King and Conqueror (2025) is an eight part tale of two Harolds and a William, culminating in the battle of Hastings. Mostly historically accurate, well acted and a good watch. Also, good/sad to see that nothing has changed in the upper echelons in the intervening years, still all mayhem, mendacity, murder and megalomania. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Play Dirty (2025), directed by Shane Black, stars Mark Wahlberg as an expert thief who, along with his crew, taken on the mob in their efforts to pull off a difficult heist. Long at just over two hours, plenty of action, improbable of course, but eminently watchable and eminently forgettable at the same time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️Napoleon (2024) from Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Emperor is a 2 hour 38 minute epic tracing the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Although well acted, I found it hard to have any empathy with any of the characters. Enjoyed it nevertheless. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alarum (2025) stars Scott Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone and is the usual spies stuff. Plenty of action, as you would expect, with elite mercenaries unable to locate the barn door, let alone hit it, and the goodies providing the required body count by means of guns that seem to be self-aiming and have magazines with unlimited ammo. Slated by audiences and critics alike, and one can see why. A lot of dross being made (and released unfortunately) these days. It is watchable, though. ⭐️⭐️
Tau (2018) sees Julia, played by Maika Monroe, try to hack a house’s computer program after she becomes trapped inside. Run of the mill AI ‘B’ movie with Gary Oldman as the voice of Tau. ⭐️⭐️
A Woman Scorned (2025) is the story of a woman takes who bloody revenge on the men that murdered her sister in cold blood. Surprised to see in the credits that someone actually admitted to writing this abomination. Give it a miss. ⭐️
Ballard (2025) Season 1 stars Maggie Q and also features an old favourite at times, Harry Bosch. Another great adaptation of a Michael Connelly novel and well worth watching/binge-watching. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hostage (2025) is a three-part mystery/thriller/drama starring Suranne Jones as the British Prime Minister and Julie Delpy as the French President. Plenty of plot holes and unlikely scenarios if you want to be picky, but if you just relax and ignore these then it is actually a very enjoyable series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Thursday Murder Club (2025) is based on the Richard Osman thriller and stars, amongst others, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley, is a thoroughly enjoyable whodunit in my view, with some nice humour and good acting. Haven’t read the book, so can’t comment on changes for the film version (which some have moaned about), just found it an entertaining watch. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Flight Risk (2024), directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Dockery, revolves around the transportation across Alaska of a fugitive by means of a small plane. Just a bit of fun, nothing spectacular. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Arcadian (2024) sees Nicolas Cage battling post-apocalyptic monsters alongside his twin sons as they try to survive whatever the catastrophe was that destroyed the world as we know it (it is never explained). ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Welcome to Sudden Death (2020) is a dreadful film about a security guard who battles a group of tech-savvy terrorists after they take hostages inside a basketball arena. It stars Michael Jai White and is more laughable than action-comedy. Gave up on this one. ⭐️
Irena’s Vow (2023), starring Sophie Nélisse as Irena Gut Opdyke, is the true story of a Polish nurse who is caught in a street roundup for slave labour and who shelters and protects Jewish people during the Second World War. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Pick Up (2025) is an action-comedy (allegedly) starring Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson as two armoured truck drivers fighting off the baddies. Not Murphy’s best film by a long way and the partnership with Davidson doesn’t really work on the comedic front. Watchable, though, if there’s nothing else on. ⭐️⭐️
The Old Way (2023) is Nicolas Cage’s very first western, a very slow moving affair. Predictable, but saved by a very good performance from the young Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Brooke, his daughter. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wrath of Becky (2023) is one of those infrequent occurrences where the sequel is actually better than the original. Becky metes out gory justice to those who have wronged her. An entertaining ‘B’ movie well worth a watch. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heads of State (2025), starring Idris Elba as the UK Prime Minister and John Cena as the US President, is an action-comedy (needs to include comedy with such a preposterous plot) with the two heads of state trying to save the world. Good fun movie, great interplay between Cena and Elba and thoroughly enjoyable. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Creator (2025) is set following a war between AI and humans. Covers a multitude of topics and emotions, is well acted and has a great soundtrack. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was soooo looking forward to The Old Guard 2 (2025) having watched, and enjoyed, the first film several times, but was rather underwhelmed with this follow-up. Charlize Theron reprises her role as Andy, leader of a bunch of immortal warriors. ⭐️⭐️
Dirty Angels (2024) stars Eva Green who leads an all-female commando unit to save a group of girls taken hostage by terrorists in Afghanistan. Routine action film, suitably high bodycount but nothing to write home about. ⭐️⭐️
The Honest Thief (2020) is generally a bit tame by Liam Neeson standards. It has action, but very little mystery or thrills. Nevertheless, worthy of a watch. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Venom: The Last Dance (2024) is the third and maybe final (hopefully) in the series starring Tom Hardy, a former reporter who is host to a symbiote with a sense of humour. An ‘OK’ watch, nothing more. Personally, I think there are far too many sequels, prequels and reboots these days. Lack of new ideas? Easy buck to be made? ⭐️⭐️
Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025) is part of the Fear Street franchise. Plenty of limb-severing in this teen slasher but overall a pretty mediocre offering. ⭐️⭐️
Love Rat (2024) is a four-part thriller(?) starring Neil Morrissey and Sally Lindsay available on Channel 5 and Netflix. Lacks suspense and, overall, I found it a bit disappointing considering the cast. ⭐️⭐️
Exterritorial (2025) stars Jeanne Goursaud as an ex-special forces soldier (as always) whose son disappears inside an American consulate and she sets about finding him. Unbelievable storyline but a reasonable action film. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Inside Man: Most Wanted (2025) sees a hotshot NYPD negotiator, an FBI agent and a criminal mastermind lock horns during an attempt to rob the Federal Reserve. Thoroughly enjoyable. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bullet Train Explosion (2025) is a reboot of a movie from 50 years ago and runs for 2hrs 14 mins, uses real trains to add more realism and, despite being a bit on the long side and a strange plot, is entertaining enough. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Working Man (2025), the latest Jason Statham offering, has plenty of action as one has come to expect. Good fun. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Havoc (2025) starring Tom Hardy, Timothy Olyphant and Forrest Whitaker, is an OTT gory action film with suitably high bodycount. Revenge, dirty cops…it has them all in abundance. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Carjackers (2025), a French offering, centres around Nora, a valet driver by day who, with colleagues and friends Zoé, Steve and Prestance, become thieves by night, stealing from evil rich people. Bit of a mishmash at times, but maybe just what you need at the end of a long day. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
G20 (2025) stars Viola Davis in this preposterous action film about the G20 conference coming under siege by mercenaries, a bit Die Hard meets one of the numerous Gerard Butler presidential films meets Airforce One. The US President has to try and save the day by kicking a lot of ass. Mindless action film just when you need one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mending The Line (2022) stars Brian Cox and Sinqua Walls and, despite being an (ultra) slow burn and just over two hours in length, I found it to be quite a captivating film. Moving and enlightening, too. War veterans from different eras and fishing, what more could you ask? Definitely one to watch. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Electric State (2025), a Russo Brothers film, is rumoured to be the most expensive Netflix production to date, costing over 300 million dollars. Although slated by the professional critics (who are usually best ignored), the audience reaction has been much more favourable. Pure escapism. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Calendar Killer (Der Heimweg) (2025) is a German drama/mystery/thriller starring Luise Heyer and Sabin Tambrea. Klara, a young mother, calls a telephone support line for women to get home safely, claiming that she will die that very night at the hands of a notorious killer….unless she kills her husband. Available on Amazon Prime. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Liberation Men (2024) follows Canadian soldiers in World War II Holland who are in a race against the clock to liberate a Dutch town before the Allies begin an artillery bombardment which could have a devastating effect on the local population. Stilted dialogue and wooden acting abound, meaning the film can only aspire to reach the dizzy heights of ‘B movie’, although I doubt it will get there. I kept thinking ‘it must improve’, but it didn’t. Awful movie, well worth missing. ⭐️
Back in Action (2025) sees Cameron Diaz returning to the big screen after a ten year retirement/holiday/sabbatical/rest alongside Jamie Foxx and Glenn Close. Very enjoyable action/comedy. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Army of Thieves (2021) with Mathias Schweighöfer and Natalie Emmanuel. A thief assembles a crew of Interpol’s most wanted individuals to pull off what is considered an impossible heist. A good watch. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sisu (2023) sees a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) cross paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they very soon discover that they have just tangled with no ordinary miner. OTT, gory in parts and just that little bit different. I thoroughly enjoyed it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️