The First Omen (2024)

The First Omen is about an American woman who is sent to Rome to start her new life of service to the church and uncovers an evil conspiracy. It's also a prequel to The Omen from 1976.

There are a lot of comparisons between this movie and Immaculate which is another weird situation where two studios have the same idea and release movies around the same time. This has happened so many times in Hollywood. The film has a lot of political messages that are not subtle at all. Directed by Arkasha Stevenson, the film comes off the director's success with Channel Zero which I enjoyed. The problem is that the film would have been better as a TV show.

Nell Tiger Free is a pretty actress but doesn't add a lot of depth to the role she played. Not that there was much to her in Stevenson's writing. You might remember her from Game of Thrones as Myrcella Baratheon. I'm sure she'll grow into her acting abilities once she gets a better coach.

Another actor that doesn't get enough roles is Ralph Ineson who was the father in 2015's The Witch. He has a deep and serious tone to himself that he leans into but was mostly underutilized and with the expensive card of hiring Charles Dance I imagine they could have used both of them better.

The film has a bit of flaws, most notably not being scary. Result: C-

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Colony (2026)

Colony is written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho , the director behind the cult classic Train to Busan . While Train to Busan has become the more celebrated film, Colony shows how much Yeon has improved as both a writer and a director. The story is stronger, the filmmaking feels more confident, and the way he builds the world gives the movie more substance than I expected going in. Jun Ji-hyun is the clear standout of the cast. She does a fantastic job conveying emotion through subtle movements and expressions rather than relying on exaggerated acting. That is not surprising considering she is one of South Korea's best actresses, but she still manages to make the character feel grounded and believable. She carries much of the emotional weight of the film. I did not recognize many of the other actors, and unfortunately, none of them really stood out enough to make much of an impression. That is not necessarily a knock against the cast as much as it is a testament to how much Jun ...

Verity (2026)

Verity was a surprise for me. Normally, the authors who turn their books into movies that I actually enjoy are Stephen King or Michael Crichton , but Colleen Hoover has been doing surprisingly well with the last four movies adaptations from her work. One thing I appreciate about her writing is that she knows how to write male characters who aren't weak or simply there to be punching bags for feminist talking points. That alone makes the characters feel more believable and gives the story a better balance. Dakota Johnson plays an up and coming writer who is brought in to ghostwrite for Anne Hathaway's character. This is easily Johnson's best performance yet. She does a good job carrying the movie and making the character's uncertainty and curiosity believable as the mystery around the house starts to unfold. Anne Hathaway does not have a huge amount to do because of her character's condition, but whenever she is actually on screen, she brings the energy you wo...

Digger (2026)

Digger is directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell. Much like his name, there is a lot of symbolism and meaning packed into the film, along with plenty of references that brought a smile to my face. I went into this expecting it to be pretentious or outright bad because that was the prevailing opinion online before general audiences had even had a chance to see it. Anyone calling this movie pretentious clearly has not seen The Death of Robin Hood or Die My Love . Die My Love was so pretentious that my wife actually begged me to leave the theater, and I had to finish it another day. Digger , on the other hand, actually understands the difference between being ambitious and simply being self-important. Tom Cruise is great as Digger Rockwell, giving the character exactly the kind of larger-than-life personality the movie needs. There is so much going on beneath the surface that I found myself constantly looking for the symbolism and references hidden...

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