Alex Cann's Weekly Film Blog

Pleased to say I've made my 100th trip to the cinema this year.

Can The Rock save Christmas? That was the question asked in the £200 million blockbuster Red One. It stars Dwayne Johnson as the North Pole's Head of Security, with one eye on retirement until Santa goes missing.

Hugh Grant as a Villain, Clint Eastwood’s Gripping Courtroom Drama, and a Bizarre Family Thriller—This Week's Reviews Offer Suspense, Thought-Provoking Dilemmas, and Unexpected Twists

With it being Halloween week, it's worth mentioning that horror has had a rather lucrative year at the cinema, with movies such as The Substance, Terrifier 3 and Smile 2 all delighting audiences and smashing their budgets at the box office.

There's often a debate about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. In my book, it absolutely is. It contains four Christmas songs in the soundtrack, the action takes place at a Christmas Eve office party, and both the director and scriptwriter say it is a festive movie.

I find myself at odds with most reviews I've read of Joker: Folie a Deux, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. As the latest edition of The Rest Is Entertainment points out, musicals are very difficult to market. Wonka and Mean Girls are recent examples of musicals where it was pretty well concealed in the trailers, until you went to see them and realised everyone was, er, singing.

It's almost impossible to review The Substance without spoilers, but I'll try. It's grisly, bone-crunching, shockingly gory stuff, but what a performance from Demi Moore. This is possibly the most bananas movie I've ever seen, and Moore's finest hour in my book.

It's a rarity, but a trio of films were all released last Friday that I couldn't wait to see. I've managed two of them this week, and both are outstanding.

Starting this week with my film of the month for September. Strange Darling is grisly and twisty as hell The best review I've seen comes from rapper Kid Cudi, who wrote: "Movies like this come every so often. As a fan of horror, I've never been this thrown by a horror movie before. I went in thinking one thing, and left knowing another". The difficulty in reviewing this movie is that it's definitely best enjoyed without spoilers. It's gory, tense, and nerve shredding.

I decided to catch up on the original Beetlejuice last week, and realised I'd somehow never seen it! A shocking omission, I confess, but I really enjoyed the 1988 classic. You can find it on Amazon Prime Video.

Aliens and artificial intelligence are on the menu this week. To our first offering, and AfrAId has a title as dodgy as the end product, unfortunately. I would like to commend whoeever put the trailer together, though, as it actually made it look enticing.

Would you hop on a plane and fly to a tropical paradise with someone you'd just met at a cocktail party? Blink Twice is best viewed not knowing much about the plot, and for once the trailer didn't give away all the best bits, as so often seems to happen nowadays.

First this week, a word about cinema etiquette. Our enjoyment of the 15th anniversary 3D screening of Coraline this week was lessened by a group of goons sitting behind us. They spent most of the movie talking, kicking our seats, and rustling their bags of sweets as loudly as humanly possible. Ridiculous.

I often go to the cinema at strange times, so it was a surprise to see a packed screen for Twisters on Tuesday night. Mrs C gave it five stars, and I don't disagree with that. It stood up to a second viewing very well. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell spark off each other well.

By the time you read this, I will definitely have watched Deadpool, and promise a verdict next week. Sorry! In the meantime, I have two thoroughly enjoyable movies to bring to you this week.

Confession time...I haven't been to the cinema this week. I did breathe a sigh of relief though when Cineworld revealed a much smaller list of closures than Sky News had reported, although I obviously feel for the six teams who are affected by their announcement.

The original Twister starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as intrepid storm chasers, and if you forgive the pun, it took the box office by storm back in 1996.The new incarnation stars Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos.

A hush descended over the cinema car park on Sunday evening. As I parked up and headed for some popcorn, the only sound was a wisp of wind blowing a crisp packet around, and I quickly realised I was alone. Was I in a zombie movie? Had I arrived during the night in error?

This week's offerings feature one of the best films I've seen in years, and one of the worst I've ever sat through. There's the bad - In A Violent Nature and the surprisgly good -in A Quiet Place

If you watch one film this week, I'd recommend I Am : Celine Dion, which was released on Amazon Prime Video in late June. It's a searingly honest look at the superstar's battle with Stiff Person Syndrome, which is so rare it only affects one in a million people.

It's a bit of a quiet week for big news releases, but I've managed to squeeze a few films in. They are all weirdly similiar! Arcadian is set in the near future, and we see a decimated, scorched Earth where only a handful of humans have managed to survive a major event.

I've become a lot bolder with spiders these days. I found a pretty massive one in Studio 3 at Tameside Radio the other week, and set it free using a glass and a copy of this newspaper. My younger brother Nik is absolutely terrified of them, and I doubt he'll have watched this film.

Family-sized lasagne is loved by cuddly indoor cat Garfield, but he's not a fan of Mondays. Fair enough, although it seems he has a pretty pampered life living with Jon, who finds him wandering the rainy streets as he dines alone in his favourite Italian restaurant.

Flaming June is here, and there are some cracking new releases coming to the big screen in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to A Quiet Place : Day One, which is directed by Michael Sarnoski, previously responsible for the excellent Nicolas Cage film Pig.

The first of two films based on that Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew hit Netfllix this week, and Scoop was a five star treat in my book. Based on three chapters of a book by producer Sam McAlister, who arranged te interview at Buckingham Palace and has since said it was "hard to keep a poker face" while he was speakin

In a strange twist of fate, I've written in my other column this week about the troubles facing the Royal Mail in hitting delivery targets and turning a profit, as parcels take over and letters fade into the background. In Wicked Little Letters, we revisit a largely true story from the 1920s.

If you're a John Wick fan, there will inevitably be comparisons with pulpy new action film Monkey Man, which is out this weekend. Armed with little more than a monkey mask and a shedload of grit and determination, Dev Patel's Kid won't rest until the men who took everything from him get what's coming to them.