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

The Odyssey (2026) - Review: Sound and Fury

 

How do you make a movie of "The Odyssey?" Despite being one of the oldest recorded pieces of literature in human history, this isn't as grand of a task as it might first seem. Storytelling, and filmmaking specifically, have been using pieces of Odysseus's grand journey in direct adaptations or allusions for decades now. Hell, even "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" contains plenty of allusions and direct references to Homer's epic poem. But for a direct adaptation, on the scale of this $250 million latest attempt, you need a director with experience telling tales of men and their misdeeds on a scale as grand as this. You need someone like Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight," "Oppenheimer").

The film follows Odysseus, played by Matt Damon ("Good Will Hunting," "The Martian"), as he attempts to make it home after the decades long Trojan war. Along the way, he, his second-in-command Eurylochus, played by Himesh Patel ("Yesterday," "Tenet"), and their men encounter various trials, such as a giant cyclops, an island of brutal giant soldiers, the with Circe, played by Samantha Morton ("In America," "The Walking Dead"), and a group of sirens. Meanwhile, Odysseus's son Telemachus, wife Penelope, and swineherd servant Eumaeus, played by Tom Holland ("Spider-Man: No Way Home," "Spies in Disguise"), Anne Hathaway ("Interstellar," "The Devil Wears Prada"), and John Leguizamo ("Ice Age," " To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar"), await his return while reluctantly hosting a large group of suitors for Penelope, including the sleazy Antinous, played by Robert Pattinson ("Twilight," "The Batman").

That doesn't even begin to cover the scope of this tale, nor does it cover the extensive cast who make up the ensemble. What Nolan and his team have delivered here is essentially the closest thing Hollywood has gotten to a bon-a-fide classical epic film in years. Its structure and construction make it closer to Ben Hur than any of Nolan's other films, and his strengths are on full display. This is the sort of film you can only make as a confident, established filmmaker, and anyone who's followed his career is likely watching with bated breath. While Nolan takes advantage of the length and uses every moment of the film's 173-minute runtime, it never falters or drags. You feel the journey, getting swept along in the gravitas of the adventure with Odysseus, but never weighed down by it.

Damon's performance is a truly fascinating one. On paper it contains all the archetypes of a weathered action lead, but in practice this is a display of quiet hubris. His arc is one that is a work of profound self-destruction, consistently finding himself as the cause of his men's misfortunes. Damon plays things quietly and with complete seriousness, but also without any sort of bravado. If this man was, at one point, a heroic solider of legend to his men, he certainly is not now. His eroding relationship with Eurylochus showcases this best, and Patel's chemistry with Damon establishes an uneven friendship between the two men that beautifully fluctuates between respect and pity on a whim.

Hathaway is a quiet force, keeping a composed form until the film requires her to fully embrace the despair of her circumstances in the most fantastic ways. Holland is equally as great, working his admiration of a father figure into a performance that showcases the still young actor's hidden talents. Leguizamo plays things boiling under the surface as he watches the world his master built slow come crumbling down, and it's a fantastic example of the power he can hold when given the proper roles in which to showcase it. Pattinson is just as slimy as he's ever been, turning Antinous from a potential suitor for Penelope into a weirdo bully that practically slips around the room with how slimy he is. He's delightfully mean and hateable and Pattinson himself seems to take delight in being so. 

Given the size of the cast, this doesn't even begin to cover the rest of the performances, which include the likes of Lupita Nyong'o ("Us," "The Wild Robot") as sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Zendaya ("euphoria," "Spider-Man: No Way Home") as the goddess Athena, Charlize Theron ("Mad Max: Fury Road," "Monster") as the nymph Calypso, Jon Bernthal ("The Punisher (2017)," "The Walking Dead") as Menelaus, the King of Sparta, and Benny Safdie ("Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," "Oppenheimer") as Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae and Odysseus's commander during the Trojan war. All are fantastic as well, each getting their handful of moments to shine and make a sharp impact on Odysseus's journey. However, one particular role stands out amongst the rest of the supporters: Elliot Page ("Juno," "Inception") as Sinon. He is one of the first faces we see in this tale, and he haunts the rest of the narrative physically and emotionally. Nolan uses the character as a catharsis for Odysseus's faults and evolution, and Page delivers a performance that's arguably the best of his career. It's a lingering role that loops back around on itself in the narrative and your mind.

If you simply packed this film with a cast like that, all working to such phenomenal quality, you'd already have a great film. But Nolan continues to push forward technically as well, letting the film trot the globe in a scope that boggles the mind. Frequent Nolan Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema ("Oppenheimer," "Nope") keeps a clear eye on the events, utilizing plenty of forced perspective tricks and low angles to keep the tension high throughout this massive quest. The resoundingly blue image is full of strong visuals that keep in line with Nolan's practical sensibilities that, alongside Hoytema's eye, create some truly striking scenarios. For every visually arresting sequence, there are also numerous moments of calm and pause that help juxtapose the grand adventure with the internal struggle Odysseus is experiencing. Ludwig Göransson's ("Black Panther," "Sinners") fantastic musical score further compliments this, with earth shattering bass notes thundering against quiet strings of calm.

Much like the cast, if this was a film simply full of incredible visual feats and performances, it would already be among the best of the year. But the way Nolan is able to weave his own personal thoughts into Odysseus's tale makes it emotionally arresting as well. It isn't emotional in the way a personal drama or romantic film is. Rather, he frames this tale as a tragedy of men and the folly of leadership. From the beginning we hear plenty of talk about Zeus's rule, explained as "treat others as if anyone could be a god in disguise." With this and Sinon, the film's central ideas become about humanity's kindness in the face of brutality, putting it in a starkly similar place as Nolan's last film "Oppenheimer." It allows for a modern reinterpretation of the tale that manages to recontextualize Odysseus and the Trojan war in fascinating ways. It's a film of deeply held convictions that are constantly being uprooted and turned around to show their true colors to the ones executing them. However, in one of his smartest moves, Nolan never sacrifices the entertainment value of the tale for the philosophical. You can engage with the film on either level and walk away with a complete experience no matter what.

"The Odyssey" is a staggering film, almost requiring two viewings simply to fully appreciate the scope of the adventure Nolan takes audiences and Odysseus on. The cast is truly fantastic, with some career best standouts, backed by a fantastic musical score and a truly gorgeous visual identity. When approaching material like this, it is exactly the sort of film you hope someone makes: a completely committed, go for broke tale. This closest comparisons for something of this scale is the biblical epics of old Hollywood, like "Ben-Hur" or "The Ten Commandments." A piece of work with thunderous effort behind it on all fronts, full of sound and fury on a truly incredible scale. Despite being based on arguably the oldest story in recorded history, you've seen little else like it. 5/5 

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass - Review: The Wizard of Odd

 

If ever there was a way to break through the noise of modern Hollywood filmmaking, it's this: embrace silliness and sincerity. That genuine sense of fun has catapulted many recent films to critical and commercial success recently. While the sincerity part may be hit or miss, anyone who’s seen any film from writer/director David Wain (“Wet Hot American Summer,” “They Came Together”) and his longtime collaborator, co-writer Ken Marino (“The State,” “Children’s Hospital), knows that they know a thing or two about embracing silliness.

“Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” stars Zoey Deutch (“Zombieland: Double Tap,” “Nouvelle Vague”) as the titular Gail Daughtry who finds herself on a whirlwind adventure through Los Angeles after her high school sweetheart and fiancé Tom, played by Michael Cassidy (“Men at Work,” “People of Earth”), meets and utilizes his “celebrity free pass.” Now, with the help of her best friend Otto, played by Miles Gutierrez-Riley (“Smile 2,” “Sweethearts”), and a rag tag group of misfits including wannabe talent agent Caleb, played by Ben Wang (“Karate Kid: Legends,” “The Long Walk”), paparazzi photographer Vincent, played by Marino, and real-life actor John Slattery, played by John Slattery (“Mad Men,” “Spotlight”), she sets out on a quest to fix her relationship by having sex with her celebrity free pass, Jon Hamm, played by Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” “Hoppers”). Meanwhile, a mix-up at the airport leads to her obliviously being chased down by crime boss Ludovica, played by Sabrina Impacciatore (“The White Lotus,” “The Paper”), and her goons Sergio and Niccolo, played by Joe Lo Truglio (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Reno 911!”) and Mather Zickel (“Delocated,” “Man Up!”) respectively.

While that might seem like an awful lot to pack into a film that runs barely over 90 minutes, Wain and Marino keep things brisk by keeping things silly. Nothing is ever taken too seriously, just enough for the characters to buy into the events as they progress. It’s also consistently very ridiculously funny, poking fun at all manner of Los Angeles and celebrity stereotypes, as well as the twee fantasy romantic film genre. While not as incisive of a satire as Wain’s previous rom-com film “They Came Together,” there’s different material more squarely in his sights this time around. About halfway through, it becomes apparent that this film is a direct parody of “The Wizard of Oz,” down to character arcs and specific plot devices.

Smartly, Wain and Marino keep this close to the chest early on, until the third act hits, and it becomes a beat-for-beat parody of the 1939 classic. There are no winking nods with yellow brick roads or people dressed as witches. Rather, even in its most directly referential moments, they make sure to keep things focused on the actual film. Therefore, it avoids the pitfalls most films like this would trip over, as well as making sure it works on its own terms as a film so anyone can watch and laugh along even if they’ve never seen or heard of the original “Oz” tale.

This is a broad ensemble comedy first and foremost, and Deutch leads her group of misfits along with a commanding presence. Equal parts delirious optimist and homegrown heroine, she is a fantastically funny central character that is a ton of fun to spend time with. This isn’t a deep character study, but there is at least some material for Gail to deal with. Not so for anyone else. The rest of the supporting cast is equally funny, although they mostly boil down to vehicles for jokes. Slattery is possibly the funniest outside of Gail, simply because he gets to play his own celebrity persona as a vehicle for the comedy, but they all have their moments. Wain’s direction has a high emphasis on visual gags and overblown dialogue, and each member of the cast is locked in on the exact wavelength needed for a project like this to shine.

Outside of the comedy and visual gags, there’s little of note on the production side. The musical score is fine enough, with Craig Wedren (“School of Rock,” “Wet Hot American Summer”) composing some works that simply get the job done. Visually, it's a film clearly made for a small budget, and it shows. Cinematographer Kevin Atkinson (“A Futile and Stupid Gesture,” “History of the World: Part 2”) works with what he’s got, but this is clearly a film made on a shoestring budget, with favors called in for celebrity cameos and visual bits. None of this harms the film per se, but it does mean that there’s nothing to get excited about if the comedy doesn’t strike your fancy.

“Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” is a mouthful of a title and a rollicking good time if you enjoy the kind of silly, overblown, satirical humor it’s putting out. A completely committed cast leads a really clever script that gets a ton of material out of its central idea, as well as an unexpected amount of great material out of its “Wizard of Oz” parody. This is nothing revolutionary or monumental, but as a film so directly and embracingly silly, you’ll have a great time tripping down this yellow brick road. 4/5

Moana (2026) - Review: Lost at Sea

 

In the late 1990s, after their purchase of the ABC network, Disney began producing original films for the channel in an effort to drum up viewership. While most of these were original, some were sequels to pre-existing films or properties. This led to the creation of such all-time classics as “Mean Girls 2,” “The Dukes of Hazzard: The New Beginning,” “Home Alone: The Holiday Heist,” and “Romy and Michele: In the Beginning.” This a long way of saying Disney has plenty of experience making cheap looking cash in films that seem like they belong on a TV station rather than a multiplex. This is in no way a reference to their new live-action remake of “Moana,” coming just a little less than a decade after the original.

The film follows Moana, played by Catherine Laga'aia in her film debut, the future chief of the island of Motunui and daughter of the current chief Tui, played by John Tui (“Hobbs & Shaw,” “Young Rock”). After a blight infects the surrounding ocean and her island, Moana sets out on her own to find the demigod Maui, played by Dwayne Johnson (“Black Adam,” “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”), and make him bring the heart of Te Fiti back to its home to restore balance to the ocean.

First things first, the elephant in the room. This is not only yet another live-action remake of one of Disney’s animated films, but their first remake of a CGI animated film and their most recent remake as well, coming out slightly less than a decade after the original. While not inherently a bad thing, it’s felt throughout the entire film. Which is a simple way of saying that this is, with very minor exceptions, a shot-for-shot remake of the original. The lines are the same, the camerawork is largely the same, the songs are the same, and one of the two screenwriters, Jared Bush (“Zootopia,” “Encanto”), is the same. Bush co-writes the new script with Dana Ledoux Miller (“Moana 2,” “Narcos”) but you’d be hard-pressed to find anything actually different. Love them or hate them, the other live-action Disney remakes at least attempted to find some new wrinkle in their stories to justify their existence. Not so here, and as a result it feels more like one of the stage musical adaptations from a Disney theme park than an actual film.

One would hope that being such an exact remake would at least make it easy to make the film look exceptionally good. Not so. While the scenes on Moana’s island looks great, that’s because they’re shot on an actual island in Hawai'i. Anytime she or Maui venture off into the ocean, the film becomes a visual mess. The water looks fine enough, but it's painfully obvious that the film was shot against digital backdrops. Laga'aia and Johnson seem to float over top of the backgrounds, never feeling in place with the environment. This is quite the issue, as about eighty percent of the film takes place on those open waters. The CGI elements don’t fare much better. The film looks best when it’s embracing a more stylized look; the digital elements of the “You’re Welcome” musical number look great, for example, as are Moana’s pet chicken Hei-Hei and the lava monster Te Kā. But anytime they’re attempting to reach some kind of photo-realism, it falls apart. An early scene with a clearly digital version of Johnson jumping off a cliff doesn’t just look weightless and lifeless; it just plain looks ugly. Most of the film lacks the colors of the original, turning a landscape of colorful islands and crystalline oceans into a desaturated mess.

Given that little has changed in the script, it means that little has changed with the songs as well. Thankfully, they remain a bright spot, with Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” “In the Heights”), Mark Mancina (“The Sea Beast,” “August Rush”), and Opetaia Foaʻi’s (“Moana 2”) music keeping their same playful and dramatic energy. Even they are not perfect though: it may just be years of listening to the originals, but there are some odd vocal deliveries and changes in pacing that leaves some singers sounding off tune. For the most part, you’ll hardly notice and instead be taking respite in a part of the film that has remained untouched, but still excellent.

Laga'aia does a fine job as the titular heroine, nothing that blows the original performance out of the water, but she’s plucky, cheerful, and gung-ho on her quest. A completely inoffensive performance. Johnson is a far more mixed bag. Despite reprising the character he originally voiced in Maui, he seems miscast. Most of it comes from a more downplayed portrayal of the character, taking the over the top cartoonish-ness of the demigod to a subtler level. The problem is that none of the character’s actions or lines have been changed to match this new performance. Johnson as result seems like he’s half asleep or just can’t be bothered to give more than 60% of his energy to any particular line delivery or action.

It makes sense why director Thomas Kail (“Hamilton”) would want to make his feature directorial debut with a film like “Moana.” It’s a safe remake that expands on his experience with big showy musicals and reunites him with Lin-Manuel Miranda. However, it is safe to an absolute fault, resulting in a film with no purpose to its existence other than to make money. Despite a fine lead performance and retaining the great music, virtually every other element of the film is either lesser than the original or straight up bad. And given that it is an exact remake, being of such quality gives no one any good reason to seek this new version out over just rewatching the original modern classic. 1/5