3-in-1 Movie Review: Robin, Leviticus, and the Girls Arrive on June 19

June 16, 2026

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CREDIT: Aidan Monaghan/A24

The Death of Robin Hood

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgӓrd, Murray Bartlett, Noah Jupe, Faith Delaney, Jade Croot

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Running Time: 122 Minutes

Rating: R for A Decent Amount of Blood

Release Date: June 19, 2026 (Theaters)

CREDIT: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

Girls Like Girls

Starring: Maya da Costa, Myra Molloy, Zach Braff, Levon Hawke

Director: Hayley Kiyoko

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Rating: R for Teen Partying and Some Language

Release Date: June 19, 2026 (Theaters)

CREDIT: NEON

Leviticus

Starring: Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Mia Wasikowska, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie, Nicholas Hope, Zamira Newman, Edwina Wren

Director: Adrian Chiarella

Running Time: 88 Minutes

Rating: R for Disturbing Horror Violence and Some Sexual Content

Release Date: June 19, 2026 (Theaters)

Welcome to all of you who just can’t wait for the Summer Movie Season! And also welcome to those of you who absolutely can’t resist the lure of the multiplex no matter what time of the year it is. If you enjoy reading about any and all new releases, well you’re in luck, because this is one of those times when I review more than one movie in a single post. They’re all set to debut in theaters on June 19, and their names are The Death of Robin Hood, Girls Like Girls, and Leviticus. They all promise to provide very different tones from each other, but they also all have one thing in common: none of them is Toy Story 5.

The Death of Robin Hood hands off the famous outlaw’s bow and arrow to Hugh Jackman, with Pig auteur Michael Sarnoski writing and directing. This is one of those revisionist takes that strips away the most recognizable elements of a very famous character, which is to say that this Robin doesn’t do a whole lot of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. So what does he do instead? Honestly, not much. This is certainly a movie that lives up to its title, with Robin essentially just lying around and making amends until he expires. In the course of his demise, he’s tended to by a nun (Jodie Comer) and kind of befriends a leper (Murray Bartlett). So it’s not totally event-less, but I still ultimately came to the conclusion that it took away the most interesting part of the character and didn’t really replace it with anything else interesting.

Girls Like Girls similarly lives up to the promise of its title, but in this case employing a strategy that’s presumably much safer for pleasing its target audience. It’s the directorial debut of singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko, based on her novel of the same name that was in turn based on her song of the same name. It follows the teenage Coley (Maya da Costa) in 2006 as she moves in with her dad (Zach Braff) following the death of her mom and finds herself spectacularly smitten with her new friend Sonya (Myra Molloy). You get the sense that this is the first time that Coley has ever felt this deeply for a girl, or anybody at all really. That’s the key to this movie’s power: the bigness of the feelings are contagious. We’ve all endured the struggles of uncertain love (no matter how queer or not queer), and we’re all looking for the support that Coley’s looking for promising that it’s all going to be okay.

We’ve actually got one more queer love story on the docket, although Leviticus doesn’t exactly offer much in the way of anything resembling a happy promise. Instead, this Australia-set supernatural chiller finds teenage boys Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) spooked by an entity threatening to kill them after an encounter with a “Deliverance Healer” (Nicholas Hope), which is essentially the most evil case of “pray the gay away” that you can imagine. The entity takes the form of the person you’re most romantically obsessed with, so Naim and Ryan are screwed by any attempts at solidarity. Comparisons to It Follows are inevitable, but the despair I clocked has more to do with the geographical dispersion of Down Under. Truly, this is a nightmare worthy of the Outback.

Grades:
The Death of Robin Hood: 2.5 out of 5 Arrows
Girls Like Girls: 3.5 out of 5 AIM Messages
Leviticus: 3.5 out of 5 Doppelgangers

’28 Years Later’ Reveals What It’s Like to Rebuild Society Around the Rage Virus

June 19, 2025

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What would you do if Ralph Fiennes handed you a skull? (CREDIT: Miya Mizuno/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Edvin Ryding, Jack O’Connell

Director: Danny Boyle

Running Time: 115 Minutes

Rating: R for Zombie Violence and Graphic Zombie Nudity

Release Date: June 20, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: In 2002, a little movie called 28 Days Later was released, introducing us to the Rage virus, which turned those infected into high-speed zombie-like creatures. Now it’s 23 years later, but a little bit more time has passed in this fictional world. And so, 2025 delivers to moviegoers 28 Years Later, in which the virus has been beaten back on continental Europe, while the United Kingdom remains under quarantine and left to fend for itself. This is the only world that 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) has ever known, as he lives on a Rage-free island village along with his dad Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and chronically ill mom Isla (Jodie Comer). Intrepid souls occasionally travel to the mainland across a causeway for supplies while fending off the infected that freely roam about. With Spike now old enough to make the trip, he determines that he must track down a legendary doctor (Ralph Fiennes) to get his mom a diagnosis. Meanwhile, a few of the Rage zombies have leveled up with some of their own unique abilities.

What Made an Impression?: Out of Time: I only saw 28 Days Later for the first time a couple of years ago, but I already knew long before then that the cinematic landscape had been inimitably altered by its influence. Pretty much every zombie flick, post-apocalypse film, and general actioner owes it a massive debt. You could even argue that it’s influenced 21st century culture at large more than any other movie besides The Matrix. But while it’s timeless in that regard, it also feels very much of its moment. There’s no way that 28 Years could recreate that phenomenon, nor does it try to. But it does recreate its milieu on screen, and that’s a whose choice, considering how this is a world that has been essentially stuck in time for a full generation. I’m not saying that director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland have been grappling with the Rage-iverse every day for the past couple of decades, but it is clear that some significant parts of their souls never left. If this franchise means anything to you, you’ll surely feel the same way
Life is Combat: Several of the early scenes are interspersed with clips of what appear to be old British wartime propaganda videos, as well as movie scenes depicting war throughout the centuries. Life in the village is basically like ancient Sparta with a hint of The Wicker Man, where the threat is ravenous flesh-eaters instead of rival city-states. The vintage footage feels satirical, but also like a Zen acceptance of reality.
Memento Mori et Amori: Perhaps the most striking image of 28 Years Later is the one on its poster: a tower of skulls, consisting of the remains of both the infected and the uninfected. In the midst of inescapable violence, Boyle and Garland advise us once again to look to the ancients, specifically the concept of “memento mori,” Latin for “remember to die.” But add just one letter to that and it becomes “memento amori”: remember to love. In the midst of whatever catastrophe we’re living through, we must also embrace each other.
Surprise!: As I conclude this review, I look back to my state of mind as I anticipated this sequel’s arrival. Would it expand the lore, or would we perhaps get closer to a cure for the Rage virus? But of all the possibilities I considered, none of them were anywhere close to what we ended up with. That’s not to say that the setting or the characters are vastly different from 28 Years‘ predecessors, just that its winding plot path is thrillingly unpredictable and that I was happy to embrace the uncertainty.

28 Years Later is Recommended If You Like: A new chapter that raises more questions than it answers

Grade: 4 out of 5 Teletubbies

‘The Bikeriders’ Review: Looking for Whatever Comes Their Way

June 18, 2024

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Going whole hog (CREDIT: Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved.)

Starring: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Mike Faist, Michael Shannon, Norman Reedus, Boyd Holbrook, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, Emory Cohen, Karl Glusman, Happy Anderson

Director: Jeff Nichols

Running Time: 116 Minutes

Rating: R for Fist Fights, Knife Fights, and a Few Guns

Release Date: June 14, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: In 1960s Chicago, a man named Johnny (Tom Hardy) starts hearing the Call of the Hog. He then founds the Vandals MC motorcycle club, and pretty soon his motley crew are devoting their entire social lives to the open road and brawl-filled picnics. Threatening to upend it all is a hothead named Benny (Austin Butler), who holds an irresistible pull over the outsider Kathy (Jodie Comer). Everyone tried to warn Kathy away from Benny, but they just can’t help but marry each other. The Bikeriders was inspired by a book of the same name by photojournalist Danny Lyon, so the movie is framed by Mike Faist as Danny interviewing the major players in this subculture.

What Made an Impression?: Just Something to Do: Strangely enough, Johnny never appears to be particularly enthralled by motorcycles. Instead, he seems to have been attracted by what they represent, and even that motivation is rather haphazard. One day, he just happened to be watching the 1953 biker flick The Wild One, which features Marlon Brando infamously uttering “Whaddya got?” when someone asks him what he’s rebelling against. Johnny doesn’t seem particularly constrained by his suburban life as a husband and father (from what little we see of him in that role), but he’s nevertheless inexplicably and unmistakably drawn to the siren song of rebellion. Meanwhile, Benny at least clearly relishes his time cruising down the street, but that love is surely too elemental for him to ever explain where it comes from. At least Michael Shannon as Zipco offers some sort of life philosophy in the form of resenting his “pinko” brother. But that characterization is just as mystifying when you realize that “pinko” to him doesn’t mean “Communist” so much as “attends college” and “doesn’t do enough hard labor.”
No Way to Fathom It: The contrast between Johnny and Benny had me thinking of the yin-yang dynamic between the Salvatore Brothers on The Vampire Diaries. If you’ve never seen that CW bloodsucker series, here’s what you need to know: Damon Salvatore is the dangerous Benny, while Stefan Salvatore is the less frightening Johnny. Eventually, though, in both TVD and The Bikeriders, our initial assumptions get flipped on our head. The analogue is far from a perfect one-to-one match, but the point is that The Bikeriders left me flummoxed by the seeming randomness of its characters’ fates. Some of the Vandals who are perpetually in Death’s crosshairs somehow survive, while others who are ostensibly impenetrable bite the dust, and yet others reform themselves out of nowhere or at least disappear. It’s all fairly believable, but too thoroughly matter-of-fact to leave much of an impression.

The Bikeriders is Recommended If You Like: Laconic conversations, Wild accent swings, Impulsiveness

Grade: 3 out of 5 Motorcycles

I Liked It When ‘The Last Duel’ Ended (That’s a Compliment)

October 19, 2021

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The Last Duel (CREDIT: 20th Century Studios/Screenshot)

Starring: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Harriet Walter, Nathaniel Parker, Alex Lawther

Director: Ridley Scott

Running Time: 153 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: October 15, 2021 (Theaters)

My favorite part of the The Last Duel is The Last Part – tres appropriate! Actually, I liked two last parts, as it were. The film is split into thirds: first we get the perspective of Sir Jean de Carrouges (as played by Mr. Matt Damon), then the perspective of Jacques Le Gris (as played by Mr. Adam Driver), and finally the perspective of Sir Jean’s wife Marguerite (as played by Ms. Jodie Comer). So when I say I liked two last parts, I mean that I liked Marguerite’s section the best of the three, AND I liked the very last scene more than any other scene, as we finally got to see the titular duel between Sir Jean and Jacques and the emotional stakes were abundantly clear. The men’s sections were occasionally a bit of a chore to get through, but they provided essential context to make the resolutions work as satisfactorily as they did (h/t to NPR’s Linda Holmes for priming me towards this reaction with her discussion on the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast). I hope everyone reading likes the end of this review just as much.

Grade: The End Was Good!

I Saw ‘Free Guy’ and Then ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ Immediately Afterwards: Here’s What Happened

August 15, 2021

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CREDIT: Sony Pictures; 20th Century Studios/Screenshots

Free Guy:

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, Taika Waititi, Channing Tatum

Director: Shawn Levy

Running Time: 115 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: August 13, 2021 (Theaters)

Don’t Breathe 2:

Starring: Stephen Lang, Madelyn Grace, Brendan Sexton III

Director: Rodo Sayagues

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: August 13, 2021 (Theaters)

In Free Guy, good vibes beget more good vibes. When Guy the NPC gains self-awareness, he focuses on self-improvement, and that leads to all the other NPCs in Free City becoming better versions of themselves, and even some of the real people playing the game start to adopt a more positive view of the world. As it turns out, that tendency was in Guy’s programming all along. He’s got a fantastically complicated algorithm that allows for so many wondrous possibilities. It’s infectious, even for a Ryan Reynolds skeptic like me.

Contrast that with Don’t Breathe 2, in which hate begets more hate. The first Don’t Breathe effectively toyed with our sympathies regarding Stephen Lang’s blind Norman; the sequel tries to do the same, but his negative characteristics are a bit too overwhelming to fully root for him. (Also, his blindness isn’t utilized to the same thrilling effect.) Furthermore, the people who target him this time around have a sympathetic reason for doing so, but basically every action they take in the name of their mission is pretty despicable. At least the young girl isn’t similarly hate-filled – there’s no Bad Seed vibes here. But otherwise, the blood and the pain just pile up and pile up.

GRADES:
Free Guy: 4 out of 5 Skins
Don’t Breathe 2: 2 out of 5 Light Switches