Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves is a fantasy epic involving a band of misfit thieves who have to save the sword coast from a powerful red wizard.

Written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, D&D has a ton of tropes that fans of the tabletop game will recognize and -insert ackchyually meme- there are a lot of things that don't transfer over. I heard this movie was going to emasculate men in the writing, I didn't notice it so much. There were little bits but nothing glaring like in Incredibles 2. Daley is a well-known actor from Freaks and Geeks and later in Bones. Goldstein is better known for Spider-man: Homecoming, Game Night, and Horrible Bosses.

Chris Pine suffers the need for character growth as does Justice Smith, where the female characters are pretty much stagnant throughout the film. A small exception for Sophia Lillis's character who has a minor arch.

A real surprise in this film was Regé-Jean Page. I did not like him in The Gray Man, though I was supposed to not like him, and also I disliked him in Mortal Engines. Here though he plays paladin very well almost like he knew what he was doing. I'd love to find out and I'm happy Page gave me a performance I could look forward to when I notice him in another film.

I was lucky to get into a preview showing for this film, and my expectations were both high and low at the same time. High because I'm a dungeon master, and low because I didn't expect much out of the actors. I was pleasantly surprised. Result: B+

Comments

We Bury The Dead (2026)

We Bury The Dead (2026) is a slow burn post apocalypse film centered on grief more than horror. Directed by Zak Hilditch , best known for smaller projects like 1922 and Rattlesnake , this is his first step into a larger American production. You can feel the restraint in the direction, sometimes to the film’s benefit and sometimes to its detriment. The pacing is deliberate, almost stubbornly so, and while the mood is consistent, it rarely escalates into anything memorable. Daisy Ridley , best known for Star Wars: The Force Awakens , carries the film as a woman searching for her missing husband who may or may not have turned into a zombie. Ridley is solid and emotionally grounded, doing the best she can with minimal dialogue and long stretches of quiet reflection. Her performance is never the problem. If anything, she is the primary reason the movie remains watchable. The supporting cast is where the film struggles. Nearly every side character is written as painfully one note, existi...

One Night Only (2026)

One Night Only is a romantic comedy written by Travis Braun , creator of T.O.T.S. , that ultimately turns out to be something very different from what its marketing suggests. The trailers present it as a lighthearted Valentine's Day romance, but the film quickly pivots into a dystopian story that blends elements of The Purge with overt political commentary. Whether that shift works will largely depend on the viewer's expectations, but I found the bait-and-switch frustrating. The political messaging is so persistent that it frequently overshadows the romance at the center of the story. Despite that, the direction from Will Gluck is surprisingly strong, with confident staging and solid pacing that keep the film engaging even when the screenplay becomes heavy-handed. Gluck did Anyone But You and the romance really felt similar to the point I couldn't help but think of the film even though I had forgotten he had done the film back in '23. Another distraction is the amou...

fjord (2026)

Fjord is written and directed by Cristian Mungiu , best known for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Graduation , and features Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve . This film is about a lot of things, but at its core, it follows a family trying to get their children back after they are wrongfully taken by child protective services. Along the way, the story explores faith, religious persecution, cultural differences, resistance to change, and the importance of community. There are plenty of political interpretations that viewers can take from the film, but I think Mungiu does something more interesting than simply taking one side or the other. The film can be interpreted as pro-immigration and pro-LGB, while also being pro-Christian and supportive of traditional family values. Rather than forcing the story into one ideological corner, Mungiu allows these ideas to coexist, creating a film that encourages viewers to consider perspectives they might otherwise dismiss. I appreciate that ap...

Movies, Film, and Chili

Search This Blog