M3GAN 2.0 (2025) - Universal Pictures

M3GAN 2.0
Universal Pictures

Original Release Date: June 27th, 2025
Written by Gerard Johnstone (screenplay & story), Akela Cooper (story & characters), James Wan (characters)
Directed by Gerard Johnstone
Starring Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Ivanna Sakhno, 
Language English (with subtitles available in English, Spanish, and French)

Buy it HERE from Orbit

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

M3GAN 2.0 comes to 4K HD & Blu-ray from Universal Pictures. Franchise director Gerard Johnstone, who also contributed to the story here, helps to upgrade M3GAN from villain to anti-hero in this ambitious sequel. The Universal Pictures release looks and sounds great, but the bonus features, while enjoyable, left me wanting more.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

When the first M3GAN (2022) came out, I heard a LOT of buzz about it. People were hyped. When I saw it a while after release, I was somewhat surprised: it was solid and very enjoyable, but not the kind of thing that I would get into such a tizzy about. Conversely, when the sequel dropped last year, I heard a much more modest response, even though I thought M3GAN 2.0 took some real chances and actually deserved more buzz. I love a Big Swing, and turning your killer robot doll horror franchise into a Terminator 2: Judgement Day homage is a pretty big one. Not to mention that it's done well.

But I'll back up. In the first film, we're introduced to Gemma (Allison Williams) and her recently-orphaned niece Cady (Violet McGraw). Gemma works in tech, designing robotics operating systems and artificial intelligence, and she is woefully unprepared to care for a child, let alone a grieving one. To that end, she introduces Cady to M3GAN (Amie Donald & Jenna Davis), her Model 3 Generative Android prototype, and things follow the Child's Play type of villain progression over the course of the film, with M3GAN becoming murderously obsessive about her friendship with Cady before eventually barely being defeated by Gemma and some of her other robotics projects.

In M3GAN 2.0, the franchise transitions M3GAN from Chucky to Terminator-style anithero. A government kill-bot (based on Gemma's works) goes rogue and eventually M3GAN is resurrected to help prevent it from achieving its ultimate goals which, without spoilers, will be bad for everybody. This rogue kill-bot, AMELIA (Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android) (Ivanna Sakhno), is just as powerful, crafty, dangerous, and insane as M3GAN but has the additional feature of: knowledge gleaned from hacking military databases. The plot ties in a pair of tech gurus (Jemaine Clement and Aristotle Athari, both approaching tech-bro douchebag performances from different angles and both doing a great job) and a shocking checklist of robotics & A.I. archetypes.

That aspect is one of my favorite things about the film: it functions almost like those multiverse / team-up films that are oh, so popular these days, but does so in a much more smooth and, ironically, organic fashion. Across the film's run-time, these battling A.I. robots cross swords (only occasionally metaphorically) with exo suits, futuristic eye-phones, neural chips, smart homes and home assistants, smart cars, BattleBots-style animatronics, and even a cameo appearance from Microsoft Office Assistant mascot Clippy! In addition to the robotics role call I've just mentioned, the choreography is pretty fantastic. It approaches the brutality of something "serious" like Timo Tjahtjanto's The Night Comes for Us, (2018) but keeps things poppy and accessible, like Timo Tjahtjanto's Nobody 2 (2025).

M3GAN, as a franchise, is focused on fun, and seems to approach that vague concept from a ''what's good for the goose is good for the gander'' perspective, changing things to take on grander ambitions, and keeping the cast and crew on their toes in the hopes that if they're all enjoying making the film, we will enjoy watching it. While M3GAN 2.0 didn't make as big a splash as the original, it's an infinitely more unexpected turn that deserves to be experienced. I hope they still make more of these films, and I hope I never know what genre they're going to explore next.

The Packaging: 3 stars

There's nothing to rave about in regards to the packaging here, but we shouldn't become so desensitized to reliable quality that we don't appreciate it. The Universal release comes in a black HD Blu-ray snapcase with a sleeve depicting M3GAN in bisexual lighting. The sleeve has a slight foil, reflective quality to it, which adds to the presentation. 

The Video: 4 stars

The film looks fantastic. Colorful, well-balanced, and appropriately saturated, the look of M3GAN 2.0 is dark the way a carnival at night is. Lots of neon lighting (the tech convention sequence especially), sleek, and shining design porn (the cars, the various buildings, etc.) abounds, but never at the expense of warmth or clarity.

The visual clarity works for and against the film at times. The production of M3GAN 2.0 utilized a mixture of animatronics and CGI face-replacement (in correlation to body doubles) to bring the characters of M3GAN and AMELIA to life and at times, you can tell. The super-clean visuals leave little room for even the briefest trip to the Uncanny Valley. On the other end of things: M3GAN and AMELIA are both supposed to feel uncanny, so those moments never broke my immersion, but some of the visuals are just smoother than others. In a film working with the constraints that this is (it's not ''low-budget'' by any means, but for its budget it's extremely ambitious), I think some rough edges are more than fair.

The Audio: 4 stars

The sound mix on this Universal release is pretty tops by my reckoning. This will sound like a very silly sentence, but there are a lot of sounds in this film, by which I mean: a lot is done with sound here. Setting aside your garden variety horror / action sonic choices--gunshots, yelling, combat, car engines, explosions, etc.--the M3GAN operating system hops between host systems a few different times, and sometimes these are audibly depicted via changes to her voice (notably, one feels like a direct homage to GLaDOS from the Portal games!) She also sings a version of Kate Bush's This Woman's Work in one hilariously bizarre moment, and there is a noted change in the sonorous quality of M3GAN's voice, which I think is a choice, made in world by M3GAN herself and not a mistake in the mixing.

My three-channel soundbar handled all of this very well, thanks to the Dolby Atmos mix. All dialogue was clear, and even the most sonically complicated sequences always felt balanced in a way that highlighted the appropriate aspects and allowed the story to continue on smoothly.

The Supplements: 3.5 stars

With supplemental material, I'm always looking for things that add context to my filmgoing experience: stories about the making-of process, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and/or footage, explanations of the effects work and the other crafts that went into bringing this film (whatever it may be) to life. There's definitely some of that here, but in my opinion, not enough. For instance, I would have loved a lot more info on the BattleBots-style animatronic (mentioned above) that was constructed by prop master Nick Komornicki!

According to the Droid DNA featurette, that thing needed, at time, seven puppeteers to operate it! I would happily have watched an hour on that process. I love practical effects, especially when they are to be utilized in conjunction with (and not as a rough draft to be replaced by) computer generated effects! I think that process is intellectually fascinating.

My blue-skying aside, I did enjoy the bonus features that are actually included. The action breakdown featurette (The Art of Slaying) was a lot of fun and I'd happily have watched an hour of that as well.

• Total Upgrade: Making M3GAN 2.0 (11:19) (HD)
• Droid DNA (7:39) (HD)
• The Art of Slaying (8:06) (HD)
• Scene breakdown: The Embrace A.I. Convention (5:05) (HD)

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended

As someone who saw Terminator 2 approximately 50 times before I finally saw the original, I will forgo my usual "...but make sure to watch the first film beforehand" caveat. I think M3GAN 2.0, as a movie, whips ass while still holding its own. In a cinematic field increasingly overcrowded with tired concepts and threadbare franchise installments, it's genuinely refreshing to see one that embraces a fluidity and freedom to change. I could wax on about how that is representative of some of the themes, but that's not why you're here.

If M3GAN 2.0 is your introduction to the franchise, you'll have a great time. But you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't eventually go back and watch the first one, if only to appreciate how brave a stylistic change this film is. But either way, I strongly recommend M3GAN 2.0 and hope for future installments.

HIM (2025) - Universal Pictures

HIM
Universal Pictures

Original Release Date Sept. 19th, 2025
Written by Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers, Justin Tipping
Directed by Justin Tipping
Starring Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, Jim Jefferies
Language English, Spanish, and French; (subtitles available)

Buy it HERE from Orbit

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

Overview:

HIM comes to 4K & Blu-ray from Universal. Directed by relative newcomer Justin Tipping, whose previous film Kicks (2016) caught the eye of Jordan Peele, the film is almost over-stuffed with style, symbolism, and themes. Universal's release of HIM features a fantastic video transfer and audio package with a deep bench of bonus features.

The Movie Itself: Excellent

Four stars for a football x horror movie might seem high at first glance. I will admit that the film is more of a conceptual experiment than some more narratively focused films. What does it take to become The Best at something? What are you willing to do to get there? These sorts of questions are more what HIM is concerned with than telling a more traditional story with more traditional obstacles and nemeses, and on first viewing, that shook me.

It was on a repeat viewing that the film began to gel. All the disparate elements, as well as the prevalence of style, all started to come together more for me and really began to work together, like a team. The commentary track with director Justin Tipping further elucidated the sheer amount of detail and levels the film is working on at all times. Which isn't to say that HIM can't be over-stimulating, at times coming off like an especially grizzly, psyche-assaulting Gatorade commercial, it's just that over time, I've learned to add "(complimentary)" to the end of that statement.

Story and style aside, HIM features an impressive lead performance from Tyriq Withers (as Cam) and an absolutely dynamite, career-redefining performance from Marlon Wayans. Withers' emotive eyes convey a depth of emotion from scene to scene, always acting as a grounding force; a calm (no pun intended) eye of the storm no matter how crazy events outside are, and trust me, they get plenty crazy. Wayans, meanwhile, is essentially giving the best hair-trigger psychopath performance of the decade?

Ultimately there's more about HIM to root for than against, and as was my experience, a second go-round was what it took to really click with it. If you dig on unusual horror movies, occult symbolism, Alejandro Jodorowsky-style visuals (seriously), top-tier villain performances, or the ethos of "God, Family, Football", you'd be remiss in letting HIM pass you by.

The Packaging: Good

The packaging here is just fine; no large complaints. The cover image, especially coming from a film with so much visual creativity, is a little underwhelming: Zay stands behind a seated Cam, with his hands on Cam's shoulders, showcasing Zay's impressive collection of championship rings, with the vague impression of stadium lights behind them.

The case is your standard, black snap-case. There's also a slip cover which recreates the same cover image described above. Like I said, nothing necessarily wrong with it, but I think it's underselling the film's visual language a little in the hopes of catching the eye of football & horror fans with less avant-garde tastes?

The Video: Excellent

As with my Bugonia 4K review, I'm giving this an 'Excellent' because maybe, somewhere out there in the cinematic cosmos, there's a film that looks inarguably better than this. Maybe. Regardless, HIM looks incredible. Color, as director Justin Tipping mentions during his commentary track, plays a major part within the film, as do things like the costuming and set design. Even more so than in your average film. This 4K presentation does all of these justice, allowing you to soak up every detail. Every drop of blood, sweat, and tears is perfectly preserved.

The lighting is very manicured in HIM, due in large part to the unusual locations where they filmed, but everything is incredibly well-balanced here. Similarly the effects shots look tremendous. There are repeated sequences shot with an infrared camera, and to say things have come a long way since Predator (1987)'s heat vision is a massive understatement.

The Audio: Excellent

My major takeaway, sonically, from HIM was how well-integrated the score is. There's an entire special feature based around how the score was created, and the ways in which it was utilized, and with that in mind, I paid special attention to it upon my rewatch. Beyond just conveying the tone and emotional content, the score is manipulated in almost meta-textual ways, like having it performed as though it were part of the music being heard within the film itself!

My three-channel soundbar might not be the fanciest set-up, but the Dolby Atmos made the most of it. Dialogue was clear, the music was powerful, the sports and training impacts all felt brutal, and the sheer size of some of the rooms was conveyed very well through the mix.

The Supplements: Excellent

I'm giving the bonus features here a very high score because there are a lot of them, and they are obviously well thought-out. Aside from a bunch of deleted scenes and an alternate ending, there are numerous making-of featurettes examining the film's themes, how certain scenes were constructed, the casting of Marlon Wayans, and as mentioned above, the work that went into scoring the film.

I also want to give a special shout-out to the commentary track with director Justin Tipping, which was full of even more insights. It also features my favorite trope of commentary tracks: when a filmmaker will point out a moment in the film that is obviously an effects shot, briefly claim they did that practically, and then admit they were kidding, ending with some version of "That's what we call Movie Magic." Like a toddler giggling at the 'got yer nose' gag, I laugh every time.

• Alternate Ending: "Zay's Nightmare" (2:13, HD)
• Deleted End Credits Scene: "Food of Freedom" (1:07, HD)
• Deleted Scenes (13:20, HD):
• "Cheers"
• "Don't Be a Mascot"
• "The Publicist"
• "Fantasy Football"
• "Cam's Discovery"
• Becoming Them (9:07, HD)
• The Sport of Filmmaking (10:10, HD)
• Anatomy of a Scene: "A Diabolical Game of Catch" (4:26, HD)
• Anatomy of a Scene: "Rebirth" (4:53, HD)
• Hymns of a Goat (4:36, HD)

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended 

I watched HIM for the first time at the end of last year, and enjoyed it just fine, but felt like I just wasn't on the same wavelength as the film. I jumped at the chance to review this release because I really wanted the chance to re-examine it, and I was not disappointed. HIM is a film that I can see being a tall order for some people: narratively light, thematically and conceptually dense, and with some very difficult moments (to paraphrase Justin Tipping "In football, the body horror is build-in").

However, nothing about the film is superfluous. There are no cheap scares, no pointless violence. Everything serves the film by supporting the themes, which are asking some very interesting questions. Add to that the fantastic lead performances, and the jaw-dropping visuals, and HIM makes for a very satisfying addition to the under-represented Sports Horror genre.

BUGONIA (2025) - Universal Pictures / Focus Features

Bugonia
Universal Pictures / Focus Features

Original Release Date: Oct. 24th, 2025
Written by Will Tracy, based on Save the Green Planet (2003) by Jang Joon-hwan
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Alicia Silverstone, Stavros Halkias
Language English, Spanish, or French, with subtitles also available in English, Spanish, or French

Buy it HERE from Orbit DVD

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie Itself: Excellent

Bugonia is a film that plays with reality. You can read that sentence a few ways and they're each true. Bugonia plays with the audience's understanding of what is really happening, but it also plays around with elements of the world we find ourselves in. When unassuming but intense Teddy (Jesse Plemons), with the help of his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) kidnaps wealthy CEO Michelle (Emma Stone), he doesn't do it out of malice or revenge. You see, Teddy has a crazy theory bolstered by online research and he intends to force Michelle to verify his improbable belief.

Bugonia constantly swaps who we believe. We spend just as much time early on with both factions, so there is no instinctual feeling that one or the other is our main character. Once Michelle is captured, she repeatedly changes her tactics when dealing with the implacable Teddy and much more tender Don, leaving the audience unsure from moment to moment how much of what we're seeing is to be believed. Beyond that, Lanthimos and screenwriter Will Tracy are playing with the preconceptions around conspiracy thought and the conspiracy theorists themselves. But I won't go too much further with that line of thought in order to avoid SPOILERS.

What I will say is that Aidan Delbis is a fantastic discovery and gives a very grounded performance. Being a comparatively inexperienced actor holding his own against Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, two fantastically naturalistic performers, even in something as out there as Bugonia, it's quite a feat.

The Packaging: Average

This is a fairly basic first-run release, but not shabby by any means. There is a slipcover with the same image as the disc cover: a bald Michelle staring upwards in what may be ecstasy, with what looks like honey and blood dripping down the image. It's all very warm; orangey browns and tans with the golden maybe-honey and maroon maybe-blood. Inside you find the sleek black plastic dual disc 4K case. Like I said, a pretty traditional release, but still quite handsome.

The Video: Excellent

The video looks incredible. Bugonia looks incredible and is made more so by largely being unremarkable. There are not many flashy shots or sets on display, but what is here has been crafted with such intentionality that it lends the film a fascination. Sure, Michelle's offices are cool and ultra modern, but it's the home where Teddy and Don live that repeatedly caught my eye. The house was constructed from the ground up in High Wycombe in England (doubling for Atlanta, Georgia) and was designed by set designer Prue Howard. There are so many interesting details, and the choices in color, texture, and layout made every scene shot inside feel like looking into a jewel box.

To that end, the cinematography by Robbie Ryan--his third collaboration with Lanthimos after The Favorite (2018) and Poor Things (2023)--is amazing. Deep colors, deep shadows, an appreciation for light in a space and for the feel of nature, which is a surprisingly relevant subtext for this film. Ryan shot on VistaVision, a technique that utilizes a widescreen version of tradition 35mm film, the same technique recently used on The Brutalist (cinematographer Lol Crawley) and One Battle After Another (cinematographer Michael Bauman) making the 2020s the biggest era for the technique since the late '60s.

All of these details in the settings and location, all the fine detail allowed by the VistaVision format is all beautifully rendered in this release. I was frequently struck by how sumptuous a scene looked, whether it was Michelle being held in the basement or Teddy riding his bike to work in bright sunshine, but somehow it never distracted from the overall film. I felt fully immersed in the experiences, like being there. I don't believe I've ever seen a transfer this satisfying looking, but I'm certainly open to the idea.

The Audio: Excellent

I am incredibly happy to see that composer Jerskin Fendrix is nominated for an Academy Award for this score. For multiple reasons. Firstly, it's just a very good score: it has movement and utilizes an occasional focus on one group of instruments over another to highlight feelings of unease, or to emphasize the scope of Teddy's beliefs with appropriate sonic gravitas. What's more, and is my second talking point, he composed this fantastically well-suited score without access to a script or a rough-cut of the film. Apparently Lanthimos, who Fendrix says "...likes to mess with me", only gave him a handful of key words to work from!

I don't have the fanciest of set-ups currently, just a three-channel soundbar, but I noticed no issues with the audio package for Bugonia. On a practical level, I never had to adjust the volume once I found a good level and despite the presence of the occasional deep tones or intentionally buzzy string section, my soundbar was never tortured, never vibrated to a distracting degree. Additionally, from a mixing perspective, there are scenes with multiple points of audio information and they're all perfectly clear. For example, one scene of Teddy biking features the score, the audio from podcasts he's listening to, and the sounds of the world around him: nature, passing cars, etc. All in a pretty perfect balance.

The Supplements: Average

This only has one feature, I checked both the 4K and standard Blu-ray discs just to be sure, which is underwhelming to put it mildly. This is the main deterrent for me when I consider picking up a recent movie's first major release. But, I will say, it's a very interesting featurette and at over 20 minutes, it's nothing to sneeze at. Would I have liked dedicated, deeper-diving featurettes on the set design, the score, the cinematography, and etc.? I sure would, but I'm not against doing a bit of my own research when something interests me.

• The Birth and the Bees: The Making of Bugonia (23:07) (HD)

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended

I've been in the pocket for Yorgos Lanthimos since I went to see The Lobster on a date--yes, and we're still together--and have never really been disappointed in any of his films. Even so, I think Bugonia is a triumph of creativity and fantastic film on multiple metrics. Despite being a remake of a film and sharing a ton of thematic and ideological DNA with that, it is (or I suppose they are) just fantastically unique and thought-provoking. Beyond that, as exemplified above, I loved the production end of things on this film. It looks, sounds, and overall feels fantastic. Just an excellent viewing experience.

If you like auteur filmmaking, UFO / conspiracy thought, paranoid thrillers and stand out, believable performances, Bugonia is a must see, and this release does justice to it all.

"THE HUNT" (2020)

THE HUNT (2020)
Written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindeloff
Directed by Craig Zobel
Starring Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz 
Running time: 1 hour and 29 minutes
MPAA Rated R for strong bloody violence, and language throughout

A bit of a disclaimer: Famously, the band on the Titanic continued playing even as the ship was going down and there are moments where writing about movies at this point in time has that feeling. The world is a mess, people are anxious and things seem uncertain, but people need something to take their minds off of it all. Be prepared, stock up on canned goods and for Satan’s sake *wash your damned hands* but beyond that, worrying about COVID-19 isn’t going to help any. So that, to me, is why movies and all we who love talking about them, should keep on keeping on. Like any bad times, we’ll get through it together; us and you and the movies. So now onto my actual review of The Hunt.

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Genre film has dealt with social and political issues for basically as long as there has been genre film, right? Maybe not 100% of the time, but in general if you're looking for a message of some kind, you're likely able to find one. Last September, The Hunt was delayed for ostensibly political reasons: both the Dayton and El Paso mass shootings were extremely fresh wounds to our country's psyche and Universal Pictures didn't feel it was the best time to release a movie where one group of people is hunting another group with guns (among other weapons). Added to that was the rumor that the flick itself was inherently political and you can perhaps understand what all the hubbub was about. Depending on what you might want out of your entertainments, I have either good or bad news: The Hunt isn't a genre flick with political subtext, it's one that uses politics as set dressing; as an excuse to get to what it really is: a brisk, funny, action-forward head-trip revenge story on a large scale. It has laughs, great performances, good-natured gore and sizable body count, and these days, what more could you ask for that something to take your mind off things?