June 2026 [8-14]
Hokum, Shogun, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Disclosure Day
- Hokum [2026] - 30
It seems I watched Damian McCarthy’s other film, Oddity, during a time I wasn’t as astute at reviewing everything, but I did track it [giving it a 73] and remember my impression of it. It was fine — satisfactory, with minor bits that were a more interesting — and this is… Not that. Hokum is one of those movies that wants to be something so badly that it forgets to actually do the legwork of being that thing. It wants to be a spooky folk-horror, it wants to have commentary on loss and longing, and it wants to not be a total waste of time… But it never really does anything to earn any of those desires. Driven by a character that’s neither interesting, relatable, or even mostly tolerable, Hokum feels like its trying to simultaneously channel Hot Fuzz, Psycho, and Silent Hill; A sentence that, had anything of consequence been executed with any amount of grace, could have made for an extremely compelling horror film. As is, Hokum is more a made-for-TV, royalty-free The Shining than it is anything else, and feels like it might have been the rejected script for a DLC to Alan Wake. I’m not really sure what McCarthy’s vision for this was, but maybe he should have turned on a light to see it more clearly.
- Shogun S1 [2024] - 50 DNF
According to Wikipedia, Shogun is the most awarded single season of television in Emmy history with 18 total wins at that show alone… And I cannot for the life of me understand why. Technical/ production awards, sure. Everything in this show looks great [save for some VFX, but it’s TV so… Minor pass?], sounds great, and there’s just SO much of it. Other than that though… I do not get why this show is SO long, especially when most of the story [that I got through] is clearly written over the course of 2-episode arcs. I’m all for a slow-burn, political drama… But there is a difference between “slow” and “empty”, and Shogun walks the line all wrong. Had episodes been condensed into either 30-minutes a pop, or just squashed together in pairs, I’d have been all in. As is though, I got through ep5 and the thought of committing another 5-hours to this trundling plot makes me want to cancel the Hulu subscription I don’t even pay for. Maybe one day a fan will edit this together the way Kai Patterson did with the Obi-Wan Kenobi show. Until then, Shogun can keep its goofball romance, meaningless “shock” reveals, and sluggish pacing all to itself.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 [2017] - 79
Now that I’ve trashed two very well received pieces of media, let’s jump back into the cinema darling that is the MCU with a weird take: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is not only a better movie than the first, it’s better than most anything else in the franchise. My gut reaction when thinking about this movie is that I don’t like it, that it’s overly silly and annoying, and that it doesn’t stand up to the first film. While some of that is true — there’s a handful of bits that go on WAY too long — Vol. 2 manages to not only fill in the gaps plot-wise that the first film had, but also be a very moving and meaningful “found family” narrative. I don’t know why it’s hitting me so differently this time [I watched it last year as well, giving it a 73… So maybe this isn’t that different], but something about the context of watching these films in timeline order [or maybe just in such close proximity to one another in general] has really changed how I view this one. Makes me wonder what other surprises the franchise might hold…
- Avengers: Age of Ultron [2015] - 55
Well, as far as “surprises” go, the only surprise here is how good this movie could have been if they hadn’t rushed its entire plot into a single film. An odd critique in a week I loathed Shogun for being too long, Avengers: Age of Ultron has some really strong points [both narratively and from a commentary standpoint] but it loses any and all “oomph” that those points have have packed by rushing through not only the creation of the titular character, but another very powerful entity in his counter, Vision. Both of these characters should have been given films all their own, starting with Ultron — slowing everything that happened with him down and giving us better context for who he is and what he represents — then a second film to more firmly contextualize Vision, wrapping up with the catastrophe in Sokovia, and leading to the events of Civil War [a movie I’ve already watched at time of writing and have similar complaints about]. Because of both the wily, frantic nature of Age of Ultron and its horrendously cringe comedy, the whole experience not only falls flat, but leaves a bad taste in your mouth for what might come after. As the “direct” sequel to 2012’s The Avengers, this is a horribly portentous vision of the Marvel yet to come.
- Ant-Man [2015] - 63
Before jumping back into mainline plots, the MCU darts into another origin, this time with our pint-sized funnyman, Scott Lang, who takes on the mantle of Ant-Man after both boring hijinks and several 2-dimensional plot points. This is one of those movies that doesn’t necessarily have anything wrong with it perse… It’s just kind of… Really boring. The villain is boring, the journey is boring, the characters aren’t terribly compelling… There just isn’t a lot going for this one, and I think it’s the only film thus far that I’ve paused to see how much time was left [I did this twice]. While there are bits of the humor that genuinely land, this is also the first of the films I’d actually categorize as a “comedy” more than the usual “action/adventure” tag everything else carries so, take of that what you will. The fight scenes when Lang goes miniature-mode are very cool, but “cool” isn’t really enough to carry this film’s 117-minute runtime. While overall I don’t think Ant-Man is as forgettable as something like Captain Marvel, it’s also more of a slog with a lot less payoff come the end.
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017] - 86
Taking a detour from the MCU madness, I’ve been meaning to rewatch Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri for quite some time, but have been spurred on recently by how much I liked his inaugural film, In Bruges. While I can see the criticisms online surrounding Three Billboards, I think they’re largely a shallow reading of the plot, and I think this one’s many accolades [to include 2 Oscar wins off 7 nominations] speak more truly of its strengths. Great performances across the board from a cast one can expect that from, a story that’s much more about the journey than the destination [Sanderson, eat your heart out], and [as is the case with all great art] a lot more to say than just the words exchanged by its characters, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri utilizes its runtime [mostly] deftly and to great effect. While I do wish there were a couple elements of the film slightly trimmed down [or altered entirely in one case], this is an overall powerful piece that you should either revisit, or gander at for the first time.
- Disclosure Day[2026] - 64
Oh Spielberg, you silly little scifi man. You’ve been off the scene since your very boring and trite self diagnosis, The Fabelmans in 2022 [a rare Letterboxed review from me]… And maybe you should have stayed that way. While Disclosure Day does bring back Spielberg’s unique sense of whimsy and awe that I don’t think any direct has ever quite captured, it brings with it a plot that’s entirely too frustrating and dawdling to make its payoff worth it. This was a genuinely strange experience for me because I was simultaneously bored by its pacing, extremely annoyed at some of its characters… And somehow poised to cry exactly when it wanted me to. In the quick review I shot to my family after leaving the theater, I called Disclosure Day “About 45-minutes and 3 characters too long”, and that’s still very much how I feel about it. Sitting at 2-hours and 25-minutes in length, there’s just not really a reason this story needed that much time to tell, and there’s a few characters that provide either nothing at all, or simply exist to be catalysts, rather than meaningful members of the plot. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend against this movie, but I also don’t think there’s any reason to rush out to see it either.
