Talk To Me (2023) - Movie Review

I got into this when I looked at Arctic a few years back, but now more than ever, it has been cool to see so many YouTubers making it in the film business. Joe Penna went from MysteryGuitarMan to delivering the kind of survival thrillers that even I can get into; Radio Silence, the guys who pioneered the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ format on YT, not only have been contributing to and are now producing the V/H/S anthology series, but now have the keys to one of the most beloved slasher franchises ever in the new Scream movies; and the Martial Club stunt team got to work on last year’s runaway success Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Before this blog even existed, I was one of many who thoughtthey could turn YouTube into their career (before realising that going into video-making with that mindset is, to put it simply, a terrible idea), and while I realised that it wasn’t the way for me, it’s still quite nice to see so many others turn that passion into something viable.

And this time around, we have a success story from my neck of the woods (kind of), with the Adelaide-based team of brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, AKA RackaRacka. It was quite surreal to see their production logo next to national grant Screen Australia and A2-bloody-4 in the opening credits, and that’s only the beginning of it where this film is concerned.

Insidious: The Red Door (2023) - Movie Review

Patrick Wilson is one of my favourite actors working today. Whether he’s fighting underwater King Arthur, stuck with late-career Katherine Heigl, or being the face of James Wan’s post-Saw horror catalogue, the man just seems to shine no matter where he goes. As such, the prospect of him making the transition to director has certainly got me intrigued, especially within a franchise that had already launched a major directing talent in Leigh Whannell. But as I look at his debut here, I can’t help but think he would benefit from having a completely different starting point, because this doesn’t really do him any favours.

Demonic (2021) - Movie Review

Much like with Bliss, I picked this feature to look at partly because it hadn’t gotten a good reception from audiences and critics (hell, I think this one has been received even worse than Bliss), but also because part of me still hopes for something worthwhile here. And in the case of Demonic, that desire is largely off the back of writer/director Neill Blomkamp’s last film Chappie, which still has one of my all-time favourite endings of any film I’ve reviewed on here. It’s the kind of finale that managed to make up for just how mishandled everything leading up to it had been, so I’m basically going into this with the anticipation that it might not work out, but still hoping for something that measures up to that flash of brilliance, if only for a moment.

Top 20 Diamanda Hagan Reviews

She’s an official friend of the blog, she gave me my first ever podcast appearance (and my second), she’s probably one of the few proper allies I have within the realm of media criticism. And yet, if you are ever unfortunate to catch me watching one of her videos concerning Doctor Who, you would see fanboy rage the likes of which even God has never seen before. Seriously, if I lacked any form of perspective, I could easily make up a Top 10 Worst Videos list made up of her Twatty Who Reviews. But this is something I’ve even talked with her before on the podcast, so this is hardly anything new. So, with that little dummy spit out of the way, let’s get into the list already.