Mike Riojas Archives -

KLARA AND THE SUN MOVIE REVIEW Some would say that Taika Waititi has been on a downward slope with his most recent films, Next Goal Wins & Thor: Love and Thunder, but he’s back with his latest film adapting the acclaimed novel Klara and the Sun. Starring Jenna Ortega as the titular Klara, she is […]

DIGGER MOVIE REVIEW Director/Co-writer of Digger Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) has made a film that is structured in such a way that it is completely impossible to discuss without giving away the game it plays with the audience. Thus, this Highly Suspect Review of the film spends only a little time upfront in non-spoiler territory […]

SAMURAI BALLERINA MOVIE REVIEW Ah, Paris! The City of Light. Where everyone starts the day with seven-foot-tall baguettes consumed with wine, and if you don’t work as a painter, professional lover, or mime, you seriously must rethink your life, you traitor to the Republic! Set in 1912, Fujiko, a young woman from a wealthy Japanese […]

LUCY LOST MOVIE REVIEW She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t remember her past. Yet somehow, she can see more than anyone else. Lucy is a mysterious girl living on a remote island in the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall. Raised by a humble fishing family, she is the town’s outcast, accused of witchcraft […]

THE VIOLINIST MOVIE REVIEW The only greater thing then creating music, is creating it with a dear friend… and then World War II shows up to ruin everything. Set in 1930s Singapore, The Violinist follows Fei and Kai, two childhood friends who share a love for music and dream of becoming world-class violinists. But when […]

GATTO WORK IN PROGRESS REVIEW What the–? The new Pixar movie is already out?! Not quite! One of the great things about the Annecy Film Festival is getting to see Work in Progress presentations for upcoming features, with directors and artists sharing their secrets, progress, and the development behind their projects. Set in Venice, Gatto […]

BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL PT.1 REVIEW Batman is having a very, very bad week. Can’t catch a break! If rehabilitating the murderous vigilante Azrael wasn’t enough, some jerk named Bane sets all the inmates of Arkham free. Well, not all of them… there are some confusingly notable exceptions. Raised in prison and deluded by his late mother, […]

THE OBSESSED MOVIE REVIEW “Are you in love with that girl?”, “No sir, I’m just very obsessed with her!”. Giuseppe loves the things he loves. Whenever something grabs his interest, he throws everything else away and devotes his life to his new passion. From singing and collecting bugs to the oddly specific hobby of “throwing […]

CRIME 101 MOVIE REVIEW We love a good heist movie, especially when it focuses on both the cops and the robbers as primary characters. Here, in writer/director Bart Layton’s Crime 101 you’ve got a lot of the genre tropes ticking. There’s the good master thief (Chris Hemsworth) who never lets anyone get hurt and has […]

ANOTHER WORLD MOVIE REVIEW Maciej Kur is back and he is once again covering the Annecy Animation Festival in France! Spidermike joins him to take a look at some of the wild new animated films from around the world coming out soon. Ready for something whimsical yet very dark? Gudo is a child-like spirit guiding […]

ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED MOVIE REVIEW Maciej Kur is back and he is once again covering the Annecy Animation Festival in France! Spidermike joins him to take a look at some of the wild new animated films from around the world coming out soon. Based on the award winning novel by Ahmadou Kourouma, this story […]

LITTLE AMELIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN Maciej Kur is back and he is once again covering the Annecy Animation Festival in France! Spidermike joins him to take a look at some of the wild new animated films from around the world coming out soon. Finally, a French movie from this very French festival of […]

INTO THE MORTAL WORLD MOVIE REVIEW Maciej Kur is back and he is once again covering the Annecy Animation Festival in France! Spidermike joins him to take a look at some of the wild new animated films from around the world coming out soon. China has been in the CGI game for some time adapting […]

OLIVIA AND THE INVISIBLE EARTHQUAKE MOVIE REVIEW The sad puppet movie of the year from Spain, takes us into lives of 12 year old Oliva and her younger brother Tim. After their mom, an actress past her prime, can’t get a new role, the family is evicted from their building and has to get used […]

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE MOVIE REVIEW Maciej Kur is back and he is once again covering the Annecy Animation Festival in France! Spidermike joins him to take a look at some of the wild new animated films from around the world coming out soon. From Sylvain Chomet, the brilliant mind behind The Triplets of Belleville, The […]

CHAO MOVIE REVIEW Maciej Kur is back and he is once again covering the Annecy Animation Festival in France! Spidermike joins him to take a look at some of the wild new animated films from around the world coming out soon. From the innocent and unsuspecting country of Japan comes Yasuhiro AOKI’s first full-length feature […]

JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH MOVIE REVIEW Seven of these Jurassic movies now. SEVEN. The hope was that after the terrible (but, of course, financially lucrative) last three entries, this new creative team led by director Gareth Edwards (who knows a thing or two about giant monsters) would rediscover what made that first Jurassic Park movie so […]

M3GAN 2.0 MOVIE REVIEW Although the 2022 horror film M3gan was certainly a hit, it left a lot to be desired. Straddling the gap between wanting to be a horror film and wanting to be a campy comedy with neither foot firmly planted made for a very uneven film. But one thing that did work […]

THE LIFE OF CHUCK MOVIE REVIEW The latest Stephen King adaptation isn’t a horror movie, although there is an apocalypse underway and a LOT of existential dread in the first (or third, as marked) act. No, it’s a feel-good, tear-jerker, ‘enjoy your life because it doesn’t last forever’ inspirational film. It’s also told in reverse […]

NOSFERATU MOVIE REVIEW Nothing says “Merry Christmas” quite like a prestige horror film. Robert Eggers is back and has delivered his 4th feature film with his version of the classic, Nosferatu . Bill Skarsgård stars as the titular vampire whose shadow looms over the picture like a cold blanket while Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen […]

KRAVEN THE HUNTER MOVIE REVIEW Let us raise a glass to the end of the Sony era of Spider-man spinoff films that no one asked for. Morbius, Madam Web, and the Venom movies, have had a very rocky history with critics and their latest, Kraven the Hunter, is no different. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the […]

THE COLORS WITHIN MOVIE REVIEW Our man in Poland, Maciej Kur, gets to go to the Annecy Animation Festival every year (lucky bastard) and bring us back news of what’s good. This year, he again teams up with Spidermike to lay out what’s coming soon in the world of animation for the rest of us […]

THE IMAGINARY MOVIE REVIEW Our man in Poland, Maciej Kur, gets to go to the Annecy Animation Festival every year (lucky bastard) and bring us back news of what’s good. This year, he again teams up with Spidermike to lay out what’s coming soon in the world of animation for the rest of us non-festival […]

ALIEN: ROMULUS MOVIE REVIEW On an incredibly crap mining planet job, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her ‘brother’, the mentally simple android Andy (David Jonsson), are coming to terms with the fact that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has no intention of letting their contract finish and they’re going to be stuck there probably till they die. Teaming […]

THE STORM MOVIE REVIEW Our man in Poland, Maciej Kur, gets to go to the Annecy Animation Festival every year (lucky bastard) and bring us back news of what’s good. This year, he again teams up with Spidermike to lay out what’s coming soon in the world of animation for the rest of us non-festival […]