A Quick Review Lightning Round on Movies I Haven't Had a Chance to Talk About
Featuring reviews of: Highest 2 Lowest, The Phoenician Scheme, Eddington, War of the Worlds, Caught Stealing, and The Naked Gun
So I’ve realized there’s a couple of films that I haven’t had the chance to talk about that I was originally going to do so but didn’t have time. This has been because I was in the process of moving and I just started classes as well. Seeing that I finally have a bit of time, I figured that I could group those films right here and talk about them. These will not be in depth reviews as I don’t have too much to say about the films but I at least wanted to say a few words about them and what I thought of each film. This could be a future thing for films that I don’t get a chance to cover and I can group them together for its own thing, so let me know if you like this kind of thing. But without further ado, these are 6 films that I wanted to talk about.
War of the Worlds (2025)
This movie has been getting meme’d on constantly ever since releasing and it felt right that it got some acknowledgement here. This movie is absolutely terrible, but it’s the good terrible. It is astounding to see how bad this film was, but I had a blast watching it. The reactions that Ice Cube makes through the film is so fun and terrible to watch. The effects are something that you would find in a Sharknado movie and when they aren’t trying to hide them, it looks glorious. I honestly recommend watching this just so you can see how terrible it is. It deserves to be witnessed by peoples eyes. Also Rodrick Rules.
Rating: 1/10 (with a heart on Letterboxd)
Eddington (2025)
This was originally going to get its own quick review when it came out as I did see it and was prepared to write about it. But honestly I couldn’t find the right words to articulate my feelings for it. When I first watched this, it was down the middle for me as I found a decent amount of the film didn’t work for me, but the more I’ve been sitting with it, I’ve have been thinking if upon a rewatch if I would end up liking it much more knowing what to expect from the film. I plan to do that in the future but as of now it was only fair to say some of my thoughts here. I think the film does a lot where it felt like not everything fell into place and it does feel a bit too long. However, pretty much everything with Joaquin Phoenix’s character worked for me and he was easily the best part of the film. Also the film from a technical aspect is fantastic especially the cinematography which I loved. For right now, I found the film ok in the end but I could see myself liking it a lot more in the future.
Rating: 6/10
Highest 2 Lowest (2025)
This was such a weird film for me to be honest. I had watched High and Low a week earlier and loved it. I really did not like Spike Lee’s interpretation of Oldboy at all, but this felt like it had more potential and casting Denzel definitely had me sold on it. But it started off weird. During the first half of the film, I was convinced that this was not working for me. I wasn’t really feeling the story and the new interpretation it was going for. The score is one of the weirdest of the year as while I kinda loved it, it did not fit this film at all and felt very out of place. The editing was also very choppy and was awkward as well. So with that, I thought it wasn’t going to work, but somehow the film kinda locks in during the second half and I honestly had a much better time with it during that part. Denzel is fun and Jeffery Wright has his moments of shining. I felt more engaged with story as it went on. I wish it had a bit more to say like the original, but I was at least entertained through that part of the film. I just wish the first half was as good as the second was. Overall, not bad but it had potential to be so much better than what we got.
Rating: 6/10
The Phoenician Scheme (2025)
Similar to Eddington, this was originally going to get its own quick review, but for this, it came down more to I didn’t have too much to say about it. It’s a good Wes Anderson movie but I didn’t feel like it had a lot that needed to be said about it. It has the good stuff like the acting, writing, cinematography and most of what you can expect from a Wes Anderson movie. The basketball scene though was iconic and maybe one of my favorite scenes of the year. I felt like it didn’t have too much to say though and by the end, I would probably rank it lower in a Wes Anderson ranking list, but I still had a good time with it.
Rating: 7/10
The Naked Gun (2025)
I am a huge fan of the Leslie Nielsen trilogy of the same name. When I heard about a remake with Liam Neeson, I was convinced it was not going to work until I saw the trailer in which I thought maybe it could. I had a good time watching it and while not on the same level as the original, it still had a lot of funny moments and even had the heart of what made the original fun. Liam Neeson works really well in this role and balances that comedy and seriousness pretty great. Not every joke lands, but when it does, it honestly pretty funny. I would love to see more comedies like this again as long as it has the same heart that this film did. This was a fun time.
Rating: 7/10
Caught Stealing (2025)
I was honestly surprised with how much I loved this film. Going into it, I didn’t expect too much from it even though Darren Aronofsky was attached to it, but I ended up having a really good time with it by the end of it. The film has a lot going on and it makes for a thrilling movie with lots of excitment. Austin Butler was fun and the rest of the side characters were fun to watch. Also some really cool cinematography shots were part of it as well. My only real gripe is the pacing does feel like it gets a bit rough at times, but it was still a fun time regardless. Overall though this was fun and definitely a surprise that I was not expecting.
Rating: 8/10
So that’s some films that I wanted to talk about. We are getting close to the end of the year so I’m excited to see what films are in store for those final months. Nothing will top War of the Worlds as the greatest movie of the year though.