Film 2376 - Companion

Intro: I saw the poster and I got really curious about it. Then the red carpet, the press and the good reviews came in, which got me excited. Somehow, tho, I ended up forgetting about this film, until someone mentioned it and I finally decided to give it a go.

Film 2376: "Companion" (2025), Drew Hancock
Watched on: The projector
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. Was it as revolutionary and groundbreaking as some reviews made it out to be? Not really.
"Companion" is a good sci-fi thriller with a little bit of horror and humor in it and it works well, althoigh the idea of a robot lover (the companion) that gains conciousness (or freedom) and turn agains her partner (or captor) isn't necessarily new. To be honest, it gave me "Black Mirror" vibes (which is good).
The cast is great, Sophie Thatcher does an amazing job and is a great lead - and perfect for the part - while Jack Quaid continues to do great work. I was happy to see Harvey Guillén outside his familiar Guillermo clothes ("What We Do in the Shadows").
Overall a good watch.
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend.
Box Office: $36.7 million
Worth a watch?: Not groundbreaking, but an entertaining watch. Definitely not for everybody, but for those who enjoy this kind of movies it worth giving it a go.
Awards: /
Key word: $12 million.
Trailer
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Bengi

Film 2375 - Black Bag

Intro: Really curious to see this movie, although not many people were talking about it.

Film 2375: "Black Bag" (2025), Steven Soderbergh
Watched on: My computer
Language: English
Watched with: No one
Thoughts: I'll be honest here, I was expecting great things and i think by doing that I shut myself in the foot.
The cast is great, but I really struggle to follow the story as a) most of the time I had no clue what they were talking about and b) because I couldn't follow the story properly, I started to get distracted.
So, because of this, I don't really have much to say about "Black Bag". I think Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender are great leads (and a pretty damn good looking couple) and it was really nice to see Naomie Harris and Pierce Brosnan once again. Regé-Jean Page feels like the "baby" of the group against all these other A-listers, but he holds his own.
All in all, I was definitely expecting something else (and more engaging).
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Pierce Brosnan.
Box Office: $42.7 million
Worth a watch?: With hindsight, I would definitely watch this movie with subtitles and by paying way more attention. The cast is cool, Soderbergh does Soderbergh, but other than that it didn't resonate with me.
Awards: /
Key word: Severus.
Trailer
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Bengi

Film 2374 - A Minecraft Movie

Intro: Not that I was interested in watching this movie, but Niamh was so I joined her.

Film 2374: "A Minecraft Movie" (2025), Jared Hess
Watched on: At the movies
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: Because I didn't back then and don't do this day know much about the video game Minecraft, I had nothing to compare this movie with if not its own cinematic merits. Is this the best movie I've ever seen in my life? Absolutely not (and nobody was expecting it to be). Is it still a fun and entertaining adventure that you can watch and forget about it five minutes later? Hell yeah.
So there it is, not much else to say about "A Minecraft Movie", a fun enough ride that will probably soon get ruined by a bunch of sequels that will sour the taste of the first movie.
Cast: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, Matt Berry, Rachel House, Jennifer Coolidge.
Box Office: $955.1 million
Worth a watch?: Harmless, fun story that work good enough and entertains as one would expect. Not groundbreaking, but at least it's not terrible (at least for one that has never played the video game like me).
Awards: /
Key word: Orb.
Trailer
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Bengi

Film 2373 - The Monkey

Intro: I was curious to watch this movie, especially because it's a horror + it seemed the critics enjoyed it, so when I got a chance I gave it a go.

Film 2373: "The Monkey" (2025), Osgood Perkins
Watched on: My computer
Language: English
Watched with: No one
Thoughts: I mean, I did enjoy it overall, but the overpromising marketing campaign kinda ruined this movie for me a bit.
First, yeah I liked "Longlegs" enough, but not as much as everybody else did, so the appeal of seeing the same director returning for another hell of a ride only worked so far with me. Additionally, I'm always a bit sceptical with new projects that adapt Stephen King's body of work. They usually don't work great.
Horror movies aren't easy to make, especially these days, so kudos to "The Monkey" for offering an actual horror story. Was I blown away by the end result? No, but I did enjoy the watch. and Theo James is a good lead.
Cast: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood.
Box Office: $68.9 million
Worth a watch?: It's very gruesome and extremely detailed in portraying the various death scenes: for some people works, for others might be a bit intense. If you love the genere and Osgood Perkins's work, tho, it's a nice ride.
Awards: /
Key word: Toy.
Trailer
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Bengi

Emmys 2025: nominees and winners

77th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Best drama series
Andor
The Diplomat
The Last of Us
Paradise
The Pitt
Severance
Slow Horses
The White Lotus

Best comedy series
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Hacks
Nobody Wants This
Only Murders in the Building
Shrinking
The Studio
What We Do in the Shadows

Best limited or anthology series
Adolescence
Black Mirror
Dying for Sex
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
The Penguin

Lead actor in a drama series
Sterling K Brown – Paradise
Gary Oldman – Slow Horses
Pedro Pascal – The Last of Us
Adam Scott – Severance
Noah Wyle – The Pitt

Lead actress in a drama series
Kathy Bates – Matlock
Sharon Horgan – Bad Sisters
Britt Lower – Severance
Bella Ramsey – the Last of Us
Keri Russell – The Diplomat

Lead actor in a comedy series
Adam Brody – Nobody Wants This
Seth Rogen – The Studio
Jason Segel – Shrinking
Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building
Jeremy Allen White – The Bear

Lead actress in a comedy series
Uzo Aduba – The Residence
Kristen Bell – Nobody Wants This
Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
Ayo Edebiri – The Bear
Jean Smart – Hacks

Lead actor in a limited or anthology series
Colin Farrell – The Penguin
Stephen Graham – Adolescence
Jake Gyllenhaal – Presumed Innocent
Bryan Tyree Henry – Dope Thief
Cooper Koch – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

Lead actress in a limited or anthology series
Cate Blanchett – Disclaimer
Meghann Fahy – Sirens
Rashida Jones – Black Mirror
Cristin Milioti – The Penguin
Michelle Williams – Dying for Sex

Supporting actor in a drama series
Zach Cherry – Severance
Walton Goggins – The White Lotus
Jason Isaacs – The White Lotus
James Marsden – Paradise
Sam Rockwell – The White Lotus
Tramell Tillman – Severance
John Turturro – Severance

Supporting actress in a drama series
Patricia Arquette – Severance
Carrie Coon – The White Lotus
Katherine LaNasa – The Pitt
Julianne Nicholson – Paradise
Parker Posey – The White Lotus
Natasha Rothwell – The White Lotus
Aimee Lou Wood – The White Lotus

Supporting actor in a comedy series
Ike Barinholtz – The Studio
Colman Domingo – The Four Seasons
Harrison Ford – Shrinking
Jeff Hiller – Somebody Somewhere
Ebon Moss-Bachrach – The Bear
Michael Urie – Shrinking
Bowen Yang – Saturday Night Live

Supporting actress in a comedy series
Liza Colón-Zayas – The Bear
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks
Kathryn Hahn – The Studio
Janelle James – Abbott Elementary
Catherine O’Hara – The Studio
Sheryl Lee Ralph – Abbott Elementary
Jessica Williams – Shrinking

Supporting actor in a limited or anthology series
Javier Bardem – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
Bill Camp – Presumed Innocent
Owen Cooper – Adolescence
Rob Delaney – Dying For Sex
Peter Sarsgaard – Presumed Innocent
Ashley Walters – Adolescence

Supporting actress in a limited or anthology series
Erin Doherty – Adolescence
Ruth Negga – Presumed Innocent
Deirdre O’Connell – The Penguin
Chloë Sevigny – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
Jenny Slate – Dying for Sex
Christine Tremarco – Adolescence

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Jon Bernthal – The Bear: "Napkins" as Michael Berzatto
Bryan Cranston – The Studio: "CinemaCon" as Griffin Mill
Dave Franco – The Studio: "CinemaCon" as himself
Ron Howard – The Studio: "The Note" as himself
Anthony Mackie – The Studio: "The Note" as himself
Martin Scorsese – The Studio: "The Promotion" as himself

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Olivia Colman – The Bear: "Forever" as Chef Andrea Terry
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Bear: "Ice Chips as Donna Berzatto
Cynthia Erivo – Poker Face: "The Game Is a Foot as the Kazinsky sisters
Robby Hoffman – Hacks as Randi
Zoë Kravitz – The Studio: "The Presentation" as herself
Julianne Nicholson – Hacks: "A Slippery Slope" as Mary-Alice

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Giancarlo Esposito – The Boys: "Beware the Jabberwock, My Son" as Stan Edgar
Scott Glenn – The White Lotus: "Killer Instincts"'' as Jim Hollinger
Shawn Hatosy – The Pitt: "9:00 PM" as Dr. Jack Abbot
Joe Pantoliano – The Last of Us: "The Price" as Eugene
Forest Whitaker – Andor: "I Have Friends Everywhere" as Saw Gerrera
Jeffrey Wright – The Last of Us: "Day One" as Isaac

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Jane Alexander – Severance: "Sweet Vitriol" as Sissy Cobel
Gwendoline Christie – Severance: "Cold Harbor" as Lorne
Kaitlyn Dever – The Last of Us: "Through the Valley" as Abby
Cherry Jones – The Handmaid's Tale: "Exile" as Holly
Catherine O’Hara – The Last of Us: "Future Days" as Gail
Merritt Wever – Severance: "Who Is Alive?" as Gretchen George

Television Movie
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
The Gorge
Mountainhead
Nonnas
Rebel Ridge

Scripted variety series
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Saturday Night Live

Talk series
The Daily Show
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

Variety special (live)
The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar
Beyoncé Bowl
The Oscars
SNL 50: The Anniversary Special
SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert

Variety Special (pre-recorded)
Adam Sandler: Love You
Ali Wong: Single Lady
Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years
Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
Sarah Silverman: PostMortem
Your Friend, Nate Bargatze

Directing for a drama series
Janus Metz – Andor
Amanda Marsalis – The Pitt
John Wells – The Pitt
Jessica Lee – Severance
Ben Stiller – Severance
Adam Randall – Slow Horses
Mike White – The White Lotus

Directing for a comedy series
Ayo Edebiri – The Bear
Lucia Aniello – Hacks
James Burrows – Mid-Century Modern
Nathan Fielder – The Rehearsal
Seth Rogen – The Studio

Directing for a limited or anthology series
Philip Barantini – Adolescence
Shannon Murphy – Dying for Sex
Helen Shaver – The Penguin
Jennifer Getzinger – The Penguin
Nicole Kassell – Sirens
Leslie Linka Glatter – Zero Day

Writing for a drama series
Dan Gilroy – Andor
Joe Sachs – The Pitt
R Scott Gemmill – The Pitt
Dan Erickson – Severance
Will Smith – Slow Horses
Mike White – The White Lotus

Writing for a comedy series
Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
Lucia Aniello, Paul W Downs and Jen Statsky – Hacks
Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Adam Locke-Norton and Eric Notarnicola – The Rehearsal
Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen and Bridget Everett – Somebody Somewhere
Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory and Frida Perez – The Studio
Sam Johnson, Sarah Naftalis and Paul Simms – What We Do in the Shadows

Writing for a limited or anthology series
Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham – Adolescence
Charlie Brooker and Bisha K Ali – Black Mirror
Kim Rosenstock and Elizabeth Meriwether – Dying for Sex
Lauren LeFranc – The Penguin
Joshua Zetumer – Say Nothing

Writing for a variety series
The Daily Show
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Reality competition program
The Amazing Race
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Survivor
Top Chef
The Traitors

Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Nathalie Emmanuel – Die Hart: Hart to Kill as Jordan King
Kevin Hart – Die Hart: Hart to Kill as himself
Desi Lydic – The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains as herself
Tom Segura – Bad Thoughts as various Characters
J.K. Simmons – Die Hart: Hart to Kill as Jackson Pepper

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
Julie Andrews – Bridgerton: "Into The Light" as Lady Whistledown
Hank Azaria – The Simpsons: "Abe League of Their Moe" as Moe Szyslak
Maya Rudolph – Big Mouth: “Why Do We Go Through Puberty?” as Connie the Hormone Monstress
Alan Tudyk – Andor: "Who Else Knows?" as K-2SO
Jeffrey Wright – What If...?: “What If... 1872?” as The Watcher
Steven Yeun – Invincible: "What Have I Done?" as Mark Grayson / Invincible

Outstanding Narrator
Sir David Attenborough – Planet Earth: Asia: "The Frozen North"
Idris Elba – Erased: WW2's Heroes Of Color: "D-Day"
Tom Hanks – The Americas: "Andes"
Barack Obama – Our Oceans: "Indian Ocean"
Phoebe Waller Bridge – Octopus!: "Part 1"

Outstanding Host for a Game Show
Elizabeth Banks – Press Your Luck
Steve Harvey – Celebrity Family Feud
Ken Jennings – Jeopardy!
Colin Jost – Pop Culture Jeopardy!
Jimmy Kimmel – Who Wants to Be A Millionaire

Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program
RuPaul Charles – RuPaul's Drag Race
Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Daniel Lubetzky – Shark Tank
Alan Cumming – The Traitors
Kristen Kish – Top Chef
Jeff Probst – Survivor

Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program
America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Love on the Spectrum
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
Welcome to Wrexham

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Bengi

Film 2372 - Drop

Intro: I'm always up foor a good thriller!

Film 2372: "Drop" (2025), Christopher Landon
Watched on: At the movies
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: I think the overall idea on paper works better than the end result.
"Drop" is absolutely an OK movie, very watchable and it has it moments, but there are also a lot of slow parts and the ending - aka the reasons behind all of the shenanigans - is a bit underwhelming. Like... politics, for real?
Overall I enjoyed it, Meghann Fahy is a great lead and the film is entertaining enough. Was I expecting a bit more? Yes, but it's still fun.
Ps. Curiously enough, the main location here recalls the very similar one from the restaurant scene in "Final Destination Bloodlines")
Cast: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jeffery Self, Reed Diamond.
Box Office: $28.5 million
Worth a watch?: The idea on papre is great, althought I really struggled with the concept of the "Digi-Drops"... Other than that, it's an entertaining enough thriller.
Awards: /
Key word: Mayor.
Trailer
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Bengi

Film 2371 - How to Date Billy Walsh

Intro: I think I was on one of my IMDB search/down the rabbithole moment searching for Tanner Buchanan after the final season of "Cobra Kai" came out.

Film 2371: "How to Date Billy Walsh" (2024), Alex Pillai
Watched on: My computer
Language: English
Watched with: No one
Thoughts: I'll be honest, I watched the movie just because I thought it was a gay or borderline-gay coming of age romcom. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Although it's a very avarage (aka watchable) movie, nothing about this screams original. "How to Date Billy Walsh" tries really hard to be a lot of things, many of which we've seen before, resulting in a mishmash that doesn't really work, yet is not necessarily bad. It's giving "Sex Education", "Heartbreak High", "Never Have I Ever" and "Mean Girls" (and more, even "Carrie"!) vibes, yet never as good or iconic.
I think the biggest issue here is that this film is trying too hard to channel someone else's 'personality', trying to be edgy and funny, but also smart and quirky, and it doesn't really work because there's no original point of view. Again, it's not a terrible movie, but a very forgettable one it is indeed.
Cast: Sebastian Croft, Charithra Chandran, Nick Frost, Guz Khan, Lucy Punch, Kunal Nayyar, Tanner Buchanan.
Box Office: /
Worth a watch?: Perfectly watchable, even if you're not really paying attention.
Awards: /
Key word: Love Doctor.
Trailer
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Bengi

Film 2370 - Death of a Unicorn

Intro: I was really looking forward to watching this movie, especially in theaters. So we squeezed it in during our (back then) busy schedule and went to Cineworld.

Film 2370: "Death of a Unicorn" (2025), Alex Scharfman
Watched on: At the movies
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: I have to be honest, I didn't particularly like this movie. I had high expectations because I was extremely excited to see Téa Leoni on the big screen again + the trailer seemed really good and "Death of a Unicorn" seemed to have all the card to be at least a good movie. Reality is, it's not great.
As a dark comedy, it's not really funny. It's definitely extravagant, I'll give it that, but other than that there's not much else. The cast is amazing, but not necessarily used to their best potential: Jenna Ortega is playing Jenna Ortega playing a pissed (borderline, at this point) teenager, Will Poulter tries to be the comedic relief and mostly succedes but not entirely, Téa Leoni is basically playing Rosamund Pike's character in "Saltburn" and Paul Rudd is good at doing himself/Ant-Man, but when it comes to other facial expressions... there's not a lot going on.
Top that with a story that doesn't deliver what you would expect - there's a million side characters that you don't really care about but they keep on being introduced and killed, but it doesn't add anything to the story and also it's not funny - and it's more odd than fantasy black comedy, then what you have left is a little bit of disappointment.
Again, the idea has potential, but the delivery didn't thrill me.
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Anthony Carrigan, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant.
Box Office: $16.1 million
Worth a watch?: I thought it would have been more fun, to be honest. Good cast, Téa Leoni is back and we're happy about it, but "Death of a Unicorn" should have it harder to deliver and good overall result. It's not awaful by any means, but I was expecting more or something else, even.
Awards: /
Key word: Middle age.
Trailer
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Bengi