Welcome to the latest entry in my series of monthly review roundups, this time with all sorts of written pieces to share! It's been a fairly active month of viewing after finally finishing my final university assignments in late May, though I now realise it has mostly consisted of 'throwback' viewings, as I haven't been to the cinema much this last month. But, as for what I have seen, it's quite an interesting selection, so let's get started!
THROWBACK: The Love Bug (Robert Stevenson, 1968) - reviewed 02/06/2025
"I’m a big Disney fan but if there’s one notable blind spot of mine it would definitely be the classical live action films, and the Herbie franchise is one of the most iconic sections of such. I was always vaguely aware of the series but hadn’t seen any of the films, so thought I’d whizz through them now and finally see what they have to offer. This was a fun start, Robert Stevenson continues to be a reliable pair of hands for bringing the heightened whimsy of Disney’s animated works into a live action environment, here making great use of practical effects to bring Herbie to life and construct plenty of creative set pieces. Some of it fails to sustain the necessary momentum, especially in the climactic race, which consists of many short bursts of energy involving the car amid many stilted and awkward responses elsewhere, but one thing the film never lacks is an undeniable charm despite the slight scrappiness about it overall. I can’t say I’m too optimistic regarding where this series will go next because I can imagine the novelty it relies on getting old, but I’m sure there will be plenty of enjoyable moments throughout." 7/10
THROWBACK: Kirikou and the Sorceress (Michel Ocelot, 1998) - reviewed 06/06/2025
"I watched this film once when I was about eight or nine years old, maybe even younger, and I was reminded of its existence some years ago and had always been curious to revisit it. This is mainly because, on remembering the film, I could recall so much about it, so many of its striking visuals, certain lines of dialogue, and many specifics about the narrative. It was quite surreal therefore to finally sit down and watch the film after all this time and realise just how accurate my memory of that one viewing I had well over a decade ago turned out to be, which I think speaks to how distinct this film was able to be in the eyes of my younger, more impressionable self. Obviously there was much about it I dismissed and made fun of as a child since I grew up with an aversion to unconventional animated films outside of my familiar Western comfort zone (the same being true of what Studio Ghibli films I saw as a child, which I always childishly treated as weird objects to be ignored until I eventually took them seriously as a teenager), so it was also nice here to finally appreciate much of what the film has about it as well as a lot of the nuances that would’ve gone over my head back in the day. Glad I finally took the chance to give it another go." 8/10
THROWBACK: 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002) - reviewed 14/06/2025
"A script that doesn’t capitalise on its premise of exploring the immediate aftermath of an apocalyptic event nearly enough, lacking any substantial intrigue about the event in question and structurally failing to sustain any sort of tension as it meanders along. Doesn’t at all help that Boyle’s direction is the epitome of early digital gone wrong with awkward bursts of high frame rate action and shot composition featuring frustratingly myopic points of focus. The trouble is that this aesthetic is generally sound with the tone of the film but isn’t implemented in a way where it is thoughtfully negotiated with. It’s not quite the overtly digital and gritty feel of something like Blair Witch but it also doesn’t have the deft elegance of something like A Quiet Place, it’s in a peculiar grey area that renders the film unsure of what ideas it wants to visually communicate, and in turn how such can benefit what nuances there are about the writing. I don’t really know, there are some interesting and novel things going on here but I was mostly baffled and bored throughout. We’ll see if the new one fares any better." 6/10
CATCH-UP: Conclave (Edward Berger, 2024) - reviewed 17/06/2025
"Last year, we had Juror #2, a late career outing from one of the greatest Hollywood talents that drew upon classic works from within its respective genre (that being the courtroom drama) in a way that managed to incisively comment on the nature of justice and legal proceedings about them in a distinctly modern setting. It was easily one of the best films of 2024, and an outstanding example of deconstructing and reconsidering a renowned genre and its implications in both the present cinematic landscape and beyond. It was hard not to think of the aforementioned while watching Conclave, a piece that in part seems to have similar aspirations in approaching the political thriller by way of a contemporary religious context, but falls noticeably short in terms of how sharply it is able to leave an impression. This has all the elements of another thoughtful deconstruction, but it seems to more often than not settle for letting the innately intriguing qualities of the genre and respective themes do much of the heavy lifting. It’s undeniably an engaging watch, solidly structured and well acted, but it’s also a bit frustrating that such basic attributes are ultimately the main point of interest. Don’t get me wrong, the film does frequently acknowledge issues surrounding the role of the Catholic church and papacy in the present world, but such rarely advance beyond mere allusions upon closer inspection. Berger’s direction sufficiently emphasises the somewhat outdated nature of the central electoral process as well as signifying how old the institution to which it belongs is, framing both against a wider world that appears at odds with them. But this is not done in a way that indicates a desire to properly examine the implications at hand, rather just to heighten the tension about the broader narrative being devised. The slow, meandering nature of the voting system is regularly reinforced, but mainly to prolong the uncertainty felt in the audience regarding how the results will unfold. The influence of modern media and press on the public perception of the church is suggested, but proves only to be a minor incentive to hurry the proceedings and thus increase the stakes. Most significantly, the possibility to expose troubling secrets concerning the various candidates with ease does play a key role, but primarily to prompt explosive confrontations that fit the traditional dynamics of storytelling and catharsis. Conclave therefore feels like a film that prioritises melodrama and standard narrative tension over making more meaningful and nuanced assertions about the subject matter as well as its own place as a text regarding such. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, as the film still effectively works for what it is, consistently holding my interest and at least raising some interesting points along the way, but it’s disappointing on considering what greater potential it had. Once again recalling Eastwood’s film, it isn’t at all surprising that this managed to amass far more awards attention between the two, as it’s easily the safer, less ambitious and less striking option, and on putting aside the incidental real-world relevance it has subsequently acquired, there’s really not an awful lot to write home about Conclave. It does the job efficiently enough but leaves a fair amount to be desired." 7/10
THROWBACK: Herbie Fully Loaded (Angela Robinson, 2005) - reviewed 18/06/2025
"This is easily the Herbie film I was most interested in seeing once I got into the franchise. After getting through one or two of the originals, I feel I got a sufficient idea of all they had to offer, but with this being so far removed from them release wise, I was definitely keen to see how the iconic love bug would fare in an outing from a completely different point in Disney history. On the one hand, this is on a basic level the most mid-2000s Disney coded film in existence that just so happens to feature Herbie. The narrative is as aggressively predictable and formulaic as they come, with its cookie cutter father / daughter dynamic, bland antagonistic bully character, extremely underdeveloped central romance, and overarching underdog story, all of which is very prototypical of live action output from the company (and elsewhere) during this era. There are other superficial elements that further solidify Fully Loaded as a film of its time, perhaps the most blatant being the never-ending stream of cheesy and overdone needle drops throughout, many of which are as uninspired as you’d expect. However, all that being said, there’s a lot about the film regarding its place as something from 2005 that works in its favour, to the extent that I’d say this was probably the ideal time to revive this franchise following its original run around the 1970s. Shonky as it may be in part, the film is formally much more hands on than most live action Disney films released today; Herbie has a clearly tangible presence throughout, and a lot of the stunts involving him have a clear sense of heft about them. Sure, there’s definitely a lot of computer-generated augmentation going on as well, such as the showcasing of Herbie’s inner workings or much of the climactic race, but these are generally quite scarce and reserved for only the most heightened moments, with the film feeling very practical for the most part elsewhere, in ways that I feel we probably wouldn’t have seen had this arrived around the 2010s or later. It also appears like it was shot on film, as there’s a decent texture about the image that is, once again, a lot more preferable to the digital sludge of most modern live action Disney material. Additionally, it has to be said, but I’m also ever so glad with how minimally the film relies on nostalgia despite so easily fitting a potential ‘legacy sequel’ template. They acknowledge Herbie’s past in an opening montage, incorporate a couple pre-existing leitmotifs into the score, broadly retread familiar territory with the characters’ introductions to Herbie, and that’s about it. There aren’t any returning characters nor any mention of previous events or callbacks to such, thus it really doesn’t feel like it’s heavily pandering to fans of the series, which, forgive me for sounding like a broken record, is absolutely not what Disney nowadays would settle for on rebooting classic IPs. All things considered, the end result with Herbie Fully Loaded is quite a fascinating text, one that partially feels like a breath of fresh air despite also being extremely workmanlike and unremarkable. In the context of this series, as well as from a 2025 perspective, it’s a rather welcome and solidly crafted reinterpretation of the franchise, but from quite literally any other angle, it’s about as standard and unsurprising as you could expect, only distinct in the fact of its operation around the titular sentient Volkswagen Beetle. Still, as someone who grew up with that sort of output, I can’t deny that there was a certain charm about seeing Herbie factored into a piece with a similar vibe, and as I said, seeing how they brought the character to life in the process was enjoyable in its own right too. I doubt I’ll revisit this any time soon, but it was a passable watch and definitely provided much for me to think about as someone with a particular interest in Disney history and lineage." 6/10
