Honey Don't

Official Australian release date: 28/8/25. Viewed: 31/8/25.
Director: Ethan Coen
Actors: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Charlie Day
Genre: Mystery / Comedy
Rating: MA

‘Honey Don’t!’ is a semi-comedic murder mystery that follows Honey (Qualley), a private investigator as she looks into a series of odd deaths connected to a church run by Reverend Drew (Evans). She has some help from Marty (Day) and MG (Plaza) from the local police. It all starts with a car crash, Cher (Abova) and some gratuitous nudity and a lot of questions.

We sort of meet some of Honey’s family, including niece Corinne (Ryder), and there’s lots of plot points set up, but not necessarily all of them followed through. While there’s some funny moments, there’s no real jokes or hilarious moments, as it tries to be more of a semi-desert, almost 70s (even though it’s modern, with mobile phones) whodunit, with the main twist being that the tough detective is played by a lesbian rather than an old man.

All the cast are good, particularly Qualley, but at less than 90min, it definitely feels like Evans, Plaza and Day are all shortchanged. While looking stylish and with a good soundtrack – and unique titles – it ends up feeling like a set-up to a TV series or multiple films, not a standalone film. It’s not bad, but just leaves a few too many things unresolved.  

Overall: Probably needed more Joel

Gav’s Rating: 3 stars

 

Primitive War

Official Australian release date: 21/8/25. Viewed: 25/8/25.

Director: Luke Sparke
Actors: Ryan Kwanten, Carlos Sanson, Tricia Helfer, Jeremy Piven
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Rating: MA

‘Primitive War’ is a low-budget, Australian-made film, set in 1968 during the Vietnam War. The twist? There’s dinosaurs in the Vietnamese jungle for some reason! After a quick set-up where some US special forces go missing, Colonel Jericho (Piven) sends in Vulture Squad to find them, led by Sergeant Baker (Kwanten). These 7 men all head into the jungle and hang around longer than I expected! There’s a fair bit of ‘Predator’ influence at times.

All of them get some time for us to know them, primarily Baker and Leon (Sanson). They somehow run into a Russian scientist, Sofia (Helfer), who mentions multiple times how she saved their lives. It’s a bit drawn out in the middle/first hour, but we slowly get introduced to little raptors and then a T Rex to keep things interesting. It is a little long at 2 hours 10min, with some long exposition scenes and the whole wormhole plot could’ve been cut down.

Regardless, director Sparke has saved the budget for the final 45min, where it’s dinosaur overload – the CGI is pretty good, arguably more realistic than some ‘Jurassic Park’s, with feathered raptors, different looking Brontosaurus and just-different-enough Tyrannosaurs. Unlike the last 3 ‘Jurassic World’ films – and ‘65’ – it avoids the main let-down of these films, by having a good amount of violence and gore/dinosaur attacks/jump scares. The soundtrack is solid, the Gold Coast occasionally looks like it could be Vietnam, the actors are mostly OK, but we’re all here to see dinosaurs and a high body-count – and ‘Primitive War’ delivers.

Overall: Dinosaurs and high body-count, hard not to enjoy!

Gav’s Rating: 3.5 stars

The Naked Gun

Official Australian release date: 21/8/25. Viewed: 22/8/25.
Director: Akiva Schaffer
Actors: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston, Paul Walter Hauser
Genre: Comedy
Rating: M

‘The Naked Gun’ is a reboot/sequel to the 1988/91/94 ‘Naked Gun’ films, with Frank Drebin (Liam Neeson) playing the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin. Frank Junior’s partner at the LA Police Squad is Ed (Walter Hauser), with Beth (Anderson) as the love interest, and Cane (Huston) as the bad guy. The plot’s not too dissimilar to ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. It’s from the director of ‘Hot Rod’, ‘The Watch’ and ‘Popstar’, if that’s any guidance.

The film does a pretty good job of doing the same type of silly comedy as the originals, with lots of sight gags, absurd set pieces (the giant claw), mispronunciation and inner-monologue jokes. I did quite like the recurring takeaway coffee cup gag. Neeson plays it all very straight and is quite good, playing off his action-hero persona from the past 2 decades – also impressive since he’s now 73.

At only 75min, the film doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. It’s definitely has some laugh-out-loud moments, but maybe not as many as hoped for. Lots of smirks and little nods. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but is still good to have comedy on the big screen. The overall tone is not quite as good as the originals, but it’s definitely not going to have Neilsen rolling in his grave. The credits scene is quite innovative and fun.

Overall: Solid attempt at old-school humour

Gav’s Rating: 3 stars

 

The Life of Chuck

Official Australian release date: 14/8/25. Viewed: 17/8/25.
Director: Mike Flanagan
Actors: Tom Hiddleston, Benjamin Pajak, Chiwetel Ejifor, Mark Hamill
Genre: Drama / Fantasy
Rating: MA

‘The Life of Chuck’ – you could be mistaken for thinking this is a Marvel film – the first 4 actors we see are Marty (Ejifor), Felicia (Gillan), Chuck (Hiddleston) and Sam (Lumbly). The film doesn’t give away too much, and purposely starts with “Act 3”, building the mystery and sci-fi aspect. Marty and Felicia ground this part. We then flesh out who Chuck the adult is in Act 2. It’s then all pulled together beautifully in Act 1.

I won’t give away too much, other than to say it had the potential to be depressing, but isn’t. As it’s based on a Stephen King work, it’s closer to ‘The Green Mile’ than ‘The Shining’, if that helps. It’s interesting to see how they pull together so well the subjects of dancing, astronomy and philosophy. All the cast are strong, but it’s ~11-year old Chuck (Pajak) who really steals the show and drives everything home. He’s helped by his grandparents, with Albie (Hamill in an excellent non-Star Wars role) and Bubbe (Sara) being key players.

It's sort of a reverse coming-of-age story, and has a few smiles, but mostly leaves you with a tear in the eye. I’d say it has some similarities with ‘La La Land’ and ‘Here’, but is better than both. Quite fast-paced at 110min, with some smart cinematography and a great soundtrack.

Overall: Heartwarming tale that makes you want to dance

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars

 

Weapons

Official Australian release date: 7/8/25. Viewed: 9/8/25.
Director: Zach Cregger
Actors: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong
Genre: Mystery / Horror
Rating: MA

‘Weapons’ is another above-average, not run-of-the-mill horror, from the director of ‘Barbarian’. No spoilers here, as the trailer and first 5min gives away the main premise – all 17 kids from one classroom run away from their homes and disappear one night. The only student left at school the next day is Alex (Christopher) and his teacher Justine (Garner). The film then uses a nice device of following each of the 6 main characters for about 15min, before everything coalesces for the final act.

This layering, works well, each section not giving away too much, but enough to let the audience start putting the pieces together. We follow Justine initially, who’s blamed by all the parents; then Archer (Brolin) one of the parents of a missing child, then Paul (Ehrenreich) a cop; then James (Abrams) a local junkie; then Marcus (Wong), Justine’s Principal; and finally Alex the kid. How each segment interacts is done superbly, with very limited overlap. The horror and/or gore does not necessarily escalate in each segment either.

The score and cinematography are great, and it all moves quite fast, even though it’s just over 2 hours long. Some laughs, some good tension and jumps, but noting too strenuous for too long. The final act is quite hectic and fitting – a good conclusion that doesn’t necessarily answer every question. I’m still left asking a little bit: “what were the cops doing?”! Well worth a watch.

Overall: Intriguing, well-paced thriller

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars

Together

Official Australian release date: 31/7/25. Viewed: 3/8/25.
Director: Michael Shanks
Actors: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Damon Herriman, Mia Morrissey
Genre: Horror / Comedy
Rating: MA
 

‘Together’ is a very solid horror film, nothing crazily new or too over-the-top, but very satisfying. We follow Millie (Brie) and Tim (Franco) as they leave the big city and move to a small rural town so she can teach, leading you to think this might be an ‘Evil Dead’/‘Cabin in the Woods’ situation, but it’s not. There’s glimpses of what’s to come, but everything is paced out really well and builds appropriately.

The cast is small – we meet Millie’s colleague/neighbour Jamie (Herriman) and friend Cath (Morrissey), but no-one else really has more than 5min screentime, showing how strong the leads are. The horror doesn’t get too psychological, but there’s subtle changes, interspersed with some great jump scares. It’s also surprisingly funny and has lots of humour, mostly due to Franco & Brie’s chemistry and the situations they get into.

This is Australian director Shanks’ debut film, shot around Melbourne, and is quite assured – this is turning into a great year for Aussie horror films, following ‘Dangerous Animals’ and ‘Bring Her Back’. There’s some gruesome moments, some solid CGI and a pretty left-field ending – and all under 100min. Brie and Franco are great, as always, and it’s nice to see them acting together. Pretty much all you want in a horror film.

Overall: Fun, different horror with great leads.

Gav’s Rating: 4 stars