One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (2026)

A fly on the wall documentary highlighting the production of the final season of Stranger Things, which encompasses 10 years of development building up to its culmination. Combining 1980s nostalgia with the coming of age genre and Stephen King-style of horror, it became a global phenomenon to a whole new generation of kids, in the tradition of E.T., The Goonies and Stand by Me. As a fan of the show, I found it a cathartic look at saying goodbye to childhood.

3 emotional table reads out of 5

Note: There are Ups and Downs, but I'd rate the show 4 Demogorgons out of 5. 

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

"Oh, the pain. Life is such hideous pain."

Guillermo del Toro brings us his longstanding vision of Pinocchio as a lovingly crafted stop-motion production with all the stops. It's a masterpiece of design and one of the best looking films I've seen all year. I like how it goes beyond the original story to show us how Geppetto was inspired to build the puppet. It has that classic story tale feeling, like the original 1940 Disney animation, but it adds a certain pathos and darkness that was missing from that film. I wasn't expecting to be quite so moved by the end of it. I think it's just wonderful.

4½ hourglasses out of 5

The Legend of Ochi (2025)

The Ochi are a race of apelike creatures that are being hunted into extinction. When a baby Ochi is separated from its mother, a young girl defies her strict family (Willem Dafoe and Wolf Dickhard) in an attempt to reunite it back home.

This was a lovely little fantasy adventure, reminiscent of classic '80s Amblin vibes, The NeverEnding Story and The Dark Crystal. The creature itself brings to mind Gizmo from Gremlins (combined with the cuteness factor of Baby Yoda). Practical creature effects, old school puppetry and animatronics help bring this world to life and gives it all of its personality and charm (no CGI involved!). This is a film you could imagine Jim Henson might have had his hand in. It's a very minimal tale in all of its simplicity, but quite mesmerizing and moving. You don't often see gentle family films like this being made anymore.

3½ blue caterpillars out of 5

Hell of a Summer (2025)

Friday the 13th clones persist, even into 2025. Maybe I'm dumb, but I thought this one was a lot of fun. Kind of a self-aware deconstruction of the genre that unfortunately falls into a few of its own pitfalls. But it's all in good fun. Keep your expectations at the bottom of the barrel and you won't be disappointed.

3 peanut allergies out of 5

Note: This film marks the directorial debut of Finn Wolfhard, one of the kids from Stranger Things. Isn't it wonderful to watch the careers of children thrive and flourish all around you, while you continue to flounder in squalor?

Saturday Night (2024)

It's 90 minutes before the very first episode of Saturday Night Live is set to premiere on October 11, 1975. Lorne Michaels frantically struggles to keep the cast's larger-than-life personalities in check, as he deals with snarky writers, cranky technicians and know-it-all executives coming down on him from all sides. It's a clash of egos between divas and assholes, and it's exhausting to say the least. I give Jason Reitman props for handling this source material which has become the stuff of legend at this point, although at times it feels more like an excuse to showcase a bunch of celebrity impersonations (as good as they may be). It seems like they took a lot of the stories and lore from the first year of SNL and crammed as many as they could into a two-hour time frame. It ends right where the first episode begins, so I guess seek that out afterwards to see how it all turned out. 

2½ bee costumes out of 5

It: Chapter Two (2019)

27 years after defeating the evil the first time, the Losers come together in 2016 to fight the monster once more. This marks an improvement over the first chapter because we're introduced to the adult versions of the characters as we juxtapose back and forth in time. Unfortunately, the ambition of this film buckles under its own weight and can't sustain a nearly 3-hour runtime. Where these movies really excel are the production values and creepy visuals, but its detriment lies in the overreliance on CGI, which isn't very scary in and of itself. If we're talking about cheap practical effects vs. glossy CG, the former wins out each time. Sometimes less is more.

It doesn't quite stick the landing, but it's memorable enough for what it manages to accomplish.

3½ fortune cookies out of 5

It (2017)

Stephen King's classic novel gets a fresh coat of paint in the first of a new 2-part adaptation which transposes the events from 1950s to 1980s Derry, inspired by the recent nostalgic trend ushered in by Stranger Things. The result is slicker and scarier than what came before, but not any more effective. While the imagery and nightmare fuel is much more aggressive this time around (taking a page from A Nightmare on Elm Street and Sinister), it's missing the heart and charm of the original TV adaptation. While it may be considered superior in many ways, what King's works come down to at the end of the day are characters, and this lacks a lot of the chemistry and interactions between the Losers' Club which made that earlier film feel special.

Nevertheless, Bill Skarsgård steals the show as Pennywise, portraying him as much more sadistic and demonic than Tim Curry's version. It still manages to capture that scary feeling of being a kid, where domestic terror creeps around every corner. Since Derry's curse comes around every 27 years, this was followed up by It: Chapter Two in 2019.

3½ slide projectors out of 5

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

The best Ghostbusters sequel since Part II. Unfortunately, this one involves too many moving parts and not enough focus on the original Ghostbuster crew, which is really all anyone wanted. Still, it's an entertaining picture that strives to bring back what we all loved about the original, even though it feels bloated with one too many storylines and characters (as you can glean from the poster above). I honestly wouldn't mind more films in the series in this vein, although time seems to be running out and the actors aren't getting any younger.

As for the plot, we're back in NYC, and it's cold. That's really all you need to know.

3½ ecto-containment units out of 5

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Trading in the laughs per minute for a heartwarming family dramedy, Jason Reitman (son of original director Ivan) lovingly constructs his film as a tribute to its fallen star (and original writer) Harold Ramis. As such, it functions as an homage to the entire franchise, even as it essentially resurrects the old Ghostbusters gang (and Gozer) and recycles the plot of the 1984 film. What sets this apart is that it centers around Spengler's legacy and takes place in the quiet countryside rather than the bustling streets of NYC.

At first I was put off by this tone, until I realized there was no way they were ever going to replicate the spirit of the original, so they might as well try something different. Unfortunately, we really miss the presence of the original cast's camaraderie—in particular Bill Murray's wry wit—and this becomes glaringly obvious anytime they appear on screen together. Let's face it; the only reason this film is successful at all is because of the goodwill of the original.

If I could sum it up in even simpler terms, this is the Force Awakens of the Ghostbusters franchise.

3 mini-Pufts out of 5