90 minutes is about right for a comedy-horror adaptation of Stephen King. A cursed toy latches itself on to traumatised twin brothers Hal and Bill (Theo James/Christian Convery) and causes the random and gruesome deaths of many unlucky folks who encounter them. This might not be vividly disturbing as LONGLEGS, but continues to serve up Osgood Perkins’ unique mixture of dark comedy and extreme imagery. Perkins sets his stall out with a wild prelude scene involving Adam Scott in a pawnshop with a harpoon gun and a flamethrower, and basically doesn’t take his foot off the pedal for the rest of the movie with a series of sudden, hilarious deaths. This cast definitely knew the assignment, and as long as you tap into the gallows humour tone, even the movie’s more scattershot final stretch will still be fun. SSP
Review in Brief: The Monkey (2025)
Review in Brief: 28 Years Later (2025)
28 YEARS LATER is not a safe sequel, in fact it’s far bolder, punchier and unexpectedly emotional than you might expect. It’s also by turns uglier and more achingly beautiful than every other example in its over-stuffed sub genre. Almost three decades after the Rage virus overran the UK, Britain finds itself quarantined from mainland Europe and barely surviving in a handful of isolated communities, such as the one on Holy Island. There, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) takes his pre-teen son Spike (Alfie Williams) on his first zombie-hunting mission, where they find the virus has evolved to be more dangerous than ever. Danny Boyle’s imagery is searing, Alex Garland’s screenplay is incisive, Young Fathers provide a bludgeoning soundtrack and the whole ensemble, particularly Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer as Spike’s ailing mother Isla and Ralph Fiennes as the enigmatic Dr Kelson, are on top form. Even as Boyle steps back from the franchise, he’s left us with not one but two of the most daring and high-impact British horrors this century. SSP
Batman Begins (2005) 20th Anniversary Review
How to Train Your Dragon (2025) Review
Review in Brief: Black Bag (2025)
God bless 90 minute popcorn movies. After years of not talking shop at home, a married spy couple get drawn into the search for a mole in their service and George (Michael Fassbender) comes up with a list of suspects including his wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). Bookended by a pair of all-timer tense dinner scenes, BLACK BAG is an espionage movie very much in the lowkey mould of Le Carré; clever, duplicitous people standing in grey rooms talking while the world outside holds its breath. Don’t expect high-octane action but do expect finely-tuned character work and dialogue that says far more in its subtext than text from rarely-better screenwriter David Koepp. The final twists are perhaps a little too telegraphed, but the cast, particularly Fassbender, Blanchett and Tom Burke, carry you through Steven Soderbergh’s best in years. You will be glued to the screen by this efficient, all-killer-no-filler thriller. SSP
SSP Thinks Film 