What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[grim_tales]

The Amateur (USA, 2025): 4/5

After his wife is killed in a terror attack, a computer decoder decides to take matters into his own hands and become an assassin, in an exciting thriller with Bond/Bourne-esque elements. Good movie.

[Lou Bloom]

Cockfighter (USA, 1974) 4/5
"He came in to town with his cock in his hand and what he did with it was illegal in 49 states". I think that was the original tagline. Warren Oates stars as a mute cockfighter who refuses to give up his career despite the fact he rarely wins. Harry Dean Stanton best known from Paris, Texas is his prime adversary on the Alabama circuit. Great watch, different slice of life.

[grim_tales]

Mickey 17 (USA/S. Korea, 2025): 3.75/5

Weird dark comedy about an experimental clone 'Mickey 17', that is sent to explore an ice planet. Reminded me of Red Dwarf in places When another clone of Mickey is made it seems like a more evil/dark version of him which Red Dwarf has done in a few episodes - eg Me Squared
Explores the theme of death/living Eg if you're born again with your memories when you die, do you truly enjoy living, do you really die?

[grim_tales]

Thunderbolts* (USA, 2025): 4.25/5

A ragtag group of misfits must work together and go on a dangerous mission to make their own kind of superhero team. I definitely enjoyed this one.

[grim_tales]

Sinners (USA, 2025): 4/5

Good movie, I enjoyed it. The period details and music was very good. Reminded me of From Dusk til Dawn (1996) though, but this seemed more serious because of the setting and racial themes. And I just remembered True Blood, which was a more recent vampire series
Shows that there's nothing new under the sun, I guess.

[grim_tales]

Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (USA, 2025): 4.5/5

Action packed and really exciting. Excellent, the dangers and costly mistakes of some computers and rise of AI make this very current

[EvaUnit02]

Ballerina (2025) - 5/5. 
This John Wick spin-off is pretty great. Wall to wall action and the most grounded movie in the series since John Wick 1. If you were turned off by the later main series sequels making Wick pretty much an immortal video game character, give this one a go. 

Characterisation was good, Eve is not a girlboss or more Mary Sue by any means and has to work for her skills. She gets thrown by men 3x her size/weight easily enough and gets suitably banged up during the action. While of course there is of course an amount of plot armour used + a suspension of disbelief required it still isn't anywhere near to the degree required by the time we get to John Wick 4.

[grim_tales]

Ballerina (USA/Hungary, 2025): 4/5
A dancer turned assassin sets out to avenge her father's death.
Action thriller spin-off in the John Wick universe, starring sexy Ana de Armas. This was the first time I've seen a John Wick movie and it was certainly entertaining. Some great action.

[grim_tales]

Tornado (UK, 2025): 3.25/5

A travelling dad and daughter team stage a samurai puppet show. The atmosphere was good, and the young lady (Kōki) was very good in her role but I was expecting some more action.
If the story is set in the late 18th century had Japan started to open up to the West by then? I'm not 100% sure.