They Will Kill You (2026) *

 

Directed by:  Kirill Sokolov

Starring:  Zasie Beetz, Patricia Arquette, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Myah'la

Another week, another battle to the death with a Satanic cult.  This time it's Asia Reaves (Beetz) who infiltrates a demonic hotel called The Virgil in hopes of rescuing her sister (Myah'la) from the cult's grasp before it's too late.  They Will Kill You is Tarantino-esque in its delivery of its gory violence, but it grows tiresome fast.  There is plenty of blood and kills, but this time, the killed cult members can quickly resurrect and pull themselves back together with nary a scratch on them.  That's one of the benefits of living in The Virgil, so we are treated to certain characters being annihilated three or four different times. 

I understand the action is meant to be over-the-top, but it is also boring.  How many stab wounds can one person endure (who is not a cultist) without eventually bleeding to death or at least going into shock from blood loss?  It becomes apparent that no matter what Asia does to her tormentors, they will come back again and again.  I'm reminded of the Pirates of the Caribbean series' pointless swordfights with the undead.  How exactly do you plan to kill the undead, especially with a sword?

They Will Kill You clocks in at 94 minutes and feels every bit sluggish getting there.  We have heroes and villains we equally couldn't care less about.  Beetz is game as the butt-kicking hero, and yes that's Oscar winner Patricia Arquette as Lilith, the main antagonist, but They Will Kill You attempts to bring the Tarantino style without the energy.  

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

Starring:  Samantha Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Elijah Wood, David Cronenberg

Ready or Not (2019) was a successful action movie in which a newlywed named Grace (Weaving), who married into a rich family, spends her wedding night trying to survive a deadly game of hide and seek from her new in-laws and husband.  Ready or Not 2 picks up where the first one left off, with Grace sitting on the steps of the mansion she burned to the ground while smoking a cigarette.  She went through hell, but soon learns that she will have to survive another game of people who want to control Satan's earthly cult and need to do so by killing Grace.   

I won't get into why or how that is that Grace controls the fate of Satan's biggest and most powerful cult, except that the action starts after the children of the cult's leader Chester Danforth (famed director David Cronenberg) smother the old man to death.  Moments before, he was watching a story of a terrible war on tv and called in to demand a ceasefire.  The screen scroll then reads, "Ceasefire reached" seconds later.  His evil children Titus (Hatosy) and Ursula (Gellar) are two of the numerous players trying to kill Grace (and her estranged sister Faith (Newton)), who has the unfortunate luck of being Grace's next of kin contact and actually shows up to Grace's hospital room.  Grace explains in roughly two minutes of dialogue what happened in the last movie and then the game is afoot.

Grace and Faith are kidnapped and taken to a remote country club where Satan's attorney (Wood) explains the ground rules to the participants who are looking to take out Grace.  The participants can't kill each other, even accidentally, or they'll be immediately burned up by Satan.  Then, family members on hand must join the game even if they don't want to.  What's interesting about the Wood character is that he truly has no skin in the game.  He doesn't mind seeing this cultists off each other and when Grace outsmarts them in a key scene, a smirk crosses his face.  And who knew Satan required an attorney here on Earth?  What does he have down below?  A second attorney who specializes in underworld matters?   Do they work for Al Pacino's firm from The Devil's Advocate?  

Yes, of course this is silly, but it's fun because ultimately we want to see Grace and Faith destroy their would-be assassins.  Of course, reconciliation is in the works because if not, then you've come to the wrong movie.  Yet, Ready or Not 2 is not simply a retread of the first movie.  The stakes seem higher and it's no longer just a family affair.  You can understand by the Lord of Darkness is fed up with the idiots who want to rule the cult.  In a way, you sense he admires Grace's chutzpah, although he won't admit it. 

Project Hail Mary (2026) * *

 

Directed by:  Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Starring:  Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller, Lionel Boyce, voice of James Ortiz

If Project Hail Mary feels eerily like The Martian (2015), it is because both are Andy Weir novels adapted by Drew Goddard.  The Martian is more upbeat even though its protagonist is stranded on Mars alone and has to come up with ways to communicate with NASA and pray for a timely rescue.  Project Hail Mary despite giving its hero Dr. Ryland Grace (Gosling) an alien lifeform to play off of, threatens to collapse under its own heavy atmosphere.  It reminded me of Interstellar (2014), which wasn't exactly a picnic either despite its outstanding technical achievements.  Project Hail Mary is a bloated downer of a movie with even some of the visuals looking chintzy.

Dr. Grace is a middle school teacher with a PhD in molecular biology but personal issues have forced him to work at the school.  If you think about it, being a teacher isn't bad.  You get weekends and holidays off and sometimes all summer if you play your cards right.  But, Ryland is approached by Eva Stratt (Huller) with an offer to use his skills to determine if bacteria is eating the sun.  I kid you not.  Dr. Grace determines that there is and if the bacteria isn't destroyed, life on Earth will cease in about thirty years.  The catch:  Dr. Grace and two other astronauts will have to man a shuttle to a destination light years away to perform the mission with no hope of returning home alive.  Dr. Grace has reservations about participating in a suicide mission, but his hand is soon forced.

The beginning of the movie has Dr. Grace awakening with the other two crew members already dead, so he has to figure out not only his mission but how he even got there.  Dr. Grace then meets an alien life form shaped like a walking, talking rock.  Dr. Grace is able to use a special translator to translate the language he affectionately calls Rocky speaks into English and the two we learn are on the same mission to save their respective planets.

Gosling does all he can to give Dr. Grace dimensions, but it's quite a load to carry.  Rocky is lovable...for a rock, but the movie itself becomes a 2 1/2 hour slog to get through, not to mention how depressing it is.  You could see where such material could be fun in a schlocky sci-fi way, but Project Hail Mary is so solemn and deadly serious that fun seems to be the furthest thing from its mind.  It makes Interstellar appear cheerful by comparison.

2026 Oscars: A Review.

 

The 2026 Oscars are in the books.  Once again hosted by Conan O'Brien, the show clocked in at nearly 3 hours, 40 minutes.  It could've easily trimmed thirty minutes by expunging lame bits like the cold open where Conan was made up like Amy Madigan's character in Weapons and chased through the scenes of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture.  This is a callback to Billy Crystal's bit from when he hosted.  However, back then only five movies were nominated, not ten, so the bit is twice as long while not generating any laughs.

The unfunny banter between presenters was also back in full force and it never felt more forced than when the Bridesmaids cast reunited to present the Original Score Oscar.  One of the "notes" received by the cast complained about how the show was running too long and to get on with it.  There isn't an audience member who didn't agree at that point, either at home or in the Dolby Theater.  Of course, it would be better to simply make the show shorter than creating commentary spoofing how long it is.  

The In Memoriam segment featured touching tributes to Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton, and Robert Redford and naturally there were noticeable omissions but that's par for the course.  The most glaring to me was Brigitte Bardot.  I pray it wasn't because of far-right comments she made over the course of her lifetime.  The idea is to pay tribute to the artist, not his or her politics. 

The acting categories returned to showing clips of the nominated performances, but could they be a little longer?  By the time the crowd stops applauding and cheering over the clip, the clip is over.  There are plenty of places to trim time from the show, let's not give the acting nominees (which are why most people tune in) short shrift.  

The show remained mostly non-political, but Jimmy Kimmel (who presented the documentary awards) intimated that the United States no longer practices freedom of speech and then took a swipe at CBS for axing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and giving the show one year's notice in doing so.  Most cancelled shows are ended immediately.  Kimmel himself was suspended (with pay I'm sure) for a few nights before returning to his show to bash the right and Trump on a nightly basis.  

Since Kimmel and Colbert are not in prison for speaking their minds, how can they say that there is no longer freedom of speech in the United States?  Just wondering.  

Revolutionary Road (2008) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Sam Mendes

Starring:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour

A Titanic reunion featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in a story about 1950's suburban angst?  Directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes, who made American Beauty, also about said angst?  Let the Oscar nominations flow.  However, Revolutionary Road mustered a Best Supporting Oscar nod for Michael Shannon and that was it.  It was almost too Oscar-baity even for an Academy that falls for Oscar bait often.  

The movie itself was wonderfully photographed and acted, but after a while I grew tired of listening to people jabber on about problems 99 percent of the world wished it had to contend with.  Frank Wheeler (DiCaprio) and wife April (Winslet) live a comfortable life in a new Connecticut home with Frank holding down a job at a Manhattan company which pays well.  They have two children who play little into their daily concerns and aren't seen much.  Frank goes to work daily while April stays home to be a homemaker and mother to the kids.  Yet, April yearns for more.  She feels Frank gave up on his dream of being a writer and wants to move to Paris so Frank can write and April can work in civil service.  For a time, she's able to talk Frank into agreeing to the move, but then Frank is offered a promotion at work and he second-guesses his decision much to April's horror.  

So Frank and April fight, and they reconcile.  Frank cheats on April with various women in the secretary pool at work, and April is the apple of her neighbor's eye.  Maybe Frank will be happier in Paris.  April sure would.  The kids?  I can't say I recall their names.  Then April becomes pregnant and thinks seriously about an abortion much to Frank's distress.  April doesn't want to bring another child into this horrible world of suburban comfort and affluence.  Frank wants the baby because now he'll have a third child to ignore and April will have another one to resent.  I think you're getting the picture here.  

I know, I know...April is suffocating in this 1950's world where women were expected to stay home while the husbands went to work.  Oh, the horror.  April wants to move to Paris where the roles will be reversed in a true case of believing the grass will be greener on the other side.  But, when Frank and April bicker and fight over how horrible their lives are, I wish I could relate, as would most of the audience.  DiCaprio and Winslet could shout at each other numbers from the phone book and be compelling, but their central arguments are ones which most people would reply, "Yeah, and?" 

2026 Oscar Predictions

 The 98th Annual Academy Awards are Sunday March 15, 2026 (tonight!) These are my predictions of what will win, not what I think should win.  However, 2025 was an unusual year in that so many of these films and performances were unseen by me.  Nonetheless, here are my picks:

Best Picture:  One Battle after Another

Best Director:  Thomas Anderson (One Battle after Another) 

Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) 

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn (One Battle after Another)

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Best Original Screenplay: Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay: One Battle after Another

Best Original Song: Golden (KPop Demon Hunters)

Best Original Score: Sinners

Best International Feature: It Was Just an Accident

Best Animated Feature: KPop Demon Hunters

Best Documentary Feature: Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Best Costume Design: Sinners

Best Make-Up and Hairstyling: Frankenstein

Best Production Design: Sinners

Best Sound: F1

Best Film Editing: Marty Supreme

Best Cinematography: Sinners

Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Best Live Action Short: A Friend of Dorothy

Best Animated Short: The Girl who Cried Pearls

Best Documentary Short: Children No More: Were and Are Gone

Best Casting: Sinners

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) * *

 

Directed by: Joe Dante

Starring:  Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Robert Prosky, John Glover, Haviland Morris, Christopher Lee

Gremlins 2 is a retread of the second-half of the original, when the mischievous gremlins wreaked havoc on a small upstate New York town.  The original idea was how teenager Billy Peltzer (Galligan) was given a cute little creature named Gizmo for a birthday present.  The lovable little guy came with two rules:  Don't get him wet and don't feed him after midnight.  There might be a third, but I don't recall it.  

Well, we know there wouldn't be a Gremlins movie if the rules weren't disobeyed, and now there wouldn't be a sequel if the commandments were followed this time around.  The first Gremlins was cute and fun enough, especially when I saw it as a teenager.  However, the sequel (which I didn't see when it was released) is much, much more of the same gremlins only this time they're destroying half of New York City.  They get into everything and seem a bit nastier in Gremlins 2.  Soon enough, there are so many of them that it's a relief to see the humans when they do appear. 

Billy and his girlfriend Kate (Cates) live in New York and work for Clamp Industries, a conglomerate run by Daniel Clamp (Glover), and who is certainly modeled after Donald Trump.  His assistant and soon-to-be-girlfriend is named Marla just so the point can be jammed home.  Clamp's building and security system are state-of-the-art, until Gizmo finds his way back to Billy and of course gets wet accidentally.  The offspring that pop up in little balls from Gizmo's body then eat after midnight and away we go.  Billy and Kate spend the bulk of the movie warning the others of danger and trying to outwit the clever critters. 

The gremlins themselves range from sorta cute to dastardly.  They take over the movie much in the same fashion they take over Manhattan.  They're proof that even somewhat cute little monsters like them can still be too much of a good thing.