One Crazy Summer (1986)

Savage Steve Holland's follow-up to Better Off Dead had similar quirky comic sensibilities, but leans a bit too far in the direction of absurdity to thoroughly recommend. Regardless, I still choose to revisit it often because there are just enough memorable scenes that make me laugh. The plot is entirely secondary here; it's just a series of oddball misadventures set on the island of Nantucket.

2½ Godzilla suits out of 5

The Odyssey (1997)

Odysseus sets off with his crew to conquer Troy at the beginning of an epic fantastical adventure set in a world of gods and monsters. What I like about this adaptation is that it tells the story in chronological order (unlike Homer), which makes it easier to follow along on the trials and tribulations of its hero's journey, and also helps to hammer home how long and plodding this voyage lasts. I would argue this two-part made-for-TV movie has a bit too much fluff added to pad its 3-hour runtime, but it's probably the most faithful regarding its content. Unfortunately, you can feel the constraints of the budget which hinders its overall vision, while the cheesy special effects easily date it.

2½ Nobodies out of 5

The Odyssey (2026)

Two things:

1) This is the best version of Homer's Odyssey ever committed to film.

2) This is far from the best telling of this story.

No one was less excited about this movie than me. Even with Chris Nolan at the helm, a 3-hour epic based on a 3,000-year-old text is a big ask. I'm glad to be proven wrong. Matt Damon leads the big budget, all-star cast as Odysseus. Following a 10-year battle in Troy, it details his 10-year journey to get back home to Ithaca, told confusingly out of order. It's Greek mythology conveyed through grounded realism, captured practically for the most part on real-life locations. In order to emphasize its epic scale, it's also the first feature to be shot entirely on 70mm IMAX film, which comes with its own set of caveats. I found the colors on screen to be a bit drab and the sound mixing is absolutely horrendous. I watched it in IMAX, and for half the film the entire theater was rumbling, making it even harder to decipher dialogue. It's an all-out assault on the senses, although it makes the quieter moments stand out. No one would ever accuse Nolan of being a bad director, but he tends to be a little self-indulgent at times. However, there are moments here where you are held at rapt attention. As a fan of cinema, you owe it to yourself to check it out on the biggest screen possible, even though I still maintain it's far from perfect. 

4 gods defied out of 5

Note: If you enjoyed this modern retelling, I highly recommend The Return, which focuses on the final part of this story. 

Obsession (2025)

Bear loves Nikki more than anything in the world and makes a wish upon a cheap novelty trinket for her to love him more than anything in the world, despite not having any romantic feelings towards him. Similar to a monkey's paw or a Zoltar machine, it's a magical totem where your greatest dream can quickly spiral into a nightmare. It explores the sinister side of relationships, becoming a question of agency, where one party has no say in the matter. Inde Navarrette plays the inverted object of affection and it's her creepy physical presence and subtle facial expressions bathed in shadows which make for a highly effective horror premise. The sound design is solid, while the movie itself is lit very sparsely, leaving much of the finer detail to the imagination.

4 wish willows out of 5

Over Your Dead Body (2026)

A murder plot goes off the rails when a few intruders unexpectedly drop in. This gory dark action-comedy is rather twisty, but contains a few good laughs and thrills. Paul Guilfoyle has a small bit part but really made the movie for me.

3 hammer times out of 5

Outcome (2026)

A grown up child star, obsessed with his public image and increasingly out of touch with the world, embarks on an apology tour to get ahead of a possible scandal. 10 minutes into this movie, I knew it was going to be high-strung and completely exhausting. Director Jonah Hill is clearly trying too hard to stay hip and relevant. Biggest laugh was a throwaway line during the end credits.

1 Google search out of 5

Operation Avalanche (2016)

A mockumentary set during the space race of the late 1960s, it explores the idea of the U.S. faking the moon landing to get ahead of the Russians, a famous conspiracy theory explored in popular media (including in 2024). A pair of CIA agents infiltrate NASA to expose a possible mole and wind up participating in the subterfuge. What's really impressive about this film is how it recreates the era and blends the footage to look authentic. Matt Johnson already had some experience with this shooting style in The Dirties and Nirvanna the Band the Show, but this is a much more mature interpolation and the effect is seamless.

3 Kubrick techniques out of 5

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. 

Oh. What. Fun. (2025)

Michelle Pfeiffer plays a GILF who is hosting the holidays this year, along with an all-star cast who apparently had nothing else better to do. Each year, I suffer through a new crop of Christmas movies that always recycle the same ideas and morals, which is that family sucks, but they're your family, blah, blah blah. You know that's exactly what you're going to get here. I'm disappointed that this came from Michael Showalter because I was expecting something dark and subversive. It positions itself to become a holiday classic devoted to moms, but you can't force that shit; from all the intentional Christmas Vacation and Home Alone vibes littered throughout. The only reason why this isn't a total piece of shit is because Pfeiffer elevates everything she does and she looks fucking incredible for 67, but that's not nearly enough to save it.

1½ sorrowful renditions of "12 Days of Christmas" out of 5

One Battle After Another (2025)

This film defies any easy explanation, so I won't even try. Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon's Viceland, Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling three-hour crime epic covers a lot of ground. It's messy and takes a long fucking time to get going, but it's so close to greatness at times that I have to award it on that merit. Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn's fucked up characters make this ride infinitely watchable. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

4 boners under duress out of 5

Other (2025)

A former beauty queen returns home after her mother's death, where she's forced to face her demons of growing up in a strict household. Meanwhile, something else may be crawling in the house with her. It's surprisingly well executed, although it takes its sweet time getting there. I liked the unsettling choice to not show anyone else's face in this film besides the lead character.

2½ missing keys out of 5

Hot Spring Shark Attack (2024)

AKA: Onsen shâku (温泉シャーク)

I'll admit, watching a shitty Japanese B-movie is a bit better than an American one. But not by much. Fifty years after Jaws made you afraid to go back in the water, this one makes you too timid to take a casual dip in an indoor facility. It's insanely stupid, but it obviously knows what it's doing and leans into the absurdity. If you're a fan of Sharknado and other genre-inspired knock-offs, you might find something to like here. At 70 minutes, this shit is still too long.

1 Macho man out of 5

Oh, Hi! (2025)

A fledgling couple on a romantic trip to the remote countryside turns real dark when it's revealed that one likes the other more, while the other ends up in chains. I enjoyed it in the moment, although much less on reflection. I tend to watch these movies in a detached manner because I personally can't seem to relate to any of it. If only someone cared enough about me to chain me up...

2½ red flags out of 5

Opus (2025)

John Malkovich (channeling Nicolas Cage) plays what amounts to a cult leader at a commune under the guise of a musical prodigy who has just come out of retirement. Ayo Ebediri plays the only rational character in the film who questions his motives and all the weirdness surrounding them. It's a bit of the horror comedy persuasion (not unlike Get Out and Blink Twice), but feels like it could have gone much, much further. Standards must be slipping over at A24.

2½ bites of the communal bread out of 5

Oppenheimer (2023)

The most overrated movie of 2023. I love Christopher Nolan as much as the next film nerd, but he excels at making epic, original sci-fi films. I'm not quite as thrilled with his heady, awards-baiting historical dramas. This is essentially a 3-hour "talkie" picture about the Manhattan Project, and its literal fallout and legal ramifications. Does it really need to be that long to tell this story? Feels like a lot of pretentious showboating to me. The performances are all great and worthy of the acclaim they received, it's just that the whole thing feels a lot more self-important than it actually is. It does a fine job at telling its story, but isn't half as memorable or noteworthy as everyone else pretends it to be.

Won the "Best Picture" Oscar for 2023, but if the Academy had any balls, it would have gone to Poor Things.

3 Destroyer of Worlds out of 5

Old Dads (2023)

Three aging fathers find themselves raging against an increasingly politically correct world that is out of step with how they grew up. If you're a fan of Bill Burr's anger-fueled stand-up rants, this'll be right up your alley. Personally, I found it refreshing; the anger is cathartic. My only complaint is that it doesn't go hard enough. Some of the conventional choices in this film kind of took the steam out of it. It always bothers me whenever people try to claim this stuff is conservative or "boomer" humor (technically Gen X), when it's merely calling out the bullshit and the hypocrisies of modern life. I find it very telling that I relate more to these "old dads" than I do to people of my own generation.

3½ rap lyrics you sing when no one else is around out of 5

The Order (2024)

Based on true events, we follow a crime spree across the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s tied to a string of armed robberies committed by an apparent white supremacist terrorist group gathering funds for their nefarious deeds. Jude Law plays the FBI agent hot on their trail, with Tye Sheridan as his rookie and Nicholas Hoult as the head Aryan. Blah blah blah. A pretty standard procedural crime drama that more or less plays out exactly the way you expect it to, although its material is handled capably by all involved.

2 porno bombings out of 5

Out of Darkness (2022)

A Stone Age survival story that calls to mind something like Quest for Fire. This film is particularly unique because it's presented in an invented Paleolithic language with subtitles. 

45,000 years ago, a small clan struggles for survival against the harsh, unforgiving elements (and each other) while harboring a preternatural fear of the dark and suspecting a creature of stalking them from the shadows. You can kind of figure out where it's heading the entire time, but the end result is memorable enough.

2½ campfire tales out of 5

Orion and the Dark (2024)

Inside Out, as scripted by Charlie Kaufman. Orion is a kid who is scared of everything. He's obsessed with death and has an existential fear of the unknown. He contemplates all of life's big questions: What happens after it all goes dark? This is Charlie Brown if he was distilled down to a pure anxiety disorder. Pretty heavy shit for a kid's movie.

After a total blackout, Orion encounters the embodiment of the Dark, who takes him out on a grand adventure (à la Little Nemo in Slumberland) and forces him to confront his fears. Also in tow are the other nighttime entities: Sleep, Quiet, Sweet Dreams, Insomnia, and Unexplained Noises. (What a bunch of assholes!) You can kind of tell where this is going, but there are actually layers that are gradually peeled back and offer varying narrative perspectives. It goes some interesting places that few children's films would ever dare to go, which means it might be too intense for the little ones (though it would have been perfect for me). Once the curtain is finally lifted, there is an additional story being told that can only be appreciated by grown ass adults. Unfortunately, you get the feeling Kaufman's original script has been watered down in some respects to make it more agreeable for general audiences. You can sense they're holding back and are beholden to a more optimistic, conventional approach. As such, it's not quite as good as it could have been, but you can see all the potential that was there on the page.

3½ gilded lilies out of 5

Oddity (2024)

I walked into this screening completely blind, which has become my preferred method of watching movies nowadays because trailers spoil everything. I much prefer to "discover" movies on my own, without any pre-existing hype. It's rare that it happens these days, but I really love the feeling of going into a film knowing absolutely nothing about it beforehand; not a synopsis, teaser or nary a screenshot (even the poster above I feel gives too much away).

Out of respect for the reader, I won't spoil this one so you can enjoy it under the exact same circumstance. It's a creepy little movie to watch in a darkened room after midnight. This was definitely a slow-burn, but incredibly effective and well done.

3½ cabinets of curiosities out of 5