Hoppers (2026)

June 19, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

“Human. Nature.”

Directed by Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears: The Movie)
Starring Piper Curda (The Wretched), Bobby Moynihan (The Secret Life of Pets 2), Jon Hamm (Transformers: One), Kathy Najimy (Hocus Pocus), Aparna Nancherla (Orion and the Dark) and Dave Franco (Now You See Me: Now You Don’t)

Fired by environmental outrage and unresolved anger, Mabel Tanaka (Curda) finds peace in nature at an isolated glade, with the guidance of her grandmother (Karen Huie, Wild Bill). After her grandmother dies, Mabel – now approaching graduation from college, is caught in a struggle with Jerry Generazzo (Hamm), the affable but conniving mayor of Beaverton, who wants to build a road over the glade and argues that the animals have already left. Seeking help from her teacher, Professor Sam (Najimy), she discovers that Sam and her colleague, Nisha (Nancherla) have developed a technology to connect a human brain to a robot animal in order to explore nature.

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TV Corner

TV Corner – May 2026

June 13, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

Quite a lot of TV this month, but if I’m honest I don’t think I have a lot to say about it. Okay, let’s speedrun this.

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31-40%

The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026)

June 8, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

“This is the Way”

Directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man)
Starring Pedro Pascal (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), Jeremy Allen White (The Iron Claw), Brendan Wayne (Devil’s Revenge), Steve Blum (The Boxtrolls), Lateef Crowder (Falcon Rising), Jonny Coyne (A Messsage From the King), Martin Scorsese (Outcome) and Sigourney Weaver (Avatar: Fire & Ash)

Din Djarin (Pascal, Wayne, Crowder), a Mandalorian bounty hunter, tracks down an Imperial Remnant warlord extorting the population of an ice planet. Unable to take him alive, Djarin, his apprentice Grogu and thir Lasat partner/pilot Garizeb Orrelios (Blum, voice), are sent by Colonel Ward (Weaver) to make a deal with the current heads of the Hutt syndicate for information on Commander Coin, a particularly enigmatic and wanted warlord. In exhange, they want him to rescue their nephew and the son of Jabba, Rotta the Hutt (White), from the moon of Shakari.

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Book Nook

Book Nook – May 2026

June 7, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

Novels: 4
Podcast elapsed time: 45 hours 40 mins

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21-30%

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

May 21, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

“A New Breed of Mystery”

Directed by Kyle Balda (Minions)
Starring Hugh Jackman (Deadpool & Wolverine), Nicholas Braun (Saturday Night), Nicholas Galitzine (Red, White and Royal Blue), Molly Gordon (Booksmart), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Thunderbolts*), Bryan Cranston (Godzilla), Chris O’Dowd (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children), Regina Hall (Master), Patrick Stewart (The Kid Who Would Be King), Bella Ramsey (Cathering Called Birdy), Brett Goldstein (Thor: Love & Thunder), Hong Chau (The Instigators) and Emma Thompson (Matilda the Musical)

Misanthropic, but sheep-loving shepherd George (Jackman) is murdered after arguing with fellow shepherd Caleb (Tosin Cole, Pirates), passive-aggressively giving a huge roll of money to the local priest (Kobna Holbrook-Smith, Wonka), and writing a letter to a mystery woman which is intercepted uby bitter hotellier Beth (Chau). With only an ambitious journalist (Galitzine) pushing local copper Tim (Braun) to even investigate, it looks as if it will be up to George’s flock to solve the murder.

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21-30%

Mortal Kombat II (2026)

May 11, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

“Rebel Without A Cage”

Directed by Simon McQuoid (Mortal Kombat)
Starring Karl Urban (Star Trek), Adeline Rudolph (Hellboy: The Crooked Man), Jessica McNamee (The Meg), Josh Lawson (Bombshell), Ludi Lin (Power Rangers), Mehcad Brooks (A Fall From Grace), Tati Gabrielle (Uncharted), Lewis Tan (Deadpool & Wolverine), Damon Herriman (Peter Rabbit 2), Chin Han (Ghost in the Shell), Tadanobu Asano (47 Ronin), Joe Taslim (Star Trek Beyond), Martyn Ford (Red Sonja), CJ Bloomfield (Furiosa) and Hiroyuki Sanada (John Wick: Chapter 4)

In a flashback, Shao Khan (Ford) takes control of Edenia after defeating its king, Jerrod (Desmond Chiam, Magic Camp), in the tenth consecutive Mortal Kombat tournament, this being how the Elder Gods decreed interrealm conflict would work. He takes Queen Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen, Primitive War) as his queen and Princess Kitana as his adopted daughter.

In the immediate aftermath of the 2021 film, Earthrealm’s team is a man down after the murder of Kung Lao (Max Huang, Outcast). Raiden (Asano), thunder god and coach, and special forces operator Sonya Blade (McNamee), try to recruit washed-up actor and former child martial arts star Johnny Cage (Urban), but he declines on the grounds that he sucks. Despite this, he is tapped for the first round.

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Bad Movie Relay, Rebourne

Bad Movie Relay 6: What’s Old is New

May 10, 2026 Luke Slater 1 Comment

This Bad Movie Relay is a two-hander, featuring a reboot from last year and a blast from the past from Australia.

Red Sonja (2025)
The Time Guardian (1987)

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TV Corner

TV Corner – April 2026

May 4, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

There’s a lot on at the moment, so I’m making a bit of time for TV. I have also been continuing my nostalgic catch-up bingeing.

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Book Nook

Book Nook – April 2026

May 1, 2026 Luke Slater Leave a comment

For variety, I’m going with a different image this month; something else that says ‘book nook’.

Novels: 3
Audioplays: 1
Approx. Podcast Time: 41hrs 15mins

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41-50%

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)

April 19, 2026 Luke Slater 1 Comment

Directed by Aaron Horvath (Teen Titans GO! to the Movies) and Michael Jelenic (The Super Mario Bros Movie)
Starring Chris Pratt (The Tomorrow War), Anya Taylor-Joy (New Mutants), Charlie Day (Monsters University), Jack Black (A Minecraft Movie), Keegan-Michael Key (Wonka), Benny Safdie (Oppenheimer), Donald Glover (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Glen Powell (How to Make a Killing) and Brie Larson (Captain Marvel)

Princess Rosalina (Larson) is abducted by Bowser Jr (Safdie) in the middle of storytime for her Luma ‘children’, and they go to Princess Peach (Taylor-Joy) for help. Peach and Toad (Key) head off to the Gateway Galaxy (which is a planet, at best) leaving Mario (Pratt) and Luigi (Day) to protect the Mushroom Kingdom and watch over the imprisoned Bowser (Black). Oh, and Mario is struggling to express his feelings for Peach.

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