Dream Log

THE BRIDE!

2026 | Dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal | 126 Minutes

3 out of 5

Bold, disjointed, raucous, and bizarre, Maggie Gyllenhaal's takes the shotgun approach to reassembling Bride of Frankenstein with mixed results. When it hits, it's a rather brilliant primal scream of uninhibited feminist rage. When it doesn't, it's a fascinatingly muddled rant that struggles for coherence. Christian Bale is perfectly cast as the infamous lonely Creature. Unsurprisingly, Jessie Buckley is phenomenal as the titular Bride and the ghost of Mary Shelley(?!).

GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE

2026 | Dir. Gore Verbinski | 134 Minutes

5 out of 5

A bold and wildly entertaining swing-for-the-fences sci-fi satire delivering striking imagery that's as inspired as it is wacky courtesy of Gore Verbinski. It's incredibly broad at points, but in that way it's sadly mostly a spot-on reflection of the collective technological hellscape of contemporary times. Playing a depressed young woman with a peculiar allergy, Haley Lu Richardson stands out among the exceptional ensemble cast led by the reliably funny Sam Rockwell.

SEND HELP

2026 | Dir. Sam Raimi | 113 Minutes

4 out of 5

A hilarious tale of survival in the wilderness as only Sam Raimi could deliver, rife with viscera, wild camerawork, and pitch dark humor. While the narrative's social commentary isn't remarkably deep, the plot isn't afraid to go take a few disturbing and unconventional turns. Dylan O'Brien is simply too convincing as a privileged asshole, while Rachel McAdams absolutely shines as a put-upon woman finding her power and striving to keep it by any means necessary.

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

2026 | Dir. Nia DaCosta | 109 Minutes

4 out of 5

Both viscerally and intellectually captivating, Nia DaCosta shepherds the 28 Years Later Trilogy through gut-wrenching brutality into a fascinating future rich with possibility. It further explores the post-rage-virus-apocalypse in some truly interesting ways, and it's a damn good character-driven horror movie in its own right. Though Spike's harrowing odyssey takes a bit of a narrative backseat, young Alfie Williams is immediately sympathetic as is supporting player Erin Kellyman, while the emotional core of this picture is made up of phenomenal performances from a soulful Ralph Fiennes, a terrifying Jack O'Connell, and Chi Lewis-Parry who gives Alpha Infected Samson a remarkable amount of nuance.

MARTY SUPREME

2025 | Dir. Josh Safdie | 150 Minutes

5 out of 5

Chaotic, nerve-wracking, and thoroughly engaging, it's an entertaining illustration of the high cost of pursuing dreams for those who refuse to compromise to the ruin of all. The manner in which bad situations exponentially escalate in this narrative is bonkers. As the insanely driven table tennis whiz and pathological liar, Timothée Chalamet would be totally insufferable if he weren't so captivatingly committed to the part.

F1

F1
2025 | Dir. Joseph Kosinski | 156 Minutes

"If the last thing I do is drive that car, I will take that life, man."

Racing savant Sonny Hayes joins a floundering Formula One team at risk of being sold unless the team scores a victory within the season.

From director Joseph Kosinski and screenwriter Ehrin Kruger, F1 is essentially a competently crafted big budget extended advertisement for the sport of Formula One racing. The picture stylishly captures the thrill of race car driving through slick camerawork and masterful sound design. However, the narrative decidedly takes a backseat to the razzle dazzle, resorting to blending the standard sports film genre tropes of the underdog story and the seasoned veteran taking one more shot at glory, with a plot that's ultimately too thematically similar to Kosinski and Kruger's previous collaboration on Top Gun: Maverick. The old rogue indisputably proves that he is better than the talented young rookie (more so than taking him under his wing, forget passing the torch), severely bends the rules of the sport to give his struggling team an edge over the competition, and even successfully woos the pretty head of engineering while he's at -- wish fulfillment tailor-made for middle-aged dudes.

The racing sequences in F1 are a sight to behold, with pristine cinematography that clearly showcases every decisive turn, intense pit stop, and the occasional harrowing crash. The production filmed on actual Formula One racecourses in all of their glossy majesty ostensibly for authenticity and naturally as a savvy vehicle for promoting the sport. Disappointingly, celebrated film composer Hans Zimmer's score for the feature is mostly forgettable.

In the lead role of Sonny Hayes, the preposterous "nomadic racer-for-hire" who assists others in winning championships for various racing sports, Brad Pitt is perfectly charming though Hayes' somewhat shallow character arc as it is on the page undermines any angsty depth Pitt attempts to bring to the role. Damson Idris does what he can with the rather thankless part of cocky up-and-coming racer and momma's boy Joshua Pearce, serving more as a weak foil to Hayes than as a worthy counterpart and teammate. As technical director Kate McKenna, Kerry Condon manages to convincingly go toe-to-toe with Pitt until the engineering genius all but completely succumbs to his charms. The supporting cast also features Javier Bardem the team's stressed-out owner, Tobias Menzies as a slimy investor in the team, and Sarah Niles as Joshua's loving mother.

Rote storytelling aside, F1 is a serviceable entertaining cinematic experience that delivers precisely calibrated crowd-pleasing moments. It's not a film that's particularly interested in challenging viewers. Instead, the picture opts to reaffirm the older folks in the audience who carry even a shred of doubt over whether or not they've "still got it" should they wish to live vicariously through the handsome movie star in his 60s outfoxing his significantly younger competitors on the racetrack.


FRAGMENTS
- This feels like it may as well have been intended to be a long-gap sequel to Days of Thunder that was reworked to be a Brad Pitt vehicle, particularly considering its similarities to Kosinski's Top Gun: Maverick

- In his 60s, it stretches credulity that Pitt could be a viable race car driver, though as a point of attractive movie star comparison, he looks a hell of a lot better in this than Sean Connery looked in his 40s starring in Diamonds Are Forever

- Kerry Condon also appears in 2026 Best Picture Academy Award Nominee Train Dreams


007 CONNECTIONS
- Javier Bardem (Raoul Silva in Skyfall)


MCU CONNECTIONS
- Kerry Condon (FRIDAY in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame)

- Sarah Niles (Lynne Nichols in The Fantastic Four: First Steps)

Bugonia

BUGONIA
2025 | Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos | 118 Minutes

"I became a human being that I told myself I would never become."

A desperate man kidnaps a powerful titan of industry, convinced that she is an alien from outer space secretly plotting to destroy the human race.

Adapted from Jang Joon-hwan's 2003 dark comedy Save the Green Planet!, Yorgos Lanthimos' fourth collaboration with star Emma Stone puts conspiracy theorists under a microscope for decidedly more chilling than hilarious effect. Lanthimos' signature deadpan style lends itself all too well to this narrative positing that more terrifying than any space alien is one deeply hurt human being's unflinching vindictive focus on pinning his misfortunes on others by way of spiraling headlong into magical thinking. Jesse Plemons' Teddy chooses to believe he is on a noble mission to free the world from the control of extraterrestrials by means of kidnapping, torture, murder, and even domestic terrorism, rather than confront and process his own trauma and grief. The fear in Stone's eyes in her portrayal of the abducted CEO Michelle is palpable. The narrative's final twist does not diminish the impact of the picture's social commentary through-line. If anything, Teddy's actions leading to the extinction of humankind in order to allow the planet to heal perfectly serves as one final gut-punch.

Lanthimos frames Bugonia in a claustrophobic 3:2 aspect ratio, immediately creating a constant feeling of unease. The heated exchanges between Teddy and Michelle that make up a significant portion of the feature are all the more intense, as are the punctuating sudden bursts of violence. The high-contract color palette of the picture further heightens the extreme emotions primed to explode at any given moment.

Emma Stone makes for an excellent win-at-all-costs negotiator who never lets slip her true feelings despite dire peril. Jesse Plemons gives a heartbreakingly earnest performance as a man horrifyingly entrenched in rather baffling beliefs. Aidan Delbis also stands out as Teddy's sweet and loyal cousin Don delivering some of the funniest line readings of the picture.

There is a potent contemporary tragedy residing just under the surface of the seemingly quirky premise of Bugonia. The material is arguably a perfect match for dark comedy auteur Yorgos Lanthimos. While it is a rather adaptation of a film released two decades before its own debut, depicting acts of domestic terror committed by the unhinged disenfranchised hits harder now more than ever and, at times, more challenging to digest than ever.


FRAGMENTS
- Showing some real commitment to the role, Emma Stone actually shaved her head to play Michelle

- It almost goes without saying that Jesse Plemons is a natural when it comes to playing awkward and/or creepy white dudes

- Aidan Delbis, not a professionally trained actor, is a natural sweetheart

- The finale not only confirms that extraterrestrials from Andromeda are manipulating the human race but also that the Earth is indeed flat

Hoppers

HOPPERS
2026 | Dir. Daniel Chong | 105 Minutes

"It's hard to be mad when you feel like you're part of something big."

Since her youth, Mabel Tanaka has more compassion for animals than human beings. When an industrious mayor threatens to build a freeway over Mabel's beloved glade, the young woman takes matters into her own hands, using experimental technology to place her consciousness inside a beaver body and rallying the animal kingdom to take action leading to unforeseen consequences.

Pixar's wackiest comedy to date, Hoppers is a delightful sci-fi treat packed with an abundance of solid jokes. The heightened emotions of its perpetually exasperated animal-loving protagonist naturally lead to brash actions for maximum hijinks. Where the Pixar magic really shines is in the picture's central tenet of embracing inner peace through the practice of empathetic coexistence, delivering this concept in an accessible way to audiences of all ages without sacrificing depth or amusement.

Pixar is known for pushing the envelope for cinematic animation as an artistic medium, but objectively no scene in Hoppers goes above and beyond on a technical level. However, in terms of comedy, scene-for-scene it's genuinely one of the funniest films crafted by the studio. The over-the-top introductions of the monarchs of the animal kingdom as they arrive to a fateful council meeting is a series of absurd delights. A memorably madcap chase scene featuring the airborne deployment of an oceanic apex predator precariously carried by a flock of birds in hot pursuit of a sports car racing down a mountain road is arguably the most hilarious sequence in the Pixar entire filmography to date. The climax in which the animal kingdom dismantle a dam to stop a wildfire is awe-inspiring and emotionally satisfying. The shift in character design between how humans perceive the animals with simple beady-eyed expressions and how the animals perceive themselves with expressive detailed anthropomorphized faces is a clever aesthetic choice that lends itself to many humorous back-and-forth shots.

Piper Curda brings the perfect amount of feistiness as the environmental activist Mabel, even more comically frantic in robot beaver form. As the Mammal King George, Bobby Moynihan is a natural fit for the role of a laid-back animated beaver. The actors lending their voices to the central antagonists are also very funny, with Jon Hamm as the devious Mayor Jerry and Dave Franco as the mad Insect King. Though the apex predator's appearance is all too brief, Vanessa Bayer steals the show as the overly cheerful shark Diane. The strong supporting cast is rounded out by Eduardo Franco as the zoned out beaver Loaf, Melissa Villaseñor as the grumpy bear Ellen, Tom Law as the fun-loving Tom Lizard and Kathy Najimy, Aparna Nancherla, and Sam Richardson as the trio of scientists behind the Hoppers program.

Taking a relatively simple and fun story concept to its full potential, Hoppers is an exceptionally funny film. Beyond the plentiful laughs, the picture features an emotionally resonant story that promotes the importance of environmental preservation and empathy for all living things. While it may not be the most technically groundbreaking feature, its clever knockoff-Avatar premise and consistently hilarious animal characters make it one of the famed animation studio's strongest productions in recent years.


FRAGMENTS
- Mabel's crazed expressions very much remind me of the faces made by Hayao Miyazaki character when they get worked up

- Granted her voice is pitched way up, Meryl Streep is unrecognizable to me as the Insect Queen

- Posthumously released after his passing, character actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. plays the Bird King

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS
2025 | Dir. Matt Shakman | 115 Minutes

"For you, I would move heaven and earth." 

Loved by all, the Fantastic Four have saved New York City and the Earth several times over. However, when faced with their biggest threat ever, public opinion quickly turns and tensions within the family rise as they choose not to sacrifice their newborn to protect the planet. At the eleventh hour, the heroes devise a plan to save the world once again without forsaking the newest member of their family.

After several stand-alone films of varying questionable quality, one of Marvel Comics' most storied and beloved superhero teams gets a proper Marvel Cinematic Universe introduction. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a lighthearted take on superheroes as public figures, brilliant scientists, and also as a caring family unit with genuine compassion for all. Immediately and convincingly selling the audience on the idea that the world loves the super-powered family, the feature wisely references their origin story in a breezy manner instead of fully rehashing it, fast-forwarding through their string of victories protecting their world against silly and outright bizarre villains of shapes and sizes while focusing the first act on their rather somewhat mundane day-to-day lives give or take a few bits of super-science. As the cosmic stakes for this particular story escalate, its primary conflict forces the heroes to make the impossible choice to sacrifice the newest member of their family or their entire planet and everyone under their protection. In an inspired and inspirational turn of events, the heroes opt for the solution that makes the most sense both logically and emotionally: play to their individual unique strengths to outsmart the problem and sacrifice no one, perfectly capturing what sets the titular Fantastic Four apart from other super teams.

The meticulous production design behind the alternate Earth-828 of First Steps is nothing short of superb, presenting a fully immersive fashionably retro 1960s New York City populated with sleek and imaginative technology. Michael Giacchino's film score is a perfect match the aesthetic of the picture, big and corny in the best very way. The effects are also generally very impressive, with fully computer-generated characters of Ben Grimm, the Silver Surfer, and Galactus standing out particularly in action sequences. The FTL chase scene leading the heroes and the Silver Surfer to a black hole is one of the most inventive superhero movie set pieces ever. However, CGI Baby Franklin Richards is without a doubt unsettlingly uncanny.

Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn share infectious chemistry playing this incarnation of the Fantastic Four. Imbuing Reed Richards with a specific unintentional aloofness, Pascal makes one understand how one can both love and hate the impossibly ingenious and deeply frustrating Mister Fantastic. Kirby brings a barely contained ferocity to Sue Storm, gradually unleashing it more and more as the plot unfolds. Moss-Bachrach's sensitive tough guy persona fits Ben Grimm perfectly. Somehow, Quinn is simply charming as cocky kid brother Johnny Storm without a shred of obnoxiousness. In the role of Silver Surfer Shalla-Bal, Julia Garner delivers her dialogue with enough gravitas to further accentuate the herald's striking appearance. Ralph Ineson is believably terrifying as absolutely memorable as Marvel's legendary destroyer of worlds Galactus. The supporting cast also features Mark Gatiss as the Ed Sullivan-esque television host Ted Gilbert, Sarah Niles as Future Foundation CEO Lynne Nichols, Paul Walter Hauser as the mostly harmless Mole Man Harvey Elder, and Natasha Lyonne as Ben Grimm's schoolteacher love interest Rachel Rozman

The Fantastic Four: First Steps does Marvel Comics' first and most famous family justice, delivering a thrilling space adventure with an appealing retro-future look. Entertaining, endearing, featuring wonderful ensemble cast and action sequences that are ambitious in scale and visually exciting, it's one of the most emotionally satisfying films from Marvel Studios. Notably, enjoying this picture requires no prior knowledge or investment in Marvel's sprawling shared cinematic universe.


MID-CREDITS STINGER
Franklin Richards is visited by a stranger in a green hood holding an iron mask.


POST-CREDITS STINGER
H.E.R.B.I.E. watches intro to the in-universe The Fantastic Four Power Hour cartoon.


FRAGMENTS
- Very cute that the leads of the infamous unreleased 1994 The Fantastic Four make a cameo appearance together among the civilians expressing their appreciation

- Also cute that the recreated the cover of The Fantastic Four #1 in live-action

 

- The curious absence of a representative from Latveria as such an big invitation to speculate about what has already happened between these variations of the Fantastic Four and Victor von Doom

 

- The revelation at the bottom of the end credits that the Earth-828 designation is based on Jack Kirby's birthday is simply lovely