Sense and Sensibility

My View:  Sense and Sensibility  (2026)   PG  Sense and Sensibility follows sisters Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esme Creed-Miles) as they cope with the aftermath of their father’s death. The two sisters must navigate romance, social expectations, and the need to find a husband to keep the family from falling apart. It’s hard to follow a classic, exquisitely written film with top-notch performances. This is a fine, well-crafted movie, and the performances, especially Daisy Edgar-Jones, are wonderful. So why did I walk away from the theater feeling a little down on this film? I think it lacks the warmth and humor of Emma Thompson's script from the 1995 film. I just never got the joy and lust for life spark this Austen story needs to work. The chemistry between the two sisters is good, but their reconciliation comes too easily and lacks the passion that scene needs. Still, it’s a good movie, but does that justify remaking a classic? I came away thinking it does not. My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Sense and Sensiblity Website Now playing in theaters

My View:  Whalefall  (2026)  PG-13  In Whalefall, teenager Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) goes diving and is accidentally swallowed by an 80-foot whale. With only 60 minutes of oxygen, he has to figure out how to escape. There have been a lot of films about being trapped in a cave, including the excellent The Descent (2006). Still, I don’t think there are a lot of films (Pinocchio films are the exception) about trying to escape the belly of a whale, unless you want to talk about stories I learned about in Vacation Bible School. So writer/director Brian Duffield brings us Whalefall, based on Daniel Kraus's best-selling book. The film tells two stories: one is about the stormy relationship between Jay and his father, Mitt (played by the always interesting Josh Brolin), and the other is about how he ends up in the whale and his attempts to escape. As Jay tries to escape the whale, we go back into the past and see how tough Mitt was on Jay. Jay seems to disappoint Mitt at almost every turn, never living up to the standards Mitt has set for him. This continues until Jay decides to go to college in Iowa (just about as landlocked as you can get) and leave his family behind. All the while, Jay is in an incredibly claustrophobic and dangerous environment, with a limited amount of oxygen and seemingly an impossible task of escaping. This is a tough film to watch, and you will look forward to the interactions between Mitt and Jay just to get a breather from all the horrible things happening in the whale. It’s a film that you may have to look away a few times, as you would expect, things get pretty grisly. Austin Abrams does a Herculean job of showing us how frightening and difficult it is to survive in the whale. The film is somewhat brought down by the ending, which, for a film about being swallowed by a whale, feels strange and unbelievable. I also struggled to figure out what Jay’s escape plan was, since he never goes into any explanation of what he is doing. Still, if you want to join Jay on a very claustrophobic, scary ride while Mitt lectures you on the wonders of the sea, strap on an oxygen tank, check your gauges, and hold on tight. It’s going to be an icky and bumpy ride. Hope you have a strong stomach.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Whalefall Website  Now playing in theaters

My View:  You Can See Everything  (2026)   R  You Can See Everything is a documentary where a documentary crew is invited to follow Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes every move, just thirty-four days before she is sent to prison. What starts as a portrait of an embattled executive becomes a three-year journey into manipulation, truth, and reality. When I tell people I see over three hundred new releases a year, they always ask, "Don’t you get tired of seeing films?" You Can See Everything is the reason I see so many films. I rarely walk in hoping that the film will be good, and then I am blown away by the experience. This is one of those films. I think this could be the first documentary to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It’s that damn great. After enduring the 4-hour rambling of the Alex Gibney Musk documentary, I was worried that I was just a few days later, walking into a screening that was almost 3 hours in length. I will tell you, not only did I notice how long the film is, but there really isn’t a place to take a bathroom break, because you don’t want to miss a single minute of this astounding film. You Can See Everything is a movie that leaves you walking out going, “What did I just see?” Most people know about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and how her company swindled a ton of money by promising her machine could test for multiple tasks from a single drop of blood. This documentary doesn’t retell her story; instead, this is about a filmmaker, Nathan Fielder, who goes to the home of Holmes, her partner Billy Evans, and their two young children to spend time with them as Elizabeth gets ready to serve her time in prison. When Fielder starts to think that Elizabeth and Billy are playing him, he then takes them up on staying in their house full time. It’s an unbelievable look at two people who are either very good at lying or truly believe Elizabeth didn’t do anything wrong. Holmes may be one of the strangest, weirdest people ever profiled so closely in a documentary. And you can see why people fell under her spell. She stares at you with an unnerving, steady intensity, nodding at every word you say. She is either one of the greatest liars of all time (she claims she has never lied in her life) or is so involved in her own little world of reality that she believes everything she says. On the other hand, you don’t like Billy from the start, and his attempts at manipulation begin almost immediately. Billy is definitely the villain in this passion play, but the question is whether Elizabeth is in on the con or being conned herself. At the halfway point of the film, Elizabeth is on her way to prison. I looked down at my watch and thought, wait, there is still more to come? Then one of the biggest twists in documentary history hits you over the head, and for the rest of the film you are just trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Please see this film as soon as possible, because the twist is going to get out, and it won’t have the impact it does if you know it ahead of time. This film feels like a comedy at times, but then, at a moment's notice, it turns into something that makes you angry or can’t believe what you're hearing. This is a magical film that you will walk out of the theater with more questions than answers. It’s also a film you will want to walk back in and buy another ticket right away to experience the thrill ride it provides again. Academy voters: do the right thing and nominate this incredibly original film for Best Picture. It deserves it.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   You Can See Everything Website  Now playing in theaters

My View:  Street Fighter  (2026)  PG-13  Street Fighter follows martial arts fighter Ryu (Andrew Koji) and actor Ken Masters (Noah Centineo), who are recruited to fight in the World Warrior Tournament. Little do they know that the tournament is a trap set by criminal mastermind M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) to take over the world. Video game fans will be disappointed, and people like me, who only have a vague recollection of the game, will be looking at their watches, wondering when this mess of a movie will end. WWE fans will be disappointed by the brief appearances of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. I was especially surprised at how little fan favorite Guile (Cody Rhodes) fought in the movie. David Dastmalchian plays M. Bison, one of the worst bad guys that I have ever seen in a movie. Heck, bad 70s Saturday morning cartoons had better bad guys than M. Bison. In fact, those bad cartoons also had better comedic moments than this film. The film seems to treat the tournament as an afterthought, with very little action in the ring. And the film keeps going and going, dragging on for two hours. Then you have Jason Momoa, in a long line of weird characters, playing a Hulk knockoff with the I.Q. of a Twinkie. I liked the animation sequences (there were quite a few) that tell the origin stories of our two heroes, but they can’t save a film with no idea what its plot is, and that ends with a whimper. There is a bonus sequence after the first portion of credits, but even it’s not worth sticking around for. My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again  Street Fighter Website  The review of the film will be posted Friday night Now playing in theaters

My View:  Love of Your Life  (2026)  R  Love of Your Life follows Maya (Margaret Qualley), a Boston emergency room nurse who, during the COVID-19 pandemic, falls in love and marries Charlie (Gabriel Basso), only to lose him to the virus. Overcome with grief, Maya decides to become a nomad, traveling around Europe, where she meets Felix (Aaron Pierre), who helps her heal and trust again. I am a big fan of Margaret Qualley, and this is her film as we follow Maya on her journey to find love, lose it, and deal with the feeling of isolation, loneliness, and guilt. This isn't the film I expected. I expected a rom-com or maybe even a rom-drama, but this is more of a plain drama with some romance (early on) thrown in. Qualley gives a moving, captivating performance as a woman who, until she met Charlie, wasn’t interested in finding love. We see how the couple grew into something special, only for COVID to take it away. The rest of the film follows a woman trying not to feel, avoiding the guilt and despair she is hiding from. Then Felix comes along, and Maya starts to feel again, but is she ready, or able, to stay in a relationship? This drama is about loss, friendship, forgiveness, and finding the strength to change, and Qualley takes us on Maya’s journey, showing how life can be cruel, but forgiveness is possible if you work hard enough.  My Rating: Full Price  Love of Your LIfe Website  Now playing on Amazon Prime

Indiefest:  Musk  (2026)  R  Musk is a documentary that follows billionaire businessman Elon Musk and his enormous influence on politics and life in America and the world. Alex Gibney, who won an Academy Award for his 2007 documentary Taxi to the Dark Side and gave us the incredible Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief (2015), brings us an extensive look at Elon Musk's life and work. Four hours’ worth. I will admit I saw this at home, where I could take breaks, so I can only imagine seeing it in a theater where, at the 2-hour mark, you get a 10-minute intermission. I think this would have worked better as a doc-series (the film is already broken up into sections) than as a single sitting (where you start to feel overloaded with details about Musk and his changing opinions to make more and more money). If you don’t like Musk, you certainly won’t like him by the end of the film. If you're a Musk admirer, maybe a fan of his SpaceX work, you are going to have a hard time enjoying this film. Almost from the start, the film does not paint Musk in a good light. Well, except for the digital avatar of Musk, which is synced with his past audio quotes. The avatar Musk, in his leather jacket and full head of hair, makes Musk look a little like a movie star. The problem with this film is that, other than a few small tidbits, we learn nothing new about Musk. He is so much in our news cycle, and so many profiles have been done on him; this film feels like a visual look at something we could look up online. One scene tells you everything you need to know about Musk and his investor buddies. A joke is made that only the rich and pompous would think was funny. Everyone else would say it was not only in poor taste but offensive. Did I enjoy watching this movie? No, but I don’t like Musk or his ever-changing agenda. But I expected from a talented documentary filmmaker like Gibney to at least be entertained and learn something about his subject. Instead, I got a rehash of things I already knew or, for that matter, didn’t want to know. Documentaries should be informative and thought-provoking. I got neither from this film, just the feeling that I was tired of seeing Musk tell me how great he is.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Musk Website  Now playing in theaters

Indiefest:  Misty Green  (2026) Misty (Rosalind Eleazar) was once on a hot TV show that made her an icon. However, a few bad breaks and a bad attitude have left Misty staying in her married lover’s condo, on the bottom rung of Hollywood, where she has to audition for even small parts. Add in the fact that her lover has died and his wife wants her out of the condo by the end of the week. Things aren't looking up, and she's burned every bridge she can in Hollywood. Misty then finds out about a part in a musical she would be perfect for, but it’s with a director she had a major conflict with. Chris Rock, who wrote and directed the film, also plays the director Misty caused a major problem for on a film he worked on. There is one thing that Misty can do, and it's sing, and it might be the ticket back to stardom. Misty is a hard character to like, much less root for. She is her own worst enemy, and her ego won’t let her compromise. Rosalind Eleazar is brilliant in the role and makes us believe Misty could be a star if she would learn from her mistakes. It’s a powerful performance that overshadows a script with incredibly shallow, weak supporting characters, including the director Rock plays. Every character, except the director Rock plays, has major problems, which makes his character seem too good to be true and everyone else seem nuts. The film keeps Misty making the same mistakes, and the ending could have come ten minutes earlier, which would have had more impact than Rock's ending. Eleazar gets to sing a few songs, and those are some of the best moments in the film, but overall, the film needed a few more rewrites and more fleshed-out characters to work, despite Rosalind Eleazar’s performance. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Misty Green Website  Now playing in select theaters

My View:  Tenzing  (2026) PG  Tenzing centers on Himalayan Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok), who, in 1953, undertook the impossible with Edmund Hillary (Tom Hiddleston). They became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. History often forgets the people who don’t get the spotlight, or the supporting members of a big event. When I learned about reaching the summit of Mount Everest, something that had been tried and failed, it was all about Sir Edmund Hillary, and yes, I knew he had a Sherpa guide with him, but I don’t think I ever even knew his name. This film corrects that oversight for every history teacher who taught this story when I was a kid. Tenzing is a remarkable story about a man who believed in himself and his ability to climb a mountain he'd dreamed of since childhood. The film has some incredible climbing scenes, and we get to know and root for Tenzing because of who he is. What I loved about this film is that it has two big stars, Tom Hiddleston as Edmund Hillary and Willem Dafoe as the expedition leader, John Hunt, but it’s Genden Phuntsok who carries the film with grace and believability as the resilient, positive-thinking Tenzing. This is a beautiful story about never giving up and overcoming the impossible. The film underscores this by using the local name for the mountain, Chomolungma, more often than Everest. I think it’s time to rewrite the history books. My Rating:  Full Price  Tenzing Website Streaming on Apple TV

Forgotten Film:  Since I mentioned this film in my Whalefall review, I thought I would reprint my review (June 2018 of the 2006 horror classic.  The Descent  (2005)  R  A caving expedition goes horribly wrong as six women become lost inside a previously unexplored cave. Trapped in the cave, they desperately try to find a way out as a strange breed of predators pursues them. This little-seen horror film was one of the best movies of 2005. The film builds tension almost from the start, and it features first-rate performances from Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, and Alex Reid. The film draws on many adventure films, including movies centered on space travel, and the cinematography uses the caves and darkness to build tension and scares. I will warn you: this film is very gruesome and graphic, but if you are looking for a horror film, you can't do better than this one.  My Rating: Full Price  The Descent Info  Available on most streaming services

Weird Credits: From the credits of Whalefall: Special Effects Manipulator 

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You:  Wicker  (2026)  R  Wicker follows a lonely, ill-tempered woman (Olivia Colman) who is tired of living alone and asks a local basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a wicker husband. His creation comes to life (Alexander Skarsgard) and is everything she could ever want in a companion. However, his presence sparks the close-minded village into chaos. The film currently has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from over 30 reviews.  Wicker Website  In theaters on Friday, October 23, 2026

Until Next Time!

The Social Reckoning

My View: The Social Reckoning  (2026) R  The Social Reckoning centers on Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), a Facebook engineer who discovers that the company favored corporate profit over user safety and teen mental health. She teams up with reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) to expose what Facebook is doing, while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) tries to find the source of the leak and stop it from getting out. The Social Reckoning is a sequel, of sorts, to the 2010 multi-Oscar-nominated (3 wins) film The Social Network, for which Aaron Sorkin won a well-deserved Academy Award for his screenplay. I say “of sorts” because The Social Reckoning feels very disjointed from the earlier film. The Social Reckoning seems like a film that is too little, too late. Unlike in 2010, when David Fincher directed one of the year's best films, Sorkin both wrote and directed this one. And that, my friends, is the problem with this film. In 2010, we were still learning what a weird, egomaniac Zuckerberg was, and The Social Network showed us who he was and how Facebook began. Sorkin has created a film where he blames Zuckerberg for both the insurrection of 2021 and the death of journalism. Both ideas keep hitting us over the head with rapid-fire dialogue and flashbacks that show us the violence committed that day and its aftermath. If this film had been made in 2021 or even 2022, maybe it would have had more of an impact. But in 2026, with Trump re-elected, it feels hollow and loses any impact Sorkin wanted. I did enjoy the back-and-forth dialogue (in true Sorkin fashion) between the two heroes. Frances, played by Mikey Madison, who proves her Oscar win wasn’t a ‘one and done’, is a woman who slowly realizes she can’t give Jeremy Allen White’s reporter, Jeff Horwitz, a few clues about what is happening at Facebook but must help tell the story. Things move along as the two characters bicker with each other while both conclude the world needs to know what Facebook is doing to make money at the expense of its members' safety (and, for that matter, the nation's). I can see why Jesse Eisenberg turned down returning to a role that got him an Academy Award nomination. Jeremy Strong’s Zuckerberg is so lifeless that they could have used one of those old robots in Disney World’s Hall of Presidents to play the part. I won’t give away the end, but it is so heavy-handed and low-impact that the final shot with Mikey Madison’s character is laughable. This isn’t a bad film; it’s just bland. With this cast and Sorkin as a writer, The Social Reckoning should have been great, but it has no impact on today’s audiences. I’ll sum up The Social Reckoning with a saying my father used to say: “A day late and a dollar short.” Okay, more than a day late. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Social Reckoning Website  Now playing in theaters

My View:  Other Mommy  (2026) R  In Other Mommy, Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) is living in a home where her parents (Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass) are barely getting along. One day, a supernatural doppelgänger that looks just like Bella’s mother emerges, which Bela calls “Other Mommy”. This Other Mommy is about to threaten the safety of the family by manipulating Bela against her actual parents. It’s an awful film when the best jump scare you have is wasted in the trailer. This tedious, un-scary “horror” film is boring, stupid, and lacks any imagination. The only hope for this film was if they had camped it up, but it takes itself so seriously that when the family gets together to divide up the kitchen utensils to take on the baddy demon, I had to laugh out loud. “You take the meat cleaver, I’ll take this potato masher and honey, what do you want?” I guess that Jessica Chastain signed up for this drag of film, because she was a fan of the book, Josh Malerman’s 2024 bestselling novel “Incidents Around the House”,which I hear is “keep all the lights on in the house when you read it” scary. This film, sadly, is not scary, shape, or form (mother or demon-wise), even close to being more than an "oh, look, the kid is now on the ceiling" boring. Skip this snooze-fest and go read the book. My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again   Other Mommy Website  Now playing in theaters 

My View: Animals  (2026)  R    Animals follows a mayoral candidate (Ben Affleck) and his wife (Kerry Washington) as they desperately try to pay their kidnapped son’s ransom and resort to extreme measures to get the money they need, uncovering dark secrets they never intended to confront. With an all-star cast that includes Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun, Ben Affleck stars and directs this thriller about a kidnapping that gets more complicated as the night goes on. Washington and Affleck are believable as a couple whose marriage isn’t as solid as it seems. I liked the scenes between them as the tension grows, and they’re forced to tell each other the truth about their marriage. Yeun is good as the campaign director focused on getting his candidate elected, and, as usual, Gillian Anderson is fun as a mysterious money person who can come up with the money and a plan to get the kid back. As a director, Affleck does an adequate job creating tension, and this is a darker film, without some of the lightness of his past thrillers; except for the always deadpan Anderson delivering some delicious lines, the film is nothing more than an I blame you, and you blame me story. There are some twists and turns, but unfortunately you can see some of them coming before they are played out. The ending feels too effortless to believe, and the film is an unsatisfying thriller that stays too grounded and can’t be saved by its two leads trying to carry the story.  My Rating: Cable  Animals Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform

Indiefest:  Who is Martin Mull?  (2026)  Who Is Martin Mull? is a documentary that follows his life from his early days in smoky comedy clubs and opening for rock acts to prime-time television like Roseanne and films like Mr. Mom, all while he pursued his true passion: painting. His paintings were hung in major institutions like the Whitney and the Museum of Modern Art. I have been a fan of Martin Mull since I saw his PBS special, 60 Minutes to Kill, in the early 80s, and it was a comedic gem. I love that this documentary gives us so much footage from his early years as a comic. I was going to say stand-up comic, but he spent most of his comedy tours in a worn-out armchair. He mixed incredibly funny songs with an almost asshole demeanor, with stories and jokes that always had a twist and, most of the time, tricked or even insulted the audience to their delight. What the film brings to light is that comedy wasn’t his first love. It was painting, and he used the money he made so that he could paint. His painting didn’t become popular or expensive until his 60s, but he was always painting. It’s funny, but a lot of comics have rough childhoods. Martin declines to talk about it, but his siblings tell us what a horrible dad he had, and it’s amazing how Martin became a nice, sweet man who cared about people, especially his second wife and his daughter. So pull up an easy chair, grab a drink, and sit down to enjoy a man whose comedic talent was vast, but whose passion for painting kept him going. Bob Saget directed most of this film before his untimely death, and Neil Berkeley completed it. Martin, who died in 2024, comments on how many of his friends are dying around him. It’s shocking that so many of the people interviewed in this film also died before this film was completed.  My Rating: Full Price    Who Is Martin Mull? Website     Now playing on the Netflix platform

My View: Matchbox: The Movie  (2026)  PG-13 In Matchbox: The Movie, Sean Walker (John Cena) returns home and reunites with his childhood friends. What his friends don’t know is that Sean works for the CIA and has been kidnapped by a group looking for a nuclear warhead. The CIA accuses his friends of stealing the warhead, and so the group decides to save Sean on their own and re-steal the warhead. I loved Matchbox cars as a kid. My favorite was a white Chaparral 2 car with a cool rear wing. So you would think there would be a whole lot of really cool cars in this film (maybe even one with a tall rear wing). Nope, there aren’t even that many car chases. Instead, we get a lot of Cena beating up bad guys, an incredibly stupid plot, and Jessica Biel being wasted in her first film role in almost 10 years. I have no idea who this film was aimed at; I guess Matchbox kids that have grown up. Too bad we get this unfunny, very generic action film without a lot of cool cars to play with. My Rating: Cable  Matchbox: The Movie Info  Now playing on Apple TV

Forgotten Film:  The Masque of the Red Death  (1964)  A European prince (Vincent Price), who worships the devil, terrorizes the local peasants during the fatal plague known as the “Red Death”, going as far as burning their villages and stealing women he covets. While the peasants are dying, the prince holds a lavish masquerade ball for the wealthy nobility. The prince soon meets a person in a red cloak and mask who will change his life. This is not the usual schlock film that had made Roger Corman the king of cheap horror films. Instead, the film is lush in its costumes, and the cinematography is incredibly striking (by a soon-to-be director named Nicolas Roeg). Most people today know Vincent Price only for his narration of Michael Jackson’s "Thriller," but Price is incredibly sinister in this film, making his character drip with evil oozing from every pore. This is a fun ride of a Poe short story and worth watching as a taste of the coming Halloween season. My Rating: Full Price  The Masque of Red Death Info Available on most streaming services

Weird Credits: From the credits of Animals: Color Scientist 

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: You Can See Everything  (2026)  R  You Can See Everything is a documentary where a documentary crew is invited to follow Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes every move, just thirty-four days before she is sent to prison. What starts as a portrait of an embattled executive becomes a three-year journey into manipulation, truth, and reality.  You Can See Everything Website  In theaters on Friday, October 16, 2026\

Until Next Time!