leebutler Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Another Simple Favour (2025) – Meh-mbo Italiano

Released: 1st May
Seen: 13th May

In 2018 a little film called A Simple Favour came out to rapturous applause. A fun, extravagant murder mystery thriller with a pair of female leads at the top of their game that delivered on every single front, it was a smash hit all around. I personally loved it so much that I named it the best film of the year that it came out and it came out in the same year that Avengers: Infinity War came out so the bar was high. That was 7 years ago, with the additional time and looking back on their cultural impact I have to admit that maybe I put it too high on the list (lists of that nature are never perfect, merely reflecting the critics belief in the moment they create the list) but I still stand by it being an absolutely brilliant movie that probably should’ve had a sequel years ago. We finally have got one, but was the wait too long for another favour?

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leebutler Comedy, Horror, Mystery, Review

Heart Eyes (2025) – Love

Released: 13th February
Seen: 13th May

The Holiday Slasher is an idea that basically defined the boom period of the slasher genre back in the 80s, the idea being that a producer could just pick any random holiday and make a movie around it. This simple idea led us down the rabbit hole of My Bloody Valentine, Leprechaun, Silent Night Deadly Night, Thanksgiving and about a hundred other horror films of varying quality. Of course, lately there’s been a lot less of this kind of film, mostly because every holiday was already handled by a film from the 80s, so there’s not much new territory to tread on here. If you can’t do something new though, at least do something fun, and Heart Eyes is doing something very fun.

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leebutler Comedy, Drama, Horror, Review

The Ugly Stepsister (2025) – Cinder-hell-a

Released: 9th May
Seen: 11th May

The story of Cinderella is one that’s been told more times than anyone would be insane enough to count. It’s been animated, it’s been turned into multiple musicals, it’s been parodied and referenced and put in every position that the insane creative mind can consider. It’s even been the subject of many horror films over the years, which makes sense considering the Brothers Grimm iteration of the story is particularly brutal. Indeed several major versions of the story lean into some pretty violent imagery, the Into The Woods version of the story has the stepsisters cutting off their heels in a direct reference to the Brothers Grimm while the Revolting Rhymes version by Roald Dahl had the prince lopping off heads, so this is a story that’s perfect for a horror retelling. The Ugly Stepsister tackles the story from the genre of Body Horror and does a beautiful job at it.

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leebutler Comedy, Drama, Netflix, Review

Kinda Pregnant (2025) – Pregnant Pause

Released: 21st March
Seen: 26th April

Amy Schumer is one of those comics who always gets a bad rap and is a common target of some pretty intense online vitriol. If you ever hear some online douchebag proclaim that women aren’t funny, her name will be one of the first ones to come out of their shithole mouths. Now I believe that Amy can be a pretty funny comic performer when she has the right material, her work on the Comedy Central Roasts was universally great, her first film Trainwreck was hilarious, her TV series Inside Amy Schumer had some brilliant sketches that still hold up to this day and I’ll even say she was a good co-host of the Oscars a few years ago. She has her problems as a performer, but she is capable of being very funny… just not in Kinda Pregnant, but that’s because there’s not much about that film in general that would be considered funny.

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leebutler Action, Comedy, Netflix, Review

Back In Action (2025) – Dull and Lifeless

Released: 17th January
Seen: 22nd April

In 2014, Cameron Diaz did something quite admirable. After the release of Annie, she announced her retirement to spend more time with her kids. Considering this was Cameron Diaz, one of THE major movie stars of the era, for her to stop working on her own accord was a major thing. This was one of those celebrities who could sell a movie just on their name alone being attached. She had a two-decade-long career that was the envy of many others in her generation, and then she just chose to stop acting. People have been hoping she’d make a return for ages, almost since the day she announced her retirement, but she stuck to her guns until this year when she took part in the Netflix film appropriately titled Back in Action, her grand return to the movies… she deserved better.

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leebutler Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Review, Sci-Fi

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2025) – What’s Up Doc?

Released: 27th March
Seen: 29th March

The Day The Earth Blew Up

David Zaslav is probably one of the worst executives any movie studio has ever had to suffer under, at least in my opinion. Sure, there are many morally worse than him and some who should probably just die in prison for what they have done. However, in terms of how they have abused their stature in the industry to destroy the art of others, few are as reviled as Zaslav. The man runs Warner Brothers and yet seems to hate anything to do with animation, notably removing large amounts of historic Looney Tunes cartoons from the studio’s streaming service and infamously cancelling the completed film Coyote VS Acme. It honestly has started to feel like the man in charge of one of the most legendary animation IP brands of all time was going to kill it through sheer incompetence as a studio head… but fortunately for us, one slipped through his slimy fingers and made it out into the world and it’s one of the best animated films in recent memory.

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leebutler Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Review, Sci-Fi

Mickey 17 (2025) – Hey Mickey

Released: 6th March
Seen: 23rd March

Mickey 17 Info Image Directed and Written By - Bong Joon Ho Starring - Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun

In 2020, the Oscars did something genuinely cool. For the first time in the history of the ceremony, a non-English language film won Best Picture, a moment that might be the last actually good thing to happen in 2020. The film in question, Parasite, took home four awards that night for Screenplay, Directing, International film and Best Picture. The director, Bong Joon ho, instantly became a major player and whatever film he made after Parasite was going to be a big deal so we all waited for over half a decade for his next big feature film. That film has finally come out after half a decade and as expected, Bong Joon Ho has delivered something truly spectacular in his latest work, Mickey 17.

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The Electric State Header Image
leebutler Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Netflix, Review, Sci-Fi

The Electric State (2025) – Shockingly Bland

Released: 14th March
Seen: 16th March 

In the last few decades, filmmaking has gotten more expensive. It was not that long ago that the idea of spending even $50 million on a single film sounded insane, now you’re lucky to find a film that costs under $100 million that isn’t an indie film. According to Wikipedia, there are 89 films that (adjusted for inflation) cost over $200 million and only six of those films are pre-2000. This is a crisis state that’s setting up films to fail and put hardworking filmmakers out of jobs and it doesn’t help when a film that costs $320 million to produce is as meaningless and forgettable and undoubtedly financially devastating as The Electric State.

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leebutler Comedy, Drama, Review

A Real Pain (2024) – Hauntingly Hilarious

Released: 26th December 2024
Seen: 24th Feburary 2025

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is a phrase that we really need to say more often nowadays because it feels like people have chosen to intentionally not remember the past and are actively trying to repeat it. One of the things from our past that it feels like we’re currently getting a bit of a refresher course on is the horrors of Nazi Germany, because for some reason we thought that could only happen in Germany. It was a true horror, one that people have tried to ensure they never forget for nearly 100 years and this includes people making trips to the actual camps so they can get a better sense of what their ancestors went through. This is the kind of trip that should be an emotional one that’s designed to connect people with their history but it’s become something of a commercial venture and that strange feeling is the subject of A Real Pain which is a really fascinating experience.

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leebutler Comedy, Drama, Review, Romance

Anora (2024) – Anora-ble

Released: 26th December 2024
Seen: 22nd February 2025

When it comes to film, stories about sex workers are often played badly. Be they stories about strippers, porn stars or escorts there’s always this vibe that the person doing the sex work (usually a woman, let’s be honest) requires saving from the industry. She might be tough but she’s also a damsel in distress who is only doing this job because she has no choice. Recently there have been some films that are at least trying to improve how they portray people in that industry, films like Hustlers make them into a charming gaggle of powerful women who control their destinies, films like X or Maxxxine present porn stars as whole beings (albeit beings that end up being victims of killers but still, they’re people who deserve dignity) and then there’s Anora. One of the big Oscar darlings of the year with 6 nominations, Anora presents a sex worker with rough edges who is still a human being that doesn’t deserve the shit she’s put through and it’s a wildly fascinating time.

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