August 15, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Anne Gee Byrd, Anne Hathaway, Christian Convery, David Alexander Kaplan, David Robert Mitchell, Emily Kuroda, Ewan McGregor, Hudson Meek, Jordan Alexa Davis, Maisy Stella, P.J. Byrne, The End of Oak Street
This is the end, the end of Oak Street, my friends (CREDIT: Warner Bros./Screenshot)
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis, P.J. Byrne, Emily Kuroda, Anne Gee Byrd, Hudson Meek, David Alexander Kaplan
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: August 14, 2026 (Theaters)
The End of Oak Street is much like another movie that recently came out (i.e., Ice Cream Man) insofar as it features people waking up one day in a seemingly peaceful neighborhood to discover that they are now completely surrounded by danger. I have experienced this sort of transformation myself multiple times. But typically only in my dreams. I’m fairly certain it’s never happened in my waking life. Oak Street makes it look pretty fun, though, so I’d kind of like it to happen for real now. With guardrails in place, of course, but also sufficiently invigorating. Any chance you think we could make that happen?
Grade: 36 Oaks out of 51 Streets
August 13, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Ari Millen, Arthur Langlie, Benjamin Byron Davis, Charlie Storey, Charlie Zeltzer, Clark Johnson, Clay Singer, Darrin Barker, Dylan Hawco, Edmund Donovan, Eli Roth, Graham Campbell, Greta Lee, Ice Cream Man, Jake Lacy, Karen Cliche, Kent Jones, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Late Fame, Luca Padovan, Luke Dietz, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Sarah Abbott, Shiloh O'Reilly, Tony Torn, Willem Dafoe
(CREDIT: Magnolia Pictures; The Horror Section/Screenshot)
Late Fame
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee, Edmund Donovan, Clay Singer, Luca Padovan, Graham Campbell, Arthur Langlie, Jake Lacy, Tony Torn, Clark Johnson
Director: Kent Jones
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: August 7, 2026 (Theaters)
Ice Cream Man
Starring: Ari Millen, Charlie Zeltzer, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Sarah Abbott, Benjamin Byron Davis, Dylan Hawco, Karen Cliche, Eli Roth, Darrin Barker, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Charlie Storey, Luke Dietz
Director: Eli Roth
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: August 7, 2026 (Theaters)
As it turns out, I recently saw a couple of movies on back-to-back days that both featured a character who had me going, “Hey, what’s that guy doing?” In Late Fame, Willem Dafoe plays Ed Saxberger, a postal worker who decades ago published a book of poetry that is now being rediscovered by an absurdly pretentious group of young writers. After hanging out with them, Ed eventually starts acting rather arrogantly himself, which had me going, “Hey, what are you doing, guy?”
As for Ice Cream Man, it features exactly what you’d expect from a movie directed by Eli Roth with this subject matter. Which is to say, the titular truck driver offers sweets that turn children into possessed killers of all the adults in their town. To which I simply must say: “Hey, guy! What’s all this that you’re doing?” Well, as we eventually discover, he actually does have an understandable motivation. Not enough to justify murder, of course, but certainly enough to justify a horror movie premise. So yeah, in conclusion, what a surprisingly effective double feature.
Grades:
Late Fame: 70 Poems out of 53 Readings
Ice Cream Man: 4 Necromancers out of 9 Sprinkles
August 12, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Anthony Bourdain, Antonia Banderas, Dagmara Domińczyk, Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Leo Woodall, Matt Johnson, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Tony, Tony movie
Tony! Tony! Tony! (CREDIT: Seacia Pavao)
Starring: Dominic Sessa, Emilia Jones, Antonia Banderas, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, Leo Woodall
Director: Matt Johnson
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: August 7, 2026 (Theaters)
When I went to see Tony (the Anthony Bourdain biopic directed by Nirvanna the Band’s Matt Johnson), I ended up having to sit in the very front row. And the theater didn’t have those recliner seats, so I had my head bent back pretty much 90 degrees the whole time. While that certainly wasn’t ideal, it felt thematically appropriate, insofar as I had to frequently turn my head to consistently focus on whichever character was speaking at any given moment. And since this is a talky, character-driven flick, that sort of attention is exactly what’s called for. And my neck didn’t even feel stiff the next day! So, all in all, another successful movie-going experience.
Grade: 38 Fellowships out of 55 Oysters
August 11, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Bill Nye, Cal Brunker, Carter Young, Fortune Feimster, Hayden Chamberlain, Henry Bolan, Jameela Jamil, Jennifer Hudson, Lucien Duncan-Reid, Mckenna Grace, Meredith MacNeill, Nylan Parthipan, Paris Hilton, PAW Patrol, PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie, Rain Janjua, Ron Pardo, Snoop Dogg, Terry Crews, William Desrosiers
Here they come to PAW the day! (CREDIT: Paramount PIctures and Spinmaster)
Starring: Carter Young, Hayden Chamberlain, McKenna Grace, Henry Bolan, Terry Crews, Ron Pardo, Jennifer Hudson, Fortune Feimster, Bill Nye, Meredith MacNeill, Jameela Jamil, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, Rain Janjua, Lucien Duncan-Reid, William Desrosiers, Nylan Parthipan
Director: Cal Brunker
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Rating: PG for Animals (and Some Humans) in Grave Danger
Release Date: August 14, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Those gawdang canine rescuers are back on the big screen! And this time around, they’re teaming up with T-Rexes and Stegosauruses and the like. That’s right, the PAW Patrol have wound up in their very own land that time forgot. It’s quite the idyllic island, with dinos and puppies living in perfect harmony. But like so many peaceful paradises, it’s filled with valuable natural resources that are just begging to be exploited. So once word gets out about Dino Island’s rich supply of diamonds, the Patrol’s old nemesis Mayor Humdinger (Ron Pardo) and his kitty conspirators make their way over to do the exploiting. But these puppies and their new scaly friends aren’t exactly ones to roll over in the face of a direct threat.
What Made an Impression?: Bow Wow Wow Yippie Yo Yippie Yay: I am pleased to report that PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie commences with Snoop Dogg as the patriarch of a yachting family fishing in the middle of the ocean, while his Paris Hilton-voiced wife attempts to grill up dinner on the deck. It’s certainly not unheard of for unlikely celebs to show up in kiddie flicks (just take a look at the rest of this movie’s cast, after all), but this moment is much more surreal than I bargained for. And the only reasonable conclusion is that Snoop must now play a variation of himself in every film aimed at the preschool set.
Sound the Alarm!: Speaking of PAW Patrol‘s target audience, not many major movies are rated G these days, but you might think that this would be one that’s perfectly acceptable for general audiences. Alas, this is in fact a PG feature, and that’s no mistake on the MPA’s part, as the puppies and the dinos and their human companions find themselves in legitimate danger on multiple occasions. I’m talking fire, collapsing structures, and errant cliff diving. It’s not like bodies are being charred to a crisp or like limbs are being torn from torsos. But it is enough to make you realize that playtime is over.
The Spirit of Aesop: Obviously I’m not the target audience for this movie, so I’ll let the toddlers out there decide if this is something they want to drag their parents along to. And ultimately like a lot of movies with this demographic in mind, its entertainment is fundamentally bound with its edification. The main message is the importance of not giving up and believing in yourself even when (or especially when) you’re not perfect. It’s not revolutionary by any means, but it’s certainly sensible enough.
PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is Recommended If: You’re totally obsessed with the titular creatures
Grade: 3 out of 5 Diamonds
August 7, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Andrew Dismukes, Brian Cox, Broken Lizard, Chace Crawford, Erik Stolhanske, Hannah Simone, Iqbal Theba, Jay Chandrasekhar, Jon Rudnitsky, Kevin Heffernan, Lisa Gilroy, Lynda Carter, Marisa Coughlan, Nat Faxon, Paul Soter, Sakina Jaffrey, Steve Lemme, Super Troopers, Super Troopers 3
What a Trooper! (CREDIT: Searchlight Pictures/Screenshot)
Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, Brian Cox, Marisa Coughlan, Nat Faxon, Chace Crawford, Andrew Dismukes, Hannah Simone, Iqbal Theba, Sakina Jaffrey, Jon Rudnitsky, Lisa Gilroy, Lynda Carter
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Rating: R for Sexual Content, Nudity, Language Throughout, and Drug Content
Release Date: August 7, 2026 (Theaters)
Well, now here I am, ready to offer a fuller assessment of Super Troopers 3 and examine if my speculations about where we were headed based on the opening act held up to snuff. I mostly expected a continuation of the initial offerings, and a continuation is what we got indeed. That is to say: more racial humor, more takeout coffee, and more of a loyal comedy troupe being (too?) comfortable with each other. On the other hand, I also worried about being exhausted by this approach, though I hoped that the bonhomie would comfortably counteract those concerns. Alas, the path that ST3 trods parallels that of early-into-mid-90s SNL, wherein edgy-but-clever comedy was gradually overwhelmed by the clever-but-obnoxious.
By the time it all wraps up with a very busy conclusion, the vibes were back to being as friendly as ever, but I couldn’t completely wipe away the tastes of all the crudeness and the disrespect. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Vermont has permanently ruined its relations with its Indian population. I’m wincing, but I still feel welcomed by this wacky family, and I imagine plenty of other viewers will feel the same. We could have definitely gotten a bigger Bollywood-style blowout, though. Surely Farva has the moves to pull it off.
Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Putzfimmel’s Syndromes
August 6, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Callum Turner, Este Haim, Julia Fox, King Princess, LeVar Burton, Maya Hawke, Michelle Hurd, Molly Ringwald, Monica Barbaro, Okieriete Onaodowan, One Night Only, Will Gluck, Ziwe
Tonight! Tonight! (CREDIT: Nicole Rivelli/Universal Pictures)
Starring: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, Julia Fox, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton, King Princess, Okieriete Onaodowan, Este Haim, Ziwe, Michelle Hurd
Director: Will Gluck
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Rating: R for Frank Pent-Up Sexuality
Release Date: August 7, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: It’s been three years since the United States outlawed premarital sex, save for a single annual 12-hour period of debauchery. Ergo, One Night Only is indeed the Carnal Version of The Purge. Pizzeria owner Owen (Callum Turner) is planning to use the occasion to propose to his girlfriend (Maya Hawke), but she actually thinks that they should sleep with other people. Meanwhile, daydreamer Allie (Monica Barbaro) is a singer of commercial jingles who plans to spend the evening hunting alongside her friend (King Princess), but she ditches her almost immediately. Left to wander the streets of NYC on their own, Owen and Allie keep bumping into each other throughout the night. It sure seems like the universe is trying to tell them to hook up, but their various hangups end up making that a rather roundabout journey.
What Made an Impression?: The Political Picture: Outlawing premarital sex sounds rather dystopian to me, but the society of One Night Only comes off as just plain frustrated and exhausted rather than oppressed. So you kind of just have to roll with the premise and not worry if it’s terribly realistic or not. Although, upon further consideration, I suppose there are real world examples of citizens continuing to have social lives despite the best efforts of governments taking their rights away. It would have been interesting to see ONO grapple more with the political implications of its premise (though it does a bit), but you kind of just have to accept that it has other things on its mind.
Worst-Laid Plans: Part of the One Night Only Mandate is that anyone partaking must use protection while having relations. This leads to a series of gags in which Owen and Allie desperately venture into any bodega and health clinic they can find in search of a condom, only for every location to inevitably be out of stock. Which begs the question: why wouldn’t these establishments increase their inventory tenfold or a hundredfold for the occasion? I understand the desire to create a desperate situation from a screenwriting perspective, but it’s hard not to be disappointed by such a lack of foresight.
They’re Dancing About It Too: A different running gag that I’m much more fond of takes its aim at an odd trend in the current media landscape. When we’re introduced to Allie, she’s singing Sara Bareilles’ inspirational anthem “Brave”, but it’s actually a reworked version for a psoriasis medication commercial. We’re also treated to revamped editions of “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “A Thousand Miles”, the latter for a personal hygiene product. If this is the fate of all pop music in the 21st century, then that sounds more oppressive than the no-sex Mandate (but hilariously so).
Do They Win Us Over?: With One Night Only leaving me with multiple questions about its approach, its potential success ultimately comes down to how charming its leads are. And they’re pretty charming! Plus, director Will Gluck (Easy A, Anyone But You) is a reliable rom-com veteran with a knack for playing around with the tropes of the genre. Plus, I would be remiss not to mention the steady hands of Molly Ringwald as Owen’s mother and LeVar Burton as her boyfriend. Ultimately, I’m in the mood to root that it all works out for Allie and Owen, at least for the one night that I’m focused on them.
One Night Only is Recommended If You Like: Cheekiness over Profundity
Grade: 3 out of 5 Mandates
August 5, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Andrew Dismukes, Brian Cox, Broken Lizard, Chace Crawford, Erik Stolhanske, Hannah Simone, Iqbal Theba, Jay Chandrasekhar, Jon Rudnitsky, Kevin Heffernan, Lisa Gilroy, Lynda Carter, Marisa Coughlan, Nat Faxon, Paul Soter, Sakina Jaffrey, Steve Lemme, Super Troopers, Super Troopers 3
Keep on Troopin’, eh? (CREDIT: Searchlight Pictures/Screenshot)
Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, Brian Cox, Marisa Coughlan, Nat Faxon, Chace Crawford, Andrew Dismukes, Hannah Simone, Iqbal Theba, Sakina Jaffrey, Jon Rudnitsky, Lisa Gilroy, Lynda Carter
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Rating: R for Sexual Content, Nudity, Language Throughout, and Drug Content
Release Date: August 7, 2026 (Theaters)
Super Troopers 3 is set to arrive in theaters on August 7, and I’m going to review it quite differently than how I generally review the attractions on the silver screen. Specifically, I shall initially focus on the first third of the movie and then speculate how the rest of the flick might go. Then on August 7 or later, I am going to return with Part 2 of the review and assess the rest of it in light of my speculation.
More
July 30, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Elle Fanning, Riley Keough, Elena Anaya, Tracy Letts, Jamie Bell, Callum Turner, Lukas Gage, Karim Aïnouz, Pamela Anderson, Rosebush Pruning
A rose by any other bush… (CREDIT: MUBI/Screenshot)
Starring: Callum Turner, Jamie Bell, Tracy Letts, Riley Keough, Lukas Gage, Elle Fanning, Pamela Anderson, Elena Anaya
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: July 24, 2026 (Theaters)
Rosebush Pruning is a movie that does feature some literal rosebush pruning, but that titular gardening activity is also a metaphor for something else. Anyway, what you really gotta know about this flick is that Callum Turner, Jamie Bell, Riley Keough, and Lukas Gage play a quartet of adult siblings who still live with their father (Tracy Letts), and let’s just say that they’re a little bit too close to each other. Longtime readers of my reviews will surely know that I often like to ask myself if I would like to live in the world of the movie that I’m reviewing. In this case, that answer is: Oh, definitely not! Unless, that is, we zoom out a bit. While I certainly don’t want to be a member of this family, I wouldn’t mind spending a decent amount of time in beautiful Catalonia, which is where they currently live. So I guess the moral of the story is: when in Spain, don’t be these people
Grade: Hide Your Rosebushes!
July 28, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Destin Daniel Cretton, Florence Pugh, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Liza Colón-Zayas, Mark Ruffalo, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvin Jones III, MCU, Michael Mando, Sadie Sink, Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland, Tramell Tillman, Zabryna Guevara, Zendaya
…Started up a Brand New Day! (CREDIT: Marvel/Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo, Florence Pugh, Liza Colón-Zayas, Marvin Jones III, Zabryna Guevara
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Running Time: 145 Minutes
Rating: PG-13 for Occasionally Gnarly Action Violence, and a Little Bit of Language
Release Date: July 31, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: It’s been a lonely life for the Tom Holland version of Peter Parker ever since his last big screen adventure. He’s still Spider-Man, and New Yorkers still love their arachnid guardian, but a spell has been cast that has made everyone forget the entire existence of the human being behind the mask. He’s inching towards re-introducing himself to his former girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), but he’s got to be careful, since there are always new threats lurking around the corner. This time around, the primary threat is a mysterious newcomer (Sadie Sink) with the ability to jump her consciousness into other people who’s trying to expose a secret at the suspiciously friendly Department of Damage Control. Meanwhile, Peter seems to be going through a sort of second adolescence, as he develops new powers and then consults a relatively Hulk-free Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to help him get a grip on these emerging abilities.
What Made an Impression?: The Day After When?: To rewatch or not to rewatch? That’s always one of the big questions at the heart of the latest MCU release. With Brand New Day, I wondered if I ought to revisit 2021’s No Way Home to remind myself how we got to the point where nobody remembered Peter Parker anymore. But ultimately, I decided I would prefer not to and instead see how this chapter stands on its own (which is typically my prerogative in general). And I believe I made the right decision. While things started off feeling a little vague, I appreciated that this movie didn’t feel the need to recap itself to death and instead give off at least a hint of mystery.
Criss-Cross: Brand New Day reaches towards the platonic ideal of a true low-key comic book crossover sensibility. We’ve seen Peter team up with all the major Avengers already, but what about the other rando Marvel heroes and villains we’ve yet to see him interact with before? Several of them are in this movie! But not all of them, as that would be too overwhelming. Sometimes superhero flicks have multiple antagonists combined with a whole host of friendly cameos, and it ends up feeling like three or four (or a thousand) different movies smashed together. But in this case, it feels natural enough that all these folks would be interacting with each other in this series of scenarios.
They Had an Effect on Me: My biggest bummer with BND is that the visual effects are too slick in the way that our digitized and sanitized CGI era so often is. There’s just not much tactility as Spidey swings around the Big Apple. Nevertheless, there is a decent amount of emotional heft to the big set pieces. It helps when there are some close-up shots interspersed within those sequences, as Tom Holland’s eternally youthful visage immediately conveys plenty of vulnerability.
Brand New Enough Indeed: Ultimately, I’m pleased to report that I was satisfied by Brand New Day because it didn’t feel like just more of the same once again in the way that so many Marvel movies have. While it didn’t quite blow me away like the most transcendent examples of this genre, I never quite knew where we headed. The reveals are clever, the ideas are sincere, and the enthusiasm is still real.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is Recommended If You Like: A mix of the old and the new
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Lattice Quanta
July 28, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Charli XCX, Chase Sui Wonders, Cooper Hoffman, Daveed Diggs, Gregg Araki, I Want Your Sex, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Mason Gooding, Olivia Wilde, Roxane Mesquida
What do we want?! (CREDIT: Magnolia Pictures)
Starring: Cooper Hoffman, Olivia Wilde, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, Charli XCX, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Roxane Mesquida
Director: Gregg Araki
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Rating: R for Strong Sexuality (Frequently Funny and Occasionally Scary)
Release Date: July 31, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: In I Want Your Sex, Cooper Hoffman plays a naive fellow named Elliot who truly never could have guessed what he was in for at his new job. (Even those of us who aren’t so gullible would have been surprised by all the twists and turns!) He’s hired as a new assistant for Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), an artist known for her sexually explicit pieces and her extreme skepticism towards her own profession. Soon enough, the assistant gig turns into a BDSM relationship. Elliot’s excited to be dominated by a powerful woman, whereas she seems to be motivated mostly by boredom. It’s all fated to take a bizarre dark turn, as indicated by flash-forwards of Elliot answering to a pair of detectives (Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho) about Erika’s disappearance and possible murder.
What Made an Impression?: “Contemporary Art is a Scam”: I’m no expert in the contemporary art scene, but I have seen plenty of movies that hilariously insist that the whole endeavor is patently ridiculous. And I Want Your Sex is particularly ruthless in that regard. It essentially asks: What if your whole life were just a nonsensical work of art provocation? Elliot’s experience suggests that it would be decently amusing at first but that it would inevitably become a little too anxiety-inducing.
More Like “Ex-C-Ex”: This is a movie with a bunch of friendly faces in the supporting cast, including Daveed Diggs as Erika’s brusque manager, Mason Gooding as Elliot’s sort-of-friendly co-worker, and Chase Sui Wonders as Elliot’s roommate who’s also by far the least warped human being we encounter. But then there’s Charli XCX (continuing quite the onscreen year for herself) as Elliot’s girlfriend. And let’s put “girlfriend” in quotes because she doesn’t appear to love or like him in any measurable capacity. And let’s furthermore say that that whole gag is milked for all its worth in a handful of well-deployed scenes, including a screamer of a punch line
I Guess That Was Worth It: I Want Your Sex hinges on a conclusion that offers a more-or-less happy ending for just about everybody. It’s definitely a relief, although it does feel like it kind of comes out of nowhere. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more it actually has felt paradoxically inevitable, while boldly underscoring the thesis that art is just a scam. But not in a way that is as cynical as you might suspect that message must be. Instead, we are assured that we can use that scam energy and be reborn in truth on the other side.
I Want Your Sex is Recommended If: You’ve always wanted to see The Usual Suspects crossed with Nocturnal Animals
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Whips
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