Movie Review - Apex

Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Genre: Action/ Thriller
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year: 2026
Starring: Charlize Theron, Taron Edgerton, Eric Bana
 
Description: A mountain climber (Charlize Theron) haunted by a fatal decision in Norway retreats to the Australian wilderness for isolation. Her journey turns into a desperate hunt when a deceptive local (Taron Edgerton) targets her as his next ritualistic prey in the bush.
 
Review: “Apex” is a thrilling survival thriller. Sasha is by herself in the wilderness of Australia, wanting some solitude. But a local starts hunting her, literally.

The film is just over 90 minutes and it’s a thrill ride. The story is simple yet original, but features some predictable plot twists. It has solid action and the tension is really present. It lacks depth, but somehow that isn't all that bothersome. We know just enough about Sasha to root for her.

I have to praise Charlize Theron for her physical commitment to the role and portrayal of the grieving, independent climber. Taron Edgerton shows a different side of himself. His performances sometimes balances on the edge of being too much, but he never crosses that line.

“Apex” is a cat-and-mouse game. The final half-hour is not as compelling as the rest, but it’s an exciting nail-biter of a thriller.

Rating: 3/ 5

TV Show Review - Dirty John (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Thriller/ Drama/ Crime
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2018
Starring: Connie Britton, Eric Bana, Juno Temple, Julia Garner, Jean Smart, Alan Ruck

Description: Debra's (Connie Britton) seemingly perfect life is disrupted as she falls for a handsome doctor (Eric Bana) who sweeps her into a whirlwind romance. But her handsome new beau pulls Debra into a sinister game of psychological manipulation.

Review: Giving love a second chance. But what if the seemingly perfect guy turns out to be a sociopath? That’s what’s happening in “Dirty John”.
“Dirty John” is based on the podcast by the American crime journalist Christopher Goffard. He takes on true crime stories. In his first podcast, he focuses on John Meehan.
We meet Debra Newell, a successful interior designer with three grown children and a beautiful house. Through a dating website she meets John Meehan, a charismatic anesthesiologist. Debra falls for him immediately. They are living together within months and married not long after. But Debra’s family doesn’t trust John. And they have good reason for it.
They rush through the beginning of their relationship, but it’s hard to fault that. Because John’s illicit intentions don’t stay hidden very long. That’s good, it has good pace. But it’s pretty hard to understand why Debra is falling for John so hard, because it all goes so fast.
Connie Britton plays Debra, and she is such a talented actress and I always love watching her. But despite Britton’s best effort to bring her character to life, there’s not much going on with Debra. In the beginning, I was hoping for a little more depth in her character, but after seeing the third episode, it was clear what the shows priority was: explore the killer’s point of view and keep the victim scared senseless. It’s not Britton’s fault, her character is just very bland.
Eric Bana plays the titular John. And his performance only pays off when John shows his true colors.
The daughters, played by Juno Temple and Julia Garner, are probably the best part of the show’s acting. Even though their characters are pretty annoying at times, they steal the show. And Jean Smart, playing Debra’s mother, is also very strong. When it comes to the story. I expected so much more. Off course John wasn’t the man that Debra thought she’d married, but what he does to Debra in the period they are together, isn’t all that shocking. I felt no danger, when Debra really was in danger. The true feeling of threat isn’t really present. When it comes to the stalker theme, “You” did a way better job.
The show does scare you in a way, that any guy could be a ‘John’ and women could be lured in easily. But overall, “Dirty John” wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.

00s Movie Review - The Other Boleyn Girl

Director: Justin Chadwick
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2008
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portmann, Eric bana, Jim Sturgess, Eddie Redmayne, Juno Temple, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Rylance, Alfie Allen, Kristin Scott Thomas

Description: Two sisters (Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson) contend for the affection of King Henry VIII (Eric Bana).

Review: ”The Other Boleyn Girl” is based on the bestselling novel by Philippa Gregory and follows the sisters Anne and Mary Boleyn. Both women were love interest for Henry VIII at the beginning of the 16th century. Their love triangle cause for a lot of pain and sorrow.
The art of being a woman is to let men believe that they are in control. It’s a lesson that Anne takes on from her mother. Anne Boleyn is the woman that shook England. Henry VIII committed adultery with her. The story is well known, but in “The Other Boleyn Girl” they focus on sister Mary.
The two Boleyn sisters are complete opposites, but love each other unconditionally. It’s Natalie Portman who steals the show in this film. She is a believable ‘evil’ sister. The acting of the other cast members is okay, but not very special. The script is what makes this film so good. It’s a very well written screenplay.
The book is of course much better, but I always enjoyed watching “The Other Boleyn Girl”.

Rating: 4/ 5

Top 5 Thursday: Rachel McAdams’ Leading Men

Rachel McAdams has been one of my favorites since I saw her in “The Notebook”. Besides this one she has been in a lot of good, fun and awesome movies. But her leading men are sometimes also very interesting and practically all of them have great chemistry with her. Here are my favorites.

5. Channing Tatum in “The Vow”
Two good looking actors and both very wanted by moviemakers. How could that go wrong? I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I did see how well they work together. Nice couple.

4. Eric Bana in “The Time Traveler’s Wife”
It didn’t top the novel, but both Rachel and Eric did such a great job and made it very believable. Their portrayal of Clare and Henry was very solid and they have great chemistry.

3. Robert Downey Jr. in “Sherlock Holmes” and “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
I was so excited to hear about their collaboration and they formed a surprisingly good and sexy duo. They both have a clever sense of humor and are very intelligent.

2. Owen Wilson in “Wedding Crashers” and “Midnight in Paris”
They did two movies together. In the first movie their characters met and fell in love and in the second they were in love and grew apart. In both movies Owen and Rachel did a great job and I love them together and apart.

1. Ryan Gosling in “The Notebook”
The two had such great chemistry, that it also worked off screen for a while. I love this movie, one of the best romances I’ve seen in a long time. And we can thank Rachel and Ryan for the great performance.

They almost made the top 5: Cillian Murphy in “Red Eye” and Russel Crowe in “State of Play”

Movie Tip #41: The Time Traveler's Wife

Director: Robert Schwentke

Starring: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams

Description: When Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) meets Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams) in a Chicago library they both understand that he is a time traveler, but she knows much more than this about him as he has not yet been to the times and places where they have met before. He falls in love with her, as she has already with him, but his continuing unavoidable absences time travelling - and then returning with increasing knowledge of their future - makes things ever more difficult for Clare.

Review: Something that sometimes bothers me in 'time travel fiction' is that there is usually a large chunk of the storytelling dedicated to the tedium of explaining 'how' time travel works. "The Time Traveler's Wife" is one of those films that pays more attention to the characters than to all the technicalities. That's what I liked the most about this movie. We really get to know Henry and Clare, who you both gain a lot of sympathy for. And you feel their feelings. Especially Clare's feelings, because she loves Henry so much and she gives up a lot of herself to be with him. This is a true love story, that really gets to you. And it's easy to follow although the story is pretty complex and not completely chronilogical. Rachel McAdams plays Clare, and I already said many times that she's one of my favorites. She proves again why. She's stunning as Clare and very believable and heartfelt. She had some really intense scenes and they stole my heart. I never was a fan of Eric Bana, who portayed Henry, but he's very good in this movie. But less than his leading lady. They make a great combination, they have chemistry. Even if you think the story sounds kinda weird, give it a shot. It won't disappoint you. The movie is based on a bestselling book by author Audrey Niffenegger.

Movie Tip #27 - The Other Boleyn Girl

Director: Justin Chadwick

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Eric Bana, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juno Temple, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jim Sturgess, Eddie Redmayne

Description: Two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn (Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson), driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII (Eric Bana).

Review: The book, by Philippa Gregory, is beautiful. So is the film. It's an intriguing story, full of desires, betrayal, hatred and passion. The costumes are magnificent and the location is gorgeous. And then the acting. Natalie Portman gave away the best performance. As the jealous and vicious older sister she steals the show. She is a great actress, full of emotions. Especially her final scene is memorable. Scarlett Johansson gets better during the film. At the start she's a bit modest, but later in the film she shows a stronger more powerfull performance. Great film!