"Primetime" - I'm Catching a Predator, Bella

Dateline NBC is running a special segment entitled "To Catch a Predator", hosted by Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson), a segment wherein potential sex offenders are lured in by an online decoy and confronted by its host and the police. Hansen, however, wants more: he is determined to top the ratings and hit the primetime, and thus his show needs to be bigger, bolder, better, louder and more bombastic. He's not just making television, he's a righteous divine avenger changing the world...

(Variety)
A horror movie in all but name, mirrors and dark lighting aplenty as it drenches its reptillian protagonist in the blended worlds of showbusiness and predators, our protagonist himself (an oily and excellent Pattinson) a shark in this cesspool. The shots of Jared the Subway Guy got a dark chuckle out of me, as did the contextualisation of the time period with the discussions of the Iraq War: more fuel for the broiling quagmire of madnes and panopticons of our media-obsessive witch hunt age. In an age of media circuses moving online, and the ever-present spectres of "content" farming for heinous things, this absolute moral minefield is engrossing and gripping stuff. Merritt Weaver is excellent as the vicious producer, Skyler Gisondo steals the show (as he always does, love that guy) as the young "Decoy Dan" actor thrown straight in the deep end to the wolves, and the casting on the whole is absolutely bonkers: Bokeem "Mike Milligan" Woodbine as a Sheriff, Phoebe Bridgers (for some reason) as another decoy, Alex Winters (yay!) in a chilling final act, Jonathan Lipnicki is old enough to go full frontal (I feel old...) and a producer from the era further blurs the lines by playing himself. It's a slithery, slimy, skin crawling good time.

"Wildwood" - Non-Stop Motion

Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) lives in Portland, Oregon, with her parents (Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine) and infant brother Mac (Arthur Knight), a pleasant enough life. One day out exploring, and bumping into her nerdy friend Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), she witnesses a murder of crows swoop down and seize Mac, spiriting him away to the deepest, darkest Impassable Wilderness. Prue and Curtis rush in to locate and rescue him, discovering a magical realm currently in turmoil under its Dowager Governess (Carey Mulligan), soon the pair are swept up in machinations beyond this world and theirs...

(Credit: IMDB)
Holy shit.
It is going to be difficult to properly review this without resorting to gushing and hyperbolic ramblings as I have in the past; because this movie is best described as an inverse "Cats": the longer you look, the more goodness and wonder there are to see.
Each frame turns and burns with artistic splendour, a blossoming explosion of agonising creative force: every time you think you have gotten complacent in the effective effort and incredible gleam of stop-motion bleeding from every frame, a tornado of crows will erupt, or a series of suspended cages will give way to multi-person slapstick, or the big centerpiece will grip your soul and force you to pay attention. It's impossible to look away, and the spell captures you from the first pitch-black frames, unafraid to take you on this journey on its own terms.
It's an old school fairy tale (cheerful talking rats, a cruel villainous witch raising an army of coyotes, bandit kings, gruff postmen taking you down roads which should not be, Owl Kings and armies of crows) told remarkably straight, and it's all the better for it. In between rats voiced by Akwafina, Coyote Generals played by Tom Waits (bringing the soul as he always does, what a fucking weird, off kilter choice for a movie), Owl Kings played by Richard E Grant, great eagles (in one of the film's highlights, played by Angela Bassett), bandit kings (Mahershalah Ali) and old postmen (Len Cariou - it's refreshing that we don't have any gimmick casting, it's just fantastic actors in fntastic parts suited for them) and the quest to rescue a baby: it never speaks down or falls into juvenile "children's movie" territory. The stakes are high the quest is real, and this movie gets dark.
I love this.
All that animation could be and should be, but all too often is not.
Even if you don't support it for the arts, which you absolutely should, on a thrilling level it is worth the price of admission for the battle sequence alone.
A dark fairy tale about grief, which fucking rules, it catches your heart in your throat, takes you by the hand and hurls you into a twisted labyrinth of mayhem and wonder and weirdness and sparkles with the magic of the world around us. It's amazing.

"Clayface" - How Mean is My Valley?

Handsome rising star Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) has it all: a blossoming movie career, a wealthy escape from his poor downtown upbringing, a lovable best friend Cory (Joshua James) and critical acclaim pouring in! But an encounter with Mia Torrez (Joana Ribeiro) brings him into the orbit of mob boss and shitbag Markos Szabo (David Dencik), and he's subsequently mauled. Desperate, broke, and at rock bottom, he turns to a scientist (Naomi Ackie) and her experimental, untested medical procedure to restory his face and reclaim his identity...

(Bloody Disgusting. Source, not description)
A refreshingly fun take on superhero/supervillain and comic book shenanigans in general. It takes a little while to get going as it lays the groundwork and sets up things, but keeps interest in the interim with some excellent unflinching gore and a wonderful performance from Tom Rhys Harries (Wales represent! Also he's on a tear this year), very dead behind the eyes and with a superficial glossy charm shielding an emptiness and darkness beneath, and rattles along nicely enough. Then it becomes a blend of Hammer Horror, psychological breakdown and old school body horror slasher movie drenched in a shroud of paranoia. Once it hits the ground and takes off, it's very fun stuff: great gory kills, a fun B-movie sensibility, good chemistry between Harries and Naomi Ackie (common good work from Ackie, yet again), and a psychological breakdown which included my favourite scene: Rob Brydon of all fucking people subverting his lovable Welsh Port Talbot accent to chilling effect. Eddie Marsan is excellent and slimy, and the cast are uniformly good.
The final act in a nightclub is when the movie soars and has fun.
Meet it on its gory, bloody merits and it's a great time! (I always appreciate a "Videodrome" murder)

"Forgotten Island" - Filipino Man's Sky

Jo (H.E.R) is a free spirited artist of chaos, and best friends with Raissa (Liza Soberano), a brilliant, focused science gremlin; together they are raised on stories of the mystical land of Nakali. Years later, with Raissa about to leave for CalTech, Jo has one final night with her friend before life seems to separate them forever, they find an amulet on the beach which transports them to the mystical world of Nikali...

(Credit: IGN)
Marketed as a kids' adventure, the movie is actually more akin to "The Hangover" done through Filipino mythology and a culture completely alien to me, as our two leads wake up on the island with no memory of the night before and must retrace their steps with the aid of a lovable, incredibly energetic dog man (Dave Franco, absolutely relishing the part and practically stealing the show), giving way to an absolute barrage of jokes, sight gags and truly spellbindin animation, just some top tier craft on display. It's madcap, rapid fire, and the sort of experimental fare Dreamworks used to make. It bounces and bounds all over the place in an endearing, amusing adventure of creative jokes and bombastic, eccentric humour for about 45 minutes after a genuinely touching introduction; falters a little towards the end when juggling its plot and betrayal, but I was swept up enough in its "Mitchells VS the Machines" energy and bonkers goodwill that it didn't bother me. It's a fantastic film you can honestly just witness for the animation hand grenade of skill on the screen, but stick around for a funny ride.

"It's My Time" - Every Side, Everywhere, All One Colour

Wu Youwei (Liu Haoran) was once a dynamo and wizard with the Rubik's cube, but now has fallen on hard times and owes debts. He takes a job teaching Rubik's cubes to stave off dementia in a nursing home, where he finds a protege in the prickly, grouchy 70 year old stroke survivor and former maths teacher Zhao (Michelle Yeoh)...

(Credit: IMDB)
A crowd pleaser sports movie, about a lady doing Rubik's cubes despite her age. It does the job well enough and is directed with enough flair and colour to surpass the usual predicable elements, it's nothing you've not seen before but tastes well all the same. I liked the guest turn from Jiang Qiming as "Dr K" the dickish arrogant player on a game show, and the cast as a whole are good: Yeoh is, as always, wonderful, especially when she gets to shit-talk a ten year old and make him cry. The third act melancholy can be seen coming a mile off, and is a tad manipulative, but I was swept up enough to still let it work on me, and the dynamic between Wu and Zhao is fun enough.

"Street Fighter" - Immortal Kombat

Ryy (Andrew Koji) and Ken (Noah Centineo) are childhood friends who trained under the same master at a dojo. But Ryu harbous a dark-
Does this really matter?

There is way too much fucking plot and lore in this movie, it's extremely stop start and takes a fair while to get going. The fight scenes use too many close ups, the needle drops are too frequent and cut off, Jason Momoa is actually kind of dreadful in this, and it chops about its crowded cast and setting too much to let its human moments, genuine comedy and even fun fights breathe.
But the film's not made for me.
Whilst it certainly has some charm on its own (it's brightly coloured, the performers are good - Andrew Koji's Ryu is a particular highlight with his deadpan, dour straight man charm, and weirdly it's Orville fucking Peck who steals the show - also I like Rayna Vallandingham in this, and there's a prison break sequence which works, also I chuckled enough at the jokes), it's not made for me:
Ryu dresses as Hot Hobo Ryu AND Guy from "Streets of Rage", there is a Mayor Haggar reference, actors and characters all do their moves and costumes from the games, Maximilian Dood and Justin Wong (the latter yelling "PARRY THAT SHIT") get cameos, Joe from the first game appears, there is a shot of the opening tower fight from "Street Fighter 2" and, albeit in an extremely forced and clumsy way, they shoehorn in the sublime Raul Julia's "Tuesday" line from the campy cult classic film.
It's loud and extremely crowded, almost never having time to breathe, but never quite having a grasp on what its focus is.
But it's made for the game fans, and going to watch it alongside one, he got a lot of enjoyment from it.
Also, side note, remarkably horny movie: Chun Li gets a shower scene (which, rather amusingly, transitions to a naked E. Honda), Orville Peck is on a tear as the lascivious Vega, an extremely game David Dastmalchian plays M. Bison as a deranged foot smelling pervert, Cody Rhodes plays Guile as a confused bisexual himbo, Ryu and Ken have unresolved shirtless sexual tension, Kyle Mooney appears as a submissive smitten Chun Li coworker happy to have her kick him in the balls, and Mel Jarnson's Cammy is practically prowling and pouncing as a cat in heat whenever Chun Li is on screen.

"Other Mommy" - Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Red

Bella (Arabella Olivia Clark) senses something wrong with parents (Jessica Chastain and Jay Duplass), but that's alright: she has another mother who looks exactly the same, living inside of her cupboard...

(Credit: Bloody Disgusting)
Arabella Olivia Clark is remarkably good, and the movie begins a fascinating premise as it follows a child aware that things are wrong and awry, and unable to trust the ones she loves. It lends itself well to paranoia and themes of grooming and how we treat and believe children. It has some spooky, odd monster design and a rather unusual pace and structure, it's twisty and odd and a little silly but with dedicated performances.
After 45 minutes you can switch it off, as the moment they hit Grandmas's (Karen Allen) house it nosedives and shits the bed entirely. What was funny and odd and promising turns into a drudge and a slog as it threatens to embrace the silliness by crossing over with the "Insidious" universe, and features Dichen Lachman whom I like, but become silly and laughable and not intentionally so, losing its momentum and the arcs about family and togetherness.
I can see it becoming a cult campy classic a few years from now, but not for me