Tag: 2026

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Primetime

Primetime

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In hindsight, the idea behind Chris Hansen’s To Catch a Predator was brilliant.  Take one part reality TV, one part investigative journalism, one part voyeurism, season with righteous anger and presto–out comes huge ratings.  The sensationalistic pull of the show was hard to resist.  Who wouldn’t want to watch child predators humiliated, handcuffed and dragged away by cops?  The show delivered as promised, regardless of the ethical and legal concerns raised along the way.  But what effect did the show have on those behind it, who compromised their morals in exchange for success?  That’s the question the movie addresses, in the most audacious way possible.

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The Weight

The Weight

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As a parent, I know all about the weight of parental responsibility.  Every decision I make takes that responsibility into consideration, because a bad one can have disastrous repercussions for myself and my child.  The Weight is about the worst possible outcome, where a father’s child is unfairly taken away from him because of his heat-of-the-moment reaction.  The movie uses that setup to delve into other forms of societal injustice, highlighting how little has changed from one hundred years ago to today.  It’s an angry movie at its core, but with good reason.

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Runner

Runner

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One thing I’ve learned from watching action movies is to never let a ridiculous plot get in the way of being entertained.  Runner is such a movie, which involves a donated liver that can only be transplanted into someone with the extremely rare RH- blood type, or as they say in this movie, “RH null”.  How rare?  The internet tells me that only fifty living people are estimated to have this blood type.  This means that the odds of a donor suddenly becoming available are extremely high.  So when it’s revealed that two people with that same blood type both need the liver, well, I shrugged and rolled with it.

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Fall 2: Deadpoint

Fall 2: Deadpoint

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Having watched 2022’s Fall and its sequel, the curiously titled Fall 2: Deadpoint, I’m convinced that I would never survive the contrived scenarios of either film.  It’s not because I would get confused over when to clip-in and clip-out, or how to climb a rusty centuries-old ladder.  It’s because when I needed to get some sleep while stranded on a platform or wooden plank overlooking a tremendous drop, I would roll over and plunge to my death.  Tossing and turning would be my downfall, so to speak.

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Insidious: Out of the Further

Insidious: Out of the Further

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Being a dental hygienist is a thankless job.  They diligently scrape off the gunk build-up on our teeth, fully aware that they’re going to do the same thing in six months.  Which is why I would advise that anyone interested in this career avoid Insidious: Out of the Further.  Not only is the kindly hygienist in this movie forced to clean the worst set of teeth I’ve ever seen, he has a second pair like a geriatric Zenomorph!  Maybe that Starbucks barista job would be a better option after all.

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The End of Oak Street

The End of Oak Street

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Since 1993, almost every movie released that featured dinosaurs had “Jurassic” in the title.  This is strange, given how often Hollywood studios copy off of each other’s homework.  The End of Oak Street is the first serious attempt at a dinosaur movie outside of that franchise, and it made me wonder why it took so long.  There’s plenty of action involving humans either running away from or being eaten by elaborate CGI dinosaurs, which is precisely what we want from a movie like this.  If anything, it should inspire those behind the Jurassic films to make better sequels.

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CatVideoFest 2026

CatVideoFest 2026

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As the saying goes, the internet is made of cats.  Which is true because it’s the best way for cat lovers to both share and watch videos starring their favorite animals.  Since there are so many videos of cats doing inexplicable things that anyone can readily watch on their phone, how does one explain the ongoing popularity of the CatVideoFest film series?  (It began in 2019, and after a Covid lull has steadily grown over the past five years.)  To paraphrase Homer Simpson, why would people pay to watch something they can already watch for free?

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Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

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When people talk about the MCU, it’s understood that they’re talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  However, considering the unhappy lives most Marvel heroes usually have, the M reality should stand for Miserable.  This is very true for one Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, who can do “anything a spider can” but can’t have things you and I take for granted.  He can’t have friends or fall in love, which would make the people involved targets of evil doers who want to hurt Peter.  That anxiety is enough to force Peter into solitude, which (of course) leads to even worse problems for him.  Poor Peter Parker, if only web-slinging were enough to make him happy.

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The Odyssey (2026)

The Odyssey (2026)

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There are two things I admire about Christopher Nolan.  First, he’s never made the same movie twice (outside of the Batman trilogy).  He’s Kubrick-ian in that way, setting out to make the best movie in every genre he visits.  Second, he relishes large-scale storytelling.  Like his peer Denis Villeneuve, he loves painting on the biggest canvas possible.  Taken together, it makes perfect sense that Nolan would tackle The Odyssey, an epic tale in a genre he hadn’t conquered yet.  That said, the movie contains all of the narrative and stylistic touches you’d expect from a Nolan film, right down to the “what did he say?” moments of dialog dialog.

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