Movies
The Death of Robin Hood (2026) D: Michael Sarnoski. S: Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård, Noah Jupe, Murray Bartlett. Beautifully directed, revisionist old-man ROBIN HOOD picture asks… what if he was actually a murderous brigand? Jackman’s fantastic in the lead, but director Sarnoski’s script doesn’t have much for him (or anyone) to do. No deep (or even interested) observations on Robin Hood, and Sarnoski wimps out on the patriarchal violence discussion. Instead, it’s all moderately successful mood.
Dirty Deeds (2002) D: David Caesar. S: Bryan Brown, Toni Collette, John Goodman, Sam Neill, Sam Worthington. Quirky, violent, and cruel crime comedy set in 1960s Australia. Boss Brown runs the slot machines in town, taking on just home from Vietnam nephew Worthington. Collette’s Brown’s wife, Morassi’s his mistress. Goodman and Williamson are mobsters from the U.S. trying to muscle in. Some middling, some okay performances, barely middling script, bad direction, good period production values.
The Hunter (2011) D: Daniel Nettheim. S: Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill, Morgan Davies, Callan Mulvey. Great white hunter for-hire (really) Dafoe heads to rural Australia on a job for Big Pharma. He’s hunting a presumed-extinct but rumored-extant beastie. Or he would if it weren’t for landlady O’Connor’s adorable family. It’s ostensibly a character study but Dafoe’s got no character development. Beautiful scenery and good (nature) photography; bad direction, and worse plotting.
The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) D: Jon Favreau. S: Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, Sigourney Weaver, Martin Scorsese, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. Big screen version of the TV show plays like four or five (bad) episodes strung together. Only really engaging when it’s GROGU and other puppets, as all of humans phone it in. No one worse than Weaver, who won’t even lean too hard. Awful Ludwig Göransson score. Favreau’s direction is often bad, though sometimes reaches pedestrian. No more please.
Rams (2020) D: Jeremy Sims. S: Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson, Asher Keddie, Leon Ford. Relentlessly uninteresting tale of estranged brother sheep farmers Neill and Caton who live next to each other and haven’t talked in forty years. Given its two-hour runtime and entire focus on the two leads, it’s impressive how Jules Duncan’s script has absolutely no character development. Middling direction doesn’t help. No movie with adorable sheep should be this boring.
Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015) D: Chloé Zhao. S: John Reddy, Jashaun St. John, Irene Bedard, Eléonore Hendricks, Derrick Janis. Uneven but accomplished story of graduating high school senior Reddy and his little sister, St. John, growing up on a South Dakota reservation. Writer-director Zhao toggles between Reddy’s secret planning to move to L.A. and St. John navigating tweenage years with only him and their alcoholic mom (Bedard). St. John gets less, but it’s much stronger material.
Comics
Copra: Round One (2014) TPB WA: Michel Fiffe. Ultraviolet anti-superhero superhero epic about a “suicide squad” of super assassins who survive a lethal double cross. They need to reassemble, recruiting old members, while avoiding the bounty hunters after them. Lots of characters, but creator Fiffe keeps them delineated well enough. Absolutely phenomenal art, both in the design and the glorious, glorious movement. It’s a stupendous comic book.
Watson’s Sketchbook, Vol. 1 (2024) OGN WA: Molly Knox Ostertag. After some exploratory sketches, Knox Ostertag explores the relationship between Holmes and Watson, specifically the romantic one. Often with lots of implications from the original text, while also weaving in the social realities at the time. Lovely art, too. The SKETCHBOOK quality gives it an intimate, dreamlike feel. There’s a strong overarching narrative, too. Really cool, well-done stuff.