Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism (2023) - Movie Review

There is something especially Aussie about a small-budget independent local production finding its way into the modern trend for exorcism horror… by playing into the nation’s predominant fascination with true crime stories. This is based on the real-life death of Joan Vollmer, a 49-year-old Antwerp resident who died in January of 1993. She was being exorcised by her local congregation, with her husband Ralph being the one who instigated and took part in the proceedings, and she died during the attempt. Four of those involved, including Ralph, were charged with manslaughter but ultimately walked away with such a slap on the wrist that they and their congregation “clapped, sobbed and hugged each other at the news”, with Ralph himself saying that the magistrate’s finding was the will of God

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023) - Movie Review

Why was this made?

I mean, I know I basically asked the same question when the second film came out, but I am struggling even more with rationalising this one. At least with the first sequel, it was building off of what remains one of the most financially successful rom-coms ever. The second film didn’t come anywhere near that same profit margin, and with how devoid of entertainment value it turned out, raw finances are basically the only reason I could see why they would even bother continuing.

Far as I can tell, this is just star/writer and now director Nia Vardalos adding to the grand tradition of cinematic productions that exist primarily as an excuse for a paid vacation. So fine. If this film simply must exist, there’s not a whole lot I can do outside of hoping that, at the very least, it qualifies for ‘good for what it is’.

And yet I didn’t even get that much.

The Nun II (2023) - Movie Review

Well, shit. After gradually warming up to the Conjuring Universe, the official threequel The Devil Made Me Do It and the more recent atrocious copycats like The Unholy, The Exorcism Of God, and The Pope’s Exorcist have made me seriously reconsider that position. As much as I have good memories of at least half of these films, the underlying dogma of this entire sub-genre is starting to wear thin on my sensibilities, and the quality of the films themselves isn’t really picking up the slack. Still, I am nothing if not open to being surprised, and the first Nun is still a film I quite liked when I first saw it, so I’m willing to give this one a chance.

Biosphere (2023) - Movie Review

Last time we checked in on indie titan Mark Duplass, it was with the softly soul-crushing Paddleton, and his latest production works under a similar premise. Like Paddleton, this is also the story of two best friends dealing with a particularly bleak personal scenario and finding a way to bond during the experience. Only this time, it’s not just the impending death of a single person; it’s the aftermath of the apocalypse. Duplass’ Billy and Sterling K. Brown’s Ray are the last two human beings alive, kept safe and in relative comfort in the titular Biosphere that Ray designed and built.

Saw X (2023) - Movie Review

On the 11^th of October, 2014, I made my first blog post for Mahan's Media titled “Why didn’t I start this sooner?” I named it that partly because I originally started Mahan’s Media as a holdover while I kept trying to get my old YouTube videos together, which took way too bloody long because, as anyone who has read anything I’ve written before will tell you, I’m not that great at editing. But also because I had been writing mini-reviews for myself for quite a while before that. They weren’t as detailed as the thousand-word-minimum stuff I used to put up on here, but there were a lot of them, along with their accompanying place on a ranked list for 2012, 2013, and 2014.

That was the policy with their listings on here too, until I finally realised that listing them in that arbitrary order made it far more difficult to actually find specific reviews that it should have been. I still keep those lists on my computer, and use them for reference when drafting the year-end lists, but I figure being user-friendly should come first, so I rearranged them alphabetically by year when I did my four-year-long clean-up of the blog. Of course, since I still list everything by year of Australian release, there’s likely to be some further confusion but hey: At least I’m learning.

And indeed, the nine years that have transpired since that first post have indeed been a learning experience for me. I started out as an Angry Critic clone who was fascinated by the art of riffing, but didn’t have any formal training in such things, and quite frankly, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Hell, I’m still not sure if I know. All these reviews and listicles have been as much about figuring myself out as figuring out any film or other piece of media that I’ve come across, and I genuinely think that writing so damn much on here has helped shape me into the man I am today.

What began as an obsessive hobby has grown to the point where my high school dream of becoming a paid writer actually came true thanks to FilmInk bringing me on-board. I may miss one or two screenings due to bad scheduling on my part, but I pride myself on my consistency otherwise with a same-day turnaround for any screening my editor sends me out to. I cut my teeth on watching four films a day at the cinema, and doing mini-reviews for all of them between screenings; I’ve put in my 10,000 hours and then some, and in my case, I have been rewarded for my efforts.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) - Movie Review

Looks like it’s time to start simping for Point Grey Pictures again. I can’t help it; I have yet to encounter a film under their banner that I don’t find some level of respect for. Even the likes of The Interview (easily the worst of their releases to date) had its moments, not to mention serving as a particularly bizarre little pop culture artifact as far as American-North Korean relations are concerned.