Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom - Review: A Tale of Shear Terror

 

In 2015 and after almost a decade on British television, Aardman Animation brought the lovably mute sheep who made his debut in 1995's "A Close Shave" to the big screen with "Shaun the Sheep Movie." After a second feature film adventure with 2019's "Farmageddon," Shaun and his gang are back in a new adventure, this time themed around the spookiness of the fall and Halloween season. At least as spooky as a family-friendly stop motion mute sheep can be.

It's almost Halloween! Shaun, bleated to life by Justin Fletcher ("Justin's House," "Something Special"), and his friends have been trying to grow massive pumpkins to carve for the season. But after a mishap involving their Farmer causes them to all be smashed, Shaun channels his inner mad scientist to create a potion letting them grow to gigantic sizes. However, this inadvertently results in the unleashing of a massively hairy beast running rampant through the nearby town. It's up to Shaun and his friends to stop the beast and solve the mystery of its appearance.

It's difficult to find much to say about Shaun's latest adventure, and that's not a bad thing. Aardman has spent decades finely crafting their very specific style of British humor and stop-motion slapstick to a chemically perfection concoction. Every movement, bleat, grunt, or visual gag hits with maximum precision, piled high with plenty of color and whimsy. You'd be hard pressed to find a single person with a beating heart who can't find something to enjoy in Shaun and his friend's latest adventure. The fall and Halloween theming provide some light spookiness, but it's far from terrifying, coming much closer to a "Sesame Street" Halloween episode than anything legitimately scary.

What plot exists mostly seems to be an excuse to string together a light parody of various horror tales, specifically Frankenstein. It lacks the surprising emotional weight that was seen in the very first film, but it's still filled to the brim with charm. Directors Steve Cox ("Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas") and Matthew Walker (" Lloyd of the Flies") and writers Mark Burton (" Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl," "Madagascar") and Giles Pilbrow (" Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas," "Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans") know these characters well, and the fun then comes from putting them in these circumstances outside of their farm. Shaun's turn as a pseudo mad scientist is exceptionally amusing, particularly just to allow him ample time to be the butt of many jokes. It never exceeds its own grasp but reaches as high as possible within its own constraints.

It's a quick little romp as well, clocking in at just around 75 minutes when the credits start. No moment ever overstays its welcome, moving briskly from gag to gag without feeling hyperactive. There's plenty to enjoy here for kids without feeling like they're rotting away, and plenty to amuse adults without resorting to adult jokes or pop culture references. Natalie Holt's ("Loki," "Pin Cushion") musical score pops in and gives everything as much bravado as needed; a welcome bit of theatricality added onto an otherwise charmingly low-stakes film. Really, it's just a perfectly charming little tale, and, with the spooky theming, one that could and should easily fall right into plenty of family's fall movie rotations.

If you like stop-motion, Aardman's other works, or just fun and simple filmmaking, then chances are you're already planning on seeing "The Beast of Mossy Bottom." But if it isn't on your radar, then you should take the time to see just a simply delightfully charming and extremely amusing little slice of hand-made Halloween filmmaking magic. With sci-fi and now horror under their belts, if Shaun and his friends keep invading other genres every few years until the end of time, the world would be a better place. 4.5/5 

Hope (2026) - Review: There Goes the Neighborhood

 

In our age of modern-day blockbusters, what does it mean to be self-aware of one's own violence? Questions like that have been posited in film for decades now, with a differing perspective on the subject coming every few years to add something new to the conversation. It's not hard to see a writer/director like Na Hong-jin ("The Wailing," "The Yellow Sea") adding something to the conversation with his big CGI monsters and fights and small-town struggles. However, whether or not he is actually interested in adding anything is an entirely different story.

Set in the small Korean town of Hope Harbor, "Hope" follows police chief Ko Bum-seok, played by Hwang Jung-min (" You Are My Sunshine," "12.12: The Day"), and rookie cop Im Sung-ae, played by Jung Ho-yeon ("Squid Game"), as they investigate the destruction of a nearby town by an unknown entity. After teaming up with a local firearms expert Ko Sung-ki, played by Zo In-sung (" Something Happened in Bali," " Escape from Mogadishu"), they discover that the creature wreaking havoc is actually an alien leader J'aur, played by Alicia Vikander ("Ex Machina," "The Green Knight") and her bodyguard Ma'veyyo, played by Michael Fassbender ("X-Men: First Class," "Steve Jobs").

Hong-jin's film is immediately engrossing. In draws you in with slow, tense moments that spend the bulk of the first hour expertly setting up the mystery surrounding the destruction. It serves as a showcase for a truly fantastic amount of practical effects and production design, tearing this small Korean town to shreds and allowing the audience and Bum-seok to wade through the aftermath. It almost feels like a detective story, as you piece together clues in the scenery to try and discern what this creature might be. Then the reveal: a hulking nine-foot tall sickly green humanoid alien creature with long slick hair, created using some of the worst CGI in modern moviemaking.

This is where the film's first big tonal shift becomes apparent. The CGI on the aliens looks so particularly bad and uncanny that it comes across as completely intentional. Surely, a director with as much acclaim and experience as Hong-jin wouldn't approve of something that looks like this, right? The fact that this is then followed by an extended period of downtime without any action, and some truly bizarre dialogue. Who doesn't want to hear about how an elderly man discovered the aliens as a result of having diarrhea? It's so odd that it still manages to be enrapturing as you wonder what direction things will go in next.

For as odd as things get, Hong-jin's cast are all completely game for the material. Jung-min is a great stoic kind of action lead that lets his fears bleed through to create a relatable and realistic kind of protagonist. Ho-yeon fluctuates between a cool badass and a bumbling goof in a myriad of endearing ways. Sung-ki is a slimy kind of oddball that feels like a teenager who never grew up, and he makes for a great foil against Hong-jin's more mature character. Vikander and Fassbender are completely bizarre in their casting, as the pair never speak any English or even any discernable language. The fact that they are here for only a handful of moments in total, speaking an entirely made-up language, makes for one of the film's biggest and oddest swings.

While much of the appeal here is how odd the project is, what is undeniably excellent is the film's action. Hong-jin and cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo ("Parasite," "Save the Green Planet!") shoot the film with a blistering sense of action. The combination of CGI and practical effects, despite the former's shoddy look, are seamless. The first and last hour hit the gas and never let up, giving the same feeling as "Fury Road" or other breakneck action flicks. Even if you don't agree with the rest of the film's bizarre, almost satirical approach to its plot, the action sequences alone are fantastic enough to be worth the price of admission. Especially with a score from Michael Abels ("Get Out," "NOPE") backing it up; his music sounds like an odd alien western action flick mixture that becomes as fascinating as the film itself the longer things go on.

"Hope" is an oddball of a film, one far more bizarre than its marketing would have you believe. The plot is both extremely detailed and also superfluous, the performances are completely committed to the insanity, and the practical effects are excellent, juxtaposed against some truly awful (possibly purposefully so) CGI effects. Na Hong-jin's latest film is an oddity, plain and simple, almost satirical in its execution of action movie filmmaking and storytelling. But it is a wild ride of an oddity that will keep you engrossed even while baffling you. 3.5/5 

Coyote vs. Acme - Review: Comedic Justice

 

Way back in 2023, Warner Bros. announced a number of films they were set to receive tax write offs on, meaning that they would not be allowed to release the films or profit from them in any way, taking a lump sum of money instead. While two of those projects, “Batgirl” and “Scoob: Holiday Haunt” were in various stages of completion, one of them was a film that was finished and had undergone test screenings in the months prior: the animated-live action legal family comedy “Coyote vs. Acme.” After this was announced, the internet spiraled into a frenzy, resulting in Warner announcing that they would allow other studios to offer bids for the film instead of banishing it to their archives forever. Now, one year after their marginal success from the similarly almost canned Looney Tunes film “The Day the Earth Blew Up,” Ketchup Entertainment has snagged the completed film and are finally releasing it worldwide. 

This film follows Wile E. Coyote as he hires lazy cartoon injury lawyer Kevin Avery, played by Will Forte (“Clone High,” “The Last Man on Earth”), to sue Acme for the injuries he’s sustained from decades of using their faulty products in an attempt to capture and eat the Road Runner. Alongside Avery’s niece and law intern Paige, played by Lana Condor (“X-Men Apocalypse,” “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before”), this leads to a massive legal case against Acme and its CEO Foghorn Leghorn, voiced by Eric Bauza (“Looney Tunes Cartoons,” “The Day the Earth Blew Up”), and their defense lawyer Buddy Crane, played by John Cena (“The Suicide Squad,” “Blockers”). 

While that idea might initially seem like it only has enough meat to sustain a short or two, writers Samy Burch (“May December,” “Late Fame”), James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Superman (2025)”), and Jeremy Slater (“Mortal Kombat II,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”) do a lot to develop the heart and pathos behind this tale. There’s not only legitimately surprising intrigue behind the events, but there’s a lot of care put into developing Wile’s plight and case. It bobs and weaves in clever ways, and while not the most tightly knit legal drama to grace the silver screen, it's fully committed to breathing life into this world and tale. 

At the end of the day, that’s what gets this effort to the finish line with flying colors: if the heart and care are there, then the quality of the lawsuit and plot don’t even matter that much. They’re still good, but that big beating heart is the reason this project shines. It's still riotously funny as well, keeping the slapstick sharp as well as the general humor of seeing a character like Foghorn Leghorn taking the witness stand. The film also takes clear aim at corporate greed and corruption, placing big business squarely in its crosshairs. While the filmmakers never could have predicted the film being written off by a big studio in the midst of a corporate merger, it is quite telling that a film with this strong of a perspective was initially canned by its corporate overlords. 

Director Dave Green (“Earth to Echo,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”) clearly cares just as much, and while the film features quite a bit of high-stakes loonacy, it also treats the legal proceedings and surrounding mystery like any other film of its ilk. The blending of live-action and animation is seamless, and while the quality of some of the 3D models pretending to be 2D is suspect, the expressive and detailed animations are always fantastic. There’s quite a bit of medium mixing as well, with cartoons interacting with real objects and vice versa in convincing and fun ways. Steven Price’s (“Suicide Squad,” “Gravity”) musical score mixes typical Tunes motifs with some lightly electronic strings and gets quite playful throughout. A dramatic moment, for example, has the 1812 Overture playing, but with Road Runner’s trademark “beep beep” replacing the cannon sounds. It’s a film that simply looks great and made by people having a ton of fun making it and with a lot of love for these characters. 

Acting against nothing for a film like this is quite the tall order, but Forte is clearly up to the challenge. He’s a comedian’s comedian, and he completely commits to the venture. There’s not a moment he doesn’t take everything as serious as a heart attack, and it lets the film flourish anytime he’s opposite Wile. It's a sort of sincerity that lets the film work as well as it does; yes, it's funny already but the cast playing it so straight is what elevates it. Cena is equally as good, playing up his evil lawyer character to levels that equal the cartoons he’s surrounded by. Condor is a bright spot of overly eager optimism, and she plays well off Forte’s lackadaisical apathy. While Wile may be silent, Bauza gets a lot of space to shine as the new defacto voice for a majority of the Looney Tunes. Rarely do these characters get these kind of intrigue laden monologues or legal proclamations, and his skill as a voice actor is on full display here as he gets to play with the silly and the dramatic. 

There’s something to be said about the underdog nature of the film itself and its long and rocky road to release. It's a victory that it even was released, but for it to be as good as it is makes for an ever better feeling. This is an extremely funny crowd pleaser with a surprising amount of heart and effort put into its plot. Forte is borderline perfect, playing everything completely straight in the midst of the film’s absurdity. It has some roughness around the edges, but nothing diminishes the care and love that clearly exists here for the whole Tune gang and their cartoons. Quite simply, it's one of Wile E. Coyote’s favorite things: dynamite! 4.5/5

Buddy (2026) - Review: Barney & Fiends

 

When flipping through Adult Swim at 1:30 in the morning, you might find yourself greeted by the works of Casper Kelly. A longtime writer for various animated shows for the channel, he eventually began working on surrealist live action horror comedic material, eventually culminating in the short works “Too Many Cooks” and the two “Adult Swim Yule Log” specials. These works are perfect, bite-sized showcases of his skill in turning the mundane into the bizarrely horrific, without losing any humor in the process. Now, after directing a segment of 2025’s “V/H/S/ Halloween” film, he has his first feature length film with the tale of an orange unicorn named “Buddy.” 

It’s Buddy! Everyone’s favorite orange unicorn here to teach you life lessons on how to share, be brave, and get along with all your friends. But something is wrong with Buddy, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key (“Key and Peele,” “Schmigadoon!”). Freddy, played by Delaney Quinn (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” “The Beanie Bubble”), has noticed that some of her friends around the clubhouse have been disappearing, and that Buddy seems to be more and more frustrated. Can she and her backpack Strappy, voiced by Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille,” “The King of Queens”), stay safe among Buddy’s increasingly concerning behavior? Meanwhile, what does suburban mom Grace, played by Cristin Milioti (“Palm Springs,” “The Penguin”), have to do with all of this? 

If you’re a seasoned horror fan, what Kelly and co-writer Jamie King (“Jessica Jones,” “World’s Best”) have written here won’t blow you away in terms of the plot’s originality. It shares a lot of DNA with other mascot-based horror projects from the past decade, as well as the likes of “The Wizard of Oz” and “IT.” That’s not a problem though, as it provides a solid foundation to build up from, and build they do. The production design is without a doubt the film’s best element. As opposed to other shows or movies that throw a VHS filter over modern footage and call it a day, the many retro sequences of “Buddy” looks like they might actually have been shot in the 1990s. The other big problem they avoid is the over-design of the characters. It’s hard to look at Freddy Fazbear and think any adult actually thought a kid would find him safe. The costumes are perfect here; if you sliced out the film’s most normal moments, you could easily convince anyone that this was a real unthreatening show from the 1990s. 

Key has perfect delivery as he, much like the costumes, avoids becoming too overtly sinister or winking to the audience with his performance. It feels like a legitimate, authentic delivery someone from this era might have given. Quinn absolutely steals the show, with one of the best child actor performances in a long time. Her fear and genuine heart power the film; she is its secret weapon. All of the child actors are fantastic, like Tristan Broders as Oliver and Madison Skyy Polan as Hannah. They go through a veritable odyssey together, and it shows by the end. Milioti, like Quinn, is one of the film’s best elements. While she gets less time to shine compared to the younger cast, she’s nevertheless deeply compelling and serves as the big beating bloody heart at the center. 

The authenticity coming from the production design and the cast end up fueling the film’s sense of unease. By withholding any sense of deliberate horror or off-kilter nature directly, it lets the uncertainty bubble to the surface. There’s no “in your face” moments of Buddy doing drugs or using guns or anything otherwise; it commits to the aesthetic entirely until things go completely wrong. This means that the themes they play with, child actors, toxic positivity, predatory children’s environments, get time to fester instead of bluntly beating the audience over the head. Yet, these elements clearly are not the point; Kelly and King want to make a dark horror comedy, and they succeed in that. The film is quite dry and uneasily funny, mining plenty of humor from the absurdity of the world and the way the scenario is presented. They also avoid giving any direct explanations to a majority of the events, instead letting the confusion and questions bubble up to further add to the film’s unease and mystique. 

If “Buddy” is playing with some plot points and children’s mascot horror tropes that are well-worn by now, Casper Kelly has certainly spruced things up to feel considerably less so. The entire film’s production design and commitment to its atmosphere lifts it above typical costumes horror fare, and the cast deliver the heart needed to make this little adventure something special. This is a tried-and-true midnight movie filled with mystery and unanswered questions and tons of black humor that will delight most and turn off the rest. It’s as much fun as one could expect to have with a guy as cuddly as Buddy! 4/5 

Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma - Review: Psycho Sexual

 

Arguably more than any other genre in the history of cinema, horror has had a complicated relationship with change, both internally and externally. Whether comedic, cosmic, psychological, or fantastical, evolution is a key part of any work of horror. Over the years, there have been plenty of works that have grappled with that relationship, whether in more traditional ways like “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” or the more abstract ways in the likes of “Beyond the Black Rainbow” or “Crimes of the Future.” Now, fresh off their 2024 A24 hit, writer/director Jane Schoenbrun (“I Saw the TV Glow,” “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”) has returned to the world of abstract, dreamlike, nostalgic horror-tinged dread with “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”

The film stars Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks,” “Seekers of Infinite Love”) as Kris Williams, an up-and-coming queer independent film director offered the chance to reboot her favorite horror slasher film franchise “Camp Miasma.” In an effort to recontextualize the original film’s story and serial killer Little Death, played by Jack Haven (“I Saw the TV Glow,” “Atypical”), Kris seeks out the film’s original final girl actress, the reclusive Billy Presley, played by Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files,” “Sex Education”). As Kris learns more about Billy, their connection begins to deepen, and the lines between reality and slasher film begin to blur.

Unexpected given the film’s title and premise, Schoenbrun goes full tilt into the realm of campy silliness alongside the bloodshed and self-reflection. Einbinder’s character adores this film series to the point of obsession, knowing filming techniques and facts about each entry, surrounding herself with a comical amount of named candy brands and popcorn. By the time things fully tilt into glorious 1970s grindhouse tributes, the film stakes an identity for itself within the glorious mountainous spurts of blood and needle drops. This isn’t a gratuitous film, rather it uses its camp humor to explore the kind of adoration people have for movies like this, horror films or otherwise.

Einbinder and Anderson turn in some really interesting work, exploring the inner emotions of this pair while also embracing the sillier elements inherent in their depictions. Einbinder avoids complete parody in her depiction of a typical modern day indie director, viewing film purely academically within the lens of what would be considered acceptable or not. It’s a slyly silly, but completely confident kind of performance that establishes the character as an almost complete joke before letting Einbinder’s talents win you over. Anderson is playing something like an askew version of the fem fatale from works like “Sunset Boulevard,” playing things up to camp levels without creating a caricature. Both work together fantastically, perfectly in sync with Schoenbrun’s vision, as if they created a hive mind during rehearsals.

Schoenbrun clearly has a lot on their mind and knows exactly what they want to deliver, and a larger budget than before means that they and cinematographer Eric Yue (“I Saw the TV Glow,” “Atropia”) get to work with a team to craft that vision in a way that resembles a half-remembered cinema-soaked dream. Matte paintings litter the backgrounds, as do actual repurposed candy litter. It’s a film obsessed with the artifice of movies, be it CGI and practical gore or clearly fake weather affects. It can be jarring at first glance, but the film itself is built to teach you how to watch it. Schoenbrun slowly introduces you to the film’s visual language and the way it elaborates on stimulus, eventually culminating in a wonderful third-act full of deliberately fake looking lighting, imagery, and colors. Even the costume donned by Little Death, a mixture between a diving suit and an air-conditioning vent, is clearly deliberately fake, but so well constructed and fascinating that it becomes instantly iconic. Alex G’s (“I Saw the TV Glow,” “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”) score matches this deliberate visual aesthetic with a musical identity that’s equally as distinct and obvious and engrossing.

For a film as obsessed with the mechanics of horror films, film in general, and why we ourselves become obsessed with these works of art, this is a remarkably kind film. While not without its own brutality, there are moments where it allows Little Death and Kris so much vulnerability and space to explore what has happened to them and what it means to find yourself through media, transgressive or otherwise. It’s a film that adores horror but is also directly pushing against so many of the genre’s worst instincts to comment on them: a genre so steeped in fear of what’s different is embraced by a queer filmmaker and a genre where sex is a sign of death used to help a character come to terms with a comfort in sex and sexuality. Anyone aware of where the term “Little Death” comes from should be well aware of the material Schoenbrun is tackling here. It might seem too daunting of a subject to tackle in a film under two hours, but the breezy direction and camp nature of the film’s sense of self help keep things digestible and engaging. At the very least, Schoenbrun is able to boil these ideas down to a simple thought: why do we love what hurts us, and what can that danger teach us about ourselves?

It’s truly difficult to describe whether a film like “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” will be for you without simply knowing it. There’s a specific wavelength that Jane Schoenbrun’s latest queer, nostalgic, horror think piece is operating on. It’s easy to love from a purely visual and aesthetic point of view, but it offers so much to chew on beyond that. Its two leads are perfectly cast and in sync with the vision of this work. You’re not going to see many films like this for quite a while, if truly ever. But maybe that’s the best thing about it. Arguably more than any nostalgia-obsessed director currently working, Schoenbrun understands what the deep pit of genre love is for any cinephile: it’s a hole at the bottom of the lake where the movies come from. 5/5

The End of Oak Street - Review: Jurassic Block

Despite not ever reaching the same cultural significance seen with the release of the original "Jurassic Park" film in 1993, from the moment dinosaurs lumbered onto the silver screen, they've never left. When CGI became more prominent, they've grown to greater heights and more bountiful box office numbers, with varying critical results. Now Writer/Director David Robert Mitchell ("It Follows," "Under the Silver Lake") is making his move from low-budget indie hits to big studio blockbusters with his own take on the dinosaur film with "The End of Oak Street."

Set in 1982, the film follows a small-town family living on Oak Street consisting of mother and aspiring novelist Denise, played by Anne Hathaway ("The Devil Wears Prada," "Interstellar"), dad Greg, played by Ewan McGregor ("Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith," "Moulin Rouge!"), son Brian, played by Christian Convery ("The Monkey," "Sweet Tooth"), and daughter Audrey, played by Maisy Stella ("Nashville," "My Old Ass"). One night during a thunderstorm, the family finds their entire suburb mysteriously transported into a prehistoric jungle populated by all manner of dinosaurs and other million-year-old creatures. The family must stick together to survive their new environment and somehow find a way back to their own time.

This is a crowd-pleasing blockbuster plain and simple, but Mitchell spends ample time building tension and character stakes throughout the first act. He borders on satirizing American nuclear family culture, but never goes so far, instead settling on establishing our four family members for some easy arcs by the time things wrap up. There's definitely a lot of Spielbergian elements wrapped in here, from the nuclear family on the rocks to the dinosaurs to the kids on bikes. It uses these elements more as landmarks rather than letting the entire film be overwhelmed by their nostalgia. Suffice it to say, if you don't know the difference between a Goonie or a Gremlin, you'll still have a good time here.

McGregor is doing some fun work here essentially offering both an earnest and slightly comedic portrayal of the typical American suburban dad, but Hathaway is the one turning in some really great subtle work that branches a bit beyond the written material. It's a testament to her skills as an actress that she can do a lot with just a few looks even in more genre heavy fare like this. Convery and Stella get in a lot of good sibling material here, with Mitchell's script avoiding a lot of annoying tropes of sibling hatred. This is a close-knit family that obviously loves each other, despite their rocky nature, and it comes across fully through the lead quartet's performances. The surrounding supporting cast is full of a few character actors serving themselves up as dino fodder, and they each get their own little moment to shine.

After the town blips into the past, Mitchell's vision of this film becomes quite clear: it's tense and hugely character driven. There's a lot of comparisons one could make to the original "Jurassic Park" in that way, as he plays with chase sequences and has quite a few hide and seek moments. Mitchell is a director that understands presence and tension, and the film is a great example of that. There's no point where hordes of dinos are thrown at the screen; its methodical and disciplines in its scares and action, letting things boil over to maximize the potential fear. This is still a PG-13 four-quadrant mass appeal blockbuster, so things never reach the pure fear levels of Mitchell's breakout success "It Follows," but there is a true sense that anyone is on the chopping block at any moment.  

It's a gorgeous film as well, with Mitchell and cinematographer Michael Gioulakis ("It Follows," "Us") taking great advantage of their small-town suburban locations. There's a physicality to the adventure, utilizing plenty of average American homes and cul-de-sacs juxtaposed against the harsh prehistoric plants and animals, to create an arresting locale. While the lumbering dinos are all CGI, there's a lot of built out practical sets that provide a genuine tactile sense of place. Helping to add to the tension, the film even populates many of the locations with the remnants of unfortunate dinosaur encounters. One sequence that has a pair of characters hiding in a car features the dead body of the driver in the front seat. It isn't gratuitous or used as a jump scare. Just an example of the fantastic window dressing to make this horrifying adventure scenario pop to life. Michael Giacchino's ("Ratatouille," "The Incredibles") score also is clearly adjacent to the works of John Williams from those Spielbergian films, but injects enough of his trademark musical flourishes to set it apart.

David Robert Mitchell's latest film is clearly a tribute to family and parental leadership more than anything else, and he manages to wrap that tribute in a great sense of adventure and tension. Not too scary to not be for the whole family, but not devoid of tension either, this is a fantastic end of summer blockbuster that not only makes dinosaurs thrilling again but just provides a good old fashioned adventure flick. A great quartet of performances are set up against a gorgeous looking romp through suburban 1980s America, just with more dinosaurs than you're used to. It puts virtually every "Jurassic Park/World" film after the original to shame, but even outside of that, this is a fun and tense bit of popcorn filmmaking that'll leave you satisfied. 4/5

Tony (2026) - Review: My Dinner With Anthony

When most people write their memoirs, they might be kinder to themselves than someone writing about them would be. Or at the very least give their younger selves the benefit of hindsight. Anthony Bourdain’s memoir “Kitchen Confidential” has the beloved chef and world traveler viewing his younger self less kindly, most famously saying “I was, to be frank, a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive, and thoughtless young lout, and badly in need of a good ass-kicking.” That sentence seems to be what “Tony” is all about, and what co-writer/director Matt Johnson (“Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” “Blackberry”) has latched onto in his portrayal of the man.

Set in the summer of 1975, the film follows 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, played by Dominic Sessa (“The Holdovers,” “Now You See Me: Now You Don't”), who decides to run away from home to Provincetown, Massachusetts to follow his high school crush Nancy, played by Emilia Jones (“CODA,” “Task”). Soon after arriving, he finds himself out of money and appeals to the head Chef, played by Antonio Banderas (“The Mask of Zorro,” “Puss in Boots”), of local restaurant The Flagship to sleep on his back porch. While working as a dishwasher in the Flagship, he begins to befriend the kitchen staff, including Sal, played by Leo Woodall (“Tuner,” “One Day”), and discovers a love of cooking all while attempting to romance Nancy.

Most importantly, as opposed to other films in the biopic genre, “Tony” is not a film looking to encompass all of Bourdain’s life or ethos into a two-hour movie. Rather, it takes the smarter approach in capturing who he was before and during the summer that set him on the path to become the person he was known for being. It results in a more natural and calm film, one that maintains its breezy summertime nature throughout. It feels like someone telling you the story of their past summer, rather than having a life summarized at you. Sure, some of it is fictionalized, some characters are amalgamations of multiple people, and it might have some conveniences, but the script from Johnson, Matthew Miller (“Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” “Blackberry”), Lou Howe (“Gabriel”), and Todd Bartels is all in the service of capturing who Tony was. And in that it wildly succeeds. Arguably its best aspect though is the simple commitment to the strength of the story and character work; if you have no idea who Anthony Bourdain is, your enjoyment of the story won’t change.

Sessa is virtually perfect. As you stick with him and slowly watch him turn from a, to quote Bourdain, “thoughtless young lout” into someone who cares more about the people around him, it turns this performance into a truly special little piece of acting. It feels natural, avoiding any showy monologues or big flourishes, instead drilling into the humanity at the core of a man like this. Banderas is also fantastic, with a grounded and gravely role that reminds us how good he can be when in a drama as straight forward as this. That doesn’t downplay the work he’s doing here, and he and Sessa are incredible together. Jones is great and effortlessly charming as Nancy, and she lights up the screen whenever she appears. Woodall’s role is more minor, but he punctuates the film whenever he appears, holding himself up as a saltier, twisted mirror to Tony and his potential future.

The easy, breezy Provincetown summertime season is perfectly captured by Michael Bauman’s (“One Battle After Another,” “Phantom Thread”) cinematography and eye for sunsets. The picturesque Massachusetts seaside town is often given a warm golden haze as Tony continues his adventure. The musical score by Jay McCarroll (“Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” “Blackberry”) is wonderfully understated and melancholic, underscoring the beach landscapes with a prevailing sense of bittersweetness. Really, at the core of this film is that sense of bittersweetness; you’re watching a man realizing what he wants to do for the rest of his life, which will inevitably lead him away from everything else around him. That journey is a melancholic and bittersweet one, but never without joy at its core.

It's easy to see why a director as idiosyncratic as Matt Johnson would be attracted to a project like this. Not only does he have a penchant for movies about scrappy men making it up as they go along, but this is also far less of a traditional biopic than one might expect. Thanks to its fantastic cast, its summertime haze and locale, and its focus on exhibiting the vibes of the man and this tale rather than summarizing the person, it makes this melancholic little slice of sea-side life a pure cinematic treat. 5/5

One Night Only - Review: Getting Off Easy

 

The one sentence pitch idea is one of the oldest in Hollywood. While not a requirement, most great scripts can be summed up in one sentence or less. Toys come to life when their owners aren't around. A history professor finds artefacts for museums. A space orphan joins the resistance against a fascist empire. All classic film ideas, summed up in just one sentence. However, that can also be a hinderance, where the basic premise ends up creating more confusion and questions than satisfying plot developments. From the moment the trailer dropped, that was certainly the case for Will Gluck's ("Easy A," "Anyone But You") latest film "One Night Only."

Three years prior to the start of the film, a legal mandate was passed by the U.S. government outlawing sex between unmarried people. Set on the one night a year the mandate is lifted, the film follows Allie, played by Monica Barbaro ("A Complete Unknown," "Top Gun: Maverick"), a singer looking for her perfect match in the chaos, and Owen, played by Callum Turner ("Queen & Country," "Eternity"), a pizza shop owner who finds himself single on the night after his girlfriend Malika, played by Maya Hawke ("Stranger Things," "Inside Out 2"), breaks up with him.

The premise is certainly an intriguing one, and writer Travis Barun does manage to build a fair amount of the world that would pass this mandate. There are throwaways lines and advertisements that serve to explain the premise and the state of the world that would have passed it, and he weaves it into the film in a remarkably sturdy fashion. It never feels clunky or shoved in without reason. Given the New York setting, there are plenty of billboards, subway ads, and storefronts customized for this premise. It straddles the line between being overt product placement and clever winks given that, of course companies like Red Bull or Duolingo would actually make custom ads for this night if such a thing did exist.

However, those explanations are ironically an issue. While tidbits are given, the premise itself remains so intriguing that it lingers in between the typical romantic comedy scenes. Nothing about the romantic or comedic elements is stronger than that premise, so while it might be cute to watch Allie and Owen fawn over each other or banter back and forth, that material never overpowers the surrounding premise. It leaves you with more questions than answers and distracts from the characters. Weirdly, if less explanations were given, just a few lines and then treated as normal, it would likely be less jarring.

Gluck also plays everything here with far too straight an edge. There's no fun being had between the sincere romantic moments. A premise like this is ripe for satire or parody, and in the hands of someone like David Wain or Christopher Guest, it could work as both a rom-com and a sharp satire. But Gluck just tones everything too far down, playing it all straight with no winks or nods at the absurdity of the situation. It certainly doesn't have to crank up the silliness but given the multiple inspired and hilarious moments early on, such as a city-wide chase to find one last condom, it's shocking how blandly it all ends. Not only that, for a film about the entire country waiting until one night a year for sex, it is remarkably puritanical and chaste. Not every film needs to be as gratuitous as "Showgirls," but apart from some salty language and a comedic butt shot, it could pass for PG-13.

Barbaro and Turner do certainly have chemistry and charm aplenty, and they have a crackling saltiness as they butt heads throughout the film. Turner seems refreshingly completely willing to make himself the target of many jokes despite his pretty face, and Barbaro has a miniature arc of letting go of her ideas of love on this chaotic night. They're both good together, making for some great classical rom-com charms. The supporting cast is full of sex-crazed weirdos dotting their paths, including Owen's mother Linda and her partner Rick, played by Molly Ringwald ("Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club") and LeVar Burton ("Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Roots") respectively. None of them particularly stand out, but they're fine as window dressing around Allie and Owen's adventure.

"One Night Only" doesn't do anything particularly wrong within the rom-com genre, but the one thing it does the best, its unique premise, ends up hindering it the most. This is a film that could go either way: it could be a biting and smart social satire or a looser, sexier, sillier rom-com. What it ends up trying to do is have its cake and eat it too, dressing its premise up with a charming pair of leads and cliche rom-com bits that are only marginally effective. The last thing you want after a late-night fling to be left with more questions than answers. 2.5/5

Spider-Man: Brand New Day - Review: New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down

 

Fresh off the massive success of the previous "Home" trilogy, let alone the individual success of "No Way Home," Tom Holland's ("Spies in Disguise," "Uncharted") Peter Parker/Spider-Man is back. He's older, wiser, and as stressed out as ever. With a directorial shake up, this looks to be the start of a new trilogy and new evolution for the character. But given the state of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fact that is the ninth live-action Spider-Man film, eleventh if you count the animated "Spider-Verse" works, what more could there possibly be to explore with New York's favorite wall crawler?

In "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," it's been four years since Dr. Strange cast a spell to make the world forget Peter Parker at the end of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and Peter, played by Holland, has been working almost full time as the web slinging superhero of New York, occasionally assisted by The Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal ("Ford v. Ferrari," "The Walking Dead"). However, after his former girlfriend MJ and best friend Ned, played by Zendaya ("Dune: Part Two," "euphoria") and Jacob Batalon ("Novocaine," "Reginald the Vampire") respectively, reenter his life, he finds himself going through dark and violent changes that he must contend with alongside the appearance of a mysterious human possessing antagonist.

As expected, Holland's performance is fantastic, anchoring the film around this aged, more isolated Peter. There are little tweaks and evolutions to the character that further deepens him and set this new portrayal apart from his high school days. The film itself is growing to meet Peter's more mature stature, and it's a really great example of both a character and their adventure aging up with its audience. Zendaya has just as much chemistry and wit as she has before, and just like Holland, she slips back into this role with ease. Bernthal legitimately turns in one of his best performances as Frank Castle aka The Punisher, and the film gets a lot of mileage out his and Spidey's odd couple relationship. Their banter is excellent, and their friendship is one of the film's greatest assets. Sadie Sink ("Stranger Things," "The Whale") does appear in a secretive role, and she legitimately delivers the best performance of the film alongside Holland. It's a tricky role, but she nails it the entire time, and her work in the third act manages to deliver some deep emotional pathos in a big way.

That emotional pathos is just one of many moments in this film where screenwriters Chris McKenna ("The LEGO Batman Movie," "Spider-Man: No Way Home") and Erik Sommers ("The LEGO Batman Movie," "Spider-Man: No Way Home") make a clear attempt to mature things. Peter isn't in high school anymore, and the stress and emotional turmoil he goes through here makes for a rich playground for Holland. It's a film that spends a lot of time examining who Peter is and the cost of the choices he makes in a similar vein as to Tobey Maguire's "Spider-Man 2" film. The character moments are distinct and numerous and come close to outnumbering the smashy crashy fights. It's not the densest film the MCU has ever delivered, but the attempt to deepen things is evident the entire time and makes for a richer experience than one might expect.

Those character moments and deeper feelings extend into everything director Destin Daniel Cretton ("Short Term 12," "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings") is doing here. It's a film with plenty of joy in the denizens of New York, but also sadness. It allows Peter to deal with his emotions but doesn't let them suck the joy out of the proceedings. There's a huge emphasis on the city that he protects and the people who look up to him in a lot of fun ways, and it results in a film that feels alive in a way that modern superhero films rarely do. If there's anything to critique, it's that the film often feels like it's overstuffed. There's a lot of good here, but at two-hours-and twenty-five-minutes, it's also just simply a lot of movie. It certainly justifies its runtime, but it's also packed to the brim with moments large and small that make it feel like it's simply overstuffed. 

Visually, the film is a marked step up from the previous films in Holand's series. Cinematographer Brett Pawlak ("Short Term 12," "Instant Family") reteams with Cretton and delivers a more grounded, scenic view of New York for Spidey to swing through. There are plenty of great looking fights with tons of fantastic stunt work and CGI, but there are also plenty of quiet shots of Peter's city. Michael Giacchino's ("Super 8," "Ratatouille") musical score also works overtime to develop a different feeling from the previous Holland films. It's a cooler and calmer score most of the time, and there's a deliberate effort to distinguish itself from his previous works on Holland's three other films. Even the end credits sequence embraces this; instead of featuring a dazzling animated bonanza, its quiet shots of New York from a ground's eye view. Not only does it look great, but this is the most a Spider-Man film has felt like a living breathing city since the Raimi films.

There's a running gag amongst fans of Spider-Man that, no matter the medium, the sadder he is, the better the story is. "Spider-Man Brand New Day" certainly tests that theory and delivers a film that's richer in both emotion and visuals than any of Holland's films before. It's a hard-working film, one that wants to earn your investment, and it spends quite a bit of time developing the city and surrounding world Peter lives in. One could argue it has too much on its plate, but when everything here is being done to service a deeper story for such a beloved character, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone upset over it. People love Spider-Man, and this is a film that goes to great lengths to explore how and why. It swings by with flying colors. 4.5/5

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender - Review: The Quest for Peace

 

When animated television shows began to take over the mainstream in the 1960s, most were characterized as just being cartoon sitcoms, with laugh tracks and cheap, reused animations. For as beloved as things like "The Flintstones" and "Scooby-Doo" became, they still feel archaic, even for the time. This is to say that, while the industry had certainly changed by the time "Avatar: The Last Airbender" began airing in 2005, it still felt like nothing else. Now, two decades after the original series premiered, it's expanded into sequel series, comic books, video games, a live-action film, live-action series, and its reputation has been cemented alongside works like "The Sopranos," "The Wire," and "Breaking Bad." Now, the original gang has returned in a film set years after the original show to further explore the adventures of a grown-up "Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender." 

Set thirteen years after the end of the original series, the film follows Avatar Aang, voiced by Eric Nam, as he and his friends, including Katara, voiced by Jessica Matten ("Dark Winds," "Rez Ball"), Sokka, voiced by Román Zaragoza ("Ghosts"), Fire Lord Zuko, voiced by Steven Yeun ("Invincible," "Nope"), and Toph, voiced by Dionne Quan ("Rugrats (2000)," "Bratz (2005)"), continue to work towards unity among the four bending nations after the Hundred-Year War. However, after Aang learns of a staff with the power to grant non-benders the ability to bend air and discovers a frozen airbender named Tagah, voiced by Dave Bautista ("Guardians of the Galaxy," "Knock at the Cabin"), he faces new threats alongside the potential to revitalize his airbending people.

Arguably the most controversial element of this new film is the recasting of the original series' voice actors. While the characters are much older, it still ruffled a few feathers when this was announced. Luckily, this new cast is more than capable of stepping into these beloved roles, even if they never eclipse the original cast. Nam proves to be a great Avatar, keeping Aang's playful optimism and deep-rooted fears in check, breathing a new sense of aged wisdom into him. Matten's Katara is also great, and her and Aang's relationship is one of the film's best aspects. Seeing these two as a grown couple will likely set many fan's hearts ablaze and provides the film with a strong central emotional anchor.

Bautista is a fantastic new addition, and Tagah is the most interesting thing the film wants to address. He matches the depth of the material, and gives an energetic and emotive performance. Zaragoza sounds almost exactly like the original series' voice actor for Sokka, and he, along with Yeun and Quan are great. It's fun to see Quan, a blind voice actress, voice one of the most beloved blind characters in recent media as well. However, the writing seems to be less concerned with the characters outside of Aang, Katara, and Tagah.

This, along with the absence of other longtime series characters, is even more disappointing considering the time given to random cameos sequences. Taika Watiti ("Thor: Ragnarok," "Jojo Rabbit") appears briefly as a creature in the spirit world for a segment that, while already brief, goes on for far too long. The film is also stuffed with fan service in some bizarre ways. While yes, the franchise has more than its fair share of memes and cultural references, having the "cabbage guy" appear to shout his catchphrase in a life-or-death city siege feels not only tonally out of place in the moment, but with the series itself. 

Written by original series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, alongside Tim Hedrick ("Voltron: Legendary Defender," "Avatar: The Last Airbender"), Kenneth Lin ("Warrior (2019)," "Star Trek: Discovery"), and Christopher Yost ("The Mandalorian," "Thor: Ragnarok"), the script touches on many themes that were explored heavily in the sequel series "The Legend of Korra," and they're still effective here. It's not the greatest work the series has ever had, but it keeps the same intelligence and maturity it's known for, putting itself head and shoulders above most other animated family films. There are a bizarre handful of lines however that overexplain things to the point of taking the viewer out of the experience; lines like a character looking at another and explaining what they just witnessed, as if the viewer was looking away when it occurred. For a series known for its writing, these handful of lines feel leftover from old drafts that were just never removed and, coupled with the out of place fan service moments, result in the script being the film's weakest element.

While the animation studio may have changed, the franchise's gorgeous art style and action have remained the same, if not improved. Now primarily animated by Flying Bark Productions, the studio behind "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur," its an arguably more thrilling and visually stunning piece of animation than anything from the original series. Using a combination of 3D environments and 2D animation, each scene flows with popping colors and detailed art design that flourishes as the film goes on. It's simply a stunning piece of modern animation, combining the best of 3D with the best of 2D to create something that looks truly special. Longtime series composer Jeremy Zuckerman ("The Legend of Korra," "V/H/S/85") returns, and the music is just as fantastic as the gorgeous animation. From the moment the series' iconic wind instruments pipe up, it's clear that he hasn't lost a step in his musical talents.

Any fan of the original series or the franchise should find themselves entertained by this adventure. The new cast does a great job at stepping into these roles, the animation is exceptionally gorgeous, and the action is fantastic. If the script was a little tighter, then this could have easily been one of the best things to come out of the franchise since the original series. As it is, it's a very fun chapter in this saga that maintains the original series' maturity and intelligence without ever eclipsing it, like a trio of really good episodes stitched together. If you're itching for more adventures with the original "gaang," then you should be quite pleased. 4/5