The Hunt for Red October (1990) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  John McTiernan

Starring:  Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Tim Curry, Sam Neill, Fred Dalton Thompson, Peter Firth, Richard Jordan, Joss Ackland, James Earl Jones

The Hunt for Red October is the first Tom Clancy novel adapted to the big screen featuring CIA analyst Jack Ryan, who in later years would become a full-fledged action hero, but in this 1990 adventure he is in the center of the action, but mostly trying to convince the Americans that legendary Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius (Connery) is planning to defect after stealing Russia's latest technological marvel: a submarine undetectable by sonar. 

Ryan hinges his belief on a brief meeting he had with Ramius at a state dinner years before, plus years of studying the man and his maneuvers.  The Hunt for Red October's suspense draws on whether Ryan can convince his superiors that Ramius is not planning to start World War III.  It's quite a gamble, especially for those who believe Ryan solely on faith and without concrete evidence.  Ramius plays his intentions close to the vest.  He kills a KGB agent assigned to accompany him on the sub ("Where I'm going, you cannot follow") and only his XO Borodin and a few others aboard know his true motives.  The movie slowly reveals what we and Ryan suspect, but Ramius doesn't make it easy.  He is a revered captain so used to government scrutiny that he knows he has to play a silent game of chess and know his opponent's moves before they do.  Ramius soon has to outwit the American subs who are being ordered to blow him out of the water.

Of course, Connery plays the Lithuanian Ramius with a Scottish accent.  He's Sean Connery and you're not, so we forgive that premise.  Liam Neeson and Arnold Schwarzenegger do the same thing to the point that no explanations are needed as to why they have respective Irish and Austrian accents.  They just do, and we move on.  His aura of mystery is crucial to the success of The Hunt for Red October.  Meanwhile, Jack Ryan (Baldwin) is collected, analytical, and expends plenty of energy pleading his case.  He is allowed more emotion than Ramius because he's not operating a prototype nuclear submarine and perhaps hiding an agenda.  The Jack Ryan of the recent Jack Ryan: Ghost War is unrecognizable when compared with Baldwin's.  

The Hunt for Red October allows for suspense and intelligence.  It isn't simply mindless action.  In the waning years of the Cold War with tensions easing but both sides being cautious, the episode here could prove disastrous if Ryan isn't able to talk the Americans out of blowing Ramius and the Red October submarine out of the water.  If anything, The Hunt for Red October is a last gasp before the old Cold War ended and a new one began shortly after. 

Jack Ryan: Ghost War (2026) * 1/2

 

Directed by: Andrew Bernstein

Starring:  John Krasinski, Sienna Miller, Michael Kelly, Wendell Pierce, Max Beesley

I've seen the Jack Ryan movies The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and even Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.  They're all significantly better than Jack Ryan: Ghost War, which resembles every other boilerplate, cookie-cutter, made-for-streaming action movie we've seen in the past decade.  I never saw the Jack Ryan series on Amazon Prime and nothing about Jack Ryan: Ghost War make me want to circle back and watch the series.  Although to my relief, I didn't feel like I was lost in the plot because I never viewed the original show. 

Jack Ryan (Krasinski) is a former CIA analyst who, as the movie opens, is now working on Wall Street in the private sector when he is approached by his former boss Admiral Greer (Pierce) to act as a courier somewhere in Europe and retrieve top secret items from a spy.  Naturally, this doesn't go as planned, and Jack is dragged back in to a world of violence and CIA secrets in which Greer took part many moons ago, much to the horror of Jack, who doesn't seem to realize he works for that CIA.  Along for the ride is MI-6 agent Emma Marlow (Miller), who must go through three packs a day and it's refreshing when she isn't holding a cigarette or puffing on one.  Vaping is just as dangerous to your health, but I heard it's more aesthetically pleasing albeit not as cinematic.  

The movie is complete with a military-style rum-de-dum-dum score and digital readouts of where the action is taking place (i.e. CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia) scrolling across the bottom left corner of the screen complete with scroll sound effects.  It's not exactly revolutionary, and doesn't need to be, but Jack Ryan: Ghost War seems to be putting itself and us through the motions with as little depth as possible.  We've seen this all before, and done better. 

Pressure (2026) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Anthony Maras

Starring:  Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Damien Lewis, Chris Messina

You wouldn't think a movie hinging on a weather forecast would be tense and thrilling, but in Pressure, the fate of D-Day and perhaps the difference between Allied victory and defeat hangs in the balance.  Pressure is taut filmmaking, with very little time for any outside subplots except for one, which is universally compelling.  

Pressure begins with Captain James Stagg (Scott) leaving his pregnant wife to report to General Dwight D. Eisenhower's (Fraser) headquarters in England three days before D-Day was to commence on Monday June 5.  The troops and planes are ready to be deployed for the largest seaborne invasion in history.  All Ike needs is to be assured that the weather will cooperate.  The no-nonsense Stagg, who ruffles feathers upon arrival, dismisses the optimistic forecast by Ike's normal forecaster Irving Krick (Messina).  Krick relies on historical data. (It was sunny back on June 5, 1925) but Stagg's research is more complex and detailed, although due to the meteorological technology of the time, the forecast is still an educated prediction, not a certainty, even 72 hours out.

The forecasting issue is tricky not just for logistical reasons, but for planning.  A delay would risk the Germans discovering the Allied attack plans.  Sending the troops into severe weather could jeopardize their lives and the entire mission.  General Bernard Montgomery (Lewis) wants to move forward regardless of the weather.  Ike is more cautious.  He is open to delaying, but not for very long.  Differences of opinion add to the stakes.  Add in the disastrous dress rehearsal known as Exercise Tiger which took place six weeks earlier and cost hundreds of lives, and we see no detail is too small or should be left to chance. 

I enjoyed the performances and the sense of time, place, and history that Pressure brings.  We know the outcome because D-Day began June 6, 1944, but we wonder if it had been delayed any further, what would world history be like?  What if the Germans were able to fortify their position better and France wasn't liberated?  The title Pressure doesn't simply refer to air pressure or barometric pressure, but the weight of the impact of D-Day.  Pressure understands just how big a difference one day can make while also paying proper tribute to those who gave their lives in the battle and to those behind the scenes whose job was to ensure those on the ground can do theirs. 

Passenger (2026) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Andre Ovredal

Starring:  Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, Melissa Leo, Joseph Lopez

Like Obsession proves, a low-budget horror feature doesn't mean low-rent or dull.  Passenger, however, is in the latter category.  It is the tale of an evil spirit who terrorizes motorists on dark, lonely roads at night.  A young couple, Tyler and Maddie (Scipio and Llobell), light out for the open road in an RV after leaving New York behind.  At first, this idea seems romantic, but after a few weeks, Maddie confesses the "freedom" of such an adventure has its drawbacks, like having to shower in 24-hour gyms and not having much to do except drive and hang out in RV parks.

One dark, but not stormy, night, Tyler and Maddie encounter this spirit on the road.  Oh, and there is an epilogue involving two guys driving along the same stretch.  One has to urinate on the side of the road and returns to find the driver has disappeared.  Our unfriendly ghost has something to do with it.  This spirit terrorizes whichever poor souls it sets its sights on, and Tyler and Maddie spend the bulk of the movie trying to outrun it.  

Tyler and Maddie seem nice enough, but the movie itself is content not to be anything special.  It doesn't need to be, but there isn't much to care about.  Sure, we don't want the monster to win, but the stakes aren't high.  Not a lot about Passenger is fun or even scary.  These are two essentials in horror movies, and if you're missing both, you won't have anything to keep you interested. 

In the Grey (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Guy Ritchie

Starring:  Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza Gonzalez, Rosamund Pike, Carlos Bardem

Guy Ritchie's In the Grey may seem like a slick typical action movie on its surface, but we also take a look into the minds of its protagonists.  They are Sid (Cavill) and Bronco (Gyllenhaal), two exfiltration experts hired by a trillion-dollar New York bank that loans money to dictators like Manny Salazar (Bardem) and doesn't care that he's a dictator.  They want their money back, plus interest, and dispatch executives like Rachel (Gonzalez) to meet with Salazar and force him to pay up.  If he resists or reneges on the deal, which he does to a previous poor soul, then Sid and Bronco are brought in to assist.  

And by assist, we mean plan an elaborate plot which covers every angle and escape route you can think of (with help of their small, but skilled staff of mercenaries.  They protect Rachel with all of their resourcefulness and skill, and it is fun to watch them map out their strategy.  Sid and Bronco are experts and a joy to watch. 

Rachel has a sit-down with Salazar after Sid and Bronco sabotage his businesses and force him to the table.  Salazar, though, is hardly submissive and lowballs Rachel, leading to attempts by his goons on her life.  No worries, Sid and Bronco have that covered too and dispatch the villains with ruthless efficiency.  But there is more at the plot twists and turns, forcing Sid and Bronco to rescue Rachel using one of the aforementioned escape routes off of Salazar's island.  This was all set up in the first act, and since we paid attention, we see how Sid and Bronco cover the what-ifs and the angles.  

Ritchie is an adept action director, and while some of In the Grey devolves into chases and shootouts, we see the human side of the heroes.  They and the team actually take a moment of pause and reflection when they learn one of their own has fallen.  How often do you see that in an action movie?  

Obsession (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Curry Barker

Starring:  Michael Johnson, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless

Obsession is low budget, but it isn't cheaply made.  It is simple, taut horror with the universal theme and warning of:  Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.  

We begin with Baron (Johnston), a twentysomething who is desperately in love with his co-worker Nikki (Navarrette) and can't find it in him to communicate his feelings to her.  Nikki is a kind soul who isn't aloof or mean but has clearly placed Baron in the friend zone.  One evening, he buys a toy called "One Wish Willow" from a novelty store which he uses to grant him his wish that Nikki would love him above all others.  He should've worded it differently.

Nikki begins acting strangely.  She doesn't just love Baron, but she grows obsessed with him.  She doesn't want him even to use the bathroom for fear of letting him out of her sight.  She acts possessed by an otherworldly spirit.  Nikki can no longer be reasoned with.  When Baron calls the customer service number on the One Wish Willow package, the man on the other end matter-of-factly tells him that there is no way to reverse the wish and lotsa luck young man.  The number of inexplicable behavioral events keep piling up, and Baron is helpless to stop them.  The only way out is the inevitable, and does Baron want to go down that road?

The true victim in Obsession is Nikki, who did not ask for this to happen to her, and didn't deserve it.  The Nikki that "loves" Baron is not the one he fell in love with and fantasized about possessing.  She is but a vessel of an evil supernatural being that makes Baron and his friends regret that he made that selfish wish.  Obsession is truly scary and effective, because it's told clearly and with care.  Is there gore?  In one or two specific scenes, yes, and that's par for the course.  The scene where Nikki disposes of a potential rival is a genuine jump scare with a brutality no one is prepared for.  

Obsession grows all the scarier because it is still somewhat grounded in reality despite the obvious intrusion of the supernatural.  The performances are by unknown, but natural actors who inhabit the movie with conviction.  When the ending finally plays out, we realize just how much we sympathize with Nikki and why.  

Hoppers (2026) * *

 

Directed by:  Daniel Chong

Starring:  Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy

Hoppers is the latest Pixar feature and it's a downer.  The subject matter of Hoppers is heavy lifting for kids, and even more so for adults.  The message of environmental protection is certainly prevalent and timely, but the atmosphere of Hoppers simply feels blah.

Hoppers opens with Mabel (Curda), a youngster who finds herself in trouble at school for civil activism. She learns to channel her energies positively through frequent visits with her grandmother, who has a lake out back and allows Mabel to become one with nature.   However, Mabel's grandmother dies and the lake is emptied out with the wildlife displaced in order to make way for a new expressway.  Mabel decides to fight back after stumbling on to a scientific experiment in which a human's brainwaves can be inserted into an animal's avatar, so she'd be able to speak to animals.  

Mabel uses the opportunity to organize the animals to return to the lake and retake it.  Complications of course ensue with car chases and slapstick afoot.  It sounds like it should be fun, but a pall is cast over the movie because of its underlying seriousness.  Hoppers wants to say something, and that's admirable, but it's all about the execution.  Kids will talk their parents into seeing it, thinking it will be a lighthearted adventure, and adults may assume it'll have enough to keep them interested.   Unfortunately, they will be wrong on both accounts. 

The Studio (2025) * *

 

Directed by:  Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

Starring:  Seth Rogen, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Catherine O' Hara, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Chase Sui Wonders, Bryan Cranston

The Studio's first episode is a satirical skewering of Hollywood.  Even a legend like Martin Scorsese isn't immune to being screwed by Continental Studios head Matt Remick (Rogen), who is tasked by his boss Griffin Mill (Cranston) to make a movie about Kool Aid.  Scorsese later brings Matt a script about Jonestown.  What did Jim Jones' followers drink?  Cyanide-laced Kool Aid, so Matt kills two birds with one stone by convincing Scorsese to name his movie "Kool Aid" and away we go. 

Naturally, the foolproof plan experiences hiccups, with Griffin killing the deal to finance a Kool Aid movie with any connection to Jonestown, so Matt now has to break the news to Scorsese that his movie is dead in the water.  The first episode of The Studio crackles, but the subsequent episodes lean more on slapstick and schtick than satire.  It grows tiresome and the early promise dissipates.  

However, it is fun to see Ron Howard playing against his "good guy" image in an episode in which Matt is reluctant to propose that Howard change the boring ending to his passion project.  He tries to pass the responsibility off to his underlings, mostly because Howard freaked out on him years ago when he suggested a change to A Beautiful Mind which was truly a head scratcher.  There are loads of amusing celebrity cameos in which they actors and directors play themselves.  Rogen is up to the task of a generally nice guy who finds running a studio can be a pride-swallowing siege, to quote Jerry Maguire, and that's on its good days.  

The Studio finds a consistent tone, but it's mostly harried and physical.  Watching Rogen and company screaming at each other while bungling another project or task only reminds us of how the opening episode packed such promise, only to fizzle later. 

Can You Keep a Secret? (2019) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Elise Duran

Starring:  Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin, Laverne Cox, Robert King, Sunita Mani, Kimiko Glenn, David Ebert

Can You Keep a Secret? isn't the worst of romcoms.  It is serviceable, understands the assignment, and doesn't aspire to be anything greater.  Its leads are appealing enough to carry it, but it refuses to ascend into greatness.  It's decently entertaining, predictable, and it's happy to be just that. 

Can You Keep a Secret? stars Alexandra Daddario as Emma, who works as a junior sales executive in a boutique New York marketing company small enough to keep all of its employees in one room, so they'd be able to stay within shouting distance of one another and keep up with everyone else's business.  Emma is returning on a flight from a disastrous business meeting when the plane experiences heavy turbulence.  Fearful that she will die, she confesses all of her secrets to the handsome guy next to her named Jack (Hoechlin).  These are more like things she wished she was more honest about, such as how she and her boyfriend have no sexual chemistry, or whenever her office buddy asks her to "look at numbers" then that means they play hooky from the office for a while.  

Emma's embarrassment soon grows the next morning when she learns the man she confessed to is in fact her company's new CEO.  She can barely face him and he amusingly asks her about co-workers just to watch her squirm and lie about them while he knows the truth.  Nonetheless, Jack finds Emma attractive, and it's not hard to see why.  She has a sunny smile and general attractiveness plus a boyfriend who is a nice enough guy but only exists to be dumped.  Emma and Jack then get together, break up over a misunderstanding, and then reconcile.  It's all part of the formula.  Jack has secrets of his own, but not what you think, and they're pretty innocuous, much like the movie itself.  

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. 

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