Julian Lytle

Here's my review of the new Avatar Aang animated movie.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is far more than an adaptation of Homer's epic. It's a meditation on war, leadership, & the burden of coming home. Matt Damon is excellent, Anne Hathaway & Tom Holland bring real emotional weight, & John Leguizamo delivers an awards-worthy performance.

Masters of the Universe isn’t perfect, but it’s genuinely entertaining and finally gives He-Man fans a movie worthy of seeing. Travis Knight adapts the cartoon with plenty of sincerity and humor. The cast has strong chemistry, and the costume and makeup work do an impressive job of bringing the toys and cartoons to life. Most surprisingly, Jared Leto delivers an excellent Skeletor who's threatening and just what you want from Skeletor through his laughing and alliterative disses that he's always willing to put out.

Kane Parsons' Backrooms turns Internet creepiness into Nightmare Fuel. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve are excellent and realizes the vibes of PS1 era horror games into the cinema.

I came into The Mandalorian & Grogu completely cold, never watched an episode of the show, and honestly, this movie worked as a fun big-screen Star Wars adventure. Great action setpieces, Ludwig Göransson’s score is amazing, and the puppets are dope. Fire movie.

Courtney A. Kemp’s Nemesis is one of the best original Netflix shows this year. A mix of Heat with New Jack City and, of course, Power - Nemesis has a perfect balance of heist movie, cops and robbers, and nighttime soap melodrama. On top of that, it's full of beautiful Black people in Los Angeles.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is one of those rare sequels that actually builds on the original. Sharper themes, great performances, and surprisingly relevant.

PRAGMATA blends action, puzzle-solving, and emotional storytelling into one of the most unique sci-fi games in years. It mixes third-person action with puzzle mechanics in a way that actually feels fresh, and the Hugh/Diana dynamic gives it real heart. Capcom continues to show why they’re one of the best in the industry right now.

I saw Michael last night, and while I feel the film could be better, the current RT score is a bit much. The movie feels a bit shallow, but it has some good performances, is shot well, and sounds fantastic. This might be one you have to see for yourself to judge. Here's a link to my full review.

So I saw The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and I put this review up on Tuesday. I liked it a lot, a lot. Gave it an A and a Fresh Tomato score on Rotten Tomatoes. I saw very quickly that I was in the minority of film critic peers. You can read my review above. I did not have any issues with the story and how much stuff was in the movie. For me, it was Mario like Mario has been for decades.

But the MCU timeline stuff… yeah, that’s where things get messy this season.

This show is still setting the bar.

A breakdown of the 98th Academy Awards, including my picks, the Academy’s likely choices, and a few potential upsets.

Grade: A

Pixar’s Hoppers blends cutting-edge animation craft with timely themes about activism and leadership. Daniel Chong’s debut feature proves Pixar can still evolve visually while maintaining emotional depth. A standout original entry.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 goes BIG! More Kaiju. More action. Stronger family drama. Kurt Russell still has that action hero energy, and the MonsterVerse feels huge on Apple TV.

If you’re in the mood for a gritty L.A. crime thriller, Crime 101 delivers. It’s clearly in conversation with Heat, but the cinematography and texture do real work, and the cast is strong across the board—especially Hemsworth, Ruffalo, and Halle Berry.