The Reel World

You know exactly what you are getting when you go to watch a Jason Statham movie. There is a playbook that is followed with just enough deviation to make the film slightly different from its predecessors. They usually have a one-word title (Mutiny makes 17 one-word title movies that he’s made), and Statham is portraying some kind of stoic or loner, usually with some kind of military, law enforcement, or possibly assassin background. And finally, typically due to circumstances beyond his control, he is forced to break his isolation, usually to help the innocent and bring down a governmental or criminal conspiracy. Like I said, you know what you are getting when you go to see a Jason Statham movie, and in many respects, Mutiny follows that playbook to a tee. The thing is one thing I can honestly say has never happened while I watched a Jason Statham movie: I’ve never been bored. And Mutiny is no different. Because no matter what the plot is, Statham is going to deliver an action-packed experience that doesn’t rely on a lot of unrealistic sequences. Practically everything that he does, every way that he dispatches someone, is grounded in reality, and I have zero trouble believing that he could kill someone that way if he really wanted to.

“We got to fit a year’s worth into 12 hours.”

So I went into this movie completely blind. All I knew were the two actors playing the lead, Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro. I was expecting your typical rom com that I’m not the intended target audience for. Then I walk into the theater and read the following tagline: Two New Yorkers search for love on the one night of the year when sex is legal. And at that moment all I can think is, what in The Purge is this nonsense? So, in this Will Gluck-directed (Friends with Benefits and Anybody But You) feature film, Turner and Barbaro play two strangers, Owen and Allie respectively, who crash into each other in an ever-so-slightly fictionalized New York on the one night when single people are allowed to have sex. Recently dumped Owen and hopeful romantic Allie may be the only two singles in the city looking for more than a quick encounter. They feel a spark when they meet, but a series of missteps and side quests complicate their night. It’s among the most ridiculous plots that I’ve heard in a while. But funnily enough, somehow it’s also one of the most entertaining movies that I’ve seen all year.

"Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he did sack the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted. Moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely to their homes; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god  Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all of these things, oh daughter of Zeus, from whatsoever source you may know them." - Homer c750 B.C.

Christopher Nolan has a tell, and he exposes it almost every time he makes a film. He's not a one-source kind of a guy, and he's not above creating composite characters or adding a flourish here and there in order to tell a good story. Like Homer before him, he knows how to tell a good story, and while the film is called The Odyssey, it borrows rather heavily from other ancient sources, most notably Virgil's Aeneid.

"We're going to make a monster movie ... Oh yeah."

It's hard to believe that it was over 16 years ago that Despicable Me came out from Illumination Studios. I have to admit I wasn't that impressed, and it was one of my least favorite animation features at the time. I would never have imagined that it would become a very successful franchise and that in 2026 I would be watching the seventh film in the franchise. Here's what is more shocking. I could have not have predicted that the seventh entry in the franchise would suddenly become my favorite and one of the better animated films I've seen in recent memory. What a difference 16 years can make. Over those years the franchise has kind of split into two different intertwined sub-franchises. The Despicable Me films would continue the exploits of Steve Carell's Gru, a mastermind arch-villain wannabe.

“If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?” 

This movie marks the 30th collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams. Their first was The Sugarland Express, over 50 years prior. This is even more noteworthy, given that when Spielberg initially approached Williams about making the score, Williams first suggested four other composers take the job, since Williams had retired from film scoring. Spielberg insisted Williams score the film himself, and Williams finally agreed. This film also marks a personal achievement for Steven Spielberg, directing at least one sci-fi movie in each decade of his career: Firelight (1964), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002), War of the Worlds (2005) and Ready Player One (2018).

"We're not rock stars. We're human jukeboxes."

A little bit of quick background. I'm a recording artist with eight albums under my belt, so I likely approached this film a little differently than most folks. I wasn't really all that enthused about seeing the film. You see, I tend to hate when songwriters write songs about writing songs. I think it's pretentious. So what have I done? Written at least a handful of songs about writing songs, so I don't do a lot of practicing what I preach. That's the mindset I had going into the screening. It turned out maybe I do like songs about songwriting and just haven't had the guts to admit it. There aren't any maybes about one thing. I can tell you for certain that Power Ballad turned out to be one of the best films I've seen in the first half of 2026. Who knew? I think that director/writer John Carney knew. It's possible that Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas did. Now I know, and in a minute, so will you.

Let's just get this out of the way from the jump. I very much doubt that any film or filmmaker is going to ever come close to giving us the D-Day invasion of France in any better detail or realism than Stephen Spielberg did with Saving Private Ryan. There have already been countless documentaries. There have been enough films on the subject to make just about anyone a "Hollywood" expert on what is likely the greatest military campaign in the history of warfare. The only way you're going to get anyone's attention or leave any kind of mark on the cinematic history of D-Day is to find an angle that no one else has found. Good luck with that... or maybe there is an aspect that hasn't yet been mined. I didn't think so before I saw director Anthony Maras's latest film Pressure. The approach is so simple it's almost crazy that it hasn't been covered before. What is it everyone always complains about but no one ever does anything about? The weather.

“I'm warning you. I got a Saturn Award for Best Fight in a Feature Film, so don't mess with me.”

So, it goes without saying the success or failure of this movie rested solely on Karl Urban’s portrayal of Johnny Cage. Johnny Cage is among the most popular characters in the video game franchise. Not to mention, he was my favorite character back in my Sega days. For me, while I still enjoyed the first film, his absence was felt. I was thrilled when I heard that he was going to be featured in the second film. I will admit when I heard that Urban would be playing the role, I was mildly skeptical. While I know Urban to be a fantastic actor and hilarious, the physicality of the role, I initially thought would be too much for him. Luckily, it proved me wrong. It’s been five years since the reboot, and yet for the most part, the sequel feels like no time has passed at all. Especially given that everyone member of the cast from the reboot returned for the sequel, including a few that I wasn’t expecting. This of course includes some new additions as well as a bit of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina reunion.

"I know you've been waiting a long time for this. The tracks are made, the songs are ready. Let's take it from the top!"

For a little over two hours Michael Jackson has risen from his grave. It's not a miracle. It's a little bit of movie magic and a performance by an actor with a little bit more at stake than the usual paycheck or quest for awards and accolades. When he decided to direct a bio-pic about Michael Jackson, Antoine Fuqua made a couple of smart choices. He hired John Logan to write the script. Logan is likely best known for Gladiator but he has a pretty impressive resume to call upon. But the wisest choice was to hire Jaafar Jackson to play the title character. And while Jackson was required to audition for the part like any other actor might be required to do, he had an edge both in getting the role and in turning it into something a little bit special. He is Michael Jackson's nephew and the son of Jackson Five member Jermaine Jackson. So there's certainly a lot of Jackson power in the film, and it's all put together to pull in a whole lot of a different kind of Jacksons at the box office. So hold on tight, because this story is going to be a whirlwind.

"Want some pie?"

Follow me if you can. Somewhere out there in movieland there is a place called Normal that is anything but. And Nobody lives in the town of Normal. Of course, I'm really talking about Bob Odenkirk. He's the actor who had a heart attack filming the last season of his Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul. Now most actors will look at having a heart attack as a sign to slow down. That's not what Odenkirk did. He decided to push himself by training for his first action film for five years with the stunt guys who did a lot of the John Wick action. That film was Nobody with Odenkirk playing the titular "Nobody". The strange thing is that he had a ton of fun and was quite good in the role and ended up in a sequel. Not willing to take "no" for an answer, he is now starring in his third action film, which also happens to begin with the letters n o.