Avatar: Fire and Ash. Bigger but not better.

by Brandon Norwood

Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

When James Cameron makes a movie, it is a must-see no matter what. Big Jim is the king of spectacle. So here we are with the third entry of the Avatar saga, Fire and Ash. A movie I'm seriously struggling with.

One year after the events of the second film, The Way of Water, Neteyam's death weighs on the Sully family heavily. With Miles "Spider" Socorro's (Jack Campion) presence causing problems for Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), Jake (Sam Worthington) and the rest of the Sully family accompany him for one last journey to a safe haven for Spider. On the way they're attacked by the Ash People: a group of dangerous N'avi who ally themselves with the RDA and Colonel Miles Quaritch, which brings Jake face to face with the consequences of his decisions thus far. 

Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

Those of you who aren't familiar with my thoughts on Avatar can listen to the reviews I did with Jeff on the first two movies. I don't want to waste time (yours or mine) with a long-winded recap. Short answer is I recently came around to this saga when the first was re-released back in 2022. 

Now here we are with my most anticipated film of the year after being floored by The Way of Water. Not gonna lie, when credits rolled I thought this was the best one yet. But after sitting on it for a few hours and really letting the movie permeate, all of my initial feelings when watching it came bubbling up. Especially after talking with other critics about it.

The main issue here is that so much, both plot and structure wise, is repeated from the first two films. In the two weeks since I've seen this, Cameron has admitted that he split the second film into two movies. That makes so much more sense. Does that forgive the film for being repetitive? No. Absolutely not. But damn if everyone who told Big Jim their concerns are now found valid.

Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

With the repetitive nature of the movie, I was disappointed by the giant third act set piece. It's literally the first two mixed together. I thought the third act of The Way of Water. was some of the craziest and most audacious I've ever seen. Here, while there's a lot of this I still loved, a real big cloud of "been there, done that" hangs over it.

What really sucks is this is the longest in the saga thus far with a runtime of three hours and nineteen minutes. It's excessive y'all. This could've easily been two and half hours. Every single one of these films have outstayed their welcome length wise, but here it was egregious. 

With all of that out of the way, this is visually insane. I don't know how he keeps on outdoing himself; with the skin texture and facial performances translating from the motion capture to the final product. When these N'avi characters emote, you can not only see it, but feel it as well. It's been three years since the second film and somehow not only visually is it better, but the 3D is more immersive and the High Frame Rate when used is much smoother. 

Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

The performances definitely get better as we move on. Campion as Spider aside, everyone is doing great with what they're given. I would like to point out that Cameron's dialogue has always sucked (The OG Terminator and True Lies pop immediately into mind) so the complaints I've been seeing about that have me rolling my eyes hard.

I do like the emotionality in this film. Grief and consequences are weighing heavy on everyone in this film which leads to hate on all sides. All these characters have lost something and are either broken or bitter. Or both. I'm glad that Cameron decided to address this head on as part of the journey instead of what a lot of modern mega-blockbusters do which is to acknowledge it and push it to the side, because "they" don't want their mega franchises to address that. You can still have an emotional journey on a rip-roaring adventure. Spielberg is the king of that shit.

The Ash People led by Varang (Oona Chaplin) are one of the best new elements here. I wish we got MUCH more than what we're given with them. Their reasoning for being villainous makes sense, but it would've hit harder if we spent a little more time with this clan and gave Varang a little more pathos.

Image courtesy 20th Century Studios

Peylak (David Thewlis) , leader of the Wind Trader clan, is an intriguing new character that I wish we got more of than the brief sequence he's in. The Wind Traders in general are so cool and it's a real shame they're under utilized. The best action sequence of the film (which has some fucked up elements from the Ash People) is with the Wind Traders. Honestly, I could watch a whole two hour movie with just the Wind Traders.

All of this is to say: see it. No one is doing it like Big Jim. I'm excited to see this again to see if it plays better on a rewatch. There's shots in this where I'm floored on how Big Jim is lighting the specific shot. We've come a long way from the first film. And while I'm let down by this, I was still thoroughly entertained and am eagerly anticipating the fourth entry which the entire cast and crew has been hyping up to be an absolutely insane movie. If anything, Big Jim going bigger in scale and scope in terms of world-building and the action set pieces is something to always look forward to.

Avatar: Fire and Ash. Opens December 19th in theaters via 20th Century Studios through Disney.

The Housemaid. A soapy thriller perfect for stay at home moms.

by Brandon Norwood

Image courtesy of Lionsgate

As I made my way to my seat two months ago, I absolutely had no idea what to expect with The Housemaid. Paul Feig doing a thriller was super intriguing. Little did I know, I was about to see one of the worst movies of 2025.

Image courtesy of Lionsgate.

Millie (Sydney Sweeny) is a troubled young woman living out of her car. Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) hires her to be a live-in housemaid for her wealthy family consisting of husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) and daughter Cecelia (Indiana Elle). However, once moving into the Winchester estate, Millie soon discovers the threat(s) of the secrets hiding within the house and the family itself.

Once this movie revealed itself with what was really going on, I mentally checked out. My screening was packed and the audience was laughing together, at first, at the over-the-top nature of how corny it was. Intentional or not, it was insane on all fronts. Then everyone was all in once the reveal came.

Image courtesy of Lionsgate

This movie is shot and paced like a soap opera. Even the sex scenes were shot in a softcore, soapy way. Imagine AS THE WORD TURNS by way of Skinamax. The men in the audience will probably liven up as the internet's latest obsession (Sweeny) is once again nude. While a lot of different dudes told me that they appreciated it, I've seen most of Sydney's work now where it's expected. To me it's just another Tuesday. I do wish y'all would get over a pretty white woman with big boobs. Sydney is not the first. And she won't be the last. It's fucking annoying at this point.

Spoilers from here on out. You've been warned. Seriously SPOILERS.

Yeah, I'm clearly not the target audience for this movie. I've seen a LOT of white women excited for this whether it's them reading the book on public transportation or getting excited seeing the trailer before a movie. 

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop on Nina. Amanda's performance felt very tacky and "big" up until the point of the reveal that I knew she was hiding something. Well yeah. Ends up she's faking her psychotic episodes to escape Andrew who's a complete psychopath and hired Millie to take her place cause nothing more than every guy wants is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, big titty woman in her twenties. Hey more power to you if you do, but it's so clichéd that I immediately checked out. I can see why this was a bestseller. It definitely pleases the demographic it goes for (which is absolutely NOT me).

Image courtesy of Lionsgate

Tonally it's all over the place. I'm shocked at how it swings from campy to soapy to "serious". The decision to have voice-over is baffling. It doesn't particularly work well and after a while I drowned it out despite it being used to drive the plot forward at points. 

My first thoughts as the credits rolled was laughing at that weak set-up for the sequel which to my surprise I immediately found out through Google that the author, Freida McFadden, has in fact written more Housemaid books.

Image courtesy of Lionsgate

My second thought was that this was done better when it was called Gone Girl. I've read all of Gillian Flynn's books. This type of pulp storytelling Gillian does well. Sharp Objects the miniseries is honestly better than the book.

But this type of pulp fiction ain't it. I imagine fans of the novel are going to absolutely love this. Everyone else, stay away.

The Housemaid opens on theaters on December 19th via Lionsgate.

After the Hunt review. “It happened at Yale”.

by Brandon Norwood

Why?" Julia Roberts' Alama asks Ayo Edibiri's Maggie. Why did Maggie tell Alma of her sexual assault? That question of why permeates throughout the film. Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt explores head on the use of power and privilege that all the characters are in throughout the film.

Debuting out of the Toronto International Film Festival, After the Hunt was met with a chilly reception. Yes, it's too long for its own good. Yes, it insists that its more important than it is. But I do feel as if there's a lot the film brings up to talk about.

Alma (Ayo Edibiri) is a teacher assistant who looks up to Maggie (Julia Roberts), a Yale professor. Maggie has the perfect life. A eccentric psychiatrist husband named Fredrick (Michael Stuhlbarg), a close friend named Hank (Andrew Garfield), who can meet her intellectually who also happens to be a professor at Yale like herself. Everything changes when Maggie comes forward to Maggie with allegations of sexual assault against Hank that threatens to reveal a secret of her own.

I've been having a lot of conversations about this movie. All the takes are very different from mine. That is the one thing that I feel has put off a lit of people. There are no clear answers. Even if to me there is. The film is taking a very clear approach about this. A young, queer woman of color, from a privileged background, is accusing a man in power. The power and privilege dynamics really are the backbone of this film. Every gaze or look the characters give are up to interpretation by the viewer on what it means in the moment and the overall story.

I sat raptured watching the character tug and pull at each other in ways that are extremely cruel. I seriously had no idea where this was going moment to moment and wondered just how Luca would land this story. 

Luca is a deliberate filmmaker. That continues in After the Hunt with the camera movements as well as the angles and use of negative space to frame the actors. Even in a crowded room, these are lonely people. Much has been said about Luca using the font made famous in films by Woody Allen, and that too is deliberate. This for many different reasons feels like a Woody Allen movie left out to curdle. Including the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross which sounds as if a score from a Woody movie was left out to rot.

I’ll be honest here. Not everything worked for me. It is too long for its own good. At two hours and nineteen minutes, this should have been much shorter. Considering that there was three parts were I thought the film was ending, I wasn’t really sure. And the very last scene, to me, did nothing for the overall narrative in the film other than reinforcing privilege and power. With the current climate, I do not think that last scene really convey what it is trying to other than “Hey! Some people still get away and have it all”. No kidding.

I would like to highlight Ayo Edebiri. I cannot and will not harp on the cast. Everyone knows they’re great. Especially under the direction of Luca. But the fact that Ayo held her own against heavyweight actors is a true testament to her talents. I’m really excited to see where her career goes as she has so much range. This is a challenging role to play. There’s hard lines on how everyone is written with the subtext doing a lot of heavy lifting.

I’m very eager to have more conversations about this film. I find that this film does open up many conversations worth having. Mainly due to the fact that the conversations that I have had, have been wildly different. Everyone is gonna have a different read on this. And that’s exciting.

After the Hunt opens in limited release on October 10th. Nationwide on October 17th.