Marty Supreme
Directed by: Josh Safdie
Written by: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara and Fran Dreschner
Music by: Daniel Lopatin
Rated: 15
During the 1950s, a young New York shoe salesman named Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) hates his job, and wishes to play professional table tennis. After losing the British Open final to the Japanese champion Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi), Marty suffers an endless cycle of insane bad luck after refusing an opportunity for an exhibition match in Tokyo…
After the Good Time and Uncut Gems director siblings, Josh and Benny Safdie decided to go into separate directing careers in 2024, it is ironic that their first new films developed separately, were both about the dark side of the sports industry. While Benny’s The Smashing Machine was a straightforward biopic focused on the career of Mark Kerr, Josh’s new sports film, Marty Supreme, may be loosely related to the life of the eccentric American table tennis player, Marty Reisman, but it is definitely not a biopic.
Despite starting off as a typical sports film, revolving around Marty Mauser’s road to becoming a professional table tennis player in the 1950s, the next two acts go into a completely insane direction, much like last year’s Oscar-winning Anora. With literally everything going wrong for Marty as he tries to get a plane ticket to Japan for a match, such as police chases, a bathtub falling through the roof, trying to get a gangster’s dog back from an angry farmer and having his pregnant girlfriend, Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion) tagging along, one can view Marty Supreme as either a crazy comedy, or a satire on the realities of the American dream, as Marty’s ambitious life plan is constantly being ruined via bad luck and his own ego.
Timothée Chalamet is set to receive his second Oscar nomination in a row as the wisecracking, yet constantly humiliated Marty, both Gwyneth Paltrow as an older actress who Marty tries to woo and the already mentioned Odessa A’zion as his pregnant girlfriend, both get fantastic moments as well, and Kevin O’Leary gets a memorable role as a businessman who won’t take any of Marty’s actions, leading to a hilarious payoff involving a ping pong paddle.
Overall, Marty Supreme is a darkly funny, utterly entertaining and well-written satire on how silly the American dream can get, while also being yet another reminder of how talented Timothee Chalamet is and how great the Safdie brothers are at making these types of films, even when apart from each other.
Rating: 4.5/5
Song Sung Blue (2025)
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Written by: Craig Brewer
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson, Mustafa Shakir, Fisher Stevens and Jim Belushi
Music by: Scott Bomar
Rated: 12A
Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), a singing impersonator, finds a new passion for performing tribute acts based on Neil Diamond, with the help of fellow impersonator, Claire (Kate Hudson). After they get married, they turn the Neil Diamond performances into a double act called “Lightning and Thunder” to great acclaim. However, when Claire goes through a life-changing accident, Mike must do what he can to help her reclaim their passion for singing…
Based on Greg Kohs’s emotional 2008 documentary, Song Sung Blue, that recounted the careers of the Neil Diamond tribute performers, “Lightning and Thunder”, this dramatised approach to the couple’s life and their triumphs and struggles, is a lot more interesting than the typical music biopic.
Rather than focusing on a singer’s career like Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman, Song Sung Blue is a great tribute to the under-appreciated work of tribute acts, which gives this true story, a lot more relatable feel, rather than the typical problems that rich singers go through. Despite being marketed as a feel-good musical, this film, like the documentary, doesn’t sugar-coat the stress that these people go through.
Despite being slightly distracting as Mike due to his screen presence, especially in a bar fight sequence where he is wearing yellow, Hugh Jackman, as seen in his musical background and in The Greatest Showman, does a fantastic job as this fascinating man, with Kate Hudson being incredibly great as Claire, especially during an unexpected tonal shift after the first forty-five minutes.
Overall, while slightly less down to earth as the documentary was, and a questionable decision not to age up any of the supporting characters, despite the real story spanning two decades, Song Sung Blue is still an emotional experience that celebrates both the passion for tribute performances and the struggles of love throughout difficult moments in life.
Rating: 3.5/5
Hamnet
Directed by: Chloé Zhao
Written by: Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, David Wilmot, Jacobi Jupe, Louisa Harland, John Mackay, Olivia Lynes and Noah Jupe
Music by: Max Richter
Rated: 12A
Starting a family with a woman known for her herbal background and strange habits named Agnes Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), a young William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal), spends time away from them when his playwright career takes off in London. When an awful tragedy befalls their son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe), the depression that his parents feel, soon manifests into the creation of the Bard’s most iconic play…
While films about William Shakespeare are no stranger to awards season, most controversially when Shakespeare in Love took the Best
Picture Academy Award that Saving Private Ryan was expected to win, this latest film based on this playwright’s role in British history has been a long time coming, thanks to the popularity of the 2020 book Hamnet was based on.
Being a fictional account of how the death of William’s only son, Hamnet Shakespeare, led to the creation of Hamlet, Maggie O’Farrell’s book won loads of literature awards at the beginning of the 2020s, so it is true that a film adaptation was always going to happen. With O’Farrell herself as co-writer, along with Eternals director Chloé Zhao seeking to repeat her success from Nomadland, Hamnet is most successful in the acting work and in exploring deeply depressing themes about coping with child loss.
While the whole aspect of how Hamlet was created is surprisingly downplayed in spite what the trailers have been hinting at, both Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal carry this film forward as two people worn down by the world, and the scenes that focus on the loss theme, are the strongest, even if the incredibly slow pacing does make the experience a bit boring at times.
Overall, Hamnet is a fantastic character study about how grief can lead to both depression and powerful inspiration, with great cinematography, acting and music. However, it could have been much better if it were twenty minutes shorter, and balanced both the plots of the loss of the child and how it led to the birth of Hamlet, into a more tighter screenplay.
Rating: 3.5/5
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Rating: 3.5/5
Directed by: Nia DaCosta
Written by: Alex Garland
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Emma Laird, Sam Locke, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Mirren Mack and Chi Lewis-Parry
Music by: Hildur Guðnadóttir
Rated: 18
A few weeks after the humane death of his mother, Spike (Alfie Williams) has had his new solitary life in the zombie-infested Great Britain, cut short when he is captured by the insane Jimmies, a gang of Satanists, led by the twisted Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), who worship Jimmy Savile, and is forced to join them on their murders. Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), while continuing to live his own life protecting his “Bone Temple” monuments, reaches a breakthrough in his research, when he befriends Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), a large zombie whose Rage Virus infection, slowly starts to wear off in response to Kelson’s kindness and compassion…
Coming just over six months after 28 Years Later brought back the 28 Days Later franchise back into a post Walking Dead and World War Z environment, The Bone Temple was filmed back to back along with Danny Boyle’s return to the series, which is designed to further explain the former film’s extremely divisive twist ending.
The ending of 28 Years Later, in which Alfie the young protagonist, ended up running into a group of Jimmy Savile cosplayer satanists (which does make sense in this alternate universe where the U.K. fell to a zombie outbreak in 2002, never exposing the evil British entertainer’s crimes, like they were in the real world in 2012), was a joke that half the world didn’t get, and a number of the other half, were very upset and angry over the reminder of one of the most shameful aspects of British popular culture history, especially after the television biopic, The Reckoning, aired less than two years before the film was released.
While other viewers also found the “reveal” to be a tonal whiplash from a film that kept up the realism of the original 2002 film, The Bone Temple does manage to make these new antagonists, as hateful as possible, especially with Jack O’Connell’s great performance as their sadistic leader, Jimmy Crystal. Despite their looks and names, Director Nia DaCosta, thankfully doesn’t use this as exploitation, by never mentioning Savile’s name outright, or making any references to his career, as it is just used as a plot device to motivate the antagonists.
While this aspect of The Bone Temple is also its biggest weakness, as Alfie Williams’s protagonist from the last film, Spike, is given almost nothing to do, the other plot, revolving around the also returning Dr. Kelson, is the heart and soul of this spin-off. Ralph Fiennes gives another great performance as the crazy, yet kind-hearted doctor, and his plot revolving his attempts to cure and educate a less aggressive zombie (who also returns from the last film), gets the most interesting themes of redemption and most emotional moments of this film. After being built up in the last film with a zombie giving birth to an unaffected baby, it does set up an interesting direction for the zombies, which looks to have a fantastic payoff when Boyle returns for the inevitable trilogy closer for these new films.
Overall, even if her direction isn’t as great as Boyle’s was, Nia DeCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is another good entry in this great horror series. In spite of it’s problems, it does take Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s British zombie franchise, into an exciting new direction, that may be ready to move on from being a traditional zombie apocalypse story, into something a lot more interesting.
Rating: 4/5
The History of Sound
Directed by: Oliver Hermanus
Written by: Ben Shattuck
Starring: Paul Mescal, Josh O’Connor, Molly Price, Hadley Robinson, Emma Canning and Chris Cooper
Music by: N/A
Rated: 15
Set in the late 1910s and early 1920s, two music students named Lionel Worthing (Paul Mescal) and David White (Josh O’Connor), fall in love with each other, over their passion for folk music. After Daniel comes back from service in World War I, he and Lionel go on a journey to Maine to collect folk songs on wax cylinders, which leads to their paths diverging in separate directions…
After winning the 2011 Queer Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival for Beauty, South African director Oliver Hermanus, has followed suit over the next decade and a half, with films like The Endless River, Moffie and this adaptation of two short stories by this film’s screenwriter, Ben Shattuck.
The History of Sound, clearly shows its source material of two combined short stories, as the main aspect of this film’s marketing, a love story between two men who have a passion for folk music, is only present in the first hour, with the rest of the film only focusing on the Paul Mescal character dealing with his own problems in life. This does make the pacing incredibly slow and unfocused at times.
However, while this film does lift a lot of plot elements from Brokeback Mountain (along with several of that film’s plot points that have not aged well, as queer cinema has moved forward from more problematic clichés in the last two decades), both Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor give fantastic performances and the theme of people finding meaning in folk music, is very powerful.
Overall, despite slow pacing and some questionable moments, The History of Sound is a good love story about the importance of folk music’s impact on people.
Rating: 3/5
Stitch Head
Directed by: Steve Hudson
Written by: Steve Hudson
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Seth Usdenov and Rob Brydon
Music by: Nick Urata
Rated: U
On the top of a hill overlooking the small village of Grubber Nubbin, in Castle Grotteskew, a mad scientist (Rob Brydon), has created a group of friendly monsters, but often ignores them as he strives for making better ones. His first creation, a humanlike monster named Stitch Head (Asa Butterfield), soon grows tired of being left to look after the other creatures, and decides to leave the castle to pursue a career in performing, after being hired by a greedy ringmaster named Fulbert Freakfinder (Seth Usdenov). Now, it’s up to Creature (Joel Fry), the newest monster from the castle, and a sympathetic human girl named Arabella (Tia Bannon), to try and convince Stitch Head to come back…
Based on Guy Bass’s 2010s children’s book series, Stitch Head, this latest film from GFM Animation, whose previous works include Duck Duck Goose, Paws of Fury and the (still yet to be released in the U.K.), Hitpig, does have a good message about true family love, but not much else aside from creative character animation on the monster characters.
Even though the voice-acting, especially from Asa Butterfield’s titular Stitch Head and Joel Fry’s lovable Creature, is very charming, there overall, isn’t much to recommend in Stitch Head for anyone over the age of twelve, aside from some funny moments and some inventive musical moments.
Rating: 2.5/5
Shelter
Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh
Written by: Ward Parry
Starring: Jason Statham, Bodhi Rae Beathnach, Bill Nighy, Naomi Ackie and Daniel Mays
Music by: David Buckley
Rated: 15
Former assassin Michael Mason (Jason Statham), has been living a solitary existence on a small island near Scotland, with his beloved dog. After unexpectedly becoming the sole guardian of his food supplier, a young girl named Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), after her uncle drowns at sea, Mason’s former employers soon catch wind of his presence, forcing him to go on the run across the United Kingdom, to get Jessie to safety.
Not as over the top as other January Jason Statham action films that have been released in the last few years such as A Working Man and The Beekeeper, Shelter is a lot more gritty and emotional, as shown in Mason’s bond with Jessie, but still has the usual gunplay and fist fights that have defined this star’s career.
Director Ric Roman Waugh and cinematographer Martin Ahlgren, do manage to make the Scottish coastal and forest backgrounds, very intimidating and young star Bodhi Rae Breathnach, despite having a weak script, does manage to be a very believable character, which is impressive in a cast that includes Statham, Bill Nighy and Naomi Ackie.
Overall, while not having as much laughs or creativity as his other films, Shelter is another good action film, that helps make the slow month of January, a lot more enjoyable due to Statham’s reliable set of skills.
Rating: 3/5
Primate
Directed by: Johannes Roberts
Written by: Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera
Starring: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng and Troy Kotsur
Music by: Adrian Johnston
Rated: 18
Lucy Pinborough (Johnny Sequoyah), a college student, has returned to spend a weekend at her family’s cliffside home in Hawaii, where her father, Adam (Troy Kotsur), has been raising a friendly chimpanzee named Ben (Miguel Torres Umba). As Lucy and her friends, along with her aloof younger sister, Erin (Gia Hunter), relax in the home, a rabid mongoose bites Ben, causing him to go completely insane and murderous…
Loosely inspired by the real disturbing cases of pet chimpanzees attacking their owners, such as the infamous 2009 “Travis” attack, as well as the subject matter featuring as a subplot in the Jordan Peele film, Nope, Primate does exactly what it says on the poster, remake Stephen King’s Cujo, but with a chimp instead of a dog.
While Primate doesn’t explore the ethics of the treatment of wild animals as pets, director Johannes Roberts uses his horror background from 47 Metres Down, The Other Side of the Door and Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City, to showcase a lot of gory creativity in how Ben the rabid chimp kills his victims, with a lot more King Kong references than expected in two memorable murders. However, aside from the wonderful Troy Kotsur, nearly every other character are just bland archetypes.
Overall, despite not shining a light on the causes of these kinds of cases, Primate is mostly concerned with delivering great, gory fun, which is provided plenty by this “Furious George”!
Rating: 3/5
Send Help
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Damian Shannon and Mark Swift
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang and Dennis Haysbert
Music by: Danny Elfman
Rated: 15
Unappreciated financial strategist Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), despite being promised a promotion from her late boss, is cruelly denied the promotion by his replacement, his spoiled son. Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). When Linda and Bradley end up stranded on a tropical island after their plane crashes in the Gulf of Thailand, the dynamic between them changes. Linda’s love for television shows about survival, helps her quickly adapt and love her new life, while Bradley’s situation gets worse and worse…
After over a decade and a half of making mainstream content for Disney with Oz the Great and Powerful and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, director Sam Raimi returns to his gleefully twisted roots with Send Help, his most demented and darkly hilarious film since Drag Me to Hell.
Taking a Robinson Crusoe/Blue Lagoon premise of getting stranded on a island, and making it into an “eat the rich” dark comedy that films like The Menu, Ready or Not and Saltburn have done so well, Send Help may be a bit more predictable than Raimi’s usual output, but Rachel McAdams’s demented humour and the director’s love of practical gore effects, makes this another entertaining gorefest from him. Danny Elfman again provides a fantastic score, and while not being as insane as McAdams, Dylan O’Brien does well as the spoiled brat who gets what’s coming to him.
Overall, despite having a shocking absence of something that every Sam Raimi film has (not counting a blink and you’ll miss it photo seem at the beginning of the film), Send Help is another load of gory fun and only the master of The Evil Dead can provide!
Rating: 4/5
Iron Lung
Directed by: Markiplier
Written by: Markiplier
Starring: Markiplier, Caroline Rose Kaplan, Troy Baker, Elsie Lovelock, Elle LaMont, Jacksepticeye and Isaac McKee
Music by: Andrew Hulshult
Rated: 15
In a dystopian future, the majority of the universe has mysteriously disappeared as the result of the “Quiet Rapture” causing all stars and planets to vanish, leaving only the moons behind. With the only survivors living on space stations and starships, a convict named Simon (Markiplier), is sent on a mission to explore the depths of a moon covered in an ocean of blood, in only a ramshackle submarine called “Iron Lung”…
Only a few months after Chris Stuckmann made his directorial debut with the heavily flawed Shelby Oaks, another prominent figure in the YouTube community, Mark Fischbach, or better known as Markiplier, has done the same with this video game adaptation.
Known for his Let’s Play videos on mostly independent horror games like The Dark Descent and the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, Markiplier seems like the perfect fit to bring Iron Lung, which is a 2022 indie horror game revolving around being stranded in a submarine on a moon with a blood red ocean, to the big screen. However, while a lot more visually appealing than Shelby Oaks, this would have been better as a thirty minute short, rather than a feature film.
As simulator games tend to focus more on exploration and atmosphere than plot, Iron Lung is at its strongest in creating tension out of the cramped setting of a small submarine submerged in blood, with cinematographer Philip Roy and video game composer, Andrew Hulshult, both managing to make this environment, absolutely terrifying at times. However, being both the director and the writer, as well as playing the main character, Markiplier does unintentionally come across as a bit overwhelming, despite giving a great performance.
Overall, Iron Lung is a technically superior film to Shelby Oaks, though the incredibly slow pacing and lack of plot can make this experience, very boring at times.
Rating: 3/5
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Directed by: Pete Browngardt
Written by: Darrick Bachman, Pete Browngardt, Keven Costello, Andrew Dickmamn, David Gemmill, Alex Kirwan, Ryan Kramer, Jason Reicher, Michael Ruocco, Johnny Ryan and Eddie Trigueros
Starring: Eric Bauza, Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Fred Tatasciore, Loraine Newman and Wayne Knight
Music by: Joshua Moshier
Rated: PG
Porky Pig (Eric Bauza) and Daffy Duck (Also Eric Bauza), are best friends trying to make enough money to save their farmhouse from being repossessed. After taking a job at a bubble gum factory, the two crazy animals soon discover, along with Porky’s new crush, Petunia Pig (Candi Milo), that the factory’s new gum flavour, is actually being used to brainwash the world’s population, and aliens are responsible for this insane plot..
After nearly a century of making people laugh at their antics in hundreds of shorts, the Looney Tunes franchise has finally done something that shouldn’t have taken this long to happen: make a fully animated theatrical film based on their iconic characters that isn’t either a collection of previously released shorts (the five package films released throughout the 1970s and 80s like Daffy Duck’s Fantastic Island, 1001 Rabbit Tales and The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Movie), or a live-action hybrid (like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and the Space Jam films). Originally intended for a streaming release, before a wild series of events (including the change of management at Warner Bros almost causing the death of the franchise and another film being the subject of a massive online controversy), would bring this film to the big screen.
Unlike most of the previous films that used every single character from Bugs Bunny and Foghorn Leghorn to Sylvester and Tweety, The Day the Earth Blew Up only features Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, along with the cartoon pig’s rarely seen love interest that mostly appears in merchandise, Petunia Pig. Taking inspiration from shorts where the selfish duck and the straight man pig teamed up together in 1950s sci-fi themed shorts like Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century and Rocket Squad, along with that decade’s science fiction B-Movies, The Day the Earth Blew Up is an outrageously funny movie, that has all the comedy and crazy moments that only the Looney Tunes can provide.
While some of the franchise’s more casual fans may be a bit put off by some changes in characterisations, such as Daffy being a bit too nice at times (fitting, as this depiction of the character takes more inspiration from Bob Clampett‘s zanier take on the cartoon character rather than Chuck Jones’s more crafty version), Eric Bauza does a fantastic job as both Porky and Daffy, and the fantastic animation, makes this hilarious spoof on cheesy sci-fi, even funnier than usual for this franchise built on laughs.
Overall, despite not having much to offer anyone who isn’t a fan of Porky Pig or Daffy Duck, as well as having one baffling absence, given the subject matter, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is lots of fun, with fantastic animation and all the comedic moments that people love about one of the longest running cartoon series in history.
Rating: 4/5
GOAT
Directed by: Tyree Dillihay
Written by: Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley
Starring: Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Aaron Pierre, Nicola Coughlan, David Harbour, Nick Kroll, Jenifer Lewis, Patton Oswalt, Jelly Roll, Jennifer Hudson, Sherry Cola, Eduardo Franco, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee and Stephen Curry
Music by: Kris Bowers
Rated: PG
In a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, a young Boer goat named Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin), dreams of joining the city of Vineland’s most popular “roarball” team, the Thorns, led by his idol, a panther named Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union). After going viral for showing up the Thorn’s rivals, the Lava Court Magmas, Will ends up becoming the newest player on the Thorns. However, Jett isn’t so keen about this, and Will must do what he can to prove himself to her…
After the massive success and award’s campaign that Sony Pictures Animation have had for Kpop Demon Hunters, all eyes are on them now, especially with the upcoming release of the highly anticipated Beyond the Spider-Verse, the final instalment in their beloved Spider-Man animated trilogy, as well as inevitable sequels to KPop and The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
However, as most of these projects are going to Netflix due to a prior streaming deal, it is vital that they keep making theatrical content as well, from relaunching the Hotel Transylvania franchise, to making more original content like this one. With GOAT being the company’s first original theatrical release since 2017’s The Star, it was only a matter of time before they would tackle a sports movie, even if the plot doesn’t break new grounds in the subgenre.
The beloved animation style that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse pioneered, is a perfect choice for depicting the intensity of sports matches, as seen in several recent anime films like The First Slam Dunk. Being an animal version of basketball, the “roarball” games are the highlight of GOAT, with insane timing in the character animation and overwhelming backgrounds, proving that animated basketball can be a lot more than just Space Jam.
While GOAT’s premise doesn’t change much in the underdog formula, the voice-acting, especially from Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union and the likes of David Harbour, Nick Kroll and Patton Oswalt, just to name a few, all helps in making the Thorns, loveable characters, especially with Nick Kroll’s hilarious Komodo Dragon and Patton Oswalt’s easily irritate proboscis monkey coach.
Overall, while GOAT does feel like Sony Animation’s answer to Disney’s Zootopia and Illumination’s Sing films, it is still a fantastically animated, very funny and heartwarming sports film, that should give Sony another score in mainstream animation , and possibly more awards nominations for next year’s season!
Rating: 3.5/5
“Wuthering Heights”
Directed by: Emerald Fennell
Written by: Emerald Fennell
Starring: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes and Ewan Mitchell
Music by: Anthony Willis
Rated: 15
In the late eighteenth century on the Yorkshire Moors, Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie), grows up with Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), a mysterious young man who her father finds in the Liverpool streets, at their Gothic home of Wuthering Heights. When Catherine ends up getting engaged to the wealthy Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) of the nearby Thrushcross Grange, Heathcliff disappears, only to return three years later with massive wealth and his own darker ambitions..
Although Emily Brontë‘s Wuthering Heights, her only novel due to her death shortly after the first publication in 1847, has proven to be incredibly difficult to adapt due to its very dark themes of domestic abuse and petty revenge, it hasn’t stopped numerous successful adaptations from trying, such as the 1939 William Wyler film with Laurence Olivier, several Hindi versions, a 1970 film with Timothy Dalton and even a 2022 biopic about Emily herself.
While it is clear that she has skill as a visual storyteller and can get some great moments from her previous filmography, director Emerald Fennell is a very polarising auteur with both Promising Young Woman and Saltburn dividing opinions over how they handled their subject matter, and her adaptation of this classic story is no exception.
Despite having some incredible cinematography, especially in scenes that highlight major moments from the first half of the book (Like most adaptations, this version of Wuthering Heights only tells the “Catherine” half of the story), a lot of the plot twists will come off as very confusing for both purists and for anyone familiar with the source material. While it is important for adaptations to deliver a unique take on a well-adapted story, “Wuthering Heights” makes so many baffling decisions, that it can only be enjoyed as a film removed from the context of the story.
Although Emily Brontë‘ never intended for this story to be a romance, Emerald Fennell’s adaptation ups the sex factor to the highest note, with both Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s older versions of Catherine and Heathcliff, often feeling like parodies of these twisted characters of literature, although they do give good performances when removed from context.
Overall, as a film by itself, “Wuthering Heights” is a serviceable crowd pleaser for anyone looking for a 50 Shades of Grey style romance period film, even if the Charli XCX songs don’t fit the tone. However, for anyone looking for the best version of this story, I would recommend looking elsewhere for the earlier film or television adaptations before watching this “unique” version for comparison.
Rating: 3/5
Cold Storage
Directed by: Jonny Campbell
Written by: David Koepp
Starring: Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery, Sosie Bacon, Vanessa Redgrave, Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson
Music by: Mathieu Lamboley
Rated: 15
For the last two decades, an alien virus that crash landed on Earth in 1979, has been sealed into a government storage facility in Kansas. However, the ground level buildings have since become, the site of a self storage company. After two workers named Travis (Joe Keery) and Naomi (Georgina Campbell), discover the virus, they must do what they can to stop it infecting any more people or animals, until two former employees of the government who have dealt with the disease before , Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) and Trini Romano (Lesley Manville), can arrive to save them…
Despite having very uninteresting characters, even from usually reliable actors like Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, there is a sense of enjoyment that can be found in watching Cold Storage, based on its cheesy premise alome.
Much like he did with Jurassic Park, and the first Mission: Impossible and Spider-Man films, writer David Koepp gleefully takes fun from his story that this film was based on, to full effect in how it depicts an alien virus mowing down its victims and how creative the gore can be.
Overall, while none of the characters are that interesting, all kinds of violence from deer explosions, green viruses burning off flesh and the insane methods that the characters use to try and survive, all makes Cold Storage, an entertaining B-movie with a lot of fun moments and inventive kills.
Rating: 3/5
Scream 7
Directed by: Kevin Williamson
Written by: Kevin Williamson and Guy Busick
Starring: Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, David Arquette, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Mckenna Grace, Asa Germann, Mark Consuelos, Tim Simons, Matthew Lillard, Joel McHale, Roger L. Jackson and Courteney Cox
Music by: Marco Beltrami
Rated: 18
Several years after helping the Carpenter sisters, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), has gone back to her quiet life with her family, while trying to get along with her eldest daughter, Tatum (Isabel May). However, a new Ghostface (Roger L. Jackson), arrives to wreak havoc in Sidney’s new home of Pine Grove, Indiana, and to make matters worse, claims to be one of the first Ghostface killers, Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), back from the dead. Sidney, Tatum, along with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and recent survivors, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding), must now find the truth behind Stu’s comeback….
Even when not bringing up the uncomfortable elephant in the room about why the seventh entry in the long-running Scream franchise has taken into this direction (don’t ask, it’s depressing to talk about), this film lacks a lot of the originality and meta elements that made every other Ghostface battle, so fun to watch.
While the returning writer of the first four films, Kevin Williamson (who also directs for the first time in this series), does have some creative kills still in him, he doesn’t either build on the insanity of the world-building of the original trilogy, nor take the fun subplots of the film within a film series that has always been a highlight of the sequels, Stab, in any new direction, apart from the obvious choice that cannot be brought up, due to spoilers.
While the only returning elements from the previous two legacy sequels, Randy’s successor niece and nephew characters, do have some fun moments, even the likes of Neve Campbell (returning after being absent from Scream VI) and Courteney Cox, look very tired to be here, and a lot of the new characters feel like cliches that any previous film, would have made fun of.
Overall, despite some fun kills and an interesting use of cinematography in some Ghostface scenes, Scream 7 feels like everything that the franchise swore to not be like (the whole reason the first film existed in the first place), with boring characters and a lack of its trademark wit.
Rating: 1.5/5
Hoppers
Directed by: Daniel Chong
Written by: Jesse Andrews
Starring: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Majimy, Eduardo Franco, Karen Huie, Tom Law, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Dave Franco and Meryl Streep
Music by: Mark Mothersbaugh
Rated: U
Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) is an animal-loving college student, who spends her time protecting a beautiful glade from urban development and her arch-nemesis, Mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm), as the place used to be an area where she and her late grandmother (Karen Huie), would enjoy nature together. After discovering that her college professor, Dr. Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), has invented a device to send a person’s mind into robotic animals to study real ones, Mabel ends up transferring her consciousness into a realistic beaver robot, so that she can convince the animals to save their habitats, while also trying to avoid an even worse situation…
Having finally reached their thirtieth feature film over three decades after Toy Story officially launched the CGI animation revolution, Pixar Animation Studios have decided to take a page out of Turning Red’s book, by making another comedy centric film about a human girl transforming into an animal. However, despite what the trailers say that it is “absolutely nothing like Avatar”, Hoppers is basically like that, but for animal lovers and families, with Mabel’s adventures as a robotic beaver, being both fun and entertaining for anyone looking for something akin to recent comedy focused animated shows.
Speaking of which, the creator of the hit Cartoon Network series, We Bare Bears, Daniel Chong, brings his trademark animation style and his love of quirky comedy, in how the animals look in their character designs and in how their societies work, especially with some unexpected dark humor, that gets huge laughs nearly every time when the supporting characters constantly try to eat each other.
While some aspects of the plot does feel a bit unrealistic (especially in the third act, when animals wearing crowns, flying sharks and a caterpillar possessing a creepy robe with the voice of Dave Franco, are the most believable when compared to what certain characters end up doing), Hoppers does still have its heart in the right place, especially with the relationship between the pessimistic Piper and the optimistic king of the beavers, George (Bobby Moynihan), and how it gives a great message on how to deal with feeling powerless, in a seemingly cruel world.
Overall, despite the story sometimes going close to having questionable Raya and the Last Dragon style logic about how to deal with problems and not every joke getting a laugh, Hoppers does manage to be an entertaining, funny and heartfelt story for the whole family, much like most of Pixar’s filmography.
Rating: 4/5
The Bride!
Directed by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Written by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening and Penélope Cruz
Music by: Hildur Guðnadóttir
Rated: 15
Fed up that her novel, Frankenstein, never got a proper sequel before her death, Mary Shelley (Jessie Buckley) possesses the body of Ida (Also Jessie Buckley), and causes her death to set in motion, her new story. In 1930s Chicago, over a hundred years after being created, Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale), or “Frank” asks scientist Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening), to create a female companion for him. As Ida is brought back to life as “The Bride”, she and Frank decide to live life on the run across America, watching movie musicals, and for the former, finding her place in the world, while the police follows their trail…
Although we have been getting, as of 2026, a lot of projects related to Frankenstein such as Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel from Netflix, the 2023 Oscar winning feminist take on the premise with Poor Things and 2024’s YA aimed Lisa Frankenstein, this third feminist reimagining, changes focus from the monster, to his equally popular bride.
Even though, like the Igor character, this character never existed in the original novel, this iconic undead woman made cinematic history in 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein, oftenregarded as the peak of Universal’s Classic Monster franchise, as one of the first mainstream female cinematic monsters, despite only appearing in the last ten minutes.
Even though this premise has been done before in the 1985 film, The Bride, Director Maggie Gyllenhaal mixes in elements from the novel, the 1930s films, and even the likes of Young Frankenstein and Bonnie & Clyde of all things, to make this more madcap take on the character, a meta character study of the Bride and what she would have been like, with her own personal character arc. While the unnecessary framing device of her constantly getting possessed by the ghost of Mary Shelley herself, does feel like unnecessary distractions from the plot, Jessie Buckley carries the entire film with her charm, and her relationship with Christian Bale’s movie-loving Frank, is genuinely charming as the these two characters make chaos together.
However, in spite of The Bride making good use of its 1930s setting with fantastic production design and a clever use of one of the best moments from Young Frankenstein leading to a very entertaining dance sequence, a lot of the subplots and additional characters feel very unnecessary. While the likes of Peter Sarsgaard, Jake Gyllenhaal and Penélope Cruz all give great supporting performances, they feel like they belong in a completely different film.
Overall, despite having loads of appealing parts to its premise, actor chemistry, production design and meta elements of the Frankenstein story, The Bride has other parts that don’t always function together and can come across as awkward.
Rating: 3/5
Mother’s Pride
Directed by: Nick Moorcroft
Written by: Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft
Starring: Jonno Davis, Martin Clunes, James Buckley, Gabriella Wilde and Mark Addy
Music by: Simon Boswell
Rated: 12A
An unsuccessful young musician named Cal (Jonno Davis) returns to his rural Somerset hometown, to help out with running a failing independent pub run by his estranged father, Mick (Martin Clunes), and brother, Jake (James Buckley), who haven’t been on speaking terms with Cal, after he didn’t attend his recently deceased mother’s funeral. As the broken family tries to keep their livelihoods intact, while also under threat from a neighbouring pub business, Cal then discovers a book of beer brewing recipes created by his late grandfather, that may help turn their luck around…
The writer of the 2000s St. Trinian’s films and Fisherman’s Friends, Nick Moorcroft (who also directed the second Fisherman film), crafts another feel good film about British culture with Mother’s Pride, only instead of singing Cornish fishermen, he tackles something nearly everyone can get behind in these divided times, the importance of pubs in the community.
While the formula of those films is still there, complete with Martin Clunes playing a major character coping with grief, there is something emotional about how this film highlights the struggles that independent pubs go through, and the dangers of selling out to larger companies. Alongside the already mentioned Clunes giving the best performance, the likes of James Buckley, Mark Addy, Gabriella Wilde and Luke Treadaway, all manage to give great performances and laughs, especially with Addy’s hilarious local getting the biggest chuckles.
Overall, despite it’s cheesiness, Jonno Davis’s main character being not as interesting as the others and having a slightly rushed conclusion, Mother’s Pride is another feel good film, that deserves to be on the house!
Rating: 3.5/5
Project Hail Mary
Directed by: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Written by: Drew Goddard
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz and Lionel Boyce
Music by: Daniel Pemberton
Rated: 12A
In the far reaches of space, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), wakes up with amnesia, as the sole surviving astronaut on the starship, Hail Mary. After learning that he was a science teacher sent to seek out a solution to a galaxy wide dimming of stars in numerous solar systems, Grace soon comes into contact with another starship. However, that craft also has a sole survivor, a friendly five-legged rock-like alien with the same purpose, who Grace names “Rocky” (James Ortiz), and decides to join him on his mission to save their home planets…
Based on another one of Andy Weir’s epic science fiction novels, more than a decade after Ridley Scott’s 2015 adaptation of The Martian became one of the best sci-fi films of the 2010s, Project Hail Mary not only lives up to that excellent film’s reputation, but also manages to be an incredibly inspiring and engaging story about humanity and friendship, in a time where people need this type of storytelling the most.
While Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have had their reputation slightly hit by accusations of production mismanagement in some of their producing work on their animated products and Spider-Verse films, (which may have been why they ended up getting removed from directing Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2017), their talents for great storytelling is undeniable. Even though they didn’t write the script for this, (bringing back Drew Goddard from The Martian for that), Project Hail Mary is their best structured film by far, with a great message in the end credits, hinting that they may have matured into the directors that they are clearly capable of being.
After proving himself in playing an isolated astronaut in First Man, Ryan Gosling is absolutely fantastic as a funnier, yet more interesting and emotional version of this type of character, throughout his character arc in both the past and present narratives of this film. While both Sandra Hüller and the hilariously deadpan Lionel Boyce give great performances in the Earth bound past story, it is the adorable alien, Rocky in the present space-set narrative, that gets the best moments, thanks to the skill of his puppeteers in making a creature without a face so emotive and the voice-acting performance of James Ortiz.
While the changes in the aspect ratio in the past and present stories can get distracting, Greg Fraser, once again, proves that he is one of the best cinematographers in the business in making the space environments, absolutely stunning, with Spider-Verse composer, Daniel Pemberton, giving his best music to date.
Overall, Project Hail Mary is something that will not only serve as solid competition against Dune: Part Three and Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day in next year’s Awards campaigns (2026-2027 for future reference), but also manages to be a fantastic and emotionally moving film, that, much like how The Martian was regarded as one of the best films of the 2010s, shows that Andy Weir’s stories are highly recommended for creating fantastic films like this.
Rating: 5/5
Reminders of Him
Directed by: Vanessa Caswill
Written by: Colleen Hoover and Lauren Levine
Starring: Maika Munroe, Tyriq Withers, Rudy Pankow, Lainey Wilson, Nicholas Duvernay, Lauren Graham and Bradley Whitford
Music by: Tom Howe
Rated: 12A
After serving six years behind bars, due to being convicted for the death of her boyfriend, Scotty Landry (Rudy Pankow), on a vehicular manslaughter charge, a young mother named Kenna Rowan (Maika Munroe), is released on parole for good behaviour. Struggling to find a job and to build her life back together for the daughter that she had taken away from her during her incarceration, Kenna soon discovers that she has been looked after by not only Scotty’s parents, Grace (Lauren Graham) and Diem (Bradley Whitford), but also by his best friend, a former NFL player named Ledger Ward (Tyriq Withers). Kenna and Ledger soon strike up a friendship, and must now try to convince Grace and Diem, that Kenna can be a good mother…
Far less insulting than the last Colleen Hoover adaptation, Regretting You, Reminders of Him does admittedly reuse loads of that previous train-wreck’s most prominent tropes (dead parent, living one trying to reconnect with child, while also falling in love with someone close to him/her, etc.), that it feels like Hoover on autopilot.
However, the impressive cinematography and music, some likable side characters and a more honest look into survivor’s guilt, does make Reminders of Him a lot more interesting and relatable, especially with Maika Munroe and Tyriq Withers‘s more grounded performances. Plus, the presence of Bradley Whitford always makes anything better.
Overall, there isn’t anything as bad as Regretting You in Reminders of Him, thanks to those positive elements. However, the rest of it is so forgettable, that it cannot be much else, apart from being material designed to solely appeal to a specific audience.
Rating: 2.5/5
The Magic Faraway Tree
Directed by: Ben Gregor
Written by: Simon Farnaby
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Billie Gadsdon, Pheonix Laroche, Nicola Coughlan, Jessica Gunning, Nonso Anozie, Jennifer Saunders, Simon Farnaby, Rebecca Ferguson and Claire Foy
Music by: Isabella Summers
Rated: U
A modern family, on the advice of the happy go lucky father, Tim Thompson (Andrew Garfield), move to a remote location in the British countryside, where Tim used to play as a child, to set up a tomato growing business. While some of the three children, especially the eldest daughter Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) have trouble adapting to this, everything changes when they encounter a magical tree. With the help of the friendly magical residents, including Silky the fairy (Nicola Coughlan), Moonface the guardian (Nonso Anozie), the aptly named Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns) and the forgetful knight, Mr. Watzisname (Oliver Chris), the Thompson children are off on adventures to numerous worlds of adventure and life lessons..
Despite being one of the best known British children’s literature writers alongside C.S. Lewis, Michael Bond and Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton, best known for Noddy and The Famous Five, hasn’t had much adaptations of her books that aren’t connected to Noddy or Famous Five.
With the massive success of the Paddington films and the upcoming new Netflix adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia on the horizon as of 2026, one of Bylton’s lesser known book series, The Faraway Tree, has had a modern day update from Paddington 2 cowriter, Simon Farnaby, that seeks to recapture the charm of the marmalade loving bear’s films.
While changing the 1930s setting of the books to modern day 2020s does lead to the typical jokes about modern culture that gets old quick, The Magic Faraway Tree does start getting more imaginative once the tree and its inhabitants come into the picture. The likes of the numerous sweets, birthday and schooling worlds are all beautifully rendered with great visual presentation, even if the 1980s disco look for the Land of Birthdays is a bit questionable.
While the child actors do a fine job, it is the residents, such as Nicola Coughlan’s whimsical Silky, Nonso Anozie’s pessimistic Moonface, Jessica Gunning’s Dame Washalot and the numerous residents of the worlds, that really steal the show, even if Rebecca Ferguson’s Dame Slap antagonist, does show the limitations of adapting episodic stories into the structure of a feature film, as she feels like an afterthought. Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy and Jennifer Saunders do manage to make their grounded adult characters, very interesting though.
Overall, The Magic Faraway Tree doesn’t rewrite the book on comic of age stories about children going into other worlds like how Narnia and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland did. However, it does manage to be a very sweet, funny and heartwarming adventure that will please families looking for something more down to earth, even with a magic tree portal to numerous worlds as its focus.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Directed by: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic
Written by: Matthew Fogel
Starring: Chris Pratt, Anya-Taylor Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, Glen Powell and Brie Larson
Music by: Brian Tyler
Rated: PG
After saving the Mushroom Kingdom from the evil Bowser (Jack Black), plumber brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), have moved there, to serve as official protectors of the realm for Princess Peach (Anya-Taylor Joy). When Peach departs on a rescue mission after hearing that the strongest princess in the galaxy, Rosalina (Brie Larson), is in trouble. Mario, Luigi, a shrunken and seemingly redeemed Bowser and the former’s new adorable dinosaur companion, Yoshi (Donald Glover), set out to help her accomplish her mission. However, Bowser’s sadistic offspring, Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie), has other ideas…
Despite being slightly divisive over how it worked as a feature film by itself, there is no denying that Illumination’s 2023 animated adaptation of Nintendo’s most iconic franchise, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, blew the infamous 1993 live-action film out of the window, by sheer box office and popularity alone (even if the latter has been getting a cult following that I simply do not get, apart from being memorable for all the wrong reasons).
However, unlike Paramount’s live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films that took time to jump from one game adaptation to the next, the inevitable sequel to the 2023 film, has decided to skip World, Land, RPG and numerous other games in the now over four decades old franchise, and go to the most popular game in the late 2000s, the Super Mario Galaxy duology.
While these Nintendo Wii titles are regarded as some of the best games in Mario’s history, the narrative does suffer in having to share its title with those games, as The Super Mario Galaxy Movie only takes elements from the two games, Super Mario World, Super Mario Odyssey, the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 and Yoshi’s Island, to create its own story. (And that’s only counting the Mario centric games that it takes elements from.)
However, there is no denying that these Mario films are the best looking films from Illumination to date, and the numerous new worlds and action sequences are so fun to watch on the big screen. While Chris Pratt’s take on Mario is still questionable and the lack of screen time for the fan favourite character, Rosalina, may disappoint some fans, all the others, such as Charlie Day’s Luigi, Anya-Taylor Joy’s Peach and of course, Jack Black’s Bowser, all get their own memorable quirky moments. Both Benny Safdie and Donald Glover also bring their new characters of Bowser Jr. and Yoshi, to life with a lot of energy.
Overall, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie does lack any kind of plot and character development that is expected from sequels, and the title is a bit misleading for fans of the franchise. However, this film still manages to be well-animated, very entertaining and a great representation of why people love this franchise so much, even if we have to accept the fact that, in the inevitable Donkey Kong film, the chances of Banjo-Kazooie or even (god forbid), Conker appearing in that, are not impossible, given the amount of non-Mario characters are in this!
Rating: 3/5
You, Me and Tuscany
Directed by: Kat Coiro
Written by: Ryan Eagle
Starring: Halle Bailey, Regé-Jean Page, Marco Calvani, Aziza Scott and Lorenzo de Moor
Music by: John Debney
Rated: 12A
Having given up her dreams to be a chef after her mother’s death, Anna (Halle Bailey), has had to make money by taking photos of her squatting in the homes of rich people. After encountering a spoiled young Italian man named Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor), who accidentally invites her to stay in his Tuscan villa, Anna is soon encountered by his eccentric, yet loving family, who think that she is his fiancé. However, Anna soon grows to bond with them, especially with Mattel’s more responsible cousin, Michael (Regé-Jean Page)…
Despite sharing a lot in common with another Italian food themed rom com, 2018’s Little Italy, You, Me and Tuscany does feel a lot more authentic and stronger with its themes of found family and rediscovering lost passions. While a lot of the supporting characters get the biggest laughs, especially the family members and their hilarious quirks, both Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page‘s two leads, have fantastic chemistry together.
Director Kat Coiro expands her television background work on the 2020s Matlock reboot and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, with making the backgrounds of Tuscany look absolutely stunning, even if one major subplot doesn’t have a satisfying payoff and one of the more antagonistic characters, gets off a bit too easy.
Overall, despite being the cheesy fluff (or, in this case, Parmesan cheesy stuff), that most romantic comedy can be summed up as, You, Me and Tuscany is a mostly charming dish, whose sweet spots can be found if you dig into the centre of its strengths.
Rating: 3/5
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy
Directed by: Lee Cronin
Written by: Lee Cronin
Starring: Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace and Verónica Falcón
Music by: Stephen McKeon
Rated: 18
Eight years after their daughter, Katie (Natalie Grace), disappeared from their home, TV reporters Charlie (Jack Reynor) and Larissa Cannon (Laia Costa), get the shock of their lives when she is found alive and imprisoned in an Egyptian sarcophagus. However, Katie has become catatonic as a result of her imprisonment by cultists, and her behaviour soon becomes extremely violent, leading for Charlie to seek outside help for answers…
Despite the long-awaited legacy sequel to Brendan Fraser’s Mummy trilogy finally being green-lit for a 2028 release date, there was another new take on Universal’s Egyptian horror franchise being planned, that got released at the worst possible time, thanks to lingering bad memories of the 2017 Tom Cruise disaster that was intended to launch a new cinematic universe of Universal’s monsters.
While this attempt to go back to the scary roots of the 1932 Boris Karloff film, was in production at Universal to follow up the 2020 and 2025 modern day reimaginings of The Invisible Man and Wolf Man, Lee Cronin’s new take on The Mummy, was eventually sold to New Line Cinema and Warner Bros, once the decision was made to go back to the franchise’s beloved 1999-2008 series.
Feeling like an Evil Dead film in disguise, due to this new film having almost nothing in common with the other Mummy films, by focusing on the concept of preserving a kidnap victim rather than being actually mummified, Lee Cronin does, admittedly, add a lot of new ideas to make his take unique from other versions. However, much like the 2025 Wolf Man, a lot of the new ideas either don’t make sense, or, are way too far removed from any other version of this story, that it feels like any demon possession film, just with an Egyptian flair.
Overall, while not as embarrassing as the failed Dark Universe launch film, and having enough practical effects to make it look appealing for horror fans, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy still feels entirely misguided, in spite of the effects and some good performances. This would have been better as another Evil Dead spin-off from Cronin, or as an Exorcist film with an Ancient Egyptian theme.
Rating: 2.5/5
Hitpig!
Directed by: David Feiss and Cinzia Angelini
Written by: Dave Rosenbaum and Tyler Werrin
Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Lilly Singh, Anitta, RuPaul, Hannah Gadsby, Flavor Flav, Lorianne Ashbourne and Rainn Wilson
Music by: Isabella Summers
Rated: PG
In a world shared by both humans and anthropomorphic animals, Hitpig (Jason Sudeikis), is a pig who has been working as a bounty hunter for lost and escaped animals, ever since his mentor, Bertha (Lorraine Ashbourne), was eaten by a crocodile. When Hitpig is hired by a greedy showman called the Leapin’ Lord (Rainn Wilson), to recapture an escaped elephant named Pickles (Lilly Singh), he ends up going on a crazy adventure with the optimistic elephant, while his rival, animal activist Letícia dos Anjos (Anitta), tries to convince him to return Pickles to India…
While plans to adapt Berkeley Breathed’s 2008 children’s book, Pete & Pickles, about a pig bonding with an escaped circus elephant had had two cancelled attempts, one as a Technicolor preschool series in 2010, the other, as a proposed DreamWorks Animation film in 2014, British animation studio, Aniventure, would finally take on this premise, with a far more comedic twist of the pig being a bounty hunter.
While not having the best story and animation style, Hitpig, thanks to the efforts of Co-director and Cow and Chicken creator David Feiss, does have some incredibly funny moments, especially with how the human/animal world is explored. Even if not all of them land, it does prevent this film from being boring. The voice-acting, especially from Jason Sudeikis as the titular character, does also manage to be strong, apart from Rainn Wilson’s incredibly annoying antagonist, with the highlight being Feiss regular, Charlie Adler, providing numerous voices to some of the funniest side characters, such as Super Rooster and a hilarious lobster.
Overall, despite being very average for a family film, Hitpig is mostly saved by its comedy and fun characters.
Rating: 3/5
Michael
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Written by: John Logan
Starring: Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Juliano Valdi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Laura Harrier, Jessica Sula, Mike Myers, Miles Teller and Colman Domingo
Music by: Lior Rosner
Rated: 12A
Ever since 1966, Michael Jackson (Jaafar Jackson), has been performing with his brothers as part of the musical band, the Jackson 5. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the young musician wishes to branch out to a solo career. While his attorney, John Branca (Miles Teller) and co-producer Quincy Jones (Kendrick Sampson), help him make the Thriller and Off the Wall albums, Michael has to face his greatest challenge, going against his manager and abusive father, Joseph (Colman Domingo)…
Despite all the controversies regarding this idea in the first place, ever since the huge success of the 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, and how it kicked off a whole new wave of musical biopics focusing on the likes of Elton John, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and even the Cornish sea-shanty group, Fishermen’s Friends, it was only a matter of time before the King of Pop would moonwalk to the same treatment.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first. As this biopic has heavy involvement from the Jackson family and due to legal complications regarding how certain individuals are represented on film, Michael only covers his career up to his 1988 London performance of Bad, mostly focusing on the Jackson 5, the late singer’s attempts to go solo throughout the 1970s and 80s, and showing how terrible his infamously abusive father, Joseph Jackson, was to him. In other words, don’t go in expecting anything addressing 1993.
Although Michael, much like Bohemian Rhapsody, is a very basic showcase of highlights of Michael’s career rather than examining him as a character study, it does its job of being a huge spectacle very well. Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s own nephew, does a fantastic job at portraying his uncle during the peak of his career and Colman Domingo is also fantastic at showing how vile Joseph was to his family. Even if it is disappointing that the other members of the Jackson 5 are sidelined, as they could have been further explored, it’s really funny how Mike Myers is playing another recording executive character (Walter Yetnikoff, the president of CBS Records at the time), after doing the same in Bohemian Rhapsody.
But of course, the main reason why people want to see this, is the music. While some songs such as Thriller are only given small amounts of time to shine, the likes of Bad, Human Nature, Beat It, Wanna Be Startin’ Something and the Jackson 5 songs, are as stunning and spectacular as ever, especially on the biggest screen possible.
Overall, while it would be wiser if Lionsgate would rethink their approach to making another film that told the rest of the story, Michael does its job well as a celebration of the rise and peak of one of the largest entertainers in the world, and should be a nice companion piece to Michael’s other notable big screen endeavours, the 1988 anthology film, Moonwalker and the 2009 documentary, This is It.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Directed by: David Frankel
Written by: Aline Brosh McKenna
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Lucy Liu and Stanley Tucci
Music by: Theodore Shapiro
Rated: 12A
Two decades after her experience with Runway magazine, Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway), despite becoming a very respected journalist, finds herself laid off due to downsizing. Andy soon finds herself invited back to Runaway, where her former enemy and boss, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), facing problems of her own with adapting to modern times in the fashion industry, has become slightly less mean. When both women learn that Silicone Valley billionaires have their eye on purchasing Runway, Andy and Miranda, along with the former’s previous fellow employees, Nigel (Stanley Tucci) and Emily (Emily Blunt), must try to put aside their differences, to save both Runaway, and fashion itself, from a dark future…
After 2025’s success with bringing Freaky Friday back to the big screen with Freakier Friday, the Walt Disney Company seems to have realised that mid-budget live-action comedies, a sub-genre that thrived in the decades before the 2010s banished it to streaming, might finally be popular again. With their ownership of 20th Century Fox giving them a whole library of content for that type of film, Disney have decided to bring back one of the company’s biggest successes from the mid 2000s, just in time for the first film’s twentieth anniversary.
After The Devil Wears Prada has had two decades of making the fashion industry look like military operations, with both the beloved 2006 film adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel and the recent stage musical in the West End, Meryl Steep’s iconic fashion antagonist, Miranda Priestly, has finally returned for a sequel. However, like the T-800 in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, this time, she must team up with original protagonist, Andy, although that doesn’t mean she skips any opportunity for insults.
While the plot isn’t as interesting as the original’s more satirical tone, both Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, along with returning co-stars Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, completely steal the show in The Devil Wears Prada 2, as their beloved characters .The satire revolving around the ever changing fashion industry is still intact, with the targets revolving around corporate culture, corrupt buyouts and how Silicon Valley billionaires are ten thousand times worse than anything Miranda did in the first film, feeling as timely as ever. Andy’s character motivations revolving to keep the human aspect of journalism, also add a surprisingly emotional element to this sequel.
Overall, despite being slightly less edgy than the original and Emily’s character arc, could have been developed better, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a great return for the icy queen of fashion and her venomous spirit, even if she is doing it for sometimes, good purposes, this time.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Sheep Detectives
Directed by: Kyle Balda
Written by: Craig Mazin
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein, Hong Chau and Emma Thompson
Music by: Christophe Beck
Rated: PG
George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) is a shepherd who loves taking care of his best friends in the world, his beloved flock of sheep, especially entertaining them by reading murder mystery stories to them at the end of every day. When George is discovered dead one day, a lot of the local townspeople are either too incompetent or uncaring towards him, to find out what happened. Thankfully, his sheep have secretly been capable of understanding his stories, and it’s up to the flock’s leader, a young Shetland ewe named Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), along with her best friend, a Merino that never forgets anything called Mopple (Chris O’Dowd), and the most introverted member of the flock, Sebastian the Icelandic Leadersheep (Bryan Cranston), to solve the mystery…
Finally giving Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep films some real competition, The Sheep Detectives, based on Leonie Swann’s 2005 German children’s book, Three Bags Full, is a wonderful throwback to the 1990s-2000s era of live-action family films about animals, that were not afraid to be a little dark, as long as the ending was happy, such as the Babe films, Homeward Bound, Free Willy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
As whodunnit mysteries have made a comeback over the last few years following the Knives Out trilogy, the recent Agatha Christie Poirot films from 20th Century Studios, and Netflix’s Thursday Murder Club adaptation, it was only a matter of time before a family film, would get in on the action. The jokes revolving around how the sheep are better than the humans, gets the biggest laughs, with one visual joke involving crossing a road, being the funniest scene of 2026 so far.
Hugh Jackman is as charming as ever in his brief role as George the shepherd, and the cast of actors that voice the sheep, all give them individual personalities, such as Patrick Stewart playing the second pompous sheep in his career (after Chicken Little), Brett Goldstein playing Norfolk Horn twins that won’t stop charging, and Rhys Darby as a sheep with wool over his eyes. However. the three main sheep, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris O’Dowd and Bryan Cranston, give the best performances here, as their arcs do strengthen the themes of grief, trauma and acceptance, even if the latter does have similarities to the dog he played in Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, only as a sheep.
Overall, while most of the human characters, apart from Jackman, Nicholas Braun’s policeman character and the always entertaining Emma Thompson’s lawyer character, aren’t that interesting, The Sheep Detectives shines the best, whenever the focus goes back to the lovable flock. A Ewe experience for families to love, while not being afraid to “ram” in some emotional subtext as well, this is a “shear” delight!
Rating: 4/5
Mortal Kombat II
Directed by: Simon McQuoid
Written by: Jeremy Slater
Starring: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada
Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch
Rated: 15
The tenth Mortal Kombat tournament that will decide the fate of the universe between the Earthrealm and Outworld sides, has finally begun. Needing one more fighter to join the likes of Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) hires washed up action star, Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), as his final defender of Earthrealm. However, the Outworld side’s true leader, Emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), has entered the game with his own army of fighters, and only with the help of his adopted daughter, Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), can Raiden’s fighters ever hope for a “flawless victory”!
Although the 2021 big screen reboot of Ed Boon and John Tobias’s Mortal Kombat franchise, was only regarded as just okay, especially when compared to the 1997 disaster of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, it did manage to be hugely successful on streaming. During Warner Bros.’s controversial decision to stream all their 2021 films at the same time as their theatrical release due to the COVID pandemic, Mortal Kombat ended up being the most successful film on the service, beating out even the likes of Godzilla vs. Kong and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is why a sequel was green-lit despite the low box office results.
With the games being as popular as ever, returning director Simon McQuoid, is finally allowed to go all insane with the infamous violence that the franchise is known for, in Mortal Kombat II. While the 2021 film was merely a set up for the titular tournament, this sequel is the first to depict it since the 1995 original film, with the technology finally catching up, to depict these battles, the way fans have wanted for decades.
While not having much of a story to follow and less impressive background cinematography in the CGI environments , Mortal Kombat II’s characters and world-building, are another highlight of this experience, with the likes of Sonya, Jax, Liu Kang and Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), all getting their time to shine (well, except for the 2021 film’s original character, Cole Young). Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage and Adeline Rudolph’s Kitana, are the main highlights this time, with both actors being great portrayals of these fan favourite characters, even if the latter gets a lot more screen-time with her coming of age arc, than what the marketing has shown. The likes of Martyn Ford’s Chao Kahn, Tati Gabrielle’s Jade, and especially the returning former Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) and Kano (still a pitch perfect Josh Lawson), all make for fun antagonists.
Overall, despite having barely any plot and a lot of confusing moments for anyone not familiar with the franchise, Mortal Kombat II is the closest this series has come to a flawless victory on the big screen, since the 1995 film, being a highly entertaining time at the movies, with all the fatalities that you can imagine!
Rating: 3.5/5
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Written by: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne, Shirley Henderson, Martin Scorsese, Steve Blum and Sigourney Weaver
Music by: Ludwig Göransson
Rated: 12A
For the last several years, during the three decade long peace between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter named Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), has had many adventures across the galaxy with his adopted son, a baby member of Yoda’s species named Grogu. While working for the New Republic to arrest surviving Imperial warlords, Djarin and Grogu are sent on a new mission to gain information from the Hutts about another potential enemy. However, they have to rescue the late Jabba’s son, the same one who Jedi Knights Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker saved as a baby during the Clone Wars, Rotta (Jeremy Allen White), before the Hutts will give any information to them..
Even though the Star Wars franchise hasn’t been on the big screen ever since the final entry in the sequel trilogy, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, George Lucas’s space adventures have thrived on the Disney+ streaming services. While the likes of Andor, the final season of The Clone Wars and the subject of this review, The Mandalorian’s first two seasons have seen major praise, a lot of criticism towards other shows like The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Acolyte, along with the streaming bubble burst of 2023, have caused the Walt Disney Company to rely less on streaming in the future.
As a result of this, the planned fourth season of The Mandalorian has been heavily redeveloped into the big screen debut for everyone’s favourite bounty hunting duo, Din Djarin and the adorable Grogu, who have become the franchise’s most original successful characters of the 2020s decade, especially the latter in merchandise sales. Much like how Moana 2 was changed from a television series into a film, it makes sense from a business perspective why this would be brought to the big screen, with even the less popular third season being a major streaming success on Disney+.
While not as obvious as in Moana 2, the plot structure of The Mandalorian and Grogu does sometimes feel like several different episodes combined together, even if removing some filler is welcome for pacing purposes. However, returning director Jon Favreau does make this very welcoming for newcomers to this franchise by ignoring some of the plot threads of the series, to make this standalone adventure for Din and Grogu, a lot simpler when compared to other Star Wars films, in spite of returning characters from Rebels, Book of Boba Fett and (of all things) the 2008 theatrical pilot to The Clone Wars, playing major roles.
While it is questionable how much he was actually on set due to his character always wearing a helmet, Pedro Pascal makes a welcome return as the titular character, and of course, Grogu’s puppetry is still as adorable as ever. Even though more could have been done with Sigourney Weaver’s first role in the Star Wars franchise, the likes of Steve Blum and Shirley Henderson returning as fan favourites, Zeb and the Babu Friks, and even Martin Scorsese playing a new alien character, does get a lot of great moments for Star Wars lovers. However, the strangest thing seen in a Star Wars film, is hearing Jeremy Allen White’s regular voice out of a Hutt’s mouth (and not just any Hutt, a grown up version of Rotta “Stinky” the baby Hutt from the Clone Wars movie).
Overall, while the decision to convert a season of television into a film remains to be seen if it worked, The Mandalorian and Grogu is an entertaining return to the big screen for the galaxy far far away, even if the ones who will get the most out of this, are younger ones, or huge fans of the television series. For those wanting something more experimental for Star Wars, expect it for 2027’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations with Starfighter.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Christophers
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Ed Soloman
Starring: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning and James Corden
Music by: David Holmes
Rated: 15
Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), a young artist who hasn’t gone further with exhibiting her work due to a past humiliation from an art critic, is hired by two obnoxious people named Barnaby (James Corden) and Sallie Sklar (Jessica Gunning), for a chance to get revenge on the now elderly critic. The latter, turns out to be Barnaby and Sallie’s father, Julian (Ian McKellen), and Lori’s job is to finish a set of paintings that he never completed, called “The Christophers”, and give them to his children to sell for a fortune. However, Julian is far too clever for Lori, which results in them forming an unlikely bond…
After redefining independent cinema with the likes of Sex, Lies and Videotape, heist films with the Oceans franchise, thrillers like Contagion and Black Bag and other beloved films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic and even Magic Mike, director Steven Soderbergh has gone back to his indie roots with this black comedy about duelling artists from different generations.
While not as subversive or as cynical as some of Soderbergh’s other projects, The Christophers is a very entertaining look into generational clashing between two fantastic actors, with both Sir Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel having fantastic chemistry, with the latter providing some of the biggest laughs as expected. However, while one has to admire Soderbergh for taking a risk with method acting by hiring James Corden to essentially play himself, the fact that he is here playing the same obnoxious twat that he has built his entire career on, does wonder whether this decision went too far, as a result to committing to realism, although Jessica Gunning had no problem with this.
Overall, while people more familiar with the art industry’s inner workings, may get something bigger out of this smaller film, The Christophers is another great film from the western equivalent of Hayao Miyazaki (not for the quality of his films, but for the fact that, no matter how many times he retires, he always finds a reason to come back).
Backrooms
Directed by: Kane Parsons
Written by: Will Soodik
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell
Music by: Edo Van Breeman and Kane Parsons
Rated: 15
Set in 1990, an unsuccessful furniture store owner named Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), is struggling to cope with alcoholism and the failure of his marriage, despite seeing his therapist, Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve). When Clark, while investigating the source of high electric bills in his store, finds a crack in the wall of the lower floor, he discovers another world filled with corridors, the Backrooms, where a nightmare awaits for him…
Taking the world by storm with its unexpected numbers at the box office and being used as an example of evidence of a potential revolution in Hollywood, Backrooms, based on a series of YouTube horror shorts from Kane Parsons revolving around people getting lost in a nightmarish environment of endless corridors, also took inspiration from a 2019 creepypasta fan-fiction story from 4Chan.
While some recent television shows and independent video games such as the third season of American Horror Stories and Escape the Backrooms, have adapted this creepy premise before, Backrooms takes Kane Parson’s shorts and expands on their unsettling environments, with sharp precision in the cinematography of the titular location. Even though the huge amount of producers credited for this, does question how much of the finished project was by Parsons hands alone, this young director is someone worth keeping an eye on in the future.
Overall, while a lot of the characters aren’t that interesting, despite great performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, Backrooms succeeds in nearly every way in expanding the shorts into a very unsettling story and viewing experience.
Rating: 4/5
Masters of the Universe (2026)
Directed by: Travis Knight
Written by: Chris Butler, Aaron and Adam Nee and David Callaham
Starring: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Charlotte Riley, Kristen Wiig, Jared Leto and Idris Elba
Music by: Daniel Pemberton
Rated: 12A
Adam Glenn (Nicholas Galitzine), has spent the last fifteen years on Earth searching for the one thing that can bring him home. During his childhood, he lived in an alternate dimension as the Prince of Eternia, a fantasy kingdom populated by warriors, talking animals and creatures, and a powerful Sorceress (Morena Baccarin), who used the power of Castle Grayskull to send Adam and the lost item, the Sword of Power, to Earth to escape from the wrath of the evil warlord, Skeletor (Jared Leto). After Adam finally finds the sword, it summons his childhood friend, Teela (Camilla Mendes), to retrieve and take him back to Eternia. Now, with the help of Teela, her warrior father, Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and a giant robot named Roberto (Kristen Wiig), Adam must master the sword’s greatest power, to transform himself into the most powerful human in the universe, He-Man, in order to save his people from Skeletor’s evil…
While Mattel’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 1980stoyline and Filmation animated series was once one of the most beloved franchises of that decade, when compared to other 80s franchises that are still going strong today like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers, the titular hero of Eternia has struggled to stay relevant over the next few decades.
Aside from two short-lived animated reboots in 1990 and 2002 to revive the franchise after the first live-action film, 1987’s Masters of the Universe, bombed at the box office (despite that recently getting a cult following), it wasn’t until the success of the 2018 Netflix reboot of the She-Ra spin-off series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and strong vintage sales of classic merchandise, that the series started having more frequent new releases, such as the divisive 2021-2024 animated miniseries sequels to the original series, Masters of the Universe: Revelation and Revolution, and another short-lived reboot in CGI in 2021.
On the film side, after years of delays from John Woo, Sony, Warner Bros, David S. Goyer and the Nee brothers to make a live-action reboot of the franchise, Amazon MGM Studios, along with Laika CEO and previous director of a beloved reboot of another 1980s toy franchise Bumblebee from the Transformers films, Travis Knight, has finally given fans of this series, the He-Man film they have waited decades for.
Even if the overly long wait for this film may end up meeting the same fate at the box office as the criminally underrated Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Masters of the Universe understands exactly what made the series so iconic. Committing fully to the fantasy and humour of the world of Eternia that made the original show so iconic, this film’s production design is a perfect example of bringing the Frank Fazetta-style iconography of the colourful locations of the forests, Snake Mountain and Castle Greyskull, to life like never before.
While much has been said about Jared Leto’s bad habits and influence on Hollywood, (although it kills me to praise him, given how awful he is as a person), he gives his best performance since American Psycho, by capturing both the menace and the humor of Skeletor. Despite being a bit too over the top, Nicholas Galitzine makes a great impression as the lovable Adam/He-Man, and the likes of Camila Mendes, Alison Brie Morena Baccarin and Sir Idris Elba, all make for great new versions of Teela, Evil-Lyn, the Sorceress and Man-At-Arms.
Overall, despite a few pacing issues and some poor attempts at updated humour, especially during the first act, the 2026 reboot of Masters of the Universe is the power boost for this franchise that long-time fans, or people looking for a fun filled fantasy adventure, will absolutely love.
Rating: 4/5
Disclosure Day
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: David Koepp
Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Henson, Wyatt Russell and Colman Domingo
Music by: John Williams
Rated: 12A
During a tumultuous time for Earth, two unlikely people are brought together by mysterious circumstances. Former cybersecurity specialist Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), has been on the run from the Wardex government division, due to having possession of UFO files dating back to the Roswell incident, while a Kansas television meteorologist named Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), suddenly gains strange powers that enables her to read people’s minds. Both of them must now seek out the true meaning of these circumstances, while avoiding Wardex CEO, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth)…
As Steven Spielberg, one of the most important voices in modern cinema history is now reaching his eighties as of 2026, it isn’t surprising that both his most recent film before this, The Fabelmans and the subject of this review, Disclosure Day, would be focusing on how his legacy has impacted the world. While Fabelmans was a reflection on Spielberg himself in its autobiographical story about a young filmmaker rising to the occasion, Disclosure Day feels like the culmination of everything Spielberg has done on one particular subject, the relationship between humans and aliens.
Despite feeling like a loose remake of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in its narrative structure of two humans being brought together by unexplained forces with a mediation on human nature itself, Disclosure Day also brings together elements from E.T and Spielberg’s 2005 War of the Worlds film, along with the actual findings of UFO encounters in the real world, to bring all these film’s previous built themes regarding how this subject matter would impact humanity, to an open-ended, but deeply beautiful conclusion. (Nothing from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull though, expect for maybe the antagonist being a gender swapped version of Cate Blanchett’s character, only being more sympathetic).
While some might find it shocking that these three actors have taken this long to work with Spielberg, Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth all give career best performances in this, with the former two feeling like a natural evolution of the director’s previous protagonists, while the latter takes the government antagonist role previously seen in E.T., to unexpected emotional weight, while also being very intimidating at times, especially during his confrontation with another character played by an equally impressive Colman Domingo.
Overall, despite a few inessential side characters, Disclosure Day brings together everything that Spielberg has contributed to his science fiction films, to tell this deeply moving story about hope and communication with the unknown and how it can literally change the world, if people just “listen”.
Rating: 4/5
Obsession
Directed by: Curry Barker
Written by: Curry Barker
Starring: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless and Andy Richter
Music by: Rock Burwell
Rated: 18
Obsessed with his childhood friend Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette), a young music store employee named Bear Bailey (Michael Johnston), gets a chance to be with her, when he makes a wish on a mysterious “One Wish Willow” for her to love him forever. However, as Nikki grows more obsessed with him herself, Bear soon finds himself in a nightmarish situation…
With the likes of Barbarian and the Oscar nominated Weapons and The Substance ushering in a new era of cautionary horror tales that would have made great Twilight Zone episodes in the past, Curry Barker intends to follow in the footsteps of Zach Cregger and Jordan Peele, by making a successful transition from comedy to horror, with 2024’s Milk & Serial and this film.
Mixing in the classic Monkey’s Paw story with (of all things), the Bride of Gingy short from Sacred Shrekless, Obession is a darkly hilarious anti-love story that thankfully, isn’t watered down with terrible CGI, which tends to happen whenever Blumhouse Productions picks up a horror film for distribution.
Michael Johnston is both compelling and repulsive as the guy who wishes for undeserving love, but it is Inde Navarrette as the obsessed girlfriend, Nikki, that is the star of the show, with an insanely creepy performance and a smile that even the smile demons from Smile, would try to avoid.
Overall, with a simple premise, shockingly dark humor and a fantastic villain performance, Obsession is another great example of how “elevated horror” has come to dominate the genre in the last decade.
Rating: 4/5
Toy Story 5
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Written by: Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris
Starring: Joan Cusack, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Scarlett Spears, Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Shelby Rabara, Mykal-Michelle Harris and Craig Robinson
Music by: Randy Newman
Rated: PG
Three years after Woody (Tom Hanks) left the gang to help lost toys with Bo Peep (Annie Potts), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), have been struggling with helping their owner, Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), make friends. Everything gets more hectic when Bonnie gets a tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee), and becomes part of a worldwide epidemic (at least, to toys) about technology taking over. However, while Woody comes back to help his friends deal with this new reality, Jessie soon discovers an unexpected link to her own tragic past…
While arguments came be made again and again about whether Toy Story 4, coming out nine years after the original Toy Story trilogy wrapped up in 2010, was necessary as a conclusion to Woody’s character arc, at least Pixar Animation Studios did try to keep the new ending final. At least, until the 2022 attempt to branch out the franchise into spin-offs, Lightyear, ended up as a box office bomb due to its confusing premise to fans of a “real” Buzz Lightyear with no connection to the past films, apart from a terrible plot twist. As a result of this, longtime Pixar veteran, Andrew Stanton of WALL-E and the Finding Nemo films, as well as one of the series’s main writers and Co-directors, was put to work into bringing things back to basics with this fifth film, while thankfully not pandering to the fourth film’s detractors by undermining that film’s divisive ending.
While a lot less conclusive than the last two films, (probably for the best, given how Disney might be using this as a springboard for a soft revival of the series), Toy Story 5’s premise is a lot more interesting than the previous film, with its commentary on both the negatives and positives of connection via technology, being very timely to modern families.
Much like how Toy Story 4 was an epilogue to Woody’s development, Toy Story 5 does the same thing for fan favourite character, Jessie the cowgirl. Being the toy with the most tragic background, this film brings her journey, that started in Toy Story 2 and was further explored in the 2013 tv special, Toy Story of Terror, to full circle, especially when the second and third acts take an unexpected detour to tie up a loose end from the second film, that gets all the emotional moments that people love about this franchise, with Joan Cusack giving her best performance as this beloved character.
While the age of the supporting actors does once again prevent characters like Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Rex (Wallace Shawn) and even the recast Potato Heads (John Hopkins and Anna Vocino replace the late Don Rickles and Estelle Harris), from getting much screentime, the likes of Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Craig Robinson and Shelby Rabara do a great job as the new tech characters, with the former being an entertaining new antagonist, Lilypad, and the latter three, fun new companions for Jessie. As for Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, while it is obvious that the former came back to bring the franchise back on track, despite only being a supporting role this time, the latter gets some his better depiction of Buzz from the trilogy back after the underwhelming button push approach in 4, with his built up romance between him and Jessie, getting a very sweet pay off.
Overall, while we may have to accept that starting with Toy Story 4, we are in a new era for the franchise that was previously defined by one of the greatest trilogies ever made, that doesn’t mean that the series is ruined. Toy Story 5 is another fantastic story for these lovable plastic heroes, with stunning animation, hilarious and tearjerking payoffs to previous films and a great message on the importance of balancing both positives and negatives of technology, as well as human connections, even if most of the characters are made of plastic.
Rating: 4.5/5
Supergirl (2026)
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Written by: Ana Nogueira
Starring: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet and Jason Momoa
Music by: Claudia Sarne
Rated: 12A
Unlike her older cousin, Superman (David Corenswet), who has accepted his new role as hero of Earth, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock), Krypto the Super Dog’s true owner and the only other surviving Kryptonian, often travels on adventures in space to get drunk on worlds with red suns, so that her grief of losing her family can be masked. When a young girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley), asks Kara for help in avenging her own family’s death at the hands of the space pirate, Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), She agrees to help, only for help in getting an antidote for Krypto, who got attacked by the ruthless criminal…
While the character of Supergirl, Superman’s younger cousin who first appeared in the late 1950s sci-fi craze for DC Comics, had already had a film debut with the 1984 spin-off to the 1978-1987 Christopher Reeve Superman films, Supergirl, that film’s poor box office performance led to the Salkind’s selling off the rights for the franchise to Cannon Films for the infamous fourth film, as well as that film being unfairly ranked, along with Elektra and Catwoman, as warnings not to make films about female superheroes as the lead.
While the likes of Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel have led to bigger success and the character of Supergirl would show up in numerous animated films and tv shows, Smallville, and would play a supporting role in one of the DC Extended Universe’s final films, The Flash in 2023, it wasn’t until the Arrowverse got the character her own CW show that lasted for six seasons, that Kara Zor-El finally got her own on-screen presence.
Following in the footsteps of Helen Slater, Laura Vandervoort, Melissa Benoist and Sasha Calle, Milly Alcock would make her debut as the Supergirl of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new DC Universe of films in the final sequence of 2025’s Superman reboot, as a more sarcastic and younger version of the Maid of Might, who gets to take centre stage in the new series’s second film. Like Slater before her, Alcock fits as a great casting decision as a more emotionally damaged Supergirl, to contrast with David Corenswet’s version of Superman who never truly knew their homworld.
While very tonally misguided as a result of trying way too hard to be like a DC version of Guardians of the Galaxy and not being a good look for James Gunn’s claim that “No film will got into production without a complete script”, as it’s obvious that a lot has been removed from the editing process (even if Gunn didn’t direct or write this), this new Supergirl is definitely not the worst superhero film ever made, as some of the most annoying people on the Internet, claim.
While Matthias Schoenaerts’s acting as new antagonist Krem, makes him the most forgettable villain from DC for a long time, as he looks like a rejected Ravager design from Guardians, one of the best casting decisions in years is bringing back the former Aquaman, Jason Momoa, to play the character he was always born to play, Lobo, the Hell’s Angel space bounty hunter, that was a fan favourite character in the 1990s animated shows. His unapologetic attitude towards everything and everyone, gets the biggest laughs.
Overall, while being a terrible adaptation of the fan-favourite Woman of Tomorrow graphic novel from 2021 that heavily inspired this film’s plot, and some really odd editing decisions, the 2026 Supergirl film is just ok as a film by itself and as a spin-off to Gunn’s Superman. While this film alone won’t bring an early end to the new DC films (remember that the MCU had a hard time starting up as well with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2), Gunn has to realise that superhero cinema of the 2020s, is not the same as in the 2010s, and that the larger budgets should only be reserved for big event films or Batman projects (the only DC franchise that is guaranteed to be huge no matter what), and that smaller stories about new characters, should either have much lower budgets, or only be shown on television, as people are getting very choosey about what they want to see.
Rating: 3/5
Minions & Monsters
Directed by: Pierre Coffin
Written by: Brian Lynch and Pierre Coffin
Starring: Pierre Coffin, Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr
Music by: John Powell
Rated: U
As told by an over enthusiastic museum tour guide (Alison Janney), there have been far more groups of Minions (all Pierre Coffin), throughout world history, than the ones that ended up under the care of Gru. In the late 1920s, one particular group of Minions, after years of making the same mistakes that Gru’s group did of accidentally killing their masters, end up becoming popular silent film stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. When their inability to speak English, inevitably makes them unable to adapt to the coming of sound, a creative young minion named James, along with his friends Henry and Ed, set out to capture a monster to make his own monster movie…
Some have said that the Minions from the Despicable Me franchise, some of the most recognisable animated characters of the 2010s, are better suited as supporting comic reliefs rather then as the main characters of a film, which isn’t actually wrong as the first Minions spin-off film from 2015, is often regarded as the weakest film in the franchise and the best parts of the second prequel/spin-off, 2022’s The Rise of Gru, were the ones that focused exclusively on the younger Gru, rather than what the yellow tic tacs were doing to find him.
However, to the shock of this franchise’s biggest critics, Minions & Monsters, despite being the third Despicable Me themed film from Illumination in just four years, is a film that finally makes these characters work as main protagonists, while also being a surprisingly wonderful tribute to the talents of people looking to break into the film industry and to Hollywood history in general.
While some of this franchise’s target audiences might be a bit put off by the 1920s Hollywood setting and the lack of Pharrell Williams musical numbers, the Minions are at their funniest moments in years, especially when they interact with both their unlucky masters and with how they become silent film stars. Despite some fans also being unhappy without the main minions, Kevin,Stuart and Bob, the new trio of James, Henry and Ed (the latter being the first disabled minion in the franchise), are fantastic replacements, with James in particular, being the first Minion that goes through an emotional character arc, as he works towards his Hollywood dream.
Aside from Pierre Coffin (who also directed this film) giving new depths to the chattering tic-tacs, the new supporting cast of Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg and Zoey Deutch, are all massive improvements over the humans that typically occupy these Minions films, while the animation does keep the bounciness and charm that this franchise is known for.
Overall, being the best film in Illumination’s first franchise since the first Despicable Me, Minions & Monsters is a very funny, and surprisingly emotional tribute to both the history of Hollywood, and to creativity and the arts, at a time when this is needed more than ever. Despite not being the typical adventure that these characters usually go on, this is a step in the right direction for this long-running series.
Rating: 4/5
The Invite
Directed by: Olive Wilde
Written by: Will McCormack and Rashida Jones
Starring: Seth Rogen, Olive Wilde, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton
Music by: Devonté Hynes
Rated: 15
Joe (Seth Rogen), a failed musician has a miserable relationship with his wife, Angela (Olivia Wilde), which isn’t made better when they invite their neighbours, a noisy couple, for dinner one night. However, during the night, Joe and Angela discover that they have more in common with their guests, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pína (Penélope Cruz) than expected, forcing each other to confront harsh truths about their partnership…
Another example of an American remake of a European film that is themed around dark comedy that doesn’t shy away from the original’s themes, The Invite, an English remake of the 2020 Spanish film, The People Upstairs, (which the director of that film, Cesc Grey, based on his own stage play), keeps the darkly humorous situations that both couples find themselves in, even if Seth Rogen’s inability to stop his infamous laugh, does prevent this from reaching its full potential. Olivia Wilde (who also directs this), Edward Norton and the excellent Penélope Cruz, are all fantastic as the rest of these estranged couples, with the character study approach to the narrative, paying great tribute to kitchen sink dramas of the 1960s at times.
While the stage like setting of the 2020 film is still present here, with the whole story taking place in one location, one does wonder whether The Invite would have been better off as a English stage play first, as the much smaller storytelling that mostly relies on the dialogue , makes this film feel like a television movie at times.
Overall, despite a few other scenes that could have been developed better, The Invite works as both a hilariously savage satire on the flaws of looking for perfection in relationships, and a brutally honest critique about marriage in general.
Rating: 3.5/5
Evil Dead Burn
Directed by: Sébastien Vaniček
Written by: Sébastien Vaniček and Florent Bernard
Starring: Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Errol Shand, Maude Davey and George Pullar
Music by: Double Danger
Rated: 18
After her abusive husband, Will Price (George Pullar), becomes the latest victim of the Deadites, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) attends his funeral alongside the former’s family. As their hatred and suspicion of Alice grows more intense, the family son gets punished one by one, as unlike their previous attacks, the Deadites have a score to settle, as their grandfather of the family was a researcher on the Book of the Dead…
While the Evil Dead franchise, both with and without Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams, has always had a twisted sense of humour in how shocking the deaths of anyone willing to cross the Book of the Dead occur, Evil Dead Burn, the third instalment in the Ash-less standalone films that began with the 2013 reboot, may have gone a bit too far.
Newcomer Sébastien Vaniček certainly has the talent for making the kills from the Deadites, look even more insane than ever, and the franchise still is great with it’s use of practical gore effects and in getting great performances from its stars, with the likes of Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright and Hunter Doohan, being great new additions to this series.
However, some moments that violently depict animal cruelty and punishing people who are already suffering from domestic violence and dementia, are a bit too uncomfortable to watch, even by Evil Dead standards, and the formula is starting to wear thin, especially after Evil Dead Rise did this premise of a family in danger, better and with a more clear depiction of its satire.
Overall, while mostly just ok for the franchise, Evil Dead Burn is the first time in this series, where some of the dark humour could have been better handled, without coming across as unusually harsh. Let’s hope the upcoming prequel to the original film goes back to what makes this series work.
Rating: 3/5
Moana (2026)
Directed by: Thomas Kail
Written by: Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller
Starring: Catherine Laga’aia, Dwayne Johnson, Rena Owen, John Tui, Frankie Adams and Jemaine Clement
Music by: Mark Mancina
Rated: PG
Long ago in Ancient Polynesia, the residents of the island of Motunui live a very sheltered lifestyle, eating coconuts, fishing and dancing while the Chief, Tui (John Tui), tries to raise his teenage daughter, Moana (Catherine Laga’aia), to take his place. Moana, however, soon sees that Tui’s strict rules of never leaving the coast are costing the islanders, their fish and ripe food. After being convinced by her more open-minded grandmother, Tala (Rena Owen) to take action, Moana sets sail to save the island from ruin. To do this, she needs to take a jewel called the Heart of Te Fiti, and convince the arrogant demigod, Maui (Dwayne Johnson), to return it to the goddess it belongs to…
While people have been very divided on how Disney has been turning nearly all their animated classics into live-action remakes for the last decade and a half (as of 2026), one argument for their existence that has worked on general audiences so far, is the need to make a new version to appeal to a new generation decades later.
Although there is a limit on this, given how all the planned remakes based on Disney’s pre-90s output such as Bambi, The Aristocats and Robin Hood, were all cancelled due to the terrible performances of the 2019 and 2025 Dumbo and Snow White reboots being mostly due to those original films being less popular with younger audiences in modern times, all of the most recent financial successes have been based on the 1990s Disney Renaissance films (with the exception of the underperformance of 2023’s Little Mermaid in international numbers).
With both a remake of a 2000s film, Lilo & Stitch, and in DreamWorks Animation’s turf, a remake of a 2010s animated film with How to Train Your Dragon, both making money in 2025, it would make sense for Disney to start eying the 2010s Revival Era for live-action remakes…..but not until the 2030s at least. This is the reason why the 2026 remake of one of their best films of the last decade, 2016’s Moana, is so misguided, not even waiting a whole decade for nostalgia to set in.
Clearly only green-lit because Dwayne Johnson desperately needed emergency money after his failed DC experiment in 2022 with Black Adam, this rushed remake of Moana shares all the same problems that 2019’s The Lion King and (to a lesser extent given how low the bar has been set with 2017’s Beauty and the Beast and 2019’s Aladdin), had, being a shot-for-shot recreation of something you can watch on home media or streaming for free, without justifying any reason to update this story, aside from maybe, giving the Polynesian film industry more projects, though they are capable of producing better films than this unnecessary carbon copy of a better film.
While it is nice to have Jemaine Clement back as the now legendary meme coconut crab, Tamatoa, and the likes of Rena Owen and newcomer Catherine Laga’aia do fine jobs as both Gramma Tala and the titular Moana respectively, Dwayne Johnson gives a far flatter performance in his return as Maui from the animated film, to say nothing of his incredibly silly wig and the fact that a lot of the poor attempts to blend realism with the original designs of the CGI characters , makes some characters like Hei-Hei the rooster, look like mutated goblins than the creatures they actually are. Also, while some of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s great songs are sung fine, some, such as Where You Are, We Know the Way and You’re Welcome, are sung very off key at times.
Overall, while I don’t think the poor box office performance of 2026’s Moana will fully kill Disney’s live-action remakes, especially with how deep into production the Tangled remake is in now, as well as the sequels to both Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon being deep into development , the lack of patience that even mainstream audiences are getting with these film’s lack of creativity and being released too close to the original films (especially with Moana 2 not even being two years old at this point), should delay any plans for inevitable remakes of Frozen and Encanto, for at least another decade and a half.
Rating: 2/5
The Odyssey
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, John Leguizamo, Bill Irwin, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page and Charlize Theron
Music by: Ludwig Göransson
Rated: 15
Long ago, during the time of Ancient Greece’s age of gods, monsters and heroes, the Kingdom of Ithaca has been without its king, Odysseus (Matt Damon) for almost two decades, due to his disappearance following the Trojan War, where he left to join King Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) and his army. As his loyal wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), is constantly harassed by suitors seeking the throne, with the most devious being the sly nobleman Antinous (Robert Pattinson), Odysseus’s son, Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland),seeks out information about his father from the rulers of Sparta, Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) and Helen of Troy (Lupita Nyong’o), who both proceed to tell him about Odysseus’s journey and his rumoured whereabouts…
After setting most of his filmography within the realism of action, science fiction, thriller and period drama settings, with the furthest back being the 2006 Victorian era film, The Prestige, Christopher Nolan, fresh off his 2024 Academy Awards triumph with Oppenheimer, has decided to go into two far different fields with his next film, the fantasy genre and the myths of Ancient Greece.
While these tales of Greek heroes, gods and creatures have been one of the most popular subject matters in media history, with Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, the God of War video game series, Zack Snyder’s 300 and Disney’s Hercules being just a few examples, not to mention the myths being reimagined in both Marvel and DC Comics (the most prominent example being Wonder Woman’s backstory in more recent stories in the latter), stories filled with multi-headed dragons, giant automation statues and snake-haired women, seems like something far removed from Nolan’s usual routine. However, as he had already been successful in reinterpreting DC’s Batman for a new generation, and his long desire to make a film adaptation of the stories of Homer’s most famous character, Odysseus, after missing the chance to direct 2004’s Troy, a version of the Iliad story that was eventually taken over by Wolfgang Peterson (who, ironically, had previously planned an early Batman vs Superman film before choosing Troy instead), can finally be fulfilled with his version of Iliad’s sequel, The Odyssey.
Aside from a few television adaptations and several loose reimaginings of this story such as 1954’s Ulysses, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou and (the most important one, XD), The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, the original story hasn’t received a full scale adaptation of Odysseus’s journey back home, which Nolan uses to his full advantage. While containing the usual non-liner structure of his past films, with the character of Prince Telemachus learning about his father’s adventures via flashbacks, both of the father and son stories come together in a very tense and epic third act, with some of the most satisfying payoffs in a long time.
Speaking of the sections that focus on the most iconic sequences in the classic story, such as the Battle of Troy, the Cyclops (Bill Irwin), and the encounters with Circe the Witch (Samantha Morton) and Calypso (Charlize Theron) the nymph, what sets them apart from how they are depicted in other versions, is how they build on the themes of the cost of war and the consequences of how the Trojan war effected the world, with all three antagonists given much greater depth than expected.
Speaking of themes, the sheer amount of emotion regarding Odysseus’s motivations and past regrets, leads to one of Matt Damon’s best performances yet, even if this is the fifth time where he plays a character that needs to come home. While some could argue that Tom Holland’s Telemachus could have been played by any young actor working today, the rest of the supporting cast are all excellent, with Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, Charlize Theron and surprisingly, even John Leguizamo giving their best performances to date. Also, Elliot Page and Lupita Nyong’o’s more different take on Helen of Troy, were also fantastic as well, with the former, giving the Simon character a great amount of importance to the story’s themes of the difficult choices in combat, despite his limited screen-time.
Overall, while some valid issues with some filming location choices and the lack of Greek representation in film history need to be addressed (though Nolan isn’t entirely responsible for the latter, given the history of Greek myth adaptations almost entirely have this problem as well), there is no denying that Nolan has made another triumph here. His version of The Odyssey is a fantastic, emotional and compelling new take on Homer’s story, with career best acting, huge in scale with its IMAX filmed production design and cinematography, and interesting character development, that, like how Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy became the definitive version of Tolkien’s story, Nolan’s version of Odysseus’s journey home, will become the most popular version as well, no matter what some of the worst people on social media will tell you.
Rating: 4.5/5
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton
Written by: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Florence Pugh, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Marisa Tomei and Mark Ruffalo
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
Four years after fighting alongside two other Spider-Men from the Multiverse, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), as a result of Doctor Strange’s spell wiping out any memory of his existence from everyone else in his universe, has completely thrown away his Parker identity to work as a full time Spider-Man. While his full commitment to his superhero career has made him popular again in New York, especially with his new friendships with law enforcement, Damage Control and the likes of White Widow (Florence Pugh), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and even the ruthless vigilante, The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Peter starts to fall into a deep depression, especially when his friends, MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) return to the city after their graduation, still with no memories of him. Things get even more chaotic, when a mysterious metahuman (Sadie Sink) with telepathic powers starts attacking the city and Parker suddenly finds his Spider-powers mutating in rapid succession…
After his previous film, 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, ended up becoming one of the rare bright spots in the MCU’s troubled Multiverse Saga, grossing nearly 2 billion dollars worldwide even during the later period of the COVID pandemic, it’s no surprise that both Marvel Studios and Sony, would definitely be getting the next part of Tom Holland’s films as Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s iconic webslinger, made as soon as possible.
Although Kevin Feige had to battle Sony multiple times to make sure that the next MCU Spider-Man entry would not be No Way Home 2, and be a more grounded and more emotional story that would take Spidey in a genuine new direction, Brand New Day is another great example of Kevin’s better judgement, as aside from the excellent Spider-Verse films from their animation division, a lot of Sony’s decisions with the franchise, led to the infamous Venom universe films, to be cancelled after three consecutive failures in 2024.
Going back to Brand New Day, Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton brings a whole new visual experience for this new film, with the fight sequences and thematic subtext, going back to the dark, yet emotional vibes of the character’s source material. While some plot elements, especially the identity of one of the new characters, does feel like the issues of Iron Man 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, building up set-ups for future MCU movies, resurfacing again, it actually works for both Peter’s arc and the changes of both him and his environment.
Tom Holland gives one of his best performances yet, as his version of Spider-Man is finally given a conflict that feels both respectful to previous stories, while also being given a different twist, often feeling like a different perspective of the themes of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. While some people who didn’t care for the Home trilogy might be disappointed in the presence of Zendaya and Jacob Batalon’s characters coming back, they do manage to have their most important roles in this story, to show that, unlike in other Spider-Man films, self-isolation can be just as damaging, as avoiding responsibility. While a lot of the heavily marketed characters such as Hulk, the returning Scorpion (Michael Mando) from Spider-Man: Homecoming and even the Hand from the MCU Netflix shows, don’t have as much screen-time as the marketing suggested, the two best performances come from Jon Bernthal giving a softer side to the infamous Punisher (making the MCU’s version of the character big screen debut after years on Netflix and Disney+), and Sadie Sink, whose presence will completely transform the future of the franchise.
Overall, in yet another confirmation in the quality of Stan Lee’s favourite creation and in how the MCU is officially back on track, after numerous successes that started with 2025’s Thunderbolts, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is another fantastic adventure for Spidey, with a fresh new direction for his future in both the MCU, and for the rest of the wider Spider-Man franchise with 2027’s Beyond the Spider-Verse and the upcoming third Insomniac video game.
Rating: 4.5/5
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie
Directed by: Cal Brunker
Written by: Cal Brunker and Bob Barlen
Starring: Carter Young, Mckenna Grace, Henry Bolan, Rain Janjua, Ron Pardo, Hayden Chamberlain, Terry Crews, Jennifer Hudson, Jameela Jamil, Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg
Music by: Pinar Toprak
Rated: U
After returning from their latest rescue missions, Ryder (Henry Bolan), and the Paw Patrol pups discover an island populated by living dinosaurs, where a friendly paraplegic Bernese Mountain dog named Rex (Hayden Chamberlain), has befriended them as his own rescue crew. As Paw Patrol prepares to study the island to find out how to keep the dinosaurs safe, Marshall (Carter Young), the Dalmatian firefighter of the crew, is struggling to deal with his slight clumsiness, while Mayor Humdinger (Ron Pardo), prepares to ruin things yet again for his diamond obsessions…
Spin Master and Keith Chapman’s Paw Patrol multimediafranchise has become even larger over time with no signs of slowing down ,as the second film, 2023’s The Mighty Movie, helped the franchise to become the most successful preschool big-screen franchise in decades, (with even Peppa Pig struggling to get that recent Chinese exclusive film, to her biggest audiences in the West). With these rescue pups coming close to overshadowing even Bob the Builder as Chapman’s greatest achievement in merchandise and content, it’s only natural that their third big screen mission, much like how the second film adapted the superhero arc of the tv series, would bring in the dinosaur sub theme from the more recent seasons, to give young kids, their first dinosaur movie.
Much like how the first film focused on Chase the Police Dog (now voiced by Rain Janjua in this) and the second film focused on Skye the Aviation Cockapoo (Mckenna Grace), Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie gives Marshall the Dalmatian firefighter, his own personal story of him trying to overcome his clumsy behaviour. While it is funny that Rubble the Construction Bulldog (Lucien Duncan-Reid), despite having his own spin-off series, still doesn’t have his own movie, Marshall’s arc still have the great messages of self-confidence and overcoming fears, that these films have been greatly providing for their target audience.
Speaking of which, kids will also love the numerous dinosaurs in this film, and Rex makes for a wonderful new addition to the Paw Patrol crew, as well as a fantastic representation of someone not letting his disabilities define him. However, despite her character being very prominent in the last two films, Liberty the Dachshund is not in this film at all, and the missed opportunity of some of the new celebrity-voiced characters, (especially by not casting Snoop Dogg as another older pup), is very distracting.
Overall, Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie is another great big screen rescue operation for these lovable preschool-aimed characters, and a good alternative for kids too young for Jurassic Park films, a Jurassic Bark, if I say so myself.
Rating: 3.5/5
The End of Oak Street
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
Written by: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella and Christian Convery
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
Set during the early 1980s, in a peaceful suburban town of Flowervale, Michigan, the Platt family consisting of novelist Denise (Anne Hathaway), her husband, Greg (Ewan McGregor), their children, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), and faithful dog, Starbuck, are having major problems, with Denise having a hard time getting her work published and Greg secretly working as a pizza delivery driver. However, all their problems get pushed aside, when their neighbourhood of Oak Street gets mysteriously teleported back to the age of the dinosaurs, and the family must do everything in their power to survive…
While the Jurassic Park/World franchise has been a major success in keeping dinosaurs popular in cinemas for the last three decades, aside from them appearing in Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of King Kong, there hasn’t been much success in bringing these giant lizards in a wide variety of big screen stories, at the same level that the likes of Willis O’Brien, Ray Harryhausen and others did in the previous stop-motion dominated century.
With Adam Driver’s ill-fated approach to 2023’s 65, which made the unforgivable crime of making the premise of a man trapped on a planet of dinosaurs boring, David Robert Mitchell of It Follows fame, brings a completely different approach with The End of Oak Street in making dinosaur cinema, exciting again.
While the premise of an 1980s family getting closer together after getting displaced in a prehistoric world, does feel like a missing episode of Stranger Things, what sets Oak Street apart from the most recent Jurassic World films, is how realistic the dinosaurs look when compared to those films. While the designs of some featured dinos like Spinosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus remain the same, others like an Allosaurus and Camarasaurus incorporate more recent scientific knowledge, by having them depicted with feathers and fur. Also, the dinosaurs are depicted as being much scarier than the more recent Jurassic films, being more in line with how they are depicted in the first two Jurassic Park films as territorial creatures, which does lead to some very dark, but very entertaining ways some characters are taken out by these dinos.
As for the family, while they do contain a lot of tropes found in Steven Spielberg films, including the divorce subtext, both Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor have commanding leads, and Christian Convery’s son character, does have a sweet character arc revolving around his dog.
Overall, despite having some confusing worldbuilding with how the family got transported to the past in the first place, The End of Oak Street is the major step forward that dinosaur cinema has needed for decades.
Rating: 4/5
Coyote vs. ACME
Directed by: Dave Green
Written by: Sonny Burch
Starring: Will Forte, Lana Condor, Eric Bauza, Tone Bell, Martha Kelly, P.J. Byrne, Kenneth Choi, Jim Cummings and John Cena
Music by: Steven Price
Rated: PG
After decades of using faulty ACME products to try and catch the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote finally comes to the realisation that the reason that he keeps failing in his obsession, is because of these malfunctioning products. When the coyote heads to Albuquerque to hire Kevin Avery (Will Forte), a lawyer that specialises in dealing with incidents of cartoon violence, and his much more idealistic niece, Paige (Lana Condor), to help him take down ACME, they soon discover that the company has much darker secrets involving the rest of the Looney Tunes characters, including a mysterious program known as “Project Sisyphus”…
While the beloved Looney Tunes characters are definitely no stranger to live-action/animation hybrid films, as seen in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the Space Jam films and them appearing alongside other characters in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the sheer insanity of this film is not just limited to its premise itself , but the whole journey for it to even see the light of day, is other story entirely.
Based on Ian Frazier’s 1990 parody article in The New Yorker, which revolved around Wile E. Coyote suing the ACME corporation for constantly giving him faulty gadgets on his neverending quest to catch the Road Runner, Coyote vs. ACME was originally filmed in 2022 with a 2023 release date planned for either theatrical or streaming release, before the unthinkable happened in the latter year, where new Warner Bros. Discovery head, David Zaslav, decided to include this film, in his infamous tax-write off campaign, that also killed Batgirl and Scoob: Holiday Haunt.
However, after that decision resulted in massive backlash from numerous critics, industry professionals and cinema owners worldwide , a tense selling off period that Warner Bros intentionally tried to sabotage with unreasonable demands to other companies, and the successful attempt to release another Looney Tunes movie that was in danger of being written off, The Day the Earth Blew Up, on the big screen, Coyote vs. ACME was finally saved when the latter’s distributors, Ketchup Entertainment, also decided to save this in early 2025.
Going back to the film itself, while the film’s live-action sequences were filmed in 2022, long before they had any idea what was to happen to it, the premise of Wile and his new lawyer friend, Kevin Avery (cleverly named after legendary animator, Tex Avery), going up against a massive corporation, ironically makes this a lot better and inspiring than originally intended, mirroring the titanic experience of just getting the film out in the first place.
As expected from a Looney Tunes film, the most entertaining aspects are the antics of these characters, with Wile and Road Runner’s unique ways of communicating, with billboards and beeps, being used in very funny and surprisingly heart-warming ways. The likes of certain characters like Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (all voiced by Eric Bauza) playing funny roles in this conspiracy film, such as the Duck being an asylum patient for his looniness, the Bunny being a secret informant and the latter (fittingly) being a slow member of the US Supreme Court, are perfectly used to make certain jokes even funnier, with Foghorn Leghorn (also Eric Bauza) in particular, being a very fitting main antagonist, alongside his own faithful lawyer (John Cena), in showing how most American corporations are just, the worst.
Overall, while the decision to use cel shading to make CGI characters look like 2D characters, still needs a lot of work (as this style did in the 2021 Tom & Jerry film and 2022’s Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers), Coyote vs. ACME is without a doubt, the best live-action/animation hybrid Looney Tunes film, and the best of these types of films such Roger Rabbit, even without the context of how this long story in film history, ultimately got a happy ending, which is so inspiring in these troubled times for the film industry.
Rating: 4/5
Insidious: Out of the Further
Directed by: Jacob Chase
Written by: Jacob Chase
Starring: Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Lin Shaye
Music by: Joseph Bishara
Rated: 15
Shortly after the Further’s demonic inhabitants finally left the Lambert family alone, they set their sights on another target. Three decades after one of their demons killed a woman named Ingrid Hall (Laura Gordon), in front of her daughter, Gemma (Amelia Eve), their new leader, an undead cult leader named Cyrus Lam (Sam Spruell), decides to use her to finally open the Red Door and unleash the demons onto Earth. Gemma, with the help of the ghost of Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye), must try to save her family from this terrible situation…
While the Insidious franchise finally brought a definitive end to the Lambert’s battles with the demons of the Futher in 2023’s Insidious: The Red Door, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t going to go back to standalone entries after that. However, unlike the two prequels, Insidious: Chapter 3 and The Last Key, that focused on the background of the fan favourite character, Elise Rainer, Out of the Futher is a standalone sequel to the Lambert films, that features another new set of characters.
While the mythos of the Further’s deeper history with humanity and the premise of its demon population finally getting out and causing chaos in the real world does sound exciting on paper, this film doesn’t really live up to its full potential, by just playing it safe again with tiring jump scares and uninteresting new characters. While Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea and Maisie Richardson-Sellers do give good performances here, it is once again, Elise, that is the one interesting part about this film, with Lin Shaye doing a great job as one of the few mainstream elderly horror protagonists out there.
Overall, in spite of a few more interesting moments, such as giving an an actual name to the new antagonist, that isn’t just putting an adjective in front of a demon type, Insidious: Out of the Further is another Blumhouse franchise that seems to be running out of scares.
Rating: 2.5/5
The Dog Stars
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Mark L. Smith
Starring: Jacob Eldori, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Benedict Wong, Guy Pearce and Allison Janney
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams
Rated: 15
In the future of 2035, humanity has almost been completely wiped out by a flu pandemic and the only survivors live in small communities across the world. Hig (Jacob Elordi), a former mechanic, turned pilot, flies out to retrieve food and fuel for himself, a former Marine named Bangley (Josh Brolin), and for nearby communities, from nearly ruined cities, with the help of his loyal dog, Jasper. After hearing a mysterious message on the radio signal, and surviving an attack that has tragic consequences, Hig sets out to find the source of the signal….
Despite having a strong filmography of science fiction classics like Alien, Blade Runner and The Martian, Sir Ridley Scott’s reputation as one of the most prominent “hit or miss” directors out there, is back in full force with this adaptation of the 2012 Peter Heller post apocalyptic novel, The Dog Stars.
While it is fantastic that one of Britain’s most famous auteur directors can still make films with such fantastic cinematography and music, with this film being no exception thanks to the skills of Erik Messerschmidt and Harry Gregson-Williams, The Dog Stars doesn’t really stand out in an already overcrowded subgenre of post apocalyptic cinema. If you’ve seen I Am Legend, The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later and George Romero’s zombie films, then, apart from one memorable sequence that takes place in an airport base with Allison Janney, you’ve seen much of The Dog Stars already.
Despite the title setting up expectations, for a different film than most people are expecting, Jacob Elordi’s best acting moments come from his protagonist’s relationship with his dog. While the likes of Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Benedict Wong and Guy Pearce don’t get much to work with, they all give great performances to make their archetype characters, really charming and interesting.
Overall, despite being another slight miss in Ridley Scott’s later career, The Dog Stars is a fascinating watch for people looking for a more visually stunning and thoughtful science fiction tale, despite having some boring moments.
Rating: 3/5
Practical Magic 2
Directed by: Susanne Bier
Written by: Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Mariduena, Dianne West and Stockard Channing
Music by: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Rated: 12A
In the decades after the events of Practical Magic, as a result of the Owens family curse still being active, witch sisters Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman), have tried to keep the former’s daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), from remembering their childhood, due to Sally erasing their memories of all magic. Shortly after the Owens bid goodbye to Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest), Kylie’s boyfriend, Gideon (Xolo Maridueña), becomes the latest victim of the Owens curse. Joey travels to England, the birthplace of the family’s magical heritage, in order to save him from death, with both Sally and Gillian not far behind…
Although Warner Bros. haven’t fully given up on the now very problematic Harry Potter franchise (to say the least), with the upcoming tv reboot, it isn’t surprising that they are studying their massive film library for a potential alternative magic franchise to bring back to life.
Hoping to repeat Disney’s success in making the likes of Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas into massive franchises after their original theatrical release, as well as their television reboot of Percy Jackson, Warner Bros, after releasing the 1998 cult classic, Practical Magic, have their beady eyes set on Alice Hoffman (the author of the book the film was based on) and her other books about the Owens family of witches.
Skipping the two prequel novels, The Rules of Magic and Magic Lessons, and going straight to the final book in the series, 2021’s The Book of Magic, this loose adaptation of the encore adventure for the Owens sisters, does have some interesting ideas about the worldbuilding of the impact of the Owens on history, but Practical Magic 2, ultimately feels like a hallow retread of the first film.
While Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are both fantastic as the beloved Owens sisters, a lot of the new characters often feel like unnecessary filler, especially since the weird double standards this film has about recasting some supporting characters, especially in one notable absence resulting in a completely pointless rehash of the first film’s love story, only with Lee Pace doing a weird accent.
Overall, despite having great Halloween production design, interesting worldbuilding on witchcraft and Wiccan history, and some of the first film’s charm that made it a cult favourite, Practical Magic 2 struggles to cast a new spell that sets it apart.
Rating: 3/5
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom
Directed by: Steve Cox and Matthew Walker
Written by: Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow
Starring: Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Kate Harbour, Dani Dyer, Roman Kemp and Nina Sosanya
Music by: Natalie Holt
Rated: U
As Shaun the Sheep (Justin Fletcher), Bitzer the Dog (John Sparkes) and the rest of the flock get ready for the Halloween celebrations, an accident with the Farmer (also John Sparkes), causes Shaun’s pumpkin patch to be destroyed. As Shaun becomes obsessed with using a “Mad Scientist” book to quickly regrow the pumpkins, he accidentally creates a massive creature, resulting in even more chaos than usual, at Mossy Bottom Farm…
After two (or three, if you live anywhere outside the United Kingdom) films that went straight to Netflix, Aardman Animation has finally returned to the big screen for the studio’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations, even if it’s their fourth sequel in a row. Taking a page out of the book of his former co-stars from A Close Shave, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, much like how the former two took on a Were-Rabbit, has entered the horror/monster genre, with his third feature film.
While not holding the title for “Best Sheep themed film for families” this year due to the existence of Sheep Detectives, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom still has the same silent film/ physical comedy charm that both the show and the other two Academy Award nominated films, have provided for almost two decades (as of 2026).
As expected from this franchise, a lot of laughs are present with the numerous examples of physical comedy, revolving around horror cinema and how Shaun and his friends get themselves out of crazy situations. The Farmer is also at his funniest in years, including a surprisingly sweet love story between him and a new vet character (Nina Sosanya).
Overall, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, is another charming and hilarious adventure for everyone’s favourite claymation sheep, even if the almost decade long absence of original films from Aardman since 2018’s Early Man, is a bit concerning.
Rating: 4/5
Chaz’s Cinematic Odyssey 