HOPPERS – Review

At last, the cruel, cold winter is giving way to a fast-approaching Spring (at least for most of the country). And what do many young men’s (and ladies’) fancies turn to, other than a amor? Why, going back to nature, naturally (see what I did there). Well, it just so happens that for their 30th (wow) feature film, those digital animation gurus at Pixar have fashioned a story about going back to nature in the most literal and fantastical way possible. Wth a bit of science fiction magic, this movie’s young heroine can comingle and even communicate (stop me before I launch into that catchy tune, “If I Could Talk to the Animals”) with the woodland critters that she’s watched from afar. Yes, that includes frogs, though they’re not the story’s main focus, nor are they the inspiration for this flick’s title, HOPPERS.


As this modern fable begins, we meet the aforementioned heroine, Mabel, in the Beaverton grade school system (she’s maybe eight or nine) as she embarks on her mission (and not the first attempt) to liberate the many “class animal pets” from their cages, aquariums, and other “jails”. She’s soon sent home with her mom, who, in turn, takes her to her adored grandmother Tanaka (voice of Karen Hule). To calm down the child, they sit on a big rock near a pond in the forest behind Granny’s home. Mabel is spellbound as she watches the water with a beaver dam at its center. Fast forward about ten years or so, as now 19-year-old Mabel (Piper Curda) still enjoys the tranquility of that sweet spot, even though Grandma” T has passed on. But the quiet is soon shattered by a noisy construction crew, determined to complete a big highway and pave over the place. It’s the dream project of Mabel’s constant nemesis, the affable Beavertown mayor, Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm). Since all the wildlife has left the pond, it’s fair game for the “improvement”. After failing to get enough signatures on a petition to stop them, Mabel heads over to the college (she’s a frequent “class-skipper”) to enlist the aid of Professor “Sam” Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), who explains that a single beaver could bring back all the animals. Mabel decides that she’ll try to lure and trap a beaver…and it works! One shows up, but he ignores the bait and scampers away to the Prof’s campus lab!


It turns out that, to observe the wildlife, Sam and her two aides have created a robotic beaver connected to a device (looks like one of those big “oldie” hair dryers) that can transfer(or the “hop”) the consciousness from a sleeping human subject to the “bot”. Oh, and the facimilile can talk with and understand all the critters. Of course, Mabel “borrows” the gizmo and literally “high-tails it” to the forest. There she learns of the woodland society, ruled (in a nice way) by the “king of the mammals”, a beaver named George (Bobby Moynihan). Mabel bonds with him and convinces George to unite with the other royal leaders (birds, bugs, fish, and reptiles) to stop the impending construction destruction. But when a decision is made to eliminate the “Human King,” Mabel must try to save her arch enemy, all while avoiding Sam and her staff’s attempts to retrieve their device, and wake up the sleeping real Mabel. Suddenly, there’s more at stake than saving that “watering hole”!

After hitting a major bump in their “original” film slate (yes, I don’t count the big sequels) last Summer with ELIO, Pixar comes roaring back with this truly “all ages” cartoon comedy classic. Oh yes, it brings the laughs, but they haven’t neglected the heart (Mabel and Granny’s super-strong bond), and even a message sneaks in (we’re never pummelled by the ecology themes). Again, the studio doesn’t showcase lots of “big name superstars” for the marquee and marketing value, instead opting for a solid cast at the microphone, though a certain “multiple-Oscar-winner” spreads her “wings” (hint, hint). Curda’s an energetic lead hero with lots of “spunk”, while Moynahn makes the most out of his good-natured charm that we saw during his stint on SNL (and he’s not the only “8H’ vet). Leading man Hamm flexes his comedic chops and continues to be a big audio asset (this is his fourth toon gig). I thoroughly enjoyed Najimy even as some of her Peggy Hill (TV’s “King of the Hill”) seeped in, especially as Sam is flummoxed by Mabel (“No! This is nothing like AVATAR!!”). And kudos for all the cartoon voice vets in the incidental animal extras. Oh, and speaking of “ear candy”, what a terrific bouncy score from kids’ TV icon (“Pee Wee’s Playhouse”) Mark Mothersbaugh!


So, which of the gifted minds in Emoryville concocted this bit of delirious entertainment? Hard to believe that this is the theatrical feature directing debut of Daniel Chong (creator of TV’s “We Bare Bears”), who co-wrote the screenplay with Jesse Andrews (ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL). Sure, there are some “lifted” elements, like the earlier-mentioned AVATAR mixed in with lots of DR. DOLITTLE (all incarnations), but they take the old trope conflict of nature versus commerce, and give it a refreshing spin (the bulldozing baddie is really a fairly nice fella). The script is truly lifted to the heights and beyond by the superior visuals that truly dazzle. The Pixar “pack” has really “upped” the level of sophisticated animation acting here. A third act sequence with Jerry being “taken over” has facial exaggeration and body movement that harkens to the works of “toon masters” like Bob Clampett and “Tex” Avery (I think it would work very well without the audio). I must mention the interesting “coding” of the critters. When Mabel is in the “device,” the animals have big eyes with lots of prominent white while gesturing wildly. But to those in “reality”, the wildlife isn’t nearly as wild, as they move with a slower pace, and the eyes are more or less dark brown dots. The design and some “takes” of the humans seem to be influenced by anime (much like what we saw in LUCA and TURNING RED). The overall look of all the characters is lots of fun (now I can call out the “eye candy”), and they mesh expertly with the lush backgrounds (that’s one beautiful forest). Again, this is “all ages” entertainment at its zenith, delivering a great original Pixar “fix” before another big sequel in a few months. I suppose I should end this by saying film fans should run, no walk briskly, rather than hop to the multiplex for HOPPERS.

3.5 Out of 4

HOPPERS is now playing in theatres everywhere.

SIRAT – Review

“Sirat” is an Arabic word meaning a bridge spanning the chasm between heaven and hell, one that is thin as a thread and sharp as a sword’s edge, as we are told at the start of the movie SIRAT, an Oscar-nominated Spanish drama about a man, with his young son in tow, who is searching for his lost 20-something daughter at a rave party in the south Moroccan desert. The word Sirat is Arabic and comes from Muslim belief, but there is little heavenly in SIRAT’s world. However, there is plenty of pulsing techno/electronic music, in this searing tale of a group of people on a dangerous journey crossing the north African desert, a journey that will challenge and maybe break them.

SIRAT, set in Morocco but mostly in Spanish and French, is nominated for both the Best International Feature and Best Sound at the upcoming Academy Awards. Director Oliver Laxe co-wrote the script with Santiage Fillol, and the tender and heartbreaking tale is driven by a tense, propulsive, pulsing techno/electronic score by Kangding Ray.

An ordinary-looking Spanish man, Luis (Sergi Lopez), enters a world of hundreds of mostly young, European revelers dancing trance-like in front of a wall of amps set up in the Moroccan desert, blasting electronic and techno music continuously, along with a laser light show at night. There is a sort of outsider vibe to this large collection of people who have come to the desert to dance away the conventional world. Luis is out of place but he and his son Esteban (Bruno Nunez Arjona) are there on a mission to find his daughter who disappeared at a rave five months earlier.

Esteban looks like he is about ten and has a little white dog with him, as he and his father wander among the dancers, day and night, showing everyone at the rave a photo of the missing grown daughter. The dancers are a ragtag crowd, seeming disconnected from the world, outsiders by choice or circumstance, but they politely look at the photo before shaking their heads, to say they have not seen her.

One group of five, Steff (Stefania Gadda), Josh (Joshua Liam Henderson), Tonin (Tonin Janvier), Jade (Jade Oukid), and Bigui (Richard “Bigui” Bellamy), tells Luis there is another rave after this one, which he might also check for his daughter.

On the second day of the rave party, a caravan of Moroccan army trucks shows up, and tell the crowd that “all EU citizens need to evacuate.” The military officers do not say why, but the event suggests an impending war or conflict. The military convoy is there to escort to Europeans in their trucks, vans and RVS out of the desert.

Luis and his son, in their van, line up with the rest of the vehicles leaving the location, but suddenly the two RVs in front of them, carrying the group of five who told Luis about the other rave party, suddenly bolt out of line and take off across the desert. At Esteban’s urging, Luis impulsively follows them, and they race ahead of military vehicles in pursuit.

That snap decision sends the father and son, with this ragtag collection of friends, on a strange, harrowing trek across very rugged, desolate terrain, to an uncertain fate.

Except for renown Spanish actor Sergi Lopez, the rest of the cast are all non-actors, mostly found by the director at raves he attended. That casting choice gives the film an authenticity in this world where it is set, but they are also compelling and charismatic characters on screen. The sweeping photography of the vast desert landscape combined with the driving electronic soundtrack creates a tense sense that anything may happen as well as an air of foreboding.

We are not told why those five, Steff, Josh, Tonin, Jade and Bigui, made that break, but there are hints that there may be reasons they do not want to return to Europe. We also do not know why the Moroccan army where herding the Europeans out of the country, but we hear snippets on the radio about war, before one of the ravers shuts it off, maybe preferring not to know, although one of them suggests it is WWIII.

Those unanswered questions give the film a party at the end of the world vibe but this is not a Mad Max knock off. The story is both tender and heartbreaking, with danger around every bend.

The ravers seem to know the back roads well, suggesting they may have been in northern Africa for some time, wandering from rave party to rave party. Although Luis is wary of these strangers at first, they extend kindness to him at unexpected moments and a bond forms. They are surprisingly resourceful and self-reliant but this is a harsh environment and circumstances where anything can happen, including death.

Director Oliver Laxe effectively builds tensions as these people wander in the desert hoping to avoid the world and its conflict by running ahead of it. Harrowing things happen, and there is a sense of doom and foreboding that is amped up by Kangding Ray’s techno score, which is a perfect fit. Heartbreak and horrendous things may lay down this rock-strewn road, and when tragedy does strike, things start to spin off unanticipated directions, as this gripping drama wavers between human tenderness and terrifying chance beyond their control. Walking the thin line that that title suggests, SIRAT is unforgettable drama that is worth the heartbreak.

SIRAT, mostly in Spanish and French with English subtitles, opens in select theaters on Friday, Mar. 6, 2026.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

PROJECT HAIL MARY Takes Over Sunset Blvd! Plus New Clip Starring Ryan Gosling

Opening in theaters on March 20th is the wildly anticipated film PROJECT HAIL MARY – and the marketing team has the film floating over Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Click on the video link below to see the brilliant flyover.

Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) 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.

Directed by Academy Award® winners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Lego Movie), PROJECT HAIL MARY stars three-time Academy Award® nominee Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Barbie), Academy Award® nominee Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest) and James Ortiz (The Woodsman).

With a screenplay by Academy Award® nominee Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods, The Martian) based on the novel by Andy Weir (The Martian, Artemis), the film is produced by Gosling along with Academy Award® nominee Amy Pascal (Little Women, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Lord and Miller, Aditya Sood (The Martian, Cocaine Bear) and Rachel O’Connor (Challengers, Spider-Man: Brand New Day), as well as Weir.

Academy Award nominee Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Trial of the Chicago 7) is the film’s composer.

Check out the brand new clip.

Experience the film early at select IMAX® 70mm March 13, 14 and 15

“Cassandre: Season Six” – TV Series Review

GWENDOLINE HAMON
ALEXANDRE VARGA

Fast upon the heels of the late January streaming release of “Cassandre: Season 5” (review), here are another quartet of light crime dramas from French TV for our eponymous homicide cop and her squad to solve in 90 minutes, apiece, comprising Season 6.

Most of what I’ve written before still applies to cast and tone. This season might tip the scales somewhat more towards individual character arcs in proportion to the crimes du jour. The romance between Cassandre’s (Gwendoline Hamon) son Jules (Luca Malinowski) and Pascal’s (Alexandre Varga) newly-discovered daughter, Lili (Fanny Ami), becomes a source of drama, along with the lighter sidebar of Pascal’s struggle to figure out how to be a good papa on such short notice to a strong-willed adult. And, of course, the will-they/won’t-they tease between the two stars continues, prolonged mostly by Cassandre’s waffling, and some bits of bad timing.

The other two members of the squad – Nicky (Jessy Salomee Ugolin) and Jean-Paul (Dominique Pinon) also have bigger developments in their off-duty lives. Pinon gets some particularly poignant moments in a couple of episodes, and nails them like the old pro that he is. Even the new prosecutor (Soren Prevost) who oversees their efforts with the genre-standard dose of fussiness shows some other sides to his mean-boss persona.

Major Kerouac (Emmanuelle Bougerol) who holds down the fort at the station also proves she may become as valuable in support as her predecessor. (Digression – I’ve been wondering why a major is subordinate to the captains and lieutenants of the detective squad. In French police hierarchy, a major is the highest ranking non-com, running the admin side – akin to a master sergeant in our army. It’s a separate chain of command from the officers of the detective side.)

As to the murders, the first opens with a burned sailboat drifting along the coastline with the charred remains of a young woman, and the guy who should have been at the helm missing. The second swirls around the death of a jerk who sabotaged a local organic farm by secretly using pesticides that cost them their prized designation and most of their business. The third involves the latest star triathlete from a family of triathlete stars of both genders who is found strangled on his running path. This one goes particularly heavy on clashes and resentments among the rest of his relatives, with more emotional complexity than usual. Series co-creator Bruno Lecigne and two other credited writers, Thomas Griffet and Jean-Marc Taba, deserve special mention for this script. The last begins with a young woman coming home to find both parents fatally shot, with plenty of possibilities to explore as to which of them may have been the primary target, and for what reason(s).

As always, individual cases are closed and personal story arcs progress, leading to Season 7, which seems likely to also follow in short order. That and Season 8 already aired abroad, with #9 having just begun its first run. I’m in for the duration, and think most of you who watch it will feel the same.

“Cassandre: Season Six”, in French with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice on March 3, 2026.

2 1/2 stars out of 4

https://watch.mhzchoice.com/cassandre/season:6

The 98th Oscars Airs Sunday, March 15 And Baby, WAMG Is Back Again!

16 years ago, our “little website that could” did the unthinkable. We applied for press credentials for the Academy Awards. The Oscars! Hollywood’s Biggest Night!  Who did we think we were? But we took a shot, all those years ago, and now here we are once again. An incredible journey for WAMG (We Are Movie Geeks)! Moving from a “little website” taking a leap of faith to becoming a mainstay in the Academy Awards pressroom is the ultimate Hollywood success story for an independent outlet.

As we head back for another year of coverage, here is a quick look at the milestones and the upcoming big night – The WAMG Evolution.

The Beginning (16 Years Ago): WAMG took the “shot” by applying for credentials as an independent film site.

The Early Grind: We started with the pre-dawn Nomination Morning coverage to establish a presence with the Academy.

The “Pressroom” Status: WAMG achieved one of the most coveted spots at the Oscars, where journalists interview winners immediately after they leave the stage.

On March 19, 1953, the Oscars presentation was first televised. The NBC TV and radio network carried the 25th Oscars ceremonies live from Hollywood, with Bob Hope as master of ceremonies. And now 73 years later, hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 98th Oscars will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 15, 2026.

Here’s the latest Oscar News!

To ensure public safety, support security strategies and facilitate the production of this year’s Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the City of Los Angeles have finalized street closure plans around the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

To accommodate the construction of press risers and pre-show stages along the Oscars red carpet, all lanes of Hollywood Boulevard are closed from Orange Drive to Highland Avenue from 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, March 5, until 6 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.

MTA will begin re-routing bus traffic and subway trains will bypass the Ovation Hollywood station after the last regularly scheduled train on Saturday, March 14, until the first scheduled train after 6 a.m. on Monday, March 16.

Between Sunday, March 1, and Oscars Sunday, March 15, additional streets and sidewalks will be closed for varying periods.

Details of the closures and maps of affected areas are available from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Thirteenth District City Council field offices and on the Academy’s website at https://www.oscars.org/closures.

Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Cullen pose backstage with their Oscars® at the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.

Returning to the Oscars stage after winning last year in their respective acting categories., Academy Award winners Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison and Zoe Saldaña will present at the 98th Oscars.

Javier Bardem, Chris Evans, Chase Infiniti, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani and Maya Rudolph will also present.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced its Oscars® Season at the Academy Museum, running now through March 22. This season of public programming invites audiences to celebrate the 98th Oscars and immerse themselves in Academy Awards® history through rich, expansive, and one-of-a-kind Oscar-centered events and activities.

Oscars Season will see the Academy Museum campus activated for visitors to experience in-gallery tours, Oscar Nominee Spotlights, exclusive store merchandise, special pricing for The Oscars® Experience presented in the East West Bank Gallery, Oscar-winning film screenings, and the Official Oscars®  Watch Party—an evening to view the broadcast and celebrate this year’s nominees and iconic Oscars moments.

From March 7 to 14, leading up to the Oscars broadcast on March 15, guests can enjoy screenings of all Oscar-nominated documentary, live action and animated short films and attend Nominee Spotlights with this year’s nominated filmmakers in the Animated Short Film, Animated Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, Live Action Short Film, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Picture categories.

On the days of the Animated Short Film, Animated Feature Film, and Makeup and Hairstyling nominee programs, visitors can view a showcase of items from the nominated films in those award categories for free in the Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby.

The Governors Ball, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ official post-Oscars celebration, which will immediately follow the 98th Oscars ceremony on Sunday, March 15, returns for its 67th year. Wolfgang Puck Catering celebrates its 32nd year at the Governors Ball with a menu created by Wolfgang Puck and Eric Klein, and pastry design by Garry Larduinat and Kamel Guechida.

Check out our ballot for your own stellar party!

Achievements in up to 24 regular categories will be honored on March 15, 2026, at the 98th Oscars presentation. However, the Academy won’t know how many statuettes it will hand out until the envelopes are opened on Oscar Night. Although the number of categories will be known prior to the ceremony, the possibility of ties and multiple recipients sharing the prize in some categories makes the exact number of Oscar statuettes to be presented unpredictable. As in previous years, any surplus awards will be housed in the Academy’s vault until next year’s even

The official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

Check the Oscar videos too! https://www.youtube.com/@Oscars/videos

Nominees for the 98th Oscars® were celebrated at the Nominee Luncheon held in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton on Tuesday, February 10, 2026.

Contributed by Michelle McCue and Melissa Thompson

PILLION – Review

A pillion is the seat behind the driver on a motorcycle, or it can mean the passenger who sits there. The movie PILLION is a gay romance between a rather innocent young gay man (Harry Melling) who is introduced to the world of bondage-dominance/sadomasochism by a handsome motorcyclist (Alexander Skarsgard). Although the film is a well-acted, well-made romantic drama about a star-crossed relationship, the subject matter and it’s frank, even graphic, depiction means this is not a film that will appeal to everyone, or even most.

That said, Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard turn in strong, even tender performances as this pair, whose ideas of what their relationship should be doesn’t match up. First-time director Harry Lighton leans into the romantic for this tale of star-crossed love set in a rarely-seen world, and Lighton also wrote the screenplay, based on Adam Mars-Jones’ novel “Box Hill.”

Young Colin (Harry Melling) spots handsome biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgard) at a pub, where Colin is singing as part of a barbershop quartet, when Ray arrives as part of a biker gang. You can sense the thrill from Melling’s Colin from the moment he spots the handsome biker.

Colin is not only a singer in the barbershop quartet (Melling does his own singing and has a lovely voice), but the quartet is a kind of family thing, with his father singing as well. Colin lives in the suburbs with his parents, and seems to be recently out as gay. While his doting parents are very supportive, and his mother has even arranged a date for her son, back at the same pub. They are more wary when Colin goes out to meet up with Ray, fearing that the meeting is a prelude to a beating rather than a date.

However, the encounter introduces the innocent but willing Colin to what nearly-silent enigmatic Ray wants. Repeatedly, as the relations develops, people comment on the difference in physical beauty between homely Colin and handsome Ray, which helps pushed Colin further into the relationship.

The film follows their relationship, where it evolves or doesn’t, with Melling’s character wanting it to be love and Skarsgard’s stoic one basically trying to keep a lid on that idea. It turns out the whole motorcycle gang is part of this SM world, that Colin now joins as well.

How authentic the depiction of that world may be, I couldn’t say, but the scenes are explicit enough to mean this film will mostly appeal to a select audience. Director Harry Lighton frames this in as romantic a way possible but this is a world of bondage and SM, and there are plenty of graphic scenes in this film. The scenes are more graphic rather than pornographic, and there is less full nudity than one might expect, but the scenes make clear what is happening in each.

Skarsgard and Melling give what could be termed brave performances here, with the subject and the graphic scenes, although there is less full nudity than you might expect. There are plenty of sex scenes, often involving SM costumes and bondage, so you have no doubt what kind of biker gang this is.

Colin and Ray couldn’t seem more mismatched but it is more complicated than that. There is yearning and openness on the side of Melling’s character that runs up against Ray’s secrecy and emotional closedness. Skarsgard’s Ray seems to be protecting the other part of his life from this secret one. Still, occasionally there are moments when stoic Ray reveals feeling for his partner. It is this tension between what Ray wants and what Colin wants that the film spends most of its time exploring, along with these SM bikers’ lifestyle, was they go on outings and camping trips, and we get to know the other couples as well.

We get a glimpse of other relationships in this gay SM biker gang, which contrast to our central pair’s arrangement. Some are also chilly and functional, others are emotionally warm, but none seem as mismatched as Colin and Ray, with one member longing for something more.

Again, not a film for everyone, despite being a very well-made movie, with strong performances from a pair of gifted actors.

PILLION opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

RESCUE AT DONGJI – Review

I’m surprised that the fascinating historical event from WW II providing the basis for RESCUE AT DONGJI hasn’t been dramatized before. In 1942 a Japanese ship named the Lisbon Maru was carrying 1800 captured British soldiers to POW camps in Japan. An American submarine sank the ship near a Japanese-occupied Chinese island inhabited by a few hundred fishermen. The Yanks didn’t know who was in the cargo hold, or they wouldn’t have fired those torpedoes. Embarrassed by the loss of a vessel, the captors intended to let all the prisoners drown, or be shot if they tried to swim away. The islanders bravely rescued many of them. 

In this film, a fictional pair of brothers, Bi (Yilong Zhu) and Dang (Lei Wu) and the former’s girlfriend Hua (Ni Ni) spearhead the uprising and rescue, with varying degrees of reluctance, and over opposition from the intimidated village elders. As usual for Chinese productions depicting ANY era of Japanese occupation, the invaders are portrayed as sadistic oppressors, with no regard for the lives they control or callously end. I’ll leave it for others to advise how accurate this is, but it certainly makes a compelling good vs. evil drama here.

I recently reviewed another film set in the same period and vicinity, MONSTER ISLAND, in which a condemned Japanese sailor and American captive wash ashore in the eponymous location, and must overcome mutual distrust and a language barrier to bond for survival against the huge reptilian beast that calls it home, and Japanese military pursuers who want both of them dead. The Japanese navy there is presented as even more beastly than the creature.

I call this an epic endeavor with a caveat. For most of its running time, directors Zhenxiang Fei and Guan Hu build a rather intimate character drama centered around British soldier Thomas Newman (William Frankllin-Miller) who the brothers saved after he was blown off the ship in the original attack. Bonds formed awkwardly due to total lack of a common language. Disputes among several leaders over the risks and rewards of defying the invaders also run at some length, as we witness numerous acts of excessive cruelty along the way. The villagers are simple folk, isolated from news and understanding of the rest of the world. They didn’t need to know anything beyond their waters until the war came to them.

Finally, we get to the climactic rescue, and it’s well worth the build-up time.  The ship has been sinking so gradually that there was ample opportunity for their navy to transfer all captives to other vessels and continue home, as planned. But NO WAY, JOSE They chose to bury any record of  the incident and everyone who witnessed it, leading to the massive sea rescue by the entire fishing fleet, while under heavy fire from their enemy.  That long, riveting sequence reminded me of the stunning D-Day landing at the beginning of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN for its scope and detail. Soldiers desperately swimming to the humble native boats as bullets flew copiously among them, while the sinking ship created an eddy that added another layer of threat – pulling many among them down with it. Heavy casualties are inflicted upon the locals and the Brits before the massive effort ended. The underlying historical facts are provided in print and pix just before the closing credits.

The film runs 133 minutes, which may feel long as it plays out, but that finale delivers a memorable reward for one’s patience. It’s not quite as large-scale as that D-Day landing, but it’s just about as intense. Performances from the leads are solid, but the most award-worthy contributions here are for directing, editing and cinematography in the last act. 

RESCUE AT DONGJI, mostly in Mandarin and Japanese, with subtitles, debuts on Digital formats from Well Go USA on February 24.

2 stars out of 4

https://wellgousa.com/films/rescue-dongji

Apple TV’s FOR ALL MANKIND Drops A Stellar New Trailer

Apple TV has debuted the pulse-pounding trailer for season five of “For All Mankind,” the hit, critically acclaimed space drama series from creators Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi. The 10-episode fifth season will make its global debut on Apple TV with one episode on Friday, March 27, followed by one new episode every Friday through May 29.

The series, which imagines that the space race never ended, first started airing in 2019. It’s absolutely brilliant and a must-see… for many reasons. NASA is on the brink of launching the Artemis II from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to travel to the Moon. And on the eve of PROJECT HAIL MARY, fans have an extra helping of sci-fi tech nerd-ness before the Phil Lord & Christopher Miller film opens on March 20.

Season five of “For All Mankind” picks up in the 2010s, years since the Goldilocks asteroid heist. Happy Valley has grown into a thriving colony with thousands of residents and a base for new missions that will take us even further into the solar system. But with the nations of Earth now demanding law and order on the Red Planet, friction continues to build between the people who live on Mars and their former home. The ensemble cast returning for season five includes Joel Kinnaman, Toby Kebbell, Edi Gathegi, Cynthy Wu, Coral Peña and Wrenn Schmidt, alongside new series regulars Mireille Enos (“The Killing,” “Hanna”), Costa Ronin (“The Americans,” “Homeland”), Sean Kaufman (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Ruby Cruz (“Bottoms”) and Ines Asserson (“Royalteen”).

“For All Mankind” is created by Emmy Award winner Moore, and Emmy Award nominees Wolpert and Nedivi. Wolpert and Nedivi serve as showrunners and executive produce alongside Moore and Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions, as well as Kira Snyder, David Weddle, Bradley Thompson and Seth Edelstein. “For All Mankind” is produced for Apple TV by Sony Pictures Television.

All four seasons of “For All Mankind” are now streaming on Apple TV.

MURDER IN… Season 15 – TV Series Review

Barbara Cabrita Quentin Faure

The title “Murder in … (Season 15)” applies to a wraparound for an anthology of 90-minute French crime telefilms that all feature different casts and locales. The common thread is that each murder mystery occurs in a new picturesque locale with protagonist cops of varying types and combinations dispensing justice, after sorting through a handful, or more, of suspects and motives. The lovely, plentiful transition scenes are noteworthy for showing why each site “du jour” – mostly coastal – attracts vacationers. One almost wonders if the national tourism board underwrites the productions to spread the business around the country. 

These TV movies have been running for about 15 years as stand-alone dramas. There’s little repetition of characters, though some actors may recur in other roles. MHz Choice streams them here under the” Murder In… “ umbrella, mostly adding the city or town for each to the title. This release is eight cases, all of which work well for those who like intelligent procedurals with relatively little blood and gore. The array of plots is as diverse as the range of settings. And since none relate to each other, one can watch them in any order, and without any need to binge – unless you’re pushing to screen them all in time to write a review in time for the first of the eight weekly releases.

They open with a Dutch ex-soldier found dead in a strange pose on the French side of lush Caribbean isle of Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten. That gets resolved after a brief jurisdictional turf dispute between the two counties that share dominion there. The one set in CATALONIA begins with the murder of an aging flamenco dancer who is trying to revive her career. In CONCARNEAU, the body of the owner of a fleet of vessels washes ashore in a wet suit, though no one knew why he would have been in the water. The surly lead cop here, Gabriel Riviere (Guillaume Arnault) is the least likeable of the season’s crime busters, seething with old grudges.

In PERIGORD, a woman is crowned queen of a territory that still maintains a mostly-symbolic royal lineage. Her reign lasts only a couple of hours before she’s assassinated. I suppose it counts as one, rather than just a garden-variety murder, since the title comes with a mansion on valuable property, a nice bundle of money, and a multi-generational tradition of supporting Chile’s Mapuche Indians as its main cause.   This struck me as one of the more interesting plots.  Next, we go to the BALAGNE area of Corsica with a citadel surrounding much of the town. That’s important since the stiff that triggers this case was ostentatiously hanged from the top of its high wall, overlooking the busy harbor. This one really delves deeply into the emotions of the principals, as the lead cop came there from Paris for her late husband’s memorial service before being roped into the investigation. Very solid, moving character drama.

AUDIERNEflirts with the supernatural. Local legend has it that ancient ruins are buried under the sea just off the coast, and that church bells can be heard by some as a warning of impending danger. Of course, that becomes a tourism lure, with dive cruises to find it, as other entrepreneurs do in many places with their local “haunted” houses. As far as I know, this is the only one that starred actors (Evelyne Bouix, Jeremy Banster) as protagonists who’d paired in those roles before. Twice.

REGULUS CAVES plied more familiar thematic territory, with a guy found on the cliffs by some ruins, fatally stabbed and posed just like a woman’s body had been 20 years earlier. That murder remained unsolved. Are they related? Anyone who’s ever seen even a handful of crime shows knows they must be. But the process of making the connection is still well played by perhaps my favorite pair of sleuths of this lot, played by Shemss Audat and Antoine Hamel.  

The last one is set in a tennis tournament taking place in Paris, on the Roland Garros’ clay courts that host the French Open. The most promising young woman in the competition is found dead on Court 13 just before matches are scheduled to begin, unearthing a web of rivalries and issues among the teen players, their parents and staff members. This one is noteworthy for the presence of former pro star Yannick Noah in a significant role. It also stars an engaging pair of cops played by Florent Peyre and Roxanne Roux, who might deserve their own series.

Bottom line – not a clunker in the bunch. Each offers pleasing visuals. All are typically restrained on displays of violence and number of shots fired, as in most European procedurals. Casting directors made fine choices all around, even including the dude I didn’t like. Genre fans will vary as to which they prefer, but none will be disappointed with these relaxing bits of mystery escapism.

https://watch.mhzchoice.com/murder-in

“Murder in… Season 15”, in French with subtitles, begins streaming on MHz Choice on February 24, with one release each week thereafter.

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING – Review

Charming Glen Powell goes after what should have been his, in the dark comedy crime tale HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, in which the son of a disowned daughter sets out to eliminate the seven other relatives standing between him and a 28 billion dollar fortune. Classic movie buffs will recognize this plot as a retelling of Alec Guinness dark comedy KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, in which Guinness plays all the relatives. Glen Powell doesn’t try anything so ambitious in acting here – he just plays the lead character – but writer/director John Patton Ford (who also directed the top-notch EMILY THE CRIMINAL) adds a new layer that makes his murderous campaign more personal.

The central character of Alec Guinness’s original just accidentally discovers he was in line for a fortune, and sets out to kill relatives he doesn’t know and has nothing against, other than that they are in his way. HOW TO MAKE A KILLING is different. Even though he also has never met any of them, Glen Powell’s Becket Redfellow has a personal history, and potential proverbial ax to grind, on behalf of a mother who was disowned by her father, the patriarch of the family. Revenge, for himself but also his mother, as well as greed, drives this version. There weren’t any moral gray areas in the Alec Guinness film but the personal history of being wronged changes that for this one.

Glen Powell’s natural charm and charisma does much to sell this story, where the audience finds itself hoping a character gets away with murder. But that doesn’t look likely since the film starts with Glen Powell’s Becket Redfellow on Death Row telling his tale to a priest (Adrian Lukis).

In HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, writer-director John Patton Ford puts nepotism, the idle rich, unearned wealth and privilege, and income inequality on full display here. The Redfellows have money and largely have no intention to do anything good or constructive with it.

It isn’t just the injustice done to Becket’s mother, it is the character of those Redfellow relatives who are in line to inherit, a string of useless “trust fund baby” types – yacht owing party boy Taylor Redfellow (Raff Law), egotistical wannabee artist Noah Redfellow (Zach Woods), self-centered would-be philanthropist Cassandra Redfellow (Bianca Amato), showboating explorer and thrill seeker (think Howard Hughes crossed with Richard Branson) Mcarthur Redfellow (Alexander Hanson) and, weirdest of all, the shady rock star pastor of a mega-church Stephen Redfellow (Topher Grace). At the very top is the ruthless grandfather who disowned his daughter, Whitelaw Redfellow (Ed Harris). This family is knee-deep in entitlement, self-absorption and arrogance, with cold-hearted ruthlessness at the top.

Becket’s mother Mary Redfellow (Nell Williams) was stubborn and proud, and despite living in a humble home in New Jersey, worked to give him a proper, cultured education while raising him with a sense of upper-crust values and as much cultural refinement as she could. Becket has archery lessons, piano lessons, and learned how to dress properly and have aristocratic manners, and rubbed some elbows with his mother’s upper class.

Although the Redfellows are mostly stinkers, Becket does find decent people in the family tree, an uncle, Warren Redfellow (Bill Camp), who does something to right his father’s wrong, but that kind gesture of taking Becket under his wing also showcases the power of nepotism (he is literally a nephew) in corporate success.

Two love interests both complicate and sometimes drive the plot, The first is Julia (Margaret Qualley) whom Becket meets as a child and becomes enamored with immediately. She becomes enamored with him when he tells her about the fortune he’s in line to inherit – maybe. The other is Ruth (Jessica Henwick), the girlfriend of one of those relatives standing in Becket’s way. Sparks fly between them when they meet, as her relationship is fizzling.

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING’s greatest strength is Glen Powell, who makes his character sympathetic and likable despite what the character is doing. Powell’s Becket is complicated but Glen Powell makes him also so charming and such a sweet, decent guy that it is easy to forget his mission, which is partly driven by his mother’s last words, to “get what is his,” as well as his own ambitions. Even Becket at times wavers in his aim but the basic unpleasantness of his relatives often helps him along.

As Becket goes about his bloody business. HOW TO MAKE A KILLING offers some damning social commentary as it showcases a rogues’ gallery of individuals bent by unearned wealth and privilege. Still, this film story is comedy, satiric dark crime comedy, like the film that inspired it. Since it is comedy, this one doesn’t have the bite of the director’s crime drama EMILY THE CRIMINAL, where a conviction, for assaulting an abusive partner, is a black mark that hangs unfairly over an ambitious businesswoman. HOW TO MAKE A KILLING is lighter, more fun, despite the murderous plot and an ironic ending, but it does still have some punch with its look at entitled people with more inherited wealth than sense and little in the way of decency or humanity.

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars