Movies

I love movies. Especially horror. The following are maybe some of my favorite horror films ever, and some non-horror films thrown in there.

Saw (2004) directed by James Wan

Written: 7/7/25

Rating: 9/10

What do you do when you just graduated from film school and now have $1 million dollars to spend on making a movie? Well, James Wan can answer that question. It is insane to think this is the first film he ever directed, as it damn near perfect front to back. There is very little you can criticize in this film, and those criticisms are mostly the artifacts of a low budget film. This film directly influenced the next decade of horror, even though the genre it kickstarted is barely applicable to this film. This film is very much a crime thriller with some seasonings of the next 9 films in the series. Maybe the goriest part of this scene is the iconic Reverse Bear Trap scene, but even then it is not as much splatter as the following films in the series. This film is also a must watch if you have no spoilers, as the ending scene is iconic and still gives me goose flesh as of writing this. Truly a wonderful film. I wish I could say that about the rest of the series.

Saw II (2005) directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

Written: 7/7/25

Rating: 9/10

With the success of the first Saw, it was only a matter of time before a sequel would come out. This film would follow up the next year, starting a yearly trend of a new Saw film until Saw 3D in 2010. Does it compare to the first film? Yes, it sure as hell does. This film is very good. A lot more of the Sawerisms show up in this film, including jumpy editing and a green filter over a majority of the film. The ensemble cast of this is like a twisted Breakfast Club, but let's just say they do not end up getting along very well in the end. The twist of this film is very good, and is definitely a good escalation of the first film. Saw II only expands on the first Saw, and it does a great job at being a follow up to a good film.

Superman (2025) directed by James Gunn

Written: 7/13/25

Rating: 10/10

DC hasn’t had the best track record in the film department. Notably the DCEU, DC’s reaction to the MCU, was almost consistently slammed for sloppy structuring and bad movies, closing off with the release of The Flash and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom. Shortly before the release of these films however, James Gunn was announced as co-CEO of DC Studios and a rebooted film universe was announced. The first project to come from this, besides 2024’s Creature Commandos, was Superman. As a comic fan, I was very excited to see this movie, so for my birthday me and some of my friends saw it in theaters. I left the theater truly amazed with what I just saw. Every fiber of this film had so much passion and love put into it, with the tone and presentation in stark contrast with the DCEU and many MCU films. My accolades have to go to David Corenswet, an actor who I had never seen in anything, as he is now in my head the definitive Superman right next to Christopher Reeve. Corenswet’s acting as Clark Kent and as Superman is so well done, and unlike Zach Snyder’s Superman, truly feels like a beam of hope in a world that really needs it. The film starts off by telling us that Superman intervened in a foreign conflict between two countries, Boravia and Jarhanpur. Boravia serves as a parallel to Israel and Jarhanpur a parallel to Palestine, with Superman stopping the Boravian military from invading the country of Jarhanpur. This event causes great uproar, mainly with Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult. Hoult I am much more familiar with as an actor, as he played Hank McCoy in X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix. Hoult does a wonderful job as Lex Luthor, showing the unbridled rage and hatred the character embodies. Lex is truly evil in this film, with him starting the conflict with Boravia and Jarhanpur purely to have enough of a reason to take down Superman. Besides the protagonist and antagonist, the side characters are also all very well done. Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific stand out in this film. Brosnahan as Lois is a perfect human companion to Clark, and she is much more than just a love interest in the film and is shown to be a strong reporter and a strong woman. Edi Gathegi is also an actor I am familiar with, as he played Darwin in X-Men: First Class, however he dies very early on in that film. Thankfully, Gathegi gets his time to shine as Mister Terrific in this movie, with me wanting to see more of him on the screen and on the page after leaving the film. This film is a very hopeful prospect for the future of the DC film universe, and I will be watching the rest of this universe with great expectations.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) directed by Matt Shakman

Written: 8/5/2025

Rating: 8/10

The Fantastic Four: First Steps was one of my most anticipated films of the last 5 years since it was first announced in early 2020. Now that it has actually been released, what do I think? First, let’s talk about the themes of the film. Obviously, when tackling the Fantastic Four, the main theme of the film is family. When the team visits Galactus on his ship, they beg to let Earth be spared. Galactus says he will but only under one condition. Reed Richards and Susan Storm must give their unborn child, Franklin Richards, over to Galactus once he is born as the child is said to have a great and expansive power. The team denies this request, causing great uproar from the people of Earth. Later on in the film, Sue Storm (Played by Vanessa Kirby) goes on a very good monologue, finishing off with the line “I will not sacrifice my child for this world, but I will not sacrifice this world for my child”. Eventually in the climax of the film, Galactus is nearly about to capture Franklin, when Susan uses all of her strength to push Galactus into a portal opened by the team to stop him. In her efforts, she is killed, but then resurrected by Franklin in a very well done and impactful scene that genuinely made me tear up a little bit. Second, I want to talk about the direction and design of the film’s world. The film is directed by Matt Shakman, previously seen in the MCU directing Wandavision in 2020. That series perfectly showed and represented the vibes of many years of television sitcoms, and that exact same attention to detail is brought to this movie. The film does a fantastic job at presenting a retrofuturistic world, with the city of New York being transformed to look like the sleek dreams of a 1960s future. Third, the cast of the film. When the cast was first announced, I questioned the choice of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, however after watching the film I can’t imagine who else could’ve played him. Pascal does a very good job playing the character and is able to put across the anxious genius of Reed Richards. Vanessa Kirby does a very good job too as Susan Storm, putting to screen the true Sue from the comics. Previous film adaptations, notably the 2000s Tim Story Fantastic Four films, do not really use Susan all too well and are quite gross towards her character. Thankfully, that changes in this film as she is shown to be very smart and also extremely strong, even being the one to defeat Galactus at the end of the film. Johnny and Ben, played by Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach respectively, are also very well done, with Quinn bringing the jovial hotheadedness of Johnny to screen, and Moss-Bachrach bringing the dignity and also heart of Ben to the film. The main antagonists of the film, Galactus and Silver Surfer, also are very well done. Ralph Ineson as Galactus brings a grand and imposing aura to the character of Galactus, making him a truly scary and formidable foe. Julie Garner then plays the stoicism of Silver Surfer very greatly, eventually breaking this in the final act when Johnny decodes her language and goes for her emotions, as he compares their begging to hers for her planet of Zenn-La. Fourth and finally are my complaints. My biggest complaint is the major cuts done to the film. This is apparent as comparing what is shown in the trailers for the film and the final product, many parts were removed. Most notably is the complete removal of the Red Ghost, played by acclaimed actor John Malkovich, from the film. Another scene removed was Johnny going to Zenn-La. Finally, another scene that was shown consistently was an interview scene with Reed and Sue inside the Baxter Building, which was used in most of the film’s marketing. Overall, this film was very worth the wait and I would be happy to see it again in theaters if I can. This film shows great promise for the future of the MCU and I can not wait to see the team return in Avengers: Doomsday.