The Rivals of Amziah King - 4 Stars - THEATERS - August 14, 2026

Matthew McConaughey spreads charisma all over the wildly unpredictable beekeeper noir The Rivals of  Amziah King .  As King, McConaughey hangs out with a pack of musicians and fellow characters, while keeping a backwoods honey business intact.  The first part of the film relies heavily on cartoon violence and bluegrass music.  It seems some evil doer is stealing honey and maybe Matthew can help the authorities.  Into the mix comes newcomer Angelina LookingGlass as his former foster daughter, back in town to start a new chapter of her young life.  The Rivals of Amziah King turns into two movies---the first half a boisterous cartoon, the second an exercise in slow redemption and vengeance.  Oh yeah, there's the bees --- the actors get covered in them.  That acting feet along earns four stars from me.  Also - a great bad guy cameo for Kurt Russell - of course he's in an oddball movie with Matthew McConaughey. I have a feeling you'll have to look for this one. It sure is worth finding.   

Movie Guide

The Rivals of Amziah King - 4 Stars - THEATERS - August 14, 2026 - Delightful modern noir with Matthew McConaughey as a beekeeper/musician/town character and newcomer Angelina LookingGlass as Matthew's foster daughter who takes over the business and avenges those who sabotaged  McConaughey.   

The Odyssey - 4 Stars - THEATERS- July 24, 2026 - Director Christopher Nolan goes big in the epic of the year.  Battles, monsters, and musings on civilization give viewers a lifetime's worth of food for thought.  Pee before you go.  Three hours.  (really doesn't feel like it.)  

The Invite - 4 Stars - THEATERS - June 26, 2026 - Stunningly funny parable of modern marriage.  Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogan, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton never miss a beat.  Edgy R rated and fascinating.  

Tuner - 4 Stars - APPLE - May 28, 2026 --- A piano tuner turns safe cracker and balances a life of crime and music. Classic thriller with jaw dropping twists toward the end. 

Life is Short - 4 Stars - NETFLIX - May 12, 2026 - A surprisingly inspiring review of actor Martin Short's life, his talent, his joy, and the deep grief of love and loss.  

Song Sung Blue - 4 Stars -- PEACOCK - December 25, 2025 - Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as cover artists chasing a dream.  Grand old school audience pleaser.  

The Pitt - 4 Stars - MAX - January 9, 2025 - Season Two - April 16, 2026  - One of the great medical series, with Noah Wyle as head of emergency medicine in a struggling Pittsburgh hospital.  The Pitt far surpasses Wyle's work in ER.  This one's the real deal. 

Obsession- 3 1/2 Stars - May 15, 2026 - PEACOCK - Socially awkward boy gets his wish for cute girl to love him obsessively.  Boy does this turn out bad.  Creative psychological thriller with a great performance from Inde Navarrette. Gets ready for shocks, jolts, and an unnervingly good time.

Remarkably Bright Creatures - 3 1/2 Stars - May 8, 2026 - NETFLIX - An Octopus observes Sally Field's friendship with a young drifter.  Delightful, creative and touching.  

The Sheep Detectives ---3 Stars --- PRIME - June 25,2026 - Delightful mix of animation and live action.  Shepherd Hugh Jackson is murdered.  His flock solves the who-done-it.   

Project Hail Mary - 31/2 Stars -  PRIME - Ryan Gosling as a science nerd shot into space to save the world.  Optimistic and winning tonic for our times.  

The Devil Wears Prada 2 - 3 Stars - May 1, 2026 - STREAMING - Meryl Streep returns for a twenty year update of the iconic comedy.  Nothing new here, but still fun.  

 

The Christophers - 2 1/2 Stars - STREAMING - April 12, 2026 - Ian McKellen's greedy children hire an artist to finish some of his  art work.  The scheme backfires. 

Jay Kelly - 2 1/2 Stars - NETFLIX - December 5, 2025 - Movie super star George Clooney as an icon toward the end of his career rethinking his life.  Pleasant but nothing new here. 

Disclosure Day - 2 Stars - STREAMING - June 12, 2026 - Steven Spielberg's still chasing space aliens.  This one's long, loud, and loaded with crash scenes.  Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor feel right, even if the project comes off like something from 30 years ago.  Nothing new to see here.   

  

 

 

The Odyssey - 4 Stars - THEATERS - July 17, 2026

Christopher Nolan's long awaited epic deserves honors as Movie of the Year.  Matt Damon as Odysseus, King of Ithaca, begins an arduous journey home after winning the Trojan War.  He faces demons, monsters, the elements, and the wrath of the Gods.  The story telling takes a bit of getting used to - veering between almost Shakespearian and East Coast English.  Nolan throws in so much action you barely notice the time. (Pee before you go and add "Run Pee" to your phone apps.)(yes, there is such an app.) Meantime, back in the castle (Ithaca that is) Anne Hathaway and son Tom Holland hold down the fort but just barely.  In all of this, Matt Damon emerges as a great actor.  I hope he wins the Oscar.  Tom Holland steps in for Luke Skywalker while Robert Pattinson makes a great villain.  Hathaway has a couple of rousing speeches worth hearing.  The final third rips and roars making the effort worth the trouble.  It's great to see a movie seep into our national consciousness at a time when movies take a back seat to other media.  Go see what everyone's talking about --- it's worth it. 4 Stars.  

The Invite - 4 Stars -Theaters - June 26, 2026

Olivia Wilde directs and stars in a stunning parable of modern marriage.  In The Invite Olivia invites the neighbors - Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton.  Her husband Seth Rogan forgets about the invitation.  Company arrives and all Hell breaks loose.  The dialog flies fast and furious.  The story never goes to the marriage swapping you expect.  The Invite turns into an intense encounter you never see coming.  I'm betting on this as an Oscar contender in 2027.  

The Sheep Detectives - 3 Stars - AMAZON PRIME - June 25, 2026

One of the spring's most delightful films - The Sheep Detectives - has moved to Amazon Prime, giving countless fans a chance to view and enjoy.  This creative mix of live acting and animation stars Hugh Jackman as shepherd to a flock of very smart sheep.  He reads mystery stories to the assembled animals asking to guess who-done-it.  The exercise comes in handy when a mysterious guest poisons the kindly shepherd.  Of course, the village police are too dumb to figure things out, so the sheep find various ruses to offer clues.  Nice casting beyond Jackman includes Molly Gordon as the shepherd's daughter and Nicholas Braun, the dumb cousin from Succession, as the dumb village policeman who ultimately saves the day.  Emma Thompsonadds a note of class as a town official.  Mixed in with the good humor are threads about life and death that add a surprise note of humanity.  The Sheep Detectives - a delight.  

Disclosure Day - 2 Stars - THEATERS - June 12, 2026

Disclosure Day feels like a Steven Spielberg movie from thirty years ago, in fact, it feels a lot like E.T.  Except this time the action is loud and long beginning with a cage match where we find Josh O'Connor watching while waiting for instructions.  He has something the bad industrial complex guys want.  Soon the chase begins and the movie begins to look like One Battle After Another.  Colin Firth, good old Mr. Darcy, plays the bad guy whose touch of an English accent gives him a proper Snidely Whiplash effect.  Meanwhile, Emily Blunt, finding success as a wacky weather girl in Kansas City switches gears one night and begins forecasting in space talk.  She and O'Connor meet and the chase doubles with a train encounter right out of a dozen other movies, many of them Spielberg's.  Finally, the day arrives and our heroes reveal the secret of aliens among us.  Disclosure Day is very commercial, with lots of big scenes and a ease of a  sci-fi plot.  Because I started watching Spielberg fifty years or more ago, nothing feels new here.  Maybe younger people will disagree.  Knock yourselves out.