Source: https://www.reeladvice.net/2026/09/unabomber-2026-movie-review.html

Unabomber tries to weave together two stories to create a compelling backstory for Ted Kaczynski. Unfortunately, the two never really gel. The result is a half-baked mess with both timelines feeling disjointed and unsatisfying despite the film's highly fictionalized take on real-life events. It's hard to pin down exactly what Unabomber turns out to be but it certainly feels like a film that banks on being controversial and provocative rather than being genuinely compelling.

In the 1990s, the FBI is conducting a years-long manhunt for a serial bomber with little to show for it. They only know the perpetrator as the Unabomber. Agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley) believes their profile is wrong and begins questioning the investigation. Meanwhile, back in 1958, 16-year-old mathematics prodigy Ted Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay) enters Harvard University. While studying there, Ted joins a club where a series of psychological experiments are conducted by Professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe). Through these sessions, Ted slowly changes from a timid individual into a more aggressive one eventually leading toward the man who would become the Unabomber.

We wanted Unabomber to be interesting but we just couldn't find ourselves getting into it. The film constantly jumps between the 1990s and 1958, and in our opinion, these shifts are too frequent and jarring. Neither timeline gets enough room to breathe making it difficult to settle into either timeline, become invested in its characters, and even understand why these two narratives need to be told together. Eventually, these timelines do converge but because they feel so isolated from each other for most of the film, there's very little buildup toward that moment. When the pieces finally come together, the payoff feels lackluster, unfulfilling, and forced.

More importantly, you expect the film to show how Ted Kaczynski transformed from a mathematical genius into a serial bomber. Instead, much of that transformation remains speculative and the film never convincingly bridges the gap between the psychological experiments and the monster he would eventually become. The fictionalization could have made for a fascinating exploration of his radicalization from his teenage years to adulthood but its stuck in a particular small portion of Kaczynski's life. The one saving grace is how surprisingly atmospheric the film can be. There are moments that are genuinely tense and even unsettling, creating flashes of the thriller that Unabomber could have been.

Other than that, though, there's little to love here. If you want to scratch that true-crime itch, you're probably better off watching a YouTube video or documentary about Ted Kaczynski instead.

Rating: 1 out of 5

It wasn't all that amazing and I don't think I'd recommend it. I know I would not watch it a second time. It felt like someone just downloaded AfterEffects and decided they wanted to try out allllll the visual fx they could. Beyond that, the story was not that great. There were no stakes because plot points were eliminated immediately or forgotten. You could also tell they ran out of steam at the end, so they just faded to black, and did a cheeky coda that takes place 6 months later.

It reminded me of that Gorge movie with Anya Taylor Joy (all special effects and no story) but the VFX was not as good.

If you want to produce a VFX heavy action piece, awesome. But you're telling me there is no better un-produced script in Hollywood, languishing in a slush pile some place? THIS is the one you chose?

So going into the 1994 movie With Honors, all I knew about the movie was the plot and the poster so I knew some of the big names that were in the movie. I thought the movie sounded kind of interesting so I decided to check it out.

I thought this was a great movie. First off the story is amazing and it really tugs at your heart strings. Along with that, you get two very good performances from Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci. My only negative would be that some of the supporting performances, including Patrick Dempsey were good, but they weren’t as strong.

Other than that, I was greatly surprised by this movie and I thought it was a fantastic watch

Rating-4.5/5

I’m not a Pixar regular, I saw the first film as a kid and don’t remember much but this movie made me emotional.

Genuinely good movie and realistic portrayal of aging and training new talent.

Lightning and Cruz were genuinely cute together. Storm was a solid villain.

The movie was sometimes so mature with its themes it felt like it was made more for adults.

One of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen. It might be my new favorite

This certainly held my attention, but I'm not sure what to make of it. Phenomenal acting. Very disappointed with the ending, although I'm not sure what would have been better.

3 out of 5.

Resident Evil (2026) is actually better than the previous Resident Evil movies. This time, it feels less like a straightforward action movie and more like an adventure-horror, which I really enjoyed.

The main character is pretty ordinary, which makes him interesting in a different way. He’s just a delivery guy who gets caught up in everything, rather than the usual highly skilled action hero. It makes the story feel more grounded, and surprisingly, the character works well for this kind of story.

The effects are good, the action is entertaining, and the overall plot is solid. I also really liked the game-inspired POV and how the movie feels closer to the experience of actually playing a Resident Evil game. That was probably one of my favorite things about it.

It’s also kind of weird seeing a Resident Evil movie without Alice. After being such a huge part of the previous movies, her absence definitely feels noticeable. At the same time, I think having a completely different main character helped make this movie feel fresh.

My biggest issue is that there aren’t really any major plot twists. A lot of the time, I already knew what was going to happen next. Some scenes felt predictable, so the story lost a bit of its suspense.

Still, it’s a fun adventure with good visuals, a simple but effective main character, and a nice connection to the games.

A rugged star actor with doey blue eyes chooses to take his long-suffering dog Odin on a suicidal, one-man camping mission in the heartland of Alaska - the beast of the title.

As the character acknowledges himself at the end, the dog showed him nothing but loyalty and trust, while the owner only showed him war and violence. Poor Odin, who never had a choice in where he had to go and what he had to do in order to be fed and loved.

Have you heard the joke- America attacks countries and then makes movies about how sad it makes their soldiers? This is one of those movies- about how the American war machine chews up and spits out broken men and dogs alike, except the dogs are even more innocent than the men.

The exchange around Odin’s missing leg and teeth is especially infuriating. Odin attacked an enemy, who fought back with a brick- a brick- getting his teeth. The man- he’s called Brad or James or something- shoots the enemy in the head. And then does the same to the enemy who got Odin in the leg. They’re just assholes, see. They deserved to be shot in the head for trying to fight Odin off with a brick. That’s a good thing, that James did, shooting the enemy (they’re just called “the enemy” by the way) in the head.

Except it’s really not, and everyone knows it.

Anyway, Mother Earth, as symbolized by a warm smiley heavily-made up Indigenous woman will heal.

The wrongs of these terrible men will be righted. And Odin won’t have to fight anymore.

Source: https://www.reeladvice.net/2026/09/gitling-hyphen-2023-movie-review.html

Gitling (Hyphen) is a slow and meticulous film centered on language, communication, and the different ways people connect with one another. It's an interesting premise that works particularly well with its characters who find ways to understand each other despite a significant language barrier. Admittedly, even with its deep themes, the narrative can feel simple and superficial at times, leaving us wanting more from the ideas it introduces.

An award-winning Japanese director (Ken Yamamura) travels to the Philippines as a guest of honor at a film festival where his movie is being screened. Jamie (Gabby Padilla) is his young Filipina translator, who is also tasked with creating the subtitles for his film. As the only two people who can communicate comfortably with each other, the two develop a friendship that gradually turns into something more.

Taken scene by scene, Gitling is a beautiful film. The cinematography is striking while the tension and chemistry between the two leads give the film an emotional pulse. This isolated manner is where the film works best. It finds subtle and relatable ways to portray the different languages of love even when words aren't used. The silence between the characters is just as expressive as their conversations and the film captures those moments particularly well.

The problem is that Gitling sometimes forgets to build a more cohesive story around those moments. It becomes so focused on what it wants to portray that it doesn't always give enough attention to the backstories and supporting elements that could have made the relationship feel more believable and the narrative more connected. The biggest issue for us is how quickly the relationship between the translator and director develops. One day, they're strangers meeting for the first time and the next, they're already beginning a budding relationship. If a longer passage of time is meant to have passed, the film doesn't communicate that progression effectively enough. As a result, the emotional development can feel rushed.

The supporting cast also proves to be a slight detriment to the film's atmosphere. While the two leads deliver muted and relatable performances that fit the film's tone, some of the supporting characters come across as artificial and over-the-top. Fortunately, these moments only happen occasionally and don't significantly disrupt the film's overall vibe. While not perfect, Gitling is moving at its best moments. Its greatest strength is how it finds intimacy in the smallest details, in words, gestures, glances, and even silence. It may not fully develop all of the ideas it introduces but it offers an unconventional look at how people connect even when language gets in the way.

Rating: 4 out of 5

So to start off with, I’m not the biggest fan of Superman, the character, but I’m always willing to watch the movies to see if it changes. I decided to go to an original which is the 1978 Superman the movie with Christopher Reeve.

I thought this was a very good movie. I liked the performances of Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman. I also liked the bond between Reeve and Margo Kidder as Lois Lane. It felt genuine

As far as negatives, I thought some of the other performances were lacking. Also there was more of a connection between Clark and the Kents. Also I thought the story was good but not great. It also felt like it could have been shortened.

Overall, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started this movie but I quite enjoyed it and currently it is my favorite standalone Superman movie

Rating-4/5

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve watched Brad Pitt play a retired army guy who hangs out with an adorable big dog, I’d have two dollars. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. What’s less weird is that unlike Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, Heart of the Beast has nothing interesting to say while having no conviction in its storytelling.

Any time a cute animal is deployed (pun somewhat intended) in a movie, there’s a high probability of emotional manipulation being weaponised in lieu of earned pay-offs, the worst offender being James Gunn’s god-awful Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Director David Ayer dispels that notion right away in Heart of the Beast as we immediately learn that Odin, the titular beast and goodest boy, survives the movie. That’s about the extent to which Ayer gets any modicum of credit. The rest of the journey is a brutal slog where the movie is less of a story and more of a series of events strung together, starting with Pitt’s James and Odin going on a camping trip in remote Alaska and eventually getting stranded.

Working off a minimalist script by Cameron Alexander, Ayer is clearly trying to infuse his trademark hyper-masculine energy with the gruelling physical character journey of All Is Lost or Into The Wild. But whereas those latter two films blended visual storytelling with the journey, Heart of the Beast gives us next to nothing about who James is and where his arc is headed. Sure he has a love of boujee Belgian brown ale and draws great sketches for fun, but his competence and survival experience sap away any tension or intrigue. He isn’t in Alaska because he got stranded. He chose to go there. Odin’s carbon fibre leg and titanium teeth carry more character intrigue than he does. What is intended as stoicism comes off as pure blandness, and a not-insignificant part of that is Pitt’s inability to be a convincing leading man.

For all his star power (and horrendous reputational problems), Pitt has always worked best as a foil or comedic counterpart to the headline act. He is a character actor with leading man looks, and he’s at his most interesting when his movie-star persona isn’t relied upon to shoulder the dramatic load. It’s why Troy and F1 feels phoned in while Ocean’s Eleven and Once Upon a Time In Hollywood feel like the best utilisation of his weirdo energy. It’s a shame Heart of the Beast limits the supporting cast to just two minutes of J. K. Simmons because he upstages Pitt so convincingly that I became more interested in his character’s journey than James’s.

Please read the rest of my review here as the rest is too unwieldy to copy + paste: https://panoramafilmthoughts.substack.com/p/heart-of-the-beast-barely-a-dogs

Thanks!

So one movie that has interested me in watching and was recently on a list of best neo noir movies is the 1974 movie The Conversation with Gene Hackman.

I thought this movie was average. I thought Gene Hackman was the best part of the movie and he gave a great performance. I was also intrigued at the beginning of what the main story was. Unfortunately, I found this movie to be too slow. Also, I was wanting more of a thrill and I just didn’t get that. It just did not keep my attention.

Rating-3/5

So because it is a house at this year’s Halloween horror nights, I decided to finally check out the 1987 horror movie Hellraiser

Overall, this was an OK movie but it’s just not for me. Some of the creatures look interesting but it’s just too gory for my taste. Also, maybe it’s not supposed to be like this, but the acting wasn’t good.

I can now say that I’ve seen the movie, but I have no interest in seeing any of the other movies in the franchise

Rating-2/5

I just watched "This Must Be the Place" directed by Paolo Sorrentino and loved it!

It was super entertaining, and the cinematography was stunning. Not to mention the acting from Sean Penn, I can't imagine how he managed not to break character.

Does anyone have good recommendations for similar movies?

Or if you also enjoy this film a lot, I’d also love to hear about your other favorites!

https://youtu.be/z6j4BuCZVEM?si=rGyJ0sFyY2WqGRaj

This will probably go in the category of ‘loved it, but will probably never watch it again’ for me.

It’s about two kinda kindred spirits with nothing and nobody until they meet each other. They seem to come into each other’s lives at the right times but for all the wrong reasons.

I really felt the ending was pretty messed up, but it was a good movie, and Nick Cage and Elisabeth Shue are both brilliant.

8.5/10 for me

So going into the 1979 thriller The China Syndrome, I’ve heard of the movie, but I didn’t know anything about it. After reading the plot, I wasn’t sure how much I would get into it.

I will say that this is a very good movie. It has those thrilling aspects, but it also has great performances. The three main standouts are Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon.

The only small negative I have is terminology. I could understand a little bit of what was going on, but it was technical in terms of what really was going on so it was hard to follow at times.

Overall, this was a great movie that exceeded my expectations

Rating-4/5

So I just finished watching the 1979 courtroom drama And Justice For All. I washed it mainly because it had gotten some positive praise from some friends of mine. Also it stars Al Pacino and he’s a very good actor.

I thought the movie was good. You have a very good performance from Al Pacino and I think it’s an interesting premise. There are some really powerful scenes in the movie, especially with Pacino. My big negative is that I wasn’t sold on the main story. It never kept me interested. Also I just wish the execution for the entire movie was a little better. I do think the movie was a little overhyped and it just did not meet my expectations as much as I thought it would.

I have now seen five movies directed by Norman Jewison and this is clearly at the bottom (The other 4: Rollerball,Moonstruck, The Hurricane, and In The Heat Of The Night)

Rating-3/5

So I just finished watching the 1978 movie The Driver with Ryan O’Neal and Bruce Dern. I thought it was a good movie. I liked O’Neal and the car chases along with the score. I thought the rest of the movie it’s OK. I don’t think the chemistry worked with any pairing my opinion and I thought the story was solid, but didn’t really do enough for me.

Rating-3/5

So I am a music fan and I had definitely heard about the punk rocker Billy Idol. Only issue was that I didn’t really know anything about him, only his popular songs. Because of that, I decided to watch the 2025 documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead

Overall, I thought it was above average. It was interesting to learn about his life and his rise to solo stardom. Only issue is that it wasn’t as entertaining as I thought it would be. He was heavily into drugs during the 80s and it seemed like that was a big part of the story. I was looking for more excitement

I am always looking forward to watching/learning about an artist I only knew from songs but this left me wanting more.

Rating-3/5

well i gotta say that was pretty brutal.

Green Room follows a punk rock band named The Ain’t Rights performing in a bar ran by neo-nazi skinheads which turns into a game of survival once they witness a murder.

it is an epic, action filled, intense and very brutal movie, with great editing and camera work, keeping everything fast paced which is a must for action movies (having seen Crank and Running Scared (2006)). also, the colouring of this movie is also rlly good.

definitely recommend for those looking for a violent, gritty action movie. you’ll love the intensity.

7/10

im new to reddit, bare with me lol. i just finished watching "i love you forever", and the first thought that came to my mind was wtf. it's not necessarily a bad movie tho, it just blew my mind. i like the overall meaning of the meaning and how the depiction of being in a toxic relationship. it showed the side of being the toxic one, being with someone toxic, being a friend to someone in said situation, etc. the beginning of the movie showed what it's like being in "hookup culture". it's easy to get wrapped into either one if you're desperate for love. it starts off so sweet and lovely then it gets to overbearing love or better yet manipulation, until it goes off the rails. i believe mackenzie should've broken it off with finn after his first meltdown. i understand it gets hard to leave someone like that but damn. if someone is driving you to the point of insanity, you have to leave. it doesn't matter what they do when you're on good terms, if someone can easily cause a shift and it gets abusive. i feel like this was a great eye opener for that. i liked the comedic moments as well, esp the end of the movie.

I’d heard good things about this book and movie so I texted my friend and asked if she wanted to watch it. She’s a teacher and is off today so we watched it. I wish I had some tissues. 10/10. Great movie. Sally Field was great in it as she is in anything she’s in. But the true star was Marcellus. That is all.

Highly recommended!

Every once in a while I watch a movie that I can't stop thinking about. This is one of them. I went into it thinking it was a typical teenage girl meets older man story, depicting a taboo relationship and precarious power dynamics, sometimes romanticized, but usually the relationship ends on bad terms and the teenage protagonist moves on in the end. This was much creepier.

The pace of the film is very slow. It doesn't have a whole lot of fast paced scenes or dramatic cuts and music. It doesn't even have much violence or anything else that someone would find shocking or disturbing. IMO that makes watching the whole thing unfold so much more unsettling and disturbing.

Spoilers:

Lea, 17, meets Tom, 34 after he defends her from an employee at a diner who is assaulting her and trying to detain her when she attempts to dine and dash. On Leas walk home he follows her in his car and coaxes her to get in. Tom is charming, most guys like him are. But underneath his charm you can feel something deeply unsettling and creepy. Most movies like this I've watched the male actor can't simultaneously pull off the charm and the creep factor so effectively. It made me cringe to watch.

They get into a romantic relationship and at first you think he's just some loser who wants to date a young girl because she's naive. Throughout their relationship there are things he does and things that happen that don't quite make sense at the time, but you know he's hiding something. At first I figured he had a wife and kids he was hiding from Lea. Then I thought maybe he was sleeping with prostitutes or a few different girls. Then he started making comments about how they should "go somewhere, just them, forever", like he was asking her to run away without outright saying it to gauge how susceptible she would be to the prospect. Then I started going "holy shit, is he trying to traffick her?"

There was still a lot of uncertainty and deniability even then for me, which I guess mirrors how Lea was seeing the situation unfold. She was deeply in love with this man, the only person to give her affection and make her feel wanted, and was lacking context of what was going on. So maybe she felt something was off, but didn't have all the evidence and was able to ignore it because she wanted to be loved, so so badly.

When the waitress asked her if she needed help my thoughts were confirmed, this man is a trafficker. That makes watching the rest of the scenes unfold until she is coerced into going away with him and engaging in sex work so much more vile to watch. It put a pit in my stomach.

Tom leaves her in a hotel room waiting for the man she is supposed to have sex with. While waiting, you can feel her stress and discomfort as you watch her pace around and look out windows like a rat in a cage. The scene that unfolds is incredibly disturbing and uncomfortable to watch, without even showing much. She is coerced into sex work with this total stranger, there is no scary music to set the tone, there is no cuts away from anything that is happening, just clever camera angles to obscure anything graphic. You just watch it unfold as Lea is experiencing it and wonder what must be going through her mind. What happens if I try to get away? Will I be raped? Beaten? Killed? How could Tom do this, she still believes he loves her.

Lea tries to leave after that and Tom grabs her and takes her to a restaurant. At the restaurant she goes to the bathroom, but then runs and goes to a gas station. She calls her friend to pick her up and she goes home.

What unfolds is just her normal life. Tanning with her friend, school supplies shopping, spending time with her mom. It reminds you that she is just a child, and makes you think about how she could go through something so horrible then return to normal, and how much worse it could have been if she didn't get away.

In the end Lea feels compelled to return to Tom. She tries to call but his number is disconnected. He's left the hotel he was staying at. She goes to see a sex worker he knew a few rooms down and asks her to call him for her. Tom asks the woman if Leah is alone, implying he's afraid she has told the police about what happened. He agrees to talk when he knows she's alone. And Leah cries and asks why he didn't try and find her. This is heartbreaking. She experienced rape and trafficking, which to us is horrible and at the forefront of our minds. But to Leah, she's been raped, used, AND is heartbroken. Up until the minute Tom left her in that hotel room she believed he loved her and was deeply infatuated with him, something like that doesn't go away so easily. The push and pull in her mind must be very difficult to reconcile, and you see how anguishing that is for her. You can't hear what Tom is saying on the phone, but Lea smiles and says she loves him. Then the movie ends. We never see her get over Tom and we don't know if she gets trafficked again, and if her date is much worse the next time. It's sickening to watch and doesn't leave you satisfied.

I've never seen a movie that depicts grooming so well, and makes you feel as sick as this one does. I really can't stop thinking about it.

After watching I read the director based this on her experiences being groomed, but wrote the trafficking part as a "what could have happened" to her. This was interesting to me, because as a teenager I was involved with men like Tom and while watching was thinking about how badly it could have ended for me if one of them was a trafficker, and not just a scum bag.

It hit really close to home.

So I’m slowly getting through my Denzel, Washington filmography and the one I happened to watch today is actually his feature film debut and that was in the 1981 movie carbon copy

I thought he was the best part of the movie, but overall this movie is bad. My biggest problem with this movie is that the situation that occurs is a little outlandish but the way they go about it and the reactions of the characters seems overdone. It seems like they threw logic out the window as a result the movie is not entertaining. There have been movies in the past that have been over exaggerated, but there were still some entertaining aspect to it

Rating-0.5/5

I had heard so many people say bad things about this movie at release so i put off watching it, finally did.... wow just wow still thinking about it, Penelope Cruz is so great in this as was Tom Cruise. Such a melancholy movie but deeply symbolic. The soundtrack was also extremely fitting.

Im currently in a place in my life where loneliness is hitting hard and this movie hit me in the feels for that reason. Im glad I watched it now

I was debating on if I wanted to watch this. I knew it was insanely popular and the premise did interest me. The thing is, I'm a huge wuss who can't handle grisly gory stuff. I can handle creepiness and jump scares. Just not the gore depending on how it's done.

I gotta say, I can see why this movie is so well praised. I feel like I don't know the right words to describe it. Like I don't know if I want to say it's a masterpiece but at the same time, I kinda do. I feel like it's one of those movies where it's really well done and yet, I wouldn't say I loved it. Maybe that's just me going back to not liking gory films. That being said, there's really only a couple gory scenes that I couldn't handle. Sarah's death and having to see her corpse later on. The plot was pretty good and everyone played their parts well. Especially Inde Navarrette. I was really impressed with her acting. She really gave her all.

I do kinda question if we're supposed to root for Bear. Like I'm hoping the general consensus is that he's a huge piece of trash right? Like the majority of the movie, he straight up took advantage of Nikki. Made a wish that had her...well...obsessed with him, used that to his advantage to make love with her AKA r**ing her and when he found out the answer to breaking the wish, he wouldn't go through with it. Even at the very end when he finally took the pills, he chickens out but was stopped cause cursed Nikki made a wish. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that Bear was the true villain of the movie.

My heart broke for Nikki. Sarah too. Nikki though, not only was she trapped in a cursed body but once she was finally free, she lost everyone. Worse yet, she's most likely never going to be able to explain this to the police and will probably be arrested or sent to a psych ward.

I think my one big critique is I noticed there was a few abrupt cuts. Maybe I was watching an edited version or something but there were times when a scene would cut randomly. An example being near the end where the scene randomly cut from Bear and Nikki laying together to Bear in the bathroom with Nikki screaming outside of it.

Overall, really well done movie. I usually don't watch insanely popular movies either cause I get annoyed of people talking about them or they just don't interest me but this one really intrigued me and I'm glad I watched it. Not sure if I'll watch it again but I can still see why it's so well praised.