FILM REVIEWS:
DANGEROUS ANIMALS (Australia 2025) ***½
Directed by Sean Byrne
A twisted low-life serial killer kidnaps teens and feeds them to sharks. The film’s clever caption goes: “It is safer in the water.”
The film stars Hassie Harrison as Zephyr, a free-spirited surfer seeking solace on Australia's Gold Coast. Her journey takes a dark turn when she is abducted by Tucker, portrayed by Jai Courtney, a shark-obsessed serial killer who believes sharks are deities demanding human sacrifices. Tucker confines Zephyr on his boat, where she must summon all her strength and wit to escape before becoming his next offering to the sea
Indeed, it might be as shark attacks are supposedly really rare. The fact is touted by shark activist and filmmaker Rob Stewart until he went missing while swimming his sharks. But there is no evidence he was eaten by sharks. It is statistically rare to be attacked by sharks. One is far more likely to be injured by lightning, a dog, or even a vending machine than by a shark.
As for Unprovoked attacks, according to data from the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), there are about 50–80 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide each year, with only a few resulting in fatalities. Before one can dismiss the horror flick to be unauthentic, the serial killer admits the fact that sharks seldom attack humans but he feeds them in such a way that sharks mistake humans for prey. According to statistics, sharks do occasionally attack humans, but such incidents are rare. Most shark attacks are believed to be cases of mistaken identity — for example, a shark might confuse a swimmer or surfer for its natural prey, like a seal.
Who is the more dangerous animal? Tucker, the human being or the shark? DANGEROUS ANIMALS is a clever take on the JAWS horror genre by swapping the predator from shark to human being. Director Byrne’s film is fast-moving and exciting, blending the beauty of the ocean with the horror at hand, aided by two excellent performances of the lead protagonist and the main villain.
Director Byrne keeps the violence controlled, the most gruesome scene involving a girl hanged into the water while sharks devour her body beneath the water. This is quite a nasty scene, which is, of course, difficult to watch, made worse by the villain Tucker recording the killing.
This is the second outstanding Australian horror film from down under to open this month, after BRING HER BACK. DANGEROUS ANIMALS premiered at Cannes 2025 at the Director’s Fortnight Section and opens in theatres in Canada on June 6th. It is a real treat for horror fans.
Trailer:
I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU (USA 2024) **
Directed by David Joseph Craig
“We can’t even get to dinner, how can we raise s child?” Dom is asked by Cole. This is the story of two dads in the process of adopting a baby boy as they face uncertainties.
The title I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU refers not to language but the understanding of how one feels and reacts- i.e., how one can understand oneself and thus live with one another.
The 2024 dark comedy film, directed and written by David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano. follows Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells), a married gay couple from Los Angeles, who travel to Italy to celebrate their 10th anniversary and prepare for the adoption of their first child. The mother is played by Amanda Seyfried. Their vacation takes a chaotic turn when they become stranded in rural Italy due to a car mishap and a language barrier.
The comedy in the film belongs to what can be termed an uncomfortable comedy. This comedy genre refers to a premise in which mishaps, one after another, fall on the subject or subjects. One best example is the 1970 Arthur Hiller comedy written by Neil Simon, in which married couple Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis travel to New York City only to have lost their luggage, be mugged, kidnapped, among other mishaps. One wants the best for the couple and it is often difficult to laugh at the troubles faced by the protagonists.
I DON’T UNDERSTAND belongs to the genre of uncomfortable comedy in which one mishap after mishap falls on protagonists Dom and Cole. Invited to a special dinner at a remote farm restaurant arranged by an old friend of Dom's father, the couple gets lost en route and ends up stuck in the mud during a rainstorm. A gruff local farmer with a shotgun initially alarms them but ultimately helps them reach the restaurant, where they are warmly welcomed by the owner, Zia Luciana. However, a tragic accident at the dinner sets off a series of darkly comedic events, as Dom and Cole attempt to navigate the ensuing chaos without derailing their adoption plan. The script adds two more elements to the picture. One is that the couple is gay and the other is the baby adoption.
The film blends elements of horror (there is some killing going on) and comedy. Overall, the comedy is not terribly funny or as black as desired, though the comedy can be described to be amusing at best. Kroll and Rannells do well as the gay couple, with the film taking a generally positive attitude towards LGBT+ issues, despite the story’s setting in rural Italy. But the film has a mean-spirited tone as can be witnessed not only in the characters killed but an innocent Italian arrested for the murders he never committed. This can be compared to films made by Francois Truffaut, the director described as a kind director, in which the innocent characters in his films never get punished unfairly.
I DON’T UNDERSTAND opens at the Bell Lightbox in Toronto on June 6th, just in time for Pride month.
Trailer:
K.O. (France 2025) ***
Directed byAntoine Blossier,
France and Netflix have collaborated on several films, the latest trend being in action flicks like the recent BANGER with Vincent Cassel.
In the latest collaboration K.O., the film follows Bastien (Ciryl Gane), a former MMA fighter who has lived in seclusion since accidentally killing his opponent, Enzo, during a match three years prior. His solitude is interrupted when Enzo's widow seeks his help to find her missing teenage son, Léo. Bastien's quest leads him into the dangerous underworld of Marseille, where he confronts a violent crime gang. Alongside Kenza (Alice Belaïdi), a determined young police officer, Bastien battles external threats and his inner demons in a journey of redemption and sacrifice.
The fight sequences of K.O. stand out right from the opening bout in which Bastien accidentally kills his opponent, Enzo. Bastien is as guilty as hell, so guilty that he becomes a recluse after Enzo’s son accuses him of killing his dad. The fight sequences work better than the drama, which is over-dramatized to the point that it looks condescending to the audience.
Overall, the cliché-laden K.O. combines elements of martial arts action and drama, the most outstanding being the intense fight sequences. The subplot with Bastien working with a reluctant Kenza makes a distraction, though a clichéd one.
K.O. opens on Netflix for streaming this week, in French with subtitles.
Trailer:
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME(USA 2025) ***½
Directed by Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson’s latest feature THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME is as exasperating as it is inventive and entertaining, due largely to Anderson’s unique method of storytelling, often with his characters narrating the story to the camera amidst vivid sets, wardrobe, and music, this one again by Academy Award Winner French Alexandre Desplat.
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME Plays like Anderson’s last two films, ASTEROID CITY and THE FRENCH DISPATCH, so if these two films were too much for you, best avoid this latest effort. Anderson toned down the excesses several notches with his recent spate of Roald Dahl short films, one of which, THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, won him the Oscar last year for Best Short.
The film is a stylized black comedy that only Anderson can best deliver in his own stylized way. Set in the fictional 1950s nation of Greater Independent Phoenicia, the film follows Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), a flamboyant European tycoon embroiled in financial misconduct and an ambitious infrastructure project, the latest called THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME, the details of which are left to the audience to imagine. Korda is part of an ambitious multi-part attempt to industrialise Phoenicia via a series of gargantuan infrastructure projects and he hopes to pocket 5% of revenue for the next 150 years. Korda has secured the investment to pay for it, but unfortunately, the international bureaucrats manipulate the price of a vital construction component, making everything much more expensive. In essence, the story follows Korda, accompanied by Liesl and Michael Cera’s hapless Norwegian tutor Bjorn, as he tries to extract more money from his investors as he enacts his grandest plan yet to protect his family fortune.
Facing international scrutiny and assassination attempts, Korda appoints his estranged daughter, Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a 21-year-old nun, as his sole heir. Together with her tutor, Bjorn Lund (Michael Cera), they navigate a world of industrial espionage, political intrigue, and personal redemption. These are the three main characters of the story though many others appear, many of whom are played by an impressive cast of cameos that include Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem DeFoe, Scarlett Johansson, F. Murray Abraham, Rupert Friend, Tom Hanks, Richard Ayoade, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright, Bill Murray among many others.
The film as like his previous two films, boasts meticulously crafted sets and a whimsical visual style that should delight his fans. Needless to say, there is always something at the corner of every scene that will surprise. But Anderson does not care about scientific accuracy. The scene in which a plane in flight has its window smashed open does not result in Korda sucked out of the plane. Another is the quicksand segment in which Korda sinks into the quicksand with only his head above the quicksand. For quicksand, this does not happen as the body never sinks below waste level due to the density of the body and the fact that he pulls himself out is not possible. It takes tremendous strength to achieve this feat,
Filming took place at Babelsberg Studios in Germany (the film being an American and German co-production) with production designer Adam Stockhausen and set decorator Anna Pinnock creating elaborate indoor sets, including a surreal depiction of heaven featuring Willem Dafoe as a moral interrogator. The great amount of effort director Anderson has put into the film can be observed if one stays to the end to read all the closing credits, in which he thanks all those who have donated their craft to the film.
The film premiered at Cannes and opens widely on June 6th.
Trailer:
THE RITUAL (USA 2025) *
Directed by David Midell
In the classic Bob Hope and Lucille Ball comedy Don Weis’ 1963 CRITIC’S CHOICE, Hope plays a famous theatre critic. Ball, who plays his wife, says that when he returns from a play he totally hates, he is happy as a lark with so much to write about. For the new Al Pacino/ Dan Stevens exorcist horror movie, film critics will have a field day writing about what is not only the worst exorcism film in decades but the worst film for that matter.
The Ritual is a 2025 American horror film directed by David Midell and written by Midell and Enrico Natale. Based on a true story, it follows priests Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino) and Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens) as they attempt to put aside their differences to save an allegedly possessed young woman, Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen), through a series of dangerous exorcisms. The film is set to be released by XYZ Films on June 6, 2025.
The are just too many things wrong with the film, that it is hard to list all of them. First and foremost, there is hardly any plot in the film. The whole story involves exorcising this demon from the poor female victim. And success is far from hand. Besides the zero plot, comes zero suspense, zero mystery and zero twists or turns in the plot. This makes matters worse, director Midell is too fond of using hand held camera instead of a steadycam, with the result of an imminent headache for many of the audience. Pacino is so out of shape and scruffy, he is hardly recognizable in the role. Stevens also loses most of his charm in the role of a priest who is brought into an exorcism. Pacino has the Max Von Sydow role while Stevens (Ben Foster was originally hired) plays the Jason Miller’s young priest and Cowen the possessed Linda Blair role. Stevens and Pacino are largely wasted in their terrible roles, performances best forgotten. Cowen’s sweaty performance is the typical clichéd one expected in an exorcism movie, where the actress changes tone in voice and spews out vulgarities. The film is just one large exorcism segment, one exorcism scene after another, increasing in intensity, but not intelligence or coherence. The audience is led to believe that all this is based on true events, with words written on the screen and the start and end of the film, in manuscript writing, which is also almost impossible to decipher, before it disappears from the screen.
Overall, the film has been panned by both critics and audiences alike, and the reason is obvious. THE RITUAL is just an awful film. It opens in theatres on June 6th. The film is supposed to be ‘inspired’ by the 1935 book ‘Begone Satan!’ The film was aimed to be an authentic portrayal of Emma Schmidt, an American woman whose demonic possession culminated in harrowing exorcisms. Her case remains the most thoroughly documented exorcism in American history.
THE RITUAL opens in theatres June 6th.
Trailer:
STRAW (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is one of the most prolific black filmmakers today. This year alone, he has directed 3 films alone this one and TYLER PERRY’S DUPLICITY, and MADEA’S DESTINATION WEDDING.
Tyler Perry is an American actor, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of Mabel "Madea" Simmons, a tough elderly woman, and also portrays her brother Joe Simmons and her nephew Brian Simmons. Perry's films vary in style from orthodox filmmaking techniques to filmed productions of live stage plays, many of which have been subsequently adapted into feature films. Lately, Perry has taken to making films that matter. The best example is his 2024 THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT, in which he champions the neglected black women who made a dent in World War II.
Tyler Perry's latest Netflix film, STRAW, is a social thriller that delves into the harrowing journey of a single mother pushed to her limits. Here, Perry tackles America’s systematic failures to look after vulnerable single mothers like Janiyah, who has to struggle beyond all odds.
Good intentions aside, Tyler Perry’s STRAW tries too hard to get the message across. At the film’s start, the audience is shown all the worst that can happen to the single mother. She needs to get her sick daughter the $40 lunch money, pay her rent or get evicted, get abused at work by both customer and supervisor and almost had her bank account closed with only $47 left in the bank. It is all too much to believe and take, though credit is given to Henson for trying so hard.
But things take a twist when Janiyah gets mad as hell and cannot take it anymore. But the film gets better as it gets more outrageous.
STRAW stars Taraji P. Henson as Janiyah, a hardworking woman striving to care for her ill daughter amidst mounting challenges. As her day spirals from bad to catastrophic, Janiyah finds herself entangled in a desperate situation, becoming the prime suspect in a crime she never intended to commit. Suspense is blended into social commentary with characters who are as interesting as the film’s subject matter. The cast includes Sherri Shepherd as Nicole, a bank teller caught in the unfolding crisis; Teyana Taylor as Detective Raymond, who empathizes with Janiyah's plight; Glynn Turman as Richard, Janiyah’s unsympathetic boss; Rockmond Dunbar as Chief Wilson, a law enforcement official quick to judge; and Sinbad, making a remarkable return to acting as Benny, a compassionate neighbour who witnesses Janiyah's struggles.
Best not to give away any more of the plot, but to watch the film itself, which opens for streaming Friday, June 6th, on Netflix.
Trailer:
