Getting your wish is the worst thing imaginable in Obsession, a twisted take on love and romance that horrifies before going full-on horror. I appreciated the movie’s darkly comedic take on desire and relationships more than its gruesome endgame, but it’s a wild ride either way. Recommended. Continue reading Obsession (2026)
If you’ve seen a big budget disaster movie before, you know what to expect from Deep Water. Every disaster trope you can think of makes an appearance. What distinguishes this movie from the rest is that it’s not just an airplane crash movie, it’s also a shark attack movie! That’s right, it’s a genre mash-up, which turns out to be a brilliant move because both halves compliment each other perfectly, like a burger with a side of fries. The movie isn’t a masterpiece, but as far as genre fare goes, it’s exciting and entertaining.
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To say that a lot has changed in the past twenty years would be putting it mildly. Take journalism, for example. In The Devil Wears Prada, journalism graduates had career options. Fast forward to today and I doubt any student would seriously consider being a reporter. Print media has been supplanted by social media as the source of news for many people, making traditional journalists obsolete. How Andrea “Andy” Sachs handles this shifting landscape is the basis of The Devil Wears Prada 2, a funny and thoroughly enjoyable sequel that manages to take a few well-earned swipes at the downsize-afflicted corporate environment of 2026.
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Michael is a lively, if incredibly constricted look at Michael Jackson’s life. It offers a swiss-cheese rendering of his personal life in between electric reenactments of him recording and performing. Thankfully, the latter makes up for the former, and the movie is entertaining in a “hall of fame highlight reel” way. Mildly recommended. Continue reading Michael (2026)
For a while now, the role of the “one man wrecking crew” who takes on a corrupt town, corporation or what have you has been the cinematic domain of Jason Statham. As an established badass, we know that anybody who gets in his way are idiots who will soon be lying in a pool of their own blood. Which is what makes Bob Odenkirk’s encroachment on Statham’s territory so interesting. No one would ever mistake Odenkirk for Statham, who looks more like a kindly grandpa than a killing machine. Odenkirk’s a square peg that’s wedged himself into the action/revenge genre hole, and the mismatch is what makes Normal so much fun. Odenkirk may look like a kindly old man, but watch out when he gets riled up.
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I didn’t hate The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, because that would imply that it invoked an emotional response from me. The movie is energetic but inert, a story with no purpose besides offering up visuals. Little kids and fans of the games may enjoy it, but for me the movie was listless and uninvolving. Not recommended. Continue reading The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
While Project Hail Mary is a thoroughly enjoyable space-set adventure yarn, what makes it special is its unbridled optimism for humanity and science. This feel-good movie unironically believes that when the chips are down, we’ll rise to the occasion. I sincerely hope that’s true. Highly recommended. Continue reading Project Hail Mary
Like its eponymous character, The Life of Chuck contains multitudes and is difficult to categorize. It’s by turns apocalyptic, fantastical, nostalgic and horrific. Broadly speaking, it’s an existential treatise disguised as a heartwarming coming-of-age tale that ultimately works because its charm and amiability. Recommended. Continue reading The Life of Chuck
If anything, Undertone proves that using podcasting as the basis for a horror movie has minimal returns. While there are spooky moments, the film is a mishmash of ideas that never lead anywhere besides scary noises and shadows. Not recommended. Continue reading Undertone
A great movie doesn’t need a great premise, but it definitely helps. Such is the case with Bugonia, a science-fiction film that suggests that the CEO of a pharmaceutical company is actually an alien from another world. I’ve often wondered if CEOs were human. The way they express themselves with a steady stream of corporate jargon and self-actualization platitudes, delivered with zero passion but loads of certainty and conviction, has always given me pause. Maybe, as this movie implies, they’re aliens from another world who’ve come to Earth with malicious intent. Excuse me while I grab my tin foil hat.
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Detroit Cineaste 