Masters of the Universe (2026) | REVIEW

The villain ‘Skeletor’ (Jared Leto) in Travis Knight’s MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE — PHOTO: Amazon MGM Studios & Sony Pictures Releasing International (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Travis Knight — Screenplay by Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, and David Callaham.

I can’t say that I have much of a prior relationship with the 1980s Mattel toy line or the animated series that were built around it (or, for that matter, a big relationship with the 1987 live-action film adaptation). In fact, even though I’m pretty sure I saw the Dolph Lundgren film when I was young, I mostly know the characters from my father, who, still to this day, quotes Frank Langella’s Skeletor from time to time. Still, I was curious to see what a new film adaptation of the story could be like, especially given the years of development hell it went through. Well, Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe was recently released on Amazon Prime Video, so I finally got to see the film just the other day. Having now seen it, I will say that I mostly enjoyed the Bumblebee-director’s attempt at giving new life to He-Man and the many characters, but I don’t think this is a complete home run.

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The Sheep Detectives (2026) | REVIEW

Shepherd George Hardy (played by Hugh Jackman) with his sheep Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) — PHOTO: Amazon MGM Studios / Sony Pictures Releasing (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Kyle Balda — Screenplay by Craig Mazin.

Based on the German novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, Kyle Balda’s The Sheep Detectives follows a flock of sheep living peacefully near the English village of Denbrook. Every night, their beloved shepherd, George Hardy (played by Hugh Jackman), reads them murder mystery novels that, unbeknownst to George, they’re hooked on. When one night, the sheep find George lifeless outside his trailer, they are devastated and soon realize that perhaps George was actually murdered. Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), an intelligent sheep who knows murder mysteries particularly well, teams up with the recluse black sheep Sebastian (voiced by Bryan Cranston) — but also Mopple (voiced by Chris O’Dowd), a sheep that, unlike most of the flock, is unable to forget things whenever he feels like it — in an effort to help steer the law enforcement investigation, led by clumsy and inexperienced officer Tim Derry (played by Nicholas Braun), in the right direction.

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‘Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023),’ ‘Red, White, and Royal Blue (2023),’ ‘Haunted Mansion (2023),’ ‘Clerks III (2022),’ and ‘Mainstream (2020)’ | Bite-Sized Reviews

(L-R) Haunted Mansion (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures); Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer); Clerks III (Lionsgate); Mainstream (IFC Films); and Red, White, and Royal Blue (Amazon Prime Video).

In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I take a look at a handful of films that I checked out over the last couple of months. These films were interesting enough for me to have formulated notes about them that never materialized into extensive singular reviews — instead, here they are in bite-sized form. Are any of these worth your time? Well, let’s have a look.

Continue reading “‘Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023),’ ‘Red, White, and Royal Blue (2023),’ ‘Haunted Mansion (2023),’ ‘Clerks III (2022),’ and ‘Mainstream (2020)’ | Bite-Sized Reviews”