Sketch-ing out some ideas about Weapons (CREDIT: Warner Bros./Screenshot; Angel Studios/Screenshot)

Weapons

Starring: Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Amy Madigan, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Toby Huss, June Diane Raphael, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera

Director: Zach Cregger

Running Time: 128 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: August 8, 2025 (Theaters)

Sketch

Starring: Tony Hale, Bianca Belle, Kue Lawrence, D’Arcy Carden, Kalon Cox

Director: Seth Worley

Running Time: 92 Minutes

Rating: PG

Release Date: August 8, 2025 (Theaters)

Sometimes kids disappear, and sometimes kids make things appear. At least that’s the lesson I’ve learned from the last couple of movies I saw in the theater, i.e. Weapons and Sketch. If I were to somehow forget all the movies I’ve seen before those two and henceforth not see any more movies for the rest of my life, I would probably repeat “Sometimes kids disappear, and sometimes kids make things appear” as a mantra every day.

So are the kids all right? Based entirely on just these two movies, that is. Well, honestly, if you really want me to be honest, I’m going to have to say “yes!” They’re certainly not the problem in Weapons, in fact they’re quite resilient considering the circumstances. Instead, it’s the adults around them who are concerningly fragile or unpredictable.

As for Sketch, the focus is much more small-scale, as a brother and sister whose mom has recently died and one of their classmates fend off monsters drawn by the sister that have magically come to life. I can at least conclude for sure that these three particular kids are more all right by the end of the movie than they are at the beginning. And if I’m being hopeful, I can extrapolate from that conclusion that Gen Alpha is resilient enough to creatively handle the looming crises in the world today.

So finally, may the kids inside us continue to make movies like Weapons and Sketch appear on the big screen.

Grades:
Weapons: 34 Airplane Arms out of 37 Hypnosis Sticks
Sketch: 100 Spider Things out of 140 Markers