The Devil’s Mouth (2026) | REVIEW

Kathryn Newton in THE DEVIL’S MOUTH — PHOTO: AMAZON MGM STUDIOS / PRIME VIDEO (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Jeff Wadlow (True Memoirs of an International Assassin) — Screenplay by Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner.

Jeff Wadlow’s The Devil’s Mouth follows a group of friends on vacation in Thailand. Two of the friends, Sara (played by Kathryn Newton) and Max (played by Lana Condor), initially struggle to see eye to eye after the former is left behind in the ocean, while the rest of the group partied and sped off without realizing where she was. Although they did eventually come back for her, the encounter left Sara badly damaged after coming into contact with a school of jellyfish. Sara feels that Max won’t take responsibility for anything, and yet still insists on controlling what to do, so while they try to get over the aforementioned incident, those issues always sit just beneath the surface. When, one day, they decide to tour the titular underwater cave system, chaos ensues as a trapped bull shark attacks and kills their guides. Now, the group must work together if they want to all make it out alive.

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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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Balls Up (2026) | REVIEW

Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser in BALLS UP — PHOTO: Amazon MGM Studios (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Peter Farrelly (Ricky Stanicky) — Screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Peter Farrelly’s Balls Up follows product inventor Elijah DeBell (played by Paul Walter Hauser) and salesman Brad Lewison (played by Mark Wahlberg) as the mismatched duo travel to Brazil to pitch their newly developed condom, which is a condom that goes over the testicles. They, and their company, are hopeful that the condom can become ‘the official condom of the World Cup’ that the country is hosting. Even though they initially impress the representatives they meet, an incident at a party leads to them losing the deal that they were working towards. Instead, Elijah and Brad find themselves at the World Cup final, drunk and frustrated over the fact that another lesser company got the role that they had worked hard for. Feeling taunted by the World Cup mascot, Elijah and Brad run onto the pitch in the final moments of the game and are to blame for Brazil ultimately losing the match. Now, they’re stuck in Brazil, where they have become public enemies, and they have to navigate dangerous situations if they are to survive.

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Crime 101 (2026) | REVIEW

Barry Keoghan (Left) and Chris Hemsworth (Right) in Bart Layton’s CRIME 101 — PHOTO: AMAZON MGM STUDIOS (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Bart Layton — Screenplay by Bart Layton.

Based on a Don Winslow novella of the same name, Bart Layton’s Crime 101 follows a disciplined and lonely thief named Mike (played by Chris Hemsworth), who has done a good job of avoiding capture and planning out his robberies over the years. Now, after having completed a mission in which he stole diamonds (but which almost cost him his life), he’s on the fence about what to do next and is unsure about going straight into the next heist, even though his underworld middleman, Money (played by Nick Nolte), is frustrated by his unwillingness to go straight into the next job. So, while Mike strikes up a romance with a woman he encounters named Maya (played by Monica Barbaro), Money enlists a wild and unpredictable thief called Ormon (played by Barry Keoghan) to do what Mike won’t and possibly cut off the loose end that Mike personifies. Meanwhile, LAPD detective Lou Lubesnick (played by Mark Ruffalo) has managed to connect the crimes Mike committed and has determined that one person committed all of them. While both the criminal underworld and law enforcement are trying to track down Mike, he attempts to juggle a blossoming romantic relationship with getting ‘one last job’ done so that he can put his criminal days behind him for good. That ‘last job’ will involve Sharon Combs (played by Halle Berry), an increasingly disgruntled insurance broker, who may or may not be interested in breaking bad.

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2026 TV Review Catch-Up, June Update | Bite-Sized Reviews

Top Row: The Chestnut Man (Netflix); DTF St. Louis (HBO); Fallout: Season Two (Prime Video).
Bottom Row: Ponies (Peacock); Rooster (HBO); Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen (Netflix).

We’re right around halfway through 2026, and there have been so many shows to watch that I almost feel a little bit overwhelmed at times. Therefore, I like to do these TV Review Catch-Ups, so as to get my thoughts out there on a wide variety of shows that I watched and perhaps enjoyed, but which didn’t really inspire me to dedicate entire solo reviews for. So, instead, here I’ve collected my thoughts in bite-sized form in a review compilation. This time around, I’m giving you my thoughts on 1) a returning Danish Netflix series, 2) a very odd HBO dramedy, 3) a video-game adaptation whose second season may not have fully blown me away, 4) an underseen period piece spy-dramedy, 5) another Bill Lawrence comedy, and 6) an unsettling Netflix original series from earlier this year.

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War of the Worlds (2025) | REVIEW

Still image of title card from trailers — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.

Directed by Rich Lee — Screenplay by Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman.

Only rarely is a movie deemed to be so bad that its reputation takes on a life of its own. In the case of Amazon Prime’s War of the Worlds, we have one of the most critically derided films released by a streaming service, maybe ever. Not only is it narratively unsound, a visual disappointment, and a poor adaptation of a well-known narrative, but the film as a whole also represents everything film critics, cinephiles, and film historians fear about the state of cinema and its future. This is a film with shameless corporate self-promotion on the part of the streaming service, which shows no appreciation for the material it is adapting or any apprehension about what they might treat their audience to. The Ice Cube-led War of the Worlds film from Amazon is, like you’ve heard, the worst film you’re likely to see this year. It is, at once, both embarrassing and alarming how faulty and ill-conceived it is. 

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Holland (2025) | REVIEW

NICOLE KIDMAN stars in HOLLAND — PHOTO: JACLYN MARTINEZ / PRIME.

Directed by Mimi Cave — Screenplay by Andrew Sodorski

In 2022, Mimi Cave’s debut feature FRESH, a thriller about dating with a wicked twist, was one of the, ahem, freshest surprises of the year. Naturally, this always makes you curious about the director’s next step. For her sophomore effort, Mimi Cave dropped her first film’s very modern narrative and feel in favor of an early 2000s narrative set in a quirky Michigan suburbia. Cave’s Holland is a psychological drama with thriller elements that is set in Holland, Michigan (hence the title), which is a town settled by Dutch-Americans and which prominently displays its Dutch cultural identity with tulip fields and windmills. The film follows Nancy Vandergroot (played by Nicole Kidman), a teacher who is starting to suspect that her husband, Fred (played by Matthew Macfadyen, is living a double life on his many work trips. To figure out what is going on, she teams up with a colleague, shop teacher Dave Delgado (played by Gael García Bernal), to spy on her husband and investigate his optometrist office. However, in that process, Nancy may have bitten off more than she can chew, as her husband’s secrets aren’t exactly what she expected, while, at the same time, she starts having an affair with Dave.

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You’re Cordially Invited (2025) | REVIEW

Margot (Reese Witherspoon) and Jim (Will Ferrell) in YOU’RE CORDIALLY INVITED — PHOTO: Glen Wilson/Prime Video

Directed by Nicholas Stoller — Screenplay by Nicholas Stoller.

You’re Cordially Invited is the second Amazon Prime Video January release since 2023 to be explicitly a comedy about weddings. Back in 2023, it was the Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Lopez action rom-com Shotgun Wedding, which was relatively forgettable despite having a decent cast. This latest Prime Video wedding-centric January release is a star vehicle for Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors director Nicholas Stoller. Although, admittedly, it isn’t as good as Stoller’s best films, I had a relatively good time with this comedy of wedding hijinx one-upmanship. 

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Top Ten TV-Shows of 2024

Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti in THE PENGUIN — PHOTO: Macall Polay/HBO.

I watched so many television (and/or streaming) shows this year. In my notes, I was trying to jot down all of the shows that I had seen and, given that I also watch a lot of movies every year, I was even a little bit shocked at how much time I spent watching entertainment (especially because I was very busy with other stuff this year). But, hey, I do love crashing and/or chilling in front of the television, watching a good show, and then jotting down my notes. And, you know, there were a lot of good shows this year. Some of the shows that it hurts to have to leave off the list this time around are Bad Sisters, Disclaimer, The English Teacher, Under the Bridge, The Boys, and Sugar (and I could, honestly, go on). But there can only be ten shows on this list, and let’s now have a look at what shows made it!

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Top Ten TV-Shows of 2023

Bella Ramsey as ‘Ellie’ and Pedro Pascal as ‘Joel’ in HBO’s THE LAST OF US — PHOTO: HBO / Liane Hentscher.

The long-awaited (and very late, sorry) list of the top ten TV or streaming shows of 2023 is finally here! I watched a lot of excellent shows in 2023, and I loved a great many shows that couldn’t land a spot on this list, such as Shrinking, Silo, Black Mirror, and Hijack. But, in the end, there are only ten spots on this list, and, well, there are some outstanding series here that just had to be on the list. Speaking of which, let’s now finally get to that very list.

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