A teen genius wakes up in a strange place full of children who got there the same way he did, and who all, like him, possess unusual abilities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BcvAdfyL5Y So I sat down with The Institute because I’m helpless in the presence of a Stephen King adaptation and because the phrase “telekinetic kids in a shady facility” hits my brain the way a dinner bell hits a Labrador. Of course I was in. What could possibly go wrong? Other than the obvious answe

Rick, a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny, a fading boy band star, bond over music and a late-night jam session. When Danny turns Rick's song into a hit, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-faiHUsbP_U I watched Power Ballad hoping for a charming little music movie and finished feeling like I had just watched a secret gem. This is Carney doing what Carney does, which is taking people with bruised dreams, handing

A mountain climber haunted by a fatal decision in Norway retreats to the Australian wilderness for isolation. Her journey turns into a desperate hunt when a deceptive local targets her as his next ritualistic prey in the bush. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgv8jf_8dm0 I watched Apex hoping for a nasty little thriller and not another sermon disguised as content, where a guy in a cape saves the multiverse while delivering dialogue that sounds like it was workshopped by a toas

A retired sniper in hiding on an Australian ranch must reunite her elite kill squad when a vengeful warlord threatens her daughter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r-HtsJPgto Seven Snipers is a straightforward Aussie actioner: think Taken in flip-flops. The official synopsis even promises “a retired sniper [who] must face her greatest wartime adversary… in the remote Australian outback”. Radha Mitchell stars as Kris Hendricks, a former elite sniper living quietly on a Queens

A young man on Earth discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet, and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21JsHLHnY8 There are movies you watch with your brain, movies you watch with your heart, and movies you watch like an eight-year-old who just drank a two-liter of Jolt Cola and found a broadsword in the garage. Masters of the Universe is mostly that third kind, and buddy, I mean that a

If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCYT8vb2siQ I walked into Disclosure Day in exactly the emotional condition that gets a Spielberg fan into trouble: hopeful, sentimental, and already halfway prepared to forgive a lot if the camera started moving like it knew my childhood better than my relatives do. This is Spielberg back in alien country for the first time in 21 years, with Em

An unexploded WWII bomb is discovered on a busy construction site in the centre of London. Chaos ensues as the military and police begin a mass evacuation against a ticking clock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eosjcP7Sq4 Alright, gather ‘round, movie mavens: Fuze (2025) is one of those Brit-thrillers that literally kicks off with a bombshell – a World War II bomb unearthed at a London construction site. Director David Mackenzie (of Hell or High Water fame) and writer Ben H

In a seemingly perfect retirement community, a grieving newcomer's monstrous encounter inspires him to join a misfit crew of unlikely heroes who uncover a dark secret that proves their "golden years" are more dangerous, and they are more formidable, than anyone expects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsvUvqXoTpE Netflix practically dares us from the start: “Welcome to The Boroughs, where you’ll have the time of your life (if you survive the night),” the promo teases. And by

Three suburban couples vacation together each season, but tensions arise when one couple splits up and the husband brings a much younger woman on subsequent trips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKTwtIL4xyk Okay, confession time: I totally missed The Four Seasons Season 1 (wildly irresponsible of me, I know). But here I am, dropping into Season 2 like that guy who shows up at Thanksgiving dinner two hours late. The setup: three suburban couples – old college friends turned p

After a therapist's patient disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HjdiohVOik I went into Backrooms with the kind of skepticism usually reserved for diet cheese and government efficiency. A movie based on an internet horror meme about weird yellow rooms? Sure. And maybe next week somebody will adapt a malfunctioning printer into a prestige miniseries. But here we are. A24 put real muscle behi

Once a lone bounty hunter, Mandalorian Din Djarin and his apprentice Grogu embark on an exciting new Star Wars adventure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHWlvwu8t1w I walked into Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu with the kind of cautious optimism normally reserved for used pickup trucks and campaign promises. This was the first Star Wars movie in theaters in seven years, a PG-13 Jon Favreau swing at getting the franchise back on a giant screen, and it arrived with all th

Follows Jack Ryan who reunites with CIA operatives to navigate a treacherous web of betrayal against an enemy who knows their every move, facing a past they thought was long put to rest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4ZVFspRn3M I sat down with Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War expecting exactly what Amazon has been selling: a brisk, feature-length return to the Prime Video version of Jack Ryan, with John Krasinski back in the saddle, Wendell Pierce back to glower with purp

Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler fight to survive on their cherished 7,000-acre ranch amid tough times and stiff competition, while ensuring young Carter becomes the man he's supposed to be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19I5a1tRt98 There are television franchises, and then there are television franchises that refuse to die the way horror villains refuse to stay buried. Dutton Ranch is the latest proof that the Yellowstone machine still has gas in the tank, and honestly, I don’t

Normal is a neo-Western thriller that stars Bob Odenkirk as Ulysses, an unassuming substitute sheriff assigned to the quiet Midwestern town of Normal. Seeking a temporary escape from personal and professional turmoil, Ulysses instead finds himself drawn into a crisis when a botched bank robbery exposes a dangerous secret beneath the town's calm exterior. As tensions escalate (and boy, do they escalate), he is forced to confront his troubled past and the true nature of the com

Follows Frank Castle, a PTSD-addled veteran who returns to action when Ma Gnucci, a wheelchair-bound crime matriarch, seeks revenge after he killed her son, forcing him to fight off the city's criminals descending upon him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSeqs_xeqv4 Every now and then Marvel peeks over the cubicle wall, notices the grown-ups in the room, and says, “Fine, here’s one for the adults. Try not to scare the merchandise team.” The Punisher: One Last Kill is not a b

After the Clone Wars, Maul plots to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire. It turns out that the galaxy wasn’t done with Darth Maul whining about everything under the sun. Maul – Shadow Lord slashes into Disney+ with a pitch-black lightsaber and no pre-flight safety announcement. Set roughly a year after the Clone Wars (around 22 BBY), it finds Maul plotting to rebuild his criminal empire on a remote world Janix – a planet safely untouched by the

Isla, the only sister in a family of brothers, is ambitious and often overlooked. But when her brother is forced to resign from his position as president of the Los Angeles Waves, she's appointed in his place. Now that she's stepping up into the family business, she's going to have to prove to her skeptical brothers, the board, and the larger sports community that she was the right choice for the job. Over the course of the series, she sets out to do just that - especially in

The fan favorite champions -- now joined by Johnny Cage himself -- are pitted against one another in the ultimate battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b24oG7qCwp4 There are movies that want awards, movies that want your tears, and movies that want to see if a rib cage can be folded like lawn furniture. Mortal Kombat II knows exactly which aisle it shops in. Sometimes

The early life of the famous musician Michael Jackson, known as the King of Pop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbtgEE6rkxw I walked into Michael with my guard up, because music biopics have a bad habit of showing up dressed like prestige and acting like karaoke. They promise revelation and usually deliver a gift-shop timeline with better cheekbones. This one, though, came in with actual juice. Antoine Fuqua keeps the story parked in the rise years of Michael Jackson, and Ja

Former war hero Nikki's peaceful life is shattered when her daughter is kidnapped. Thrust into the criminal underworld while hunted by cops and military, she must fight to rescue her child. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hyEvH0JPpo Every so often I want an action movie that does not arrive carrying a three-ring binder full of mythology, twelve side plots, and a prayer circle for its own seriousness. I want a movie that walks in, cracks its knuckles, and gets on with the bus