Tag: Adventure

Movie Review: Supergirl (2026)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

Title: Supergirl
Release Date: June 26, 2026
Director: Craig Gillespie
Production Company:  DC Studios | Troll Court Entertainment | The Safran Company
Main Cast:

  • Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El / Supergirl
  • Matthias Schoenaerts as Krem of the Yellow Hills
  • Eve Ridley as Ruthye Marye Knoll
  • David Krumholtz as Zor-El
  • Emily Beecham as Alura In-Ze
  • David Corenswet as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman
  • Jason Momoa as Lobo

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion on an epic, interstellar journey of vengeance and justice.

My Thoughts:

A woman loses everyone she loves and drowns her sorrows on an endless pub crawl across the galaxy.  A girl thirsts for revenge for the murder of her family.  Together they go on a multi-planetary quest to save the life of a dog.  This is the premise of Supergirl, adapted from comic mini-series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King. While last year’s Superman brought a refreshing return to optimism in superhero film’s Supergirl strikes a darker chord.  This is not the Helen Slater or Melissa Benoist Supergirl. Jason Momoa adds comic relief as Lobo, an antihero mercenary, who at least is also pursuing the movies villainous Brigand Krem of the Yellow Hills.

Plotwise the movie has a lot of elements that feel familiar, even derivative of other recent movies.  The assemblage of different types of aliens in everyday settings is reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy, as is the needle drops of pop songs.  The Brigands are right out of the Mad Max series with their abduction of young women as brides similar to Mad Max: Fury Road.  And as with many movies over the past decade or so, it makes you want to shout at Hollywood producers to hire people who know how to do proper lighting.

While there are many entertaining action scenes, the movie works best when it’s a two-hander with Kara and Ruthye working through their respective pain, and become surrogate sisters to one another.  Milly Alcock and Eve Ridley bring a lot of humanity to their roles, and Craig Gillespie is smart enough to trust them in the more subtle moments.  While not the revelation that Superman was last year, it’s another well-done reintroduction to part of the DC Universe.

Rating:  ***1/2

Movie Review: Project Hail Mary (2026)

~ Liam ~ 3 Comments

Title: Project Hail Mary
Release Date: March 20, 2026
Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Lord Miller Productions | Pascal Pictures | Open Invite Entertainment | Waypoint Entertainment
Main Cast:

  • Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace
  • Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt
  • James Ortiz as Rocky
  • Lionel Boyce as Carl,
  • Ken Leung as Yao Li-Jie
  • Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina
  • Priya Kansara as the voice of Mary
  • Malachi Kirby as Martin Dubois
  • Liz Kingsman as Annie Shapiro
  • Mia Soteriou as Dr. Browne
  • Orion Lee as Dr. Li
  • Michelle Greenidge as Chimamanda

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.

My Thoughts:

An astronaut awakes on a ship in deep space with amnesia and discovers that the other two crew members are dead. In a flashback we learn that an organism called an astrophage is consuming the Sun and other stars in the galaxy.  Ryland Grace is part of a “hail Mary” mission to the one star that is unaffected by the astrophage. As he attempts to complete the mission, Grace encounters another spaceship and meets it’s occupant, a five-legged rock-like creature he calls “Rocky,” the only survivor of his planet’s mission to the same star.  Grace and Rocky share knowledge and technology and work together to find a solution to the astrophage forming a deep bond in the process.

Project Hail Mary has a lot of antecedents: the grandeur of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the heartwarming aspects of Spielberg/Amblin films of the 70s & 80s, and the expert must find solutions to avert a global catastrophe plot of Interstellar and Arrival.  For all that it feels refreshingly original and hopeful. The movie benefits from the extensive use of practical effects for the spaceship and puppetry for Rocky.  The one aspect I didn’t like is that Grace is an outsider in the scientific community due to his unorthodox views and thus works as a middle school science teacher before being recruited for the Hail Mary program.  This feeds into the tired maverick renegade knows best trope, when Grace’s would’ve had enough challenges even as a trained astronaut. It also adds a lot to the run time in extensive flashback scenes.

Apart from that, Project Hail Mary is a delight and is well on the way to becoming a classic of the genre.

Rating: ****

100 Years of Movie Musicals: The Pirate (1948)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the movie musical, and to celebrate I’m embarking on a two-year project to watch 100 movie musicals from 1927 to the present!

Title: The Pirate
Release Date: May 20, 1948
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Main Cast:

  • Judy Garland as Manuela
  • Gene Kelly as Serafin
  • Walter Slezak as Don Pedro Vargas
  • Gladys Cooper as Aunt Inez
  • Reginald Owen as the advocate
  • George Zucco as the viceroy
  • Specialty Dance sequence by the Nicholas Brothers
  • Lester Allen as Uncle Capucho
  • Lola Deem as Isabella
  • Ellen Ross as Mercedes
  • Mary Jo Ellis as Lizarda
  • Jean Dean as Casilda
  • Marion Murray as Eloise
  • Ben Lessy as Gumbo
  • Jerry Bergen as Bolo
  • Val Setz as juggler
  • Gaudsmith Brothers as themselves
  • Cully Richards as Trillo
  • Dorothy Tuttle as dancer (uncredited)

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

A girl is engaged to the local richman, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.

My Thoughts:

Judy Garland inexplicably stars as a character named Manuela, fated to marry a dull older man when she dreams of the romance of the pirates of the Carribean.  A traveling performed named Serafin falls for Manuela, and attempts to woo her by pretending to be a notorious pirate.  Serafin’s aggressive approach and womanizing comes off very creepy, not just in our time, but in the movie itself when Manuela responds by throwing every object in the room at him, very appropriate in context.  But the musical numbers are wonderful with Kelly and Garland playing to their strengths, and a cameo performance by the Nicholas Brothers.

Rating: ***

Movie Review: Star Wars:The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

~ Liam ~ 4 Comments

Title: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Release Date: May 22, 2026
Director: Jon Favreau
Production Company: Lucasfilm Ltd. | Fairview Entertainment
Main Cast:

  • Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin / The Mandalorian
  • Baby Yoda as Grogu
  • Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt
  • Jonny Coyne as Janu Coin
  • Martin Scorsese as Hugo Durant
  • Sigourney Weaver as Ward
  • Steve Blum as Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and his young apprentice Grogu.

My Thoughts:

The Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian gets the full-camp popcorn movie treatment.  The Mandalorian Din Djarin and his apprentice Grogu (a.k.a. Baby Yoda) are now working for the New Republic hunting down the remaining Imperial warlords holding on to various parts of the galaxy.  Mando is assigned to help the Hutts rescue Rotta the Hutt in exchange for information.  But it turns out that Rotta doesn’t want rescuing and the Hutts and the Empire have a secret plot.

This movie has a single-shooter video game level of violence and it gets a bit tiresome seeing the Mandalorian easily defeat everyone in the room.  But the movie leans so hard into the action movie tropes so much that it all becomes goofy fun.  As stupid as much of it is, I couldn’t help smiling while watching this movie.  I mean, having one of the characters be a buff Hutt who talks like a surfer being put in increasingly unlikely situations, what’s not to love?  And when Grogu has to take turn rescuing his foster father, it is sweet and adorable.

I’m sure this movie is not for everyone, but it is enjoyable summer movie schlock which is more than can be said about the prequel trilogy.

Rating: ***

Anniversary Year Movie Review: The Black Pirate (1926)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

All throughout this year I will be reviewing movies celebrating an anniversary year.  Happy 100th birthday to The Black Pirate.

Title: The Black Pirate
Release Date: March 8, 1926
Director: Albert Parker
Production Company: The Elton Corporation | Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation
Main Cast:

  • Douglas Fairbanks as The Duke of Arnoldo / “The Black Pirate”
  • Billie Dove as Princess Isobel
  • Anders Randolf as Pirate Captain
  • Donald Crisp as MacTavish
  • Tempe Pigott as Duenna
  • Sam De Grasse as Pirate Lieutenant
  • Charles Stevens as Powder Man
  • Charles Belcher as Chief Passenger (Nobleman)
  • E. J. Ratcliffe as The Governor
  • John Wallace as Peg-Leg Pirate
  • Fred Becker as Pirate

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father by the hands of pirates. To this end, he infiltrates the pirate band; Acting in character, he single-handedly captures a merchant vessel, but things are complicated when he finds that there is a beautiful young woman of royal blood aboard.

My Thoughts:

Douglas Fairbanks produced and starred in one of the first color feature films and made it an adventure with pirates!  Much swash is buckled in this film that may just have introduced many of the tropes of pirate movies.  As the only survivor of a pirate attack, Fairbanks’ Duke of Arnoldo disguises himself as The Black Pirate in order to exact revenge.  His plan includes capturing a ship, which turns out to have Princess Isobel as a passenger with whom he finds love at first sight. The movie is admirable for its stunts and action set pieces but gets pretty dull in-between.  Watching this I was reminded that I saw a scene from this movie in my high school film studies class.  It involved Fairbanks swimming, which he does a lot in this movie which is probably why his costume is a tank top and shorts rather than a typical pirate outfit.

Rating: ***

TV Review: Star Trek: Voyager (2000-2001)

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

In what should be a long-term project, I plan to watch and review every Star Trek television show and movie in the order that they were released.

Title: Star Trek: Voyager
Release Date: October 4, 2000-May 23, 2001
Production Company: Paramount Television
Episodes:  26
Summary/Review:

The final season of Voyager is kind of a microcosm of the series as the whole: full of promise and missed opportunities, many great individual performances and character moments, and never really bad but never excellent either.  Deep Space Nine finished with a 9-episode story arc building up to the conclusion.  Voyager would be primed for a similar treatment especially since the whole show has one simple premise – getting back to the Alpha Quadrant.  It feels like the biggest missed opportunity to not have the final season building towards this conclusion.  Even if this wasn’t the final season there were too many episodes rehashing old themes and plots.  Overall it was a step down from Season 6 and I miss the more experimental episodes of the previous few seasons.  Nevertheless, I’m still sad Voyager is over and there are no new stories for me to watch.

 

Top 5 Episodes:

  1. The Void
  2. Critical Care
  3. Body and Sou
  4. Workforce
  5. Natural Law

And the biggest stinker: Repression

Related Posts:

NOTE: The capsule reviews below the cut presume familiarity with the episodes and contain SPOILERS!

Continue reading “TV Review: Star Trek: Voyager (2000-2001)” →

365 Movies in 365 Days: The Snowman (1982)

~ Liam ~ 2 Comments

This year I’m trying to watch one movie every day of the year, with the provision that the movie be no longer than 36.5 minutes long. I’ll be selecting movies randomly from this list that’s already way too long, but I still welcome suggestions for short films.

Title: The Snowman 
Release Date: December 27, 1982
Director: Dianne Jackson
Production Company: TVC London | Snowman Enterprises
Main Cast:

  • Raymond Briggs – Narrator

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

A young boy makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, which comes to life at midnight and takes him on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus

My Thoughts:

The Snowman was released right at the age when I would’ve thought I was “too grown up” for this kind of story, so although I was familiar with it, I’d never watched it before.  It’s with a little regret because I’d like to know what it’s like to see through a child’s imaginative eyes, even a jaded preteen.  The story is pretty simple, and a little bit strange.  A boy creates a snowman and at night it comes to life and they go on adventures together.  The snowman can even fly which is not something I expected snow people to do, but then again it’s not that big a stretch from a snowman walking and talking.

Rating: ****

Movie Review: Wicked: For Good (2025)

~ Liam ~ 4 Comments

Title: Wicked: For Good
Release Date: November 21, 2025
Director: Jon M. Chu
Production Company: Marc Platt Productions
Main Cast:

  • Ariana Grande as Galinda “Glinda” Upland
    • Scarlett Spears as young Glinda
  • Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp
  • Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar
  • Jeff Goldblum as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  • Marissa Bode as Nessarose Thropp
  • Ethan Slater as Boq Woodsman
  • Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible
  • Bowen Yang as Pfannee
  • Bronwyn James as ShenShen
  • Colman Domingo as the voice of Brrr the Cowardly Lion
  • Sharon D. Clarke as the voice of Dulcibear
  • Dee Bradley Baker as the voice of Chistery

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

As an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, Glinda and Elphaba will need to come together one final time. With their singular friendship now the fulcrum of their futures, they will need to truly see each other, with honesty and empathy, if they are to change themselves, and all of Oz, for good.

My Thoughts:

After a year long intermission, we finally get the second act of Wicked.  And sadly it is not as good as it’s predecessor.  Let me qualify that by noting it’s a perfectly enjoyable film, and I enjoy spending time in this world with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.  But there are a lot of reasons that the second film pales compared to its predecessor.  For one thing, the songs aren’t as good.  The exception is the title track, “For Good,” which is a lovely, tear-inducing number.  But most of the musical performances feel like they’re killing time until the next plot point.  Meanwhile, the plot advances rabidly in short scenes, rapidly filling in the details to get us to the next set piece.

The heart of this movie is that Glinda and Elphaba must be changed.  Glinda has to become a revolutionary in her own way, while Elphaba mus accept that she will never be accepted and allow the Wicked Witch to be “killed.”  The film deals with this well.  It’s just that everything else is lightly touched upon.  Nessa becoming a tyrant and using the power of her silver slippers is reduced to one scene.  Madame Morrible being the real villain behind the throne is something of an afterthought, and despite her power she’s captured easily.  And the whole concept of Boq becoming the Tin Woodsman and Fiyero becoming the Scarecrow (things that don’t happen in the book) don’t really have a plot reason.

I expect some fan on the internet will edit the two movies down into one excellent film, but until then this was a perfectly enjoyable night out at the movies, if not as good as it could’ve been.

Rating: ***

TV Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2025)

~ Liam ~ 2 Comments

In what should be a long-term project, I plan to watch and review every Star Trek television show and movie in the order that they were released.

Title: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Release Date:  July 17-September 11, 2025
Production Company:  Secret Hideout | Weed Road Pictures | H M R X Productions | Roddenberry Entertainment | CBS Studios
Episodes:  10
Summary/Review:

It’s been a couple of years since I last watched Strange New Worlds and I’ve watched a lot of other Star Trek in the interim.  It’s took me a bit to get re-accustomed to this part of the Star Trek universe. Or maybe it’s not as good as I remembered. This is the New Trek series that is supposed to fun and episodic and capture the spirit of it’s 20th century progenitors.  But I found it becoming more grimdark and serialized like Discovery.  I also feel after the first two seasons the show was set to go off into new adventures, but spent much of this season revisiting old plotlines.  And the element of the show that makes references to old Star Trek to delight superfans has gone from cute to overwhelming.  There are still a lot of enjoyable episodes and great scenes and characters throughout the series, just on the whole I don’t think it’s as good as it could’ve been.

Top 5 Episodes:

  1. Terrarium
  2. A Space Adventure Hour
  3. The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail
  4. Four-and-a-Half Vulcans
  5. What Is Starfleet?

And the biggest stinker: Hegemony, Part II

Related Posts:

NOTE: The capsule reviews below the cut presume familiarity with the episodes and contain SPOILERS!

Continue reading “TV Review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2025)” →

Movie Review: Elio (2025)

~ Liam ~ 1 Comment

Title: Elio
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Director:Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, Adrian Molina
Production Company: Pixar
Main Cast:

  • Yonas Kibreab as Elio Solís
  • Zoe Saldaña as Olga Solís
  • Remy Edgerly as Glordon
  • Brandon Moon as Helix
  • Brad Garrett as Lord Grigon
  • Jameela Jamil as Questa
  • Dylan Gilmer as Bryce
  • Jake Getman as Caleb
  • Matthias Schweighöfer as Tegmen
  • Ana de la Reguera as Turais
  • Atsuko Okatsuka as Naos
  • Shirley Henderson as Ooooo
  • Brendan Hunt as Gunther Melmac
  • Naomi Watanabe as Auva]
  • Anissa Borrego as Mira
  • Shelby Young as Diplo Ship
  • Bob Peterson as Universal Users Manual
  • Kate Mulgrew as the narrator of the Voyager 1 Museum Exhibit
  • Tamara Tunie as Colonel Markwell
  • Carl Sagan, archival recordings

Synopsis (via Letterboxd):

Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.

My Thoughts:

Elio, an 11-year-old orphan raised by his aunt Olga, is obsesses with space and aliens.  His wish finally comes true and he’s abducted by a community of aliens who consider him Earth’s leader.  However, the Communiverse is threatened by the warlord Lord Grigon, so Elio decides trying to act as an ambassador.  Elio bonds with Grigon’s more sanguine son Glordon, and their shared struggles help strengthen relationships with their respective guardians.  This is a sweet movie with delightful animation and a lot of the usual Pixar charm, although perhaps too thematically repetitious from previous movies.  Voice cameos by Kate Mulgrew and Carl Sagan are nice touches for space and science fiction fans.  I’m not sure why this movie bombed especially since so many people claim to want original stories instead of sequels and reboots.

Rating: ***1/2