MOVIE REVIEW: THE DOG STARS

 

Survivors of a deadly pandemic traverse a post-apocalyptic landscape to find the origin of a mysterious radio transmission.

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley,  Guy Pearce, Benedict Wong, Daisy Kakkar

Release Date: August 28, 2026

 

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

Rated R for strong violence, and language.

Runtime:  1h 58m

Review:

The Dog Stars boast a top line director and cast but it struggles to find something new or interesting to say in a genre that’s been run ragged by this point.  Ridley Scott’s film is more of a meditation on grief and the ability to find hope after extreme loss with the occasional action set pieces replete with post-apocalyptic marauders.   Scott takes full advantage of the Italian landscape subbing in for the Rockies by delivering plenty of sweeping shots of the terrain as we follow Jacob Elordi’s Hig fly from spot to spot in his old Cessna.  The aforementioned action set pieces are all well-constructed jolts of energy when they take place however those expecting more of those moments will be left wanting for more.  The overall pacing of the film is strangely disjointed as we’re given large stretches of quiet character moments before those set pieces pop up.  There’s not much time spent on who or why these marauders have gone full Mad Max with only Allison Janney’s Grand Junction getting the slightest bit of backstory but her character comes and goes so quickly it barely leaves an impression.  There are some strange similarities with Neil Marshall’s underrated 2008 film, Doomsday, which is also populated with strange and dangerous survivors, but this film is so incredibly self-serious that it barely gives itself a moment to breathe.   The main cast keeps the whole thing from being a total disaster with Jacob Elordi delivering a solid, soulful turn as Hig who can’t let go of the memory of his wife.  He and Josh Brolin have great chemistry together onscreen, but the story separates them for large portions of time unfortunately.  It’s a shame because you can tell Brolin is having a ball playing Bangley, a gruff former Marine survivalist, who has been surviving on an abandoned airfield with Hig for an undetermined amount of time.  Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce make up the rest of the main supporting characters with Pearce playing a different sort of gruff survivor although he’s more concerned with the safety of his daughter.  Qualley and Elordi work well together to make their relationship entertaining enough even though there’s nary a question the two will ultimately end up together by the time it’s all said and done.  It’s something that The Dog Stars suffers from in general, for all its thoughtful reflections on grief there’s very little that happens that’s surprising or revelatory which makes it all feel like a missed opportunity.   

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: COLONY

 

Trapped inside a sealed building during a deadly bioterrorist attack, a desperate group of survivors must navigate growing panic and betrayal as they fight to stay alive.

Director: Na Hong-jin

Cast:Jun Ji-hyun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook, Kim Shin-rok, Shin Hyun-been, Go Soo

Release Date: September 9, 2026

 

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for bloody violent content and some language.

Runtime: 2h 3m

Review:

Yeon Sang-ho’s latest zombie horror film, Colony, is a kinetic action-packed zombie fest that packs together a handful of tropes into a bloody, mucus filled goodtime.  Sang-ho film waste little time taking off as his script is decidedly lean on characterization, focusing instead on sleek pulse pounding action set pieces.  Those action sequences are impressive across the board as infected people fling themselves at survivors in a steady succession of increasingly complicated contortions.  It all plays out like the slimiest Cirque du Soleil performance ever to occur in a mall.   The setting will illicit memories of Dawn of the Dead, the original and remake, but there are more than a few whiffs of the 28 Days Later franchise and The Last of Us series thrown in for good measure.  The central concept of an evolving zombie hivemind horde gives the action a dash of freshness as the survivors have to constantly keep on their toes with the infected learning their tactics.  None of the concepts, including the hive mind, is terribly groundbreaking but it’s a testament to Sang-ho’s talent as a director that it’s all so thoroughly entertaining especially if you’re looking for a fun zombie thrill ride.  While there’s plenty of splatter fun to enjoy during the film’s frenetic two-hour runtime, the characters are all little more than thinly scripted types with none of them getting enough time to get properly fleshed out.   Jun Ji-hyun’s biotechnology professor, Kwon Se-jeong, serves as the film’s defacto lead with her bringing strong, confident screen presence to the role.  She exudes self-determination and intelligence throughout which leaves you wishing the script had given the character a tad more depth to fully take advantage of her performance.  Koo Kyo-hwan’s bio terrorist, Seo Young-cheol, who caused the outbreak takes center stage in the second half of the film and is played with enough nefarious glee that you just can’t wait for him to get his comeuppance.  The rest of the supporting cast does its best with their limited screentime with only the brother sister duo, played by Ji Chang-wook and Kim Shin-rok, leaving a noticeable impact.  Once its all said and done, Colony, may not reach the heights of Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan but its still a bloody fun zombie film.  

B

MOVIE REVIEW: HOT SPOT

 

In a near-future society ruled by sentient AI, a private eye who's investigating a murder case encounters a rebel group that's capable of undermining the digital overlord.

Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska

Cast: Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace, Reika Kirishima 

Release Date: August 21, 2026

 

Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for strong violent content, gore, graphic nudity, sexual content and brief language.

Runtime: 1h 41m

Review:

Agnieszka Smoczynska’s Hot Spot starts off like a solid cyberpunk amalgam of The Matrix and Mad Max paired with striking visuals but whatever energy it starts with quickly fizzles as reveals a meandering, muddled plot that borders on absurdity at various points during its runtime.  Konopka’s garish visual style gives the film a psychedelic energy that should make the entire thing much more entertaining than it is.  Plot points are dictated at various points during the film which makes for more than a few moments of clunky exposition that doesn’t come close to explaining what’s going on outside of the most basic aspect of the AI totalitarian dystopia on display.  All other bits of oddity thrown on screen like Andrzej Konopka’s detective, Jan 623, generally bizarre wardrobe and look, man eating pet worm, or his partner randomly having elf ears aren’t given even a passing line of explanation.  Konopka seems dead set to make things odd just for the sake of being odd with these choices, amounting to nothing in the grand scheme of the story.  The script has plenty of ideas bouncing around but it doesn’t have any conception of how to form these assorted themes and concepts into a cohesive whole.  While the film has a decidedly advent garde looks and feel there barely enough to make any of it engaging enough for you to care about what’s going on, making the whole thing an increasingly difficult slog as the film drags on with very little actually happening.  The primary cast of Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace and Reika Kirishima have all clearly bought into the director’s vision and seem primed and ready to do anything and everything she asks of them.  It’s shame that they’re given virtually nothing to work with outside of the most abstract bits of a concept, none of which is fully realized.  The cast generally seems desperate to be given something substantial or meaningful to work with.  It all makes Hot Spot feel like a hollow, wasted attempt at a film that’s so incoherent and incomplete that it leaves you wondering how it all went so wrong during the creation of the project.  

D-

MOVIE REVIEW: TONY

 

Nineteen-year-old Anthony Bourdain stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that shapes the course of his life.

Director: Matthew Johnson

Cast: Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall, Antonio Banderas

Release Date: August 7, 2026

Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama

Rated R for pervasive language, drug use, and sexual content/nudity.

Runtime: 1h 46m

Review:

Tony doesn’t require you to know much about the man at the center of the film which makes it an impressively accessible coming of age tale that never lionize which makes the character onscreen feel all the more real and human.  Matthew Johnson’s film lives and breathes as a portrait of a young man desperately searching for meaning and direction in his life that gives everything an air of authenticity.  He isn’t afraid to show his main character in an unflattering light for large portions of time as he’s shown to be a self-aggrandizing liar who’s most concerned with people being impressed with him.  He fails regularly and makes some horrible decisions along the way that should feel relatable to large portion of people.  Dominic Sessa captures that energy effortlessly as he gives the audience a sense of the character’s unearned superiority which masks an undercurrent of his failures.  His lanky figure and hunched over posture give the audience a sense of his awkwardness and insecurity along with a general willingness to follow anyone who’s willing to give him the time of day.   He becomes fast friends with Leo Woodall misfit restaurant worker, Sal, who possesses a chaotic charisma that Tony is initially entranced with until things go off the rails with their mentor played by Antonio Banderas.  Banderas has rarely been better as he delivers an award worthy turn as 'Chef' José Vatel who owns the small restaurant Tony ends up working and living with during that formative summer.  Banderas plays the character with impressive nuance and depth as he depicts the character as a tough taskmaster but underneath it there’s an understated soulfulness that enchanting once it reveals itself.  Their stellar work makes the emotional turns hit like a gut punch as this motley crew of a family fractures and nearly falls apart.  The restaurant relationships are so well done that it leaves Emilia Jones’ love interest story line feel more perfunctory than engaging even though his pursuit of her gets the plot rolling.  Those looking for a more expansive exploration of Bourdain will probably be better off sticking with his famous memoir, Kitchen Confidential, since Tony is concerned with a very specific point in time in his life.  That laser focus allows Tony to be a complicated but thoughtful tribute that displays the kind of honest humanism Bourdain would have likely appreciated.  

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER

 

Gemma is a young mother who discovers she can travel into the Further, a purgatorial realm of lost souls. When something evil comes after her, she realizes she can bring what lives there back to the real world. Once the demons realize her power, our world becomes their playground.

Director: Jacob Chase

Cast: Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Lin Shaye

Release Date: August 21, 2026

Genre: Horror, Mystery,Thriller

Rated PG-13 for strong violent content, bloody images, terror and some strong language.

Runtime: 1h 46m

Review:

Insidious: Out of the Further offers up an expansion of the franchise by opening up the world and bringing in more creepy monsters and delivers a consistent series of haunted house jump scares that’s predictable, occasionally goofy but still mildly entertaining.  Jacob Chase capably directs the film with an efficient hand, wasting little time getting into the film’s central plot and laying down the ground rules which should be familiar to fans of the franchise.  He set up a series of set pieces that rely heavily on old school tension and jump scares highlighted by a trek in the world’s strongest sofa pillow fort.  There are plenty of spooky and gross imagery thrown onscreen, definitely gives you a better appreciation for dental hygienist, to keep the action rolling along at a steady pace.  A large part of the plot feels fairly predictable with large swaths of the story reveals being telegraphed a mile away.  The central villain in this entry does offer up some interesting ideas by bringing in death cults and the afterlife that gives him a different angle although the script doesn’t explore it in a meaningful way.  There are plenty of unanswered questions about how him and his acolytes gained the kind of power they display throughout but it does make for a series of amusing moments such as Brandon Perea’s policeman questioning the aforementioned acolytes.  Amelia Eve, who looks like she could be Charlize Theron’s sister that nobody talks about, is perfectly capable in the central role even if her character is thinly written.  Eve and Island Austin, who plays her daughter Maya, have some solid onscreen energy with Austin bringing some real presence as a child actress which makes you wonder why the film didn’t spend a little more time with their relationship before things get supernaturally nutty.  They still manage to make their characters likable enough that you have enough vested interest in their survival to keep you engaged in the story.  Franchise stalwart, Lin Shaye, returns and is given a bit more to do here than previous entries while still serving as the connective tissue for the series.  The rest of the supporting players played by Brandon Perea and Maisie Richardson-Sellers are given the most basic character traits and a willingness to go along with whatever Amelia Eve’s Gemma layouts for them with little to no push back or questions.  Insidious: Out of the Further is a solid if forgettable entry in the series with enough slivers of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond scattered throughout to make it easier to overlook some of the more generic elements.

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA

 

A queer director making a slasher franchise sequel becomes obsessed with casting the original film's "final girl," leading both women into psychological and sexual chaos.

Director: Jane Schoenbrun

Cast: Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Jack Haven, Patrick Fischler, Zach Cherry, Dylan Baker

Release Date: August 7, 2026

Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance, Thriller

Rated R for bloody violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and some language.

Runtime: 1h 52m

Review:

Jane Schoenbrun’s third feature film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, explores how formative genre film, slashers in particular, shape people’s journey to self-discovery in a loving, occasionally hilarious tribute/dissection.  Those expecting a straightforward slasher from Schoenbrun will be disappointed here with her focus centered on the effect of the classic slasher genre, warts and all, on a generation that grew up watching them.  The story feels incredibly personal and semi-autobiographic with Hannah Einbinder’s indie director tasked with rebooting the long dead Miasma franchise.  She offers plenty to unpack thematically which be dissected in a variety of ways but if there’s something that shines through is the genuine love of the genre even with some of its more problematic elements.  It’s clearly something that was foundational to her development and while this story feels very personal to her but it’s easy to see parallels to anyone who grew up with these violent films that had more than a healthy amount of sex in them.  Her use of a film within a film device is a clever approach to flip the perspective back and forth with the in-film sections carried by a striking Amanda Fix who naturally exudes youthful sadness and confusion paired with some of more over the top first person kills around.  The dreamlike atmosphere that’s pervaded Schoenbrun’s previous films are ever present but this film is far more playful which allows for some truly funny sequences such as a zoom pitch meeting that goes off the rails in an uber meta way or the final bloodbath that’s more slapstick than horrific.  Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson carry the film with their chemistry together serving as the beating heart of the film with both delivering eclectic but endearing turns.  Einbinder, fresh off of a different kind of May/December relationship in HBO’s Hacks, is appropriately awkward and unsure of herself as this meeting with Anderson’s reclusive star takes an unexpected course.  Anderson, sporting a Dolly Parton accent, is strangely soulful even as she serves up KFC like meal from a Michelin star restaurant, dressed like some long-forgotten heiress in a cabin.  They make for an oddly matched pair but can tell both actresses are fully committed to the roles and what Schoenbrun is trying to accomplish.  She aims to bring together so many concepts and themes it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are some choppy moments especially as shift into more meta commentary heavy in the final act.  Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma isn’t going to be for everyone, almost by design, but that doesn’t keep it from being a fascinating multifaceted film that’s got plenty to offer for those will to go on the journey.  

B+