Coyote vs. Acme (2026)

For three generations, my family has enjoyed Road Runner and Coyote shorts more than most Looney Tunes outings. It didn't take much to convince my mom, sister, and nephew to come to a theater with me. I was a little worried that a live-action setting would spell less family-friendliness, but hey, I'd seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit many times by my nephew's age.

Wile E. Coyote, mute as usual, finally decides to hire toon-focused Albuquerque human attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to sue Acme for all the dangerously defective products he's used to try to catch the Road Runner (Eric Bauza, who voices most of the male toons). Kevin balks at the idea of covering lots of products in a single lawsuit, but avid intern Paige (Lana Condor) thinks it's just what the struggling firm of Avery, Jones, and Maltese (no doubt named for Tex, Chuck, and Michael) needs. Of course, a megacorporation has a tough lawyer, namely Kevin's ex-classmate Buddy Crane (John Cena). And it's not brutal only in the courtroom.

The Road to El Dorado (2000)

People hardly talked about this when it was new. Neither the trailer nor the excerpt I caught on TV tempted me. But a couple memes signal its sleeper cult hit status. I chose it partly to get references and partly to kill less than 90 minutes.

Sixteenth-century Spanish scoundrels Miguel (Kevin Kline) and Tulio (Kenneth Branagh) use loaded dice to win a map purporting to lead to the rumored city of gold. Being only so sneaky, they get clapped in the brig of a ship by Hernán Cortés himself (Jim Cummings) but escape in a rowboat with help from Altivo (Frank Welker), perhaps the smartest horse outside of Tangled. After weeks of mixed luck, they meet the remote El Doradans, who mistake them for prophesied divine visitors. A nice gig if you can get it, but you don't have to see or read The Man Who Would Be King to know how tenuous their status is....

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

This is the third time I've seen a Spider-Man movie at an out-of-the-way theater at a friend's invitation. As much as I've enjoyed the Tom Holland entries, the ads didn't make me eager to watch more after nearly five years. Little did I know how much others loved the trailer and, so far, the flick itself.

Peter "Spider-Man" Parker (Holland) is certainly more of a man now, living alone, albeit with no apparent job, and making short work of most New York villains. He's also becoming more of a spider, as his fused DNA asserts itself, heightening his senses, letting him shoot webs organically like the Tobey Maguire version, and making him more brutal under stress like a lesser Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), whose alter ego he visits for advice. Amid this identity crisis, he must contend with a foe (Sadie Sink) who gives other people identity crises by temporarily possessing them. The mystery mind-hopper is intent on infiltrating U.S. Department of Damage Control headquarters, which houses so many sensitive, potentially scandalous secrets that its director (Tramell Tillman) can hardly guess which is being targeted.

The Odyssey (2026)

Around the same time that I read Homer's epic, I saw the 1997 miniseries thereof, which didn't blow me away but helped cement a few memories. Not enough that some parts didn't feel new again, as I would discover. If nothing else, I could count on director Christopher Nolan to make it his own, even without Cillian Murphy or a male character mourning a dead wife or girlfriend.

Royalty has a somewhat different meaning in ancient Greece, where King Odysseus of Ithaca (Matt Damon) sees no choice but to fight in the Trojan War himself, shortly after the birth of his son, Telemachus. His side wins, but the return journey is fraught with episodes of supernatural peril, keeping him and his troops away much longer than other veterans. Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) holds out hope despite a widespread assumption of Odysseus's death, which leads to dozens of suitors taking up residence at the palace. She can't dismiss them without breaking the oft-cited Zeus's Law (i.e., show hospitality in case a guest is a disguised god). By young adulthood, Telemachus (Tom Holland) is thinking of ascending the throne, but the suitors, unofficially led by Antinous (Robert Pattinson), conspire to kill him first.

Minions & Monsters (2026)

After my previous complaints about the walking yellow pills, I never expected to watch any part of the spinoff series. What persuaded me? My nephew and niece invited me. I'll take almost any excuse to spend time with them.

As narrated by a tour guide (Allison Janney), most of the story takes place in early Hollywood. A tribe of Minions (all voiced by director Pierre Coffin) in search of a new bad guy to follow unwittingly crashes a set and wins the hearts of the producers (both Jeff Bridges), who cast them in many movies with the same director (Christoph Waltz). Alas, their inability to stick to English for long makes them flop with the advent of talkies. The most artistically minded Minion, James, decides to make an indie horror. Using a previous boss's magic book, he summons a talking monster (Trey Parker), who brings others on board (Phil LaMarr and Bobby Moynihan). Of course, they didn't show up to be actual actors....

Toy Story 5 (2026)

Despite my previous desire not to have the series continue, I got curious when I saw the new plot element in ads. Having seen all the other entries (not counting Lightyear) in theaters, I soon talked my parents into joining me -- followed by my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and reluctant nephew. This would be a new experience on that level at least, enough to make up for nearly half an hour of ads. Good thing the movie itself moves along at a fast clip.

Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), now 8, has trouble making friends because all the same-age kids in her neighborhood would rather play online. Her parents buy her a tablet called Lilypad (Greta Lee), much to the consternation of her soon neglected toys. Her longtime favorite, plastic cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack), sneaks off with stuffed horse Bullseye (no voice) to ensure that Bonnie has a good time at a sleepover with new connections thanks to "Lily," leaving astronaut action figure Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) to try to keep Lily in check. When things go sideways, Jessie and Bullseye involuntarily return to where she stayed decades ago....

Supergirl (2026)

Going by reviews, I did not plan to see this, at least in a theater. But a friend had already bought tickets, and after his disappointment that I didn't join him for Joker: Folie à Deux, I opted to grin and bear it. Besides, I'd watched two seasons of the Supergirl TV series, and that's not supposed to be much better.

Very little of this movie takes place on Earth. Supergirl (Milly Alcock), 23-year-old cousin of Superman (David Corenswet), has been vacationing on planets near a red sun, which suspends Kryptonian powers and thus lets her get drunk more easily. The first halfway heroic thing we see her do is defend 13-year-old Ruthye (Eve Ridley) from thieves. Ruthye asks for help avenging her family, murdered by Brigand leader Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts). Supergirl doesn't really care until after Krem poisons her dog, Krypto, while holding the only known antitoxin sample. Even then, she wants Ruthye to step aside. Yeah, right.

Hondo (1953)

I chose this from my YouTube list partly for its short runtime, 84 minutes. Imagine my surprise to see "Intermission" about halfway through. No, there's no several-minute segment for music, much as I like the John Williams-esque scoring.

In an unspecified Old West setting, unhorsed, somewhat notorious soldier Hondo Lane (John Wayne) arrives at a remote homestead to fuel up and buy a horse. He meets Angie Low (Geraldine Page) and her young son, Johnny (Lee Aaker), but not her long-absent and unaccounted-for husband, Ed (Leo Gordon). Hondo warns that local Apaches are gearing up for war on the frontiersmen. Angie feels confident that if a recent treaty doesn't dissuade the Apaches from attacking her, her benevolent past will, but Hondo wisely disagrees. He keeps a close watch, gradually hoping to fill the void Ed left behind.

David (2025)

Let's see: a biblical animation with the same distributor as The King of Kings, released in the same year, with the same IMDb rating. But this one's a musical set in the Old Testament without narration. Would it feel more like a spiritual successor to The Prince of Egypt?

The story begins shortly before Bethlehem shepherd David (Brandon Engman, later Phil Wickham) gets anointed by prophet Samuel (Brian Stivale) as a future king and ends when the Israelites formally recognize his kingship. When not contending with the powerful Philistines and creepy Amalekites who hope to enslave his people, his antagonist is King Saul (Adam Michael Gold), who now cares more about holding onto power than following the Lord's guidance.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

I had enjoyed First Blood but understood that it bore little resemblance to the rest of the Rambo series. Green Beret John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) doesn't kill any humans in it, for one thing. When I found the immediate sequel on Pluto TV, I decided to get an informed opinion of how accurate the many parodies were. Hey, it wouldn't be the first mediocre Stallone vehicle I found interesting.

After a few years of a labor sentence, Rambo learns from his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman (Richard Crenna), of a chance at a pardon. His accepted mission from Major Marshall Roger Murdock (Charles Napier) is to sneak into a Vietnamese camp suspected of still containing American POWs and take only pictures. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a story if he followed instructions precisely. Once he sees an opportunity to free a tortured prisoner (Andy Wood), it won't be long before the projectiles fly.

Jurassic World (2015)

This is the first movie I ever watched after (OK, long after) checking out the Nostalgia Critic's synopsis thereof. He made it sound bad except for two great sequences, ultimately declining to recommend seeing or skipping it, but at least he put it ahead of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. What finally persuaded me? A warning that it would stop streaming on Netflix at the end of the month.

In Costa Rica, a successor to the failed zoo of revived dinosaurs has actually done rather well, but the novelty is wearing off, so the profits don't satisfy stockholders. Operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and CEO Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) give the go-ahead for the team of Dr. Henry Wu (returning BD Wong) to engineer a whole new multispecies specimen, the Indominus rex, projected to be fifty feet tall someday. I hardly need to tell you they've created a monster and not prepared adequately. The clever girl's escape kicks off a whole host of catastrophes, with other big reptiles chipping in.

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Yeah, it's been less than a month since my last talking animal cartoon review. This one, despite numerous award nominations and a few minor wins, gets a mostly middling reception. So why did I bother to see it, especially after a decade? Because I was in the mood for something short (86 minutes) and cute.

Max (Louis C.K.), a Jack Russell, basically enjoys life in Manhattan until owner Katie (Ellie Kemper) brings home a large rescue Newfie, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), prompting covetous competition. An outdoor kerfuffle results in both of them losing their collars and getting caught by dogcatchers. Before they can reach the pound, a gang of sewer-dwelling, human-hating abandoned pets busts a member out of the van, and Max and Duke persuade lead rabbit Snowball (Kevin Hart) to take them too. When their overture of rebellion proves false and they accidentally cause the demise of the biggest and nastiest ex-pet while escaping, Snowball becomes determined to hunt them down. As the two dogs seek a way home, Gidget (Jenny Slate as yet another small fluffy white critter), a neighboring Pom with a crush on Max, organizes a search squad of various pets.

Perhaps most useful to the search is antiheroic hawk Tiberius (Albert Brooks), tho he's not as acquainted with Max as most of the others. Chloe the cat (Lake Bell) stands out for pretending not to care as much as she does. Pops the basset (Dana Carvey) may be old and paraplegic, but he knows a few key points. Frequently present if less important are Buddy the dachshund (Hannibal Buress), Mel the pug (Bobby Moynihan), Sweetpea the budgie (Tara Strong), and Norman the lost guinea pig (Illumination Entertainment mainstay Chris Renaud). The gang members are too numerous to list, but I'll mention Tattoo (Michael Beattie), a highly inked pig.

Not exactly an epic tale; most events take place before Katie comes home for the day. It sure doesn't take long for a shared crisis to get Max and Duke to soften toward each other, with only a slight echo of their prior hostility around the start of Act 3. After all, the story tries to be heartwarming when it's not going pure comedy or adventure. Even Snowball is more redeemable than Lulu.

The comedy aspect gets priority. It usually takes the form of pets fulfilling stereotypes, pets defying stereotypes, slapstick, or vulgarity. On the last part, eh, it could be worse. Dont expect much of interest from the humans.

TSLoP is almost exactly what the ads led me to expect. Indeed, it borders on predictable, never trying for innovation. That's not altogether a bad thing when you choose a movie. I probably won't bother with the sequel, but I got what I came for.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Man, I'd last seen a Hobbit movie before I started this blog more than a decade ago. The threequel was reputed to be the weakest link in a pale imitation of The Lord of the Rings, hence my lack of hurry to see it. Nonetheless, it looked like the most promising DVD I hadn't watched in my local library, having better ratings from general audiences than from critics.

The Desolation of Smaug ends with halfling Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) accidentally inspiring the titular event. Not long into TBotFA, human archer Bard (Luke Evans) slays the rampaging Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch), but that's not the end of the dragon's evil influence. One of Bilbo's dwarven companions, King Thorin (Richard Armitage), finds Smaug's trove almost as corruptive as the One Ring and refuses to share any of it with the humans of newly burned Lake-town, despite his prior oath and their obvious need. When elven King Thranduil (Lee Pace) comes with an army to claim a family treasure, Thorin is undaunted, and the other dwarves obediently prepare to fight. Perhaps fortunately, before the first casualty, the arrival of two armies of darkness induces the other three to team up.

Project Hail Mary (2026)

This has been seeing a lot of discussion in my circles, including a slight spoiler I tried to ignore. I decided not to wait for the next spoiler to see the flick in a theater. Besides, at 156 minutes, it promised a good way to fill my evening.

In the near future, scientists discover star-eating microbes that could decimate Earth's population in a few decades. These "astrophages" travel to Venus to reproduce, so it's possible to collect some for study. Only one vaguely close star, Tau Ceti, has not been dimming. The titular project sends three astronauts on a long, mostly comatose one-way trip to find and transmit answers that might save their sun. For unexplained reasons, only Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) lives to wake up. Fortunately, he meets a sapient alien he dubs Rocky, on a mission to deal with the same threat to another star. Their combined smarts might be just what they need.

How the West Was Won (1962)

I'd seen this title many times over the years, thanks primarily to its all-star cast. For a profitable epic, it's had a pretty middling reception on rating sites, but it did net some Academy Awards. I chose to watch it not long after my last John Wayne western because I knew no better way to kill 164 minutes last night.

No other western I know takes place over such a long period. It's divided into five chapters, spanning from 1839 to 1889. The focus is on the westward-moving Prescott family, including but not limited to patriarch Zebulon (Karl Malden), matriarch Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead), and daughters Eve (Carroll Baker) and Lilith (Debbie Reynolds). Eve takes a shine to wandering fur trader Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), while Lilith falls for gambler Cleve van Valen (Gregory Peck). Their lives are partly affected by the California Gold Rush, the War Between the States, and other armed conflicts.

The Bad Guys 2 (2025)

Huh, once again, I watch an entry in the series when it's newly streaming on Netflix. The two are almost tied in general reception, with possibly a slight advantage to the sequel. And I was in the mood for a cartoon.

Even if you didn't watch the first movie, you shouldn't have trouble catching up to speed or be surprised that the titular five friends -- Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Miss Tarantula (Awkwafina), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), and Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) -- are trying to be good, but their criminal history hurts their job searches. Things get worse when someone frames them for a set of high-profile thefts. The so-called "Phantom Bandit" turns out to be three Bad Girls, who want the quintet's help to steal a rocket. Their leverage: a video that reveals the dark past of Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz). The Bad Guys reluctantly agree to "one last heist," but will they be tempted back to a life of crime?

Ladyhawke (1985)

Sources told me that this was a cult classic. I fully expected an '80s sword-and-sorcery flick to be cheesy, but when YouTube suggested it, I figured it would at least be different from my other recent viewings.

Medieval peasant and habitual petty thief Phillipe "The Mouse" Gaston (young Matthew Broderick, mischievous as usual) escapes from an Italian dungeon but needs help evading guards ordered by the bishop of Aquila (John Wood) to kill him. Enter Etienne of Navarre (Rutger Hauer), former captain of said guards, who seeks to kill the bishop over a past treachery. Etienne is accompanied by a faithful red-tailed hawk, but by night, Phillipe sees neither of them, only the friendly Isabeau of Anjou (young Michelle Pfeiffer) and a black wolf who attacks only their enemies....

Father Goose (1964)

I hadn't heard of this movie before YouTube suggested it. It turns out to have been Cary Grant's second-to-last work and one of his favorites, not least because he acts more like himself than ever before. (No, the protagonist doesn't do any drugs besides whiskey.)

American civilian sailor Walter Eckland (Grant) swipes Australian naval supplies and openly cares only about himself, so we don't feel too scandalized when Commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard) strong-arms him into staying at a Papua New Guinea hut and watching for Japanese planes during World War II. He hears about an eligible replacement he can fetch, but by the time he arrives, the replacement has been killed. All he finds are teacher Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) and seven female students of various ages, two of whom speak only French. Reluctantly, Walter takes them to the relative safety of his hut, where Catherine disapproves of his slovenly lifestyle. The navy can't rescue them any time soon, so they'll have to get used to each other.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

I know it hasn't been long since my last superhero movie, but this one promised to be rather different. Besides, people have long told me it's one of the best Batman animated features, if not the best ever, and I never saw it offered on Netflix when I looked. When YouTube suggested it, I couldn't resist for long.

A creepy new vigilante (masked voice by Stacy Keach) has been hunting down and killing unthemed Gotham mob bosses. Unlike Holiday in The Long Halloween, Phantasm keeps getting mistaken the superficially similar Batman (Kevin Conroy). Commissioner Jim Gordon (Bob Hastings) doesn't believe it, but City Councilman Arthur Reeves (Hart Bochner) sends the police after Batman with authorization of deadly force.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

In the past year, for the first time, I checked out some Fantastic Four comic books. They seemed like the biggest gap in my superhero education. I didn't even know at first about their influence on the Incredibles, let alone later Marvel properties. Alas, they've had a hard time getting popular screen outings, so this reputedly middling one would have to suffice.

Four years after the four astronauts gained powers from radiation exposure, Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue "The Invisible Woman" Storm (Vanessa Kirby) are expecting their first child, Franklin. Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm (Joseph Quinn) looks forward to being an uncle, and even Ben "The Thing" Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) sees Franklin as family. Then the alien Silver Surfer (a woman for once, Julia Garner) announces that she has selected Earth for the next meal of giant Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and recommends making the most of the time people have left. The Fantastic Four travel to meet Galactus, who offers to spare Earth if he can have the secretly powerful Franklin absorb his curse of insatiable appetite. Since Galactus, like Dormammu, is too mighty to consider fighting head on, the four struggle to come up with a third option....