Phoenix FM Film Reviews

Presenter Spencer Carter and Film Critic Mark Searby sit down to discuss their favourite films of 2025.Will Spencer choose a Superhero movie? Or did he enjoy The Naked Gun the best?Will Mark still be gushing over Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein to make his number 1 pick? Or is there something else that he thinks is better?

This week Mark reviews:Marty Supreme - Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.Sentimental Value - Sisters Nora and Agnes are reunited with their eccentric father, Gustav, a famous director who left many years previous. He returns to offer Nora the lead in his new film.Goodbye June - A fractured family must come together when sudden and trying circumstances make them question their relationships to each other.Memoir of a Snail - Grace Pudel is a hoarder of snails, romance novels and guinea pigs. This is her story.

This week Mark reviews:Avatar: Fire and Ash - Jake and Neytiri’s family grapple with grief after Neteyam’s death. They encounter a new, aggressive, Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang. As the conflict on Pandora escalates, a new moral focus emerges.Shelby Oaks - A woman’s obsessive search for her missing sister leads her into a terrifying mystery at the hands of an unknown evil.Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale - When Mary finds herself in a public scandal and the family faces financial trouble, the household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.

This week Mark reviews:Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery - Detective Benoit Blanc sifts through a series of suspects when a Monsignor turns up dead.Predators - Exploring the controversial American TV series – To Catch A Predator – that caught child predators in sting operations, leading to arrests, and the show’s eventual cancellation.Eleanor The Great - After a devastating loss, witty and proudly troublesome Eleanor Morgenstein, 94, tells a tale that takes on its own dangerous life.

This week Mark reviews:Jay Kelly - Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron. The Creeps - Two American youngsters who prepare to celebrate Monsterfest in a Finnish ski resort find themselves overrun by small creatures.Tinsel Town - A washed-up Hollywood action hero takes a role in a small English village’s quirky Christmas pantomime, where he finds unexpected inspiration through the show’s straight-talking dance instructor.

This week Mark reviews: Christy - Just as Christy Martin is making historic strides in the world of female boxing, she’s forced to contend with a horrendous private life.Together - Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. With tensions already flaring, an encounter with an unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love and their flesh.Pillion - A directionless man is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.

This week Mark reviews:Wicked: For Good - Now demonized as the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba lives in exile in the Ozian Forest, while Glinda resides in the Emerald City enjoying the perks of fame and popularity. As an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, she will need to reunite with Glinda to transform herself, and all of Oz, for good.Train Dreams - Robert Grainger, a logger and railroad worker, has his life alerted after the death of his wife and child. He tries to lead a life in the rapidly changing America of the early 20th Century.Game - After leaving a rave, David crashes his car and hangs upside down in the wreckage. Poacher comes across David trapped in his car. But he isn’t there to help him. Instead, a battle of wills begins between the two men.The Roses - A tinderbox of competition and resentments underneath the façade of a picture-perfect couple is ignited when the husband’s professional dreams come crashing down.

This week Mark reviews:The Running Man - Ben Richards joins a game show in which contestants, allowed to go anywhere in the world, are pursued by “Hunters” hired to kill them.Belen - A woman hospitalised for pain discovers she is pregnant. After a medical emergency, she faces criminal charges. With support from her attorney and women’s rights advocates, she fights for justice in a landmark case.In Your Dreams - Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.

This week Mark reviews:Anemone - In Northern England, a man heads out on a journey into the woods to reconnect with the estranged hermit brother with whom he shared a complicated past that was altered by life-changing events decades ago.Frankenstein - A brilliant but egotistical scientist brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragiccreation.Dragonfly - Seeing the lack of care that her elderly neighbour Elsie is receiving from so called professionals, Colleen takes it upon herself to care for her. However, Colleen’s intentions may not be what they seem.

This week Mark reviews:Bugonia - Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying the planet Earth.The Legend of Ochi - In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy girl raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi. But when she discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home.Ballad of a Small Player - When his past and his debts start to catch up with him, a high-stakes gambler laying low in Macau encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.

The week Mark reviews:Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen’s journey crafting his 1982 album Nebraska, which emerged as he set about to record Born In The USA with the E Street Band.Sketch - When a young girl’s sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash.Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror - A documentary about a theatre play that evolved into a movie and then a ground-breaking cult phenomenon.

This week Mark reviews:The Twits - Two orphans join forces with a family of magical animals to save their city from the powerful Mr and Mrs Twit, the meanest, nastiest, smelliest people in the world.Borley Rectory: The Awakening - As the Bull family move into Borley’s Rectory, they start to experience strange noises and apparitions.Souleymane’s Story - A Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker named Souleymane has two days to prepare hisstory for a make-or-break interview to secure legal residency.

This week Mark reviews:Tron Ares - A highly sophisticated program called Ares, is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission.Good Boy - A loyal dog moves to a rural family home with his owner Todd, only to discover supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. As dark entities threaten his human companion, the brave pup must fight to protect the one he loves the most.John Candy: I Like Me - A documentary that explores the life and legacy of iconic funnyman John Candy, who died of a heart attack in 1994, at the age of 43.

This week Mark reviews:The Smashing Machine - The story of mixed-martial arts and UFC champion, Mark Kerr.Play Dirty - A ruthless thief and his expert crew stumble onto the heist of a lifetime.The Lost Bus - A wayward school bus driver and a dedicated school teacher battle to save 22 children from a terrifying inferno.

This week Mark reviews:One Battle After Another - When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue one of their own’s daughter.Riff Raff - A former criminal’s ordinary life is turned upside down when his old family shows up for a long-awaited reunion.Elio - Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meantto be.

This week Mark reviews:The Glassworker - The life of a young glassblower in training and his relationships over the years, as his land goes through war and strife.Happyend - In near-future Tokyo, the threat of a catastrophic quake looms. Two school friends prank their headmaster before graduation, leading to the school installing a surveillance system.Sovereign - A father and son who identify as Sovereign Citizens, a group of anti-government extremists, find themselves in a standoff with a chief of Police that sets off a manhunt.

This week Mark reviews:The Long Walk - A group of teenage boys compete in an annual contest known as “The Long Walk”, where they must maintain a certain walking speed or get shot.The Golden Spurtle - In a Scottish Highland village, competitors gather for the World Porridge Championships. It is the final year under the leadership of Chieftain Charlie Miller, a competition which celebrates tradition and community through porridge-making.Bring Her Back - A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.

This week Mark reviews:The Conjuring: Last Rites - Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one last case as they try to help the Smurl family rid their house of a demonic force.The Phoenician Scheme - Wealthy businessman Zsa-Zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. Highest 2 Lowest - When a titan music mogul is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.

This week Mark reviews:The Thursday Murder Club - Four irrepressible retirees spend their time solving cold case murders for fun. But their casual sleuthing takes a turn when they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hands.The Colors Within - A girl who see’s colours in people’s hearts joins a band with two other people. The Toxic Avenger - A horrible accident transforms downtrodden janitor, Winston Gooze, into a new evolution of hero: The Toxic Avenger.

This week Mark reviews:The Life of Chuck - Who is Chuck Krantz? That’s the question everyone wants to know. The Ceremony - Two troubled migrant workers in a Bradford car wash are dragged into an escalating moral crisis as night falls.Eddington - In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town Sheriff and a Mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbour is pitted against neighbour in Eddington, New Mexico.