Project Hail Mary: Grogu 2.0

A school teacher helps his government and then is drugged and forcibly sent on a suicide mission.

This was a flawed film, in that it could comfortably have been 2 hours, there was no need for it to be as long as it was and a hell of a lot of it was filler scenes.

Rocky is easily the heart of the film and all of the scenes with him make the film, including the emotional payoffs. One would say that Rocky upstages Ryan Gosling across the course of the film repeatedly, and Rocky does at times have that sort of Baby Yoga energy.

In terms of being a hard science fiction film, the Martian is a lot better as it has a tighter focus and is less meandering, Interstellar is better as well. However, there is some appeal in that aspect here, it simply isn’t better than some of the other films in the space.

Overall, a competent film but nothing that will knock your socks off. Rocky will be a fan favourite.

3/5

Pros.

Rocky

The ending

It has appeal as a hard/realistic science fiction film

Cons.

The pacing is bad

It has been done better before

If you enjoyed this film review, then please head over to my Patreon to support me. All reviews, articles and interviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

How To Make A Killing: The Most Generic Film Of 2026

Summary, a man decides to kill off his relatives to inherit some money.

Incredibly generic would be the best way to describe this, this fable of where chasing wealth gets you is one you have seen about 1000 times before and many times done better than here.

Almost every single character in this film is intensely dislikeable, if you’re supposed to root for Powell’s everyman that would be news to us. In many senses it reflects the worst parts of American culture where everyone is just obsessed with money, whether they have it or not it’s seemingly all anyone can ever think about.

It is the sort of film that shouldn’t have made it pass the idea stage, let alone taking up space that could instead be given to other films.

Overall, Margaret Qually deserves better than this.

1/5

Pros.

It’s short.

Cons

You have seen this before

It is dull

It is stale

The ending makes the whole thing pointless

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

The Secret Agent: The Most Interesting Academic Ever

Summary, after becoming on a corrupt government minister’s hit list. A university professor must go into hiding.

The biggest compliment for this film is the tone, it could have been a lot bleaker than it was. Whilst it wasn’t happy go lucky, it did manage to balance the grit with a more optimistic tone of displaced people creating a community.

The tension across the course of the film about whether the lead will be caught or not, creates wonderful stakes that carry through the film, making you invested in the ending. Sadly they decide to just have him die off screen which is anti-climatic.

There is also some more absurd stuff that comes out of nowhere and contrasts with the broader tone of the film. This should have been removed from the film, the metaphorical intent is clear but is just feels far too out of the blue.

Overall, an incredibly strong and likable film.

4/5

Pros.

The pace

The tone bar one absurdist scene

The performances

The ending, bar the death.

Cons.T

The absurdist sequence

The death happening off screen

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Cinema Issues: The Oscar Fate Of Sinners

The film got 4/16 nominations, many of which were undeserved. Cinematography, original screenplay and best actor should not have been given to it. After the smear campaign against Timothy Chalamet the ground was being set for the upset and for Jordan’s win but he didn’t deserve it. Playing two characters which are the same as the character he plays in everything else doesn’t mean he deserves the award over people like Ethan Hawke. It was tokenism. They knew Sinners wouldn’t get best director or best picture so they needed to give it something big and so they did. It was an effort to stop the inevitable calls of racism. Too late.

People have already screamed racism as it didn’t win all the awards it was nominated for, no film has ever won that many, they are also calls for black people to boycott the Oscars now and only care about the NAACP awards, therefore creating segregation in the awards circuit. Also the NAACP awards literally gives away awards based on race, so it does away with even the slightest whiff of merit. Screaming racism as a film doesn’t win 16 Oscars just devalues what racism is and makes you look like a baby having a tantrum, racism is people being treated as lesser based on race, suffering violence based on race, have freedoms revoked based on race, not a film only winning 4 Oscars.

To return to awards that this film didn’t deserve let’s talk about best original screenplay. There was so little original about Sinners that as we said, the award should be given to Robert Rodriguez, the film in so many ways is a rip off of From Dusk Till Dawn, that to call it original is baffling. This sets a new low bar for original at the Oscars and has devalued it in the process.

The phrase give someone an inch and they take a mile comes to our writers minds, the Oscars tried to pander and tried to give into tokenism to avoid being called racist and avoid these calls for boycotts and yet despite doing this and damaging their credibility it happened anyway.

If you enjoyed this Cinema Issues article , then please head over to my Patreon to support me. All film reviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Cinema Issues: Paramount Wins

In today’s edition of cinema issues we talk about the fact that at the moment of writing it seems as though Paramount is going to win in it’s bid for WBD.

Ultimately there was always a chance of this as the current American administration favours them, and could have made things very difficult for Netflix at the regulatory stage.

There are some people who are saying that this is a win for cinemas, as Netflix would have led to them closing down, however, this is not the win they think it is. Two major studios merging means there will be mass layoffs, which will further contract the industry and also likely lead to less things coming out in cinemas overall.

So far Paramount has confirmed they intended to keep a large theatrical output going forward, much higher than what they are currently doing however , the numbers that have been floated likely aren’t realistic.

Moreover, this move seems threatening to other studios, you have to think now that players like Sony and Universal will be thinking about expansion and to buy up independent studios and production companies in order to compete. Really a lot of this started during Disney’s era of expansion, in that sense the Paramount WBD merger appears similar to Disney buying 21st Century Fox.

There is also the Netflix question of it all, and what their next move may be, they had other studios on their list, will they move on to one of those or reflect over the strategy. Could Netflix make a bid for Universal or the film parts of Sony.

One thing is for sure we are in the era of monopolies.

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

The Testament Of Ann Lee: Shaking Your Way To The Lord

Summary, Ann Lee, Amanda Seyfried, believes herself to be the female reincarnation of the Messiah during the period of the Great Awakening.

This film will be divisive, it was an art film in the truest sense, it is pretentious and it likes symbolism. That will put people off. It is a musical about a very depressing subject matter, and has uncomfortable sexual moments throughout, this will put off people. Then there is the fact that it’s about the Shakers, a Christian sect, and other types of Christians might find some of the things in this film to be heretical, which will put people off. If you make it through all that you’ll find an interesting and original film.

Yes the accents were God awful, but the film tried to do something a bit different, and take what could have been a very heavy and depressing story and make it more engaging and compelling.

The music also oddly works.

Overall, this is a win for Ms Seyfried.

3.5/5

Pros.

It does something different

The music

It is an interesting story

The sheer art-cinemaness of it

Cons.

The pacing

There are a lot of things that can put you off the film

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

The Bride: The Most Brutal Curb Stop Since American History X

Summary, a new take on the Bride of Frankenstein.

It seems no matter where you go people didn’t like this film, to some it is too feminist, to others the Bride is unlikeable etc. Regardless, this film was an enjoyable take on the character.

Jessie Buckley’s manic monologues were a bad choice for sure, but her character wasn’t unlikeable or too feminist as others say. She was a real person who had suffered greatly at the hands of the world and wanted someone to pay, she developed a real love for Frankenstein, Christian Bale, over the course of the film and this was quite affecting on screen.

Stylistically the film was all over the place, and tried to be an art film and also something more commercial, not realising you can’t be both. It was very apparent as you were watching, that it was made by an early career director, but everyone has to start somewhere and this was perfectly serviceable.

Overall, not as bad as you’ve heard, but surely not one to rush out to either.

2.5/5

Pros.

The style mostly works

The Bonnie and Clyde feel of it

The ending

Cons.

The odd monologues

The pacing was off

It felt totally confused at times

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Missing Child Video Tape: A Mountain of Madness

Summary, after his brother went missing many years ago at the summit of a mysterious mountain a Japanese man and his roommate go on a journey to try and find him.

As far as ghost stories go this was quite effective, there were a number of twists and turns wherein your expectations are subverted, for example there was a time when it appeared as though the lead had killed his brother. The ending needed further clarity however, as the ending implied a number of things but nothing really directly. This was likely done so you could imagine the ending yourself and have your own interpretation however, it would have been nicer if there could have been more of a structured answer.

It does atmospheric well, and the horror mainly comes from creepy moments, and the overall vibe rather than from jump scares. If that is what you’re looking for arguably this is not the film for you.

An effective J-Horror film let down somewhat by its ending.

3/5

Pros.

The atmosphere

The scares

The twists and turns

Cons.

The ending

The pacing

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

How To Get To Heaven From Belfast Season Overview: Like Derry Girls But Older

Summary: A trio of women are brought together over the death of their friend and decide to investigate it.

The only reason many people will watch this show is because it is from the woman who created Derry Girls, which was one of the better comedy/sitcom shows of the last decade. Anyway, this is the follow up.

In many ways the lineage is both a pro and a con, it is a pro in that the show is funny, it mimics Derry Girls’ sensibilities and the banter between the women is strong. However, it also feels like a rehash and feels overly familiar to Derry Girls’ at the same time. It feels as though they are trying to replicate Derry Girls just with older characters and one self contained storyline.

The storyline around what happened to their friend, and then as the series progresses is the friend alive, and where is she etc, feels like a very generic sort of detective drama plot line that has been done before. The more the series tries to lean into the mystery aspect the more generic it feels.

There is also an incredibly needless will they won’t they romance sub-plot which takes time away from the bond between the women which is really the key focus of the show.

Overall, watchable if generic.

3/5

Pros

It’s funny

Some good performances

It is well paced

Cons.

It feels too familiar

The mystery is generic

If you enjoyed this TV review, then please head over to my Patreon to support me. All reviews, articles and interviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer

Cold Storage: Being Named After A Biscuit

Summary, a couple of storage workers accidentally release a deadly alien organism.

In a post Stranger Things world, it is noticeable that Joe Keery is trying to stay in the genre space. This in many ways felt very similar to older genre stuff such as Hole or something of that nature wherein it isn’t quite YA but is softer horror.

Keery was a likeable enough lead and anchored the film but it was a shame the film didn’t give us more of Liam Nesson considering he was the big name on the poster.

The film isn’t scary so much as it is gross, and if that’s what you’re into then you’ll enjoy this film. It is enjoyable but not really as a horror film.

Overall, fun and not much more

3.5/5

Pros.

Keery

The little we get of Nesson

It’s a nice little adventure

Its well paced

Cons.

It doesn’t really work as a horror film

The leads have no chemistry

If you enjoyed this review , then please head over to my Patreon to support me. All film reviews are free, with no early access, sponsorships, or content locked behind paywalls. If you value independent coverage of the entertainment industry, your support over there helps to keep it going. Become a member on Patreon below

patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Or if you would rather send me a donation if Patreon isn’t for you then please find a link to my Ko-Fi donation page below

http://ko-fi.com/anothermillennialreviewer