Friendship Is Very Good, Until Dawn Is Not & Other Movie Reviews

SXSW Conference & Festivals. Getty Images.

There are a few mini-reviews in this blog but the main takeaway is that Friendship is the funniest movie of the year. I believe there are two kinds of people in the world: those who love Tim Robinson and those who don't know who he is.

Here's my take on Friendship, Until Dawn, a weird Nic Cage surfer movie and more:

I went to the movies and laughed my ass off. What a wild concept!

Hopefully people don't look at Friendship as a movie too niche because I think it has humor that everyone can relate too. It finds the little things that are odd about social situations and blows them out of proportion. 

This also has Paul Rudd and Kate Mara as perfect counter balances to Robinson's insanity. I also really appreciated how this was directed (Andrew DeYoung in his debut) and scored like a horror/drama. It creates an uncomfortable dynamic that makes the audience feel like we are also in the room with this weirdo.

The only gripe is that the first half is significantly better than the second but that's also a tough mountain to climb. Even the weaker last 45 minutes had some very funny moments.

I so wish more comedies would come back to theaters. It's fun to laugh in a room with an audience. I can't wait to see what this team does next.

Friendship: B+

Until Dawn is trying to be a scary movie but is letdown by its own premise. This is about five college kids that get trapped in a house that kills them over and over unless they can survive the night. The problem is if they keep waking up after being killed, why should we care about the deaths?

This isn't a terrible movie. The actors are mostly likable enough (but no one really stands out either). It's also not badly directed. I can't call this a bad movie.

It's also not a movie that I can recommend. The whole thing just always feels pointless. Deaths don't matter. The interactions between the people trapped never even attempts to be dramatic. At one point, the villain asks why they are doing this and they reply with "It's what I do."

Maybe you can get away with being pointless if it was frightening enough but I never got scared once. The biggest fear I had was that I'll never get time back that I was wasting this movie.

Until Dawn: C

Advertisement

Fight Or Flight is a loud, aggressive movie with loads of violence where nothing is subtle. It's also pretty entertaining and embraces all of those qualities.

Josh Hartnett is the ideal lead for this movie which never takes itself too seriously. He must have had a stunt double but it appears to actually be him in these highly coordinated fight sequences. 

It's the elaborate fight choreography and brutal violence that are the highlights of this movie. It's done in a creative and fun fashion.

This might not be the movie for everyone based on the reasons I've already laid out. The acting outside of Hartnett and Charitha Chandran (Bridgerton) is uneven at best. But if you are someone that appreciates really well crafted in a movie, this is worth your while.

Fight Or Flight: B- 

The Surfer is the weirdest movie of 2025 (so far). It also tackles some big themes like materialism, happiness and what it means to lose everything. Unfortunately, the story is just too thin with an ending that falls flat. Because of that, I can't recommend this.

That's not the fault of Nicolas Cage, who carries the entire movie. He's perfect for this role because he's so likable and when the movie gets stranger and stranger, no one can do that better than Cage.

This is shot well and with those larger themes being explored, I'd be interested to see what director Lorcan Finnegan does next. This all takes place on a beautiful Australian beach and having that contrast to the Hell that Cage's character is going through makes for an interesting visual. 

While I can't recommend this to a general audience, if you love Cage or are in for a weird movie, then it might be worth your while. This takes some big swings and while some don't land, I do respect the effort.

The Ballad Of Wallis Island tackles lost love, loneliness and commercialism yet I was laughing quite a bit throughout. This is a sweet movie about people you can really care about it yet it never takes the easy way out.

Advertisement

This all takes place on Wallis Island where a rich, widowed man lives alone and his favorite musical duo come to the island to play a concert for him. It's as simple as that yet major themes are explored and while it can be sad at times, it might be the most hopeful movie of 2025.

I know this isn't in a ton of theaters. If it's not playing near you, this is absolutely worth watching at home. You don't need a giant screen to enjoy this (but the island itself is beautiful). 

This has many of the great qualities of Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Co-writers/co-stars Tom Basden & Tim Key have great comedic timing playing off each other. Mix in some Misery elements and Carey Mulligan and you have a lovely, little movie.

The Ballad Of Wallis Island: B+

Despite being a charming movie, Shadow Force isn't a good one. Kerry Washington and especially Omar Sy are very good as parents who used to be government assassins. But there are likely no pair of actors likable enough to save the movie from a weak screenplay.

It was nice seeing Da'Vine Joy Randolph (so great in the The Holdovers) in another role but she's bizarrely miscast here. Her and Method Man as another set of government assassins just isn't believable. But they are also so charismatic that I found myself trying to excuse the rest of the movie for being lousy.

I had to give up in the last act. This isn't a good movie no matter how badly I want it to be. At the end of the day, there are just too many problems with this cheap looking yet well acted (Mark Strong was good too. Even the little kid did a nice job!) movie that I can't recommend. 

Shadow Force: C

2025

1)Sinners

2)Presence

3)Black Bag

4)THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND

5)Warfare

6)FRIENDSHIP

7)Novocaine

8)The Amateur

9)Drop

10)Death Of A Unicorn

11)The Accountant 2

12)The Damned

13)One Of Them Days

14)Paddington 3

15)Thunderbolts

16)Hell Of A Summer

17)FIGHT OR FLIGHT

18)Valiant One

19)Rule Breakers

20)Heart Eyes

21)Mickey 17

22)THE SURFER

23)Last Breath

24)Flight Risk

25)Minecraft

26)Den Of Thieves 2

27)Dogman

28)Companion

29)A Working Man

30)SHADOW FORCE

31)The Alto Knights

32)The Penguin Lessons

33)The Chosen Part 2

34)Looney Tunes

35)Opus

36)Becoming Led Zeppelin

37)Captain America: BNW

38)UNTIL DAWN

39)The Chosen Part 1

40)Riff Raff

41)Inheritance

42)The Chosen Part 3

43)The Wedding Banquet

44)The Legend Of Ochi

45)Night Of The Zoopocalypse

46)Sneaks

47)Ash

48)The King Of Kings

49)The Friend

50)Snow White

51)The Unbreakable Boy

52)Brave The Dark

53)Wolf Man

54)The Monkey

55)Love Hurts

56)The Last Supper

57)Woman In The Yard

58)In The Lost Lands