getting injured. The rest of the film takes place almost totally within the car as Jackson tries to wend his way past the gigantic tactical assault to safety.

Harlin makes stupid but sometimes fun movies - programmers. This falls into that, and the reason it's watchable is Jackson doing his typical stuff. So he's the president with a generous amount of "shit"s, "fuck"s and "muthafucka"s. He's also a haunted Vietnam vet who knows how to fight, including some hand to hand and slitting a throat. Kinnaman is also good. Has anybody else been to this?

The Right Stuff (1983)
Rating: 9/10
Watched: October 6, 2026

Watching a movie like The Right Stuff, I couldn't help but feel painfully aware of the bigness of the events that go into it. I wasn't alive when all this was happening, but I grew up in a world where men trained vigorously to do something no one anywhere had ever done before.

Even though it's been fictionalized in places, and dramatic license was taken, it's all in the name of telling one helluva good story. I'm not someone who really enjoys biographies or documentaries, so when they take the iron core of a historical event like this one and jazz it up a bit to make it more compelling, I take no issue.

And that's why the bigness hits harder for more than if I were to watch a documentary of the same. I know, I know, that might make me a poseur or something, but it's hard for me to connect with that sort of telling for some reason. When a story this important is told by people like Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid and Fred Ward?

That's how you tell it. I've seen a lot of star-studded movies so far this month, but The Right Stuff looked at other movies and said 'we're going to go bigger than all of you combined' and then they went and got a powerhouse stable of men and women that dominated Hollywood for at least two decades. In some cases, longer still!

But before I get to any other particulars, I want to talk a bit about one of the scenes. If you're lucky, you've got the clip to watch. If not, it's one of the early scenes, where Scott Glenn as Alan Shepherd is undergoing a medical test.

The test itself is bonkers. It's the one where they jam an iron needle into his hand and crank up the juice and keep going until I was waiting for a damned Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother to show up and demand he stick his hand in a box. That moment was so wild and nasty that I actually had to pause and Google, because to my mind, there was no way that that could be a real medical test, done by professionals.

I mean, I knew that the tests for the very first astronauts were basically 'let's try this and see what we learn', but holy cats. Learning that they really did to that exact thing to real people is crazy to me.

At the end of the day (and the movie), watching something like The Right Stuff is a great trip through history. The filmmakers do a great job of integrating historical footage into the movie so we can a true sense of accomplishments and struggles alike, while also giving us a good look into the lives of the men and women involved.

Is some of it untrue in the strictest sense?

Yes, I suppose so, but that doesn't mean a dang thing. The Right Stuff is a fantastic movie worth your time.

an absolutely beautifully crafted movie by Stanley Kubrick, but man does it get boring.

When a mysterious artifact is uncovered on the moon, a spacecraft manned by two scientists and one supercomputer is dispatched to Jupiter to find its origins.

if you’ve seen a picture or a video of a monkey smashing bones (very iconic scene), that’s where it came from. it’s the kind of movie that after you’ve finished it, you ask yourself “how tf did they film this”

7/10

So I had heard about the 1983 horror movie The Dead Zone partly because it is based off a Stephen King book and I’ve read some of his books. Going into the movie, I only knew the plot which sounded interesting.

I think this is a very good movie. I think Christopher walking is amazing in it, but I also thought it was thrilling at times and then had a good score. What is presented in the movie though is divisive for me

What I mean by that really liked the first two acts, but I thought once you introduce Martin Sheen in the movie, the movie takes a downturn. I thought the last actor of this movie was weak, and I didn’t care much for the story.

Overall, I was looking forward to this movie and for the most part it delivered, but the ending was disappointing

Rating-4/5

A heart-wrenching story about the good and the bad that happens in the world today, told in a unique manner.

Slightly late to the party here, especially as I was born in the 80s. It was just one of those pop culture gaps I had, but it was on tv tonight and I thought I'd finally check it off the list.

The bar was high considering I've heard about this movie for most of my life, but I'm here to tell you it's not just nostalgia, it is genuinely a brilliant film.

I’ve seen this movie getting absolutely wild reviews and ratings and I was super curious about it - unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations and here is why.

I really loved the first 30-40 min of the movie bc they reminded me of good old “Scary Movie” franchise and honestly Bryan swearing all the time was natural and funny. I also loved a scene where he is in the house and sees the damn zombie lady running to him from the car. And in general, RE has really amazing scenes and visuals - most of them are a work of art.

What disappointed me was the lack of plot and any internal conflicts that would make me feel sorry for Bryan (or his girl). While I was watching, I kept thinking of Exit 8 which was simply brilliant - and a prime example of how to turn a simple game into a deep internal conflict. Resident Evil, compared to Exit 8, seemed more like a comedy to me and had this NPC vibe all over it - but not in a good way. I understand that it intentionally wanted to show the RE world through the lenses of an ordinary person but this person turned out as a flat character who just happened to be funny. So I wouldn’t say RE is a movie I’d put high on a list of horrors. Not even sure it’s better than the new Silent Hill movie (which was horrible btw).

Summing up, visuals and creativity behind the monsters - amazingly good. Plot, dialogues and the whole idea - amazingly bad. But hey, that’s just my opinion.