Masters Of The Universe (2026) Film Review

Prince Adam discovers that the strange memories shaping his life are real when the lost Sword of Power resurfaces, forcing him to return to Eternia and challenge the tyrant who shattered his family and kingdom.

Masters Of The Universe is directed by Travis Knight director of Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and Bumblebee (2018).

Masters Of The Universe is one of the biggest surprises of the year, it is quite refreshing to see a blockbuster based on an IP not take itself incredibly seriously. While there are some writing flaws, I do think the film succeeds at capturing its source material and is the closest we are ever going to get to a genuinely really good Masters Of The Universe movie.

For starters the cast is quite great, they all do a splendid job of capturing the spirit of their respective characters. Nicholas Galitzine was a lot of fun and genuinely great as Prince Adam/He-Man, if there is one thing I took away from this film it’s that it sold me on Galitzine as an actor. Galitzine is able to really go all in on the humor while complimenting the serious moments the atmosphere asks for, his chemistry with the rest of the cast is quite great and he is overall quite charming. I also really do love Galizine’s take on the whole “Hero’s Journey” element, you as the viewer genuinely root for him and feel like you are exploring the world with him.

Idris Elba as Duncan/Man-At-Arms and Camila Mendes as Teela are both quite great, while not getting a whole lot in the character writing department. They do have plenty of really strong moments that give their characters something to do, the two also work incredibly well with Galizine making the trio quite fun throughout the film. Alison Brie goes all in as Evil-Lyn, she nails Evil Lyn’s voice to the point where it’s truly mind blowing. She sounds exactly like her and has the same sort of mannerisms, some of the film’s best moments are whenever Brie is on screen. Again not a whole lot in the way of character writing, but still a quite impressive performance.

Jared Leto perhaps gives his best performance in years as Skeletor, not only does the performance capture the source material. But there is strong balance of humor and seriousness, it does help that the design of Skeletor is quite fantastic and makes him pop out a lot more. Some moments towards the end do get on the incredibly goofy side of things, however Leto’s delivery is able to match the atmosphere and make said goofy moments genuinely entertaining.

What mainly helps the film is it knows exactly what it is and does not pretend to be anything else, although the film does have serious moments. The film never reaches to the point where it is taking itself so seriously that it takes the viewer out of the film. The writing remains quite consistent throughout and even some of the jokes that don’t always land still have a bit of charm to them.

The costume design from Richard Sale is absolutely well done, from Man-At-Arms to Evil Lyn to He-Man and so on they are all so well done and capture the spirit of the source material so wonderfully. The attention to detail is front and center here with the costumes and pops out almost immediately as soon as the film begins, it remains that way throughout the experience and truly elevates the film.

Finally there is the score from Daniel Pemberton which is one of my favorite scores from a film so far this year. Right from the beginning we are treated to “Eternia” a song that pretty much sums up the energy, power and fun of the film, the score does so much of the talking throughout the film in this such coolish atmosphere that it brings along with it. The first scene of Adam turning into He-Man is one of the film’s best scenes, the song “The Power Of Grayskull” plays which is yet another example of just how excellent the score really is.

Overall, Masters Of The Universe is a fun and genuinely fantastic film that captures the spirit of the source material while adding its own style into the mix. Hands down one of the most surprising films of the year thus far.

Masters Of The Universe is available on all VOD platforms.

9/10 A

Onslaught (2026) Film Review

When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, an Army sniper must unleash hell to protect her young daughter.

Onslaught is directed by Adam Wingard director of You’re Next (2011), The Guest (2014), Blair Witch (2016), Death Note (2017), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), Godzilla vs. Kong: The New Empire (2024) and a few others.

Onslaught is quite a fun one even if it has a lot of issues, there is a lot to appreciate here and one moment in particular that is quite shocking. But the overall experience does feel a bit empty by the end with a lot of ideas that are just abandoned and the ending being very cobbled together.

Adria Arjona is what is mainly holding this movie together, she gives a strong enough performance with her character Celeste a mother who does anything to protect her daughter. Celeste is not the most deeply written protagonist, but there are some moments here that do help compliment her as a character. Reginald VelJohnson who plays Josiah an army veteran, isn’t bad here and his dialogue exchanges with Arjona are decently charming. Josiah just does not have a whole lot going for him in the character writing department.

Dan Stevens and Drew Starkey both give great performances but unfortunately their characters are not exactly that investing. Stevens is not in the film for very long, which I do understand that this is the classic “creation betrays its creator” type of story and it works well enough. But it is a bit of a shame to see Stevens go out so early. The film seems like it had a lot planned for Starkey’s character Cyrus but it never got around to him being incredibly involved, Cyrus is a fun character whenever he is on screen but the end result is very incomplete.

The film is quite brutal, there is quite a lot of gore and one scene in particular that feels all too real. The scene in question is quite shocking and genuinely disturbing, it succeeds at really showing the viewer how brutal the film’s antagonists really are. Which are these soldiers named The Butcher, The Cockroach and The Crybaby. None of them have any dialogue and only communicate through their body language and mainly hand signals. They are essentially just very standard slasher movie villains, but the atmosphere and the brutality of the three gives them these extra layers to stand out a bit more.

The main issue with Onslaught is the movie’s third act, while it is quite fun, gory and at times satisfying. There is a whole lot here that feels very incomplete, the story is very rushed and the final battle with The Butcher is cut incredibly short (after having a lot of build up throughout the movie.) Plus the opening credits of the movie with speeches from past U.S. presidents talking about the country being involved with wars never really goes anywhere.

Overall Onslaught is pretty bare bones and really does not have a whole lot going on here. It’s decently fun and the acting is quite good, but that’s really about where it ends.

Onslaught is currently in theaters.

5/10 C

Quick Review: Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall (2026)

When the mysterious behemoth known only as Bane frees Batman’s entire rogue’s gallery from Arkham Asylum, the Caped Crusader is pushed to his mental and physical breaking point.

Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall is directed by Jeff Wamester director of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths trilogy (2024), Justice League: Warworld (2023), Legion of Super-Heroes (2023) and a few others.

Not a whole lot to say here, but I am quite shocked to see that one of these DC animated films turned out to be decent. Because as of late the quality has definitely dipped. What’s mainly helping Knightfall is the character writing, it’s not anything mind blowing and you could probably figure out where the ending goes. But between the characterization of Bruce, Bane, Azrael and many others there is quite a lot to enjoy here.

Bane is very menacing and is portrayed in both a brutal and calculated way, the sheer brutality and intellect to his character is present here and displays why the character is so interesting in the first place. The film also explores his origin story and upbringing in prison, what drove him to be the way he is and seeing this path of his being created in prison.

Bruce Wayne is well written here, we explore the trauma, tragedy and abandonment of his life that takes a heavy toll on him when it comes to his stability and his interactions with others who want to help. This is not anything particularly new when it comes to Bruce and Batman, but it is still quite interesting and brings a lot more to the table than a lot of other animated Batman films that strictly go all in on the action.

Azrael is the classic case of a character who’s dealing with his past and cannot quite control his powers, throughout the film we explore him as a character and at times almost feel like we are entering his mind. There’s actually a surprising amount of groundedness especially towards the film’s final act.

The animation is quite well done, it compliments Gotham City as a whole and captures the brutal and dark atmosphere that the film seems to be going for. The voice acting from Anson Mount, Michael Mando and Pablo Schreiber are quite strong and really go all in with the film’s world. They capture the many different sides of their characters and keep the viewer invested the whole way through.

Overall Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall is quite solid and a strong start to the trilogy, it does have some pacing issues here and there. But the film mainly stays on track from beginning to end which gives the viewer a quite dark and mature look at Gotham.

Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

The Furious (2026) Film Review

A father fights fiercely against ruthless kidnappers to save his abducted daughter.

The Furious is directed by Kenji Tanigaki director of Legend of Seven Monks (2006) and Enter the Fat Dragon (2020).

There is an argument to be made that The Furious is one of the best action films of the 2020s and that mainly comes down to just how effective it really is plus constantly upping the ante as the film continues on. Sure the plot might be straightforward, but just about everything else in this film pushes towards greatness and this huge sense of “how on earth did they do that?” sort of feel.

The cast are quite excellent, Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Brian Le, Joe Iwanaga and Yayan Ruhian all do such a great job and each bring something to the film. There’s one scene in particular towards the ending of the film where all five of them work flawlessly together.

Xie Miao plays Wang Wei a mute man who’s daughter gets kidnapped which in turn makes him go on a quest for revenge, the film does such a fantastic job of building his character and making the viewer really care for him as well. It’s a very natural feeling performance that hits all the right notes that it needs to.

Joe Taslim plays Navin a journalist who is looking for his wife, he eventually tags along with Wang Wei. Much like Miao, Taslim gives a very natural feeling performance. Some of the film’s best moments are of the two just planning out what to do next and how to approach certain situations, should they flat out attack or should they take a more stealthy approach? It’s really neat to see and by the end of the film, Navin became my favorite character of the film.

Joey Iwanaga as Paklung, Brian Le as Ho and Yayan Ruhian as Tak are the main villains here and they all do such a wonderful job of really capturing the thrilling atmosphere the film requires, Iwanaga plays the leader who may not seem like much at first but quickly becomes a formidable foe and knows how to fight quite well. Brian Le starts out as just regular henchman who may seem like he really won’t contribute to anything, but during the film’s final act his character Ho is confused (due to events of the film I won’t spoil here) and decides to just fight everyone. It makes for some satisfying scenes that are quite effective to the story being told. Finally there’s Yayan Ruhian as Tak who is this sadistic bow-wielder and is actually quite disturbing as well, sure he might not have a lot of character to him. But the many taunts he hurls out, the aggressive way he attacks and so on really speak for themselves.

The main part that everyone is going to walk out of this film loving is the action scenes which are undeniably impressive. The fight choreography is truly astonishing, there are moments where you just think to yourself “how on earth did they do that?” It also helps that the fight choreography matches the atmosphere incredibly well, there is this brutal nature that is blended in here which matches with the film’s gore. These are the sort of moments where you feel the blow to the characters, when you see Wang or Navin get hurt you as the viewer feel that.

Which leads into the final act which is incredibly explosive, I’m not going to spoil what the action scene in particular is. However I will say that it is truly impressive and not something that can be easily pulled off, it’s made more entertaining due to the camerawork from cinematographer Meteor Cheung. It’s truly one of the most memorable moments from a film I’ve seen so far this year.

Overall, The Furious is a fantastic film that is not only a spectacle in terms of action scenes but it’s also just a flat out fantastic film that really flows together incredibly well. If you are an action movie fan this is something I truly recommend giving a go.

The Furious is available on all VOD platforms.

10/10 A+

Motor City (2026) Film Review

In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster’s girl. In retaliation, the gangster enacts a frame job to send the innocent man to prison. Life ruined, Miller plots a revenge campaign against the man who took his girl away.

Motor City is directed by Potsy Ponciroli director of Old Henry (2021) and Greedy People (2024).

Motor City is an interesting one when it comes to its style, the whole idea here is it’s a very 70s pulp style revenge thriller but with very little dialogue. While it might not be anything mind blowing, it does take what normally would be an average action thriller and turns into something decently interesting and a fun time.

Alan Ritchson gives a great performance here, due to having barely any dialogue, Ritchson in most scenes has to use his body language to tell the story and he does that quite well. He’s in his element and his familiarity with the action thriller genre absolutely comes into play here, I have not seen that much of Ritchson’s work but this was genuinely a great showing from him. Ben Fosters plays the slimy antagonist Reynolds who is quite effective, Shailene Woodley is pretty solid here as well although definitely lacking in the character department.

The film heavily relies on its visual language and needle drops to tell the story and while the latter can be a bit to on the nose, I do think combined together they both do a great job of telling the story. Especially when you combine this with cinematographer John Matysiak’s camerawork, there is one scene in particular that is not only well choreographed but it’s shot incredibly well.

The atmosphere of the film is thrilling, brutal and has this very 70s feel that you can’t help but be transported into, the music does such a great job of complimenting everything around it especially the atmosphere and the brutality of the film. While the story is admittedly pretty predictable, everything else really brings the viewer along for the ride and completely makes up for it.

Overall Motor City might not be anything exactly new plot wise, but it’s still a fun time that is elevated by the film’s technical aspects and the performances!

Motor City releases tomorrow in theaters.

7/10 B

The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) Film Review

Din Djarin and Grogu work for the New Republic to track down scattered Imperial warlords, taking on a mission to rescue Rotta the Hutt.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is directed by Jon Favreau director of Elf (2003), Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Chef (2014), The Jungle Book (2016), The Lion King (2019) and a few others. The film serves as a continuation of the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian (2019-2023).

What happens when you take a television series and desperately try to adapt it into a film? You get something like The Mandalorian and Grogu a movie that is quite bafflingly bad. Which is a huge shame because the show (for the most part) is pretty great, the first season is quite excellent, the second season definitely has its flaws (the endless amount of cameos got really ridiculous) but for the most part retains what made the first season so great. Then you have the third season where it’s nothing but a bunch of side missions squished together in a limited amount of episodes.

Originally a fourth season was going to be made but Lucasfilm decided to prioritize a film which is what we now have. That clearly shows here because between the whole “and then this happened” storytelling, the nonexistent character writing and the incredibly small scale that does not benefit the movie at all. The whole experience devolves into a gigantic mess that nobody figured to clean up.

The acting here is really nothing special at all, Pedro Pascal as usual does a solid job as Din Djarin/The Mandalorian, Steve Blum voices Zeb (a character from Star Wars Rebels) what is kind of neat is he is reprising his role, for the limited amount of screen time he gets he does a decent job. Martin Scorsese makes a brief appearance (weird how this is the third movie released this year where this happened) he is one of the movie’s better parts but once again only appears briefly. Finally there is Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba the Hutt. Which I will say he does not give a bad performance it’s just a very cursed and jarring one that you wouldn’t be blamed if you thought it was terrible.

The only other positive I can really give this movie is the score from Ludwig Göransson, this might be his weakest work, however it’s still decently effective and is the only thing here that even attempts to try and bring back the glorious scale we are all used to in Star Wars films.

The main problem here that kills this movie on arrival is the storytelling, the style of storytelling here is the exact same that was done with the third season which as I said earlier was the whole “and then this happened” style. You could maybe make an argument that should get a pass for a television series (even though I would disagree because again limited amount of episodes) but for a theatrical released movie? Absolutely not, due to this it’s dreadfully paced and truly does feel like they had next to no idea what they wanted to do here so they just threw a bunch of ideas at the wall to see what sticks.

The action scenes are bland and don’t give the movie this large in scale feel like the rest of the Star Wars movies, I’m not saying small scale is bad (far from it) but when it’s painfully obvious that this is something that should have been put on streaming as some sort of special that’s when you cross a line. The action scenes just have very little power to them and not the fun or thrilling excitement, Attack Of The Clones (2002) for all its faults at least had strong action scenes that brought the viewer into the experience. None of the action scenes in The Mandalorian and Grogu even attempt to engage with the viewer, it all feels soulless and has this very “rushed out the door” type of feel.

I really don’t know what else to really say here, The Mandalorian and Grogu should not have been a theatrical release, if this were just a special they put on Disney+ then that would have probably been fine. It still would have been bad, but at the very least it would be understandable of why it’s presented the way it is. This is hands down the worst Star Wars movie to date, at least the previously mentioned Attack Of The Clones (2002) had good action scenes and The Rise Of Skywalker (2019) had decent enough acting. This is just a complete and total mess that never recovers.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is available on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

Mortal Kombat II (2026) Film Review

The fan favorite champions — now joined by Johnny Cage himself — are pitted against one another in the ultimate battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.

Mortal Kombat II is directed by Simon McQuoid director of Mortal Kombat (2021). The film serves as a sequel to Mortal Kombat (2021) and is the fourth installment in the Mortal Kombat film series.

Mortal Kombat (2021) is one of those movies where I really liked it at the time it was released, but slowly it got worse and worse for me. I can definitely still say that I enjoy it, but there were definitely glaring issues that could easily be fixed. Luckily Mortal Kombat II gives some answers to those issues, while it is not perfect and definitely has room for improvement. I do think Mortal Kombat II sets out to capture a lot of the spirit of the video game franchise and does quite a great job at doing so, which leads to a pretty fun time that any fan will be satisfied with.

For starters a main criticism with the previous movie was the very odd choice to make the focus on Cole Young, a character who was made entirely from the movie. Well this movie fixes that by not having him as the focus (he’s still in the movie but now as a side character), the focus now is Johnny Cage played by Karl Urban who really knocks it out of the park. The moment Urban appears on screen you can just feel how much he captures Johnny Cage as a character, his reactions to the ridiculous nonsense that is going on actually got a few laughs out of me. Plus I think making Cage the focus was a very clever move, he’s basically an audience surrogate which means we basically go on this journey with him. It adds a little bit more of a connection between the viewer and the film, I know that might sound a bit silly to say about a Mortal Kombat movie but it strangely works.

The rest of the characters are quite great here as well, Kitana, Sonya Blade, Kano, Liu Kang, Jax, Jade, Shang Tsung, Lord Raiden and many others appear. Josh Lawson who was arguably the best part of the previous film returns as Kano and is just as effective and hilarious. Adeline Rudolph as Kitana and Tati Gabrielle as Jade are newcomers who do a great job in their respective roles. I do like the film also focusing on Kitana as well even if the character writing is not absolutely perfect, there is at least understanding of what makes these characters such as Kitana interesting to the viewer. The cast overall does a really solid job here and easily made this such an entertaining ride.

The nonstop action scenes are also quite fantastic, this time around the film is very self aware as it does make little references to modern action films and the things that fans expect mainly the whole John Wick type of action (stabbing so many people brutally with a pencil.) Which the film actually delivers on these references and manages to make them funny. The film is luckily not so self aware to the point where it becomes obnoxious and where it refuses to have fun with itself, it’s just the right amount to really draw in the viewer due to the thought of “where is it going with this?”

As far as story goes, this is very standard Mortal Kombat and that’s no where near a bad thing. If anything the film benefits from this, the film knows exactly what it wants to be and does not pretend it’s something else. It’s a film that wants to entertain the viewer throughout the experience and it mostly succeeds in the end due to just how fast paced it really is along with the cast and atmosphere.

Overall Mortal Kombat II is a much needed improvement from the previous film, there was definitely a lot more determination to really capture the spirit of the video game franchise and the end result is quite a fun time!

Mortal Kombat II is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

Supergirl (2026) Film Review

Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, joins forces with an unlikely companion on an interstellar journey of vengeance and justice when an unexpected adversary strikes too close to home.

Supergirl is directed by Craig Gillespie director of Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Fright Night (2011), I, Tonya (2017), Cruella (2021), Dumb Money (2022) and a few others. The film serves as the second film in the DC Universe.

Supergirl is a perfectly fine superhero movie and that’s really all there is to it and that’s not a bad thing at all. For the most part Supergirl gets the job done of what it’s sent out to do, it is incredibly flawed but I do think there is just enough here to push it over the finish line.

Milly Alcock is what is mainly carrying this movie, she gives such an excellent performance as Kara and gives some edge to the character which really works. She also captures Kara as a character incredibly well, which does make the movie all the more frustrating when it goes for very safe territory. Her interactions with the rest of the cast are entertaining and unlike a lot of the movie, she never holds back which brings plenty of great moments. The flashbacks that explore Kara’s past are some of the strongest moments especially when you mix it in with Alcock’s acting.

Jason Momoa as Lobo provides the movie with some extra firepower, Momoa brings chaos and a whole lot of fun to the table. Which is a breath of fresh air seeing how some of the action scenes can quickly become a bit of the same thing, the one-liners are even quite decent (which is interesting because the dialogue in this movie isn’t great, usually the one-liners are the negative while the dialogue is the positive in movies like these…that’s different!) Momoa captures Lobo as a character quite well, even though he pops up every now and then. You can still feel his presence and when he does show up it’s admittedly always exciting.

The main issue holding Supergirl back is the writing, while there are some very strong moments such as the previously mentioned flashback scenes that when combined with the movie’s score (the score had a lot of issues during the post-production stages with switching through many composers, but all things considered it turned out pretty alright. I cannot say the same for the needle drops though.) Plus Alcock and Momoa are able to somewhat elevate the material, however the writing falters when it comes to its own ideas. The trafficking part in particular left a lot more to be desired, I get what the movie was trying to go for here and yes it’s a very heavy topic, however the execution is very lackluster and almost feels like an afterthought in a lot of ways.

It really does not help when you have an incredibly forgettable villain, Krem of the Yellow Hills is a very one note villain who feels less like a leader and more like a Dragon Ball Z movie henchmen or a typical villain henchmen that is ranked more highly than others. Matthias Schoenaerts tries his best with what he is given but it’s ultimately not enough to make the character compelling.

Finally there is Craig Gillespie’s direction, which while he is an excellent director who has shown he can deliver. It shows here that Gillespie was the wrong person for the job, the script from Ana Nogueira and the direction from Craig Gillespie are showing two very different things and they are just not agreeing with each other at all. Nogueira’s script has the trafficking subject matter and the mixed dialogue, Gillespie’s direction seems to want to focus on this very traditional action movie (with not very good special effects), the two just do not mesh well at all unfortunately which leads into a bit of a mess.

Despite my issues with Supergirl, I do think it’s a fun enough movie that barely crosses the finish line. It really should be stressed on how much Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa really save this movie, because without them the movie would not be anywhere near as fun.

Supergirl releases July 28th on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Quick Reviews: Enola Holmes 3, The Hand Of Dante and Office Romance (2026)

Detective Enola Holmes heads to Malta, where her aspirations merge in her most complex and dangerous case yet.

Enola Holmes 3 is directed by Philip Barantini director of Villain (2020), Boiling Point (2021) and Accused (2023). The film serves as a sequel to Enola Holmes 2 (2022).

I’m not going to write an extensively long piece about the Enola Holmes series and my experience with it, because honestly the first two movies were cute movies that had their charm and that is really about as deep as it goes. Enola Holmes 3 shows that this series has overstayed its welcome and it might be time to move onto something else.

Millie Bobby Brown does a fine enough job here, but the spark she had in the first two movies is very noticeably absent. The performance just does not land as it did previously, Henry Cavill takes a backseat for a large portion of the movie and much like Brown, his performance has gotten noticeably worse as well. Which this is a bit of a shame because I did find Brown and Cavill decently charming in the previous two movies.

To say I was shocked that Barantini directed this would be an understatement, coming off of last year’s highly successful and acclaimed series Adolescence to this is quite baffling. The direction here is incredibly poor and has no idea what it wants to say or focus on, when you mix this in with the script from Jack Thorne you lead to some very underwhelming results.

The theme this movie attempts to tackle is British colonial history which for a movie series that prides itself on talk about important subjects, the movie does a quite poor job of exploring the subject. It makes surface level observations such as “look guys this was really bad” which is quite honestly embarrassing, it truly does feel like studio executives patting themselves on the back for being performative. It can very well be argued that the previous two movies are just as guilty of this (and I would agree with you), but at the very least they were competent movies that had good things about them. With this movie you do not get that at all and the studio executives feel is a lot more blatant here.

Overall Enola Holmes 3 is quite easily the worst of the series and it’s really not even close. It adds nothing new to the series and only brings the series backwards.

Enola Holmes 3 is available on Netflix.

3/10 D-

A handwritten manuscript of Dante Alighieri’s poem “The Divine Comedy” makes its way from a priest to a mob boss in New York City, where it is taken by Nick Tosches after he’s asked to verify its authenticity.

In The Hand Of Dante is directed by Julian Schnabel director of Basquiat (1996), Before Night Falls (2000), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), Miral (2010) and At Eternity’s Gate (2018).

In The Hand Of Dante is a prime example of movie that the only question going through your mind is “how on earth did this happen?” I’m going to keep this short simply because this is one of those terrible movies where it’s not even bad in an interesting way. It is a pretentious mess that thinks so highly of itself yet its saying very little with incredibly poor acting.

Martin Scorsese is the best part about this movie and not even him being dressed up as a Gandalf and Dumbledore hybrid could save this mess (he only has a couple of scenes as well, keep in mind this movie is 2 hours and 33 minutes long.) Scorsese seems to be the only one who is able to give a somewhat decent performance, it’s not terrible and it is almost certainly not something that belongs in the looney bin like some of these other performances.

If you want to hear one of the worst Italian accents ever put to film like no further than Gal Gadot. It’s truly baffling how not a single person on set questioned this, she has no chemistry with Oscar Isaac and the movie trying to build her character does not work at the slightest. Jason Momoa and Gerard Butler feel like cartoon characters trying to copy the behaviors of humans (some of these scenes go on for so long it becomes awkward.) Oscar Isaac does not necessarily give a bad performance it’s just one that is so forgettable and feels like a whole lot of nothing.

Lastly the movie trying to capture the whole Classic Hollywood noir of the 1940s and 1950s is embarrassing. The atmosphere that made those films so great is just not present at all here nor is the thrills. There are some admittedly beautiful locations but that’s where it really ends, the movie’s mystery is confused and does not offer any sort of strong connection with the characters or its themes. It’s a complete and total mess that can only be described as a science fair project that was done the day before it was due.

Overall, In The Hand Of Dante is a disaster of a movie that is truly baffling to watch. This is one of the most bafflingly bad movies I’ve seen in quite some time.

In The Hand Of Dante is available on Netflix.

1/10 F

Jackie, President and CEO of Air Cruz, runs a tight ship in her business, including a rigid anti-fraternization policy for all her employees, which is severely tested when a sexy new lawyer begins working for her.

Office Romance is directed by Ol Parker (or Oliver Parker) director of Imagine Me & You (2005), Now Is Good (2012), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) and Ticket to Paradise (2022).

Office Romance does not have a whole lot going on here with the exception of the birthing scene that seemingly comes out of nowhere. It’s clearly only here for shock value and that’s really about as deep as it goes. Everything else about this movie is incredibly bare bones romantic comedy cliches.

Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein and Betty Gilpin give fine enough performances, but none of them are quite enough to save the movie from being a chore to sit through. They each get one or two moments to shine, but really that’s where it ends.

The movie heavily relies on its cast to do all of the heavy lifting and carry the movie to the finish line, but completely forgets that you need a good script to help give the cast something to work with and that is just not present here at all.

Office Romance is available on Netflix.

3/10 D-

Lightning Round: You, Me and Tuscany and Fuze (2026)

When a woman crashes at an empty Italian villa, posing as the owner’s fiancée, she discovers an unexpected romance that could transform her life.

You, Me & Tuscany is directed by Kat Coiro director of Life Happens (2011), And While We Were Here (2012), A Case Of You (2013) and Marry Me (2022).

You, Me & Tuscany does not have a whole lot going on here, with that being said it is a decently fun romantic comedy that has its charm.

The movie mainly works due to Halle Bailey, she’s charming and does a fantastic job at bringing the viewer into the film. The character moments have just the right amount of appearances to help build Anna as a character, the rest of the characters are easy to love as well. It’s a very fluffy movie that knows exactly what its audience wants and gives it to them proudly.

The movie can be a bit too familiar for its own good, if you have seen any romantic comedy within the last 5-10 years you can probably make a pretty strong guess as to what is going to happen. You have the setup, the miscommunication and the third act declaration of love. It’s all there and despite being predictable the movie has just the right amount of fun, solid acting and atmosphere to push this one to the finish line.

Not much else to say here, if you are a fan of romcoms this one will do the job.

You, Me & Tuscany is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

An unexploded WWII bomb is discovered on a busy construction site in the centre of London. Chaos ensues as the military and police begin a mass evacuation against a ticking clock.

Fuze is directed by David Mackenzie director of Hell Or High Water (2016), Outlaw King (2018), Relay (2024) and a lot of others.

Fuze suffers from the exact same problem as Mackenzie’s last film Relay did and it’s that the third act throws a wrench into the movie and not in an interesting or good way. The twist could be seen coming a mile away but it still does break the movie.

On the plus side you do get decent performances from Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and even Sam Worthington. They all really try the best with the script that’s given to them, there are some decently thrilling moments plus it has this atmosphere such as this whole “when is the bomb going to go off” type of one.

The main problem here really comes down to the movie’s script, the characters are incredibly paper thin in terms of both development and personality. Sure there are moments of somewhat interesting dialogue between the characters. But unfortunately those are very far and few in between, the story is very typical heist movie affairs which would be fine enough if the third act was not a complete and total mess with a very unsatisfying conclusion.

There really isn’t much else to be said here, Fuze luckily never leans into “bad” territory but this is certainly one that I really can’t give a recommendation.

Fuze is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C