Mini Movie Reviews: June 2025
- Matt Quill
- Jun 10
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 28
A quick rundown of my thoughts on the movies I've seen throughout June 2025
Feature
Title: How To Train Your Dragon (2025)
Plot
Dragon slaying is the bread and butter of a Viking's life on their homeland Berk. However, the same can't be said for outcast Hiccup (Mason Thames), that is, until he manages to capture a rare dragon.
How To Train Your Dragon and its sequels are easily some of the most beloved animated movies under the DreamWorks banner. For many, the first is a stellar example of a great story backed by captivating performances and excellent animation. So, how does the movie fare going through the live-action treatment?
The answer? Exceptionally well. How To Train Your Dragon is brought to life by the same director and composer as the original animation, bringing with them the same love that they had for the project. Gerald Butler reprises his role as clan chief Stoick (I mean, when is seeing Gerald Butler punching a dragon in the face not going to be cinema gold?), Newcomers Mason Thames as Hiccup and Nico Parker as Astrid do a great job embodying the characters we've grown to love while still managing to make them feel all their own.
The live-action transition is a roaring success, seeing the dragons in their 'real' scales looks great, even if they do lack some of the charm of the animation. The action sequences feel great too, with the dragon clashes feeling tense and thrilling, whilst the climactic fight comes together better than you'd imagined.
One of the main gripes with the film is that it's perhaps too faithful to the original. There's a distinct lack of any change or new flair to set it apart from what has come before. For large parts, it really can feel like you're watching the very same animated movie play out in a new skin. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, given that the story, pacing, and script were great in the original. But when there are scenes that almost play out shot for shot, it's hard not to have the animated sequence play side by side in your head.
The moments between Hiccup and Toothless remain the best relationship in the movie and are great to see. Toothless is still the lovable dragon many of us have grown to love, but there's a certain charm to his animated outings that doesn't seem to translate as well across as some of the other things in the movie. There was a chance to build more into the relationship, and it feels like there could have been more moments between the pair.
How To Train Your Dragon is just as good as you remember it. The story remains excellent, and the live-action repaint makes the dragon duelling action all the more exciting. It's just a shame the movie sticks so close to the original, never daring to spread its wings.
Title: 28 Years Later
Plot: 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) and his dad, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), leave their survivor colony and head to the infected English mainland as Spike embarks on a rite-of-passage.
There's no denying that we've been bombarded with zombie (Or infected) films in the past decade, thanks to Call of Duty Zombies' hype and the nibbling corpses being an ever-present part of the horror genre. 28 Days Later reignited the genre in 2002 with the blood-spewing infected spreading the rage virus with plenty of gore and fear-inducing speed. Now, 18 years on, the infection is back, but does it still have a gripping bite?
28 Years Later begins as a survivor story, with the father-son duo, Spike (Alfie Williams) and his dad, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), leaving their established survivor colony on Holy Island to experience the outside world and encounter the infected residents as they embark on a rite-of-passage journey. The infected threat escalates from there, and around the midway point, the plot pivots from what you may expect but still clings to its coming-of-age tale in a (mostly) satisfying way within this decimated world.
The overall journey is enjoyable and tense, although the fear factor never really ramped up as much as I expected. The movie showcases a variety of infected, with small but distinct differences, with each getting their moments in the fear spotlight. But it's the hulking Alphas that bring the true fear, towering with an intimidating presence and ripping heads off their victims in full predator style.
The cast does a tremendous job too, with Alfie Williams doing a great job leading the film, supported by excellent performances from Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and even Ralph Fiennes. It helps to hammer home the heart of the story and keep you invested in their fate within this depraved world.
Almost all of 28 Years Later was shot with the iPhone 15, and it looks great. The action resembles much of the speed and immediacy of the first film, with quick-moving camera and some snapshot-like action shots as the infected are impaled with arrows. It all looks great and helps give the film a gritty feel. That's all backed by Young Fathers' uneasy and tension-building score that helps drive home the tone and atmosphere of the film.
28 Years Later is a good film. It takes some risks, and the ending minutes feel like a wild fever dream that sets up the upcoming sequel in an unexpected way. It doesn't surpass the original, but it does a good job of bringing the Rage Virus back with enough fear and tension to keep you excited for the franchise's future.
Title: F1: The Movie
Plot: Aged maverick racer Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is recruited by his old teammate, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), now the boss of a struggling Formula One team, in the hopes that he can help save the team from closure.
There have been some noteworthy racing films released in the past 12 years, the likes of Rush, Le Mans '66 and even Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, each delivering phenomenal racing action. With Le Mans '66 and Rush being exceptional movies in their own right. Fresh off his high-flying plane action in the much-loved Top Gun Maverick, Kosinski has swapped soaring skies for the smooth asphalt of F1 in the hopes he can bring the high-octane thrills of the motorsport to the cinema.
F1: The Movie wastes no time plunging you into the racing action with Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) putting the pedal to the metal in late-night Daytona action. Soon after, he's recruited by the boss of APXGP, an old friend, Ruben (Javier Bardem), to help the team achieve their first win and avoid being sold at the end of the season. He'll come to blows with fellow rookie APXGP driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) as the two learn to co-exist in pursuit of the team's success.
It's a simple enough premise, but it's executed wonderfully. Sonny's reckless charm is played perfectly by Pitt, and the rest of the cast share great chemistry with technician Kate (Kerry Condon) and fellow driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who puts in an excellent performance as an endearing yet egotistical rookie.
The strong narrative and quality cast make the film a great time, but it's the exhilarating racing action that elevates F1: The movie from a great time to a dazzling one. Kosinski is no stranger to stylish action and that's no different here with camerawork putting you as close to the cockpit as possible without the smell of burning rubber, every race sequence is played out beautifully and it's hard not to feel the thrill of the action as the cars whizz by and the lap counter ticks down.
It's all backed by a great soundtrack and the ever-excellent Hans Zimmer delivering another striking film score. It all comes together to make one hell of a racing movie, so much so that the 2.5-hour runtime will fly by just as quickly as its high-speed race cars.
Unhindered by bemusing technical jargon or dull moments, F1: The Movie continually excites and delights with an on-form Pitt, pulse-pounding racing sequences and a nice combination of heart, comedy and adrenaline that make this one of 2025's best movies yet.
Title: Deep Cover
Plot: Three struggling Improv comics go undercover to help a low-level drug bust, only to find things begin to escalate rapidly.
There's something great about absurd comedy plots that tread the line of ridiculous believability. One of the most recent hits was 2011's Horrible Bosses, which saw Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman on great form planning to kill each other's bosses. The story was silly, but the central trio carried the movie to great results, and just like that central trio, Deep Cover delivers movie-goers another round of charismatic leads in a silly plot with ever-escalating laughs.
The plot follows Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard), an improv comedy teacher, who enlists two of her students: Marlon (Orlando Bloom), a serious method actor who is trying to escape advertising acting, and class newbie tech supporter Hugh (Nick Mohammed). The trio are hired by Detective Billings (Sean Bean) to help assist in a low-level drug bust, only to get swept up in London's underworld drug peddling scene.
Deep Cover does a great job of balancing its action and laughs. The central trio of Howard, Bloom and Mohammed have great chemistry and bounce off of each other well, especially when the absurd scenarios see them thinking on their feet and reacting to each other's prompts. Despite the great turns by Mohammed and Howard, it's the super-serious method of Marlon, an Orlando Bloom in comedic best form, giving the film many of its best sequences and laughs as he unintentionally ramps up every scenario as his 'character' would.
The central story is also better than you'd expect, with some satisfying twists and turns thrown in the keep the crime tale unravelling in unexpected but rewarding ways. It's worth noting that the film does lose some of its steam the closer it nears its conclusion; it's not a big slowdown, but it certainly drops down a gear as the stakes are raised.
Deep Cover works better than you'd imagine, delivering an entertaining comedy disguised as a twisting crime tale. The central trio of Bloom, Howard and Mohammed are on fantastic form, backed by plenty of great moments that keep the action moving and comedy coming in unexpected but hilarious ways.
Comments