Minter Views

The Woman In Cabin 10
Available on Netflix
Starring Keira Knightley and some Central casting s**theads

We need more of this. A murder mystery that wraps up in 95 minutes. It's basically a perfectly told mystery in a time sensitive fashion. Order dinner, watch the flick and then head out for a night on the town.
Who cares about the mystery, we have seen it all before.
What we Haven't seen is the "twist" and that is what we are her for after all.
It's vapid and somewhat predictable but at the same time, they keep you guessing.
Do what I do with these. Pick who you think the s**t roles are and then wager upon yourself until the end.
That will at least make it interesting.

Rating: 2.5 Smarmy guests out of 5

Guns Up
Starring Kevin James, Luis Guzman and Christina Ricci
Available on Prime

What a breath of fresh air. And can I just say that I am loving Kevin James as an action star? I loves his sitcoms and his stand up but at the end of the day, he is also an imposing figure in real life and without the hairpieces and one liners, her really pulls off the badass.
The story is fun as well and has a nice lil twist.
James is a heavy for the mob but he has had a goal for years to save enough and retire with dreams of opening a restaurant with his wife. Of course things go south and he is forced into a final gig that he reluctantly take. I won't spoil the twist but he ends up with an unlikely partner for the final act.
On a weird personal note and this is just me here, but there are a few scenes with Ricci where it looks like she has been slathered in butter?! I mean, you know those scenes in action movies where someone is about to be set on fire and for a second you see that they are clearly covered in fire proof gel? There are a couple of scenes where Ricci is almost dripping in what looks like this and I thought oh here come a fire scene... But no. I don't know if they meant to make it look like sweat but it looks more like a basted turkey.
That observation aside, this movie is just downright fun from top to bottom. Judos to the kids in it for not being insufferable either in their bit roles. Everyone was great. From the baddies to the heroes.
More of this. Please.
Sidenote::: Kinda fun seeing Luis Guzman in a film with Christina Ricci, given the Addams Family connection. If you know, you know.

Rating: 3.5 Double crosses out of 5

The Perfect Neighbor.
Available on Netflix

Starring a community of kids and a pig of a human.

Well, if the picture here is any indication, you can gather that there is indeed a villain in this story and here is that pile s**t in all her glory.
Our story begins with the mother of all Karens calling 911 because some kids are playing near her property and being loud. Kids.
Hats off to the poor police dept that had to keep coming out to these "disturbances", they showed great restraint and even compassion with every increasingly paranoid and nonsensical "emergency" call in this story.
Also well deserving of compassion and recognition are the kids involved in the footage shown, as well as their parents and guardians. Yes kids are loud and obnoxious but when caught on camera during these sadly routine calls, the kids never swear or let their emotions get the better of them. They are frankly baffled by the situation altogether.
With a growing sense of dread our story plods along and with every new chapter, that dread increases. You know where this is going but you still hope it won't be real.
It's real.
I can't even really recommend this in a sense because you will not feel better after watching it.
On the other hand, it's hard to look away and you want to see it end and you want answers and you want consequences.
Tread lightly.

Rating: 4 Roller Skates out of 5.

John Candy: I Like Me

Documentary available on Prime

Well this will certainly impact people of a certain era more so than others. I was one of those people that grew up watching Mr. Candy in real time on T.V and in the movies and he was easily a crowd favourite in almost everything he did. From improv to sketch comedy to leading roles in movies, he certainly packed in a helluva bio in the short time he was with us.
It's quite a testament to a man when you can round up dozens of other celebrities to all say the same thing. Dan Aykroyds eulogy for John at the top of the show is striking, deep, poignant and funny all at once. It was a treat to hear from all of his pals and co-stars and the stories they shared. It was like reliving my youth.
What wasn't welcome but I suppose necessary to share were some of the interviews he endured over the years with piece of s**t "journalists" that thought that asking him about or pointing out his weight was some how good story telling. I hope they got to relive the shame all over again with this release, though some of them have since passed as well. I wish I could say we have moved on from that but anyone that has followed Jonah Hill the past 15 years can tell you, these interviewers are still ignorant and thoughtless trash.
Sorry for the rant but seeing the pain in his eyes was tough to watch.
Back to the good parts. Macaulay Culkin shared some very personal and insightful stories about working with the legend in his youth and you could tell the bond was strong with the two and that Candy truly was like an Uncle and a concerned one at that.
It will be a lot to take for some but a story worth telling indeed. There was only one John Candy and I liked him too.

Rating 4 Orange Whips out of 5.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Starring Charlie Hunnam and Laurie Metcalf
Available on Netflix

In a series of 8 episodes roughly an hour each, you need to be in the mood for something like this. I watched it because I liked the movies it incorporated (Silence Of The Lambs, Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). This series claims that Mr. Gein influenced these tales and some of that is a stretch.
I was leery of such a lengthy series with Charlie Hunnam as the star due to his absolutely laughable acting in Sons Of Anarchy and movies like Pacific Rim. To be honest, he is dreadful. But those roles incorporated his looks whereas this endeavor clearly rolled the dice without his notable hunkiness at front and center. Know what? I wasn't wrong. He did an ok job here. The voice took some getting used and his physical appearance and mannerisms were striking. You are convinced this is a meager dork with an overbearing mother. It works. His native accent crept up only a couple of times, otherwise he did a fair job with the persona.
The violence. Well, if you know anything about the man and his lore, you will get plenty of it. It's a lot. But it happened and hats off to Netflix for not shying away from that.
Give it a go if you have the time. Laurie Metcalf was fantastic in her role as the Mother and has a stand out performance. Tom Hollander in an obvious fat suit with bad prosthetics as Alfred Hitchcock on the other hand was brutal. You take the good you take the bad...
On a final note. The final note LOL. The last episode features a dance number. You read that right. It took me right out of the entire series. This isn't a story that should have ended with jazz hands.
It's all over the place but a fun, watchable ride.

Rating: 2.5 Lampshades out of 5

An American Werewolf In London (1981)
Starring David Naughton, John Woodvine, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne
Available on Prime

Heading into its 45th anniversary, this Halloween classic is one of those rare movies that has escaped me until just this week. That's right, I never saw it until the other day!
All I ever knew about it was that it won the first ever Oscar for Makeup thanks to horror and movie makeup icon Rick Baker.
Deservedly so. I can only imagine the minds being blown in 1981 for what he accomplished. Never mind the beasties but his work with cuts and blood were incredibly realistic for the time and even for today. That being said, there were scenes where they just chucked mannequins through car windshields...
The story needs no explanation. American's are backpacking in London, yada yada yada...
It is part tongue in cheek and part serious drama and horror. The "howl" they use for the werewolf is nothing short of haunting and before you even see one, the sound alone lets you know nothing good is about to happen. Atmospheric and grim at times and then just plain silly at others, this one rolls along at a nice pace.
The soundtrack is a tad bit on the nose as it features hit songs about the moon of course but they lend to the theme nicely enough. That is until the climax of the film. This ends so abruptly and with the most absurd song choice given the grave circumstances that have just unfolded. It really took me out of the enjoyable ride.
For and Easter Egg stand point I had the feeling there might be something during the credits to watch for which is super rare in older films but I was right. A message to the royal family of all things. I like it when a hunch pays off.
A fun ride none the less and glad I got to cross it off my list after all this time.

Rating: 3 Balloons out of 5

King Of The Hill Season14
Starring Hank and Peggy and a grown up Bobby!
Available on Disney+

Back after being canceled 15 years ago, The Hill clan and friends have aged and retired and honestly, it's weird. Hank and Peggy moved to Saudi Arabia and Bobby became a chef and restaurant owner is this time away while their friends seemingly stayed the same.
If you were a fan of the show this will be a welcome viewing but the nostalgia quickly wears off. Being on a different network means they can swear and the content is downright crude and cringeworthy at times at completely unnecessary if you ask me.
Now onto the elephant in the room. Cast members passing away. Johnny Hardwick (Dale Gribble) died in mysterious circumstance in 2023 and Jonathon Joss (John Redcorn) was murdered earlier this year. This is all I can think about when these characters are on screen and its a little unsettling.
I don't know if there will be another season but it was nice to revisit some old friends.
Bright spots for me include Peggy's pronunciation of Saudi Arabia and well, I guess that's it. It's a fine time killer with only 10 quick episodes and then we can move on again with hopefully this chapter closed.

Rating: 2 Sexy Rats out of 5

Ice Road: Vengeance (2025)
Starring Liam Neeson and Fan Bingbing
Available on Prime

Why do I do this to myself? Where to begin with this low budget piece of poo??
Oh I know!! How about the fact that it's called "Ice Road" and NOT ONCE do they drive on an ice road??!!! What the actual hell. You know the execs just slapped together a random action themed title and moved on from there.
The sloppiness doesn't end at the title. The budget was clearly spent on actually filming on location and the backdrop is nice at times, until the green screens come in.
There is sort of a story of a 70 year old rock climber who promised to keep his brothers dying wish by scattering his remains at the summit of Mt Everest but along the way he runs into trouble don't ya know....
You won't care a single jot. The bad guys want to build a dam. The locals don't want that....
The sequences are awful all the way through. The gaffs are abundant. Here are but a few. At one point our hero is welding without a visor or even sunglasses. Another scene has someone hiding in a cabin and suggesting they turn off the lights to remain hidden and then they light a ton of candles and show the brightly lit windows from the outside. Two people get shot in the center of their chests with high caliber rounds and manage to not only hang on for a while but barely bleed. At one point a girl is wearing shorts (the only one in the city to do so) and the next scene she has pants on.
I could go on. Did I mention there isn't one single Ice Road?
Anyways, to save one person, about half a dozen good guys get killed and at the end of the movie they have the good guy tell the village that they agreed to a smaller dam so it's a win win for the bad guys and the good guys??!! What the actual F....
It gets better. They all dust themselves off and it's back to Liam taking his brother up Mt Everest. They stop at base camp and he says "at my age, this is close enough". What? he then opens the urn and the CGI ashes get scattered into the wind.
Credits.
The best part of this entire garbage fire is his co-stars name.

Rating: 1 Bingbing out of 5

Mayhem At Madison Square Garden (2025)
Available on Netflix

All hail the worst stand up special in the history of Netflix.
Holy s**t.
This was top to bottom garbage. It took me 3 installments to get through it. The worst part is, they KNEW it was bad and still released it, likely due to contractual obligations.
Several points throughout the longest 2 hours of my streaming life they mentioned that the show was 3 hours long and yet the running time is mercifully around 2 hours. Good grief, what did they cut out if what they left in was such garbage?
The format is one thing (and will likely be revisited) where you have a mix of amateurs and allstar amateurs and celebs. It sounds good in theory but the amateurs that bombed were then subjected to what seemed and eternity of follow up banter that was shockingly unfunny and downright cringe worthy.
The celeb panel of Mark Normand and Matt Rife were meant to elevate the proceedings but Matt Rife said maybe 30 words in the entire night and looked completely glazed over as he sat silent for the majority of the post performance interviews, where as Mark Normand spent more time trying to keep his cheap ci**rs lit and drinks refilled while at least chiming in with his insults and puns, all the while wearing dark sunglasses indoors (you ain't that guy btw)
The celeb spots were fine from Harland Williams and Jeffery Ross but they were no match for the absolute bombs from the bucket pulls.
One comic may have needed a police es**rt out of the arena for such a racist and lousy set and to make it worse, they kept him on stage for the customary post interview. This guy has serious mass shooter vibes and why they included him in the final cut is beyond me.
This was an awkward watch and should be considered a template for how NOT to air a Netflix special. I wouldn't be surprised if this were the last we see of Tony Hinchliffe on the network for a while.
I am by no means on the level of any of these comics but I have in fact put on a show or two in my day and can safely say, this was the worst of us.

Rating: 1 out of 5 Punching down "Punchlines"

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish Documentary
Available on Netflix

Wow. Let's just start there. Here's a brief idea of what you are in for. A female High School student that is super good at sports and has great friends and a first love that she has been with for 2 years one day gets a text from and "Unknown Number" telling her that her relationship is in trouble.
The insanity begins. These messages persist for almost TWO YEARS! Along the way the messages become increasingly disturbing, from sexual to violent in nature and eventually to felonious when spread to the boyfriend as well and even his family. The school gets involved and when they become frustrated with a lack of results, they call the police. A Year into this the local police reach dead ends and decide to go up the ladder to the FBI
What happens in between is a masterful real life whodunit as the every suspect is scrutinized with awful results. Friendships are fractured and relationships crumble and all the while as you watch, you cannot help but form your own opinion and guess as to who is behind these terrible text messages.
I fell into this with my own guesses and bias. There was a point when I would have lost a bet on who I thought the jilted aggressor was.
This is real life and it's easy to forget that because it plays out like one of the best mysteries in cinema.
Even after the villain is revealed it kicks into second gear with all of the aftermath.
Buckle up and enjoy.

Rating: 4 Suspects out of 5

Unbreakable/Split/Glass Trilogy

Starring Bruce Willis, Sam Jackson and James McAvoy

Available on Prime/Crave/Netflix/Cineplex

I found myself watching Unbreakable the other day after realizing it was 25 years old and having seen recent posts about poor Bruce Willis and his current mental state, I wanted to remind myself how great of a star he truly is.
Well I finish it and naturally it popped into my head how remarkable it was that the movie Split (2016) all those years later was connected. I vividly remember my jaw dropping at the end of the movie and then watching the news spread online in reviews and on tv that there was something worth waiting for at the end and it was nice that most of us took care NOT to give away what that something was. These were of course M. Night Shyamalan movies after all. We seemed to care more for our fellow moviegoers just 10 years ago in that regard.
We knew something would come of all this and so it did. Samuel Jackson returns for a third time to star in Glass (2019) and we get our conclusion. Or DO WE?????
Ya. We do BUT we could totally do it again, minus of course the hidden connections. If you like comic books, and on a side note, it was a trip seeing Jackson in a scene with Thor pictures in the backdrop, then you will no doubt get a kick out of this "secret" trilogy.
Bruce is great, Jackson is great and McAvoy shines and a special mention to Anya Taylor-Joy for tying them together in the end.

Rating: 3 Etcetera's out of 5

Thunderbolts. Starring Bucky, The Stranger Things dude and the whiner from Midsommar. Available on Disney+ and Cineplex

I was waiting for this to come out on Disney and it's finally here. The reviews upon it's initial release were fairly positive but it wasn't a "must see" in my books. That said, it's pretty darn entertaining for a movie about the "B" team. A casual viewer might not know any of the characters but they flesh them out nicely and give little backdrop stories to get you caught up and eventually you kinda sorta care.
Highlights for me are the fight sequence where the crew have to team up against someone who shall remain nameless for now but this sequence was similar to the battel between all the DC nerds against Superman in "Justice League" only better. Way better. It's almost like the Marvel studio heads watched the Superman fight and then said "hold my beer". It alone is worth the watch.
It has a peppering of humour as well that helps offset the often dark themes and that helps.
As with almost every Marvel movie there is also a mid credit scene and an end credit scene that will set up the next chapter for the gang and this post credit scene might be longest in any of the Marvel franchise. Worth the wait, or the fast forward...
Give it a go on its own and especially give it a go if you have watched all the others in this timeline.

Rating: 3.5 Evil Pillows out of 5