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.

Continue reading “Balls Up (2026) | REVIEW”

Ladies First (2026) | REVIEW

Sacha Baron Cohen as Damian Sachs in Netflix’s LADIES FIRST — PHOTO: Netflix (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Thea Sharrock — Screenplay by Natalie Krinsky, Cinco Paul, and Katie Silberman.

Thea Sharrock’s Ladies First is an English-language remake of Netflix’s 2018 French romantic-comedy Je ne suis pas un homme facile (international title: I Am Not An Easy Man) from director Éléonore Pourriat. The film follows Damien Sachs (played by Sacha Baron Cohen), a chauvinist high-ranking executive at an advertising agency, who gets recently promoted creative director Alex Fox (played by Rosamund Pike) to quit her job. She decides to leave when it becomes clear to her that he doesn’t care at all what she thinks and only promoted her for show. As Damien follows her out of their place of employment, he knocks himself out. He then wakes up in a world where positions of power have shifted into some kind of matriarchal society. To get back to his own world, Damien is told that he must rise through the ranks at the advertising agency, all the while overcoming the workplace and societal discrimination that women endure in the patriarchal society from which he originates.

Continue reading “Ladies First (2026) | REVIEW”

Robots (2023) | REVIEW

Shailene Woodley and Jack Whitehall as Elaine and Charles, plus their identical android doubles in Ant Hines and Casper Christensen’s ROBOTS. — PHOTO: NEON.

Directed by Ant Hines and Casper Christensen — Screenplay by Ant Hines and Casper Christensen.

Based on Robert Sheckley’s 1973 short story titled The Robot Who Looked Like Me, Ant Hines and Casper Christensen’s Robots is set in America in 2032 at a time when humanlike robots are used as servants and for labor work. The film follows Charles (played by Jack Whitehall), a womanizer, and Elaine (played by Shailene Woodley), a gold-digger, both of whom illegally make use of identical android doubles of themselves to make their lives easier so that the womanizer only has to sleep with women without having to date them (which his robot does), whereas the gold-digger can profit off the men while her robot sleeps with the men. However, when their respective robots meet, fall in love, and decide to run away together and frame their human counterparts for mass murder, Charles and Elaine must team up to clear things up and get their lives back.

Continue reading “Robots (2023) | REVIEW”

REVIEW: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Release Poster – Amazon Studios

Directed by Jason Woliner — Distributed by Amazon Studios.

In 2006, Larry Charles’ mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan — or, you know, just Borat — became a cultural phenomenon. Fourteen years later, Sacha Baron Cohen has brought back his most popular fictional satirical character for the purpose of ringing the alarm bell as Americans get ready to vote in the 2020 Presidential Election. Although it’s not as fresh, sharp, or funny as the original hit film, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm [sic], as the sequel has been titled, is arguably the funniest movie of the year. Continue reading “REVIEW: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)”

REVIEW: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Trial of the Chicago 7 Film Poster
Release Poster – Netflix

Written and Directed by Aaron Sorkin (Steve Jobs) — Distributed by Netflix.

Back in July 2020, news broke that Netflix had acquired the distribution rights to this Aaron Sorkin legal drama following negotiations with Paramount Pictures. The global COVID-19 pandemic had made it difficult for Paramount to live up to the promise of a wide theatrical release this year especially since it was, reportedly, important for the filmmakers to have their film released to the public prior to the 2020 United States Presidential Election in November. Netflix provided them with a feasible and acceptable way out. The Trial of the Chicago 7 has now been released globally on the popular streaming service, thus giving Americans a chance to watch this drama before casting their vote. Continue reading “REVIEW: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)”