Doppelganger

Movie Name: Doppelganger
Year of Release: 1993
Director: Avi Nesher
Starring: Drew Barrymore, George Newbern, Dennis Christopher, Leslie Hope, Sally Kellerman, George Maharis, Peter Dobson, Carl Bressler, Dan Shor, Jaid Barrymore, Stanley DeSantis, Danny Trejo
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 0
Watch it on Tubi

Synopsis and Review

By the time "Doppelganger" came out, writer/director Avi Nesher had already been steadily working on feature films for over a decade. During the 1980s he wrote and directed "She" featuring Sandahl Bergman, which piggybacked on the sword and sorcery genre that John Milius boosted when he wrote and directed "Conan, The Barbarian" in 1982. The film follows the story of Holly Gooding, whom we firstly encounter arriving in LA, looking for a place to live. She ends up sharing a place with Patrick, a writer who posted a room for rent, even if his space only has one bedroom. Holly and Patrick become friends, even though Patrick believes there's some quirkiness to her personality. He confides this impression to his writing partner and former girlfriend, Elizabeth. In the interim he finds out that Holly has a brother who is interned at a psychiatric hospital, after killing their father. He also uncovers that Holly is a suspect in the killing of her mom in New York. Holly admits she has a doppelganger, and that she is the one responsible for all that goes badly in her life, including the killing of her mom. She informs Patrick that her therapist Dr. Heller, can confirm the veracity of her statements. Patrick in the interim, is attacked by someone identical to Holly's supposedly dead father, and finally has a confrontation with Dr. Heller where a lot of the events taking place become clear.

This film is perplexing. And possibly quite nuts, but either way, it's a film that Ed Wood would be quite pleased to showcase or possibly feature side by side with one of his creative outputs. "Doppelganger" came out just as Drew Barrymore's career was starting to take off, since Jonathan Kaplan's "Bad Girls" came out in 1994, and started opening other professional doors for her. It's quite puzzling that writer/director Avi Nesher managed to get Drew Barrymore, George Newbern (who had already done the successful "Father of the Bride" from director Charles Shyer), and Leslie Hope (who had already done Oliver Stone's "Talk Radio" and Emilio Estevez's "Men At Work"), for a script that is nonsensical, with no character development, featuring a third act that is truly insane. This film attempts to illustrate a pre "Melrose Place" vibe of what it's like to be a young creative trying to make it in LA, mixing it with a noir narrative of sorts, throwing in a monster episode into the kitchen sink just for good measure in the third chapter, all of this without a semblance of coherence, taste, humor, or for that matter, logic. This is the type of film that will literally make the audience ask themselves, "What am I watching here". It's dumbfounding, with rotten performances from everyone involved, and at some point with Dennis Christopher's over the top performance taking place, one can't help but ask - "Is this deliberately so bad that it's like an art installation on how a bad film should be made?". The film amazingly features a score from the talented Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (who won an Oscar for the score of Marc Forster's "Finding Neverland"), but the overall production team is rather forgettable. This film is not forgettable, but that is solely because of how atrocious it manages to be. 

The Cave

Movie Name: The Cave
Year of Release: 2005
Director: Bruce Hunt
Starring: Cole Hauser, Eddie Cibrian, Lena Headey, Piper Perabo, Morris Chestnut, Daniel Dae Kim, Rick Ravanello, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Marcel Iures, Simon Kunz, Vlad Radescu, David Kennedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

"The Cave" is Bruce Hunt's feature directorial debut. He previously worked as a second and third unit director for The Wachowskis during the making of "The Matrix" trilogy (not the 4th installment). The narrative focuses on the story of brothers Jack and Tyler McAllister, who alongside a select few, comprise a team specialized in getting to underwater locations that are unreachable by most. They're hired to come assist Dr. Nikolai, his associate, Dr. Kathryn Jennings, and cameraman Alex Kim, in assessing an unexplored cave located underneath the grounds of a former abbey, in the Carpathian Mountains. As the team begins the descent, they suffer an unexpected attack from a creature they can't identify, but that eventually results in all of them being trapped in the cave, as a result of a rock fall. Jack is also attacked by one of those creatures, but manages to escape. Kathryn analyzes the blood of the creature, and hypothesizes that they're possibly creatures that originated above ground, but have since adapted to their environment underground. As they continue to move towards an exit, they uncover the remains of prior explorations. They also continue to get attacked and plucked, while Jack starts mutating as a result of being attacked. 

A group of individuals goes to a cave and comes across a mutated species who attacks and kills them. If that succinct premise sounds familiar, that's because it is the essence of the excellent Neil Marshall written and directed film, "The Descent". This version of "trapped by the confinements of nature and at the mercy of mutated creatures" is authored by Michael Steinberg (who wrote and directed the well received "The Waterdance" and "Bodies, Rest & Motion" during the 1990s) and Tegan West (this was the first writing credit for this professional primarily known for his acting resume). What could have easily been an underwater/cave version of "Alien" or "Aliens", turns out to be nothing of the sort, since the creative team and the poorly developed script, don't provide much information, depth, or motivation for these characters, aside from some friction moments, and other moments where they become the target for barely there and seen monstrous creatures (the aspect of not revealing the creatures isn't necessarily a bad thing). Mr. Hunt could have easily leveraged the darkness of the cave, and the uniqueness of the claustrophobic confinements of it, to create a taut exercise in suspense, fear, and ultimately demise. Sadly, the film comes across as a get together of a series of wannabe A-list actors, all of whom realize this film isn't going to be much, and eventually turn on the auto-pilot during much of its duration. None of these characters ever exhibit or share much about themselves, something that would render them more credible, and eventually make them more than fodder for some monstrous creature. And that includes the characters who are supposedly siblings. It's a film that lacks humor, that takes itself far too seriously, and that is unable to create a sense of camaraderie, or even complicity between a group of people simply trying to survive. The cast isn't particularly inspired, including the always reliable Lena Headey, who has very little to do here. The production team is solid, including Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek's score, Ross Emery's cinematography, and Pier Luigi Basile's production design. It's ultimately a lackluster and generic monster film that wastes an interesting premise with a clumsy narrative development and stunted character dimension. 

Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story, Marty Life is Short

Movie Name: Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story
Year of Release: 2026
Director: Jyllian Gunther, Stephanie Schwam
Starring: Robin Byrd, Shelby Byrd, Daylon Orr, Sandra Bernhard, Lou Cass, Porsche Lynn, Sean McKenna, Michael Musto, Cheri Oteri, Bob Morris
Genre: Documentary
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
Watch it on HBO Max

Synopsis and Review

Prior to watching this documentary, I have to admit I had never heard of Robin Byrd. However, Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam have both managed to illustrate not only Ms. Byrd's incredibly colorful life, but also the impact that her shows, have had on society. While some may be quick to dismiss this documentary as something solely focused on sex work or the evolution of pornography on TV, Video, and Digital, this documentary humanizes and gives context to the life of Ms. Byrd, the challenges she had, and most of all, the incredible resilience, intelligence, and resourcefulness she has had during her life. It's also an incredibly touching document of New York during the AIDS epidemic, how marginalized individuals were being brushed to the sides, and how her show managed to bring sex education, playfulness, and irreverence to cable TV. It's a documentary that takes the audience on the journey of finding out more about Robin Byrd, her devoted husband Shelby, but also how the stigma of sex work, sex positivity, and even gay visibility on mainstream media has evolved since the 1970s. Worth watching. 

Movie Name: Marty, Life is Short
Year of Release: 2026
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Andrea Martin, Michael Short, Oliver Short, Rita Wilson, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Kate Capshaw, Paul Shaffer, Nora Short, Brian Short, Nancy Dolman, David Short, Ron Howard
Genre: Documentary
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Netflix

Synopsis and Review

The wonderfully talented Lawrence Kasdan (director of "Body Heat", "The Big Chill", "Grand Canyon", and "The Accidental Tourist", to name but a few), has directed a wonderful homage on the consistently underrated Martin Short. This documentary traces his roots back to his home country Canada, how he started his acting career, all through Mr. Short recalling his own memories, archival footage, and just as importantly, through the depositions of his close friends and co-workers, including Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, all talented individuals who came from a similar background and stayed friends with him for over 50 years. It's a documentary that illustrates how much of a family centered person Mr. Short is, his ability to create ties with friends who have stayed with him for decades, including his partnership with Steve Martin, but also the emotional bonds he has created with Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, their families, and other known artists in the Hollywood milieu. It's a film that focuses mostly on the emotional ties Mr. Short has created, particularly the one towards his late wife, but also the ones he has shaped and cherished with his children and friends. The documentary does illustrate Mr. Short's colorful career, but doesn't necessarily probe deeper on what has made him gravitate towards certain material, or certain characters. It's a documentary that humanizes this iconic performer, but also one that leaves the cinephile fan a bit undernourished, when it comes to understanding the long career path of this talented performer. It's a moving homage, and one worth watching. 

The Devil Wears Prada 2

Movie Name: The Devil Wears Prada 2
Year of Release: 2026
Director: David Frankel
Starring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Kenneth Branagh, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, Tracie Thoms, Tibor Feldman, B.J. Novak, Patrick Brammall, Simone Ashley, Caleb Hearon, Helen J Shen, Rachel Bloom, Larry Mitchell, George C. Wolfe
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

The original "The Devil Wears Prada" came out in 2006, and while not a particularly good film, it has since then grown in popularity, particularly Meryl Streep's iconic performance as Miranda Priestly, which was always the main reason the film had some relevance and has since then become something many other films and tv shows, have attempted to mimic (with the boss from hell type of premise). This sequel picks up 20 years after the original. Andrea Sachs is now a celebrated journalist, but sadly gets laid off from the newspaper she works for, alongside a group of colleagues and friends as she's collecting an award. In the interim Runway has also evolved, now primarily focused on digital, though still under the tutelage and guidance of Miranda Priestly. One of Runway's articles gets Miranda in trouble on social media, and Irv Ravitz the business mogul owner of Elias-Clarke (and Runway), hires Andy as a features editor, without consulting Miranda. Andy's return is not taken very seriously, though Nigel understands what she's attempting to do, though her articles and efforts get no traction. Emily in the interim has become a top player at Dior, one of Runway's top advertising clients. At the risk of losing her position, Andy eventually manages to get an interview with the elusive Sasha Barnes, the ex-wife of billionaire tech mogul Benji Barnes. This article turns the tide for Runway and Andy, also positioning Miranda to get the next role she wants to play in Irv's conglomerate, that of Head of Global Content. Sadly, during his birthday celebration, he passes away, changing everyone's life in the process. 

If there has ever been a film that is literally about nothing, this is one good case for it. What made Miranda Priestly so interesting in the first film has now been reduced to a caricature, and that includes even her relationship with her husband Stuart, which is illustrated as superficially as possible. The creative team behind this film constructed this narrative based on feedback from users on IMDB and/or Reddit boards, and essentially distilled it all into the following aspects: more fashion, more opulence, more runways with cameos from fashion designers of various labels, while capturing all these events with various other cameos from stylists, pop culture personalities, and whatever else can be deemed as "relevant". Somewhere along the line, whatever purpose this film was meant to have, completely disappeared, and became a superficial bauble about nothing. These characters have no depth, their relationships are inconsequential, and there's not much sense for what they've become since we last saw them from the first film. There's an attempt at picking fun at guileless billionaires, by getting Justin Theroux to play an over the top and smitten tech mogul who literally has nothing much to do, while also capturing the reasonable and deeply intelligent ex-wife of that mogul, played by Lucy Liu, and once again making these characters as basic and meaningless as possible. The script doesn't have the snark or intelligence to position the parody of some of these characters as vicious as it should be, nor does it have the ambition and subtlety to give dimension to the ones who are supposed to represent the more humane and admirable path very rich people should take. The creative team, including writer Aline Brosh McKenna, looked at what Darren Star and Michael Patrick King did with the series "And Just Like That", and basically said: we can do that, and even overdo it. And indeed they have. While this film has been successful on the shoulders of a rather mediocre first film, it has also done a disservice to everyone else involved. Meryl Streep as always manages to walk away from this film with her dignity intact, the same going for Stanley Tucci (I personally don't understand why the fantastic Kenneth Branagh was in this). The rest of the cast should definitely rethink their choice of roles and projects. The production team is competent, featuring Florian Ballhaus cinematography, Theodore Shapiro's score, and Molly Rogers' costume design. It's a forgettable film with some good actors, and that's it. 

Red Sonja

Movie Name: Red Sonja
Year of Release: 2025
Director: MJ Bassett
Starring: Matilda Lutz, Robert Sheehan, Wallis Day, Trevor Eve, Luca Pasqualino, Rhona Mitra, Michael Bisping, Martyn Ford, Tony Way, Katrina Durden, Ben Radcliffe, Tim McMullan, Eliza Matengu, Danica Davis
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 1
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

The world of comic book adaptations doesn't end with Marvel and DC comics and the studios backing them. There's plenty of iconic characters that live outside that ecosystem. "Red Sonja" has had a steady cult following for years since it appeared in Marvel adventures in 1973 (inspired by Robert E. Howard's writings, which hail back to 1934 - 1935 when he started writing "Conan the Barbarian" and created that whole universe of sword and sorcery). This version of "Red Sonja" follows the adventures of the valiant warrior since a small child, when her village is invaded by barbarians, who kill her mother in the process, and push her to live in the woods. Sonja grows up by herself, having nothing but a horse as a companion, respecting nature and the woods that provide nourishment and protection for her. New in her adulthood, Sonja realizes the forest is being pillaged by mercenaries hunting for animals for gladiator games that honor the emperor Draygan. Retaliating against the cruelty of these mercenaries, Sonja is eventually captured and taken back to also fight in the games. Sonja gradually gains the camaraderie of others, who like her, were also captured and have to fight for their survival in the games. When she frees a mythological Cyclops creature, she and her group of friends flee, in order to prepare for the juggernaut of violence the emperor will unleash upon them. 

Unlike the "Red Sonja" from Richard Fleischer which premiered in 1985, and had many of the traces the director had established with "Conan the Destroyer" in 1984, this new iteration of this heroine lacks both a strong directorial point of view, alongside a script that does this character and her adventures some justice. The narrative fails to make Sonja the rebel and the indomitable spirit she was in the comics, not to mention when the magical and supernatural aspects of the story occur, they do so without much context to it (spoiler warning: she gets dropped in this magical pond, that cures everything, including her mortal wounds, and gives her hair a much needed injection of color). The film feels like a cobbled web of episodes, and less of a structured script where the central character creates bonds with others, where we witness what makes other characters special or unique. The writers gathered/pillaged inspiration from "The Lord of the Rings", "Gladiator", and even some sprinkles from Guillermo del Toro's universe, and tried to create some coherence into this narrative, sadly there's so many jarring aspects to it, incluing the existence of an Emperor who looks like a New York talent scout, where the villainess Annisia has no discernible personality, but listens to demonic voices, which is apparently an apt replacement for a personality, and looks like a model ready for her "Project Runway" catwalk. There are different species also co-existing with humans, but that's not mentioned either, so this film ends up being a porridge with many different ingredients, all of which don't necessarily taste well together. MJ Bassett who has primarily made a career for herself directing TV episodes for shows including "The Equalizer" and "Reacher", illustrates rather generically what is on this script, once again trying to emulate what others have done better and with more resources. While this film is clearly a low budget endeavor, at times much can be done with modest resources, something "Obsession" has aptly proven many times over: MJ Bassett however fails to bring a unique point of view to the sequences, the action driven ones, and the more low volume ones. It would have been so interesting to see what Bryan Fuller or someone unexpected like Coralie Fargeat could have done with this material. The cast doesn't fare very well, sadly more so for Matilda Lutz who was so unforgettable in "Revenge", and here is completely wasted. Robert Sheehan, who has made a name for himself with "The Umbrella Academy", is in a different film altogether, while Trevor Eve and Rhona Mitra are just trying to keep their dignity (and bank accounts) with some padding. Simply put: this isn't good at all. 

Masters of the Universe

Movie Name: Masters of the Universe
Year of Release: 2026
Director: Travis Knight
Starring: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, Alison Brie, Jon Xue Zhang, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Charlotte Riley, James Purefoy, Sam C. Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Morena Baccarin, Christiaan Bettridge Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, Eire Farrell, James Wilkinson, Dolph Lundgren
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

Cracking the code of a good adaptation for the 1980s animated series "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe", seems to be an impossible task. The prior version from Gary Goddard, in his sole directorial endeavor, was met with negative reviews, even if it had an eclectic cast which included Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Courteney Cox, and Meg Foster. This new version from director Travis Knight, who previously directed the fantastic "Kubo and the Two Strings" and the well received "Bumblebee", doesn't fare much better, mostly because the film has a challenging script and tone that can't quite find its footing. The narrative follows the story of Adam, who is the son of the King and Queen of Eternia. He is trained by Duncan, the king's Man-At-Arms, who is also the father of his friend Teela, however Adam is smaller than everyone else, and has some challenges. His life, and that of everyone in Eternia, is forever changed when the planet is invaded by Skeletor. He captures the King and Queen while Adam is sequestered by the Sorceress, guardian of Castle Grayskull. He is sent through a multi-dimensional portal to Earth, however during his escape, Adam loses the sword. 15 years later, Adam is working in human resources and shares an apartment with his friend Hussein. He obsesses about finding his sword, and doesn't have much of a private life. He finally gets a text that his sword has been found, and causes all sorts of ruckus at a local comic book store where it's located. As it turns out, the sword is indeed the legitimate one, and it has acted like a beacon to indicate its location. Adam is attacked by one of Skeletor's minions, only to be saved by Teela. They manage to escape, and head back to Eternia, a place that is now very different than what Adam has remembered. They have Skeletor to defeat, and bring back Eternia to its lost wonder.

While "He-Man" does come across as a super hero (of sorts), this film has a bit of a challenge in creating an origin story that does it justice. On one hand the script forcibly tries to be funny (Adam works in HR, where conflict and friction are addressed by joint conversations and collaboration), and secondly it doesn't provide much depth about who Adam actually is, aside from the anecdotal aspect he has a roommate (who apparently doesn't work and spends all his time looking at the TV). There isn't much context as to what has happened to Adam during the 15 years he was on Earth and how he even adapted to such a different reality. The fish out of water narrative does indeed present itself, but in how Adam readjusts himself to Eternia and to the fact that no one remembers him, or think of him as a lame and feeble individual. As it happens, no one in Eternia knows the meaning of pacifism, or truces, or finding a compromise when a war needs to come to an end. The script for this film is quite puzzling, since on one hand the creative team introduces Duncan, the Man-At-Arms as an alcoholic with something to prove to himself and his daughter, while on the other, it makes Skeletor as a bit of clownish villain, with no backdrop, or perspective other than wanting to rule the planet of Eternia. The film has all these influences from various films, including the iconic "Star Wars" saga, but while trying to entertain children, it fails to realize that these characters can't just be human versions of the cartoon, they have to behave and feel like real people. The creative team for this film should have looked at what Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley did with "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves", and created a script that is able to appeal to a child, but still retain enough character dimension and quirkiness, that goes beyond colorful costumes and questionable line reads regarding some of the characters' names. The cast sadly can't do much with the material, though Idris Elba is always great, the same going for Alison Brie. The production team is competent and solid, including Fabian Wagner's cinematography, Daniel Pemberton's score, and Guy Hendrix Dyas' production design. It's a missed opportunity for a director who has demonstrated a strong affinity for material that crosses multiple generations of viewers.