October 22, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Ali G, Ali G: Who Iz I?, Morgana Robinson, Sacha Baron Cohen
Who iz they anyway?! (CREDIT: Amazon MGM Studios)
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Morgana Robinson
Director: Sacha Baron Cohen
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Rating: R for Satirical Nudity, Language, and Drug Use
Release Date: October 23, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: After falling victim to evolving cultural sensitivities, Ali G is back! But he hasn’t exactly been financially solvent since the end of his eponymous HBO show, which is a problem since his very pregnant girlfriend Julie (Morgana Robinson) wants him to actually get serious and provide for their growing family. So he flies over to America in search of conquering our current media landscape. After all, creator-fueled social media platforms might just be the perfect platform for spreading his brand of clueless hip-hop culture appropriation. But a couple of other satirical characters also played by Sacha Baron Cohen – self-hating cis white professor Nira Cain-N’Degeocello and hypermasculine ex-Mossad operative Erran Morad – are intent on putting an end to his resurrection. And of course, a whole bunch of unsuspecting civilians also get corralled into the operation.
What Made an Impression?: Somewhat Nice: A few minutes into Ali G: Who Iz I?, I couldn’t help but realize, “Alistair Graham is pretty funny, but he’s no Borat.” That’s okay, though! Few satirical characters are as unforgettable as that kooky Kazakh newsman, but it’s hard not to make unfavorable comparisons when they were created by the same clown. There’s something that feels a little provincial about Ali G, so that even when he’s at his funniest, I can’t help but assume that Brits are laughing more than I am. By contrast, Borat – while ostensibly a citizen of an actual real-world country – can more accurately be considered a wholly fantastical creature. So Who Iz I? is perfectly pleasant, and that’s fine, but we do have to make peace with the fact that it’s not going to reach transcendence.
Feels Like Nowhere: Baron Cohen’s forte is coaxing telling reactions out of non-actors, and when Who Iz I? strays from that, we drift off into the uncanny. That is to say, when it’s just Ali G or Dr. Nira or Erran on their own, there’s an unmistakable sheen of fakeness. To be fair, those scenes are kind of necessary to establish context, but it’s hard not to wish for a less disconcerting way to pull that off.
Where Does the Responsibility Lie?: For those folks who still aren’t familiar with Baron Cohen’s antics, it’s as stunning as ever what he is capable of convincing them to do. I’m less interested currently about the prejudices he’s exposing (because so many of his current targets wear their prejudices on their sleeves nowadays) and more about how they’ll react to seeing themselves on screen. I don’t imagine that many (if any) of them will change their political inclinations, but maybe some of them will re-evaluate just a bit how far they’re willing to go to defend what they believe in.
Just Be Silly: Who Iz I? has a decent amount of value as a social experiment, but I enjoyed it most during the lower-stakes interactions, like interviews that turn into nonsensical ASMR sessions or the plentiful malapropisms. There’s also an encounter in a convenience store where the cashier is surprisingly thoughtful in the midst of the lunacy. And then there are a series of surprise celebrity cameos that manage to be playful instead of overindulgent. Ali G isn’t about to retake the world by storm, but he is learning to find a place that everyone can be okay with.
Ali Go: Who Iz I? is Recommended If You Like: Reflective Reboots, WTF Reaction Shots, Explanations of How They Did That
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Puffy Jackets
October 21, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Amy Adams, Aran Murphy, Jenna Ortega, Klara and the Sun, Mia Tharia, Natasha Lyonne, Rachel House, Steve Buscemi, Taika Waititi
Here Comes the Klun (CREDIT: Sony Pictures)
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Natasha Lyonne, Steve Buscemi, Rachel House
Director: Taika Waititi
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Rating: PG-13 for Odd Deployments of Violence and Mild Profanity
Release Date: October 23, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Klara and the Sun drops us into a bright but beguiling dystopian future where the Internet is no more but artificial intelligence is still very much a thing, particularly in the form of companion androids known as Artificial Friends. Klara (Jenna Ortega) is an obsolete model, and pretty quirky even among this group of misfits. Her Store Manager (Natasha Lyonne) and her fellow AFs think her chances of being adopted are hopeless. But then a lonely, terminally ill girl named Josie (Mia Tharia) sees in Klara the ideal companion. Alas, Josie’s mother Chrissie (Amy Adams) and their housekeeper Melania (Rachel House) are much more skeptical, and Klara doesn’t really understand the nuances of human interaction all that well anyway. But it turns out that Chrissie has her own hidden motivations for allowing Josie to select an AF in the first place, and Klara may just fit into those plans a lot more than initially expected.
What Made an Impression?: Too Artificial, or Not Artificial Enough: Klara and the Sun is based on a Kazuo Ishiguro novel published in 2021, but its conception of AI is from a generation ago. To be fair, Ishiguro couldn’t have known the massive leaps that large language models and their ilk would make in the past few years. But the people adapting this story for the big screen knew about the present day. Now, I don’t mean to imply that they should have molded to be more reflective of reality. But the fact that they didn’t do so means that the final product is rather quaint, in ways that are both obsolete and slightly charming. Most of us aren’t wishing that our AIs would be more human nowadays, but didn’t it feel better when at least some of us felt that way?
Unspooling the Infrastructure: Perhaps the reason why Klara and the Sun fails so mightily to grapple with the current moment is because it’s not trying to grapple with the current moment. After all, Klara is from a generation of AFs that were abandoned because they were too human. Accordingly, this movie is at its most affecting when it examines whether or not synthetic humanity can ever match the natural version. It struggles in that regard as well, because Ortega plays Klara as a bundle of quirks rather than displaying anything recognizably machine-like along with her theoretical soulfulness. So I suppose that this movie’s fundamental problem is that it also is too human, but in a way that it doesn’t let us see its truest self, except only in flashes.
Just Passing Along: Ultimately, this is one of those films that seems competent at presenting a fully realized vision, but there’s something missing at the core. Nothing is egregiously wrong, but on the other hand, I don’t feel any passion being stirred, and I can’t quite pinpoint why. Sure, I explained some issues I had in the preceding paragraphs, but none of those are prohibitively fatal flaws. KatS happened, I’m not mad, and there were even some ideas presented that I might continue to think about. It wasn’t a waste, but most movies are aiming higher than “not a waste.”
Klara and the Sun is Recommended If You Like: Bizarrely oversized clothes, Dialogue that has the cadence of jokiness, Wheat
Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Barns
October 16, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Sports, Television
Dopamine Chamber, Fontaines D.C., Holiday Touchdown, Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story, Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, Sense and Sensibility, Street Fighter, Whalefall, WNBA Finals
CREDIT: Netflix
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald (October 16 on Netflix) – Directed by Judd Apatow.
–Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Theaters)
–Sense and Sensibility (Theaters)
–Street Fighter (Theaters)
–Whalefall (Theaters)
–You Can See Everything (Theaters)
TV
–Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story (October 17 on Hallmark) – Will there be a tribute to Ditka?
Music
-Fontaines D.C., Dopamine Chamber
Sports
-WNBA Finals (Begins October 17, on NBC, USA, CNBC, and Peacock) – The Dream of Atlanta is alive versus the Valkyries.
October 15, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alexander Volkanovski, Andrew Koji, Andrew Schulz, Callina Liang, Cody Rhodes, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, David Dastmalchian, Don Lee, Eric Andre, Hirooki Goto, Jason Momoa, Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i, Kitao Sakurai, Kyle Mooney, Mel Jarnson, Noah Centineo, Olivier Richters, Orville Peck, Rayna Vallandingham, Street Fighter, Street Fighter 2026, Vidyut Jammwal
What exactly is a street fighter? (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)
Starring: Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Callina Liang, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i, David Dastmalchian, Cody Rhodes, Andrew Schulz, Eric André, Vidyut Jammwal, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jason Momoa, Don Lee, Orville Peck, Olivier Richters, Hirooki Goto, Mel Jarnson, Rayna Vallandingham, Alexander Volkanovski, Kyle Mooney
Director: Kitao Sakurai
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Rating: PG-13 for Over-the-Top Candy-Coated Action Violence and Some Cheeky Hints of Nudity
Release Date: October 16, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: It’s 1993, and the best combatants on the globe are converging in Metrolao City for the second World Warrior Tournament. The top attractions are American bad boy Ken (Noah Centineo) and Japanese orphan Ryu (Andrew Koji), who were best friends until the death of their mentor drove them apart. Rounding out the bill are a colorful cast of fighters sporting unforgettable fashions and supernatural abilities. Mostly operating outside the tournament is Chun-Li (Callina Liang), who’s intent on avenging her father’s death at the hands of M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), the dictator who has nefariously organized the tournament. Also, there are animated sequences to explain some of the backstory.
What Made an Impression?: Ham It Up: For a Street Fighter movie to be taken seriously by audiences in 2026, it must take itself profoundly unseriously. So it’s no surprise then that the most memorable performances are the most over-the-top or counterintuitive ones. Ergo, Dastmalchian chews as much scenery as possible, while Eric André is his typical id-driven self as the announcer Don Sauvage. On the other end of the spectrum is Kyle Mooney as a dorky Interpol agent with a huge crush on Chun-Li. But really everyone in the cast is given free reign to be as colorful as they want. And I’ve certainly got to hand it to (a barely recognizable) Centineo for lovingly lampooning the pretty boy persona.
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: If you ever forget what decade this movie is set in, that amnesia won’t last but more than a second. That’s because the soundtrack is filled to the brim with the likes of Soundgarden, 4 Non Blondes, and White Zombie. I’m happy to rock out to this era, but it’s also a bit much. It felt like someone merely pushed play on a “Most Xtreme Hits of the 90s” Spotify playlist without actually curating it with an eye to how well it would match up to each scene. Some of the set pieces manage to have some resonance with these tracks, but at a certain point, you can’t help but groan, “Okay, we get it, you wish that Bill Clinton was still president.”
Having Too Much Fun: Director Kitao Sakurai and his co-screenwriter T.J. Fixman bring plenty of self-aware flourishes to ensure that the nostalgia isn’t just empty calories. That’s epitomized by an ESPN-style documentary (complete with what sounded like Chris Berman narration) telling the tale of Ken and Ryu. Everyone involved knows how silly this whole affair is, and that’s absolutely the wisest approach. But at a certain point, their enthusiasm becomes a little unbridled, as the clever playfulness gives way to overwhelming cacophony. It’s still a good time for anyone with any affection for the video games, but it also feels like a missed opportunity for an honest-to-goodness masterpiece that wasn’t that far out of reach.
Street Fighter (2026) is Recommended If You Like: Wrestlers turned actors, Rappers turned actors, Video games turned cultural objects
Grade: 3 out of 5 Hadoukens
October 14, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Aaron Sorkin, Adam Silver, Aidan Laprete, Anna Lambe, Arabella Olivia Clark, Arian Moayed, Betty Gilpin, Bill Burr, Billy Magnussen, Dichen Lachman, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Jay Duplass, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Jessica Chastain, Joey Brooks, Karen Allen, Kelley Pereira, Mikey Madison, Nelson Franklin, Other Mommy, Patrick Fischler, Portia Doubleday, Rob Savage, Sean Kaufman, Sierra Capri, Tehmina Sunny, The Social Reckoning, Wunmi Mosaku
An Other Movie (CREDIT: Universal Pictures)
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, Karen Allen, Sean Kaufman, Adam Silver
Director: Rob Savage
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: October 9, 2026 (Theaters)
The Social Reckoning
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison, Jeremy Strong, Bill Burr, Wunmi Mosaku, Billy Magnussen, Betty Gilpin, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Anna Lambe, Aidan Laprete, Kelley Pereira, Nelson Franklin, Portia Doubleday, Patrick Fischler, Joey Brooks, Sierra Capri, Tehmina Sunny
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: October 9, 2026 (Theaters)
Other Mommy and The Social Reckoning both arrived in theaters on October 9, 2026, and both have received their fair share of fair criticism. So for this review, I shall acknowledge those critiques and then reveal why I was nevertheless ultimately more or less satisfied.
More
October 13, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Bethany Slater, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Caitríona Balfe, Ceara Coveney, Chloe Pirrie, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Eliot Sumner, Esmé Creed-Miles, Fiona Shaw, Frank Dillane, George MacKay, Georgia Oakley, Herbert Nordrum, Sense and Sensibility, Sense and Sensibility 2026, Stacy Martin, Tom Brooke, Turlough Convery
Now, now, let’s be sensible (and sensuous)
(CREDIT: Focus Features / © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esmé Creed-Miles, Caitríona Balfe, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Frank Dillane, Herbert Nordrum, George MacKay, Fiona Shaw, Stacy Martin, Tom Brooke, Turlough Convery, Chloe Pirrie, Eliot Sumner, Bethany Slater, Ceara Coveney
Director: Georgia Oakley
Running Time: 132 Minutes
Rating: PG for A Threat of Violence and Brief (Non-Revealing) Nudity
Release Date: October 16, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: It’s an enduring tale of passion and manners from one of the most beloved novelists in history. While not her most frequently adapted story, it has definitely made its presence felt for a couple of centuries. The Dashwood sisters – Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones), Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles), and Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) – and their mother (Caitríona Balfe) have found themselves in quite the 19th century English pickle. After their father’s passing, their estate is set to be inherited by their half-brother John (Tom Brooke) and his wife Fanny (Stacy Martin). So they end up moving into a cottage owned by the son-in-law of a distant relative, the batty Mrs. Jennings (Fiona Shaw). Amidst all this disruption, Elinor and Marianne haven’t forgotten how much their futures could be determined by a suitor. For Elinor, the primary target of her affection is the upright Edward Ferrars (George MacKay), while Marianne finds her heart burning for the fiery John Willoughby (Frank Dillane) and the more reserved Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum).
What Made an Impression?: My Relationship with Sense and Sensibility: I’m an English major who took a seminar on Jane Austen, so I’ve certainly dug deep into the text of Sense and Sensibility. But out of her six completed novels, I would rank it an underwhelming fifth. (Pride and Prejudice takes my unsurprising top slot, while the less heralded Northanger Abbey is my runner-up.) So I’ve never been motivated to seek out any of the filmed adaptations (though I have read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters). But this latest version has me convinced that I’ve been missing out, as screenwriter Diana Reid and director Georgia Oakley seem to have pinpointed all of the most essential qualities for me to pledge allegiance to the Dashwood sisters.
Oh By the Way, Which One’s Sense?: The typical take on this story is that Marianne represents the first half of the title and Elinor the second half, though it’s ultimately a little more complicated than that. But this version emphasizes the more simplistic reading… to its benefit. Creed-Miles is undeniably more nakedly emotional, while Edgar-Jones is obviously more inhibited and conflicted. Now, to be clear and fair, the former does not lack reason completely, and the latter has plenty of passion. But the stark demarcation between what we see most of the time from them makes it clear why they believe they have to act the way that they do, and their supposedly necessary constrictions are guaranteed to break your heart.
They’ve Got the Gift of Gab: This is the sort of movie that you know is working because of how much of the dialogue you want to write down to ensure that you don’t forget it. I imagine that some lines are lifted straight from the source, while others could have been adjusted slightly. Either way, they sing because of who’s delivering them. From blunt observations of reality, to insightful philosophies colored by both despair and hope, to ridiculous bons mots that are necessary to survive all of the hullabaloo, you’ll be inspired to render your own courtships and dinner parties this crackling.
Sense and Sensibility (2026) is Recommended If You Like: Rediscovering the classics, or Falling in love with them for the first time
Grade: 4 out of 5 Estates
October 9, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television, Video Games
A Man from the Future, André Leon Talley: Style Is Forever, Ann Wilson, Ann Wilson & Tripsitter, Beavis and Butt-Head, Consecrated Ground, Fjord, Greta van Fleet, Jackbox Party Pack 12, Misty Green, MST3K: The Rifftrax Experiments, Mud, Other Mommy, Palace for the People, Pet Shop Boys, Pick You Up, Remi Wolf, She's the Best, Sheryl Crow, The Lowdown, The Social Reckoning, Tripsitter, Troye Sivan, VisionQuest
What a Vision! (CREDIT: Marvel Entertainment/Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–André Leon Talley: Style Is Forever (Theaters)
–Fjord (Theaters)
–Misty Green (Theaters)
–Other Mommy (Theaters)
–The Social Reckoning (Theaters)
TV
–MST3K: The Rifftrax Experiments Premiere (October 9 on Rifftrax) – The robots are back.
–Beavis and Butt-Head Season 12 Premiere (October 14 on Comedy Central)
–The Lowdown Season 2 Premiere (October 14 on FX)
–VisionQuest Series Premiere (October 14 on Disney+) – WandaVision spinoff.
Music
-Sheryl Crow, Pick You Up
-Greta Van Fleet, Palace for the People
-Pet Shop Boys, A Man from the Future
-Troye Sivan, She’s the Best
-Ann Wilson & Tripsitter, Consecrated Ground
-Remi Wolf, Mud
Video Games
–Jackbox Party Pack 12 (October 15 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Apple TV, iPad, Amazon Fire TV, Nvidia Shield TV, and Xfinity X1)
October 8, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Anne Hathaway, Brady Wagner, Dakota Johnson, Irina Dvorovenko, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Josh Hartnett, Michael Showalter, Verity
Gulping down the Verity (CREDIT: Alisha Wetherill
© 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.)
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Brady Wagner, Irina Dvorovenko
Director: Michael Showalter
Running Time: 117 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: October 2, 2026 (Theaters)
For this review of Verity, I feel that I simply MUST be truthful. I don’t mean to imply that I’m ever untruthful in any of my other reviews, because that is simply not the case. The obligation is just more plainly urgent in this instance, as the title calls upon us to worship at the altar of The Truth. Furthermore, my mom asked me to let her know what I thought (she read the book), and I take that responsibility seriously.
So without further ado, here is the truth: this movie held my attention commandingly, though it also let me down a little bit, but not in a way that offended me. And in the spirit of Verity‘s title character, I retain my right to be ambiguous in a way that is evident in that assessment.
Grade: Somewhere in the Middle
October 7, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Anna Lambe, Brad Pitt, David Ayer, Heart of the Beast, J.K. Simmons, Odin the Dog
By Odin’s Beard! (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)
Starring: Brad Pitt, J.K. Simmons, Anna Lambe, Odin the Dog
Director: David Ayer
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: September 25, 2026 (Theaters)
The first time I saw the trailer for Heart of the Beast, I thought it was a new preview for The Dog Stars. But then I was like, “Hmm, I don’t think Brad Pitt is in The Dog Stars.” So it turned out we got TWO late summer/early fall 2026 releases about rugged folks trying to survive in the unforgiving wilderness. And the one that prominently features a pooch is the one that doesn’t have “dog” in its title. So yeah, now that I’ve seen ’em both, Heart of the Beast certainly gives off Dog Stars vibes, both in the sense that it was aesthetically and thematically similar to that movie that came out a month earlier and in the sense that it boasts a top-performing canine. Hopefully everything is cleared up now! Good boy.
Grade: 77 German Shepherds out of 137 Dog Stars
October 6, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
concrete, documentary, John Wilson, The History of Concrete
Starring: John Wilson, Concrete
Director: John Wilson
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: September 18, 2026 (Theaters)
Well, it’s finally come to this, hasn’t it? We all know that I love to review movies by asking the question, “Would I like to live in the world of this movie?” And in the case of The History of Concrete, the answer has never been a more resounding “Absolutely!” If there are truly never going to be any more new episodes of How To with John Wilson, then we simply must ensure that Mr. Wilson will have the budget to produce at least one of his idiosyncratic visions annually. Living in a world curated by John Wilson is a balm for my soul, and based on the heartwarming reaction from my fellow moviegoers at the packed screening I was at, I know I’m not alone. (It may be a mostly New York thing, but I’m willing to bet that there are also some devoted Wilsonites outside the Big Apple.)
Grade: Crushed by Concrete (in a Good Way)
Older Entries
