All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Project Hail Mary (2026) Movie Review

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We’ve heard it all before. The isolated, industrious, possibly roguish single man left to his own devices in the depths of space. It’s a familiar tale. Author Andy Weir himself has already strung a similar yarn before this one, with the potato farming celestial castaway of The Martian (who would later be portrayed by Matt Damon in Ridley Scott’s 2015 adaptation). Project Hail Mary has a premise that shares a resemblance, but the end results are far different (and, I would argue, more compelling).

In this iteration, our stranded hero is Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a loner middle school science teacher whose controversial PhD dissertation and academic antics got him blacklisted from the scientific community. Luckily for Grace, his theory that water is not necessary for life lands him a spot on the global team that is working desperately to stop a mysterious molecular life form, dubbed Astrophage, from Continue reading Project Hail Mary (2026) Movie Review →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Original Song, Original Score, Sound (Part 7)

We have reached the conclusion. I couldn’t do it in one, but we got there in seven. Good enough. And we conclude with everyone’s favorite Oscar category…Best Sound. Nothing like them talkies. Alright, enough of this small talk. Come on in and take a seat, it’ll be brief.

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical. I’ve never seen anything quite like Part 4. Part 5 will open your third eye and show you a wondrous universe of the mind unlike any you’ve ever imagined. Actually, Part 6 is too much…its awesome power may be too much to behold, so just forget that one.

Best Original Song

This is another locked up category for KPop Demon Hunters. There isn’t anything Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Original Song, Original Score, Sound (Part 7) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Live Action, Documentary, and Animated Short (Part 6)

Part 6. I’m almost out of this numeric hellscape. So many numbers…all I see is numbers…I can’t even remember how I started down this path. Let us count the ways, but how? All I can think is “six.” Has it always just been 6?

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical. I’ve never seen anything quite like Part 4. Part 5 will open your third eye and show you a wondrous universe of the mind unlike any you’ve ever imagined.

Best Animated Short Film

There is one animated short that I have not been able to locate (most of the others are available on YouTube), so of course that will be the one that wins. The Three Sisters—look out for it. Of the four I have seen, this race could go a number of ways. I don’t think Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Live Action, Documentary, and Animated Short (Part 6) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Documentary, Animated Feature, International Film (Part 5)

What can one say about Part 5? I’m being non-rhetorical…I’m running out of numerical-based banter. We’re still doing Oscars predictions.

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical. I’ve never seen anything quite like Part 4.

Best Documentary Feature

I honestly don’t get the The Perfect Neighbor buzz, but it has won all over the place in doc categories. It is far and away Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Documentary, Animated Feature, International Film (Part 5) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup (Part 4)

Academy Awards predictions. Part 4. Trust me when I say that these are the most important predictions for your Oscar ballot. You will lose your office pool if you don’t pay careful attention to the next few paragraphs. They will seriously up your game.

Nah, I’m just kidding. This is mostly just a prolonged conversation about Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein. Enjoy. (Or don’t. It’s up to you.)

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2. Part 3 is magical.

Best Costume Design

Frankenstein is the heavy favorite in this category, and for good reason. It has a type of period costuming that the Academy adores. And, frankly, Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup (Part 4) →

Award Ceremonies, 2026 Academy Awards

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Casting, Cinematography, Editing, VFX (Part 3)

Ah yes, Part 3. It’s kind of like a trilogy…except we aren’t halfway through yet. So it’s like a trilogy, if…you don’t understand prefixes. Getting technical with this one, so bust out your kinetograph, your Rolodex, your splicing tape, and your 3D rendering software of choice.

Here’s Part 1. Don’t forget Part 2.

Best Casting

The inaugural Best Casting field is a very good one. This race mostly replicates the Best Picture race, in that Sinners and One Battle After Another are the two obvious choices. The most comparable major award to this is Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Casting, Cinematography, Editing, VFX (Part 3) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Supporting Acting and Screenplay (Part 2)

It’s Part 2 time. It’s like a Part 1, but a second one. We’re in the second half of the “above the line” categories. So keep your eye out for the line. It’s arbitrary and antiquated, so it’s easy to miss. But from what I understand, there is a line, and we’re about to pass it.

Here’s Part 1.

Best Supporting Actor

I don’t fully understand the Sean Penn aspect of One Battle After Another. I don’t personally dislike him in the film, but on a performance level I find him the least interesting of the principle characters. Benicio Del Toro, meanwhile, is the best performance in the film, some (and I) argue. While Penn is the favorite to win Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Supporting Acting and Screenplay (Part 2) →

2026 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Picture and More (Part 1)

Having arrived very late to the Oscar prediction party this year, I am splitting up my ballot into 4-5 articles, just to get them out in the most timely possible fashion. Currently, you are in the sweet spot of the headliner categories (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress). The big categories are usually among the easier to predict, but not this year!

Best Picture

Sinners could very well walk away from Oscar Sunday with the most awards, and it has a real shot at winning Continue reading 2026 Academy Awards Predictions — Best Picture and More (Part 1) →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

Cloud (2025) Movie Review

The Internet is filled with scams. Scalpers have been around as long as there have been tickets to sell, presumably. Snake oil salesmen before that. So long as there is a way to make a quick buck on a rube, people have tried.

The anonymity of these individuals is part of their strength. Shadowy individuals scoop up as many hot-item concert tickets as possible and mark them up by many multiples. Who are these people? Conventional wisdom would suggest: apathetic scumbag, opportunistic scumbag, scummy scumbag.

Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa only challenges this conventional wisdom enough so that we understand Continue reading Cloud (2025) Movie Review →

Lists, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Best Movies of 2025

I usually start these year-end lists with some perfunctory and entirely unnecessary recap of my feelings of the previous year. Not this year. Let’s move on. Our tomorrow must be better than our yesterday.

(The movies were OK).

Honorable Mentions: Sorry, Baby; The Secret Agent; Black Bag; Souleymane’s Story; The Ugly Stepsister; Marty Supreme; On Becoming a Guinea Fowl; Wake Up Dead Man; Eephus; The Mastermind; Hamnet; Caught by the Tides; Weapons; The Naked Gun; Left-Handed Girl

10. KPop Demon Hunters

I arrived very late to Kpop Demon Hunters, the surprise cultural sensation of 2025. And the film lives up to its reputation. Watching it, I couldn’t help but Continue reading The Best Movies of 2025 →

One man. Thousands of movies.