Movie Review - Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Genre: Horror/ Comedy
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Elijah Wood
 
Description: Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) battles old wounds with her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) while rival occult dynasties hunt them through a deadly contest that promises power, survival and betrayal before dawn.
 
Review: “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” is a louder and more grotesque sequel to the 2019 surprise hit. While the original has a small-scale, claustrophobic atmosphere, the second installments opts for more chaos, blood and action, complete with an excellent cast.

The film picks up exactly where “Ready or Not” left us. Grace has just survived her in-laws during a deadly game of hide and seek. With the house burned down, the police is questioning Grace, since there were also human remains found in the house. And the blood on her dress is not hers. While she is being escorted to the police station, she is being hunted again. This time her estranged sister Faith is with her, while rival occult dynasties will hunt them down in a deadly contest for the ultimate power.

Samara Weaving was already the highlight of the first film and there is no difference for the sequel. As the indestructible Grace you are constantly rooting for her and this is the ultimate “good-for-her” story.

The sequel is so unhinged, it’s very fast paced, brutally violent and very gory. If you loved the first movie, you will not automatically like this one. But if you loved the first and appreciated the dark humor from the first, and don’t mind adding gallons of blood and over-the-top action, you will definitely have a good time. But it’s missing the suspense and simple structure from the first installment, and that might be a reason you wouldn’t like it. For that reason I believe the first movie was better, but I highly enjoyed “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come”.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

00s Movie Review - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Director: Michel Gondry
Genre: Drama/ Romance/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2004
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Jane Adams, David Cross

Description: When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.

Review: What I would call this genre? Science Fiction/ Romance maybe? “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” explores the value of painful memories. Joel and Clementine are in a relationship, but when things turn bad they decide to erase each other from their memory. Director Michel Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman created a visually striking, dreamlike film.

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet should not be matching, but they do. Perfectly so. Carrey shows a surprising subdued side of himself, while Winslet brings color and energy to the film. It’s a unique, sometimes chaotic film about the complexity of love and the resilience of the human spirit. It prompts reflection on whether erasing painful memories is desirable.

I think we can say the “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” can be considered a modern classic. I believe everyone who loves cinema should see this film at least once.

Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Review - The Monkey

Director: Osgood Perkins
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 98 minutes
Year: 2025
Starring: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood, Sarah Levy, Colin O’Brien
 
Description: When twin brothers Bill and Hal (Theo James) find their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.
 
Review: As a child, Hal finds a toy money with a drum. He winds it up and shortly afterwards someone dies. He quickly realizes that there is a connection, but even if he wanted to, he cannot control it; the monkey decides who dies. Together with his twin brother Bill, he throws the thing away. Years later, Hal is now an adult, and mysterious deaths occur again in his hometown.

The opening scene, starring Adam Scott, shows u exactly what the tone of the film is. A comedic horror film. And the start of the film, when Hal and Bill were just kids, is the strongest. The first half hour maintains an excellent balance between suspense and humor.

“The Monkey” is based on a short story by Stephen King from 1980, but is reminiscent of the movie “Final Destination”. Death is inevitable and always very bloody.

After a strong first act, the film shifts to the present. Hal and twin brother Bill are portrayed by Theo James. He is fine, not always credible, but okay. And the film goes downhill here. The humor largely disappears, and in the absence of the monkey, the tension comes mainly from the forced dream sequences.

Director and screenwriter Osgood Perkins made “Longlegs” in 2024, which was one of the better horror films I had seen in a long time. “The Monkey” is more mainstream, but not really that good.
Even though the film had a very strong start, “The Monkey” doesn’t deliver in the end.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

00s Movie Review - Sin City

Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Crime/ Thriller
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 2005
Starring: Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Jaime King, Josh Hartnett, Carla Cugino, Michael Madsen, Rutger Hauer, Powers Booth, Brittany Murphy, Alexis Bledel

Description: An exploration of the dark and miserable Basin City and three of its residents, all of whom are caught up in violent corruption.

Review: “Sin City” is a film noir-like movie which is very faithful to the graphic novel it’s based on. A perfect job for director Robert Rodriguez, who is accompanied by “Sin City” novel writer Frank Miller and director Quentin Tarantino. 

All these creative minds are a guarantee for an explosive and inventive film. “Sin City” looks breathtaking and is groundbreaking. The graphic novel isn’t just made into film, it looks like the novel actually came to life. De original pictures are used for the story

board and stayed intact. The actors had to film in front of a so-called ‘green screen’.
The presented world and its citizens is shown in black and white. Sometimes things as a red dress, golden blonde hair and blood are highlighted with color. The contrasts look great. 

There are lots of extravagant characters in “Sin City”. Like ‘Yellow Bastard’, a violent pedophile with rubbery skin and unhuman physical forms. And Jackie Boy, a corrupt cop. But most memorable is cannibalistic Kevin, a slick man with a sardonic grin on his face. The anti-hero is Marv, played by Mickey Rourke who you barely recognize. As a storm he rages through the city. For the women, it’s Jessica Alba that catches your eye. As a kid she was rescued by John Hartigan, played by Bruce Willis. Now she is a gorgeous, young woman turned stripper. 

Like I said before, “Sin City” is a groundbreaking film and it amazes me every single time.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

00s Movie Review - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Director: Peter Jackson
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Fantasy
Runtime: 201 minutes
Year: 2003
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortenson, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monoghan, Christopher Lee, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Miranda Otto, Karl Urban, David Wenham, Ian Holm, John Noble

Description: Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) lead the World of Men against Sauron’s army to draw his gaze from Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

Review: People said the books were impossible to turn into film. Well, they were wrong. Director Peter Jackson managed to translate Tolkien’s work to film, in what is probably the most ambitious and bravest film project in movie history.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” starts with a prologue, where we see how Smeagol became Gollum. How the ring changed him. The Fellowship is still broken. Frodo and Sam are lead to Mordor by Gollum, while Gandalf hurries to Minas Tirith with Pippin. Merry stays behind with King Theodon and Eowyn. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli take the Path of Death, to recruit an unearthly army. We follow all those different storylines, before the final battle for Middle Earth starts.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” is a dark film, filled with war and misery. You finally understand the immense power the ring has and then there is also the threat of Sauron.
Peter Jackson made Middle Earth look as impressive as it is. It amazes me how much work and love had to be put into this project. The Orcs, the elephant like creatures, spider Shelob, it all looks scary and fantastic.
The love triangle between Aragorn, Arwen and Eowyn doesn’t manage to convince. The scenes feel forced and take away the attention from the actual events. Thankfully there are only a few scenes, so it doesn’t bother me that much.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” is a fantastic film, a great end to an amazing trilogy.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

00s Movie Review - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Director: Peter Jackson
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Fantasy
Runtime: 179 minutes
Year: 2002
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortenson, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monoghan, Christopher Lee, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Miranda Otto, Karl Urban, David Wenham

Description: While Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) adge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum (Andy Serkis), the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron’s new ally, Saruman (Christopher Lee), and his hordes of Isengard.

Review: In “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” we saw how the fellowship was split in groups. In “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” we see all those separate groups on their journey. There is Frodo and Sam. By foot they have to bring the ring to Mordor. Frodo feels the power of the ring more and more, but het gets help from Sam and the shifty creature Gollum. Gollum knows he has to help the Hobbits, else the ring will fall into the hands of Sauron.
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli can’t help Frodo and Sam anymore, so they decide to go on a rescue mission for the other two Hobbits Merry and Pippin. They have been taken by the Uruk-Hai.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” is again an amazing adventure. And close to being a masterpiece. The film doesn’t have the buildup like the first film. This is of course because it’s the middle part of the series. But it does have some great fight scenes, like the battle of Helm’s Deep. It looks spectacular and is exciting. I didn’t like the romance part of the film, the scenes between Arwen and Aragorn feel a bit unnecessary.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” is a good film, although probably my least favorite of the franchise.

Rating: 4/ 5

00s Movie Review - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Director: Peter Jackson
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Fantasy
Runtime: 178 minutes
Year: 2001
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortenson, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monoghan, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, John Rhys-Davies

Description: A meek Hobbit (Elijah Wood) from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-Earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.

Review: “The Lord of the Rings” is an adaptation from the world wide popular fantasy book by J.R.R. Tolkien. Director Peter Jackson took on the challenge to direct this series, starting with “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”.
In a prologue we are introduced to The Ring, who Saurn was and how that ring eventually got into the hands of a Hobbit in The Shire. That’s also the place where the story starts off, in The Shire.
The reason why people like this franchise so much is of course the fantasy genre, but also the relatable characters and their emotions. The characters are three-dimensional, have depth and you feel connected with them. Look at Gandalf, a man that laughs sometimes, is grumpy at times, is hard to understand and also makes mistakes. Perfectly portrayed by Ian McKellen.
The actors and makers of the film handle the source material as if it was our actual history. That’s how Tolkien did it, that’s how they did it. And everything looks perfect, up to the smallest details. It’s all authentic.
It’s hard not to get sucked into this fantastical world that Tolkien once created and Jackson brought to life. The Orcs are really scary, the eater monster with tentacles though only in it for a brief moment gives you the chills and Balrog looks fantastic. It’s visible that Peter Jackson has a love for movie monsters.
The action is phenomenal. The film starts off quiet and peaceful, but there are a lot of nail biting battles ahead. And they are all filmed brilliantly.
The drama and the emotions really grab you. You would think that fairytale like creatures like wizards and Hobbits wouldn’t do that, but they all become unforgettable characters that you care about.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” was the start of the entire adventure and it had to convince the fans. It definitely did that!

Rating: 5/ 5

In the Picture: The Characters from "The Faculty"

I have seen this movie many times. Robert Rodriguez directed and I think this is one of his better films. Today I'm going to focus on the characters in this movie.

Casey Connor
Played by: Elijah Wood
Casey is an outcast and he loves photography. He’s the one that finds the weird organism and starts to suspect that something is wrong. Casey secretly has a crush on Delilah, who is way out of his league.

Zeke Tyler
Played by: Josh Hartnett
Zeke is a rebel and he’s repeating his senior year because he didn’t care about graduating. He is very intelligent but he doesn’t use it the way he should. Instead he created a home made drug and sells illegal video’s to classmates.

Stokely Mitchell
Played by: Clea DuVall
Stokely is a very exentric girl, though very timid. She dresses in black so that she doesn’t stand out in a crowd and she is a sci-fi fan. Stokely is the first one to believe Casey and together they go over the theories by using the science fiction novels she read. Stokely has a crush on Stan and she sees he is not just another sportsjock.

Delilah Profitt
Played by: Jordana Brewster
Delilah is the most popular girl in school and editor in chief for the school newspaper. She can be very vindictive and Stokely is her main target. Delilah is Stan’s girlfriend, but she doesn’t treat him right and actually thinks he’s stupid. She first doesn’t want to believe Casey’s theory, eventhough she saw what happened.

Stan Rosado
Played by: Shawn Hatosy
Stan is a sportsjock but decides to quit football and focus on his academics. He thinks he can do more than play sports and is sick of being favoured by teachers. At first he doesn’t really care much for Stokely, but he discovers that she’s the only one to see past the sportsoutfit.

Marybeth Louise Hutchinson
Played by: Laura Harris
Marybeth is new to Herrington Highschool and moved from Atlanta to live with relatives after her parents died. She befriends Stokely, because she feels left out like her. Marybeth shows interest in Zeke and is attracted to his rebelious lifestyle.

Coach Joe Willis
Played by: Robert Patrick
Coach Willis is the gymteacher and football coach at school. He’s your typical sportsfanatic. Stan is his best player and he can’t understand why he would leave the team. Coach Willis is the first teacher who shows strange behaviour.

Miss Elizabeth Burke
Played by: Famke Janssen
Elizabeth is the English teacher and very shy. She can barely controle her class, who is mainly bullied by Zeke, but she does love her job somehow. When she turns, she becomes a sexy, assertive woman and she wants to teach Zeke a lesson.

Principal Valerie Drake
Played by: Bebe Neuwirth
Valerie is a real autorithy figure and the principal at Herrington high. She’s someone who’s respected by her students and her staff, but she also turns and becomes insidious and the students think she’s the leader.

Favorite Character: Zeke Tyler

In the Picture: The Characters from "Sin City"

"Sin City" is one of the best movies of its decade. I was blown away by it when I saw it for the first time and there are so many interesting characters in the film. So that's why I decided to take a closer look at them. Here are the characters from "Sin City".

Marv
Played by: Mickey Rourke
Marv is a 7 foot tall, scarfaced man with an incredible level of strenght. He suffers from an unnamed mental condition which causes him to get confused. Marv doesn’t think he has a particular high intellect, but he shows some suprising amount of intellegence when needed.

Dwight McCarthy
Played by: Clive Owen
Dwight has a history of violence, bad tempers, drinking and wild romances. He is known for his chivalry and treats all the woman with the utmost respect and he offers the prostitutes of Old Town his protection. Dwight is a man who simply wants to do the right thing and find his place in this world.

John Hartigan
Played by: Bruce Willis
John is a veteran police detective in Basin City. He is brutal, stoic, cynical and completely selfless. It doesn’t care about his own well-being in order to take care of his fellow citizens. John is willing to risk his own life to save someone elses.

Nancy Callahan
Played by: Jessica Alba
At age 11 Nancy was kidnapped by Roark Jr. and then saved by John Hartigan. He’s Nancy’s hero. She keeps writing him letters when John’s in jail. Now, Nancy is a stripper and in love with John. Because of the age difference, John doesn’t want to give in to his feelings for her, but she is in fact the only person who ever cared for him.

Gail
Played by: Rosario Dawson
Rosario is a prostitute and one of the autorithy figures of Old Town. She has a love-hate relationship with Dwight McCarthy. You don’t want to mess with Gail, because she can handle a machine gun very well.

Jack Rafferty aka Jackie Boy
Played by: Benicio del Toro
Jack is a cop, but ended up being corrupted and worn down from the job. While cops are forbidden to enter Old Town when on duty, Jack is often found there but he’s not loved by the girls. He’s a threat to Dwight McCarthy.

Goldie/ Wendy
Played by: Jaime King
They are the twin prostitutes who are currently in charge of Old Town. Little is revealed about Goldie, but she physically is an exact copy of her sister Wendy. Goldie was murdered after spending the night with Marv, who fell in love with her and is destined to find her killer. Even he is fooled when he mistakens Wendy for the late Goldie.

Kevin
Played by: Elijah Wood
Kevin is a sadist. He sneaks up to people and kills them in all sorts of cruel ways. He likes to torture people, sometimes eats them and he keeps their heads as a souvenir. He was the one who killed Goldie.

Roark Junior aka Yellow Bastard
Played by: Nick Stahl
Roark has the physical appearance of a handsome young playboy but he is in fact a sadistic pedophile and a rapist of young girls. After kidnapping young Nancy Callahan, John Hartigan shoots of his hand, ear and genitals. Due to the surgeries, Roark is left horribly disfigured with yellow skin and a penetrating stench.

The Man
Played by: Josh Hartnett
The Man seems very charming and plain, but he’s a ruthless hitman. He does his job without feeling any remorse.


Favorite Character: John Hartigan