Is There Anything Real to Grasp Onto in ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’?

November 25, 2025

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I see them! … Or do I? (CREDIT: Lionsgate)

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Dominic Sessa, Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Rosamund Pike, Lizzy Caplan, Morgan Freeman

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Running Time: 112 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: November 14, 2025 (Theaters)

I would LOVE to live in the world of the Now You See Me movies! Here’s why: nothing makes a lick of sense, but somehow everything always works out perfectly in the end. Just so long as you’re not one of those selfish Master of the Universe types, that is. Is this what justice looks like? Well, it’s at least what Justice Smith looks like, considering that he’s one of the main new stars arriving for the third entry, Now You Don’t. And in case you’re wondering, here’s my response to that subtitle: yes, they do, and they probably always will!

Grade: Actually, Though, This One’s a Little Too Illusory

Is it a Yes or a No, ‘Dog Man’?

January 29, 2025

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What’s up, Dog (Man)? (CREDIT: Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Animation)

Starring: Peter Hastings, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Lucas Hopkins Calderon, Isla Fisher, Ricky Gervais, Cheri Oteri, Billy Boyd, Stephen Root, Poppy Liu, Laraine Newman, Melissa Villaseñor, Kate Micucci, Maggie Wheeler, Pearce Bunting, Max Koch, Rahnuma Panthaky

Director: Peter Hastings

Running Time: 89 Minutes

Rating: PG for The Typical Animated Mayhem

Release Date: January 31, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Officer Knight and his canine companion Greg are one of the best crime-fighting duos in the city. That is, until a major accident renders Knight’s head and Greg’s body unusable. So their doctors decide to make lemonade and fuse the two of them together to form the titular Dog Man (barks and whines provided by writer-director Peter Hastings)! That would seemingly make him the perfect foil for the incorrigible feline criminal Petey (Pete Davidson), but alas, Dog Man gets off on the wrong foot with his Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and the Mayor (Cheri Oteri) and ends up having to stay on desk duty. Meanwhile, Petey obtains a clone of himself named Lil’ Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon), who may just soften his heart and convince him to become a doting father instead of a criminal mastermind.

What Made an Impression?: You Got to Be Silly: Dog Man is based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Dav Pilkey, who’s probably best known for Captain Underpants, which got its own big-screen adaptation back in 2017. I’m familiar with Pilkey’s output via pop culture osmosis, but this is my first time actually diving into what he has on offer. And now that I’ve been exposed, I must say: I hope I have kids soon so that we can fully explore the Pilkey-verse together. Simply put, this is silly sophomoric humor done cleverly and colorfully. Dopey wordplay and visual gags abound, befitting a world in which a canine-human hybrid is the hero.
Family Matters: Considering all the unabashed silliness on display, you might be surprised to learn that Dog Man also isn’t afraid to get heavy. To be clear, it’s not like it’s an unrelenting tearjerker about cancer and/or addiction. Nevertheless, you might find yourself shedding a tear or two. For example, after Officer Knight and Greg become Dog Man, they’re unceremoniously abandoned by Greg’s wife, who apparently couldn’t bear to ever see her husband and fur baby fused together. Meanwhile, Petey’s villainy seems to be entirely fueled by his abandonment issues with his own deadbeat dad (Stephen Root). These themes don’t weigh down the wackiness, but they certainly make themselves known. So if you want a steady stream of ultra-silly laughs with a side of genuine family therapy, Dog Man has you covered.

Dog Man is Recommended If You Like: Weird Al, Looney Tunes, “Cat’s in the Cradle”

Grade: 3 out of 5 Copz

The Doggies of ‘Strays’ Are on the Dirtiest and Sweetest Mission of the Year

August 17, 2023

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Here Be Strays (CREDIT: Universal Studios)

Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Will Forte

Director: Josh Greenbaum

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: R for Thoroughly Scatological and Sexual Humor, and Some Canine Revenge Violence

Release Date: August 18, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Dog is famously man’s best friend. But someone forgot to explain that to Doug, the frequently masturbating, irresponsible loner played by Will Forte in Strays. He has a Border Terrier named Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), but that’s only to spite his most recent ex-girlfriend, who was actually the one who chose to adopt the pup in the first place. Soon enough, Doug realizes that Reggie’s cramping his style a bit too much, so he tries to get rid of him with a miles-long version of fetch. Reggie thinks it’s all a game until streetwise stray Boston Terrier Bug (Jamie Foxx) sets him straight. The two of them then team up with therapy Great Dane Hunter (Randall Park) and sniffer supreme Australian Shepherd Maggie (Isla Fisher) for the ultimate revenge mission: they’re going to take away the thing that Doug cares the most about in the world by biting off a certain part of his anatomy that dangles between his legs.

What Made an Impression?: An Explicit Dog’s Life: I didn’t make any exact calculations while watching, but I would estimate that about 75% of the jokes and gags in Strays are scatological or sexual in nature. That makes sense, as dogs sure do poop and pee and hump a lot. That’s true of a lot of mammals, after all! But dogs tend to be especially shameless about it. So director Josh Greenbaum and screenwriter Dan Perrault wisely take a matter-of-fact approach to the crudeness. Depending on your tolerance level for potty humor, you might find yourself averting or rolling your eyes at certain moments. But Strays stays true to its canine worldview through and through, and it deserves respect for that.
Guileless and Openhearted: It’s essential that Strays‘ main pooch be as fundamentally trusting as Reggie is. Even when he realizes how awful Doug has been to him, it doesn’t change his entire conception of existence. Instead, he still believes that the world is absolutely full of wonder, and if anything, his time with his new friends convinces him of that truth even more. Life off the leash could terrify a more skittish dog, but Reggie rolls along with pretty much anything. If you introduce him to the couch you’ve been humping, he’ll treat it as an honor to meet someone so important. If you tell him that he should tell the lawn gnome he’s humping that he’s its daddy, he’ll do his best to make the introduction to his long-lost son less awkward. It’s always welcome to have a fresh bundle of joy on your team.
Treat Your Pet Right: In its most ambitious moments, Strays grasps for profundity in exploring the emotional dynamics of toxic relationships. And it’s mostly successful. Despite his desire for vengeance, there’s also an undercurrent implying that Reggie can’t quite quit Doug. And his explanation for why that is sounds a lot like the sort that you might hear from people who have been abused in human-human relationships. Reggie has internalized the lesson that he deserves Doug’s neglect because he’s been a bad dog all along, and it’s heartbreaking to witness that realization. While Strays has been advertised a gross-but-sweet raucous comedy, it turns out that it’s actually most assured in its handling of canine psychology.

Strays is Recommended If You Like: Talking dog movies like Homeward Bound and A Dog’s Purpose but wish they had more poop and dick jokes

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Humps

This Is A Movie Review: The Beach Bum

April 12, 2019

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CREDIT: NEON and VICE Films

There are a lot of bare breasts in The Beach Bum. In the interest of naked parity, I must report that there is sadly not a whole lot of corresponding male nudity, although we do get a peek at Matthew’s McConaughey while he’s taking a drunken leak. This movie is basically the diary of a hedonist in Florida, and frankly, it could have been even more hedonistic, though it is having plenty of fun with itself in its shaggy structure. There actually does seem to be a bit of a message here, something about whether or not great men should be given the rope they’re often given to make great art, as Moondog’s shenanigans are sort of excused while he’s encouraged to write his next brilliant poetry collection. But this is also the movie in which Snoop Dogg plays a character named “Lingerie” and Martin Lawrence gets his foot bitten off by a shark, and those things seem just as important as any high-minded social consciousness.

I give The Beach Bum An Agreement to Drink a Few Sips of PBR.