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

MOVIE REVIEW: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

 

The Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, a world shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. Joining forces with Teela and Man-At-Arms, Adam must embrace his true destiny as He-Man -- the most powerful man in the universe.

Director: Travis Knight

Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Jared Leto, Alison Brie, Idris Elba, James Purefoy, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Charlotte Riley, Kristen Wiig, Morena Baccarin 

Release Date: June 5, 2026

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence/action, some suggestive material, and language.

Runtime: 2h 22m

Review:

Travis Knight’s adaptation of Masters of the Universe leans heavily into the absurdity of concept to deliver a colorfully weird but likable film that, echoes of 1980’s Flash Gordon, boast some fun action sequences and a pair of strong turns from Nicholas Galitzine and Jared Leto but its ultimately held back by a weak script and its overlong runtime.  The film opens, much like Knight’s 2018 Bumblebee, with an extended action sequence that delivers everything anybody who grew up with the show in the 80’s could want as we see the various heroes and villains battle it out before settling into the main thrust of the story of Galitzine’s Adam trying to find his sword and his way back home.  Galitzine has a likeable, goofy charm that’s reminiscent of Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent from the 80’s Superman which makes it easier to watch as he works through some of the script’s weaker moments in the early part of the film.  Once Knight moves the action back to Eternia there’s a healthy sense that everybody is having a blast as we get a series of energetic action sequences and self-referential jokes that are generally fun.  Unfortunately, there are more than a few dead zones which makes you wish there had been some judicious edits to make everything flow together more consistently.  The script offers up plenty of comedic elements, some working better than others, along with an undercurrent about masculinity and dealing with emotions which is an interesting angle for this muscle-bound cartoon that’s not fully explored.  You get the sense that there’s a more interesting version of Galitzine’s Adam and Idris Elba’s Duncan relationship, but the script doesn’t give it time to really germinate.  Elba is fun in this role, but you get the sense he’d love to do something more substantial even his relationship with his daughter Teela, played by a focused Camila Mendes.  Mendes delivers solid work, but her character feels a bit stiff for all the other goofy going around her as she’s mostly stuck playing the straight girl to everybody else.  On the other end of the spectrum are Jared Leto’s Skeletor and Alison Brie’s Evil Lynn with both gleefully hamming it up every time they pop up onscreen.  Leto’s work manages to capture the odd insecure megalomania of the cartoon character which makes him the most fun character in the whole movie.  His dialogue and deliver are just pitch perfect, especially as he leans into the characters’ unapologetic evilness that doesn’t try to overthink his motivations too much, which lets Leto go wild.  Brie isn’t given as much time to shine but she manages to leave enough of an impression that you wish the character was explored a bit more.  Something the film could have easily done with its hefty nearly two hours and a half runtime to flesh out some of the character a bit more, as is Master of the Universe has its faults fans of the series are sure to find plenty of nostalgic enjoyment to be had.  

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: BACKROOMS

 

Backrooms is an upcoming American science fiction horror film directed by Kane Parsons in his feature-length directorial debut and written by Will Soodik. It is based on Parsons' web series and inspired by the "Backrooms" creepypasta.

Director: Kane Parsons

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell

Release Date: May 29, 2026

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for language and some violent content/bloody images.

Runtime: 1h 45m

Review:

Kane Parsons brings his YouTube series to the big screen in a mesmerizing debut that’s an unsettling, off-kilter decent into a manila colored labyrinthine propelled by stellar visuals and a standout performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor.  Parsons film boast an early 90’s aesthetic that leans heavily into the more mundane but there’s always a sense that something is off about what you are seeing.  Cinematographer, Jeremy Cox, deserves a hefty amount of credit as he and Parsons frame shots with a meticulous attention to detail both in the real-world environments and the multitude of “backrooms” the film takes us through.  It all gives the proceedings a distinctive look that’s striking and instantly memorable especially when the film changes to a first-person VHS perspective emulating the original “creepy pasta” shorts.  The switch to first person delivers some of the film’s most hair-raising moments as we are exposed to a steady barrage of the increasingly bizarre rooms and creatures that inhabit them.  There’s an arthouse approach to the whole thing that maybe off putting to some since answers are few and far between by design leaving large portions of the story up to interpretation.  The story seems to pull inspiration from a variety of sources most notably Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich, David Lynch’s more idiosyncratic film along with a healthy serving of Mark Z. Danielewski’s 2000 book, House of Leaves, which also dealt with a massive nonsensical, dark labyrinth.  This is definitely a film that leans heavily on strength of its atmospheric energy to make up for its lean storytelling approach.  Chiwetel Ejiofor makes the most of his screentime delivering an impressive turn as the damaged furniture store owner who discovers a portal to the “backrooms.”  Ejiofor mines the script for every morsal of emotional depth for his character as we follow his decent into the rooms and his own damaged psyche.  There are a few moments of levity when his employees, played by Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell, join his exploration with distavorous results.  Renate Reinsve plays Clark's therapist, who carries her own trauma but doesn’t get nearly as much to work with even as she takes the lead in the final act of the film.  Reinsve does the best she can with her screentime which is mostly made up of looking into the camera is confused wonderment however she does have two impressive interchanges with Ejiofor that leaves you wishing the script had explored their relationship in more depth over the course of the film.  Story issues aside, its hard to deny the level of artistry and talent on display in Backrooms which bodes well for Kane Parsons’ future in film. 

A-