Eraserhead

E and I fell in love with David Lynch via Twin Peaks, but really haven’t explored his movie catalogue, and with his passing, we’ve added a lot to our list. Spooktober gave us good reason to start with Eraserhead, Lynch’s first feature film. I’m glad we had seen Twin Peaks: The Return prior to as this just brazen bizarreness of some of the scenes Lynch throws at you is jarring, and that definitely prepared me better for this movie. It’s a horror movie certainly, and while it’s not exactly scary, it’s definitely disturbing. From the very beginning, something’s just off, and it’s really just an all around abrasive experience. Can’t say that I particularly enjoyed it, but it was quite thought provoking, and undeniably captured Lynch’s essence.

-Z

This is a tough movie to rate. I definitely appreciate it as an art piece, but that meant that watching it felt a lot more like work vs. entertainment - a lot to untangle here. Very much a vibes-based film, and reading more about it afterwards gave some much needed context. I’m glad we watched this to gain a better understanding of the great David Lynch, but wow is it weird!

-E

Z 7.5
E 7.25
J n/a

~ZEJ 7.38

Movie Fantasy League October Update

Nearly a month in to our second annual Movie Fantasy League season, and we have a few teams starting to score some points, with 14 movies currently scoring. Don’t be alarmed if you have zero points at this point, all that means is that your movies haven’t released yet!

Our early frontrunners are the three geniuses that picked One Battle After Another, which has hit a domestic box office of $63 million as of this week, which has earned it 106 fantasy points for those three!

We also have a late entrant to the league - Katie! Welcome. Since Katie joined late, she was unable to pick from any movies that had already been released, so she is playing with one arm tied behind her back!

The big release this weekend is the biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, which was one of the more popular picks as E, Ruth, St. Shuffles, and Katie all selected it. We also had two pickers on Shelby Oaks, and one that picked Bugonia both of which also release this weekend. Good luck to you all!

Also, the Gotham Awards Nominations are next Tuesday, so we’ll see our first awards points attributed. If your movie is nominated for one of the big categories, you’ll get 15 points, and some of the lesser categories will earn you 10 points, so be on the lookout!

BigBrett - 118 points

• One Battle After Another — $30 = 106 points

• Frankenstein — $25

• The Smashing Machine — $20 = 11 points

• Predator: Badlands — $10

• Anemone — $5 = 1 point

• A Private Life — $5

• Caught Stealing — $3

• Trap House — $2

J (Jord) - 117 points

• One Battle After Another — $30 = 106 points

• The Smashing Machine — $20 = 11 points

• Hamnet — $20

• It Was Just an Accident — $15

• The Secret Agent — $5

• Sisu 2 — $3

• Arco — $3

• The Man with the Bag — $3

Max - 107 points

• One Battle After Another — $30 = 106 points

• Zootopia 2 — $25

• Nuremberg — $10

• Die My Love — $8

• If I Had Legs I'd Kick You — $8

• The Running Man — $8

• A Private Life — $5

• Anemone — $5 = 1 point

E (ecrhodes) - 56 points

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25

• Frankenstein — $25

• Hamnet — $20

• F1 — $8

• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — $8

• Black Phone 2 — $5 = 56 points

• The Testament of Ann Lee — $5

• Weapons — $3

Daddy - 39 points

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Avatar: Fire and Ash — $30

• KPop Demon Hunters — $8

• Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie — $5 = 39 points

• 28 Years Later — $5

• The Long Walk — $3

• Steve — $3

• Atropia — $1

Zach (runningwolf) - 11 points

• Hamnet — $20

• Marty Supreme — $20

• The Smashing Machine — $20 = 11 points

• It Was Just an Accident — $15

• Is This Thing On? — $15

• The Secret Agent — $5

• Sound of Falling — $3

• Eternity — $2

Heather Huffs Great Picks - 0 points

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Nuremberg — $10

• 28 Years Later — $5

• Black Bag — $5

• The Housemaid — $5

• A Minecraft Movie — $5

• Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning — $5

• The Woman in Cabin 10 — $1

Jetty - 0 points

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Bugonia — $25

• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 — $10

• Goodbye June — $8

• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — $8

• One of Them Days — $2

• The Conjuring: Last Rites — $1

• All of You — $1

Austo - 0 points

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Avatar: Fire and Ash — $30

• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 — $10

• K-Pop Demon Hunters — $8

• Weapons — $3

• Shelby Oaks — $2

• The Conjuring: Last Rites — $1

• “Silent Night, Deadly Night” — $1

St Shuffles - 0 points

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25

• Predator: Badlands — $10

• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — $8

• Superman — $5

• Weapons — $3

• The Perfect Neighbor — $2

• Shelby Oaks — $2

Ruthless - 0 points

• Jay Kelly — $30

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25

• Hamnet — $20

• Song Sung Blue — $10

• The History of Sound — $5

• Jurassic World Rebirth — $3

• Arco — $3

• The Roses — $3

Katie Late to the Party Picks - 0 points

• Zootopia 2 — $25

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25

• Wake Up, Dead Man — $10

• Five Nights at Freddy’s — $10

• Predator: Badlands — $10

• Die My Love — $8

• The Housemaid — $5

• Regretting You — $3

Shelby Oaks

The Cinemark secret movie series for October. When it was shown in the theater that this was the film, a smile grew from ear to ear. It has been awhile since the Secret Movie hit, but I knew this had promise. For a scary movie I really think it worked. For a deep movie trying to attack deep themes I would say it missed. The filming was also very unique, a mix of film and found footage. I really can’t think of anything I have seen like it other than The Conjuring and Paranormal Activity had a baby. There is a lot that I need to sit on and try to understand, but overall this is the type of movie I needed in October.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 8.0

~ZEJ 8.0

Elio

I forgot that this came out this year. I put my girlfriend on movie duty, and this is what we landed on. A surprisingly depressing start to the movie and feeds off it throughout most of the film. They really were trying to hit the heart strings, and maybe mine are out of tune. The movie looked great and had a few fun parts, but this may be one of my least favorite Pixar movies that have come out. I am sure it’ll be nominated, so in that sense I am glad I watched it, but overall I would say this film was just fine.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 7.0

~ZEJ 7.0

Pan’s Labyrinth

E and I had this on our Spooktober list and outside of one scene, I wouldn’t say Pan’s Labynth is scary or Halloween-esque, but overall I share E’s sentiment on this movie. Not many movies have a 98 Metacritic score, and so you’re expectation is incredibly high going into it, and in this case, it didn’t live up to it for us. That said, I did enjoy it, but the first half is slow, and was losing my attention, while the second half picks up and really pays off all the setup of the beginning. A lot of the praise from critics is the originality of it, and that’s undeniable. There’s not many original modern day fairy tales being created, and that has to be lauded. Can’t say I’d strongly recommend it unless you’re a fan of fantasy or a cinephile, but definitely don’t regret finally watching this.

-Z

This is a tough one to review - I think I understand why other people would like this, and the intention behind it, but I did not enjoy the experience of watching this for the most part, so I can’t say I agree with the insanely high Metacritic score. I found the pacing incredibly slow for the first hour or so, and while there are some pretty memorable fantasy scenes, I wanted more of that and less of the repetitive-feeling childhood trauma on display. I can see why it won/was nominated for the many Oscar nods it had, but similar to Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, it just didn’t sit right with me.

-E

Z 8.25
E 7.5
J n/a

~ZEJ 7.88

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

I don’t care what anyone says, this is absolute cinema. The music is great, the vibes are fun, and it is vintage Gene. I watched this a lot growing up with my brother and I saw it was leaving Netflix soon so I threw it on. I remember the whole movie very well and will be watching it many more times over the years. I know it's got a lot of confusing themes and issues, but like I said to start: CINEMA.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 9.0

~ZEJ 9.0

Good Fortune

Consider Good Fortune the campaign to get Keanu Reeves in more comedies! Hollywood decided to turn Keanu into an action star following his unbelievably funny performance in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and I don’t exactly blame them, the Matrix and John Wick universes are two of my favorites and they are that because of Keanu but in a movie with Seth Rogen and Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves steals every single scene. It’s wild. I really loved this movie. It has a lot charming similarities to my all-time favorite comedy Stranger than Fiction. This is Aziz’s directorial debut and what a debut! The ending definitely gets away from him here, as E and Jord state, kind of preachy at the end, but his heart’s in the right place, and there’s so much to enjoy about this that he gets away with it a bit. Stoked to see what he does next, and he’d be smart to include Keanu in whatever project that is.

-Z

A very funny movie! I was pleasantly surprised at the chemistry among the three leads here. Clever plot, kept you guessing, not predictable in the least. A different tone to the ending could have taken this to a 9. I appreciated the message of this movie, but I think they could have trusted the audience to piece it all together a bit more. It’s hard to imagine someone hating this movie - I would absolutely recommend!

-E

This is a movie I knew that exists, and that was about it. I do have a love for Seth Rogan, so that did excite me, but overall I had no idea what to expect. An extremely surprising and fun film that I will be recommending to everyone. I thought it was genuinely funny and had a strong message. One of my issues is that the message may have been too in your face, but overall a trio that works like Ro-Tel, Velveeta, and chips. Acting may have been a little lackluster, but I loved it overall. A must watch really for any comedy fans!

-J

Z 8.25
E 8.5
J 8.25

ZEJ 8.33

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

E and I decided to watch the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre as we continue our Spooktober watch, a first watch for both of us. Considered one of the most influential and best horror movies of all time, we were very curious how it’s aged after 51 years, and I will say, for my part, it’s aged very well even though it’s not my particular cup of tea. It’s a very bizarre film, even for the horror genre. The pacing is wild. It kind of builds exponentially, but very slowly for the first two-thirds, and the final act is just pure mania. For me, a modern viewer, that slow part drags a bit, and therefore kept my overall enjoyment of this tempered. It’s interesting too, because it’s only an 83 minute runtime, but it really feels much longer than that due to that initial pace. Nevertheless the ending is worth the price of admission, as there’s some fairly iconic scenes that have stuck with me. Another must watch for genre fans.

-Z

Another classic horror movie that I had never seen, I did question a few times if Z and I had somehow clicked on the wrong movie. I’m still a bit baffled as to how this is so well regarded. A lot of uncomfortably long scenes with a lot of loud noise, which definitely does equate to horror, but doesn’t make for an interesting movie in my opinion. It is certainly different, and I don’t doubt that it was revolutionary to the world of horror films, but this one was not for me.

-E

Z 7.25
E 6.5
J n/a

~ZEJ 6.88

The Ring

Spooktober rolls on for E and I and next on the list - the scariest movie of my childhood, The Ring. This post serves as both a review 20+ years later, and an apology to my dear younger sister Maddie, whom I made watch it with me in the broad daylight, as I was too scared to watch it on my own. I bribed her with a cookies and cream milk shake, so it wasn’t all bad for her. But after watching this again with E all these years later, and reconfirming how creepy this movie is, I can’t imagine little Maddie slept well back then in her post Ring era. So sorry sister! I like to think memories like that contributed to her being the tough as nails ER nurse and mom she is today, but she hasn’t thanked me for any of that yet. Anyway, The Ring today, is yes, still scary. The antagonist, is actually not as scary as I remember, but that dreaded tape, and all the buildup is just wonderfully creepy. I really appreciated unraveling the mystery of it too in the rewatch. A must watch for all horror genre fans, and one that holds up. An all-time classic for Spooktober!

-Z

Z was pretty surprised I knew nothing about the plot of this movie, thinking it was about a literal piece of jewelry that was maybe haunted or something. Needless to say, this was not what I expected! I did really enjoy the story and the eerie vibe of the film. Creepy children are not my favorite trope, and this did have some questionable choices, but it is perfect for Halloween season. I also loved some bonus education on how VHS tapes work!

-E

Z 7.75
E 7.75
J n/a

~ZEJ 7.75

Casper

A Halloween movie I could convince my girlfriend to watch since she doesn’t like scary movies, and honestly it was fun. There is a charm to an old 90s movie. It weirdly delves into the after life and probably did play a bit into the psyche of a lot of kids' thoughts on death, but I will say I enjoyed it. It really isn’t meant for adults so here we are with the score, but if you need a non-scary Halloween film, give it a go!

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 7.25

~ZEJ 7.25

Tron: Ares

A worse version of Tron: Legacy, which had great visuals and weak writing, but this one lacks the heart and charm of the former both in writing and acting, though the soundtrack of this is decidedly better, as Nine Inch Nails tailors its sound to the aesthetic of the universe unlike Daft Punk’s orchestral swing. There’s a lot that’s visually cool about Ares, but the best scene happens inside the grid, which is unfortunately only a small part of the film. Sort of a bittersweet watch as the Tron franchise has so much potential but is largely wasted once again. That said, if you enjoy visual and soundtrack vibes, you’ll have fun with it.

-Z

I went into this knowing the plot and writing would probably be bad, and they definitely were not great, but the visuals and soundtrack made up for that quite a bit here. I actually enjoyed watching this much more than I thought I would. I’ll still argue that the best Tron is the original for its creativity and much stronger writing. If you can see this on a big screen (and in 3D like we did), it is hard to imagine someone hating the experience, but beyond that, the movie itself is just okay.

-E

The standard score of a movie I don’t regret watching, but it really has some issues. I really enjoyed Tron: Legacy, but this one brought up a question I still can’t shake; Is there really a need/want/thirst for Tron movies? I feel like there are plenty of other IP’s that are a lot more interesting than this and I am curious if there will be more. Overall, the story really struggled and acting was tough in spots, but visually it was very fun. I usually hate 3D movies, but I do think this was the best way to watch. If you want to watch something visually fun with a great soundtrack, you need to see this in theaters. If you are looking for a great movie, this one can be a pass.

-J

Z 7.25
E 7.25
J 7.0

ZEJ 7.17

Young Frankenstein

For one reason or another Young Frankenstein has a come up a couple times recently, and E and I thought we’d give it our first ever watch to kick off Spooktober. Admittedly our Mel Brooks watch list is sorely lacking, having only seen Spaceballs myself, and while I’m not over the moon for that movie, I recognize that Mel Brooks is widely considered a comedy genius, and need to brush up on his catalogue. That said, I did fall asleep halfway through Young Frankenstein, so I missed a small chunk in the middle. But that isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it, or find it amusing, but it is fairly slow, and didn’t keep me captivated enough to stay locked in. There are some very funny bits, and Gene Wilder is as much a treasure as Dr. Frankenstein as he is Willy Wonka. His performance alone demands a watch of this, if not for Mel Brooks appreciation. E and I have never seen the original Frankenstein either, which this is a very close satire of, and I’m sure that would also add to the appreciation of it. Probably not a completely fair rating given the facts, but we’ll leave it at that for now.

-Z

Frankenstein is one of my favorite books of all time, and with the new movie coming up, this rose to the top of the Z&E Spooktober list. For a movie over 50 years old, it is surprising how well it holds up. While it started off quite fun, it really started to drag and slow down towards the end for me - most of the big laughs seem to happen pretty early on. A fun take on the story and clever overall, but the ending didn’t quite do it for me.

-E

Z 7.5
E 7.5
J n/a

~ZEJ 7.5

Good Boy

An interesting concept with an interesting follow through. Sadly, I think the concept outlives the product. The whole movie from a dog's perspective is very unique, and I think the approach was very solid. The story though was very cryptically confusing and I don’t necessarily think in a good way. Something I think some will love, but I think it is probably a skip for me.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 7.5

~ZEJ 7.5

The Smashing Machine

With the mid reviews, we were all worried about The Smashing Machine, but since Jord, myself and my dad all picked it for the Movie Fantasy League, there was no missing out on The Rock’s attempted comeback as a serious actor, and upon reflection, I’m glad we didn’t skip it. While the importance of its story is pretty low, I appreciate Benny Safdie’s directing style and take on a the sports genre. The Rock’s performance is genuinely good, and the prosthetics he’s wearing are amazing. For the first time I can ever remember, there were times on screen where he truly exhibited a character that wasn’t just himself, and he gave Mark Kerr, one of the pioneering fighters of the UFC, a lot of nuance. Ryan Bader, who stars alongside the Rock and portrays Mark Coleman, but is himself also a MMA fighter, was also excellent despite this being his first ever acting role. I wouldn’t go out of your way to see this, but I think you’ll enjoy it if you do.

-Z

Wow, The Rock can act, there is no doubt in my mind now. I do hope he gets nominated for his role here. I knew nothing about the true story this was based on though, and now after watching the movie, I’m not sure I know a whole lot more? I think there needed to be more of a “So what?” answered here to give this a bit more purpose.

-E

I will preface that I had a very unique viewing experience that will require a re-watch due to me being distracted, but I did really enjoy the movie. I felt like Safdie does such a good job of getting the best out of actors that aren’t deemed as ‘real actors.’ I thought The Rock did a fantastic job as the main actor and would love to see him in more roles like this. Along with him, the vibe that Safdie gives is very much catered to viewers like me. I really enjoyed the film, but my biggest issue comes with the true story nature of the film. I really just don’t think he is interesting enough for a full length movie like this. Overall, a great watch and I really hope The Rock gets a nomination.

-J

Z 7.5
E 7.75
J 8.0

ZEJ 7.75

Bone Lake

I had a free Saturday and wanted to do a double feature, so I saw this and Good Boy. As time has gone on, I have grown an appreciation for this film. It is very unapologetically itself in the best way. A silly, slasher, horror film that can make you smile around Halloween. It was marketed well, but I would say somewhat inaccurate. Overall, a fun Halloween movie, but nothing you need to call home about.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 7.75

~ZEJ 7.75

MFL 2025 Kickoff

Movie Fantasy League 2025 has officially commenced, and we a have few additions to our league from last year! Let’s take a look at our respective rosters:

Zach (runningwolf) - Total Budget $100

• Hamnet — $20

• Marty Supreme — $20

• The Smashing Machine — $20

• It Was Just an Accident — $15

• Is This Thing On? — $15

• The Secret Agent — $5

• Sound of Falling — $3

• Eternity — $2

E (ecrhodes) - Total Budget $99

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25

• Frankenstein — $25

• Hamnet — $20

• F1 — $8

• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — $8

• Black Phone 2 — $5

• The Testament of Ann Lee — $5

• Weapons — $3

J (Jord) - Total Budget $99

• One Battle After Another — $30

• The Smashing Machine — $20

• Hamnet — $20

• It Was Just an Accident — $15

• The Secret Agent — $5

• Sisu 2 — $3

• Arco — $3

• The Man with the Bag — $3

BigBrett - Total Budget $100

• One Battle After Another — $30

• Frankenstein — $25

• The Smashing Machine — $20

• Predator: Badlands — $10

• Anemone — $5

• A Private Life — $5

• Caught Stealing — $3

• Trap House — $2

Heather Huffs Great Picks - Total Budget $81

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Nuremberg — $10

• 28 Years Later — $5

• Black Bag — $5

• The Housemaid — $5

• A Minecraft Movie — $5

• Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning — $5

• The Woman in Cabin 10 — $1

Max - Total Budget $99

• One Battle After Another — $30

• Zootopia 2 — $25

• Nuremberg — $10

• Die My Love — $8

• If I Had Legs I'd Kick You — $8

• The Running Man — $8

• A Private Life — $5

• Anemone — $5

Jetty - Total Budget $100

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Bugonia — $25

• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 — $10

• Goodbye June — $8

• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — $8

• One of Them Days — $2

• The Conjuring: Last Rites — $1

• All of You — $1

Austo - Total Budget $100

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Avatar: Fire and Ash — $30

• Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 — $10

• K-Pop Demon Hunters — $8

• Weapons — $3

• Shelby Oaks — $2

• The Conjuring: Last Rites — $1

• “Silent Night, Deadly Night” — $1

St Shuffles - Total Budget $100

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25

• Predator: Badlands — $10

• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — $8

• Superman — $5

• Weapons — $3

• The Perfect Neighbor — $2

• Shelby Oaks — $2

Daddy - Total Budget $100

• Wicked: For Good — $45

• Avatar: Fire and Ash — $30

• KPop Demon Hunters — $8

• Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie — $5

• 28 Years Later — $5

• The Long Walk — $3

• Steve — $3

• Atropia — $1

Ruthless - Total Budget $99

• Jay Kelly — $30

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25

• Hamnet — $20

• Song Sung Blue — $10

• The History of Sound — $5

• Jurassic World Rebirth — $3

• Arco — $3

• The Roses — $3

What a league! Our 11 entrants picked a total of 56 movies, of which 36 were only picked once, and 20 of which were picked twice or more.

The most popular choices were:

• K-Pop: Demon Hunters — $8 (picked 5 times)

• Wicked: For Good — $45 (picked 5 times)

• Hamnet — $20 (picked 4 times)

• One Battle After Another — $30 (picked 3 times)

• Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — $25 (picked 3 times)

• The Smashing Machine — $20 (picked 3 times)

• Weapons — $3 (picked 3 times)

Of our 11 entrants, Austo, Jord’s brother was the least unique, by having just a single unique movie. Jord’s mom Heather and E’s mom Ruth had the most unique rosters, having 5 unique movies each! And of course, an extra shoutout to Heather for having the lowest total budget, having spent just $81!

Excited to see the year play out. We’ll post periodic updates as we hit important scoring timeframes. Thanks for playing and good luck!

One Battle After Another

As of 10/1/25, One Battle After Another sits with a 95 Metacritic rating, and knowing it had such a high score going into the watch last Thursday, had my expectations at a maximum, and that is usually a recipe for some level of disappointment, but in this case, Paul Thomas Anderson absolutely delivers. I debated really hard between a 9.25 and a 9.5 rating on this, as I found it difficult to rank it above Sinners and Anora, last year’s Best Picture winner, but I gave it the bump at the last minute because One Battle After Another is the first movie in a long time I’ve immediately wanted to rewatch. A big reason for that is despite this being a nearly 3 hour movie, true to its title, this movie just flat out flies. It’s truly a roller coaster without brakes. I had to pee for the last half of this, as did our friend Austin, and yet neither of us dared to leave the theater, because there just wasn’t an opportunity to. Jord didn’t love the soundtrack, whereas E and Austin did, but I didn’t even register it most of the time as I was just so locked in on what was happening on the screen, yet another reason to rewatch it. Obviously with the A-list cast, you’d expect incredible performances, and they all deliver, but Sean Penn steals every single scene he’s in, and somehow is standout in a sea of standouts. He puts his entire body into the performance, literally down to his walk and it’s an absolute delight. There’s some beautiful, apt social and political commentary in this to boot, and I could really go on and on with its praises, but to keep this from being a novel I’ll just say that on a technical level this movie is a masterpiece. The cinematography, the directing, the acting, 10/10. Whereas I may have personally been a little bit higher on Sinners in terms of enjoyment, I didn’t immediately want to rewatch Sinners, and I wouldn’t call that a technical masterpiece. As far as Best Picture goes, this is the current movie to beat.

-Z

I was not sure this was going to live up to the critical hype it was receiving, but wow, it did. Excellent, very timely storyline. I personally loved the chaotic pacing and intense score - every scene was purposeful and sailed right along. I might have liked a little more development in the ending, but that’s just nitpicking.

-E

This potentially is the movie of the year. Strong story, great acting, very engaging, and topical. It hit basically every point and was what I needed after seeing Him and The Long Walk. This is the ‘new Leo movie,’ but realistically it should be the new Sean Penn movie. If you are a movie fan, this needs to be seen and in theaters. Who knows how this will end, as it came out a little early for awards season, but it will most definitely be there. My only issue is a bit with the ending and the score was way too much in my opinion. It towed a thin line because in some scenes it made it and in other scenes it was fully unnecessary and distracting. A very technical complaint, but the difference from a 10 and a 9.5.

-J

Z 9.5
E 9.5
J 9.5

ZEJ 9.5

The Long Walk

With the possible exception of David Jonsson, this is one of the worst acted movies I’ve seen. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is one of my all-time favorite actors, but at least for me, his son Cooper doesn’t have the same appeal. Mark Hamill was also wildly poor casting, and his performance was just strange. Besides the acting, the dialogue was bizarre and the bickering between the boys felt so unrealistic. The trailer made this seem like a horror, and had they leaned into that with the movie, I think it could have been great, but instead they went more drama / trauma-bonding / metaphorical that just didn’t work for me. Unless you’re a Stephen King truther, this is a skip.

-Z

Sadly, this was a case of me thinking the trailer looked a little dumb and gave away the entire plot…and that basically was the case. The ending also felt quite out of place, but I had kind of given up hope that that might turn it around at that point. A lot of this movie focuses on conversations, and the dialogue/delivery just did not feel natural. The world they built seemed really intriguing, and I’m sure there was a purpose in not giving away too many details about it and focusing just on the walking, but that led to this feeling more like a play than a movie.

-E

From no expectations, to a potential banger in terms of reviews from people I trust, it created quite the expectations going in. Right when I saw the trailer I was intrigued, but Z and E seemed very skeptical. Overall, I did really enjoy the movie and it did have some emotional parts. I do think the writing was very poor at times, which made the flow tough to be a part of, but I think some good monologues helped me. Overall, its downfall was the anti-climactic and confusing ending. I usually try to stop bad endings from affecting me too much, but this one was objectively bad. Sadly, it had the bones for a great movie, but finished average.

-J

Z 6.5
E 7.0
J 7.75

ZEJ 7.08

Barbarian

Jord watched this in 2022 when it came out with Austin and didn’t love it, so E and I didn’t race to put it on our Spooktober horror watchlist, but after Zach Creggers’ masterstroke of Weapons, our curiosity was piqued, and it was definitely worth the watch. This is much simpler mystery to unravel compared to Weapons and the payoff wasn’t as satisfying, but you can definitely see Cregger was working towards something that is realized better in Weapons. When the humor comes in this, it’s definitely more stark, but I enjoyed it. It was a nice reprieve of the tension. Certainly some issue with the plot and decisions by the characters, but it makes more sense learning, after the fact, that this script began as a writing experiment in which Cregger wanted to write a story where the protagonist ignored as many red flags as possible. If you enjoy horror, this is a must watch.

-Z

Going in mostly blind (except for a pretty basic trailer) was the right choice here. I was terrified to see this in theaters when it released due to an upcoming stay at an AirBnB, but I’m glad the success of Weapons made Z & I revisit this one. It doesn’t quite blend humor and horror with quite the right mix compared to Weapons (although there are some very funny moments), and a lot of the plot here just left me frustrated (classic horror movie non-logic), but overall, better than I expected it to be!

-E

Z 7.5
E 7.75
J 7.42

ZEJ 7.42

KPop Demon Hunters

Unlike Jord, the title for this made me more intrigued than less. As E says, this movie is quite cliche, and has some serious plot issues, BUT it is overwhelmingly made up for by the music and stylish animation. It’s wildly fun, and as Netflix’s most watched movie ever, it’s probably worth watching purely on FOMO basis.

-Z

The plot was a little lacking and predictable, but I was largely okay with that due to the very fun animation and soundtrack! Would be surprised if this doesn’t get an original song nomination come Oscars season. I’d also like it to be known that I picked this for my MFL team before watching it, and I don’t regret that choice!

-E

The marketing team for this film needs to be fired. First off, for me personally, the name is a total turn off to the film. Beyond that, only releasing on Netflix with very little hype is criminal. This is an extremely fun film for both kids and adults with some bangers if you like original music in film. Along with that, the story is surprisingly deep and can hit a lot of the population in one way or another. A must watch for movie lovers and casual watchers alike. I promise it is better than you think.

-J

Z 8.0
E 8.0
J 8.25

ZEJ 8.08