SUMMER 2026

     It's Labor Day, Monday, September 7th, and summer is unofficially over. Next Friday, Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie comes out, which starts the Fall movie season. The end of summer is depressing even when you're not going back to school. The days start to end early, the weather gets colder, and your next vacation at the beach has to wait a year (unless you're, like, going to Australia for Christmas or something, which you're not). Even doing a review of The Summer Movie Season of 2026 is fairly pointless for me since I didn't see The Odyssey yet (I wanted to like most people, but all of the good seats for the IMAX 70mm run is sold out until it ends on September 16th). The only other movie I haven't seen yet that I want to is The End of Oak Street. Other films, like Masters of the Universe, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Toy Story 5 I have no true desire to watch. This summer was enormously intriguing if you were a box office nerd. Movie theaters are back! Until the next time a Spider-Man movie comes out, that is. So here's some short reviews of The Summer Movie Season that is now officially over.

HOKUM (May 1): This stars Adam Scott as a suicidal writer visiting a hotel in Ireland that's haunted by a witch. The premise is a good one and it's creepy and has a few good jump scares. The problem is that the witch is barely in it and the script focuses mostly on another villain. The film does have a good, haunted, scary movie aesthetic to it and it's fairly engrossing. I feel like there's a much better film they could have produced with this set-up, though. **

THE SHEEP DETECTIVES (May 8): This is a talking animal murder mystery starring Hugh Jackman and his flock of sheep. The tall bungling buffoon from Succession plays the police chief. I thought this movie would be funnier or something. It's average at best. **

OBSESSION (May 15): This was one of the year's biggest box office smashes and also one of the biggest word-of-mouth hits in recent years (it's also one of the most profitable films in history...it made $263 million domestic). That it's just a typical, horror movie is the most shocking thing of all. High School and college age kids really took to this film for whatever reason, and it actually made more money in its 3rd weekend at the box office than its 1st (a rare feat that few films have done...E.T. and Titanic did it). A sad boy wishes his crush loved him and his wish comes true to horrifying results. This plot has been done before in Rick & Morty and The Simpsons. It's the "Monkey's Paw" plot. I thought this was a good horror movie but nothing particularly extra special. Curry Barker, a Youtube creator, directed this, and all of the talk this summer was how Youtube creators are the future of cinema. Honestly? A few years ago, the Youtube creators the Philippou brothers made a much better horror film, Talk to Me. ***

TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN: GHOST WAR (May 20): This went straight to Amazon Prime. It started out as two seasons of a TV show on Amazon, but they decided to come out with a feature length film for unknown reasons. Jack Ryan is played by John Krasinski in this, which is a weird bit of casting. Jack Ryan is supposed to be a top CIA agent that saves the day in various, over-the-top ways. Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford have previously played Jack Ryan. The film has a cool chase scene through the streets of London and a nifty sequence where a glass floor in a skyscraper is shattered, making characters hang on for dear life. Mostly, though, the film is pretty dull. *1/2

STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU (May 22): This was the first Star Wars film since 2019. It wasn't a giant box office success, probably because it's basically just an elongated episode of the TV series that ran for two seasons. It's entertaining but nothing revelatory. My problem with this film is the atrocious assault of special f/x that make a chunk of this film look like I'm just watching a Pixar film or something. There's a Jabba the Hut character in this that made me think I was watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Is this movie supposed to be a merging of cartoon and reality? You know, they made a puppet for Jabba in Jedi and it looked awesome. God Forbid they do it again so I'm not looking at an awful, fake cartoon creature on my screen, completely taking me out of the film. Other than that, the film is an enjoyable romp. **1/2 

BACKROOMS (May 29): This was the 2nd horror film this summer that was a box office smash directed by a Youtube creator. This made $81 million in its opening weekend and $197 million domestic. The premise is basically that there's another dimension you can inadvertently enter that's a labyrinth filled with otherworldly creatures. The first hour of this is fantastic but the second hour enters ultra-weird and disturbing David Lynch territory, which I don't think a lot of young fans liked (everyone hated the ending to this). The big, bad, evil villain creature at the end is a disappointment and not particularly scary, which kind of ruins the film. Kane Parsons, a 21-year-old Youtube creator, co-wrote and directed this, but I think the big story was the casting: this is an indie horror film, but they got a serious actor and Oscar winner (Chiwetel Ejiofor won the Best Actor Oscar for Twelve Years a Slave) and a serious actress and Oscar nominee (Renate Reinsve was nominated for Sentimental Value) to star in it, which definitely helped the film. **1/2

DISCLOSURE DAY (June 12): This was definitely Spielberg's best film in a long time. Granted, I'd never sit through the pointless re-make of West Side Story, so I'm basing this on The Fabelmans and Ready Player One. I think the last good movie he made that I actually watched was Lincoln, and that came out so long ago (2012) I don't even remember if I liked it. Disclosure Day isn't great, but it's at least entertaining for awhile because it's basically just one long chase scene. It is too long, though, because when the 2 hour mark hit, I was ready for it to end. The alien archive footage montage is fantastic, and the film is pretty similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which isn't a bad thing. **1/2

SUPERGIRL (June 26): Was anyone surprised that this film wasn't a box office juggernaut? Nobody liked it, either, which was kind of surprising because I thought it was better than last year's Superman. It's a fun, superfluous, superhero romp. Nothing wrong with that. What did people expect? The fucking Dark Knight? It's a 20-year-old girl flying around in pajamas. Grow up. **1/2

THE INVITE (June 26): This was my favorite movie of the summer. It's super entertaining and really funny and Seth Rogen and Edward Norton are excellent in it. It's a re-make of a film I never saw about two couples having dinner. The catch? One couple are in the swinger lifestyle. Seth Rogen plays himself in every single movie and it doesn't even matter, he's just that much fun to watch. ***1/2

MINIONS & MONSTERS (July 1): I've never seen any of the Despicable Me or Minions movies. Of course I haven't, I'm not a little kid, so I don't know if this one is better or worse than any of the previous ones. This one was considered a box office disappointment, though (it made $183 million domestic, whereas Despicable Me 4 in 2024 made $361 million and Minions: The Rise of Gru in 2022 made $370 million). Everyone said that the reason for the box office disappointment was franchise fatigue, a phenomenon also tagged to the disappointing box office of the live action Moana. Beyond the numbers, the one thing about this film that struck me was how great the computer animation looked. The story is pretty creative as well: the Minions become filmmakers in 1920's Hollywood. The funniest thing about the Minions recently is that one of the studio heads actually had to come out and tell the press that, no, the Minions did not serve Hitler during WW2. Now that would be a movie. **1/2

EVIL DEAD BURN (July 10): After 3 post-Sam Raimi Evil Dead films it's official: these movies can't be any good without Bruce Campbell. He was the heart and soul of the franchise, and without him they're just basic splatter fests. This one involves a family at an old, dilapidated mansion. The only part of the film that doesn't work at all is the ending when it suddenly becomes 1984's The Terminator. Before that, it's a semi-entertaining horror film. **

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (July 31): I really never thought that any movie would be breaking the domestic opening weekend record that Avengers: Endgame set ($357 million). Spider-Man: Brand New Day did ($360 million). How does a movie even make that much money in three days? Are there that many theaters and showtimes? Were they running this film 24 hours or something? Were there theaters that put this on every single screen? A lot of people said that this movie was a success because people love Spider-Man, but that's not exactly true, because those Andrew Garfield movies didn't make this kind of money. Do people really love Tom Holland and Zendaya that much? I guess so. This movie is entertaining but lacks a good villain, which makes the ending a bit flat. The camaraderie between Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon as Ned was the best thing about the first two films, so taking that away seemed to be a big risk (the plot has them all forgetting they knew each other). It doesn't ruin the film because there's an emotional core to the plot that's excellent, but it's not as "fun" as the previous outings. I'm just happy that TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me" finally got its moment to shine, as that opening montage set to that song is fantastic stuff. This movie is now #2 on the all-time domestic box office gross list (not factoring inflation...#1 is Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Maybe that'll mean we won't have to wait another 5 years for a new one. ***  

SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW 2026

     This is my favorite time of the year. When younger, you had the glory of school ending and the vast expanse of three months of freedom. But you always have the warm weather, the vacations, and, of course, the big, mega-budget, tentpole summer movie season. It's just the greatest time of year, and we're right on the precipice of it, which makes me ecstatic.

    They say that Hollywood makes 40% of its box office during the summer. And while every reporter on Earth has been harkening about the dwindling box office numbers for years now, the studios are still releasing boat loads of gigantic popcorn flicks this year as they do every year. Even though there are less movies released these days than the glory years of the silver screen (pre-streaming, pre-Covid), this summer still has some behemoths: a new Star Wars, a new Spider-Man, a new Toy Story, a live action Moana, a new Minions, and the big dog, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. 

    It's going to be a hell of a summer. Here's a preview:

MAY

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (May 1): Usually, there's been a big movie to kick off the summer movie season on the first Friday of May (the last two Avengers movie bucked the trend by opening even earlier, at the end of April in 2018 and 2019). This year, sadly, the new Avengers movie was delayed to Christmas, which left a gaping hole in the calendar. What awesome movie would open this year's summer movie season then? Unfortunately, it's a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. The only reason the movie is somewhat of a big deal is because the first film came out 20 years ago. It doesn't feel like the type of summer blockbuster that should be the opening to the season, though. It feels more like a movie that might come out on a random Friday in the middle of June. They did get everybody back for this: Meryl Street, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt. I don't remember ever even watching the original, not that I was the demographic for it, anyway. The plot involves the fashion magazine having to bring back Hathaway's character to stop a scandal. 

BILLIE EILISH- HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D) (May 8): Does James Cameron have teenage kids or something? Because why did he co-direct this movie? After watching Avatar 3, I was pretty adamant that Cameron should be spending his time making something other than Avatar (2 of them were more than enough!), now he's wasting his time directing a concert film?

TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN: GHOST WAR (May 20): This one is going straight to Amazon Prime, which makes sense since this is a movie version of a TV show that's already had 4 seasons on Amazon Prime. The Office's John Krasinski is the spy Jack Ryan, a role previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Chris Pine, and Ben Affleck. I never watched the show and haven't exactly heard anyone talking about it ever, which probably isn't a good thing. Since this is the movie version, though, you'd think they'd have a larger budget, more exotic locales, and some big time action sequences, right? Wendell Pierce and Sienna Miller also star. 

THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU (May 22): The last Star Wars movie came out in December 2019, so it's been awhile. Disney was focusing on Star Wars TV shows for whatever reason since 2019, but they've all been hit-or-miss and nothing spectacular (the critics loved Andor but a good chunk of that show was boring). This movie is a continuation of the TV show that ran for 3 seasons. Pedro Pascal plays The Mandalorian, a good guy bounty hunter, who has adventures alongside a baby Yoda muppet. Jon Favreau is directing this (yes, the writer & director of Swingers has morphed into a Star Wars director...I don't think in the 90's I ever would have expected that). The trailers make this look like every modern popcorn blockbuster: way too many special f/x and they all look fairly cheap and ultra-fake. While I'm sure this is mildly entertaining like the show, I'm a lot more excited to see next year's Star Wars movie, the Ryan Gosling x-wing flick.

THE BREADWINNER (May 29): Nate Bargatze is the highest grossing touring stand up comedian in the U.S. That feels like kind of a surprise, as I don't think he's famous in the way that, say, Seinfeld or Chris Rock were back in the day. This one is basically Michael Keaton's Mr. Mom. Bargatze takes over the family when his wife is out of town and comedy hijinks ensue. It looks amusing but it's a kid's movie and not, say, The Hangover, which was probably the last high grossing comedy movie...and that was decades ago.

JUNE

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (June 5): I remember going to see the last He-Man movie in theaters. That one came out in 1987 and starred Dolph Lundgren, in case you blocked it out of your memory. I get why that movie came out. The animated show and the toys made from it were super popular back then. I'm not exactly sure why they're making a new one now, though, as He-Man is pretty much a forgotten character unless you're over 40 and vaguely remember your toy chest as a runt. This film only has one somewhat big star, Idris Elba, and the budget was big, so that means all the "insiders" expect this to be a massive bomb. Nicholas Galitzine is He-Man. His claim to fame is he starred in Purple Hearts, Netflix's most successful film of 2022. How successful could it have been, though, if I've never heard of it until right now? The trailer for this new He-Man movie makes it look totally silly and not something I can picture anyone going to see.

DISCLOSURE DAY (June 12): Steven Spielberg is back making an alien movie! Hell yeah! Too bad he hasn't made a good movie since, what? Lincoln in 2012, maybe? It's been awhile. They are keeping this movie fairly secretive. The trailer makes it look like there's some sort of alien invasion, but also that the aliens were here all along and have just been revealed to the public. The trailer also makes this look really bad, though. Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor star. Spielberg wrote the script with David Koepp. Maybe I'll be shocked and this will be awesome. A boy can dream.

TOY STORY 5 (June 19): Pixar stopped making masterpieces a long time ago, but their movies are at least still good. Hoppers was a fun romp, albeit fairly standard and not whimsical and kinetically alive like some of their early stuff. They haven't made a Toy Story film in 6 years, and before that part 3 came out in 2010, so it's not like they're constantly beating a dead horse with this franchise. The plot in this one involves a little girl disregarding her toys for a new Ipad like device, which is the big bad. The early buzz around this movie from those that have seen it is fantastic, though that's not a big surprise. Everyone loves Toy Story. Expect this to be a massive hit. 

THE INVITE (June 26): This film was a big hit at the Sundance Film Festival this year. It stars Seth Rogen, Oliva Wilde, Edward Norton, and Penelope Cruz. Wilde directed this. It's two couples having a dinner party and is apparently a dark comedy. 

SUPERGIRL (June 26): This is the 2nd film in the new DC Comics universe that James Gunn has created. Superman from last year wasn't a box office failure but wasn't a massive hit, either. I thought it was a total disappointment in terms of quality, though. Supergirl looks like a lot of fun, though. Milly Alcock plays Supergirl, in this version a morbid, drunk, rebellious teen type of a hero. It's based loosely on the recent comic book written by Tom King. In the comic book at least, Supergirl decides to help a little girl get revenge on her father's killer out in the cosmos. In this movie version, they've added Lobo, who's basically a motorcycle riding, bad boy alien dude, played by Jason Mamoa. Craig Gillespie directed this, and he has a pretty great track record, having directed both I, Tanya and Cruella, which both made my Top 10 Best Films of the Year list (in 2017 and 2021). This should be a blast.

JULY

MINIONS & MONSTERS (July 1): I guess I should, like, go and watch one of the Despicable Me or Minions movies since they're box office juggernauts and seemingly loved by all. I've seen a few short scenes from them here and there but have never sat down and watched an entire film. As a 46 year old man without kids, though, sitting down solo to watch a Minions movie might be seen as being close to getting a one-way ticket to the looney bin. This is the 7th entry, and they have come up with a fairly creative idea for a new film. The Minions are helping make movies in Italy in the 1920's (I told you it was creative). They want to make a monster movie but need a monster so they get an ancient book to summon one. The film seems to feature a few quests to far away locales to find new, more monstrous monsters. It looks fun and will be a total smash at the box office. 

MOANA (July 10): It's funny, but you wouldn't really think that a new, live action Snow White would be a total bomb & critical disaster while a live action Lilo & Stitch would be a gigantic hit...but that's exactly what happened last year. Moana was the last great Disney cartoon, but even part 2, which, by most accounts, wasn't very good, made a boatload of cash ($406 million domestic). This live action version stars The Rock. There's no reason for this film to exist, though, as the original cartoon is awesome. Will they keep all of the great Lin Manuel Miranda tunes? Hopefully. I'm still waiting for a live action version of The Emperor's New Groove.

EVIL DEAD BURN (July 10): I'm glad that the Evil Dead franchise has continued on past Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. The problem is that these new ones aren't funny, they're just bloody and horrific. That kind of loses the point to why Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn is one of the greatest horror films ever made. Oh, well. This new one is directed by Sebastien Vanicek, a French director who has only made smaller horror films so far. The first teaser trailer for this doesn't elaborate much about the film, though it does star a woman and seems to take place in a delipidated mansion.

THE ODYSSEY (July 17): This is the big summer movie, the one that everyone will be talking about and that everyone is going to go see. People get excited for a Christopher Nolan movie just because it's a Christopher Nolan movie. That's pretty rare in this day and age. This film is an adaptation of the famous Greek book. And no, Medusa isn't in the book. A cyclops is. A witch that turns men into pigs is. There's Scylla, the six-headed sea monster. I think the Sirens are probably the most famous: the beautiful creatures that lull you to sleep and death with their song. I don't know how Nolan is fitting all of this into a film that's apparently shorter than Oppenheimer (that was 3 hours long). Hopefully he doesn't cut the Laestrygonians, a race of cannibalistic giants who smash ships to pieces. I never read this book in school. It sounds awesome. The trailer doesn't show any of these monsters, so who knows if the special f/x will be decent or silly and lame. Odysseus is played by Matt Damon. His wife, Penelope, is played by Anne Hathway. They've also got a Spider-Man reunion going with Zendaya and Tom Holland in this. Jon Bernthal, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Travis Scott, Himesh Patel, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Mia Goth, Elliot Page and Benny Safdie also star. Jesus, that's, like, everybody. 

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (July 31): It's kind of weird that this film is coming out so late in the summer. Usually, a big super-hero movie would hit in early May or July 4th weekend. August has typically been the dead zone for film trash leftovers. I don't have to predict if it will be a hit, though, because Spider-Man is one of the few bullet-proof superheroes and this will be a money printing machine. The last Spider-Man movie made $814 million domestic in 2021, which is insane (it's #3 on the all-time domestic box office list, behind Star Wars 7 and Avengers: Endgame). The whole gang is back for this: Tom Holland as Peter Parker, Jacob Batalon as Ned, and Zendaya as Mary Jane. Stranger Things' Sadie Sink is in this, rumored to be Gwen Stacey. The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) are also in this. The two big bads are Tombstone and The Scorpion, which is a bit of a letdown because nobody gives a shit about those villains. Who cares, though? It's a Spider-Man movie! I'm sure it'll be popcorn movie bliss.

AUGUST

THE ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH (August): Nobody knows if this movie is actually coming out in August, but it's been rumored to be. While it makes sense to release this in August since it's a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and that was released in August, I can also see Netflix releasing this in November or December. It's kind of crazy that this movie even exists. Quentin Tarantino wrote the script for this, which follows Brad Pitt's character, Cliff Booth, after the events defeating The Manson cult members. Tarantino didn't want to direct it, though, so Netflix bought the script and got David Fincher to direct it. Pitt got $40 million to star and produce, and Tarantino and Fincher both got $20 million. The budget is north of $200 million. There was a trailer shown during the Superbowl this year, but other than that, nobody knows anything about when this will come out or if it will play in theaters before going to Netflix. It looks fantastic...although Tarantino has become a better director than writer since he started, so don't expect any kind of Pulp Fiction magic here.

ICE CREAM MAN (August 7): I love Eli Roth's horror films, but he's so sporadic releasing them it gets frustrating. Thanksgiving came out in 2023, but before that his last true horror film, The Green Inferno, came out in 2013. He's made other, non-horror movies, but ones nobody cared about, like Borderlands (2024), The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2019), and the re-make of Death Wish (2018) starring Bruce Willis. When he showed up on the scene with the one-two punch of Cabin Fever and Hostel, it was looking like a new horror master was born. Sadly, his career kind of fizzled out for whatever reason. His latest at least sounds interesting: the ice cream that an ice cream truck driver dishes out turns kids into crazy psychopaths. The trailer makes this movie look hilarious, but I'm a sicko. There's no one remotely famous in this. Eli Roth co-wrote, directed, and also stars in it. 

THE END OF OAK STREET (August 14): Currently, my favorite director is David Robert Mitchell. I loved The Myth of the American Sleepover and Under the Silver Lake. The one film of his that the critics loved, It Follows, was so well shot and so unique (it's apparently getting a sequel soon). His latest seems to be his big-time Hollywood debut, as he got Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway to star and J.J. Abrams is a producer. The premise is that a street in suburbia is transported somewhere else. The other place has dinosaurs. I don't know anything else about the story, but it at least sounds intriguing. I'm just happy that my favorite director is finally releasing a new film, his first since 2018.

CLIFFHANGER (August 28): Remember Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) was supposed to direct an all-female starring re-boot of Cliffhanger, that Sly Stallone action pic from 1993? Yeah...that didn't happen. They got Jaume Collet-Serra to direct it instead. He's made a ton of movies, none of them particularly good (Jungle Cruise and Black Adam with The Rock, The House of Wax with Paris Hilton, among others). The film stars Emily in Paris herself, Lily James. It also has Pierce Brosnan, so I guess technically it's not an all-female re-boot anymore. I loved the original film, probably because I saw it when I was 12 and dumb Stallone action flicks like Cliffhanger and Demolition Man were practically the greatest movies ever made if you were 12 when you saw them. In 1994 they tried to make a sequel, Cliffhanger 2: The Dam, about the Hoover Dam being taken over by terrorists and Stallone's character, Gabe Walker, saving the day. Sadly, that never came to fruition. But, hey, Stallone's still alive! They can still make it. Someone get on that. Quick!

 

Review: AVATAR: FIRE & ASH

     The best thing I can say about Avatar: Fire & Ash (the 3rd film in the franchise) is that it looks fantastic. The movie is probably around 95% special f/x, meaning it basically just looks like a computer animated film, but it's definitely one of the best looking movies I've ever seen. There's so many special f/x in this that it’s just a visual feast of layer upon layer of imagery: flying birds in front of floating islands in front of a majestic sky filled with multiple suns and moons and gorgeous, puffy clouds. This thing is stacked with special f/x and it all mostly fits seamlessly together in a fairly cohesive way. And these special f/x aren't, like, typical, been-there-done-that special f/x you see in movies all the time. This is state of the art, unbelievably vivid and super colorful stuff. I didn't even watch this at a movie theater, I watched it on a non-4K TV and it still looked downright majestic. I remember, years ago when Michael Mann's Miami Vice movie came out, one reviewer mentioned that watching it felt like looking through a window because it was shot with a new HD camera. Watching Avatar: Fire & Ash kind of gave me that same feeling that, yeah, movie technology at this moment is pretty revolutionary. There's a catch to all of this of course, though. The reason Avatar: Fire & Ash looks like it took a thousand computer programmers ten years to make it...is because it did! And it's also one of the most expensive movies ever made, so much so that even after grossing almost $1.5 billion dollars at the global box office, director James Cameron said that it didn't make enough money so they might not make a planned 4th film. 

    While Avatar: Fire & Ash looks amazing and is super detailed, super colorful, and wonderful to stare at in awe...it's also 3 hours and 17 minutes long. By the time the 3 hour mark hits, I doubt you even care how great the movie looks. You're probably thinking: get me outta here!

    The original Avatar came out way back in 2009 and the sequel, Avatar: Way of Water, came out in 2022. I don't remember a lot from either film to be honest, except for the fact that there were blue aliens riding flying beasts in some other world. There was also the U.S. military trying to kill the aliens and take their jewels, and a human that "joined" the aliens, hence why I vaguely remember thinking Avatar was just a rip-off of Dances with Wolves, which was also pretty much just a copy of the Pocahontas/John Smith story. I do remember the final battle sequence from Avatar: Way of Water being fairly exciting, which isn't a total surprise considering James Cameron is a master at action. 

    So here we are at #3. What's different? What's new? What's the point?

    The basic premise in Avatar: Fire & Ash is that the U.S. military is again trying to kill the blue aliens. The only thing new in this 3rd entry is the villainous Ash alien group that have white skin and live in tents next to a volcano. The action is kick started when the Ash alien group attacks a travelling convoy flying through the sky and there's an exciting battle. The big bad, Varang, is probably the best part of this new entry. She's evil, nefarious, cruel...and then just ends up sleeping with the U.S. military dude Quaritch, who was the big bad in #1 and #2 (he died but then became a blue alien along the way). A better movie would just have Varang and her gang (who are so similar to that Native American villain tribe in The Last of the Mohicans) fighting the good guys and that's it. Nope! We have to, again, insert the U.S. military into this film in a way that makes this play out exactly like the 1st and 2nd movie. At this rate, why even bother to make a 3rd feature if it's just the same? At least the 2nd one had a new ocean tribe. This fire tribe is barely there and instantly merged into the deja-vu plot. 

    The saving grace in all of this is that the action scenes are entertaining and wild. Sure, this film is the silliest thing you might ever watch, but at least it's fun to see a bunch of chase and battle scenes in a lush, tropical paradise. After awhile, though, watching any of this will test your limits. It took me 2 days to watch this movie in two 1.5 hour chunks and I was still bored for a lot of it. One problem is that the actual family story isn't all that interesting. Beyond the visuals, the dialogue, characters, and plot are perfunctory at best. This is bare bones story telling: bad guy fight good guy, good guy saves day. There is some sort of naturalistic, environmental religious mumbo-jumbo going on with a "mother earth" that the aliens worship...but none of that is intriguing in the least. 

    I think making two Avatar films was fine...but making a 3rd feels like just putting salt in a wound. It's too much. James Cameron is one of the best living directors still working and still making big movies that people watch. His resume is legendary and will go down in the annuls of film history as one of the greatest, so it's just kind of sad to see him wasting his time rehashing things. Avatar: Fire & Ash is basically just Avatar: Way of Water with a few slight differences. I'd rather see Cameron doing something new, something different, because hell, he doesn't have too much time left, and I'd hate to see such a creative person end on a note like this, making a film we've seen before that doesn't need to exist. **

Review: SCREAM 7

     The original Scream movie came out on December 20th, 1996, so technically it's the 30th anniversary of its arrival. Even with 30 years past, it's still pretty glaring that there's the 7th installment of a franchise and they didn't try to trick you by calling it something else. Nope, the 7 is right there in the title. Yes, they're proclaiming to the world: there have been 7 of these movies already. I mean...at this point, after 7 installments of a film franchise, does originality even matter anymore? Play the hits! Right? Wrap yourself up in a blanket of nostalgia. And, for the others that might watch Scream 7 that are too young to remember or even have been alive in 1996 when the original hit, or in 1997 when the sequel hit, or 2000 when the 3rd hit...if it's not nostalgia, then is it just...this is a bloody slasher pic, they're all the same, enjoy horny teens being butchered! We know this is what you all want.

    There can't be that many 7th entries in a film franchise, can there? The only ones are horror and superheroes. There's definitely been more than 7 Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Superman, Spider-man, and Batman movies...which means that 7 Scream films in 30 years isn't shocking or gasp-inducing or anything. What is kind of surprising is that this 7th edition is going to end up being the highest grossing installment (inflation not factored into the equation, which perhaps makes this point ultimately moot). What's also surprising is that, 7 movies in, 30 years past, we still have a movie with a few of the originals: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Matthew Lillard, and Kevin Williamson. It's also surprising that these four actually want anything to do with this franchise at this late stage. Is it stalled careers, barren bank accounts...I mean, they're not doing this for the art, are they? Not that a slasher pic is art, although, at least in my mind, the original Scream is a masterpiece, thanks to not only one of the greatest scripts ever written, but thanks to a bunch of fantastic performances by the B-crew of lesser stars that peaked exponentially for one film only (Cox, arguably, was the one star that was in something else more famous at the time). 

    So what do we have here, now, with Scream 7? What is this? What are we doing? Why does this exist? And do you care? 

    If you look at the Friday the 13th films, they were released consistently every year for almost a decade. The 1st one came out in 1980, and the 7th came out in 1988. Scream disappeared for a long time after the 3rd entry. There was an 11 year gap between 3 and 4. Then there was another 11 year gap between 4 and 5 (Scream 4 was the lowest grossing entry and, at $38 million domestic, a complete disappointment). The last 3 Scream movies have all been released in the last 4 years. And since Scream 7 will be the highest grossing and a total success, plus add the fact that Ellison's Paramount loves franchises and beating dead horses to milk every bit of cash out of something barely worthwhile, this franchise is going to return and return sooner than you might think or want. The problem arises with the fact that...these films are all pretty much the same. What can you do different? Or...do you even have to do anything different?

    Scream 7 was co-written and directed by Kevin Williamson, the original creator of the franchise and writer of the first 2 films (and also the creator of Dawson's Creek...though, literally, he never did anything good again after his initial one-two punch of triumph). Neve Campbell is back as the main character (she sat out part 6 because she asked for more money than they wanted to give her). She's happily living in a suburban town with a husband who's the chief of police and a 16 year old daughter. The opening of the film is typical Scream territory; some cute, young kids are butchered by Ghost Face after receiving a phone call. The catch this time is that the opening takes place in the same house from the original film but now it's an Air B&B murder house! So meta, right? And, I suppose, it's fairly creative, although not awesomely original, which is kind of the big problem to this film. It's an entertaining slasher pic, it has a few good jump scares, it's an easy watch, it's what-you-expect, but any kind of shockingly great originality is totally absent. It's just another murder-mystery horror flick, been there done that.

    Once the fresh, new murders occur, Neve Campbell's life is turned upside down when Ghost Face arrives in her town to threaten her daughter and her daughter's friends. Ghost Face is revealed early on to be Stu, played by Matthew Lillard, who was killed in the original film. But...wait! He's dead! Or is he? Or is it a fake? I think this entry in the franchise is definitely helped by the return of Lillard, who brings his usual zany energy to the role and is at least something fresh added to the mix. 

    After all the usual elements are in place, we get the usual Scream picture. The one difference is that the kills are, for whatever reason (maybe Williamson loves the Final Destination movies), especially gruesome this time around. We get a head on a spike with a mouth spewing blood, a stomach knifed open with a pile of guts splattering onto the ground, and a slow-mo knife through the head kill. And while the script is light years away from the great original script, Williamson as a director at least knows his horror movie tropes: his use of suspense, shadows, and movement. There's Ghost Face appearing and disappearing in the background. A typical suburban home becomes a terrifying maze with construction plastic tarps amidst a remodel. 

    Neve Campbell is too good of an actress to be in this type of a movie, because she's acting heartfelt and emotional when, hey, this is a frigging midnight Grindhouse type of a flick, right? Joel McHale, who was once on E's The Soup (remember?), is pretty good as the cop husband. Neve Campbell's daughter, the new scream queen, is played by Isabel May. She's pretty forgettable honestly, but does a decent enough job to not be glaringly problematic. There are two supposed comedy sidekicks, Courtney Cox's TV assistants. Sadly, they get nothing amusing to say or do in this film. Which is a bit of a problem because the comedy and "rules" of the original are kind of what made that film pop and made it unique. This 7th entry is not unique. That's not exactly why it's gotten bad reviews from pretty much everyone. The reason it's gotten bad reviews is because of the ending killer reveal. It's a disappointment. But as for the totality of it all: this is the 7th one and we've all been here before. You want hot babes running for their lives, being scared, and a creepy killer in a ghost costume hiding in the shadows and picking people off one by one. This film has got you covered. If you're a sicko and like that sort of thing, then you can't really go wrong with this one. These films aren't going to get better. They're just going to chug along just the same as always. And someday, if they're gone, admit it: you'll fucking miss 'em. **1/2

THE TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2026

1- WERWULF: Robert Eggers' movies are always highly anticipated. I had heard that he was going to do an adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' next, but he's making this werewolf movie first. It has the same cast as 'Nosferatu': Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe. It's set in England in the 13th century. Sadly, it's not supposed to come out until Christmas day.

2- THE ODYSSEY: This is one of the big dogs of 2026, the newest from director Christopher Nolan after he swept the Oscars a few years ago. The trailer to this already came out and it looks good, albeit the special f/x creatures are only glimpsed at. Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, and Jon Bernthal star. Nolan is one of the very few directors that make films people actually go to see in theaters, so this should be all anyone is talking about come July. 

3- SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY: It seems that after every recent Marvel movie comes out, everybody online debates the death of Marvel movies in terms of relevance, box office, and enjoyment. Spider-Man movies are bullet proof, though. This will be a giant smash and hopefully just as fun and entertaining as the first three. The new additions to the regular cast include Sadie Sink (who's rumored to be playing Gwen Stacey) and Tramell Tillman from 'Severance.' 

4- FLOWERVALE STREET: Currently, David Robert Mitchel is my favorite writer/director. It's a travesty that he hasn't made a movie since the highly entertaining and bonkers 'Under the Silver Lake' way back in 2018. And, shockingly, he's only made three films. The other two were 'It Follows' and 'The Myth of the American Sleepover.' He's back with a film about a suburban street in the 1980's where strange things occur. No, I don't know what that means, but I did see a picture of the film that had dinosaurs in it. Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway star.

5- DUNE: PART 3: This is apparently going to be the last 'Dune' film that Denis Villeneuve directs. It's an adaptation of the second 'Dune' book, a book that's so short it was originally serialized in a sci-fi magazine. The book was also savaged by readers when it first came out. The reason? Well, I started to read it and was bored to tears and didn't bother to finish it. The book picks up years after the first book when Paul Atreides is the ruler of the planet. A group hires an assassin to infiltrate Paul's ranks and murder him. That's literally the whole plot. I'm guessing the film will add something to more to this plot. The same cast is back but Robert Pattinson has been added. I adored the first 'Dune' film and thought the second one was so-so. I'm intrigued, though, and Villeneuve is a visual master.

6- RESIDENT EVIL: Zack Cregger is the new, 'hot' horror director. 'Barbarian' was a word-of-mouth hit and 'Weapons' was a surprise box office success. He's making a new 'Resident Evil' film, but he swears that this time it'll be more like the video games. I loved 'Weapons' and can't wait to see what he'll do with a zombie flick. 

7- THE HUNGER GAMES: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING: This 'Hunger Games' book is one of the best in the series. It's a prequel, showing Haymitch's time competing in the games (Woody Harrelson played him in the original films). The trailer already came out, and it looks fantastic. Francis Lawrence, who directed the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 'Hunger Games' films, is back at the helm. The main stars are unknowns, but the cast includes Ralph Fiennes as President Snow, Jesse Plemmons, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, and Maya Hawke. 

8- AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY: It's been a while since the last 'Avengers' movie. 'Avengers: Endgame' was the last one and still holds the record for biggest opening weekend, at $357 million. That was in 2019. Marvel, of course, stupidly killed off Iron-Man, and they haven't really been the same ever since. Nothing matters, though, since both Chris Evans as Captain America and Iron-Man are back in this one. Robert Downey, Jr. is playing Dr. Doom in this, though, not Iron-Man. How that will work when Dr. Doom wears a mask is one of the year's great questions. They could conceivably just say Robert Downey, Jr. is playing Dr. Doom and yet you might never know. The first trailer of this was released and it showed that Chris Evans is back, even though Evans had previously said he was done playing the role (the new Captain America in the Marvel movies and TV shows is Anthony Mackie). The rest of the usual players are back: Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, etc. Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk is not in this, though, for unknown reasons. The Russo brothers are directing this. They previously directed 'Captain America: Winter Soldier,' 'Captain America: Civil War,' 'Avengers: Infinity War,' and 'Avengers: Endgame.' They know what they're doing in terms of 'Avengers' films. Their last film was one of the biggest bombs in the history of film, though, Netflix's 'The Electric State.' I'm guessing this one will be a huge hit. Whether or not it's actually a good movie is questionable, though. 

9- WUTHERING HEIGHTS: Emeral Fennell is back after getting everyone talking about her last film, the wild and shocking 'Saltburn.' She's adapting Emily Bronte's classic 'Wuthering Heights.' It stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. Fennell's movies are always acid-laced and weird, so I'm curious how much she'll stray from the book. The trailer makes it look like it keeps the plot but has psychedelic-style visuals. The book is pretty much just a standard romance. It also has a great tagline: 'Frankenstein meets Barbie.'

10- THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU: Is the pandemic finally over? Because we're getting the first 'Star Wars' film since the pandemic, the first 'Avengers' movie since the pandemic, and the first David Robert Mitchell film since the pandemic. It is crazy that there hasn't been a 'Star Wars' movie since 2019. You can blame Disney+ for that, as they've been putting out 'Star Wars' TV shows every year. This new film even started as a TV show, 'The Mandalorian,' which was good but nothing great. This means that this movie is basically just season 4. Jon Favreau is directing. You know, I never in a million years thought the writer/director/star of 'Swingers' would eventually end up making a 'Star Wars' movie. But I'm happy, because a new 'Star Wars' movie is actually going to be in a movie theater, the first time in seven fucking years. 

THE BEST FILMS OF 2025

1- ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

2- MARTY SUPREME

3- IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

4- EDDINGTON

5- WEAPONS

6- NO OTHER CHOICE

7- COMPANION

8- HELL OF A SUMMER

THE TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2025 REVISITED

 1- TREY PARKER, MATT STONE & KENDRICK LAMAR SLAVERY MOVIE:  This didn't come out and it still doesn't have a release date. The rumored title is "Whitney Springs." 

2- PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON FILM: "One Battle After Another" was the best movie I saw in 2025, though I have yet to see everything. Right now, it's the favorite to win Best Picture at the Oscars. The thing I loved about this movie was the energy. I felt a similar feeling watching "Pulp Fiction." It's weird, thrilling, alive, new, fresh, bold, and totally engrossing. And Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Benecio Del Toro all give excellent performances in this. Just an all-around great film. ****

3- JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH: I did a short review of this. ***

4- SUPERMAN: I did a short review of this. *1/2

5- FRANKENSTEIN: This movie is really good until the monster enters the picture, then it becomes silly and un-scary. The whole thing does look really expensive and cool. Maybe I'm just tired of this story constantly being re-done. It's good, not great. **1/2

6- EDDINGTON: I did a short review of this. ***1/2

7- 28 YEARS LATER: Reviewed. **1/2

8- MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING: Reviewed. **

 

9- PREDATOR: BADLANDS: This is a fun, entertaining film, although totally light years away from what I'd consider a "Predator" movie. I get it: they can't keep doing what they were doing for the franchise to remain fresh, but it doesn't mean I miss the old days. **1/2

10- THE RUNNING MAN: This movie isn't awful, but it's a total disappointment considering I like director Edgar Wright. I don't know what the fuck happened with this, but it feels like the studio re-cut it and re-did the ending or something. In the end it just doesn't work. *1/2