Hulk Hogan: Real American (2026) * * * 1/2

 

Featuring:  Hulk Hogan, Linda Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Kevin Nash, Nick Hogan, Vince McMahon (archive and voice), Jake Roberts, Jimmy Hart, Bret Hart, Donald Trump, Paul Levesque, Eric Bischoff 

Hulk Hogan passed away last summer and it still feels odd saying that.  As a wrestling fan growing up in the 80's, Hulk Hogan was bigger than life and even wrestling itself.  He ventured into television and movies, but once his WWF run was finished, he reinvented himself and made WCW a ratings juggernaut for several years.  His later years were filled with controversy, but even his harshest critics can't deny his impact.  

Hulk Hogan: Real American to its credit doesn't shy away from controversy.  It isn't hagiography.  Bret "Hitman" Hart didn't have many kind things to say, especially after a perceived snub backstage at Wrestlemania IX.  Jesse Ventura, the former pro wrestler and governor of Minnesota, has been on record countless times expressing his dislike for Hogan.  However, it is heartening to see that perhaps the two did reconcile enough for Ventura to participate in the documentary.  The makers of Real American had full access to Hogan in the months before his passing.  Hogan revealed the warts and all concerning his career and his home life.  His ex-wife Linda, with whom he had a messy public divorce, isn't afraid to be honest either.  She may even still love him.  

The travel of any WWF wrestler in the 80's and 90's was difficult enough.  For the WWF Champion and top draw like Hogan, you had to mix in public appearances, television, and then movie shoots.  One TV appearance on Richard Belzer's talk show days before Wrestlemania ended in a lawsuit and Hogan placed Belzer in a front face lock and then allowed him to drop unconscious to the floor.  Hogan's later controversies involving his divorce, a sex tape, and another recording in which Hogan used racial slurs made him a pariah in the eyes of some fans.  In his last televised appearance on WWE Raw in January 2026, Hogan was booed out of the building by the California crowd.  Why?  Some say it was because of his unapologetic support of President Donald Trump (who also makes an appearance as an interview subject-rare for a sitting president) at the 2024 Republican National Convention.  Others say the stories of Hogan politicking in the locker room and his later ordeals turned off his fans.  Six months later, Hogan died from cardiac arrest and you wonder how many of those fans who booed wished they could take it back.

The documentary itself is four parts, enough to cover Hogan warts and all.  It flows well and it isn't afraid to be honest.  Whether he was cheered or jeered, many would say Hogan earned all of it.  There was the famed Gawker trial in which Hogan sued the online magazine for the unauthorized publication of the leaked sex video.  Hogan differentiated himself between his onscreen persona and Terry Bollea (his real name).  You would think this would be a ludicrous defense, but even his ex-wife didn't know where Terry ended and Hulk began.  Even Hogan himself might not have been able to tell anymore. 

The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  David Frankel

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, BJ Novak, Lucy Liu, Patrick Brammall, Simone Ashley

As far as sequels no one asked for go: The Devil Wears Prada 2 is quite entertaining.  It's fun to see this group together again and the sequel even has something to say about today's media.  Runway magazine in 2006 carried a great deal of influence in the fashion world and its editor-in-chief, the all-powerful Miranda Priestly (Streep) was the final word in whether a designer would become famous or infamous.  She wielded such power that no one in the building would dare share an elevator with her.  

In 2026, Runway is now mostly online with very few physical copies available and the office atmosphere is such that Miranda can no longer throw her coat at her assistants and has to watch the phrases she uses.  It's amusing to see Miranda hanging up her own coat and afterward looking drained.  Why is she hanging up her own coat?  Because of HR complaints.  How Miranda lasted this long in a changing environment is beyond anyone's comprehension, but one thing we know about her:  She is a survivor. She can adapt.  

The moral center of the Devil Wears Prada universe remains Andy Sachs (Hathaway), who begins the movie as a journalist who is fired via text (as does the rest of the magazine's staff) as she's receiving an award for Journalist of the Year.  Her expletive-laced rant goes viral, and soon she's back working at Runway as a features editor much to Miranda's displeasure.  Miranda at first doesn't remember Andy and has to be gently reminded by her ever-loyal right-hand Nigel (Tucci-who is great as always) that "she was one of the Emilys" (code name for the assistants at which Miranda would toss her coat and purse).

Runway is in dire straits due to the ever-changing media landscape and a recent story linking Runway to sweat shops.  Miranda's boss Ira soon passes away, and his son (Novak) wants to sell the conglomerate to billionaire Benji (Theroux), who is the new beau of Emily Charlton (Blunt), who now works for Dior and still harbors resentments towards Miranda, Andy, and Runway.  Emily would love nothing more than to take over Runway.  When everyone finds themselves in Milan, games are afoot to determine the future of Runway and therefore Miranda, Nigel, and Andy.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 isn't as good as its predecessor, but it has charms of its own.  Miranda is allowed to have more emotions and dimensions (although her performance was wickedly funny in the first film).  The subplots involving Runway's fate bring due intrigue, and although The Devil Wears Prada 2 ends more or less happily, you know in the real world it wouldn't be so tidy.  

Your Friends & Neighbors (2025) * *

 

Starring:  Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet, Corbin Bernsen, Mark Tallman, Aimee Carrero, Olivia Munn, Hoon Lee, Lena Hall

One of the funniest (and that's a short list) jokes of the more recent Oscar telecasts was host Amy Schumer (I believe it was her) stating how she watched The Power of the Dog three times and is still only halfway through it.  You now know how watching the first season of Your Friends & Neighbors feels.  I'm nine episodes in and what a slog it has been.  

The series starts out promisingly enough with Andrew "Coop" Cooper (Hamm) playing a familiar type as a well-off suburbanite who works for a Manhattan hedge fund that finds himself ousted on trumped-up sexual harassment charges after sleeping with a colleague.  He needs this like a hole in the head.  In order to prevent further litigation against him, he agrees to a two-year non-compete clause so finding another job in the financial world is not happening.  His wife Mel (Peet) cheated on him with his best friend Nick (Tallman) well before his tryst with his subordinate, so his marriage was already in shambles.

Coop finds he wants to maintain his lifestyle and the respect of his children, so while attending a party at one of this friend's homes, he discovers the jewelry his friend leaves lying around upstairs and how easy it is for him to sneak up there and lift some of the items.  Surely a guy who has a huge collection of watches won't miss one measly watch.  This is the Raising Arizona logic that applies to watches instead of kids. Coop steals the jewelry from all of the homes which magically do not have their security alarms engaged and tries to fence them at a local pawn shop which quickly catches on that Coop doesn't own these fancy, expensive items.

Coop spends the remainder of the series evading the law, being charged with the murder of a former friend, and steering clear of further trouble.  Jon Hamm can play smooth in his sleep, and Coop is sympathetic despite being a criminal.  But, the tension which we would expect would arise from such events doesn't exist.  Your Friends & Neighbors drags to the point that getting through the first season will be a monumental task, and maybe too big an ask from yours truly. 

Big Mistakes (2026) * * *

 

(Netflix series)

Starring:  Dan Levy, Taylor Ortega, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Perkins, Abby Quinn, Boran Kuzum, Mark Ivanir

Big Mistakes, like Ozark, connects its ordinary people with ruthless mobsters and find themselves unable to break free.  It's a comedy, though, and that takes the edge off somewhat, but these folks are trapped in a criminal underworld following a petty crime against the sort of people who don't like to be stolen from.  

In Ozark, Jason Bateman's Marty Byrde stole money from a cartel.  His penance in exchange for his life was to work for the cartel laundering their money through various means in the Ozark Mountains.  If he can't do it, the penalty is death, although it was amazing how often Marty and his family were able to avoid this consequence.  In Big Mistakes, Morgan (Ortega) steals a necklace from a store operated by Yusuf (Kuzum) she gives to her dying grandmother to wear at her funeral.  Yusuf soon shows up with a gun demanding the necklace back.  Morgan's brother Nicky (Levy), who is the pastor at the local church, assists Morgan so they don't wind up dead.  Morgan and Nicky are unable to steal the necklace from the grandmother's body prior to the casket being buried, so it looks like a night of shoveling for the two bickering siblings.

They retrieve the necklace, return it to Yusuf's boss Ivan (Ivanir), and expect that their servitude to the mob is complete.  Not so fast.  They are assigned burner phones and are expected to be available at a moment's notice for whatever job the mob needs them to do.  Nicky is far more panicked about this than Morgan, mostly because he's a pastor and supposed to be a man of God.  How would it look for the pastor to be in the mob's pocket?  You would think a comic tone would undermine the danger Nicky and Morgan, plus their mother Linda (Metcalf) who is running for town council, are in, but the stakes still remain pretty high.  

Big Mistakes is briskly paced and sometimes slapstick, with Levy having a ball nearly hyperventilating at the trouble he finds himself in.  Morgan appears to like this type of drama as an antidote to her otherwise boring life.  Levy and Ortega play well off each other.  While it takes an episode or two to catch its rhythm, Big Mistakes turns out to have enough twists to be worth the sometimes bumpy ride. 

Michael (2026) * *

 

Directed by:  Antoine Fuqua

Starring:  Jafaar Jackson, Colman Domingo, Miles Teller, Nia Long, Juliano Krue Valdi, Larenz Tate

We are more than aware of Michael Jackson's controversial history which came to light in the 1990's and dogged him until his death in 2009.  He was only fifty when he died and left enough for ten legacies.  Michael only brings his story up to 1988 with a promise of his story continuing.  Will the next installment cover the allegations of sexual molestation and his later trial?  If it doesn't, then the entire story is dishonest and guilty of the sin of omission.  It would be like a film encompassing World War II which doesn't mention the Nazis.  

I'm reviewing what's in Michael, not what isn't in it.  The movie does not need to foreshadow his later sins with every scene.  Michael seems to exist in the moment, and at the peak of his fame, he is depicted as a near-saint who yearns for a lost childhood and a father figure that is anyone other than his real father Joseph (Domingo).  There is naturally plenty of music and dancing, and Michael Jackson was indeed a superstar and a trail blazer as far as music is concerned.  Admitting that in no way means that his later actions are condoned or acceptable.  

Jafaar Jackson (Michael's real-life nephew) captures the spirit of Michael Jackson and has the moves.  He does what he can, but the movie itself only goes skin deep in its depiction of him.  There isn't a lot of depth here and it feels like a standard musical biopic.  It is meh extended out to a little over two hours of running time, even with Domingo relishing his role as the antagonistic Joseph.  The other Jackson brothers exist only to support Michael and don't have any personalities or traits of their own.  This movie is all about Michael Jackson and everyone else is relegated to the background.  Janet Jackson, who of course created her own path on the way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, doesn't even exist in Michael.  Were there legal wranglings or did she just not want to be associated with the film?  I'm reminded of 2023's The Iron Claw about the Von Erich wrestling family which left out an entire child who himself committed suicide under the spotlight of being a member of the famous clan.  

Michael's reviews have been ugly, but the movie isn't as bad as those notices.  It only tells part of the story and not very insightfully.   It sees much but doesn't see through.  Will the next chapter treat its subject the same way?  Only time will tell. 

The Morning Show (2019-present) * * *

 

Starring:  Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Mark Duplass, Billy Crudup, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Julianna Margulies, Jack Davenport, Greta Lee, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Karen Pittman, Desean K. Terry, Nestor Carbonell, Jon Hamm    

The Morning Show is probably as accurate a depiction of "behind the scenes" of a network morning show as Shrinking is about psychiatry.  It's a soap opera and despite its unevenness at times, it works and maintains interest even when its plot developments make you scratch your head.  The show should be called, "Fuck you.  I quit.  Welcome back," Translated:  I lost count of how many times one character says "Fuck you" to another (usually a superior).  The character quits and then through contrived circumstances winds up welcomed back to the show with open arms.   Yes, it's silly but it's guilty fun.

I won't encapsulate all of the characters and subplots for the four seasons of Apple TV's flagship show.  In the pilot episode, UBA's The Morning Show is rocked by scandal.  Co-anchor Mitch Kessler (Carell) is fired in the wake of sexual assault and harassment claims by several female staffers.  His co-star Alex Levy (Aniston) is devastated by the news and at first distances herself from Mitch but soon reconciles with him amidst the scandal.  It turns out they slept together once or twice and how much did the producers and network know about Mitch's behavior?  A replacement is needed, and one is found in Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon), a West Virginia on-air reporter who goes viral after a confrontation with a protestor in the area.  She at first appears on The Morning Show as a guest, but Alex then paints the network into a corner during contract negotiations by publicly announcing Bradley as Mitch's successor.  Gasp.  

Bradley doesn't know if she even wants the job, but network news President Cory Ellison (Crudup) likes her, and likely even loves her, so he lets it ride.  Crudup's performance is the best part of The Morning Show.  Yes, he's a confident schemer who is always playing an angle, but the subplots involving his unrequited love for Bradley and how he handles his dying mother bring depth to a character whom we think we have nailed down.  The people in The Morning Show don't realize they are part of a daytime drama.  Over four seasons, these people have endured so much drama that they should be treated for PTSD.  Perhaps that will be part of the fifth season.  

Faces of Death (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Daniel Goldhaber

Starring:  Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Jermaine Fowler, Josie Totah, Aaron Holliday, Charli XCX

I'm dating myself but I recall combing video stores with friends looking for videos to rent and Faces of Death sat on the shelf, waiting for someone to rent it and see what the fuss was about.  For those unfamiliar, Faces of Death (and its two sequels) was a pseudo-documentary which recreated (and in some cases used actual footage) horrific deaths such as a SWAT team opening fire on an armed man, a monkey bludgeoned to death and then having its brains eaten, and other assorted pleasantries.  All hosted by "Doctor" Francis B. Gross (get it?) who narrates the affair with monotone detachment.  Dr. Gross is played by actor Michael Carr, who assures us all he's as horrified and puzzled as the rest of us.  The box on the videotape promised that Faces of Death was "banned in 66 countries" but obviously not the United States. 

The 2026 movie isn't based on Faces of Death directly, but its serial killer uses the killings in the VHS video as inspiration for his crimes.  The elevator pitch for Faces of Death could be Seven meets Untraceable (an underrated 2008 Diane Lane film) in which its killer posts grisly murders that mimic the crimes on Faces of Death and gets way too many likes from a supposedly civilized society.   Our hero is Margot (Ferreira), who works at a TikTok-like service reviewing posts and determining whether they should be tagged or deleted per its standards.  She underwent recent trauma in which her sister was killed by a moving train while both were posting a video.  Margot sees videos of a man being executed in the electric chair and another having his head bashed in by mannequins.   Surely, these are fake, right?  But they are disturbing enough for Margot to research them and then realizes they are indeed recreations of scenes from Faces of Death.  Her roommate just so happens to have a VCR and a copy of the movie for her to discover.  

The videos are courtesy of Arthur Spevak (Montgomery), a John Doe-like serial killer who kills not just for enjoyment but to spread a message about society's sickness as if he isn't contributing to it.  Montgomery is an effectively creepy killer while Ferreira gives us a wounded, but feisty protagonist who wants to stop the killings.  I didn't know what to expect from Faces of Death and on some level, I was pleasantly surprised by its slick production values and its simple story which focuses on the strengths of the genre.  And in some weird way, it harkens back to the days when going to Blockbuster or West Coast Video was an adventure in itself.  It was good to see Dr. Francis B. Gross again.  

Ted Lasso (2020-present) * *

Starring:  Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Juno Temple, Phil Dunster, Nick Mohammed, Brendan Hunt

Ted Lasso begins as a promising fish-out-of-water series about an American football coach hired by a scheming European League soccer team owner in hopes he will flop and humiliate her ex-husband who formerly owned the team.  But then it grew into a slog and ran out of gas by the end of season two.  Whether I'll watch season three is still up in the air.  Where did a series that started so swimmingly go so wrong?

Ted Lasso (Sudeikis) is hired by Richmond FC owner Rebecca Wilton (Waddingham) after a video of him celebrating a Division II football title went viral.  She recently was awarded full ownership of the club in her divorce.  Does she want to win?  No, she wants to get back at her ex by running the team he loves into the ground.   Ted is a folksy optimist who admittedly knows nothing about soccer but wishes to learn.  He takes his longtime assistant "Beard" (Hunt) along for the trip to London.  Ted's eternal positivity is hard to withstand, even for Rebecca, who receives a daily helping of biscuits from Ted each morning.  It doesn't take long for Rebecca to succumb to Ted's charms (although not romantically) and soon enough she feels guilty and confesses her plot to him, which takes away a good part of the edge.  Rebecca is no Rachel Phelps (for those Major League fans out there).

Ted has to deal with two different types of team distractions:  Jamie (Dunster), the egotistical star of the team who doesn't play well with others, and gruff veteran Roy Kent (Goldstein), who doesn't like Jamie and can't stand having a novice like Ted coach the team.  We know the scales will fall from their eyes eventually.  The biggest concern with the first two seasons is how Ted Lasso simply plods along without much direction.  There isn't enough soccer for us to care about, and the characters aren't entirely engrossing.  Like the show, they are compelling in spurts, but not enough to carry our attention over two seasons. 

The Drama (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Kristoffer Borgli

Starring:  Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim

Kristoffer Borgli's Dream Scenario (2023) starred Nicolas Cage in a wicked satire about cancel culture.  If you recall, Cage's character inexplicably begins appearing in the dreams of random people and becomes a celebrity, until he suddenly starts killing people in the dreams.  Then, everyone wants nothing to do with him, and he is banished from polite society over something of which he has no control.  The movie took an absurd development and ran with it.  The Drama, Borgli's follow-up, begins with a couple approaching their upcoming wedding like most engaged couples do, and then a confession by Emma (Zendaya) to her husband-to-be Charlie (Pattinson) in front of their best friends alters everything.  It isn't what you think.  It's something no one could see coming but having an affair or a one-night stand would've been preferable in Charlie's mind and the mind of Emma's matron-of-honor (Haim).  

I won't reveal what Emma's secret is, but it forces Charlie to see Emma in a new light and question whether he even wants to marry her on the eve of their wedding.  No one can blame Charlie for having doubts, but the events involving Emma way back in high school did not actually occur.  There I am hinting at the secret, but The Drama is about others' reactions to it.  Emma loves Charlie and wants to marry him.  He's not so sure, but does he want to undo all of the wedding plans and disrupt everyone's schedule?  He oscillates between wanting to proceed with the nuptials and calling the whole thing off.

If nothing else, The Drama's underlying themes are that some things are better left unsaid and people may say they want total honesty from their partner, but the "total" part could present problems.  Zendaya and Pattinson are appealing, but are more acted upon than anything else.  They are almost deliberately unexciting, because what matters more is how Borgli uses them as vessels to further his plot and the questions it presents.  When someone asks you to be totally honest, maybe still think before you say something you'll regret. 

Shrinking (2023-2026) * * *

 

Starring:  Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Harrison Ford, Christa Miller, Ted McGinley, Lukita Maxwell, Jeff Daniels, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, Brett Goldstein, Damon Wayans, Jr., Michael J. Fox, Wendie Malick, Lily Rabe

Three seasons into Shrinking, you can forgive it its trespasses because it creates a sense of family within its characters.  Sure, they can simply walk into each other's houses without knocking at the door, but we care about them warts and all.   They grow on you.

At the start, we meet psychiatrist Dr. Jimmy Laird (Segel) who numbs the pain of losing his wife in a car wreck with drugs and prostitutes.  His daughter Alice (Maxwell) barely speaks to him because Jimmy essentially left her to fend for herself with her own grieving.  Jimmy works for Dr. Paul Rhoades (Ford), a gruff, sometimes irascible straight-shooter who suffers from Parkinson's Disease.  Jimmy's other colleague is Gaby (Williams), herself going through a divorce and a strained relationship with her mother.  One day, Jimmy decides to deal with his patients in most unorthodox manners, such as a former solider with PTSD named Sean (Tennie), who punches first and asks questions later.  

Jimmy's concerned and well-meaning neighbors are Liz (Miller) and Derek (McGinley), with Liz being more outspoken and Derek coming off as a truly kind man.  All of these characters interact regularly, with Louis Winston, the drunk driver who killed Jimmy's wife in the accident, attempting to shoehorn his way into Jimmy's life by apologizing.  Is he able to succeed?   The answer may surprise you in touching ways.

Over three seasons, there are too many characters and subplots to encapsulate without driving yourself mad.  So, the review is meant to capture the overall feel of the show.  It's breezy and doesn't bog itself with heaviness even in the midst of tragic developments.  The more dramatic moments are still light without treading lightly.  Even when the characters behave badly, they aren't mean and they maintain their likability.  Some of the repeated joke themes can be tiresome, but by then everyone is on to the next joke or situation.   I'm no therapist, and Shrinking is probably as accurate about psychiatry as Rocky is about boxing, but it sure makes you feel good to watch.  

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.  

Sinners (2025) * *

 

Directed by: Ryan Coogler

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, Jayme Lawson, Yao, Li Jun Li

I caught up late to Sinners, following a record sixteen Oscar nominations this year.  The movie is an ungainly mix of crime drama, social commentary, and vampire horror all in one.  The vampire stuff seems typical no matter how Coogler introduces it and tries to dress it up.  The first hour before any bloodsuckers even show up gives us the players and some backstory, but it is a slog getting to the main event.  

Sinners centers around bootlegging twins Smoke and Stack (Jordan), who are difficult to differentiate not just because it's Michael B. Jordan playing them both, but because their personalities are similar.  One actor playing twins can be distracting because you're looking for the editing tricks.  Sinners does this seamlessly, but after a while I gave up trying to figure out which twin is which.  One way the movie differentiates them is by giving them different love interests.  Stack is in love with Mary (Steinfeld), who is half-black but passes as white in societal circles.  Smoke wants to reconnect with a voodoo priestess (Mosaku) whom he left behind when he and Stack moved to Chicago to work for Al Capone after they fought in World War I.

The twins want to open a juke joint in their Mississippi hometown and dream of making big dollars, but on opening night, the establishment and its many patrons are accosted by three vampires (concealing their identities of course) who ostensibly want to enter so they can play the blues.  They're turned away and the horror show starts as the vampires turn each of the living into the undead.  There is also teenager Sammie (Caton), a blues guitarist who wishes to break into the blues scene.  In one time-bending scene, he plays a blues song, and Coogler reflects on how the blues influenced future music like disco, rock, etc. and the room is replete with visions of future singers and dancers occupying the same space.  

Sinners is superior from a production standpoint, capturing the essence of its time and place in 1930's Mississippi, but it tries to be too many things at once, almost as if Coogler was filming two different movies at the same time and attempted to mesh them together.  Themes of racism and cultural appropriation are also explored.  Are the white vampires symbolic of these?  Sinners makes the answer apparent, and you will be the judge as to whether that works for you.  But from an entertainment perspective, Sinners is a mixed bag that never lifts off the ground despite its lofty intentions.  

The Bride! (2026) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Maggie Gyllenhaal

Starring:  Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penelope Cruz, Jake Gyllenhaal

The Bride! comes equipped with an exclamation point but has nothing for us to be excited about.  Maggie Gyllenhaal's retelling of The Bride of Frankenstein is complete with a feminist twist, hints at MeToo, and an annoying bride.  It is told in overly artsy fashion in which Mary Shelley's ghost inexplicably possesses Ida (Buckley), who is getting drunk at a Chicago mobster's party circa 1936 and makes enough of a spectacle of herself to soon be murdered by the mobster's goons.  The Bride! like Frankenstein's monster is an ungainly assembly of ill-fitting parts. 

The Bride! steps wrong in the first frame with the black and white spirit of Mary Shelley yapping about some nonsense before stepping into the body of Ida at the worst possible time.  Soon after Ida's death, Frankenstein's monster (Bale) appears at the doorstep of Dr. Euphronius (Bening), who was inspired by and written books on Dr. Frankenstein's work.  "Frank" as the good doctor soon calls him, is pent up with a century of loneliness and wants the doc to reanimate a dead woman to be his, er, companion.  They dig up Ida, jolt her with electricity, and then she's back to life with little memory of who she was.  Frank is ecstatic, or as ecstatic as anyone is allowed to be in such an ironically lifeless film, which is telling considering how much activity Gyllenhaal wants to cram into it.

Once Ida and Frank become an item, they visit a nightclub which wasn't likely to be found so easily in 1936 and following a confrontation in which two men try to rape Ida and Frank kills them, they find themselves on the lam like Bonnie and Clyde.  Do they go on a crime spree?  Not intentionally, but bodies soon pile up and Chicago detectives Wiles and Malloy (Sarsgaard and Cruz) are on the trail of the couple to New York and all over the country where they are taking in the movies of actor Ronnie Reed (Gyllenhaal, who has the mannerisms of a 1930's movie star down).  By then, The Bride! has become all but incomprehensible.  

Gyllenhaal saddles the actors with too many subplots, questionable motivations, and no real reasons to care.  They try mightily, but ultimately The Bride! just isn't much fun to watch and even less fun to think about.  Gyllenhaal does indeed swing for the fences, but strikes out. 

Death on the Nile (1978) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  John Guillermin

Starring: Peter Ustinov, David Niven, Jane Birkin, Mia Farrow, Bette Davis, Simon MacCorkindale, Maggie Smith, George Kennedy, Lois Chiles, Jack Warden, Olivia Hussey, Angela Lansbury

Death on the Nile, based on the Agatha Christie novel, is the first featuring Peter Ustinov as the Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.  People mistakenly assume he's French, and he's quick to correct them.  Nothing escapes him, although the murderers try their best to fool him.  He won't be swayed or distracted.  Once he's on the case, the killers ought to just confess and save everyone time.   But what fun would that be?  One of the most fun aspects of Death on the Nile, or any Agatha Christie film adaptation, is the detective gathering the suspects all in the same room and toying with each person's guilt or innocence.  Everyone is a suspect because everyone has a reason to want to kill the victim.  It's their poor fortune to be on the same boat as Hercule Poirot.   Just ask the folks on the Orient Express. 

I'll tread lightly.  The victim is Linett Doyle (Chiles), an heiress married to Simon Doyle (MacCorkindale), who dumped his lover Jacqueline (Farrow) prior and now she's obsessively stalking the couple.  Linett is found shot to death with a "J" written in blood on the wall next to her.  This was moments after Simon was accidentally shot in the leg by Jacqueline in a jealous rage in the dining room.  Simon was incapacitated and Jacqueline was escorted back to her room with witnesses present, so they're not involved.  Or are they?  Each suspect has motive and the movie speculates who could've done what and how.  

I won't go through the list of suspects except to say they are played by some of the legends of show business from a bygone era.  They exhibit class, style, and relish the material.  At least the actors do, even if the characters don't.  In the middle of it all is Ustinov's unflappability which keeps everything centered.  

How to Make a Killing (2026) * *

 

Directed by:  John Patton Ford

Starring:  Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Ed Harris, Nell Williams, Jessica Henwick 

How to Make a Killing has the potential to lure us in and make us co-conspirators as Becket Redfellow (Powell) begins his quest to knock off the seven family members in line for his grandfather's inheritance in order to claim it for himself.  But it never takes off.  It plods when it should crackle.  We should care enough to hope he either gets away with it or gets caught, but in this case, it's neither.  Why is this?  Because the characters Becket needs to bump off aren't established enough for us to root for their demise and Becket's plight isn't exactly one we can sympathize with.   

Becket's mother got pregnant as a teenager and is subsequently cast out of her family by her father Whitelaw (oh, these names) (Harris) after refusing to have an abortion.  Mom creates a life in North Jersey where she grooms her son to be a future inheritor of the family fortune.  She dresses him in suits, teaches him how to speak like the manner-born, and eventually passes away from cancer while Becket is a teenager.  Becket's dad dropped dead from an embolism while witnessing his birth, in case you were wondering.

After working as a tailor for a while, Becket decides to go after the fortune when his childhood crush Julia (Qualley) spurns him because she's marrying some rich prick.  Julia acts like a femme fatale dropped in from a nearby thriller.  She catches on early that Becket is up to no good and acts accordingly.  The FBI also catches on since those who are dying are directly blocking Becket's succession to the inheritance.  Becket has occasional pangs of conscience and also forms a relationship with Ruth (Henwick), the former girlfriend of one of the cousins Becket kills.  

Becket tells the story to a priest while on death row awaiting execution.  How Becket manages to avoid this is unconvincing and screams of an attempt to give this story a happier ending.  Powell doesn't exhibit much charisma here, and we aren't much moved by his mission.  He isn't sympathetic or even unsympathetic.  He's just there.  So is the movie and that's deadly to the whole enterprise.  

Scream 7 (2026) * *

Directed by: Kevin Williamson

Starring: Neve Campbell, Joel McHale, Courteney Cox, Ethan Embry, Matthew Lillard, Isabel May, Mason Gooding, Sam Rechner, Anna CampCamp

Ghostface is back.  One day, I won't have to write those words, but as long as Scream movies continue to make money, there will be more Screams to be made.  Scream 7 feels by-the-numbers and uninspired.  There is always the whodunit aspect which keeps just enough interest to prevent the viewer from falling asleep, but the Scream movies have become a series of grisly killings which try to top the others in their blood and viciousness.  When you see someone's guts spilled out all over the place after a brutal kill, you realize Scream has lost its sense of fun.

Sidney Prescott (Campbell) returns to the franchise for the first time since Scream 4.  She lives with her police chief husband (McHale) and daughter Tatum (May) in a small town in an unnamed state and owns the local coffee shop.  Soon, after a loooong opening scene in which the Ghostface killer emerges, Sidney is contacted by someone proclaiming to be Stu (Lillard-who was killed in the first movie) and even calls her on FaceTime.  Is Stu really alive?  Or is this AI run amok?  And why do the people in these movies answer all calls from Unknown or Restricted callers?  If no one answered these calls, then the movies would screech to a halt.  

Now, one or more Ghostface killers are stalking and killing Sidney's loved ones and Tatum's friends.  Poor Sidney likely has enough PTSD to last three lifetimes and now has to go through it again.  No wonder she took two movies off.  Who could blame her?  And once the killer (or killers) is revealed, we realize that anyone who has more than 1-2 lines in the movie should be considered a suspect.  The explanation is ludicrous, as you would expect from someone who was only given a couple lines earlier in the film.  The Scream series has run out of gas and was only running on a half-tank to begin with. 

Miracle: The Boys of '80 (2026) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Jacob Rogal, Max Gershberg

It's impossible to reference the 1980 USA Men's Olympic Hockey team and not refer to the words "miracle" or "miraculous".  Those words will follow these players around for all time.  There are other movies about the team like Miracle (2004), Miracle on Ice (1981), and now Miracle: The Boys of '80 which focuses on the players, their stories, and their complicated relationship with their late head coach Herb Brooks.  The documentary reflects a time and place where the Olympics could be held in a quaint little town like Lake Placid, NY, where the opening ceremonies look like they were held on a local football field.  

February 1980 was the height of the Cold War between the USA and USSR, but the Soviet hockey team was head and shoulders above all of its competition.  They had won each four gold medals in a row and 1980's tournament was supposed to be merely a formality as they claim their fifth straight.  The American team was made of players in their late teens or early 20's, but the Soviets were veterans (some in their late 20's or early 30's) who were ostensibly professional players who skirted the then-Olympic amateur-only status by through "Red Army employment".  

Days before the Games, the USSR trounced the US in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden 10-3.  Their hopes of even competing for a medal, much less beating the unbeatable Soviets.  The USA managed a tie in the final minute of play in their first game vs. Sweden.  Had they lost that game, there would be no Miracle on Ice to document and sports history would've been drastically changed.  The economic and political climate in 1980 called for something to hope for and the US team provided that as they then tallied some unlikely wins.  Then, they drew the Soviets in the medal round and the rest is history.

The Boys of '80 is moving because of how it sees the players, their stories, and their lives.  Each played hard for Brooks, but they regret that they never got close to him.  Brooks wanted it that way, and the players' ambivalence towards him resonates to this day.  The players all sit in the arena where they upset the Soviets and ultimately claimed gold two days later, and we have to pinch ourselves that these men who captivated a nation were now older and histories of their own.  Many gave thanks to their supportive parents and still get emotional when discussing how they won the gold medal in their honor.  Each game is analyzed and the players themselves discuss what went through their minds especially in the final period of the win vs. the Soviets.  It was the longest ten minutes of their lives as they clung to a 4-3 lead.  

Then after the win, the team partied and basked in the glory, but Brooks, being who he was, said in harsher words that if they don't win the gold, all of this was for naught.  The win was so huge that people still forget that the win vs. the Soviets was only a semifinal game.  The Soviets likely came in overconfident after thrashing everyone in their path.  When the U.S. tied the game late in the first period, the Soviet coach responded by benching their world-class goaltender.  When the team trailed late, the coach didn't even pull the goalie to gain an extra attacker on the ice.  They were not used to being behind late in a game.  The players and Brooks were stunned, but they sure were not going to tell the Soviets.  

Miracle captures the essence of the Olympics in 1980 and how the win wasn't simply an upset, but a defining Olympic moment.  The players walk around Lake Placid today and many thank them.  Is this staged?  Possibly, but the sentiments are real.  This week, the gold medal winning Men's Hockey Team faced criticism for visiting the White House and the State of the Union address.  Years ago, such backlash wouldn't have existed.  America was proud of its champions.  They still are. 

day, only 

The Princess Bride (1987) * * *

 

Directed by:  Rob Reiner

Starring: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Andre the Giant, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Peter Falk, Fred Savage  

The Princess Bride was Rob Reiner's third feature film, and he showed he could handle tricky material.  He was not a director who simply made films in one genre, although his first three films before Misery (1990) were comedies.  He had a deft touch, and The Princess Bride displayed that.  It's an amusing movie which overloads with the cuteness often, but the cast is having a great time and Reiner clearly loves the material. 

Based on William Goldman's book, The Princess Bride begins with a grandfather (Falk) reading a story to his sick grandson (Savage) about a lowly farmhand named Westley (Elwes) who falls in love with Buttercup (Wright) but is soon kidnapped into piracy and feared dead.  Buttercup is then forced into an arranged marriage to Prince Humperdinck (Sarandon), who is itching to go to war with a neighboring nation and plans to murder Buttercup on his wedding night and blame it on his enemies.  This is heavy stuff for a grandpop to read to his grandson, but the kid grows interested after at first dismissing the story out of hand because of all the kissing.  

Westley soon returns to rescue Buttercup and encounters a vengeful Prince Humperdinck, Spanish swordsman (Patinkin) Inigo Montoya, who is seeking vengeance on the man who killed his father, a giant named Fezzik (Andre the Giant, who else?), and a devious genius (Shawn) who may outsmart himself at the worst possible time.  Then there's the six-fingered henchman (Guest) who carries out the prince's orders with glee.  These are colorful characters who try to show off too much color sometimes, but the actors are having a ball with this material.  Reiner expressed how much he loved the book and was stonewalled trying to adapt it into a movie because it doesn't follow traditional medieval story arcs.  The Princess Bride is anything but typical, and in most cases, that's a delightful attribute.     

Psycho Killer (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Gavin Polone

Starring:  Georgina Campbell, James Preston Rogers, Malcolm McDowell, Logan Miller, Grace Dove

The reviews are in!  Psycho Killer is reported to have a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score, meaning every critic who has reviewed it detested it.  I don't know.  Written by Seven and 8MM screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, Psycho Killer is a creepily effective thriller that sticks with you.  The Satanic Slasher (Rogers) is pure evil, and we root for his demise as Kansas State police officer Jane Archer (Campbell), whose trooper husband was killed by the slasher during a traffic stop, hunts him down.  The FBI is involved, sort of, but tries to warn Jane off the case.  We sense it may not just be jurisdictional. 

Jane, who is also pregnant, will not be deterred as she attempts to track and kill the slasher.  Who is he?  We hear his voice, which is very low-pitched and eerie, but we never see his face.  He wears an old-fashioned gas mask when committing his heinous crimes.  He calls himself Richard Reeves, a mass murderer who killed numerous churchgoers and attempted to blow up the church decades ago and was reported to have been killed in prison.  Is he imitating Reeves?  Idolizing him?  Paying tribute to him?  We don't know the full extent of Reeves' plan but it's awfully diabolical, as you would expect.  

Reeves is a pitiless hulk who consumes painkillers and psychotropic meds as he continues his spree.  He worships Satan and encounters like-minded Satan worshippers led by Malcolm McDowell, who uses his love of Satan to throw orgies, which offends Reeves and you know what happens when Reeves is offended.   Walker specializes in writing movies showing the dark, twisted underbelly of society.  Seven and 8MM were terrific movies partially because of the atmosphere they evoked.  Psycho Killer's atmosphere is decidedly dark and creepy, as you would expect in a movie where the Satanic Slasher is hacking victims from coast-to-coast.  I can't imagine what the critics saw.  Sure, the story is grotesquely gory in spots, but it's compelling and its effects linger.  

 

Cold Storage (2026) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Jonny Campbell

Starring:  Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Sosie Bacon, Vanessa Redgrave

Cold Storage is a version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with the snatcher being a nasty green fungus which can penetrate just about anything to attach itself to its host.  As Cold Storage opens, a scientist (Bacon) and two military operatives (Neeson and Manville) travel to Australia to find this mysterious fungus which has killed numerous people and animals.  The fungus manages to invade the hazmat suit of the doctor and soon it takes over her body, causing her to explode.  The operatives escape with the sample of the fungus, which is kept in a government lab in the middle of nowhere.

The lab is abandoned sometime later, with the fungus still stored in a vault long forgotten and a storage facility built on top of it.  One night, two employees Travis (Keery) and Naomi (Campbell) encounter strange happenings, such as a deer entering the facility, attacking them, and soon exploding.  Naomi's boyfriend also shows up to confront her about Naomi dumping him and he soon begins acting weird.  Travis and Naomi's boss also comes by with his biker friends and you know the drill by now.

Neeson also reappears after being called into duty to destroy the goo and keep it contained.  Neeson has fun with the role with the other actors understanding that Cold Storage isn't meant to be taken too seriously.  The movie itself is occasionally amusing, with lots of green goo everywhere and all of the villains getting their comeuppance, but it doesn't reach past a certain level of inspiration.  It's ninety minutes that come and go, sometimes slowly, but for those who love this type of movie, you'll get what you came for.  

His & Hers (2026) * *

 

Starring:  Jon Bernthal, Tessa Thompson, Sunita Mani, Chris Bauer, Marin Ireland, Pablo Schreiber, Poppy Liu, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Crystal R. Fox

His & Hers meanders its way through its whodunit plot with sidebars on less interesting topics, such as the relationship between estranged spouses Detective Jack Harper (Bernthal) and Anna (Thompson), a TV news reporter covering a small-town murder of a woman both knew very well.  Jack was having sex with her on the night she was murdered, and Anna knew her from their private school days, although not in the biblical sense.  Jack, of course, would become a prime suspect if it were discovered that he knew the victim intimately.  Anna has demons of her own to deal with, including the death of hers and Jack's infant daughter which causes Anna to disappear from her husband's life for a year.  

There isn't much chemistry between Anna and Jack.  Anna's rival is Lexy (Rittenhouse), the young blonde who is a fast-rising star at Anna's Atlanta news program.  Anna is also sleeping with Lexy's cameraman husband Richard (Schreiber).  Anna also deals with her ailing mother who appears to be in the early stages of dementia, while Jack lives with his alcoholic sister and his niece.  The sister also has school ties to the victim, who of course wasn't an angel.  There is a plethora of characters and subplots which overstuffs the basic murder plot premise. 

Bernthal is normally among the most magnetic of actors, and here he tries a bit too hard to give us down-home folksiness and tends to end his sentences with "yeah?" often enough for it to be noticeable.  Tessa Thompson was never an actress who did it for me.  There is something bland about her which doesn't allow us inside.  I would say maybe it's just this character, but I've noticed that about many of her performances.  

The whodunit itself contains a twist I saw coming and another I didn't.  I suppose I cared just enough to watch for the outcome, but even with six episodes, it takes a long time to get to there.  Or it just feels that way. 

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Baz Luhrmann

No, EPIC isn't a sequel to Baz Luhrmann's Elvis (2022), but instead of mixture of archive documentary and concert footage Luhrmann discovered during his research of Elvis.  The result reveals Elvis' love of performing and his approachability despite being the biggest musical star of his time (along with The Beatles).  Elvis wouldn't be one of those performers whose show starts at 8pm and he decides to wait until 11pm to stroll on stage.  He took performing seriously, and it showed with the energy he expended.  He wanted to show the audience something new every time.

EPiC's concert footage relies heavily on the Las Vegas shows that were the subject of the 1970 documentary: Elvis: That's the Way It Is.   We also see Elvis rehearsing the songs, giving us an intimate view of his performances.  He, his band, and backing vocalists have undeniable chemistry and they play off each other.  The epilogue tells us that Elvis performed 1,100 shows between 1969 and 1977, sometimes at three shows per day.  He missed live performances which he resumed soon after he was finished with his movie contract.  He didn't much like making movies, as we hear in archive voice footage.  They weren't the best use of his talent.  

EPiC works in the same fashion That's the Way It Is did.  It shows Elvis has an approachable, humble performer.  Did he have his moments where he was a prick?  I'm sure.  Who doesn't?  The drug abuse later took over and caused his untimely 1977 death at age 42, leaving behind a legacy that stands today as a performer who is inimitable, even though of course he has thousands of impersonators.  But there is only one true Elvis Presley.  EPiC gives us one more reason why this is correct and seeing him never gets old.  

Extract (2009) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Mike Judge

Starring:  Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins, Jr. Mila Kunis, Dustin Milligan, David Koechner, Gene Simmons

Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butthead and terrific movie satires like Office Space, gives us an uneven and sometimes funny comedy about people who go out of their way to make things hard on themselves.  Our protagonist is the sexually frustrated owner of a bottling plant who finds himself in lust with new employee Cindy(Kunis) who is secretly involved with one of Joel's employees who was involved in a most-gruesome work-related injury.  Joel is married to Suzie (Wiig), and their marriage has devolved into routine dullness and not much sex.  

Joel's bartender friend Dean (Affleck) poses a solution to Joel's moral dilemma:  Joel doesn't want to outright cheat on Suzie, but if Suzie is seduced by a "gigolo" hired by Joel, then Joel will be free to pursue Cindy because Suzie already cheated.  It's Mike Judge-universe morality and logic writ large, with erratic results.  Joel is being wooed to sell his company, but the workers comp case may hinder that, especially with the employee's ambulance chaser attorney (Simmons) who suggests a bizarre way to have the case dropped.  It involves a door and Joel's testicles.  

Meanwhile, the gigolo posing as a pool boy indeed succeeds in seducing Suzie.  It would've been funnier if the gigolo only thinks he seduced Suzie but maybe seduced the neighbor.  Joel tries to call off the gigolo, who thinks he and Suzie are falling in love.  There are many moving parts in Extract, and the actors are up to the challenge, but the fault lies at the plot or screenplay level.  It's not as funny or stinging as it needs to be, but hey it's better than the overrated Idiocracy.  

The Strangers: Chapter 3 (2026) *

 

Directed by:  Renny Harlin

Starring:  Madelaine Petsch, Richard Brake, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath

The Strangers saga comes to a merciful end (hopefully) with Chapter 3.  The opening scenes provided a challenge for me in that I tried in vain to recall anything about Chapter 2.  Chapter 1 wasn't any great shakes, but I do recall it had at least a little suspense to it.  I gave it two stars.  The ensuing sequels don't provide much in the way of suspense.  There are a lot of killings and an attempt to display that our protagonist (Petsch) is somehow transformed into a killer herself thanks to the violence she's endured. We've seen that before too, and it isn't exactly revelatory.

Renny Harlin is a skilled director who is better than this material.  I know, I've seen examples of this.  The movie isn't shoddily made, just pointless and disengaging.  There are ample jump scares for those who go to horror movies to experience those and a lot of blood for those who to go watch that.  Those audience members will get what they came for.  

As for the rest of us, The Strangers, Chapter 3 runs only about ninety minutes and still feels like a slog.  I did admire, for what it's worth, some of creepy performances and I wished they were in the service of a better movie and series.  

Crime 101 (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Bart Layton

Starring:  Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Monica Barbaro, Tate Donovan, Barry Keoghan, Nick Nolte

Crime 101 lends itself to comparisons to Heat and it wouldn't have it any other way.  We have a thief named Mike (Hemsworth) who does jobs with efficiency and without hurting anyone.  He is in command, knows how to perform the heist with maximum speed and effectiveness, and then disappears onto the 101 freeway.  Grizzled detective Lou Lubesnick (Ruffalo) detects a pattern and tries to convince his bosses that this thief only strikes near the 101 because of its easy access to and from the crime scenes.  

Mike works alone, except for when he retrieves his latest assignments by underworld boss Money (Nolte), and he also lives alone and we sense his need to connect to someone.  After his last attempted jewel heist goes awry, Mike wants out, and a young woman named Maya who meets Mike after rear-ending him in a traffic accident provides the catalyst to come out of his shell.  However, explaining what he does for a living is understandably not part of this change.  His apartment is sleek and stylish, but doesn't feel lived in.  There are no photos of his family.  Maybe he doesn't have one.

Lubesnick is the opposite of Mike.  He smokes, drives an old car, looks like he slept in his clothes, doesn't shave, and his wife is leaving him.  But he's smart and determined.  His superiors just want him to close cases and show little interest in his theory on the "101 robber".  They just want the cases solved.  Even the LAPD has metrics it needs to hit.   However, Mike knows he needs one more big score to retire forever, maybe even with Maya. 

I won't give away further details, but Crime 101 is Heat with a happier ending for its characters.  There is a psychotic criminal (Keoghan) who wants to take over Mike's territory because Money thinks Mike is losing his nerve, but Keoghan's character is unstable in more ways than one.  Crime 101 doesn't strike as deep a nerve as Heat, in which its characters realize they need each other in complex ways.  There were no easy payoffs and most of the people were killed or left behind.  Crime 101 does run a tad too long at 140 minutes, but we wind up caring and that's more than half the battle.  

Solo Mio (2026) * *

 

Directed by:  Charles & Daniel Kinnane    

Starring:  Kevin James, Kim Coates, Jonathan Roumie, Nicole Grimaudo, Alyson Hannigan, Julee Cerda, Andrea Bocelli, Julie Ann Emery

Solo Mio is a lackluster romantic comedy in which there is no new ground covered, which isn't always a bad thing, because romantic comedies tend to follow certain ground rules and rarely deviate from them.  We're on familiar terrain in Solo Mio, in which the likable but introverted Matt (James) is left at the altar by his fiancee Heather (Emery) during their wedding in Italy.  The humiliated Matt decides to take his honeymoon trip alone, since it's already paid for and he can't receive a refund, and naturally he falls in love with a local barista who helps him to come out of his shell.  Will the fiancee return at some point to try and reconnect?  Does a bear do his business in the woods?

Since Solo Mio isn't going to win any points for originality, we have to review how it's made and the energy it brings.  Solo Mio, even with the cast trying its hardest, is flat and limp.  James is as dependable a comic actor as there is, but even he seems weighed down by the material.  There isn't a lot of chemistry between he and the kind Gia (Grimaudo, who could be Catherine Keener's twin).  They're both very nice people indeed, but they just don't click.  The other couples who are part of the honeymoon tours Matt and Heather were supposed to attend as a married couple also intervene in Matt's love life, with their entire existence centered around prodding Matt and Gia toward eternal coupledom.  

Solo Mio (which means mine alone as Gia points out) is not hefty and isn't meant to be.  But it should be more amusing and delightful than it is.  We aren't stirred by the belief that Matt and Gia belong together.  The scenery of Rome and the Tuscan countryside is gorgeous and Andrea Bocelli (who is related to Gia) drops in to play and belt out some songs (and riding a horse). It's a shame these aren't in service of a better movie.  

The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 (2026) * * 1/2

 

Starring:  Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Neve Campbell, Becky Newton, Angus Sampson, Jazz Raycole, Cobie Smulders, Elliott Gould

The Lincoln Lawyer is still a serviceable courtroom drama series, but it won't elevate into anything greater.  That's fine.  It doesn't need to.  However, this season's case involves Michael Haller (Garcia-Rulfo) on trial for murdering a former client who was found in the back seat of his convertible at the end of last season.  Fast forward to this season, and Haller is in county jail awaiting arraignment while serving as a pro bono attorney for other prisoners.  It's a good way to keep others from messing with you. 

Meanwhile, Haller's pending trial is causing his clients to drop him and his associate/ex-wife Lorna Crane (Newton) to try and scrape for clients just to keep the practice going.  Haller is still equipped with his loyal staff which includes Lorna, investigator Cisco (Sampson), paralegal and part-time driver Izzy (Raycole), and Haller's other ex-wife Maggie (Campbell), who joins the team to defend him in court.  The quasi-family vibe here works well, and the best scenes are the courtroom ones because of the inherent drama involved as Haller tries to defend himself while also figuring out who set him up and why.

Of course, Haller gets away with legal maneuvering that doesn't seem plausible nor would a judge continue to allow it.  Garcia-Rulfo remains a solid lead, but he's not the Michael Haller from the 2011 movie.  That is Matthew McConaughey and McConaughey will continue to be the actor people think of first when The Lincoln Lawyer is mentioned, but Garcia-Rulfo is smart and slick.  Newton is also a standout as the tireless, loyal Lorna, who is married to Cisco and we scratch our heads as to why a spark plug like Lorna would be married to the monosyllabic Cisco whose hygiene is suspect, although he is quite a good investigator.

The case itself doesn't wrap up satisfactorily.  It is anti-climactic with no true stunning developments or a suspect out of left field we didn't anticipate.  Instead, the final moments hint at a crossover with Bosch, which I never saw but I heard was entertaining.  I hope I don't have to catch up on multiple Bosch seasons in order to enjoy next season's Lincoln Lawyer.  Don't make me work so hard.