KNEECAP (2024) is a feel good Irish comedy, it’s rowdy and rebellious but in a totally lovable way. It’s not that far from what we used to call a “this year’s THE FULL MONTY!,” I don’t think, except there’s lots of casual cocaine and MDMA use without consequences. But it’s pretty great. It’s just such a winning subject, it’s hard not to have a great time.
I admit I never heard of them before I heard about the movie, but Kneecap are an Irish rap trio. Since the movie they’ve gotten into trouble for supporting Palestine. They condemned the genocide on stage at Coachella, so various pro-Israel groups and politicians went after them, accused them of supporting terrorism, one member even got charged (later dropped by missing a filing deadline). In a rock ’n roll biopic there’s always the part where the most uptight losers imaginable are trying to ratfuck our hero over some ridiculous moral scare bullshit they concocted, and it’s always a period piece so we look back and think wow, it’s crazy that people used to be like that back then, jesus christ. Just ‘cause he wiggled his hips? Here you get to see it in real time. Instant rock ’n roll cred for Kneecap there.
That’s all I really knew, but the KNEECAP movie is a fun fictionalized telling of the group’s origins and rise to fame, kinda like STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON for N.W.A, but with a very different tone and scope fitting the setting of late 2010s West Belfast. (read the rest of this shit…)
I swear I almost watched KPOP DEMON HUNTERS before it was a big deal. Some of the guys in the Action For Everyone circle were talking it up when it first hit Netflix last summer. During the time I put it off it became a cult phenomenon, then just a mainstream hugely popular thing that all children know about and that honestly I’m sick of hearing about. I’m very aware of how uncool it is for me to watch and/or review it at this late date, but I’m the type that is so cool that it doesn’t faze me to be uncool. So I will admit that my mother-in-law watched it before I did. That’s how cool I am.
F1 (advertised as F1® THE MOVIE) is a slick, well made, big budget car racing/Brad Pitt movie. Nothing more or less, really. It’s from Joseph Kosinski, director of 
TRAIN DREAMS is the chillest and maybe artiest of this year’s best picture nominees. It was also nominated for best adapted screenplay (from the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson), best cinematography (Adolpho Veloso) and best original song (Nick Cave). If you never heard of it, it’s because it’s only on Netflix, and because it’s a peaceful, contemplative movie about the unremarkable life of a logger in Idaho. There’s a bit of 
THE RIP is Netflix’s new Gritty Cop Thriller (G.C.T.) written and directed by Joe Carnahan (
I liked 28 DAYS LATER when it came out in 2003 and I liked 
MARSHMALLOW (2025) is a well made summer camp horror movie that manages the impressive feat of not really seeming like a riff on 
BUGONIA is the 2025 movie from director Yorgos Lanthimos, who just did 
Last month I got interested in the indie writer/director Todd Rohal, and reviewed three of his movies: 
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT is last year’s Palme d’Or winning film by Iranian writer/director Jafar Panahi (THE WHITE BALLOON, OFFSIDE). It’s a wrenching drama about ordinary people who were once political prisoners and suddenly stumble across a chance for some payback.
