September at the movies has — to be frank — trudged along. The first half saw the spillover from this year’s summer blockbuster season seep through, and it would take until the back end of the month for some real quality to finally shine. But every month is a good month in cinema if you know where to look, and thankfully, we do. Here’s what to rush to catch whilst you still can, and what to save your money from at all costs…

The Best

Leviticus (Dir. Adrian Chiarella)

Even though I left Leviticus wishing there was simply more, is that really a bad thing? I was somewhat dissatisfied with how this ended, mostly due to its abruptness, though the more I pondered over it, the more I was starting to come around, and continue to do so now. While I do still think this didn’t have as organic of a close as we could have seen, I’m starting to understand it and I’m sure on rewatch, I’d see it even more favourably.

Our two main actors are where this movie really shines, it’s just a shame the entire story is built around them being unable to interact. Hot off 2022’s Talk To Me, Joe Bird continues to prove his rising stardom as who I’m sure will become Australia’s starboy in coming years. We see a level of exaggerated emotion from Bird which is able to evoke the exact same feelings from you, the viewer, without feeling unnatural or like a performance.

While Stacy Clausen is much less ‘in the limelight’ as his costar, you never see any kind of gap in performance. Clausen manages to tackle the physicality of this character incredibly well — not just in the action scenes, but also in simply how he conducts himself as both Ryan and the entity.

Leviticus may not be perfect, even having a few glaring flaws in how it tackles some of its subject matter — mostly in what it chooses to focus on — though most of that doesn’t really hold much weight in the end because of the long list of positives that you could derive from it — namely in the emotion that this is able to evoke from its audience.

Pressure (Dir. Anthony Maras)

Pressure might just be the ultimate ‘dad movie’. The sort of thing that your father is going to watch on streaming on one random day and say “you’d love it” regardless of your own tastes. And I think that’s beautiful.

With a long history of movies centring around one of the most storied wars of all time, World War II, it felt as if all had been said, every road had been trod, and every perspective had been explored; then Pressure came along.

This movie finds a way to show us a fresh new perspective on this war, one that sees almost no action at all: the meteorologists. Now I know this sounds like it could be one of the most boring uses of two hours possible, but the stakes, the direction and the performances from both Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott make this feel almost as action-packed as any frontline war drama. Maras has managed to do the impossible and make a World War II movie that doesn’t feel the same as any of its peers. It’s truly unique. You leave the theatre wondering if these meteorologists were the sole reason that this war ended in the correct way. And whilst this can, sure, feel somewhat slow at times, the ups and downs will hold you until the very end and make you feel emotion you never thought you could have for rainfall.

Runner (Dir. Scott Waugh)

At the start of the month, I never would have expected for this movie to end up on this side of the list. Buddy cop movies had their heyday many, many years ago, and most that attempt this formula nowadays usually sacrifice any interesting action or even story for a quick joke. Rather than one stoic, heavy character and one to add the comedic elements, too often they try to give the comedy role to both sides, making it tiresome to sit through. Luckily, Runner learns from the best and brings the right amount of both weight and comedy.

Alan Ritchson really shines in this movie, and this genre as a whole. Runner really allowed him to flex his action movie muscles — both metaphorically and literally — making for some of the most fun and visually interesting action sequences in recent memory.

Owen Wilson manages to go from a character you absolutely cannot stand — sitting in the same shoes as Alan Ritchson’s Hank Malone — to bringing you almost to tears at any sight of harm to him without changing his performance at all. This is a true testament to how he’s able to play an ‘acquired taste’ incredibly well.

Not to be confused with The Runner, Gal Gadot’s terrible Prime Video action movie from just a week earlier, Runner is able to evoke emotion from me that I wasn’t aware could be unlocked from an action comedy movie like this. Not to mention some of the incredible camerawork in the action, namely the third act oner.

Resident Evil (Dir. Zach Cregger)

It seems Zach Cregger has almost now mastered the horror comedy. Not only is Resident Evil far and away the greatest adaptation of Raccoon City we’ve ever seen in film, this is also simply a great movie in its own right.

Even though this can occasionally overshadow opportunities for some incredible horror with a quick joke, once that horror does come, it is truly terrifying. Austin Abrams is a remarkable everyman, bringing the playable character to life in ways that don’t feel overly referential, but still make you feel as if you’re watching the games come to life.

Unlike some of Cregger’s previous works, Resident Evil is at its best in its third act. Where Cregger’s older work usually shines in the darkness, it dwells on its mystery to pull you in, causing its third act to fall somewhat flat once that veil has been removed, Resident Evil shouts its climax loud and proud, showing you exactly what it is and upping any kind of action we’d seen previously, and it’s all the better for it.

Bad Apples (Dir. Jonatan Etzler)

Bad Apples sees the return of one of Hollywood’s most talented performers — even if she may not show up nearly as much as the Tom Holland’s and Zendaya’s of the world. Saoirse Ronan lifts this movie to heights that I can’t imagine would have been possible without her, and the movie knows and relies on that fact.

The third act is where this really shines, giving us a few moral dilemmas that it intentionally decides not to answer, allowing you to noodle on them the entire drive home, and likely for the rest of the night. It’s a thought-provoking trip that acts as one of Ronan’s best vehicles in years.

Hope (Dir. Na Hong-Jin)

Hope had the potential to be one of the greatest science fiction movies of the 2020s, up there with the likes of Godzilla: Minus One and Dune: Part 2. Unfortunately, this is greatly let down by its downright terrible visual effects.

If Na Hong-Jin was given Godzilla: Minus One’s visual effects team, I believe he could have made something absolutely spectacular, but is unfortunately limited to sitting on the cusp of that descriptor. I wouldn’t immediately use that word to describe it, though I also wouldn’t go as far as to discredit it as such.

Hope has almost everything. Mystery, truly exhilarating action, buckets of laugh-out-loud comedy — even if some may occasionally fall flat due the sheer volume of attempts — amazing cinematography — only brought down by the eyesore that are its monsters — and some incredible performances by Hwang Jung-min and Hoyeon, its two main actors. So much of this movie will have you staring at the screen in awe at what you’re seeing, elevating its action sequences tenfold — even after you thought this must be the best it gets.

There is no part of me that believes Hope’s eventual sequel will disappoint, and if the budget is increased, this may be one to go down in the history books. The only possible gripes I can have with this is its aforementioned visual effects, and some of the pacing being somewhat weak, though that may be partly due to its almost 160-minute total runtime.

Heart of The Beast (Dir. David Ayer)

Heart of The Beast can be described best as a gut punch. This takes you through the late lives of a retired soldier and his beloved canine, their bond on full display, before it sneaks up behind you, beats you over the head with emotion, and leaves you a weeping mess as the credits roll.

For the most part, Heart of The Beast is exactly what it presents as in its trailers, a man and his dog navigating the unforgiving wilderness. Where this subverts your expectations is in how much of a real character Odin — the dog — is.

Most movies like this will have the dog simply play an underdeveloped McGuffin: a way for the audience to see the main character’s growth or humanity, while tugging on your heart strings in a feeble — yet obviously quite effective — way. Heart of The Beast doesn’t fall into this trap, even going as far as to somewhat make Brad Pitt’s character a McGuffin for Odin’s own story.

We come to learn, throughout this movie, that Heart of The Beast is just as much Odin’s story as it is James’. They’re both given full character sheets and proper development, the only difference is that only one of them can talk. However, it seems Odin is somewhat able to access a level of physical and facial emotion that I was previously unaware was possible in dogs until now, almost rivalling Pitt’s own performance in some ways.

The Worst:

Fall 2: Deadpoint (Dir. Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig)

Fall 2 manages to surprise me at absolutely no turn — at least in the first hour or so. This is for one reason only, it copies 2022’s Fall almost entirely. Following the death of a loved one to a climbing accident — the original being Becky’s husband and this one being Shiloh, the main character’s sister — we find our protagonist wallowing in their own sadness, unable to escape the depressive spiral they’ve now wound up in. An old friend suddenly appears, calling them to a new climb in pursuit of closure and a way to move on. However, at some point throughout this climb — around the point where they believe they’ll die on this mountain, a secret is revealed which changes their dynamic entirely and puts into question the care they now have for each other’s lives. The filmmakers tried to copy their predecessors’ homework and thought we’d be fooled, but didn’t even go as far as to change any plot details.

The worst thing about this copying is that much of it is simply done worse. No conflict lasts any longer than the scene in which it’s introduced, especially the ‘big secret’ which is meant to flip their entire relationship on its head. It does this for maybe five minutes, generously guessed, then these characters return to how they interacted before this event. It was so strange to me that I started to question my own morals. Is it not that bad to impersonate somebody’s dead sister’s college friend in order to lure that person onto a daring climb that could, and likely will, kill both of you simply because you’re a fan?

One thing I will give this is the way it deceives the audience, even if it is referential to its parent. We see Luce almost fall off this mountain, before Jax catches her and lifts her up, though it takes much longer than would be comfortable for us to see Luce climb back up. This is almost exactly what we see in 2022’s Fall, though at this point Shiloh has actually fallen, causing us — in this movie — to now believe the same has happened. After quite a while, we realise that Luce isn’t actually dead, which gives her actual demise much more of a shock factor. The rest of the movie may not have been any more than a dull bore to sit through, but this addition was actually somewhat interesting.

Practical Magic 2 (Dir. Susanne Bier)

1998’s Practical Magic gained its popularity as a cult classic, mostly due to its cosy, autumnal vibes. It’s very safe, it’s quite funny, it’s colourful, and it’s something you could watch every year around October and get the same experience. Practical Magic 2 is none of that.

Much of this movie simply doesn’t feel as if it exists in the same world as its predecessor, partly because much of it is in a different country. This made room for the exploration of new characters, that being Sally’s two daughters, though it felt the need to branch out and raise its stakes, so added a new member of the family in England who is attempting to steal their power. This all felt like a far cry from what made the original feel and connect to people the way it does.

Audiences would return to see the Owens sisters after almost thirty years for exactly that, the sisters. There was absolutely no need for this to move countries, create this new plot of jealous men, or have so many action sequences. What this required was simply more showing us the relationship and familial love between the Owens sisters and the new generation, and Practical Magic 2 really did shine when it found this focus, unfortunately it hardly ever seemed to.

In fact, one of Sally’s other daughters, Maisie Williams’ Antonia, was almost completely left out of this movie, reduced to sitting in a hospital next to a comatosed patient for almost the entire runtime. When they allowed her to escape, in essentially only her first and last appearance, the movie was wildly better for it and was able to highlight the relationships between these sisters, in all three generations.

The Runner (Dir. Kevin Macdonald)

Simply put, The Runner is just a nothing movie. At no point do I feel any kind of emotion, any side of the spectrum, this has absolutely nothing going for it in the acting department — mostly due to this being almost solely led by Gal Gadot — and feels incredibly ‘second screen’, to the point where it could work just as well, or arguably more, as an audiobook.

This has shades of 2024’s Carry On in its earpiece plotline, mixed with Speed’s ticking clock, though it executes any part of both in the worst ways possible. This also breaks its own established rules, in our main character being unable to take public transport or stop moving at any point, multiple times throughout. What’s the point in clearly establishing these rules if there’s going to be no ramifications for breaking any of them?

There are so many attempts to heighten any kind of stakes and tension of a somewhat already quite high stakes story, but completely falls flat on every single try. This is partly because no part of this excites me nearly enough to care about anyone or anything, but also because it feels as if none of the actors care either.

Every turn in The Runner is incredibly predictable, we’ve seen the ‘main character who you thought was a frantic mess has actually been in control the entire time’ narrative a million times and is done no better or different here. This will truly go down as one of the worst movies of, not just this month, but the entire year — down there with Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man and Andy Serkis’ Animal Farm.