David’s Download: May 2025 Rewind
Beyond the movies reviewed by The Drive Home team each month, I try to watch several other movies – both at home and at the theater, including films I’ve never seen and some rewatches. Along with the Final Destination movies I revisited (check out the last David’s Download to read more about those), May’s watch list spanned horror, comedy, action, and a movie some people consider a classic. Check out the recap below, and consider adding some of these to your watch list.
Here’s how we be categorize movies in these monthly Rewinds on David’s Download:
Delete – don’t watch or never watch again
Play – worth a viewing if the genre, actors, or something about the film matches your cup of tea (also a nod to one of my favorite J.Lo songs)
Save – worth a rewatch or definitely a must-see if you have never watched before
DELETE
The Usual Suspects
I’m sure there are millions of moviegoers out there who would give me sh*t about this critique, but I really didn’t enjoy The Usual Suspects, the Academy Award-nominated crime-thriller from 1995. And no, the dislike has nothing to do with everything that’s come to light about Kevin Spacey in the last decade.
I found The Usual Suspects to be highly confusing, jam-packed with characters who I couldn't tell apart from one another. The movie feels pretentious and very “into itself,” and I saw the twist coming from a mile away despite my confusion. Perhaps my viewing experience was skewed by the dozens of films that have iterated on its twist in the three decades since 1995. Even so, I wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone, unless you like scouring Wikipedia and fan pages for explanations and clarity on who is who during your viewing.
Things Like This
Wow… just wow… this film was AWFUL. If Hollywood executives don’t greenlight another romcom for five years, I would blame this lazy, ego trip of a movie.
Things Like This centers on a plus-sized fantasy writer and a talent agent’s assistant who have a meet-cute (more like meet-cringe) at an art gallery, and every thinkable romcom cliche ensues from there.
Max Talisman wrote, directed, and starred in this LGBTQ+ romance. The final product makes me think his friends were too nice to say that the script needs significant punching up and he should hand over the reigns to a better actor to play the lead. While certain members of the supporting cast do everything they can to make the material work, Talisman is sorely out of his acting league. I also don’t think I’ll ever be able to listen to the song “Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin ever again without ripping my hair out.
Last but certainly not least, the end credits feature the worst, unfunniest bloopers I’ve ever seen. Aren’t bloopers supposed to make the audience laugh?
PLAY
Another Simple Favor
This follow-up to 2018’s A Simple Favor sends its leading ladies to Italy and ups the camp factor to 11. If you enjoyed the first movie, I would recommend a viewing of this sequel. While it doesn’t reach the heights of its predecessor, it’s fun to see Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively at each other’s throats again, and the supporting cast adds a lot of laughs and vibrancy to the mayhem unfolding onscreen. Whether or not you’re buying what the filmmakers are dishing out, there are enough twists and turns to hold your interest for 100 minutes.
Summer of 69
Current SNL standout Chloe Fineman finally gets her starring vehicle with this Jillian Bell-directed sex comedy. Fineman plays a stripper named Santa Monica, who is hired by a high school senior to teach her how to be sexy and win over a guy in her class before leaving for college.
Director Bell does a great job bringing heart to a story that could have just been a string of cheap, raunchy laughs. While there are plenty of sex jokes to go around, the characters are likable, and you’ll be rooting for the heroines by the end. I hope this leads to more starring roles for Fineman, who I actually think could go even zanier in whatever movie awaits her next.
My main grievance about Summer of 69 is that it didn’t play in theaters! These are the kinds movies that are such a blast to watch in a crowded theater, laughing alongside hundreds of other moviegoers.
Novocaine
Jack Quaid is on a hot streak with his film choices lately. Scream, Plus One, Companion and now Novocaine have all been delightful, with the latter establishing him as a bona fide action star.
Quaid plays Nathan, aka “Novocaine,” who has the unusual ability to feel no pain. When the girl of his dreams gets kidnapped during a bank heist, he uses that ability to his advantage to hunt down the people responsible.
If you have the stomach for the R-rated violence and gore, the movie has a zippy, lightweight energy that makes it an easy watch.
SAVE
John Wick
I revisited John Wick this past month in preparation for Ballerina hitting theaters in June. John Wick has become an action movie icon for good reason!
Upon rewatching, I feel like John Wick became the blueprint for action movies of the last decade. (See Novocaine above, but also Monkey Man, Nobody, and many others.)
As a dog lover, I find the catalyst for Wick’s “un-retirement” to be great fuel for a revenge epic. Every action sequence is brilliantly staged and doesn’t hold back on the R rating. Now I need to watch 2, 3, and 4 before Ballerina drops!
Clown in a Cornfield
I was pleasantly surprised by this teen slasher, which played at SXSW early this year and hit theaters nationwide on May 9. Clown in a Cornfield has a lot more on its mind than just a killer clown slaughtering victims in a small Midwest town - it’s filled with themes that could make it a Gen Z and Gen Alpha favorite if enough people give it a chance. The movie has solid jump scares, respectable gore for a teen slasher, and harkens back to genre classics like Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
While I don’t see Clown in a Cornfield reaching classic status, I plan on watching it one or two more times.