Dead Mail (2024)

This 80's style thriller is currently showing on Shudder and it's about Josh who is a keyboard engineer of sorts, working his magic on a Moog-type synthesiser and trying to break new ground in what sounds it can produce. He's at some kind of demo/event when he's approached by Trent (our Mr Fruit-loop for the duration) who asks if he'll go into partnership with him. Trent has the money to buy all the latest tools and Josh, the expertise.

Lured by the offer of a decent workshop and means to further his work, Josh goes to Trent's home and sets up a workshop, where he gets to work. All's going well until Trent discovers a letter that Josh has received, offering him a job in Japan with Yamaha. They talk about it and it's clear that Josh wants to go. He's sorry to leave Trent in the lurch but the offer is too good to turn down. This is not part of Trent's gameplan, so he locks Josh up in his basement and forces him to work.

The film starts with a flash-forward so it's no spoiler to tell you that Josh gets a bloody letter out into the postbox outside Trent's house appealing for help as he has been held hostage but is grabbed in the process by Trent, but just too late. Then the story gets picked up in the local sorting office for post, specifically Dead Mail department as it wasn't addressed, where the letter is found and although the staff don't really take it seriously, one does, then another, and the detection (without any help from the police) story begins to unfold. Meanwhile, Trent is on a mission to retrieve the letter before any harm is done to his plan - and will take no prisoners in the process!

The timeline skips about quite a lot during the first half of the film, but during the remainder, the gaps get filled in, references to the lopped timeline fall into place and it starts to portray a chronological one by two-thirds through. It ends up being quite gripping in its own way, so don't give up in the first half as the characters in the story are richly portrayed and acting from the cast very good.

It comes across as a low-budget outing (and perhaps it was) but I rather think that it was more that effort was made to make it a period-piece, before automation, computers, mobile phones - where digital detection was most likely via a dial-up modem and nerd sitting in front of text-based old monitors, where the sorting office staff try to get help tracking down Josh and Trent. So yes, hang in there through the slow delivery and you'll feel satisfied by the end with some suspense at the tail of this decent story, well told.

Contrary to what the credits would have you believe it's not a true story, but made to feel so, Coen Brothers style! I don't know any of the people involved in the creation and delivery of this film - Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy, Sterling Macer Jr., John Fleck or Tomas Boykin but I reckon they've done a decent job between them and it's well worth a watch if you can get to it.

Moto AI (2025)

Motorola have really upped their game with AI recently, clearly trying to play catch-up to Samsung, Google and others. They are clearly working in partnership with Google on many features on their smartphones, evidenced by the speed at which some of them roll out, some even before Pixels! So I thought I'd blog my thoughts and observations.

My Razr 50 received the Android 15 update this week (who'd have thought 12 months ago that Moto would be ahead of Samsung in this respect, with the OneUI 7 fiasco still in full swing out of South Korea!) and it's been littered with improvements as well as bolstering out the AI offerings, some of which are very useful, and the Smart Connect suite, surpassing Samsung's DeX now, which I'll come to. Last October I did summarise Smart Connect here on my blog, much of which remains valid.

First things first though and Always on Display - hurrah for Moto as they make this available on my Razr on the inside screen now as well as (previously available) the external one. Always a slight irritation that in order to get the AoD working, the flip had to be closed. Now it works on both. Particularly useful when using Smart Connect on the Desktop connected to a PC or Tablet as when the flip is closed, Smart Connect doesn't, er, connect! The Always on Display on the inside screen looks pretty much a replica of the one we see on the Motorola Edge 50 Neo. Great.

The next thing people would likely notice is the redesigned App Drawer (for those who wish to use it), dubbed the News App Tray. Here, they have added three tabs across the top, the first being Apps (so the usual view/functions), secondly a Newsfeed which (presumably) learns from how you interact with it (though it doesn't say that - just invites the user to select categories of interest) and serves up news content. A bit like Google's Feed to the left of the homescreen on Pixel (and others) except that Google's version gives the user more accept/reject options (and allegedly does learn from choices - though I've not seen much evidence of it working ever)!

The third tab is Journal, which seems to be a bit like what Nothing Phone are doing with their Essential Key/Service. Wherever you are or whatever you're doing on the phone, you can tap the Moto AI button (which I'll come to) and it saves a record of what you're looking at/doing so you can go back later and have, well, a collection of stuff you wanted to 'save'. Remember This, then, offers Photo, Screenshot or Text. Photo lets you take a photo, it then 'processes' it and gives you a paragraph AI-generated description of what it thinks it is. There's also an OCR option inside this view which, again, lets you take a photo which it then plucks the text from and offers copy/share. You can also generate a Summary which, again, gives a paragraph describing what you shot. All of this, then saved and available as reference later.

If you click on Screenshot, it will, again, take a screenshot, invite you to add a text note, then summarise whatever the screenshot is. On initial testing it does this pretty well, but these are early days! The last option in Remember This is to save a Text Note - so yes, simply that. Make a note (as one might in Google Keep for example) for reference later. All this, is then added to the Journal for later use. You can get back to the Moto AI features via an (optional) on-screen floating button, via the App Tray (as described above) or you can set up the power button if you want for a double-press to invoke it all. So that's pretty much what I have found with Remember This. None of it is universal cross-devices (like Google Keep is with a dedicated webpage for each user, for example) but when I come to Smart Connect you will see that there are plenty of options (that Nothing's Essential Service can't offer with their similar function) to share/copy and use elsewhere.

Next up is Magic Canvas. We've seen this before this Android 15 update, but I'll include it for completeness as it's part of the Moto AI suite now. Open up Magic Canvas from the Moto AI menu again, and you can type in a Description - pretty much whatever you like. It's not on-device, so any dodgy requests are refused but laying that aside it seems to do what is asked of it. I asked it for A chicken sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower reading a newspaper. You can see that it kind of has done that, though the tower is in the background. You can also request that it's done in various Styles from cartoon to pop-art and much between - some of which did do a better job and put the chicken on the tower at least! You can also ask for full-screen or square. You will see from the image that it adds a watermark saying that it's AI Generated. You can then save, share or copy the image (and remove the watermark if you like in another editor). Maybe of limited use to most folk beyond play-factor, but with my magazine-editor's hat on, I often need an image which is not going to be copyrighted, so it will be useful now and again.

When the Take Notes button is pressed the phone immediately launches an audio recorder which records whatever it hears, then attempts to transcribe it (taking about 20 seconds for a 20 second sample in my tests) and shows the result on the screen, followed by a Summary underneath. If you play it some music instead of speech, it tries the same trick with the lyrics being sung but results are hit and miss - depending very much on how clearly the singer is pronouncing their words. These audio recordings become available in the Journal, but I don't see a way to save the transcription or summary. A copy can be taken using the standard Android tools. I guess that's something they will add later.

Update Me (which I think until this update was called Catch Me Up) is supposed to summarise notifications and missed calls. However, during my tests here, unless I'm doing something wrong, and with Notifications waiting, unread, I just get a message saying "You're all caught up on personal communication notifications". So I guess this is either a bug or some feature that needs adding yet.

Play a Game simply opens the Moto Game Hub, Record My Screen starts, er, recording the screen - which you can invoke by other means, so not sure why it's a part of the Moto AI suite - same for Scan this Document - a simple shortcut to another app - in this case the Moto-supplied Adobe Scan (which does actually have some useful tools), ditto Take a Portrait (though I guess it does launch the camera app in Portrait Mode), Same for Take a Video and Take a Selfie (which auto-invokes a 5-second countdown time before firing the shutter). To be fair, the buttons for the services in this paragraph are only accessible by opening up the extended menu onscreen - the four main ones (depicted above) and the ones always front/centre on invoking Moto AI.

At the foot of the screen when the Moto AI has been invoked, under the four-item menu/list, there's a Prompt Bar, which is also at the foot of the App Tray, looking suspiciously like a Google Search Bar, but with the Moto AI logo on the left, inviting the user to Ask or Search. It says that it's going off to use AI (of course) to answer any query. Seems to do a good enough job, but I can't help thinking that, unless it's tapping into Google's data, it can't be as good. I understand that Moto are doing some kind of deal with the AI Assistant service Perplexity, so maybe some or all of this is routed (already) that way. Anyway, for my basic queries it seems to do a good enough job for general information.

Incidentally, there also seems to be a whole bunch of other features/tools for Moto in Business (or whatever they call it) aimed at the Enterprise, lots of which stem from the Security hub and more useful for system administrators. Much like we saw with the ThinkPhone on launch, apparently hand-in-hand with Microsoft.

The Smart Connect Dashboard is a central hub where all a user's Moto Things can be added for central connectivity control. Looking a bit like Samsung's Wearable app's UI (or a Bluetooth front-end) there's controls to connect/disconnect and an overview of what's available along with battery data - but, like for Samsung and others, it's only for their own devices. Buds, Tablets, Computers, Moto Tags, Watches (not that Moto are very active in this area) and pretty much anything else from Moto - and I think to some degree, certainly in the enterprise space, Lenovo.

Smart Connect is, as you can see from the above, much broader than Ready For used to be and takes in all sorts of seamless connections to all sorts of other Lenovorola gear. Much of the core functionality of Smart Connect is unchanged from my appraisal (linked above) but it now feels more inclusive as other Android phones are (shortly) going to be enabled to get in on the action, challenging Microsoft's Phone Link for computers for those who wish to use their phone on the Windows desktop setup, wired or wirelessly. Other OEM's phones won't get the full depth of what Moto users will, but that is also true of Phone Link.

Lastly, a special mention for those of us using a Moto flip phone. When you tap on the Notification button, bottom-left, you get a Moto AI "Update Me" button up-top, but again, as above, even with stuff waiting, I don't seem to actually get it, let along summaries or whatever. I think more work is needed and I'm sure it'll come. I think they've done well and this suite will also be on the new range of 60-series Moto phones, Fusion, Pro, Stylus, Ultra and so on.

Whatever you think about the onward surge of AI into our lives, it’s a really impressive effort here as we see how Moto are going aggressively after Samsung, Google and others in the space. For a person loving the whole Moto thing and baked into their devices/services, this is all becoming a well-thought-out and executed mobile-user's treat. Hopefully I haven't missed anything critical, but if so, let me know and I'll come back, test and add it. I've added a Google Photos Album with all my screenshots for anyone who wants a deeper dive.

La Jetée (1962)

Chris Maker's 28-minute film (well, series of still, black and white photos actually) tells the story of a man, slave, forced to travel through time for the good of his post-apocalyptic society to find a solution to the world's fate.

To replenish its decreasing stocks of food, medicine and energies, and in doing so, resulting in a perpetual memory of a lone female, life, death and past events that are recreated on an airport jetty. Apparently. It lost me!

Critics speak very highly of it, but this (apparently shallow) viewer found it all a bit of a bore, thankful it was only 28-minutes long in the end.

Lots of atmosphere sits behind the haunting music and narrator's tone, leading us through what the photos on rotation mean and what the story is about. Some, like me, it seems, found it hard to grasp. Anti-war science fiction and/or documentary kind of thing. Be interesting to see what other might think. It was apparently the driving influence for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys (1995) which I did watch back in the day, but can't remember much about.

The reason this caught my eye however was because there's also 2073 (2024) doing the rounds which also nods heavily to this work, too. In 2073 the setting is New San Francisco and the scorched-earth, tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.

La Jetée is available to watch on YouTube if anyone fancies it - I'll link to it in the first comment. Or you can pay AppleTV £3.49 to watch it - because they need your money!

Companion (2025)

If ever there was a film that viewers should not read/view reviews about, this is it! I would suggest that you go in as blind as possible for the unfolding story, surprises and twists. I shall tread very carefully here and keep it brief! it's creeping out to various streaming services now in the UK.

So, this Drew Hancock film really is a bit of a thrill-ride as we join Iris and Josh heading for a weekend away at a remote cabin joining friends. Kat is one of Josh's friends who lives at the cabin with Sergey and Eli and Patrick are there too, visiting, who are boyfriends. Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) is the main character, Iris, here and the one the film follows most closely - and she plays it very well, having to be adaptable as the story races along at just the right pace.

Jack Quaid (The Hunger Games) is pretty much as good supporting the Iris character as Josh, similarly showing an adaptable approach as more is revealed and we get to know him. I'm treading very carefully now! There are thrills along the way at every turn, but not in a cheap jump-scares way - it's more subtle, intelligent, tense and suspenseful than that. There is some violence and gore, but not huge amounts and what's there is in keeping with the unfolding tale full of unexpected turns.

It's a film about relationships and how we have come to accept how they are, with thoughts about how they might look in the future, within a smartly constructed narrative here, as well as other, underlying thrills not much to do with relationships! I need to stop there really and just encourage you to go in as 'blind' as you can, prepared for an uneasy ride and much musing later when the credits have rolled and long gone.

The production values and cinematography is also worthy of note as is generally the performances of the players. Don't close your eyes or go and make a pot of tea for too long - there's much you need to be here for, to soak up the excellent atmosphere and tone of this eye-opener!

The Monkey (2025) - A Guest Review by Adrian Brain

This horror comedy, with the emphasis on gruesome but highly improbable accidents, had us smiling all the way from the cinema to the pub, where we discussed the most brutal deaths with a sense of juvenile glee.

The plot centres around a creepy clockwork monkey inherited by twin boys from their father. They soon realise that by winding up the monkey, someone nearby will die in a horrible accident when the monkey beats its drum. Traumatised, the kids decide to throw the monkey down a well. Years later, the monkey returns and the murderous mayhem continues.

The adult twins are both played by Theo “The Gentlemen” James, one seriously and the other comedically, capturing the split nature of the movie. It is a cut above your usual death by numbers fodder, such as the “Final Destination” series (though the very last frame is a huge nod to that series). It is in no way scary, all the accidents are flagged up well in advance so you can enjoy them fully. The camera even shows us the objects that will do the damage - the movie’s opening shot is of a very pointy harpoon, for example. It is smartly paced - just as you are tiring of it, the film ramps up the mayhem dramatically, so much so that you even get an appearance of Death on his white horse in the final reel.

Fundamentally, the film is about the random nature of life and death, clearly a subject close to director Osgood Perkins (son of Anthony “Psycho” Perkins), and the mantra is repeated through the film, just in case we missed it. Far from the most subtle of movies, but it is a good laugh if you like this genre.

The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024)

This is doing the rounds on a few streaming platforms and I launched into it not knowing anything about the background (that I remember), nor that I should have probably watched the 2008 film first, nor that this is the first of a trilogy. Must pay more attention!

The reviews on IMDb generally slate this film, but actually I thought it was OK. It was quite suspenseful getting into the heads of the victims of apparently much mindless terrorism by 3 masked intruders.

The story is that two chirpy, happy-go-lucky young adults very much in love are heading off on holiday in their car, they stop in a rural village/town for lunch and while they're having it, some local loops sabotage their car. They can't prove it of course, but are pretty much forced into taking up another local's offer of an AirBNB nearby (while the car is fixed). In the middle of the woods. Isolated. Alone. Dark.

During the night the three hoods, with hoods on(!) go about their onslaught. There's not actually a huge amount of violence - most of it is perceived and, as I say, the tension and suspense at times is handled well. The two leads, especially the girl, I thought were very convincing, not for one minute looking like a tongue was in a cheek. Madelaine Petsch plays Maya and Jeff Morell, Ryan.

It's all very dark and menacing but ultimately pretty mindless with no real motive by anyone for what is going on. It's worth hanging about for the credits, incidentally, because there's a fair bit in them. Even when you think there's no more! I enjoyed it. But it seems I'm alone!

Lady in a Cage (1964)

They're trying so hard to make this 60's thriller Hitchcockian, but it just misses. Olivia De Havilland plays the most annoying wealthy woman you could imagine (so much so that you end up siding with the hoods - but more of that in a minute). She completely overacts like (probably) the drama queen she was (as an actress) and the film is held together more by the young James Caan, actually in a lesser role.

It's about this rich woman who annoys everyone she comes into contact with, including her son, who, unknown to her for most of this film, has left her a note upstairs telling her to shove it and that he's off! He leaves the house, she's in the lift (which is a domestic one, hanging in the open) going up to read the note, but never gets there. She's had a hip replacement, I think, for the lift.

There's a power cut and the lift breaks down mid-height. She's trapped (and starts whinging and whining to herself - and the camera, as there is nobody else to show off to)! A tramp happens by, starts to work out what's going on and helps himself to valuables around her - then off to the pawn shop to fuel his need for booze. He has a female friend he ropes in, then they're both at it.

The owner of the pawn shops gets tipped off, so he's in on the act and James Caan and his friends overhear what's happening so the three of them jump in on the action, too! Meanwhile the snooty rich woman dangles in the lobby. I guess she's supposed to be annoying - so in that sense maybe good acting - but it feels like there's too much enjoyment going on for it to be just a show.

Anyway, James Caan's crowd have some time on their own in there so they start to enjoy the facilities of the house too - drinking, eating, bathing, smashing the place up and with all this, the place turns into Piccadilly Circus! It becomes a bit dark when they realise that the woman can identify them all, so they might have to do something permanently with/to her. (At which point the audience is egging them on!)

There is some suspense and (almost) a dark non-Hollywood ending - with messages in the mix about the distribution of wealth in society, but generally, as I say, it's a bit of a miss. Some of the acting (apart from her) is a bit dated/wooden, but generally that is more a sign of the era than bad acting.

You can see very clearly how and where they are trying to make it Hitchcockian, but I guess there's only one Hitchcock! Still kind of enjoyable and very nearly family entertainment for all - maybe not quite. Available on a handful of streaming services at the time of writing.