50 Movie Reviews 2026

3.5 Stars out of 4   There was something magical about going to the movies when I was young. Part of it was the era I grew up in. I got to watch ET fly across the moon on a bike. Was terrified every time Darth Vader appeared on the screen in the Star War’s movies. This was way before Netflix and cell phones and streaming. Going to the movies was an event back then. I sometimes get that sad sort of nostalgia that so much of that has now disappeared. Really big “event’ movies are mostly a thing of the past now. Which is why Project Hail Mary is such a breath of fresh air. Grabbing my bucket of popcorn and heading to my seat, I felt that childlike anticipation once again. It’s been a long time. Having read the book first, I knew what kind of guy Ryan Gosling’s Grace was going to be. He’s the kind of guy that says “heck” instead of hell and “darn” instead of damn. In the book it kind of annoyed me, but on the screen his innocence translates better. He’s a very mild, risk-averse...

Is this thing on? 3.5 stars out of 4. A wise man once said, Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. That’s a good place to start with this movie. The couple in this film seem like they get along well enough, but they’ve agreed to get a divorce. They are both trying to be as nice as possible despite the massive Elephant in the room. They have kids and a house and a community. There are going to be some logistical issues. You kind of wonder why these two are breaking up. A key piece of understanding comes from Lara Dern’s character towards the end of the movie when she says, “ I was unhappy in our marriage. I wasn't unhappy with our marriage.” It's the key line in the whole movie. These were two people who had dreams. She was going to be a professional Volleyball player. Her dreams were clear. His are a little more hidden, and where the movie spends most of it’s time. He has a vague job in “finance” that’s nice enough to pay for a big house in the New York suburb...

                                  4 Stars out of 4  In 1998, Lai Hang, a 49-year-old widow facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, shot her 17-year old son George, who suffered from severe schizophrenia. He had become obsessed with school shootings, and she worried he would act on these urges. On the day she received her prognosis, Hang took her son's life to spare him from a life alone with an untreated mental illness and to potentially spare others from the harm he might do. The case highlighted the shame and taboo surrounding mental illness within some Asian American communities, which hindered early treatment and support. Those are the facts this movie is based on.  But the way Lucy Liu humanizes this story is nothing short of extraordinary.  I remember way back when I was learning how to be a psychologist, we had to take a class on cultural awareness. This class walked a fine line betwee...

3.5 Stars out of 4   The recent TV series Adolescence, created quite a stir around the world. It even produced the youngest Emmy winner ever in Owen Cooper. It's a tough watch and extremely thought-provoking. The essential question asking, "What the hell is happening with kids right now?" That's not to suggest bullying hasn't been around for a while. Lord of the Flies is 70 year's old, but we could probably go back thousands of years before that. This movie is something different though. I remember this movie, even though it is most certainly not about growing up in my era. Children in groups (particularly around 12 or 13) can exhibit a kind of viciousness that can be hard to explain unless you've been on the wrong side of it. Sadly, I've been on both sides of this particular equation. The "plague" in this case is a skin condition a boy named Eli suffers from, that cause the others to torture him. It's nothing he did or said, but just the...

                3.5 Stars out of 4 Someone asked me the other day why I hate Marvel movies. I had to think about it for a second. It's not really that I HATE them. I just think there are a lot of stories worth telling that really happened. True stories. History. Real people. There really was a guy named Marty Reisman who hustled Ping-Pong while living one hell of a crazy life. Although this movie isn't a one-to-one Biography, there was a real guy who did a lot of this crazy stuff. But that's still not quite enough to make a great movie. You still have to tell the story in an engaging way. Shoot the scenes. Find the right actors.  Now about about that, "find the right actor" part. Man is Timothée Chalamet having a moment right now. I was pretty skeptical they could make a movie about Bob Dylan correctly. He's just too complicated. But somehow Chalamet absolutely nailed it. He's just as good here. Inhabiting a man with extreme talent and c...

                   Rebuilding- 3.5 stars out of 4 It's been suggested by those who study such things that we have entered into a new "age." With the rise of AI making entire industries obsolete, one can't help but wonder what happens to those who are left behind by this "progress." Entire elections have been decided by emphasizing what happens to the "forgotten man." The wonderful movie Nomadland previously explored this idea as well. What if you were 60 years old and your entire career and even your entire town disappeared. Where would you go? What would you do? This movie explores similar themes by those affected by natural disasters. With a changing climate making these problems more and more common, this movie focuses on one such man and one such family. What would you do next if you lost everything you owned, including your home? The man is named Dusty, and he also has a young daughter named Callie-Rose he hasn't seen for a little w...