It is my understanding that this 1977 movie is considered by many to be a classic horror film. Perhaps at the time of its release it was deservedly viewed as unique and groundbreaking. Viewed from my current perspective, however, it is amateurish, poorly edited, poorly acted, and, for the most part, simply boring.

Granted, I’m not an expert on the horror genre, and I do admit that some aspects of this film, such as the color and the sets, are quite unique and impressive. But the impression I got from watching it was that the script and the instructions given to the quite variably talented cast were haphazard and made up as the shooting schedule progressed. The gore and the scenes intended to shock are poorly photographed, edited, and timed. As a result, they lose most, if not all, of their intended dramatic impact.

Having read many other reviews extolling this film’s virtues, I realize that my lack of devotion to the horror genre obviously colors my reaction. But if someone asks me to recommend something from the horror genre, I’m definitely going to recommend something else!

Review copyright (c) 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

Did someone say HORROR?

Having become somewhat bored with comic-book hero movies, The Batman and Logan being major exceptions, I was curious to see how this new movie would treat Superman's cousin. Watching female superheroes fight off bad guys has become somewhat old hat, but I did want to test out a new TV.

It starts out inauspiciously. Supergirl is a drunken mess, going from dive to dive. We are expected to sympathize with her dissolute nature for two good reasons: (1) she is, after all, Kal-El's cousin (she calls him "Clark" and refers to him as a "nerd"), and (2) she is slavishly devoted to her uber-cute dog, Krypto.

What saves the film is that she goes on a quest from planet to planet to save Krypto’s life. Along the way we learn a lot about her backstory, how her powers vary from planet to planet depending on the types of suns they orbit, and how, even in distant galaxies, Epstein-style female trafficking is apparently a thing.

It all gets resolved in a climactic, CGI-heavy battle, of course, but there is enough creativity on display to keep most people awake. Events are also enlivened by the frequent appearance of Jason Momoa as the cigar-chomping good-guy/bad-guy Lobo. Momoa seems to be channeling the behavior of the Comedian in the Watchmen movie, which I did find amusing.

Critics have been a bit too harsh, I think, about this movie. Milly Alcock as Supergirl is a pleasure to watch. She puts her all into the role and succeeds in portraying a badass with a heart of gold that is revealed only through major trials. As a result, I would not mind seeing a Supergirl II with her again in the starring role.

Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

More ACTION

This one-hour anime displays more emotional depth and artistic brilliance than many films twice its length.

Two girls meet in the 4th grade. Fujino is gregarious, outgoing, and arrogant about the popularity of the 4-panel manga she regularly publishes in the school newspaper. One day she is asked to share her space with reclusive Kyomoto, a shy “truant” living at home whose artistic talent is superior.

Despite initially clashing, the two become close friends. Their personalities are radically different, but they share a common passion for art and manga. We follow their relationship over the years via a series of vignettes that illustrate not only what they share in terms of artistic talent but also the challenges and even heartbreak that creating art can involve. Tragedy intervenes and we learn even more about their backstories and relationship.

The animation in this hand-drawn anime is superb, not because of richly colored or detailed natural settings but because of the natural movements and facial expressions captured by the animation team led by Kiyotaka Oshiyama. There is a physicality to the character drawings where one can sense that even minor variations in line width and weight give the film a genuine and almost spontaneous feel.

These two girls' shared passion for art comes across loud and clear. Realistic details such as head-tilting, foot-tapping, and walking through the snow provide an almost magical sense of reality. Look Back is a touching work of art.

Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

More about ARTISTS

A recently widowed father moves into a large old rental house, hoping to start a new life with his 8 year old son. His son is kidnapped. This event spirals into a complex and seemingly coincidental sequence of events involving the author’s estranged father (a retired police detective), a detective already on the trail of a string of child disappearances, a collector of memorabilia about serial murderers, and an imprisoned killer long ago caught by the author’s father.

How these events all fit together is gradually revealed. It’s all a bit convoluted and far-fetched, but I enjoyed the ride. The characters are well played, the action well edited, and the many scenes occurring in low light conditions are clear and well illuminated.

This is one of those mysteries, though, where people enter rooms at night to explore by flashlight without first bothering to turn on the room lights.

That quibble aside, it’s a decent ride and an almost pleasant throwback to a time when movies about serial killers were all the rage.

Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

There’s obviously a ton of green screen used in this very water-soaked film. But, I could not help but wonder at the grit and fortitude of the cast for how they tolerated working in such wet conditions.

Kim Da-mi hits the ball out of the park as her character struggles to survive with a 6 year old son as floods, tsunamis, and rapidly rising waters force her--and everyone else--to higher levels in Seoul’s jungle of modern high rise apartments.

Yet, what starts as a garden variety special-effects-heavy end-of-the world extravaganza gradually morphs into something else. Eventually we see elements of time-travel, multiple dimensions, AI, and even space travel interwoven with what began as a straightforward popcorn flick about mass human extinction.

Thankfully, I have a pretty high level of tolerance for ambiguity. I prefer not to overthink movies like this. Sit back and relax. Enjoy how star Kim Da-mi, so impressive in Nine Puzzles, literally stays afloat despite increasingly noticeable changes to the numbers displayed on her soggy t-shirt!

Review copyright 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

Two women argue in a cavernous dark studio about a dress. The dress is needed by one (Anne Hathaway) for a comeback show she plans after being away from her meteoric world-spanning pop stardom. The other (Michaela Coel) is her former friend (lover?) and designer, still wary and resentful after a falling out years ago.

Their discussion is peppered with glimpses of the singer’s past performances and the pair’s emotional interactions. The relentless forward momentum portrayed in the movie centers on the dress under discussion, what it will look like, and what it will consist of. The dress as metaphor for the characters’ emotional states is obvious.

Viewers should be warned: this is an unusual film. Sometimes it’s referred to in the media as an “art film,” and at other times as a “queer film.” The conversations between the two leads are alternately catty, profound, tearful, cryptic, emotional, and metaphorical. Many tears — and some blood — are shed. All occur against a backdrop of gorgeous cinematography, pounding pop music productions reminiscent of Dua Lipa’s Mexico City 2025 concert, and often hallucinatory sequences that beg to be seen on a large screen.

I haven’t seen a lot of movies that focus on clothesmaking (Phantom Thread, The Outfit, Edna Mode in The Incredibles, and The Dressmaker come to mind) but this one is definitely the most unusual.

Anne Hathaway’s performances of the soundtrack’s numerous songs are terrific, especially since the last movie I saw her in was the straightforward The End of Oak Street. Michaela Coel’s combination of raw emotion and concealed fury is exceptional. Watching two such different character personalities play off each other is engrossing.

Fantasy elements occasionally take center stage. If you’re just looking for a soap opera, look elsewhere. If you enjoy raw emotion punctuated by occasional visual and emotional extravagance unconstrained by rationality, Mother Mary will definitely scratch that itch!

Review Copyright 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

media with SURREAL elements

David Robert Mitchell’s “The End of Oak Street” is entertaining, lively, and easy enough to enjoy—provided you don’t pay too much attention to story details.

One way to think about the movie is as a 1980s suburban “slice of life” story dressed up with ravenous carnivorous dinosaurs. The physical details of the neighborhood are handled pretty well. The ordinary suburban setting gives the movie much of its charm. The more familiar the scene, the more entertaining it becomes when enormous predators start chomping down on the humans.

I enjoyed the two leads, Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor. They give the movie enough personality to keep things moving despite the weak plot. The other performances make less of an impression..

The special effects by ILM are decent without being spectacular. I admit to being spoiled by what is possible these days. At first I wondered whether that was a limitation, but perhaps it was partly the point. The movie does not seem especially interested in turning every dinosaur appearance into a technical showcase but instead focuses on constant and at times harrowing chases.

One positive comment about the special effects: the lighting of the creatures is very well integrated with the action, much of which occurs in broad daylight. In years past darkness would have hidden the details of creature animation; that is definitely not the case here.

I saw the film in IMAX and was not overwhelmed. I don’t think Mitchell really grasps—or perhaps simply did not care to exploit—what true IMAX can do. But then, not everyone is Christopher Nolan!

Michael Giacchino’s music bothered me at first. It struck me as intrusive and somewhat unimaginative, as if it were working too hard to tell me how to respond. At times it reminded me very much of the soundtracks to SUPER 8 and TOMORROWLAND. As the movie went on, though, the score began to seem better suited to the exaggerated nature of the story.

The sound design overall is quite good, and that matters in a movie built around large creatures moving through ordinary spaces. Also, I was impressed that, when a character slams a vintage era car door, it really does sound like a vintage era car door being slammed—good detail!

So: entertaining? Yes. A movie whose logic rewards close scrutiny? Nope.

I had a good time with it. For a summer popcorn movie that may be enough. I would not, however, spend the extra dollars for an IMAX ticket unless that is simply your preferred way to see movies. A theater with a decent screen and a good sound system should do the job perfectly well.

Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

POPCORN movies

My random comments, handwritten, converted to a text file via a scanned pdf file uploaded to ChatGPT Plus:

• Kept my attention.

• A unique take on a familiar underlying story (“Who will survive?”).

• Brutal.

• Bleak.

• Well photographed and edited.

• Excellent performances by all.

• Mark Hamill is sparingly but well-used to represent “evil authority.”

• Amused by the age of the derelict automobiles used throughout; constant reminder this can be viewed as an “alternate history.”

• Many ways to interpret the symbolism:

  • Another take on society’s perpetual conflict between age (the Major) and youth (the walkers).

  • The need for all races to band together against the White Power Structure.

  • The futility of resisting the powers that be (do you really think the Major can’t be easily replaced?).

• Why anyone might have thought the masses would flock to see this is beyond me.

• Signs of the times:

  • Mark Hamill’s daughter is credited as his “assistant” (I just saw a post by him on Bluesky complimenting his daughter on the help she has provided him).

  • One credit in the final credit scroll is “drone pilots.”

  Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

An English-Language Review “created” by ChatGPT Plus from above bullet list via the following prompt:

“Good. Now please covert the bullet points into an English language review like the ones I have written in the past with standard sentence and paragraph structure. Place it immediately below the bullet list you just generated.“

Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk kept my attention from beginning to end. It offers a distinctive variation on the familiar question of who will survive, but it does so in a manner that is unrelentingly brutal and bleak. The film is well photographed and tightly edited, and the performances are excellent throughout.

Mark Hamill is used sparingly but effectively as the embodiment of an evil and seemingly unassailable authority. I was also amused by the age of the derelict automobiles seen throughout the film. Their presence serves as a constant reminder that the story can be viewed as taking place within an alternate history rather than in the world exactly as we know it.

The film’s symbolism can be interpreted in several ways. It can be seen as another version of society’s perpetual conflict between age, represented by the Major, and youth, represented by the walkers. It can also be read as an argument that people of all races must unite against a white power structure. At the same time, the story raises a darker question about the futility of resisting entrenched power. Even if the Major were removed, do we really believe he could not be easily replaced?

Despite its strengths, I find it difficult to understand why anyone might have expected mass audiences to flock to see such a grim and punishing story. It is compelling, but it is hardly comfortable entertainment.

Two details in the credits struck me as signs of the times. Mark Hamill’s daughter is credited as his assistant, which reminded me of a recent Bluesky post in which he complimented her on the help she has provided him. The final credit scroll also includes the now-routine but still noteworthy job title of “drone pilots.”

Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

Some POST APOCALYPTIC media

There’s a pandemic in early 1990s Taiwan. We listen as a radio announcer describes how some areas must face the shut-off of water. The movie focuses on a man and woman who live in a crumbling apartment building. The man lives in the apartment above, the woman below. Almost by accident, a small hole opens in the man’s living room floor. The woman sees this hole after complaining that her walls are being flooded by water flowing from above.

They seldom speak as a relationship of sorts develops between the two over the course of the movie, which takes place in the apartment rooms, hallways, and in the basement where the man runs a small seldom-visited bodega.

The movie is punctuated throughout by the woman breaking into old-fashioned nightclub song and dance numbers, sometimes accompanied by a male or female chorus.

If you have seen the director’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn, you might have some idea of what to expect—a slowly unfolding movie, little dialog, scenes well framed with minimal action. The differences are clear, however. Goodbye, Dragon Inn features many scenes that focus on the vast interior spaces of a decrepit movie theatre. The Hole focuses on the more “intimate” spaces of the apartment building and its interior spaces, all against a backdrop of constantly heard but rarely seen rainfall.

Except, The Hole has the musical numbers. The mousy toilet-paper-collecting woman transforms into a lithe, coquettish, sequin-clad singer as she vamps about the room and hallways, sometimes accompanied by nightclub-style dancers.

“Bizarre” does not begin to describe these sequences, but somehow they make sense in an already surreal situation that only on the surface appears grounded in reality. Why are these two persisting in staying in this crumbling apartment building? How do they survive given the impending cut-off of water? How come the electricity is still on?

Such things don’t matter. I could not help but be amused by the weirdness of it all and the feeble attempts being made by the main characters to deal with unfolding events and how to deal with a hole in the ceiling through which glimpses of the two main characters were available—and through which water, bug spray, vomit, and even a human leg could protrude.

Perhaps the message of this odd but entertaining film is simply this: people can get used to almost anything!

Review copyright 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

More SURREAL

Parts of this movie are overwhelming, and that’s not just a comment on the action scenes.

I was fortunate to see it on a large IMAX screen with an excellent sound system. Throughout I was impressed by everything including lighting choices, sound design, and Ludwig Göransson’s music.

For me the most impressive performance was Samantha Morton as Circe, a terrifying sequence laden with anger and sexual politics as Matt Damon’s Odysseus faces rescuing his men whom Circe has turned into pigs. Another standout performance is Bill Irwin as Polyphemus, last seen by me as the robot TARS in Nolan’s Interstellar.

But I must hand it to Matt Damon as Odysseus. He ably communicates Odysseus’ ambivalence about his critical role in the Trojan War as well as his emotional and conflicting feelings about returning home. Damon will have a hard time topping this.

If I did have some disappointment, it was with the final climactic fight where Odysseus battles Penelope’s suitors. It is extraordinarily well choreographed, but the fluidity of the action, coupled with rapid action-oriented editing, generated some difficult to follow murky sequences, despite the high IMAX-supplied image definition.

Given photographer Hoyte van Hoytema’s impeccable credentials (e.g., Interstellar, Ad Astra, Nope), I wonder if some of this “murkiness” was related to the size and weight of Nolan’s new IMAX camera. The film does contain some impressive tracking shots (e.g., the crew scrambling down from Polyphemus’ cave); perhaps the size and weight of the camera restricted its movements relative to the “swooping” close-quarters action shots possible using lighter and more nimble digital cameras.

Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

Some ANTIQUITY themed books

This movie is a mess. Strong casting choices are undermined by a derivative plot, uneven editing, disjointed storytelling, murky photography, and uninspired anti-AI satire.

Maybe that’s the point: as a society our approach to the challenges of this modern world is disjointed and scattershot.

Meanwhile, I found the serious themes seemingly being addressed here were buried by jokey dialog and constant forced silliness.

My recommendation: instead of this film, curl up with a decent SF novel like Philip K. Dick’s “Ubik.”

Review copyright 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

More DISAPPOINTING media

Watching Emma Stone in action is always a treat, and Bugonia does not disappoint. She was great in Lanthimos’ Poor Things, but here she plays a completely different character type, a driven and cold-blooded pharmaceutical company executive who is kidnapped by conspiracy nuts who believe she is an extraterrestrial.

The bulk of the movie is devoted to her attempts to escape captivity while matching wits with the wily conspiracy nut played masterfully by Jesse Plemons.

As in Poor Things, Stone is subjected to a wide variety of physical indignities, and the physical sets and environments that surround her are both realistic and bizarre.

I’ve always enjoyed weird films and this one is a perfect example. I love it when artists  enthusiastically embrace weird; in that respect, Bugonia hits the ball out of the park!

Review Copyright (c) 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

More CLASS WARFARE

This movie succeeds despite being assembled from a plethora of familiar elements, among them: long term hibernation in space, invading other people's dreams (and dreams within dreams), and frequent references to pop culture and THE DANGERS OF AI which by now is old hat but here creatively explored.

Nevertheless, spectacular production design and special effects, affective and sympathetic performances, and clever (and humorous) incorporation of frequent Chinese cultural references set it apart from ultimately boring Chinese SF spectacles like The Wandering Earth.

The story: an AI-managed starship on its way to a distant planet experiences a problem. A technician awakens from hibernation and realizes he needs to awaken the ship's captain. To do so he must insert himself into her dreams, which all hibernating colonists are experiencing as a way to maintain "neural health" during long term hibernation. Thus begins the movie's alternation between ship-based emergencies and increasingly bizarre dream sequences that reflect how dreams are impacted by personal histories, Chinese cultural imagery, and the increasing realization that both human and AI "characters" are threatening the ship in some way.

Visually the movie is a wonder to behold, especially the dream sequences, which, despite their overall reliance on familiar story elements, are illustrated in unique, surprising, and creative ways.

In summary, there's more than enough creativity (and even whimsy) to entertain a sci-fi fan like myself. Plus, the English subtitles (we watched the Mandarin version) are excellent and provide just enough explanation of what's going on.

This is a fun film even though by now “the dangers of AI” are a commonplace concern permeating society. Recommended.

Review copyright (c) 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

More “Chinese” Media

Watching Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day on a large theater screen, I could not help but think about Cixin Liu’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy, especially volume 2, “The Dark Forest.” What happens when people on Earth finally encounter an alien civilization, one whose technology is vastly superior to our own? Do we welcome them with open arms? Or do we view them as a threat?

Spielberg spins his tale very differently from Liu and from his own Close Encounters of the Third Kind. For example, instead of relating a mystery of people drawn from all over to a place where they can finally meet benevolent aliens, in Disclosure Day the aliens are already here, their existence and their technology hidden by a shadowy quasi-governmental high-tech firm that wants to prevent disclosure of their existence. That firm is opposed by a group of disaffected former employees that support a reveal of the alien presence.

That outline sounds like a pulpy sci-fi movie about a garden-variety struggle between the good guys and the bad guys. In Disclosure DaySpielberg takes the story in a different direction.

The aliens themselves aren’t the primary dramatic force; three people are. One is a Kansas City TV weather reporter played by Emily Blunt. The second is a disaffected employee who, upon witnessing his employer’s duplicity, defects; he is played by Josh O’Connor. The third is the head of the shadowy high-tech organization that wants to keep the aliens and their technology under wraps, played -- creepily -- by Colin Firth.

These three and their own personal relationships and backstories anchor the movie’s wild and weird events. There are chases, a mysterious construction project, spooky proximity to animals, a magical high-tech McGuffin that only a few humans know how to handle, a childhood experience filled with wonder and awe, and a series of single-take-appearing tracking shots that remind you that Spielberg is a master at orchestrating enveloping cinematic experiences.

Still, as fantastical and unlikely as the events are in Disclosure Day, Spielberg keeps us grounded throughout by focusing on the individuals and the stresses they experience as events careen towards a planned Disclosure Day that the forces of evil — led by Colin Firth’s character — are willing to do anything to prevent.

The action sequences in this film that typically take the shape of a hair-raising chase of some sort. But these are not the only high-stress situations. There are several telepathic sequences involving two people communicating using alien technology that are suspenseful and engrossing because of the personalities and issues involved.

Is the movie perfect? No. Some coincidences made me roll my eyes. These are few. Overall, the management of mystery and tension is masterful.

What impressed me most about the film is its mature treatment of serious themes. If we are not alone in the universe, are “they” good or bad? More importantly, how will their existence impact our daily lives?

As cinematic and action oriented as this film is, it does touch on some profoundly human issues that the mature Spielberg knows how to address — themes like religion, memory, loss, death, and the impacts of obsession. The aliens are not the issue, Spielberg is saying, it’s how we deal with what we see in the mirror they hold up to us.

Emotionally, Disclosure Day is closer to a film like Zemeckis’ Contact than to Spielberg’s own Close Encounters. It doesn’t deal with the theme of “what it means to be human” as does A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, nor does it attempt to relate complexities like language and temporal distortion like Villeneuve’s Arrival. All these films incorporate intense human and emotional conflicts without devolving into massive battles and violence that have become all too common in big-studio sci-fi films these days.

I look forward to a longer “director’s cut” of this film that adds more detail not only about the production but also some of the character detail and plot details that might have ended up being cut.

Review copyright (c) 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald. The original handwritten version of this review, which was scanned into and transcribed by ChatGPT and then manually edited by the author is here.

Summary of the above text created 6/19/26 by ChatGPT: “Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day begins with a familiar science-fiction question — how humanity would respond to contact with a technologically superior alien civilization — but the review argues that Spielberg’s real interest lies less in the aliens themselves than in the human beings forced to confront what their presence reveals. Unlike Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Cixin Liu’s darker “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy, the film centers on secrecy, institutional control, and the emotional consequences of disclosure, grounding its fantastical premise in three sharply drawn characters played by Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, and Colin Firth. While the story includes chases, mysterious technology, hidden alien knowledge, and Spielberg’s trademark cinematic orchestration, its strongest moments come from its management of mystery, tension, and character-driven suspense. The review sees the film as imperfect but mature, closer emotionally to Contact and Arrival than to action-heavy modern science fiction, because it uses alien contact not to stage massive battles but to examine how people respond to wonder, fear, mortality, faith, memory, and the unsettling mirror that alien intelligence holds up to humanity.”

More SCIENCE FICTION

This is a real hoot of a movie! The impression I got was that the director decided to “swing for the fence” and the superb cast, headed by Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, were totally on board, no matter how weird, grotesque, or just plain strange the director’s request was.

I have categorized this film as quirky. If you look at the other listed films you’ll see there are probably several sub-categories:

1. High production values.

2. Imaginative.

3. A veneer of class.

4. No commercial pretensions.

The image I have of Maggie Gyllenhaal during writing and production of this movie is that she had a little devil on one shoulder and a little angel on the other. They both whispered suggestions from the above list throughout the course of production.

Fortunately, the devil’s suggestion usually won out, the most lively example being the fancy-dress dance sequence, which — thankfully — goes on much too long but seems to have been a lot of fun to rehearse and perform. (I hope to see more of this in an extended edition.)

But what of the nuance and creative significance of the film? Aren’t the themes of “female empowerment” and “sisterhood” a bit overdone?

Absolutely; that’s part of this film’s charm. The director is making no excuses where her sympathies lie. She is still able to build in humor and satire, which is quite refreshing in these dark days!

Review copyright © 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

More WEIRD or QUIRKY

Review from 11/13/2007:

Great film. Truly edgy, exciting, twisted, and violent. Great stunt work.  Fascinating and funny dialog. Tarantino definitely inhabits an alternative universe. What a terrific cast! Zoë Bell is spectacular, so is Kurt Russell. Gotta rent Disc 2 for the extras…

Review from 6/9/2026:

Rewatched last night. Even better than I remembered. Stunt work and driving are phenomenal — so is lighting, colors, and most important of all, giving each actor an opportunity to shine. Lots of “girls talking in bars and cars” which I assume was a Tarantino thing back then.

I’m no expert on cars and car chases but I think the car chase here is as good as if not better than the one from Bullitt. Plus, most of the time Zoë Bell is hanging from the hood of the white 1970 Dodge Challenger as it battles Russell’s evil Stuntman Mike. (It’s funny when he gets nothing but blank stares from the ladies when he reels off his TV stunt driving experience from long-dead TV series.)

Review copyright 2007 and 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

This weird series has one of the best casts I have ever seen in a series. Somehow they make the characters in this bizarre story come alive with reality and humanity, despite the prurient nature of the underlying story: Margo discovers she is pregnant, she drops out of college, her mother and father (long divorced) reinsert themselves in her life, and she finds she can make a living by posting erotic images and videos on the web.

All does not go well: the baby’s father sues for custody; Margo’s father, a former wrestler, relapses to drug abuse; Margo’s mom (a former Hooters waitress) establishes a relationship and wedding with a holly-roller husband.

It all sounds ridiculous, but the story holds together. Margo wants to keep her baby, and she stumble into online sex imagery as a way to pay the rent.

I have to credit Elle Fanning with holding all this together. Her range as an actor is unmistakable: from Super 8 to Predator Badlands and Sentimental Value we see a young actor whose career if carefully managed will extend long beyond middle age. I’ll be interested in seeing her as a director.

Review copyright (c) 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

I'm adding FRIEREN along with THE APOTHECARY DIARIES to my list of favorite anime series. Frieren offers sophisticated character development, a constantly evolving and sophisticated story, and superb animation. Especially well done is how history and backstory are interwoven with what is essentially an extended road trip.

Throughout the series the main characters walk from place to place while encountering situations enabling very sophisticated world building involving demons, magic, mortality concerns, and medieval economies and politics.

Central to it all is the character of Frieren herself, an apparently ageless elf who has outlived many human companions as she pursues learning everything she can about magic and magic spells.

Much of the series is slow moving as we watch Frieren and her companions walk from place to place. Their conversations are at times playful, wistful, and even philosophical. She has outlived many companions but flashbacks and reminiscences add many layers to our understanding of her and the societies she has experienced.

When action scenes occur - and there are many - they are fast, furious, and among the best I've seen in anime, even when magic spells and energy blasts are involved. Highly recommended if you're interested in both action and thoughtfulness.

Review (c) 2026 by Dennis McDonald

More ANIME

This wicked little horror-comedy offers a combination of implausibility, terrific production values, very strong performances by the two leads, and twists and turns that will keep you guessing.

The story: a put-upon number cruncher is passed over for a promised promotion by her new CEO. While accompanying him and his team to an important conference in Thailand, their plane crashes into the sea during a horrific storm.

The analyst and the CEO are the only survivors and they wash up on a remote island. There the tables are turned; the analyst uses her real survival skills to keep them both alive. Then we watch as power shifts back and forth.

It could be a "traditional" survival tale in the face of the CEO's overt arrogance but the script, direction, and cast keep things inventive and even surprising. Things get a bit gory at times (I think the wild boar is an ILM creation but the credits unfortunately don't provide details) and we learn both characters' backstory and how that has impacted their personalities. But I did like how the story kept me guessing till the end. Recommended.

Review copyright (c) 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

This movie is almost perfect in every way — the script, the direction, the acting, the photography (!), the sound, everything.

The story: an aging director after many years wants to make another film. He returns to his two grown daughters from whom he has been estranged for years. He tries to convince one to be the lead. She refuses. What then unfolds is a story that jumps seamlessly back and forth in time to reveal not only backstory but the underpinnings why the family’s emotions and relationship are what they are today.

Central to it all is an old family house that serves as the basis for numerous scenes that take place over the years. One especially fraught sequence occurs when one daughter seeks out archival evidence of family member torture that occurred during WWII. Another is a snippet of one of the directors; early films starring one of his daughters — it’s mesmerizing in ways that will be repeated throughout the film.

I only recently learned this film received an Academy Award. I usually pay no attention to those awards but must admit in this case SENTIMENTAL VALUE cannot be praised too highly. Strongly recommended.

Review copyright (c) 2026 by Dennis D. McDonald

Images from SENTIMENTAL VALUE