Tags: blog, film, action, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Saturday May 23rd, 2026
Stop getting rich people wrong
Move along, nothing to see here. Do you remember the first film? Probably not, it wasn't particularly memorable. Not bad, just perfunctory. This is more of the same, almost literally.
The only reason I bothered with this sequel is because of the inclusion of Kathryn Newton, who I last saw lighting up the screen in Lisa Frankenstein. Here she knowingly smirks her way through the film, like she's telling a series of amazing one-liners that have all been cut in the edit.
The whole film feels like everyone's going through the motions and there's no point to any of it.
But that's not what I want to talk about. Because, annoyingly, this film gets rich people wrong. It's not the only culprit, the majority of films that have rich people as 'the enemy' make the same mistake. The basic problem is that they keep portraying the rich as mad, bad and dangerously psychotic.
But we know that's not who these people are. We've all read excerpts from the Epstein files. We've all seen snippets of their twitter feeds. We've all seen their speeches. And what is clear about the super rich is:
The don't care who knows.
They don't care if people find out they're paedophiles, or nazis, or rapists. They know the press, which they own, won't call them on it and they have more lawyers than god.
They are desperately unhappy.
Happy, contented people don't post obsessively, continuously, on twitter about trans people. Confident people who are comfortable in their own skin don't get endless plastic surgery and post pictures of how 'jacked' they are. Generous, charitable people do not relentlessly endorse far-right conspiracy theories. Name me a single billionaire that looks like they're having the time of their life...
They are tediously boring.
Not just bored, but boring. When was the last time you read or heard anything spouted by a billionaire that made you're heart sing or piqued your curiosity? They are incurious people who are incapable of querying themselves, let alone the world around them.
They're cowards who never take risks and only prey on the weak
They (almost literally) have all the money in the world to enact their rich-fuck fantasies but they are terrified of any actual harm or consequences. They have networks of people who pre-select their victims to be the poor and vulnerable. The ones who can't fight back. And if there is ever any dirty work to be done then they'll just pay people who'll pay people who'll pay other people to do it for them.
All of which makes Ready or Not's world of ultra-wealthy psychopaths incongruous to the actual point they're (half-arsedly) making.
In Ready or Not's world, the global elite are confident and self assured, willing to take risks, get their hands dirty, and seem to love being rich. Some of them even seem to be a bit of a laugh, in a kind of rich idiot kind of way. They're scum, but they're fun scum.
The actual global elite probably quite like this kind of depiction. It makes them look exciting and interesting instead of the kind of dull, Nazi Colin Robinson's that they actually are.
The only film I've seen recently that really nailed this has been Relay. Where the rich bastard behind everything is coaxed out of hiding just the once and all of the actual antagonists are his minions, held at arms length and taking all the risks.
And whilst it's absurd to hold these disparate films to the same standards, I do wish that all films would try to properly skewer these pieces of shit, instead of cartoonishly portraying them in a way that manages to flatter how disgusting they really are.
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, film, recommended, sci-fi, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Wednesday May 20th, 2026
Lessons learned from Rocky...
A space ship sets sail from a dying earth, with a small crew, in search of ways to save humanity from the gradual plague that is enveloping it.
If that sounds like the plot of Interstellar then it’s not a surprise. Film makers Miller and Lord take liberal inspiration from the Nolan movie, but what makes this movie interesting is how it interprets the genre differently and ends up with something that feels fresh and modern.
The most obvious difference is clear from the trailer: An alien. Nolan's movie is about actual physics, so: no aliens. PHM's relationship to physics is a little woollier. It's aware of the concept but doesn't consider it to be bound by them, so: aliens.
Which is where the movie gradually morphs into a buddy movie. The film invests a huge part of it's runtime depicting the blossoming friendship between Ryan Gosling's Grace and his newfound alien partner, Rocky. It's highly unusual to see a film to not only show, but to focus so heavily on the subject of friendship.
Yes both Grace and Rocky are lonely, yes they have the same goal, yes they need each other to complete their mission, yes they both help each other and return the favours, but that's not why they become friends. It's not why they're so believable.
It's because they like each other.
Most of the film's appeal is simply Grace and Rocky goofing around, completely enamoured with each other, and loving the company. Lord and Miller lean into the concept of positive masculinity with their whole heart, to the point where it becomes the buddiest of buddy movies ever made.
To give the film a more interesting narrative structure, there's a series of flash backs that lead up to Grace being catapulted out of Earth's orbit. Both the literal and the metaphorical down-to-earthness of it all contrasting beautifully with the apocalyptic level of what's at stake, as well as the outrageous visuals of the space scenes.
This is one of the rare instances of a film where the main motivation of the CGI artists was to produce something beautiful. Every scene is lit in a way that is visually arresting, seemingly aware that the long runtime needs the eye to be delighted at every moment. As a result, even when not much is happening, the whole film zips along.
This has the feeling of a film that delights on first viewing and is destined to become a fondly loved classic in years to come.
Amaze, Amaze, Amaze!
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, film, comedy, recommended, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Monday May 11th, 2026
Over the Top
Where the hell did this come from? Nobody told me about this. A gender swapped version of an eighties Sylvester Stallone vehicle, mashed up with a wrestling movie and a rom-com. Hell yes! The Trailer tells you everything you need to know about the movie, if that piques your interest then go, go go! You'll love it.
Mary Holland, fresh off her film-stealing role in the best Christmas movie since The Muppets Christmas Carol, stars as Melanie, a struggling baker who's roped into a road-trip by her old trucker friend, Danny (played by Betsy Sodaro with all the gusto of Jack Black playing Nanny Ogg) who is secretly setting her up to take part in an arm wrestling championship.
There's nothing here you haven't seen hundreds of times before, in uncountable sports movies, but the freshness of the female led cast and the variety and vividness of their characters reminds you just why there have been so many movies using this template.
It’s just great fun.
The emphasis on the wrestling part of arm wrestling is a little stroke of genius. Every bout is a brief visual delight and a poppy joke. Rosie the Riveter as an arm wrestler? Of course! The names on the leaderboard are Bob’s Burger of the Day worthy.
The whole thing is a labour of love from everyone involved and is a delight from start to finish.
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, film, action, thriller, recommended, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Tuesday April 28th, 2026
Oh boy!
If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat. They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar. So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.Terry Pratchett The opening shot is of Irene in the middle of murdering someone. The next scene is also of her murdering someone. The third scene arrives without even pausing for breath and yet again, she's murdering someone. That's how the film tells us she's a good person. She's killing instinctively, quickly, with purpose. Irene is hopping through dimensions in what initially was a quest to find a universe where her daughter is alive. But on finding her murdered in every single one, enacts revenge on the man, the same man, who did it. She no longer seems to hold out hope of, well, of hope, and instead goes straight to the murdering part. Like an episode of Quantum Leap where the solution every single week is to murder a paedophile. This film differs from other multi-verse movies by pointing out that an infinite number of universes also means an infinite number of universes imperceptibly different from our own. It has a Groundhog Day like focus on grinding repetition, only here it's about a serial killer trying to avoid dealing with their grief. It's brutally efficient at showing the effect that numbing, relentless repetition has on a person. The violence, the shooting, the stabbing, the bludgeoning, the murder, isn't the problem. It's the obsessive yearning for something that can never be, refusing to confront the actual pain that you are going to have to live with. It's not really in the same league as Hamnet for it's empathetic portrayal of grief. For one thing the dialogue, although a lot of fun, has almost zero subtlety, the characters just plain tell you what they're thinking at every moment. The script is written for efficiency, not artfulness. But it hits incredibly hard in a few moments, that efficiency catching you off guard with it's swiftness and it's eagerness to cut right to the chase. The soundtrack is also brutally efficient. An electro boomer that matches the soundtrack of Sirat for chest-thudding, analogue bass wobble. A treat of a film that I'd recommend to literally anyone.
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, film, drama, essential, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Sunday April 26th, 2026
Grief as a muscle
The word I can't get out of my head after watching this film is muscular.
Jessie Buckley's Agnes holds the focus of the story like a rugby player cradling the ball, stiff-arming any attempt to divert the narrative towards her husband, powering through notions of artistic metaphor or allegory.
Agnus' story (and it is her story) is down to earth to the point where the dirt under finger nails is a mark of her character. She's practical and resourceful, always having a plan, always working towards a goal. Her husband is not the dreamer you might expect him to be, he's her counterpoint, not her opposite. But still, she's the driving force of the marriage.
Which is why it's so affecting when it goes wrong and there's nothing she can do to fix it. Watching somebody who's spent their entire life making things right and ensuring everything works out, suddenly left completely helpless by random chance is heartbreaking. The powerlessness of it is a full-bodied hit.
Even the way Buckley portrays grief feels strong. Her breakdown is shown not as a weakness but of a muscle being flexed. All that love and all that aching and nowhere to go, her sinews stretching with the strain of it, trying to crush the pain.
A lesser film would lose focus and dabble with the greatness of the play, of the artfulness of it. And indeed it nearly fumbles it when Will does the 'To Be, Or Not To Be' speech, seemingly put in just to remind viewers which play it's supposed to be inspiring. But thankfully the turnover back to Agnes is swift and decisive.
The final scenes involving the play are magnificent. Whilst it is about the transformative power of a well told story, the focus remains squarely on it's effect on Agnes. It's still her story and it drags you through that fourth wall completely and utterly.
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, film, horror, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Saturday April 18th, 2026
League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen
The better this film gets, the more frustrating it becomes.
It's mostly a surprisingly good script. The main character of Rob is well written and his background is well constructed. So when events start to enclose him, you feel trapped there with him. This sounds like script writing 101 and it is, but it's surprising how many horrors and thrillers fail this basic hurdle.
Eddie Izzard is always worth watching and this is no exception. She's clearly enjoying herself and the few minutes at the end where she really gets to let loose is worth watching the film for alone. It felt like early stand-up Izzard, that glorious mixture of free-floating surrealism delivered with razor sharp wit, and a reminder as to just how great she is on her own terms.
And if the film makers had attempted a tight, focused account of their deteriorating relationship and the games being played, then it has everything it needs to be genuinely great. Instead, the film has ambitions to be the next generation of Hammer Horror movies, rich in monsters, dripping in gothic style, drenched in histrionic orchestration.
None of which is built towards in the script. Dramatic moments seem inserted as a cheap way to build tension, rather than trusting in the story to do the work. The music sounds like it's ripped from a different film.
It's constantly pulling in two directions, neither complementing each other and falling flat. It's a missed opportunity.
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, tv, animation, fantasy, recommended, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Friday April 17th, 2026
RRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!
ROAR ROAAAAARRRR ROOOOOOR AAAHHHH GAAAAHH ROOOR RAAAAH ROOOOR ROOAAAARRRR RAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRR!!!!
ROOOAAARR ROAR RO-RO-ROOAAAAARRRR!
BABABA GAAAAHHH RRAAARRRR
GRRRRR RRAAAAAHHH
RRAAAAHHHH YAAAAAAA!!
BZZZZZ MMMMM BZZZZZ MMMMM
RRAAAAAHHHH BWAH GAAAAAHHHH
GWUH? BWUH HHHHRRRR GAAAAH
RRRAAAAHHHH ROOOOAAAAAARRRR
MMMMM GAAAH MMMNNN
GRRR RRAAAHHH GRRR
GWWAAAAHHHHH!!
RRRUUUUUURRRR GAAAHHH RAAAHHHH
GRRRRRRR
RAAAAHH, AAAHHHH ROOOAAARR!
MMMMMMMMM
RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, tv, comedy, drama, essential, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Saturday April 11th, 2026
CSI: Outback
AAAaaand we're back. Well, not back. This series isn't actually set in the town of Deadloch as the gang get their show on the road. A road which ends up in the outback of Darwin, Barra Creek.
It's a pretty bold move, to throw out your main character, because as engaging as Dolcie and Eddie were, Deadloch was the star of the first series.
Sadly, Barra Creek, whilst being populated with a full cast of colourful characters, can't match up. It's not the perfectly drawn microcosm of society that the town of Deadloch was. The jokes mostly stay in the Australian outback, rather than reverberating out into the wider world. There's nothing as epic as the Man-Bus from the first series.
But that's pretty much where the negatives end. The show's creators, the two Kate's, have clearly learnt from the first series. This one is tighter, it gets going faster, flags less in the middle and lands some nasty punches at the end.
Is it still funny? Oh by Christ yes, relentlessly so. The Kate's can write. Every line of dialogue works because it comes from a place of knowing the characters and their situation.
This season really digs into the psychology of Dolcie and Eddie and puts their relationship under greater pressure and scrutiny. What it loses in social commentary, it makes up for with care for it's characters. The late revelation as to why Eddie is being so evasive is perfect, which is exactly why it's so howlingly funny. Pain is comedy and the Kate's know exactly where to stick the knife. And then to give it a damn good twist.
The ending loops back to the start of the first series and ends by answering the question as to what you do when all the cops really are bastards. I'm not sure where Dolcie and Eddie, or even Abbie and Leo, go from here. This could be the end or the start of something new. But what ever Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan come up with next is sure to be very dark and very, very funny.
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Tags: blog, film, thriller, recommended, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Monday April 06th, 2026
Is this what the end of the world feels like?
Sirat is a movie that doesn't give a toss about your feelings. Doesn't care for your sense of closure or your need for justice. Doesn't care about your sense of aesthetics or beauty or empathy. It's actively hostile to you taking anything of value from the film and seemingly ambivalent if you even watch it past a certain point. It's technique for building tension is to simply hit you out of nowhere with an iron bar. It hurts and it works.
The desert of Morocco in which it's filmed is as imposing and hostile as the films attitude. Monolithic, brutal and utterly unconcerned with the triviality of human life.
The music matches it right from the start. Slow moving, bass driven techno wobbles the very dust and vibrates through everything but the rock. As one character points out, "You don't listen to it, you dance to it".
It's tempting to say that there's not a film like this, but there is one. The debt this owes to William Friedkin's masterpiece Sorcerer is so great that if Friedkin was still alive he'd send the bailiffs round. It shares the same sense of nihilism. It also has the same sense of timing where the moment where you just want to beg the characters to turn back and give up is the exact same moment that they've gone too far to do so.
If you are going to watch this then you're just going to have to suffer like everyone else.
Stunning.
Poster Credit Where to Watch
Author: KickingK
Date: Sunday April 05th, 2026
The purpose of a system is what it does
The most remarkable thing this film has to say about it's chosen subject of homelessness, is absolutely nothing. It goes out of it's way to not make a point. There's no moralising, no melodrama, no finger pointing and no blaming.
There's not even any antagonists. Literally everyone that Mike meets throughout the film tries to help him in one way or another. It's nobody's fault when Mike fails and fails again.
Mike is an uneducated young man who's not smart enough to compensate for his lack of schooling. He's living rough and trying to scrape by in any way he can. He's carefully played by Frank Dillane who avoids any obvious errors in his performance and portrays his character as a whole person. Mike may not be smart, but he is engaged with his life and the world around him.
But how can he succeed when every piece of help offered, whether by the state, by businesses or friends is transitory or transactional? And dependent on him having something to offer and never making a mistake?
The answer of course is that he can't. By showing restraint in it's story telling, the only thing the film leaves you with is a void. A void where the housing should be, where support should be, where care should be.
Mike fills that void with drink, drugs and chaos. I filled it with anger at a system that spends more money on police and prisons and reparations and rehab than it ever would on just giving Mike enough money to feed and house himself. Anger at a system that's designed to create homeless, broken people.
