MOVIE REVIEW: JACKASS: BEST AND LAST

 

Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and the rest of the gang return for more outrageous and hilarious stunts.

Director: Jeff Tremaine

Cast: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England, Danger Ehren, Poopies, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson

Release Date: June 26, 2026

Genre: Documentary, Comedy

Rated R for extremely dangerous stunts and crude material throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language and sexual material.

Runtime: 1h 32m

Review:

Jackass: Best and Last might not live up to it's title but for fans of the series and its over the top antics, this collection of older clips and newer bits should serve as a proper sendoff that’ll deliver all the gross-out idiocy and laughs this group of friends have spent decades delivering.  The general idea is that if you’ve bought tickets to watch a Jackass movie you have a general idea of what you are walking into, especially by this point in time.  This entry plays out like an extended clip show with plenty of classic bits incorporated into the runtime, I’d assume since most of these guys are nearing 50 now there’s only so much new torture, they can submit themselves to without seriously hurting themselves.  There are more than a few moments that still leave you shaking your head, wondering why these guys are still willing to put themselves through for a laugh.  There are plenty of moments where the sheer stupidity of what’s thrown onscreen just makes you laugh uncontrollably enough leaves you gasping for air.  There’s not much of a structure to this film, much like previous entries, but you do get the sense that this is truly their last hurrah, especially once Knoxville starts reminiscing towards the end of the film and after he’s completed another round with a bull.  You do get a sense that the core group of guys that have been around since the beginning are actual friends even through all the insanity, they’ve put themselves through.  You don’t necessarily get the sense that they’ve learned anything over the last 20 something years especially after being decried as the downfall of western society, when they first hit the scene in the early 2000’s, something that feels almost quaint by this point and time.  By the time Jackass: Best and Last ends and the credits roll over those earliest bits, you do get a sense that this motley crew of characters know it’s probably best for their own wellbeing to move on to another chapter of their lives.

B

MOVIE REVIEW: SUPERGIRL

 

When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Supergirl reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion for an interstellar journey of vengeance and justice.

Director: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, Jason Momoa

Release Date: June 26, 2026

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, action, language, and smoking.

Runtime: 1h 50m

Review:

Supergirl, much like its central character, is a messier and less refined than last year’s Superman as Milly Alcock capably takes center stage as an emotionally damaged version Kara Zor-El.  Craig Gillespie film borrows heavily from plenty of sources with Guardians of The Galaxy and Mad Max being the most obvious but there’s a grimier, 80’s B movie vibe, that permeates the whole film.  It gives the film a distinctive look and feels that works in its favor as we move from world to world and run into a cornucopia of alien species.  The visuals and action are chaotic by design but once the dust settles it does leave you wondering why everything feels so familiar.  The majority of the characters and their motivations are well worn tropes that we’ve seen a million times before.  Eve Ridley’s Ruthye Marye Knoll quest for revenge after Matthias Schoenaerts’s Krem of the Yellow Hills kicks off the action with both character’s introduced early in the film and take up a good amount of screentime which makes you wonder why the characters are so thinly drawn.   Ridley feels miscast as she never really sells the burning fire that’s driving the character after witnessing her family’s murder.  She comes off as too sweet with the role needing something closer to Bella Ramsey’s Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones.  It doesn’t help that we aren’t offered up more depth or backstory about her or her family outside of the fact that her father made swords.  Matthias Schoenaerts’s Krem fares even worse as he’s given the most generic villain in recent memory with the script giving him even less to work with as the character is simply evil, well because.  It’s a shame because Schoenaerts is talented character actor and could have brought something more interesting to the screen if he had better material to work with.  Milly Alcock, on the other hand, gives the titular character much more nuance and depth to this self-destructive version of Kara.  She’s always the most interesting performer onscreen, especially when she’s given a chance to dig into the character’s more traumatic backstory which works as the perfect mirror to David Corenswet’s optimistic and hopeful Superman.  It’s a strong turn across the board but the story has a far more melancholy tone, especially in the 2nd half, than Superman which might turn off some people looking for another light, fizzy superhero story.  Her performance is generally the best thing about the whole film, which makes it a real headscratcher when they decide to take the focus off her character and move to the other less interesting ones.  Jason Momoa does provide a nice boost every time he pops up as DC’s legendary bounty hunter, Lobo, taking the reins of a character that’s much more tailor made for his vibe.  The film would have been better off if they’d given Momoa’s Lobo and Alcock’s Kara more time together to take full advantage of their natural chemistry together.  As is, Supergirl is a serviceable launching pad for the character and Alcock’s take on her but are you left wishing it was something more engaging and memorable.  

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: TOY STORY 5

 

Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs get exponentially harder when they go head-to-head with a new threat to playtime.

Director: Andrew Stanton

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, Annie Potts, Bonnie Hunt, Melissa Villaseñor, Kristen Schaal, Keanu Reeves, Ally Maki

Release Date: June 19, 2026

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy

Rated PG for some thematic elements and rude humor.

Runtime: 1h 42m

Review:

Toy Story 5 shows that Pixar’s flagship franchise still possesses the emotional resonance and charm that made the original so special with this entry dealing with the encroachment of technology into childhood.  Andrew Stanton takes the reins behind the camera for this entry, delivering a visually impressive film that makes the well-known characters and the world they inhabit pop onscreen like never before.  The level of detail on display with each shot is truly staggering as each character and scene offers up a feast of visual treats.  There’s a noticeable pop in this entry that makes sequences like a battalion of high tech, fluorescent, Buzz Lightyears marching in a dark forest instantly memorable.  Stanton utilizes a watercolor flourish for scenes that occur in the children’s imagination as they play with the toys which brings a certain vibrancy to those moments.  Visual wizardry aside, the story is still concerned with the original conceit of the meaning of childhood and how these toys help with the natural progression of growth.  The script deals with the modern incursion of technology into that sphere and how it accelerates children’s emotional growth at the expense of creativity and imagination.  Joan Cusack’s Jessie takes central stage here as she tries to fight off Greta Lee’s Lilypad who quickly takes over Bonnie’s life.  Cusack has always given Jessie an emotionally damaged energy which is further explored as the character is on the precipice of losing a third child, prematurely in this case.  It’s a spotlight for the character as we get a real sense of her deep drive and perseverance to help her child while also dealing with her own personal trauma, a reveal in the final act will have your eyes welling up and ultimately coming to terms with it.  She spends the lion’s share of her time with obsolete children’s tech played by Conan O'Brien’s Smarty Pants, Shelby Rabara’s Snappy and Craig Robinson’s Atlas.  The foursome share some wonderful chemistry together which makes it easier to overlook the fact that this entry has Tom Hanks’ Woody and Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear take more of a secondary role story wise.  Hanks and Allen do get moments for their characters to get their due but those looking for a story focused on their core relationship will probably be left wanting for more.  The story itself does a solid job of working through the issues of tech in modern children’s growth however, much like Toy Story 4, this entry feels more like another epilogue to the original trilogy. 

B

MOVIE REVIEW: EXIT 8

 

Strange events plague a young man as he searches for the exit in an endless subway tunnel.

Director: Genki Kawamura

Cast: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kochi, Naru Asanuma, Kotone Hanase, Nana Komatsu

Release Date: April 10, 2026

Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for some bloody images and terror.

Runtime: 1h 35m

Review:

Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8 is an effective example of liminal horror that makes the most of its labyrinthine, repetitive construction to deliver a foreboding sense of atmosphere that permeates its brisk runtime to deliver some solid thrills.  Kawamura’s crafts a claustrophobic experience that feels eerily relatable to anyone who has wandered through any major city’s subway non-descript tunnels before turning it into a sort of purgatory that our “Lost Man” wanders through.  The film is beautifully shot, giving the seemingly endless rotations through the same tunnels an appropriately disorienting feel.  Once the rules of the game are laid out, the film turns into a game of finding the anomalies as we follow our nameless protagonist try and find his way out of his waking nightmare.  Items and people that we’ve seen multiple times become more and more ominous with each progressive turn, setting up some well-timed shocks along the way.   There are multiple shifts in perspective that keep everything from becoming overly repetitive, which also gives the audience a fair bit of context and backstory as to what is going on.  The story has a clever overreaching theme that plays like a solid metaphor about modern life, fatherhood among other things with the film designed to be left open for interpretation.  There are a few missteps here and there with the script as the “Lost Man” goes along with disturbingly odd situation far too easily initially and reacts far too slowly later on after he’s well aware of the danger’s anomalies portend.  Kazunari Ninomiya is solid in the role which mainly has him reacting to the assorted insanity thrown at him, although the film does offer up a few moments to give his character a bit more emotional depth.  The supporting cast played by Yamato Kochi, The Walking Man, Kotone Hanase, The High School Girl, and Naru Asanuma, The Boy, all deliver equally solid work with the latter two getting some memorable moments that’ll stick with you.  Exit 8 proves to be a memorable experience that takes full advantage of it premise and is sure to sate those looking for more big screen liminal horror.

B

MOVIE REVIEW: DISCLOSURE DAY

 

A meteorologist and a cybersecurity expert find themselves at the center of a movement to expose the government's cover-up of extraterrestrial secrets.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell

Release Date: June 12, 2026

Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language.

Runtime: 2h 25m

Review:

Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day offers up the kind of action and humanity you’d expect however there’s a noticeable unevenness to it all, mainly due to a clunky script that keeps it from being something truly special.  Spielberg hasn’t lost his ability to create an engaging blockbuster that throws you right into the action and does so effortlessly here by dropping us right in the middle of the action.  Kernels of story details are dropped along the way before the full reveal of the alien coverup conspiracy that drives the story.  Well-funded shadow organizations chase down Emily Blunt’s Margaret Fairchild, a Kansas City meteorologist, and Josh O'Connor’s Daniel Kellner, a cybersecurity expert who’s ready to reveal everything.   Car chases and action sequences are interspersed with discussions about faith and how it would handle a revelation of exterritorial life.  It’s an intriguing concept to consider but the script doesn’t find a way to weave it seamlessly into the story which halts the film’s forward momentum.  The film is essentially a road movie with it working best as we follow our two leads trek to ultimately find each other through their shared connection.  It doesn’t make a ton of sense if you spend too much thinking about the whole thing but it’s entertaining enough to keep you engaged and makes its nearly two and half hour runtime not feel all that laborious.  It’s a testament to Spielberg and his cast because the script is filled with clunky dialogue and one-dimensional characterization that would have made the whole thing a mess in less capable hands.  Emily Blunt delivers a thoroughly impressive turn, leaving a noticeable mark the moment she pops up onscreen.  Her meteorologist’s on-air breakdown/revelation is deftly handled in an extended one shot early in the film which shows how effortlessly switches between speaking a foreign language to a frazzled on-air personality running late.  She plays against type for large stretches of the film as the character’s world has been utterly upended as she’s forced to face repressed memories.  Blunt brings so much nuance to her turn which makes her character the most interesting and layered person onscreen throughout.  Her and Wyatt Russell, who plays her boyfriend to start, have some solid chemistry together but he’s sidelined far too early for my taste.  Josh O’Connor does what he can with his character, which isn’t nearly as layered or interesting, leaving him the less interesting task of unloading a fair share of exposition.  He’s fine in the role but he’s just never as engaging as Blunt, which is amplified when the pair team up in the final act.  Suffering similar fates are Colin Firth and Colman Domingo who are asked to bring their notable screen presence but asked to do little more.  Those hoping for a direct connection to Spielberg’s classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, will be left wanting since there’s nothing to be found outside a blink or you’ll miss its flash of Devils Tower among a quick succession of alien encounters.  Once it’s all said and done, Disclosure Day may not be Spielberg’s best but it’s probably the kind of movie that you wished the X-Files franchise had gotten back in the day. 

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: SCARY MOVIE 6

 

Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer, Shorty, Ray, Cindy and Brenda find themselves targeted by another mad slasher.

Director: Michael Tiddes

Cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Jon Abrahams, Anthony Anderson, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans 

Release Date: June 5, 2026

Genre: Comedy, Horror

Rated R for crude sexual content, graphic nudity, strong violence, and drug content and language throughout.

Runtime: 1h 36m

Review:

Scary Movie 6 sees the return of the Wayans brothers and nearly everybody from the original movie for what should be a raucous return for horror spoof franchise unfortunately what we get is a collection of mostly unfunny and lifeless scenes that recycle tired jokes more often than not.  There’s plenty of fertile ground in the horror genre to pick from over the last twenty-five years they could have mined to spoof but for some reason it fumbled away as we get unconnected recreations of famous scenes but little more.  Five writers are credited, including three Wayans, which just leaves you wondering why they couldn’t deliver something slightly a tad more cohesive and funnier.  The jokes do come at a steady pace but most of them just don’t land mainly because they’re fairly lazy and predictable.  The plot is still using the Scream franchise as its overall template, borrowing heavily from Scream 5, which seems more than a little passé by this point.  It would all work better if the spoofs of recent horror hits were worked into the flow of the film as opposed to random non sequitur tangents.  It would all be more forgivable if they were at least funny and took advantage of the talented cast.  Anna Faris and Regina Hall are highlights of the whole thing, especially when they get to work off each other, but those moments are few and far between.  Faris’ best moments don’t come until the very random John Wick spoof in the final act that also throws up the cleverest concept of the whole film which leaves you wondering why the concept of legacy characters killing off reboot characters wasn’t the central thread holding it all together all along.  The rest of the cast do what they can with what they are given with Marlon and Shawn Mayans regurgitating the same weed and gay jokes from the first two films while Olivia Rose Keegan, who delivers a rather fun impression of Faris as her daughter, and Cameron Scott Roberts just seem to be begging for something to do.  Cheri Oteri, Dave Sheridan and Anthony Anderson along with a handful of other familiar faces return for small cameos that aren’t as impactful or funny as they should be.  Scary Movie 6 ends up feeling like a massive misfire since the Wayans have proven to be more than capable of delivering a solid spoof with the first Scary Movie and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka serving as prime examples of how funny they can be. 

D