Every parent battling over screen time with their kids should get them in front of the big screen this weekend to see TOY STORY 5. Pixar's gift for entertaining kids (and adults) of all ages remains intact with this sweet, funny and heartfelt new adventure. Halfway through the film, I was ready to open this review by settling with "even lesser Disney/Pixar is better than any other animated choice" and then the final 25 minutes came together with a perfect bow, delivering huge laughs, big action and the patented HEART that we've come to expect from this blockbuster film series. It's been 31 years since the first film broke the mold for what was possible in onscreen animation, so it's only fitting in 2026 that this installment faces the fact that toys are truly becoming obsolete due to all-knowing screens, pads and devices in our kids hands from an early age. It's a message that Writer/Directors Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) and McKenna Harris deliver with humor and surprising power in several shots of our beloved characters looking across a neighborhood with every little face glowing from the light of their devices. All those beloved characters are back and are joined by some great new ones as well. Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear is holding down the toy fort at young Bonnie's house. He spends most of his time rehearsing for how to propose to his love Jessie, beautifully voiced by Joan Cusack. Bonnie is at the age where all the neighborhood and school kids are playing on their ipads and she's the only one still playing with her toys. When her parents break down and buy her first device, a Lilypad voiced by Greta Lee (Past Lives) Bonnie is immediately sucked into everything the device offers. Our gang of toys are horrified. Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), Forky (Tony Hale) and Rex (Wallace Shawn, still proclaiming extinction every chance he gets) don't know how they are going to stay relevant. Jessie reaches out to Woody (Tom Hanks) who soon arrives looking just the same, except for a bit of a gut and a shiny bald patch. Hanks and Allen still conjure up the same magic that they have exuded for the entire series, but Jessie serves as the center of the story this time out and Cusack delivers in a big way. Several new characters are standouts among the first generation of electronic toys that have already been discarded in the toy box, led by Conan O'Brien nailing every line as Smarty Pants, a toilet training device for kids who supplies enough poop and fart jokes to satisfy any boy (or Dad!) in the audience. Those jokes probably are the reason for the very mild PG rating, the first non-G dubbed entry in the series. I loved the way that Bonnie's fantasy sequences with her toys devolve from crisp computer animation to a more traditional looking painted style. The film looks spectacular from start to finish. A subplot about a shipping container of Buzz Lightyears washed up on a deserted island Tom Hanks "Castaway" style is a lot of fun and plays out well from start to finish. For those of you who care, Taylor Swift wrote a nice new theme song for the film, "I Knew It, I Knew You". It's okay, but it doesn't hold a candle to past songs like "When She Loved Me" or "I've Got a Friend In You" by Randy Newman. I stand by my stance that every Taylor Swift song sounds exactly like every other Taylor Swift song. I personally miss having a Newman song, but his new score is beautiful, with thematic notes you'll recognize effortlessly. The final 25 minutes came together so perfectly that I felt like Stanton & Harris were just playing with me until then, suddenly dropping a perfect final act into the audience's lap. Funny, action-packed and sweet, it delivers everything you want in a Toy Story film and leaves you feeling great walking out of the theater. I'm not the lone voice thinking that "Toy Story 3" was one of the best concluding acts of a trilogy in film history. It was a masterpiece. TOY STORY 5 doesn't rise to that level, but it's a perfectly enjoyable entry that is going to deservedly pack families into theaters this weekend. My box office prediction: To Infinity and Beyond! It gets an appreciative B+ from this seat in our sold out showing.

WIDOW'S BAY is a hilarious, scary, perfectly eccentric new creation that made me laugh a lot. I've never seen anything like it. How often can you truly say that? Creator Katie Dippold (The Heat, Parks and Recreation) has carefully crafted 10 episodes with a unique, deft blend of horror and comedy that pulled me in from it's very first moments. The cast that Dippold has assembled as citizens of Widow's Bay is nothing less than perfection. Matthew Rhys (The Post, HBO's Perry Mason) is flawless as new Mayor Tom Loftis. Tom is a happy idealist, seeing nothing but potential as he plans to turn Widow's Bay into another Marthas Vineyard. But last time I checked, Marthas Vineyard didn't have a killer fog bank, haunted hotel rooms, serial killer clowns and mysterious, wet old women chasing you down the middle of the street. If it sounds like you've seen all that before in Stephen KIng and John Carpenter films, maybe you have, but not like this. Dippold manages to give everything a new spin and a slightly off kilter bent that's as twisted as the town's citizens. The always amazing Stephen Root (Barry, Office Space) is a highlight as Wyck, the grumpy, crazy old dude who's always warning Tom about curses and an evil history that shrouds this island town, 40 miles off the coast of New England. Kate O'Flynn is stellar as Patricia, who works closely with Tom at Town Hall, while trying desperately to build a stable of friends. Her social networking skills are...challenged. O'Flynn damn near steals the show with the biggest character arc across the ten episodes of Season 1. Dale Dickey (Hell or High Water) matches her as Rosemary, with no filter and all the history you want to know about their secluded little hamlet. She is HILARIOUS. Jeff Hiller (Ghosts, Ghost Town) is the perfect amount of quirky as Dale, one of Tom's staff who rarely changes his expression until his fall over funny delivery in the finale. K Callan (Joe, Veep) is Tom's secretary, who doesn't seem to work a lot, but plays a pivotal role in the town. Tom isn't just trying to hold the town together as Mayor, he's a widowed single dad to teenager Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick) who's entered his most rebellious years just in time for the town to go to hell around him. Surrounding this cast is a lot of great storytelling, framed with superb special effects and episodes that highlight a different character or event on the path to a massive nor'easter bringing a reckoning to Widow's Bay. It's hard to pick a favorite episode. Tom's stay in the haunted hotel in episode 2 and Patricia's self help book in Episode 4 are standouts, but the series never falls off, delivering some killer suspense and huge laughs in its final two installments. I can't say enough about how ORIGINAL this concept is. Blending characters you grow to care about across dramatic arcs, with huge laughs and hilarious dialogue throughout, the horror moments top everything off like the perfect spice. Dippold is astonishing in her bold style, never flinching as she pops between genres, she navigates tone shifts that would have clunked forward in lesser hands. Rhys is the core of the story and his Tom is a marvel to watch. His eager to please, confident Mayor is challenged in every way possible. Rhys creates a man who's beat down and broken by the island, ultimately faced with an impossible challenge. My bet is Rhys wins an Emmy for the role. As Sheriff Bechir Clemmons, Kevin Carroll (The Leftovers) is our surrogate for the audience. Like us, he has no idea what the hell is going on in this town and we experience his horror right alongside him as events escalate. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Luckily for you, all the episodes are now available on Apple TV. One of their biggest hits, the series has rocketed in popularity the past couple months since its debut. It's no wonder why. It's fresh, original and entertaining at an incredibly high level. A friend asked me what I'd compare it to and I said "Imagine Mike Flanagan's miniseries Midnight Mass if it was really funny too". Fans of that one will love seeing Hamish Linklater pop up in a role I wont divulge here... I can't wait to go back to WIDOW'S BAY for Season 2 and see what's next. It may not be Marthas Vineyard, but it gets an A+

Why all the hate for the funny, fast paced and campy new take on MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE? Self-aware and packed with big laughs, it's an instant all-time guilty pleasure that I am shocked bombed with audiences. I went in prepared to roll my eyes and be bored to death after reading all the critics lambasting it as overlong and dull. It's neither! At two hours and 20 minutes, it's not short, but I was having way too much fun to ever be bored. I certainly knew of the He-Man toys back in the day and absolutely did roll my eyes at the Dolph Lundgren/Frank Langella, CANNON films b-movie back in 1987. But the two leads had some moments and did what they could with the very limited resources that 80's schlockmeister producers Golan & Globus gave them. This time out, MGM/Amazon has dropped $170 million on the production and it looks fantastic from start to finish. With all due respect to Mr. Lundgren, Nicholas Galitzine IS He-Man. He's jacked and packed with as many great comedic line deliveries as he is muscles. Serving as our narrator for the film's opening history lesson on growing up as a young Prince on Eternos, in Castle Greyskull where his Father, KIng Randor (James Purefoy from "Rome") rules with a gentle hand, Prince Adam doesn't show any early signs of being a capable warrior. When Skeletor descends on Eternos, bringing a thousand evil creatures with him, The King and Queen ask their Sorceress (Morena Baccarin) to whisk Adam away to Earth through a wormhole holding the Sword of Power. We meet him 15 years later, now in his mid 20's. Galitzine is hilarious, stuck working in an HR department with a bunch of tattletales. He spends most of his days online, looking for any trace of his Sword, which he dropped as he fell to Earth. The comedy is constant, adding the same type of self-aware humor that The Avengers films did, but in much bigger doses. When Adam finally finds that sword, he triggers events that tee up the second half of the film for a non-stop series of battles, square-offs and a few tender moments mixed in with the laughs. I can't say enough about Galitzine. He's got serious comedic chops and delivers everything you want in the He-Man fight scenes. It's too bad this thing bombed so bad, I'd love to see more of these actors in these roles. Camila Mendes is excellent as Teela, Adam's childhood friend who's grown up to be a warrior. Her father is Duncan, the former leader of the King's Guard, played by Idris Elba. Jared Leto has a blast as Skeletor, mixing an upper crust accent with constant frustration about how stupid many of his minons are. Leto's great. Between this and the box office death of "Tron: Ares", Leto seems to have a bit of a black cloud over him, but I really enjoyed him in both films, naysayers be damned. I love how Adam calls all the former heroes on Eternos by the names he knew them by as a kid. Fisto and RamMan are not too happy about that and double entendres abound for constant laughs. Again, I don't get the hate for this movie. It's a visual action feast, roaring with huge musical references (Daniel Pemberton's score is terrific) and easter eggs from the 80's. Just when you think you know where it's going, it doubles down on the humor and nails the punch line. I loved the scene where our heroes all stand in a circle with their hands on their hips, the top half of their bodies pitched back at a crazy angle as they all belly laugh. It's the perfect, clever allusion to the animated series that all of us of a certain age have stuck in our brains. The film also gives off some serious vibes of Mike Hodges 1980 camp flick, "Flash Gordon", but this film pulls the camp off with much more style. When 'Princes of the Universe" by Queen started roaring through the speakers and Brian May's guitar riffs took off in Dolby Cinema, I was in heaven. It's an 80's "Highlander" reference that you'll hear echoed elsewhere in the movie. There's one great gym set cameo that I won't reveal, but it left me smiling, as did the final battle between He-Man and Skeletor. Their fight took me back to the brutal punches of the Rocky movies. It's a hell of a match! Oozing with the same kind of huge scale action, wit and sarcasm as the original "Guardians of the Galaxy" film, I was shocked how much I enjoyed this one. Everyone I know that has actually seen this movie has loved it. How can you not? It's the perfect summer action blockbuster that no one went to see. Here's hoping it finds a second life on streaming and beyond so we can see this cast again in these roles. They're one hell of an ensemble that delivers a nostalgic throwback to the fun 80's action flicks that always fired up the summer movie seasons of decades past. It really took me back. Don't ignore this one, see it on the biggest screen you can find. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE gets my most surprising A so far in 2026.

A unique, Southern Grindhouse flick with some serious dramatic roots, IS GOD IS delivers big laughs, tight suspense and some great performances, dripping with blood on its quest for vengeance. This one ain't for the kids. Two sisters scarred literally and figuratively by their violent family past, Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) live a symbiotic existence on the fringe. Both have serious scars from a horrific fire. Racine's are mostly on her one arm, neck and back, while Anaia's swirl up over her entire face in a mask of pain. Racine has spent her entire life protecting her twin from relentless taunts, stares and cruelty. After losing another job, they get a message from their long lost Mother, who they thought was dead from the same fire. Their Mom Ruby (VivIca A. Fox, buried under many layers of burn victim makeup) summons them to meet with her and gives them one task, to murder their Father, the Man responsible for the fire that impacted the rest of their lives. Watching Racine and Anaia's reactions to this quest brilliantly carves out how different two twins can be, while knowing each other's pain and feeling every moment of each other's existence. Writer/Director Aleshea Harris blasts her way onto the screen in her feature film debut, basing the movie on her stage play of the same name, but visually opening it up into a mad road trip with a Southern Gothic and Classic Western feels. I would be fascinated to see the original stage play to see her magic at work. The trail of characters that Racine and Anaia follow to their Father, referred only to as "The Man" is twisted, hilarious and lethal in equal measure. Mykelti Williamson (Forrest Gump) is excellent as a lawyer that once worked for The Man, who ripped his tongue out for fear the lawyer might talk. He does all his talking on a white board he keeps with reach. At one point, he writes down for the twins: "Careful with vengeance. You never know where the blood will land." Indeed. Erika Alexander plays Divine, the minister of a tiny church whose members seem to throw the devil himself around like a shadow. Divine was the woman into whose arms The Man went after torching his wife and twin daughters. The entire scene is hilarious from the moment the twins walk in the doors of the church until their hilarious parting lines as they exit. Eventually, the girls get to their Dad's house, delivering a final 30 minutes that feels like a Tarantino dialogue-driven suspense scene packed with violent surpriseS, twists and turns. Like a QT film, its bloody AND horrifying in equal measure. Young and Johnson are both fearless in their roles as Racine & Anaia. Very different, but equally powerful, they create two very distinct young women serving as the hand of God, or at least their Mom. Vengance is mine, saith the Lord. Walking into the film in its final act, Sterling K. Brown (Paradise, This is Us) creates one of the most evil men ever to stroll into a film. He gives off serious "Kill Bill" vibes as a man who doesn't waste a word, but always seeks control. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire final act. Harris delivers a powerful ending to her tale and her actors take the material to another level as twenty years of family history, terror and mystery comes to a boiling point. It may be only halfway through 2026, but I can't imagine a more assured, confident hand in the Director's chair for a film debut this year than Aleshea Harris. She delivers something TRULY different with power, style and in-your-face bold characters that I won't soon forget. Her style is poured all over the film, with unspoken communication between the twins in unique font splattered on the screen and pops of violence that startle in their intensity. IS GOD IS gets a very solid B. Can't wait to see what Harris does next.

A masterpiece of mayhem and the best pure action film since Gareth Evans "The Raid 2: Redemption", THE FURIOUS is a hellbent thriller packed with some of the craziest, most lethal fighting in film history. It's a jaw dropping, hilarious, brilliantly choreographed symphony of violence that rarely stops to take its breath. Along with most of the audience last night, I not only laughed out loud, but I did the rarest of thing in a dark theater for me, I said the same thing out loud at least three times...."holy sh*t"......maybe not the most eloquent theater commentary, but well earned. The film starts off with journalist Matia (JeeJaw Yanin) investigating the disappearance of yet ANOTHER young child in her Southeast Asia city. She follows that trail to where a bunch of young children are being held in cages. The film dances very close in this opening in going too far against my cardinal rule of what I won't ever watch, which is children in any kind of torture endangerment. Nope. Director Kenji Tanigaki takes things right up to that edge to establish just what our heroes will be fighting against for the rest of the film. Matia squares off a trio of violent dudes in a killer fight scene that whets your appetite for the feast that's about to follow. We meet Wang Wei (Miao Xie), a mute, hardworking father to his young daughter Rainy (Yang Enyou). About to enter her teenage years, Rainy spends most of her time worrying about her Dad as she is about to head off to China to be with her Grandmother for awhile. In the first of countless incredibly staged chase/fight scenes, Rainy is kidnapped by the child trafficking ring and thrown in the back of a construction flatbed truck. Her Father hears her screams and runs down the truck in a scene of relentless, full speed running that would make Tom Cruise proud. Wei battles on top of and all over that vehicle to get his daughter back against men twice his size. It's thrilling, creative as hell and absolutely brutal, especially the way it ends. It's clear by now that Wei isn't just a handyman. He's got a very particular set of skills and a 100% commitment to finding his daughter and making those that took her pay the ultimate price. Wei tracks the one clue he has to a massive nightclub with an MMA style fight ring in its center. He follows the clues to the first level of very bad dudes and starts climbing the villain food chain. We've all scene plenty of martial arts in films. I love the best of these films, like the aforementioned Gareth Evans "The Raid" series that incorporate original and creative staging to the vengeance. WOW, does THE FURIOUS absolutely sing in this department. Back in the 80's we always got a great scene in Rambo with our hero strapping on 15 different armaments and ammunition belts while Jerry Goldsmith's music belted out the signal to get ready for some serious ass-kicking. Nah, just give Wei a good hammer. He's got all he needs. The club scene sets up so many great stages for fighting, including a sequence in that MMA ring in which Wei piles up so many bodies that he just keeps stacking them until he can climb out of the ring. In that club, Wei also connects with Navin, the husband of that missing journalist from the opening. Navin is played to perfection by Joe Taslim, who memorably played Jaka in "Raid: Redemption". That's the third time I've mentioned those films, a sure sign that if you haven't seen it, rush out immediately and do so. The two pair up to continue following the chain of bad guys to find their loved ones. They're up against a corrupt police force as well, help is NOT coming in their quest. The film deftly stacks its action into one massive sequence after another. Every time you think it can't top itself, Tanigaki says "hold my beer" and blasts your senses with an even crazier action scene. He and his production crew have also perfectly cast each level of crime boss. They get crazier, more committed and more refined as they go, ending up at the palatial doorstep of Paklung, a dapper young, aspirational killer who would fit right into any corporate boardroom. Well played by Joey Iwanaga, he's the next generation who's sick of watching the old men run the syndicate. Tanigaki, a former stunt coordinator for major Hollywood films serves up a banquet of ballet-like violence, delivering plenty of things I've never seen before on screen. He also blends that touch with a seriously respectful nod to the past, including some Sergio Leone split screen in the finale that took me back to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". If you love the "Crazy 88s" scene in QT's "Kill Bill' fasten your seatbelt. THE FURIOUS packs one sequence like that after another in a wild orgy of hand-to-hand combat with everything from ball peen hammers to bicycles. It's imaginative, fast paced and exhausting in all the right ways, earning an A.

Steven Spielberg delivers his best film in 20 years with the powerful, hopeful & intelligent thriller DISCLOSURE DAY. More "Minority Report" than "Close Encounters", anyone grabbing their popcorn and settling in for another "ET" are in for a surprise. But for me, the final 15 minutes delivered that same heartfelt, stirring aspiration for mankind that we all felt watching ET say goodbye to Elliott 44 summers ago. This is the brilliant summer movie making from our greatest American director that we've been missing for a very long time. Spielberg plunges us into the action from the opening frames, with Dr. Daniel Kellner (a superb Josh O'Connor) running to escape the same kind of relentless secret government agency that Mulder & Scully were constantly fleeing from in the X-Files. These baddies are led by Noah Scanlon, perfectly cast in the form of Colin Firth, who brings a galaxy of mystery and menace to the role. Scanlon and his mob of well tailored government agents want all the files that Kellner has made off with, which expose a massive 70 year UFO coverup by the government. Scanlon has kidnapped Kellner's girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) and isn't afraid to play hardball to get the files back. But Kellner has something even more valuable in hand, literally. I'm not giving away any major plot points here, and I won't ruin any of the film's surprises or mysteries, which are brilliantly set up and revealed. Everything that I described above happens in the first five minutes of the film. As Daniel and Jane Kellner hit the road to escape, the are helped by a benevolent and calming voice, Hugo Wakefield. If you want a peaceful presence in the middle of a two hour plus chase mystery, you can't hire a better actor than Colman Domingo, who serves up my favorite performance of his to date, for me. He's fascinating to watch as the global events unwind around him. Meanwhile, we meet Kansas City TV weather personality Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and her musician husband Jackson (Wyatt Russell). Margaret is beloved in the local market for her sexy, funny personality. The woman absolutely LOVES a good hail storm. But she seems restless at home, feeling like there must be something more out there for her. One day on air, after a fascinating event I won't share here, she begins speaking in a strange language of clicks and stops and moans that's just as freaky as you've seen in the trailers. The newscast goes viral globally, putting the plot into action mode as Scanlon's team suddenly shows up looking for her, putting Margaret and Daniel on a relentless collision course. Spielberg reaches into his limitless and patented bag of visual style and action-scene creative talents to unleash one great sequence after another. There's a chase sequence involving Margaret and Kellner's car being pushed by one of those big, window tinted Government suburbans onto a train track as a very long train speeds by. Henry Lloyd Hughes is great as Caspar Boyd, Scanlon's right hand man and the one at the wheel forcing our heroes onto the tracks. It's a killer action sequence from start to finish, as is an escape from a rural farm where Margaret and Kellner are hiding. In between the action, Spielberg and long time collaborator / screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park) weave a powerful tale around humanity, our place in the universe, religion, power and fate. Spielberg is the only filmmaker that I can think of that can so deftly blend two such different tracks into one seamless film that can play on so many different levels. Janusz Kaminski shot the film, his 21st collaboration with Spielberg since 'Schindler's List" over 30 years ago. They have created a beautiful visual language that sings in both the action scenes and the awe struck finale. John Williams tops that long legacy with his 30th original score for Spielberg since 1974's "The Sugarland Express" and every classic moment in between. Williams, now 94 years old, came out of retirement to do their 30th film together and he delivers a wholly original, fully symphonic score that jolts the action scenes and puts a massive lump in your throat in that finale. Spielberg has intentionally not revealed any of the film's third act in the trailers, leaving the finale a complete mystery. It took me several hours to process my thoughts on it. What was never in question for me, was the final twenty minutes as the ultimate crescendo not only of the story line, but of Spielberg, Williams, O'Connor, Blunt, Domingo and Firth's contributing talents. It reaches such emotional heights that it struck the sold out audience I saw it with completely silent. You could hear a pin drop as the final secrets are revealed in patented Spielberg style. The absolute final moment of the film, will be what divides audiences. I don't think you could end the film any other way. For me it's a powerful inspiration for all of humanity and the choices ahead of us as a species. Spielberg has evolved so much as a filmmaker that he's bringing his loyal audience along with him, reaching for something beyond a summer popcorn movie. While those purely looking for that may feel empty (you're already starting to see that online) DISCLOSURE DAY has the ability to deliver joy, hope and a powerful message. If you'll only.... Listen.... I loved this film and can't wait to see it again. DISCLOSURE DAY gets an A+.

"Go Home....while you still look like your passport picture....." Adam Scott serves up a great dramatic performance in Damian McCarthy's latest horror mood piece, HOKUM. Scott plays writer Ohm Bauman, who's having trouble wrapping up his famous novel trilogy. We see the current state of the book's ending play out in a bright, color splashed prologue that takes his two characters to a tipping point in the middle of a vast desert. The scene plays as a powerful counterpoint to the wet, dreary landscape and muted colors of the Irish Inn where Bauman has settled in to try and solve his writer's block. The inn he's chosen has deeper meaning, as it's where his beloved late Mom and decidedly less supportive deceased Father spent their honeymoon. If Bauman's looking for the romance of the location to inspire him, he's wandered into the wrong locale, with eccentric locals filling every frame. Florence Ordesh is Fiona, the Inn's bartender/staff member who seems to see past the grumpy, "I just want to be left alone" vibe that the writer spews in every direction. David Wilmot is Jerry, a local vagrant and a staple at both the hotel and the murky woods that surround it. He and Ohm bond after Jerry sees the writer spreading his Mother's ashes carefully around a massive redwood. Their surprise conversation is a natural, intriguing sequence that sets the tone. Peter Coonan plays Mal, the hotel's manager who's got his hands full managing everything from the locals and the wildlife to his staff. The property seems to sprawl downward and outward in a myriad of confusing and mysterious directions. Will O'Connell (Game of Thrones) is perfectly cast as Alby, the elevator operator and doorman who knows every dark nook and cranny of the old, stone built Inn. Every time the film looks down the hallway at his elevator, it conjures up a bit more dread. Scott is very good as Ohm. He conveys a lot of internal torment as his world closes in around him, keeping people at bay with every alienating, rude comment that comes to mind. It's a good thing that the Inn doesn't seem to have many guests, it's mostly the staff that he tries to keep beyond arm length. Fiona and Ohm begin to bond over storytelling and life, leading to a devastating plot point that I saw coming with the same sense of dread as Fiona. It kicks off a series of Halloween night events at the Inn that spin the story into a missing person mystery worthy of Dateline, if Dateline was made by George Romero & Stephen KIng. Joseph Bishara (The Conjuring) crafts a creepy, twisting music score that heightens the tension as Colm Hogan's camera pulls you deeper down dumb waiter shafts and black corridors. It seems the Honeymoon Suite has been locked up for many years. So why does the old bell system at the front desk keep ringing from someone pulling it in that room? Are the spooks at the Inn a mass delusion of local folklore and some mushrooms from the wet ground of that forest next door? Writer/Director Damian McCarthy serves up another fine serving of horror folklore, following up his interesting 2024 entry, "Oddity", which shares similar themes of solitude, isolation and death. McCarthy knows how to build suspense and exactly how to pull you, the viewer, around corners and hallways that you instinctively want to avoid. McCarthy and Scott are a clever match. The word Hokum means "a device used by showmen to evoke a desired audience response", or "pretentious nonsense." Thanks to McCarthy and Scott, the film is much more the former than the latter, and that desired response is escalating horror, which they serve up in smooth style. HOKUM gets a solid B.

SCARY MOVIE is built to deeply offend anyone who proudly defines their pronouns in their signature line and for that alone, THANK YOU Wayans Bros! A throwback to when we could all laugh at our own crap, the latest installment skewers virtually everyone equally in a no holds barred, adult fashion that had me smiling throughout, but rarely laughing out loud. It's been thirteen years since "Scary Movie 5" so the boys have a whole lot of horror movie fodder to rip into with goofy enthusiasm. This is their first Scary Movie film since 2001's "Scary Movie 2"! "Sinners", "Weapons", "The Substance", "Longlegs", "Terrifier" and the latest "Halloween" and "Scream" sequels all take on direct hits in the Shawn and Marlon Wayans screenplay. They are making up for lost time by throwing everything at the screen they want with no filters applied. They are 100% committed to hilarious violence, graphic nudity and sexual content, which our nearly full Saturday morning crowd took in stride and laughed out loud a LOT at throughout. It's not just an R, it's a HARD R after three lamer PG-13 installments. Jordan Peele even approved the take off on his film "Get Out", which the Wayans BBQ here. They have a lot of fun tearing into the fact that they're even making a sequel this long after the last one, with plenty of the returning actors 100% self-aware and acknowledging on camera how lame the returning killer story line is in the first place. Marlon Wayans steals the movie, returning as Shorty, who is so stoned that he's made millions for doing absolutely nothing online. Influencers have rarely been so accurately captured! LOL Anna Faris is back as Cindy, taking on the crazy Mom role (see Jamie Lee Curtis in the recent Halloween flicks). Faris has a keen sense of comic and physical comedy timing and she shows it off here. Regina Hall is hilarious as Brenda, shooting off random one liners and bullets with ease. She's having a blast. Shawn Wayans is hilarious as Ray, who claims to have been converted to straight by the church in one of the film's most laugh-filled, 'Sinners" take off storylines. As the film goes, it falls more and more into its groove, which alternates between telling our story and serving up plenty of hilarious "Family Guy"-style, nonsensical asides that include a take off on the "Michael" trailer featuring a fatter, less talented brother and flashbacks that serve up big laughs. It really finds it's way in its final twenty minutes or so, dropping in some major star cameos that I won't divulge here, each one funnier than the last. They also serve up a major star cameo in the opening scene that's hilarious, but NO SPOILERS here! This is a funny, wild ride, dripping with adult humor, graphic sex, nudity and punch lines. Theaters should bundle this in a double feature with "Blazing Saddles" and make every uber-sensitive snowflake watch them back-to-back. Republican, Democrat, Gay, Straight, Black, White, NO ONE IS SAFE! Bring it on, boys! If the Wayans Bros mission is to get everyone to lighten up and just laugh at ourselves, this is a good start! Good luck! SCARY MOVIE gets better as it goes and serves up plenty of laughs, especially for horror & action film buffs. The John Wick-style conclusion had me in stitches. It gets a B-. R rated trailer below.

Powerful, moving and a true testament to the bravery of America's greatest generation, MASTERS OF THE AIR continues the great tradition of "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific" with compelling, action-packed story telling. A superb cast carves out portrayals of distinct, real men who led the B-17 bombing campaigns across Germany. As the nine-episode miniseries opens, we meet the 100th bomber group as they arrive in England. The group is led by the smooth Major Gale "Buck" Cleven (Austin Butler) and his more vocal best friend Major John "Bucky" Egan (Callum Turner). Butler and Turner are both excellent, creating leaders you care about as they and their men are plunged into incredible, death defying bombing runs across Germany. The special effects team is superb in every moment of the series, spending every dime of a massive $250 million Apple TV budget on jaw dropping moments in the air and on the ground. There are huge dogfights throughout that defy gravity and reality in their intensity, plunging you into the seats of these brave heroes battling impossible odds. Anthony Boyle (The Lost City of Z) is terrific as Lt. Harry Crosby, a navigator prone to airsickness and underestimating his own capabilities. Ben Radcliffe (Fackham Hall) is solid as Lt. John Brady and Nate Mann (Licorice Pizza) leaves a hell of a mark as Lt. Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal, whose ability to bring his crew home threatens to break the 25 mission mark. The cast is huge, incredibly well cast and provides a very deep bench as we meet hundreds of soldiers in the air and in the battles on the ground. As in "Band of Brothers' you grow to admire these men, appreciate their strengths and weaknesses and then cheer for them like hell as they carve out a uniquely heroic path to save our future freedoms. The season sprawls across many key elements of WW2, including bombing runs that began to turn the tide against the Nazis and imprisoned airmen in the German Stalag camps that reminded me of the war classic "The Great Escape" in all the right ways. The D-Day landings at Normandy play a key role, as do the brave Tuskegee Airmens missions in France. Series creator John Orloff, the writer of "Band of Brothers" constructs a nine-episode arc that pulls you deeper into history with each chapter, upping the ante and the action throughout. Butler (Elvis, The Bikeriders) studied film of the real Buck Cleven to learn his cadence and humor and shines in the role, as does Turner (The Boys in the Boat, Eternity) who evolves from loud mouth showboat to a pivotal leader of men. Flight scenes were filmed in exact replica B-17s suspended 50 ft in the air on a gimbal inside a 360-degree stage of seamless LED high def screens. We've come a long way from back screening! The digital effects are so perfectly rendered that the actors react real-time to their surroundings. It's jaw dropping. The music score by Blake Neely serves up full tilt thrills that barrel through the air right alongside our heroes, but also provides tender accompaniment to the tragic loss these men and their group, "The Bloody 100th" endure on every mission. Executive Producer Steven Spielberg has said that this was the biggest project he's ever worked on, and with 300+ speaking roles and 3000 + production crew members over the nine episodes, it's hard to argue. Ten years in the making, this is the kind of epic historical miniseries that I've been missing since "The Pacific". Perhaps because my Father was one of the brave airmen that flew B-17 missions in the Philippines in WW2, this series really hit me emotionally. Seeing these men sporting the same United States Air Force patch that he wore on his shoulder during his missions brought the power of these men's commitments to country home to me in a very special way. This is superb film-making chronicling one of the most important times in human history. It should be seen by everyone, alongside "Saving Private Ryan", "Band of Brothers" and 'Patton" as incredible tributes to American bravery in the World War II era. By any measure, MASTERS OF THE AIR is a brilliant tale of incredible men staring down death for American freedoms. A wartime masterpiece, it gets an A+

Based on a stage play, PRESSURE serves up some decent WW2 action along with a whole lot of talk about the weather, not an easy thing to make suspenseful. General Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser in FULL bluster mode) is relying on two men to give him the green light for the D-Day invasion on Monday, June 5th. The first is his trusted advisor for much of the war campaign so far, Irving Krick. Krick (Chris Messina from "Argo" and "Air") is a devil may care, humorous jokester to his fellow officers and has been a reliable weatherman to date. Winston Churchill tells Ike that there is only one man for the crucial decision around the most important battle of the war, and that's Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott) the lead British Meteorological Officer who's wound so tight that he squeaks. Scott (Spectre, Blue Moon) is saddled with a character with zero sense of humor and a profound devotion to hesitation. For most of of the film, I just wanted to smack Stagg upside the head and tell him to get on with it. But Scott is a superb actor and when he does finally release all the pressure of the scenario, it's a verbal explosion that works. Stagg manages to alienate everyone within 50 feet of him, starting with Eisenhower's right hand person, Captain Kay Summersby, perfectly played by Kerry Condon from "The Banshees of Inisherin" and "F1". For anyone with even a basic knowledge of World War II history and D-Day, there isn't a whole lot of suspense on them trying to make a go of it on June 5th. But the screenplay by Director Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai), based on the play by David Haig, carefully builds plenty of conflict between many factions. Historical figures abound. Damian Lewis seems to have wandered in from the set of last year's comedy farce "Fackham Hall" as General "Monty" Montgomery. So laden with testosterone and bravado blended with tightly pursed lips, pinky up tea drinking and "we MUST go on the 5th!" energy that he seemingly has zero regard for his troops, Lewis is way over the top. Robert Portal (The Iron Lady, My Week with Marilyn) is far better as Admiral Ramsay. I am a huge fan of Brendan Fraser, but the role seems to only sit comfortably on him in its quieter moments of resolve and introspection. The screenplay requires him to have massive blow up moments, which seem historically out of character for Eisenhower, who was known for his quiet and thoughtful leadership style under enormous pressure. Fraser's Ike seems like he's on a reality show, 'The Real Generals of Normandy", throwing furniture and exploding into tirades. Fraser is such a good actor that he constantly brings you back to center and the interactions between he and Scott in the film's finale are excellent. Fraser has also said that he read an enormous amount of biographies about Eisenhower in preparing for the role, so I have to give him credit for portraying the man in a style far removed from Ike's historically crafted reputation. PRESSURE earns a lot of respect by busting out of its stage roots with very well staged battles and troop movements on a large scale. While the D-Day scenes may not be of the same massive, dramatic punch as Spielberg's Normandy invasion in "Saving Private Ryan", the young troops pouring onto those beaches in France still packs an emotional punch, as does their triumph. Maras knows how to build suspense. His "Hotel Mumbai" is an excellent film and if you haven't seen it, add it to your watch list immediately. He faces a bigger challenge here in building tension about two men staring at weather maps. No easy task, but he navigates it well. Occasionally, the overbearing music score by Volker Bertelmann quiets down and helps build that tension, but much of the music is SO obtrusive and overbearing that I just wanted it to stop! In the opening scene of Stagg's arrival at HQ, the music grows louder and louder and LOUDER and then an assistant starts banging a hammer at the same time. Stagg screams STOP! I'm pretty sure he was talking about the music score, not the hammer. PRESSURE is a serviceable, enjoyable WW2 film for aficionados, but it feels like it could have been so much more with some different casting choices. Maras and his assistant editors combed through over 40 hours of actual WW2 footage from the portrayed events to find footage that was then digitally cleaned up, colorized and added to the film. It adds stunning realism to the film and blends seamlessly into the flow, perhaps the greatest compliment to what Maras has assembled with PRESSURE. It gets a B-.

In 1999, the original "Blair Witch Project" became a massive box office smash, earning a quarter of a billion dollars on a $60k budget. It also created the "found footage" genre. Based on early audiences, BACKROOMS is likely to be a massive hit as well, but I can't get over it's biggest sin, which is stranding two of our finest actors in a dull tale that only truly engaged me in its last 20 minutes. The film is the brainchild of 21 year old, British/American YouTuber Kane Parsons. His concept started online as a series of short films. A24 approached Parsons about making a feature film version when he was 19, making him the studio's youngest director. On any level, Kane accomplishing what he did here at his age is an amazing feat. Kudos. And there are moments of the film, especially in its conclusion, that show promise and a clever sense of horror and suspense. But they are fleeting and its a long path to get there. Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Martian, Doctor Strange) plays Clark, a divorced owner of a cheap furniture store, Cap'n Clark's Ottoman Empire, that never seems to have a customer. It is packed with ugly, bad furniture, a lot of BIG SALE! banners and signs offering to finance. We see Clark doing two primary things in the store, calculating incoming bills and sleeping in one of the beds on the showroom floor. His TV commercials are hilariously bad, playing a peg legged pirate in a KMart level costume and a fleeting accent, imploring all you mateys to come down and load up on the furniture booty. We see Clark meeting his therapist, Mary, played by Renate Reinsve, who was Oscar nominated last year for her brilliant performance in "Sentimental Value". We glimpse Mary's home life as she sits eating a TV dinner on a tray in front of the same style cheap TV as Clark, as her own TV commercial comes on touting her self-help CDs. Beyond those intriguing bonds the two share and a couple intriguing moments during their office visits, these two fine actors are stranded in the material. One day, exploring the basement section of his showroom, Clark finds a portal in the wall that leads to the BACKROOMS. A seemingly endless series of rooms and corridors, they all share the same yellow hue and a very mild sense of foreboding. And I mean mild. Much of the film seems like a leisurely stroll through the art exhibit of a mad architect. Oh, wait a minute........ Eventually, Clark becomes more adventurous in his exploration, mapping this other world just beyond his furniture store. Some of the audience around me seemed to gasp and leap at every minor scare. I found the first 90 minutes very tame when it comes to horror. Lukita Maxwell (Shrinking) and Finn Bennett (Warfare) add some much needed fun as Clark's only employee Kat and her boyfriend Bobby. When Clark shows them what he's found and they Bobby down a rope "Poltergeist"-style down a steep corridor, the film finds a brief spark and some laughs. More Kat & Bobby please! Clark confides in Mary what he's found and when he stops coming to their sessions, she heads to the store, finds the portal and enters the other world herself. Like "Blair Witch", I spent most of the film wondering what all the buzz was about. This is an intriguing concept that seems inadequately tapped. Until the 90 minute mark, my biggest challenge was to stop from falling asleep for long stretches. Parsons seems to be channeling a bit of "The Shining" and tries to unleash his own manic finale to release all the "built up" suspense (or tedium) of the film. My favorite scene in the film is when Mary has entered the corridors and just a tiny glimpse of something peeking out around the corner nearest her slides back into hiding in the background. It gave me chills. There are so many corners in the BACKROOMS. Why is there only one true creepy moment? Ejiofor and Reinsve are brilliant actors, stranded in another dimension and given so little to do for most of the film. Wasting these two fine performers seems like a cinematic crime. The manic sequence at the end of the film is a release, but then its followed by a quiet conclusion that left half of our sold out audience marveling and the other half like me with a resounding "meh...." The recent film "EXIT 8" is an obvious cousin of the concept. That film pulled me in from its opening moments, kept me on the edge of my seat and I became part of the mystery. Sadly, BACKROOMS left me thinking about the theater exit sign for most of its padded 110 minute running time. It gets a C for effort.

GET OVER HERE!!!! When you hear that immortal gong and the fights begin, MORTAL KOMBAT II soars into a hilarious, thrilling battle mode that screams with nostalgia for all of us who played the video game. Unfortunately, you have to sit through some pretty goofy dreck to get to those fights! There's actually a lot to like here and some absolute stand out members in the cast. We all know the plot, with a universal battle where intergalactic bad guys take over worlds if they manage to win ten battles in a row. Don't spend a minute thinking about the overarching plot, it's all about the crazy battles to the death with an absolute orgy of batshit crazy characters we've all come to love. And here's where the film gets things both absolutely right AND horribly wrong. Let's start with the great. Karl Urban (Star Trek, Lord of the Rings) serves up a FLAWLESS VICTORY as Johnny Cage, a has-been 80's action movie star who's fallen all the way to sitting in his 10 x 10 booth at an autograph show, showing clips of his grainy 80's VHS highlights of his cheesy blockbusters of the era. Urban is hilarious, delivering one liners with the same accuracy of his death punches and karate poses. Josh Lawson returns from 2021's Mortal Kombat as Kano, the lethal, foul-mouthed, wise-ass fighter whose verbal assaults leave everyone on the floor. I laughed so hard at Lawson in the role, knowing that I knew him well from another role but driving myself crazy the entire film trying to remember where I knew him from. Being a respectful AMC A-Lister, I didn't turn my phone on during the movie (I hate when people do that!) to check out IMDB. As I walked out, I laughed out loud realizing that Lawson plays Bruce, the hilariously insecure lead surgeon on NBC's 'St. Denis Medical". He's great on that show but he's other level here and steals the entire film. Hiroyuki Sanada (Wolverine, Westworld, Bullet Train) brings his usual gravitas and superb acting to his returning role as Hanzo Hasashi. Anytime he's on screen, this thing goes to another stratosphere. Urban, Lawson and Sanada give this sequel its hilarious, action packed core and when they are on screen doing their thing, it approaches 'Deadpool" style, violent hilarity. But they are surrounded by some seriously bad acting in their company. The lead female role of Kitana is played by Adeline Rudolph in a performance so wooden, I think she deserves the Kurt Thomas "Gymkata" award. IYKYK. Kitana is key to the story line, so she's in the entire movie, and that is not good. She gives off all the emotion of wood paneling to the other actors, its really painful to watch. Jessica McNamee (The Meg) is dull as Sonya Blade. She's terrific in the fight scenes, but just blank when she's not beating the hell out of an intergalactic foe. Meh, well bottom line, we didn't come here for the acting, we came here for the action and the filmmakers have recreated everything we loved about the videogame flawlessly. In Dolby Cinema, that gong rocks you in your seat and every time it did, I would smile, knowing a great sequence would follow. All your favorites are here, along with the otherworldly setting that the fighters are transported to for their battles. My favorite world was definitely The Blue Portal, the smoky blue universe that felt just like the game, but punched up into 2026 visual thrills. Just like the first film, this is a gory, adults only romp that dumps buckets of blood and gore. The language is also Deadpool level raunch from start to finish, I was shocked to see a Dad bring two kids under 10 to the movie. Behold our Father-of-the-Year nominee. We all found ourselves looking at those kids through the movie in the second row and shaking our heads. Great parenting....(but I digress...) I came to the sequel wanting a lot of fun that honored the legacy of the gaming experience, spectacular visuals, action and laughs. MORTAL KOMBAT II over delivered for me on all those quadrants, but it is dragged down by some seriously bad acting in the troupe. I still had a blast and would give it a very solid B, just like it's predecessor. LAWSON & URBAN get an A+. Just make a third film with those two doing a Butch and Sundance style violent romp across the universe and I'll be there opening night! Loved the closing credits with the full blast Techno redo of the original theme highlighting each of the characters. It pops you out of theater in style. R Rated trailer below tees up the fun.