[EXPRESSO] Clayface (2026) | The Gumby Horror

When i first saw the trailer for Clayface, i was quite intrigued.

This is a surprisingly good idea for a new solo DC movie, sure, the general backstory for Clayface is a perfect fit for a body horror film…even if a few days before viewing the film in theathers, i had the feel like i was gonna walk into another Morbius.

Thankfully that isn’t the case, even if it basically an origin story for Clayface, a Batman villain, here framed as antihero, Matt Hagen, an upcoming new star that encounters the ire of a Gotham mob boss, mangling his face and destroying his career when he was finally hitting it big.

Desperate to restore his face, Matt tries as an experimental nanocells treatment to restore but he overdoses and becomes able to basically shapeshift into anything or anyone, making use of his barely controlled ability to get revenge on anyone who ruined his life…..

The issue is that the movie doesn’t really live to its own good premise, as the plot is a very simple story of revenge with a romantic subplot, not an issue in itself (as isn’t the slow burn pacing), but even in terms of gore, themes and drama, Clayface keeps it a bit too simple and superficial.

I did enjoy the movie, the acting is solid and it has its moments, but it feels strangely “unambititious”, afraid to stray too much either way.

On one hand you might argue that you could only expext so much by trying to work off a B-tier Batman Villain, heck, we had Clayface in the fuckin Suicide Squad Isekai, but considering we got eventually a good film out of that premise, yeah, this is quite decent but also kinda disappointing, the main concept still “crying out” for a better execution.

[EXPRESSO] Mickey 17 (2025) | Hardspace Shipbreaker Multiplicity

From Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer, Okja), we now have Mickey 17, an intriguing original brew of comedy, drama, romance, sci-fi, takin place in the future, where a down on his luck guy, Mickey Barnes, finds himself – due to a huge debt – signing up as an “expendable” for this religious backed colony envoy led by a zealot ex-congressman (Mark Ruffalo), meaning that basically he’s used as a guinea pig to test viruses, be given deadly jobs in the cold of space and then the ice-laden planet they want to colonize, thrown against the wildlife.. doesn’t matter, as they keep back ups of all his memories and just 3D print him a new body when he inevitably kicks the bucket.

One day he’s just left to die in a icy crevice, but miracolously manages to find himself alive and travels back to the outpost, only to notice they didn’t wait around to clone him again…

It’s an interesting film because it can jump to having romantic comedy scenes to serious sci-fi drama, throwing blunt satirical boulders about class warfare, tense thriller scenes, and yet, despite it sounding like it should be a fuckin mess, it all comes together organically, as the star studded cast delivers an incredible range, making the characters believable, even with the wild swings in tone… minus the two main villains, the zealot fascist cult-leader and his fitting wife (Tony Colette), i get why they are so over the top, i do, but they stick out as way too cartoonishly evil (especially when everyone else has some complexity or grounding in this specific sci-fi reality), to the point they become a detriment to what is still a great movie.

It’s still a notable, engaging and interesting film that fully deserves to be seen in cinemas,

[EXPRESSO] Blink Twice (2024) | Ass Wide Shut

An overworked catering waitress, Frida, one day happens to be working at a gala involving the late CEO (and founder) of tech megacorp KingTech, Slater King, whom resigned from the job after an unclear scandal he keeps trying to apologize for. Frida accidentally makes a pratfall, which piques Slater’s curiosity, leading to invite the girl and her friend (alongside many others) to an exclusive party on a remote island he just purchased.

Drugs, alcohol and fun abound in the neverending days of debauchery, but eventually Frida starts noticing she and others can’t quite remember what they did hours before, why they have scars or even what day even is…

A mix of Get Out, Don’t Worry Darling and The Menu, Blink Twice it’s actually none of those because it’s ultimately just an exploitation movie that tries to pass a pedantic overabundance of “style” as substance when in reality it’s incredibly superficial in handling his own themes, it just presents them at complete face value and calls it a day, while leaving too many question unanswered and with the big reveal… that actually dampens interest instead of rejuvenating it.

The good performances by the star laden cast i’d argue make things even worse, wasted on a movie that wants the praise of the auter by imitating other films that tackle similar themes, by feigning a wit that isn’t there, thinking that you just gotta throw ideas into the script and that will fuckin do.

For what it actually is… it not THAT BAD, but Blink Twice constantly pretends to be something else, it’s actually proper pretentious, while unable to make any point about anything.

Zoe Kravitz’s debut feels like M. Night Shyamalan trying to cynically (and badly) ape Jordan Peele, but even lacking M. Night’s earnestness and conviction for his ideas.