July 30, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Callum Turner, Elena Anaya, Elle Fanning, Jamie Bell, Karim Aïnouz, Lukas Gage, Pamela Anderson, Riley Keough, Rosebush Pruning, Tracy Letts
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
July 25, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Amber Gray, André De Shields, Brett Sullivan, Eva Noblezada, Hadestown, Hadestown: The Musical, Patrick Page, Reeve Carney
Hey-Hades! (CREDIT: Bleecker Street/Screenshot)
Starring: Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Patrick Page
Director: Brett Sullivan
Running Time: 141 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: July 24, 2026 (Theaters)
Well, hello there! Yes, the rumors are true, I did go see Hadestown: The Musical in a movie theater. I had never previously seen it on Broadway or any other live theatrical venue, though I did have a general idea of what to expect. Here are my biggest takeaways:
-I would’ve guessed ahead of time that André De Shields would be the main singer behind my favorite song, but no, that honor instead goes to Patrick Page as Mr. Hades himself going on about The Wall. What a bass!
-André was great, too, of course, and he did a fine job of ushering his co-stars into the spotlight.
-Let’s all start jumping like Amber Gray as Persephone!
-That “la la la” falsetto from Reeve Carney was kind of terrifying. (In a good way?)
-Eva Noblezada was delivering the sort of face acting that was making me go, “I hope everything works out okay!”
And now you know what I thought about Hadestown: The Musical.
Grade: Eu-ryd-Is-All-i-ce!
July 24, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Sports, Television
A*Pop, AIG Women's Open, All the Beauty, Beat Shazam, Charli XCX, Hadestown, Hadestown: The Musical, Little Miss Twain, Music Fashion Film, Pete Yorn, President Curtis, Reality Awaits, Robyn Hitchcock, Rosebush Pruning, Shania Twain, The Confuser, The Strokes, The Thread, Tyla, Willow, Women's Open
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Hadestown: The Musical (Theaters) – A Broadway show comes to the big screen.
–Rosebush Pruning (Theaters)
TV
–President Curtis Series Premiere (July 26 on Adult Swim) – Rick and Morty spinoff with Keith David in the title role.
–Beat Shazam Season Premiere (July 28 on FOX)
Music
-Charli XCX, Music, Fashion, Film
-Robyn Hitchcock, The Confuser
-The Strokes, Reality Awaits
-Shania Twain, Little Miss Twain
-Tyla, A*Pop
-WILLOW, The Thread
-Pete Yorn, All the Beauty
Sports
-AIG Women’s Open (July 30-August 2 on Golf Channel and NBC)
July 22, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Catherine Laga'aia, Dwayne Johnson, Frankie Adams, Jemaine Clement, John Tui, Moana, Moana 2026, Rena Owen, Thomas Kail
Moana, Moproblems (CREDIT: Disney/Screenshot)
Starring: Catherine Laga’aia, Dwayne Johnson, Rena Owen, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Jemaine Clement
Director: Thomas Kail
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Rating: PG
Release Date: July 10, 2026 (Theaters)
You’re welcome! Why are you welcome, you may ask? Well, I assume that you would be thanking me at some point for getting to read this review of mine. Now why, you may also ask, am I being so presumptuous about my audience’s reaction? Well, I just felt compelled to mimic the same presumptuousness demonstrated by the Dwayne Johnson-portrayed demigod Maui, which is in turn the very same presumptuousness demonstrated by Walt Disney Pictures in releasing a live-action remake of Moana a mere decade after the animated original.
But you know what? I did feel welcome.
I’m sure that had quite a bit to do with my lowered expectations set by this questionable context. But this movie felt like a movie, and I guess it was just a day when I needed the silver screen to gently wash over me. (As it is most days.) So, well… thank you.
Grade: Just Shiny Enough
July 20, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Aoi Yamada, Charles Melton, Diego Calva, Dougray Scott, Havana Rose Liu, Her Private Hell, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Kristine Froseth, Nicholas Winding Refn, Parker Sawyers, Shioli Kutsuna, Sophie Thatcher
When Private Hells go Public (CREDIT: NEON)
Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Parker Sawyers
Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Rating: R for Stylized But Certainly Bloody Violence, and Some Sexual Content and Language Under a Similarly Stylized Veneer
Release Date: July 24, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: A veteran actress named Elle (Sophie Thatcher) meets an up-and-comer named Hunter (Kristine Froseth) who is set to co-star with her in an upcoming production. Hunter is eager to soak up everything Elle has to teach her, and she’s also enamored with Elle’s famous dad Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott), who’s back in town with his new wife Dominique (Havana Rose Liu), who’s about the same age as Elle. They’re all staying in a luxury hotel in Tokyo that stretches into the clouds and seems to exist on another plane of existence entirely. It might sound like a lavish life of wonder, but they’re also right in the crosshairs of a mystical killer known as the Leather Man. Meanwhile, an investigator known as Private K (Charles Melton) fights his way through the city’s criminal underground.
What Made an Impression?: Return of the Winding: After breaking through in Hollywood with 2011’s acclaimed Drive, Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn’s output has been famously divisive. I actually found his 2016 bizarre nightmare horror flick The Neon Demon to be quite a hoot, but I could see why it didn’t work for everyone. Now that he’s returned to feature films a decade later with Her Private Hell, my reaction is, “Wait a minute, was I really ever a fan of Refn in the first place?” Now’s a good time to practice my compartmentalization skills.
Turning on the Charm: In the first 20 minutes or so of HPH, I was kind of vibing along with the stylized faux-reality. Most of Elle and Hunter’s repartee is profoundly shallow, but there are a few lines that have a bit of a satirical edge to them or enough pseudo-philosophical heft to sufficiently amuse me. So yeah, I must admit that I laughed, and I cannot deny that Refn’s whole impish deal can still hold its sway over me, at least in spurts.
It Was Nice Knowing Ya: At a certain point, though, my mind drifted about as far away from what was happening on the screen as possible. I lost the plot, and I wasn’t one bit interested in rediscovering it. But what is this plot that I speak of, when truly Her Private Hell can only boast of a facsimile of typical storytelling? This whole assemblage could have been pretty memorable as a music video. But as a feature length endeavor? It’s only memorable for how forgettable it is.
Her Private Hell is Recommended If: You’re still 100% in on NWR stock and nothing has ever convinced you otherwise
Grade: 2 out of 5 Leather Men
July 17, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
Beautiful Mess, Daughter from Hell, Gin Wigmore, Gracie Abrams, King of the Hill, Oh yeah?, Steve Lacy, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, The Odyssey, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
A Quartet of Failures (CREDIT: HBO Max/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
–The Odyssey (Theaters)
TV
–King of the Hill Season 15 (July 20 on Hulu)
–Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (July 22 on ABC)
–Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Series Premiere (July 23 on HBO Max) – The Sheldonverse expands.
Music
-Gracie Abrams, Daughter from Hell
-Steve Lacy, Oh yeah?
-Gin Wigmore, Beautiful Mess
July 15, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Andrew Howard, Anne Hathaway, Benny Safdie, Bill Irwin, Charlize Theron, Christopher Nolan, Corey Hawkins, Elliot Page, Elyes Gabel, Himesh Patel, James Remar, Jimmy Gonzales, John Leguizamo, Jon Bernthal, Logan Marshall-Green, Lupita Nyong’o, Matt Damon, Mia Goth, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, The Odyssey, The Odyssey 2026, Tom Holland, Travis Scott, Will Yun Lee, Zendaya
It certainly has been an Odyssey (CREDIT: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)
Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, Bill Irwin, Himesh Patel, Will Yun Lee, Corey Hawkins, Mia Goth, Logan Marshall-Green, Jimmy Gonzales, Andrew Howard, Travis Scott, Elliot Page, James Remar, Elyes Gabel
Director: Christopher Nolan
Running Time: 173 Minutes
Rating: R for Monstrous Violence and a Few Four-Letter Words
Release Date: July 17, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: The King of Ithaca, just wants to get back home! And if he could, he’d also like to safely return the men who served alongside him in the Trojan War, thank you very much. It’s been years. Decades, even! Obviously, travel times were much longer in the B.C. days, but when it’s getting to be ten years since the end of the war (on top of the ten that the war itself lasted), it’s a little ridiculous even by Ancient Greek standards. But that’s just the daily struggle for Odysseus when his life is ruled by the gods and they place a series of monstrous and magical obstacles in his way. Back in Ithaca, Odysseus’s queen Penelope and son Telemachus have been patiently and faithfully awaiting his return. But the situation is becoming more and more untenable, as a legion of suitors are demanding that Penelope finally get around to remarrying one of them. We’re talking about one of the most enduring works of mythic storytelling in human history, and this version from Christopher Nolan can reasonably claim to be the most epic adaptation yet.
What Made an Impression?: The Entire Known World: The moment that most blew me away in this telling of The Odyssey was a simple but all-encompassing shot of a ship navigating along a seemingly endless sea. Simply put, if you give Christopher Nolan hundreds of millions of dollars, he’s going to make you re-evaluate our entire conception of reality, even if he’s telling a story we’ve heard plenty of times before.
As Epic as They Wanna Be: That ship shot is a microcosm of Nolan’s entire odyssean m.o. This is an epic film with an epic cast, on epic sets, with epic visual effects, soundtracked by an epic score. Even Odysseus’ loyal pooch Argos was probably the oldest living dog of his era! And nothing sticks out awkwardly just to add to the gargantuanness. Every piece of this movie, no matter how major or minor, is there to shoot its meaning directly into our souls.
They Are Merely Players: Is Matt Damon now the gold standard for Odysseus? Does Anne Hathaway’s Penelope one-up everyone? Is Tom Holland’s Telemachus simply undeniable? As far as the acting is concerned, basically the entire cast performed their parts more or less exactly as I expected them to, and they all acquitted themselves quite well. I kinda wish at least one performance had been much more unpredictable so that I could say something weirder, but I’m not complaining. Sometimes meeting expectations is exactly how you must rise to the occasion.
How’s Your Appetite?: You know what else blew me away? The scene when Circe (Samantha Morton) turns Odysseus’ men into swine. The warping of their faces into porcine mugs is some legitimately groovy body horror. And the rest of the visual effects are similarly creative and effective at conveying the sense that human existence is totally helpless.
A Word From the Head Honcho: As I wrap up this review, let me end on a theme that this film underlines over and over: Zeus’ Law. The idea is that any visitor in your home could be a god in disguise, so you really ought to treat them with hospitality. This is a lesson that transcends all religions and societies, and it goes a long way towards explaining why Odysseus is able to last as long as he does. The Greek gods may have been petty and cruel, but I nevertheless hope that plenty of moviegoers end up taking Zeus’ Law to heart.
The Odyssey is Recommended If You Like: Rereading books you read in high school, Ray Harryhausen, Cecil B. DeMille
Grade: 4 out of 5 Suitors
July 13, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Ben Wang, David Wain, Erroll Shand, Evil Dead, Evil Dead Burn, Fred Melamed, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, George Pullar, Hunter Doohan, Joe Lo Truglio, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, Ken Marino, Luciane Buchanan, Mather Zickel, Maude Davey, Michael Cassidy, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Sabrina Impacciatore, Sébastien Vaniček, Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Tobie Windham, Zoey Deutch
A Collage of Screenshots of the Two Movies Discussed in This Review (CREDIT: Warners Bros./Screenshot; Sony Pictures Classics/Screenshot)
Starring: Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand, Maude Davey, George Pullar
Director: Sébastien Vaniček
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: July 10, 2026 (Theaters)
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Sabrina Impacciatore, Ben Wang, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Joe Lo Truglio, Mather Zickel, Ken Marino, Tobie Windham, Fred Melamed, Michael Cassidy
Director: David Wain
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: July 10, 2026 (Theaters)
Okay, I suppose it’s time for another round of movie reviewing that is driven by the question: would I like to live in the world of this movie?
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