A Serious Man, Avengers: Endgame Encore, The X Files S1, Resident Evil, Primetime, Blow Out, Camp Rock, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
A Serious Man [2009] - 73
Similar to Wes Anderson, I have something of a hot and cold relationship with the Coen brothers. Some things — Fargo, No Country for Old Men — I really connect with, while I mostly find their library kind of mild, though interesting. Their 2009 release about a father facing a shotgun blast of sudden troubles, A Serious Man, is one of those “mild-though-interesting” titles. Performances are great across the board, situations are bizarre, awkward, and funny while not being silly, and the story itself culminates into something that isn’t abusive of your time, but also isn’t likely to stick in your mind for very long [As proof, I’m writing this almost exactly a month after watching, and had to review the ending]. Maybe one day I’ll sit down and watch all their stuff at once to get a better idea. For now, this is definitely one of the movies I watched this year.
Avengers: Endgame Encore [2026] - 87
I recently chewed through all of the MCU film content [something I still have to do a write-up about…] and, to generate hype for December’s Avengers: Doomsday [definitely not at all to retcon anything] Marvel has decided to re-release Endgame into theaters. Spoilers, Endgame was my #3 of all the MCU… And that is not about to change here. Upon finishing this as part of my watch spree, one of my first thoughts was “I would love to have seen this with all the context I have now”... Thank you Marvel, I know you really re-released this just for me. And boy howdy, what an experience. I laughed, I cried, I anticipated my favorite parts along with everyone else holding their breath inside that theater, and let me tell you… It has been a long time since I’ve seen people come together for something as spiritual as “Avengers… Assemble”.
The X Files S1 [1993] - 75
A show I’ve meant to watch for an age-and-a-half now, The X Files is an undeniably landmark television franchise. Memorable characters, a theme song people recognize without even knowing why, and the tagline “The Truth is Out There” all create a mosaic that resonates far beyond the borders of its runtime. Despite a few outdated visuals and almost all of Scully’s wardrobe choices, The X Files still largely works today and serves not only as an interesting time capsule of 80’s and 90’s anxieties, but as clear inspiration for things that would come after. While I wouldn’t quite call The X Files “arresting” here in 2026, I would still call it “effective” and “engaging”. If you’ve either never seen it, or just want something to put on for the season, I think you’d be hard pressed to find something more suitably familiar. And remember: The truth is still out there.
Resident Evil [2026] - 86
Oh Zack Creger or wily bitch, you finally caught me. After being less than inspired by his previous two films, the internet star-turned-director has finally made something just for me. There’s not a ton to say here that I didn’t address in my full review, but it’s worth noting that this is a film worth seeing, celebrating, and recommending. The genre of “horror comedy” is riddled with cheap laughs, shallow scares, and forgettable excursions… An issue I think that Resident Evil is about to make all the more apparent. This film is very funny, very scary, and very clever with its fan service. While some of its jokes last a little too long and there’s a few too many of them, I still think that what Creger has created here will [and should] rewrite the genre entire. If you haven’t yet, now is the perfect time to shamble your way to your local theater and check this one out.
Primetime [2026] - 66
I’ve not seen anything else by director Lance Oppenheim, so I really didn’t know what to expect flavor-wise going into this. Coming out of it, however, [and something that my rating of 66 won’t elicit], I am hugely intrigued to check out his general body of work. While I didn’t get on with Primetime specifically, that’s more because I don’t understand its purpose or why it chose a real person to focus its story on… But the technical and visionary aspects of this movie are amazing. Editing, lighting, cinematography, every part of this film from a technical sense is damn near a 10/10… It’s just the narrative that I don’t jive with. Hell, even the performances are absolutely spectacular [duh, given the cast], but the story on display here feels more like a retelling of 2014’s Nightcrawler than it does an honest inspection of Chris Hansen and the work he’s done. It’s not that the story is bad… I just don’t know why it’s framed the way it is, and I found that very distracting.
Blow Out [1981] - 76
Directed by Biran De Palma [Mission: Impossible, Carlito’s Way, The Untouchables], Blow Out is a crime-thriller with a really interesting setting: An audio engineer working for a schlocky local film studio is out recording ambience when he catches a car “accident” by mistake. It’s a great little setup that feels unique and believable, and the hijinks that ensue are mostly interesting. Blow Out can’t quite get out of its way with a few weird character dynamics and over-the-top Travolta, but if this is a genre that you generally connect to, I think this movie is likely very much-so for you.
Camp Rock [2008] - 58
An extension of the DCOM musical world, Camp Rock takes the school-house vibes of High School Musical and slides it all into the forest for a summer with the Jonas Brothers. The movie is fine, the songs are largely catchy, and some of the dance numbers are fun, but Camp Rock struggles to find any sort of unique identity to remain memorable. As I mentioned above, I’m a little behind on writing these, and I can hardly remember any distinct moment from this film… I don’t particularly remember being bored, but I also don’t particularly remember, well… Anything else either.
Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam [2010] - 56
Similar to my time with the Descendants franchise, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam is slightly worse than its predecessor… Even if it does feature a couple of songs that I found genuinely engaging and fun outside the context of the film. In raising the stakes for The Final Jam the film also raises the silliness, the difficulty of buying in, and, at 6-minutes shorter than the previous film, also somehow manages to raise the likelihood of not making it to the finish line. I don’t know. “Introducing Me” is a really fun song, but the rest of this just didn’t hit… Which is fine, I’m 35: A story about teenagers at a summer camp doesn’t need to be for me… I’m just also not sure who it would be for in the face of more motivating message within the space.
