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

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

Evil Dead Burn - Review: Fun for the Whole Family

 

Evolution is arguably the most essential thing to cinematic horror. For as much money as the genre makes, the ability to change things up and keep things fresh is the lifeblood of getting butts in seats. The "Evil Dead" franchise knows this arguably better than most, with the franchise evolving with each entry going all the way back to "Evil Dead 2" in 1987, now even letting new voices in horror take the reins for increasingly twisted further adventures. "Evil Dead Burn" is the latest in this methodology and this series, with director/co-writer Sébastien Vaniček ("Infested") and co-writer Florent Bernard ("Meet the Leroys," "Infested") taking a decidedly more familial approach this time around.

Alice, played by Souheila Yacoub ("Climax," "Savages"), is mourning the loss of her husband William, played by George Pullar ("Moon Rock For Monday," "North Shore"), with his family, including his mother Susan, played by Tandi Wright ("Creamerie," "800 Words"), his father Edgar, played by Erroll Shand ("Chief of War," "Crackhead"), his grandmother Polly, played by Maude Davey ("The Newsreader"), his brother Joseph, played by Hunter Doohan ("Wednesday," "Daredevil: Born Again"), and Joseph's girlfriend Thya, played by Luciane Buchanan ("Chief of War," "The Night Agent"). However, soon after arriving at their lake house, each member of the family finds themselves slowly possessed by the deadite force and turning into murderous zombie-like creatures. This means Alice must fight for her life to escape from her ex-in-laws as well as survive the night from these horrifying possessions.

Even for a series based around unrelenting zombie-like monstrosities, "Burn" is inarguably the bleakest of the series so far. Centering everything around a small family adds an unavoidable element of dread as it slowly dawns that this film will end up pitting mother, brother, and father against each other. Such intense violence is a tried-and-true trademark of the series, so that is nothing new, but such a deep dread is something else. Previous films have never been nice, but have maintained a certain amount of silliness, either play their absurdity straight like in 2023's "Evil Dead Rise" or going full Looney Tunes like in "Evil Dead 2" or "Army of Darkness." It's understandable why Vaniček and Bernard jettisoned this, as this film is the first attempt the series has had to be "about something."

There are some not-so-subtle references to parental and spousal abuse that persist throughout the film's narrative. It's an admirable attempt to add some meat to the massacre, but it's the furthest thing from subtle. The performances are in line with this idea as well: most are good, but nothing that stands out apart from the two leading ladies, Yacoub and Buchanan. Yacoub is an excellent final girl, throwing herself headfirst into the fray with a ton of energy and a thick French accent. Buchanan is a fantastically evil foil once she turns, continuing the franchise's history of turning girlfriends into demons with charisma. She lights up the screen and makes a meal of her time spent tormenting the rest of the family.

But who cares about that? Emotional nuance, while nice to have, is the last thing people come to an "Evil Dead" movie for. If the kills and gore stack up, then that's what matters. Vaniček manages to deliver some pretty gnarly material, pushing the envelope even further for what the franchise is able to get away with under the guise of an R-rating. In keeping with the rest of the film's tone, it's a meaner and bleaker kind of brutality, but it still maintains the high level of physicality the series is known for. It is odd then that, for a film based so heavily around fire and flames, things look so grey and washed out. This may very well be in keeping with the tone, but it makes things simply hard to see. Cinematographer Philip Lozano's ("Cobweb," "Presencias") camerawork maintains the same high flying frenetic nature the franchise is known for, but it simply is difficult to see most of it once things get rolling.

"Evil Dead Burn" is a fine entry in the franchise, delivering plenty of scares and gore and making an admirable attempt to push things beyond simply unleashing hell on its protagonists. The cast is fine, the gore is effective, and the camera is playful. This is, by all accounts, a fine horror film full of dreadful energy, if distractingly grey. But if you're here for the elements that make an "Evil Dead" film "Evil Dead, like the franchise's trademark tongue-in-severed-cheek sense of humor, you might find it lacking. 3.5/5

Minions & Monsters - Review: They're Gonna Put Me In The Movies

 

The Minions have taken over Hollywood! Love them or hate them, the little yellow living tic-tacs that debuted 16 years ago in “Despicable Me” are here to stay. Not only have the Minions gotten their own spin-off franchise, but this is also now their third film in said spin-off series, and they aren’t just taking over tinsel town in our world either. This latest adventure, the first with their original creator Pierre Coffin (“Despicable Me,” “Minions”) in the director's chair since 2017, seeks to channel the heart and spirit of 1920s Hollywood; quite the goal for a group of marketable mascots once posited as the death of modern Hollywood animation.

Set in 1920s Hollywood, “Minions & Monsters” follows a new tribe of Minions, voiced by Coffin, in search of an evil boss to follow. Two best friends in that tribe, James and Henry, fall in love with the movie making industry and soon their tribe becomes the stars of the silver screen thanks to the help of their newfound friend and film director Max, voiced by Christoph Waltz (“Django Unchained,” “Inglorious Bastards”). Seeking to make their own monster movie, Henry and James decide to summon a group of monsters, led by the tiny Cthulu-like Goomi, voiced by Trey Parker (“South Park,” “Despicable Me 3”), with sinister motives of their own.

Much of the Minions' typical humor is here in full force, as one might expect. This is, after all, the seventh film in the franchise; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Yet, there’s a narrower scope on things this time around. The slapstick nature of their humor feels more at home in this setting, and therefore it feels more effective, more genuine. This isn’t a complete rewriting of their playbook, so if you’ve hated them from the beginning, you won’t be baptized as a new Minions devotee by the end of the film. But it, somehow, just feels a bit sweeter, a bit clearer, and just better. That’s mostly thanks to the excising of any major human characters from the plot. While there are certainly supporting players in the tribe’s journey, none of them overwhelm the plot like Sandra Bullock’s Scarlett Overkill or Steve Carrell’s young Gru did. It’s remarkably Minions focused and still manages to have a great deal of pathos and payoff. 

Coffin continues to imbue life into his little yellow creations, somehow delivering different vocal inflections, pitches, tics, and speech patterns regardless of the number of virtually identical Minions on screen. Waltz also seems to be having a blast voicing a pint-sized German film director who really believes in James’s storytelling spirit. Parker twists his voice around just as much as he does on his own show “South Park” and is also having a blast. The rest of the cast are almost cameos, but ones that clearly are having a lot of fun: Jeff Bridges (“The Big Lebowski,” “TRON”) as Frank and Elwood Bright, the twin brother heads of Bright Bros. Pictures, Allison Janney (“Juno,” “I, Tonya”) as Olivia, a Hollywood museum tour guide, and Zoey Deutch (“Zombieland: Double Tap,” “Nouvelle Vague”) as Debbie, a suffragette. Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland,” “The Social Network”) is a true standout, playing Dort, a robot clearly meant as a tribute to “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” He delivers the exaggerated, muffled robotic voice expected of stereotypical metal men from Mars types with note perfect effectiveness.

Eisenberg’s performance, and the presence of a character like Dort, is a perfect example of the deep reverence for Hollywood on display. Against all odds, Coffin and co-writer Brian Lynch (“Puss in Boots (2011),” “The Secret Life of Pets”) have delivered a plot that not only manages to stuff a ton of references to films and filmmakers like Charlie Chaplin, “Babylon,” “Ben-Hur,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” Buster Keaton, and “Safety Last,” but the setting provides for more than just a backdrop for those references. James and Henry have a clear and deep love of drawing and storytelling, and it shines through in a remarkably authentic way. We see the sets, the cameras, even the editing equipment of that time period. The film also uses the evolution of silent films to talkies as a major part of the plot and this tribe of Minions’ journey. It might take some time to pick up steam, with a slower than expected first 10 minutes, but once it does this film is choked full of genuine love for Old Hollywood to a truly unexpected degree.

John Powell (“How to Train Your Dragon,” “Shrek”) reteams with Illumination for the score and delivers a bold and bombastic tribute to the film’s era in every note. From xylophones to brass trumpets to choirs to simple whistles, the music seems to be right in step with the symphonic works of the 1950s and 60s. Even the animation seems cleaner, smoother, and squishier to accommodate the slapstick heavy nature of the era’s biggest stars like Chaplin and the Three Stooges. More important than any of that, there’s a deep, almost imperceivable passion for the medium running beneath the film and pumping up its energy. It’s as if Coffin has always wanted to make a tribute picture like this and snuck it into Illumination under the guise of the Minions. But, by infusing that passion with the classical early Hollywood slapstick nature of these little yellow guys, he’s crafted something unexpectedly great. Even the Minions themselves are embodiments of the best kind of silent-era humor: purely energetic comedic vessels with no goal other than to entertain.

At one point in the film, this gaggle of Minions finds themselves the stars of various silent movies. And that’s where the purest vision of these characters comes to life. These little yellow guys were always meant to be in the movies, but just not any with sound or color. By placing them in the era of Old Hollywood, Pierre Coffin has unlocked a new spirit within them that creates not only the best film in the franchise, but a full-throated celebration of creative vision and a love letter to Hollywood. Is it packed full of references? Yes, absolutely. Are there more detailed depictions of the era? You bet. But you’d be hard pressed to find any film that delivers a poop joke and a “Citizen Kane” tribute at the same time and makes them both work wonderfully. If that gets the six-year-old who’s obsessed with Minions to look up what “Citizen Kane” is or who Buster Keaton was, then so be it. 4.5/5 

jackass: best and last - Review: If You're Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough

 

Over 100 years since they originally started, the spirit of the Three Stooges is alive, well, and more grotesque than ever in the broken bones of the Jackass crew. For Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England, and Danger Ehren, their goal for the past 25 years seems to have been to inhabit the twisted spirit of classic Hollywood stuntmen, without faking the stunts. That fearlessness is why their MTV show of pranks and stunts turned in a global franchise, with this last and fifth film acting as a retrospective, a celebration, and an excuse to beat the hell out of each other one last time.

To give a summary of a “Jackass” film is a fruitless endeavor, but for those unaware, the film consists of the original crew, as well as newer members Poopies, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson, and Compston "Dark Shark" Wilson, performing a combination of elaborate stunts that regularly lead to injury or outlandish pranks that also typically lead to injury. However, this time around, there’s a heavier emphasis on reflection, including footage of the “best” stunts from the series according to the crew, and never before seen moments from the early days of production.

That never-before-seen material is likely the biggest draw for fans of the series, as it allows for a peek behind the scenes that’s unusually candid, even for a series based around candid material. What’s even more fascinating is seeing what MTV refused to allow the group to air back in the day juxtaposed against what they’re allowing wholeheartedly for this new film. Ironically given the frequent attacks on the franchise on behalf of “good taste”, this allows for an examination of the cultural differences of the world and what was acceptable in media just 25 years ago. It’s not a profound examination of those differences, but it's an interesting byproduct, nevertheless. 

Unfortunately, the retrospective nature of this film also hinders much of the newer material. The most entertaining parts are the previously unseen stunts and watching the cast look back at what came before. Showcasing that earlier material, and how technically elaborate most of it was, exposes the cheapness with some of the newer stunts. While there are still plenty of go for broke moments, and a few that will go down in infamy with fans (a game of Twister after chugging X-Lax is... certainly something), all but a handful pale in comparison to the previous skits.

It isn’t so much a lack of creativity, although most new bits are far too simple even when they are good ideas, but rather an overall sense of cheapness. When you see older stunts set up on massive lakes or desert wastelands, with large amounts of technical competence on display for simple bits of stupidity and then cut to the inside of a rented office space for something that takes place in a few minutes in one room, it's a lackluster feeling. The thought behind the stunts is still there, with the trademark bits of stupid genius, but a fifty-fifty batting average of new material for what’s billed as your big finale isn’t really going out on a high note.

No matter how fresh it feels though, there’s a simple and infectious attitude to everything. Watching old footage of Brad Pitt in the early 2000s come along for pranks alongside Paul Walter Hauser joining in for some new stuff perfect shows why people love these guys. None of this ever feels off or mean spirited. It is legitimately just a bunch of guys hanging out and doing dumb stuff together, taken to its most logical and explosive extremes. The laughs are real, the smiles are real, the hugs are real, and watching Knoxville bear hug a completely naked Pontius after a stunt further reinforces the sweet friendship at the core of these crude adventures.

“Jackass: Best and Last” is the sort of film tailor made for the idea of “if this is for you, you’ve already seen it.” The pranks are still fun, the camaraderie is still infectious, and the retrospective angle to things does legitimately lend itself to some interesting reflections on the series. However, highlighting so much of the best against the more hit-or-miss new material showcases an uneven pace that makes this final achievement more of a miss fire than one might hope for. But can it really be so bad if you’re going through it with your dumb little buddies alongside you? 3/5