Tag: 2026

Masters of The Universe (2026)

Posted on by fenrisfil

He has the power, to pick up a flower, to jump off a tower, and Die… He Man! At least that’s how I remember the song going. Anyway, there is a new He-Man movie out. Well, I say He-Man, technically it is “Masters of the Universe” (Much like the previous 1987 movie). Possibly a marketing mistake, since most people remember the franchise simply as “He-Man”. The franchise hasn’t been totally dormant since the 1980’s, with a variety of cartoon reboots and spin offs along with comics and of course toys. However, this is the first attempt at live action since Dolph Lundgren dclared “I have the power!”.

Director Travis Knight previously had mild franchise success with ” Bumblebee”, one of the better Transformer movies but only a mild success. Adam and Aaron Nee are the main writers, they previously wrote and directed “The Lost City”, an amusing adventure comedy with Sandra Bullock. Fabian Wagner provides cinematography and Daniel Pemberton provides an awesome soundtrack (With a hand from Brian May on electric guitar). The franchise still has fans among those that grew up with it and others that just enjoyed the memes. But is that enough to make it a success? Well, apparently not. The movie has flopped in theatres, but is it actually bad?

By The Power of Grayskull

The movie starts with an explaination of how Prince Adam of Eternia ended up on Earth. Adam was a scawny eight year old at the time and felt like he was a disapointment to his warrior king father Randor. When Skelletor attacked he fled with his mother and King Randor to Castle Greyskull, to protect the sword from falling into evil hands. As Randor bravely stood off with Skeletor, Adam was charged by the Sorceress of Grayskull to protect the sword. And so she sent him to Earth. On Earth however the child was separated from the sword and has spent two decades searching for it. Now fully adapted to Earth culture, he finally finds the sword, but finding it reveals his location and both heroes and villains rush to meet him.

Re-united with his childhood friend Teela, he returns to Eternia to find a planet dominated by Skeletors cruelty, with the heroes of eternia mounting what resistance they can. When Skeletors attacks again he finally unlocks the power of Greyskull to become He-Man. Eternia finally has it’s champion, but the odds are still against them. Skeletor has Adam’s family in captivity and while Adam now has the power of a hero, he still has the heart of that scrawny eight year old and the brain of a human that works in HR services. Can he really be the hero Eternia needs?

I Have The Power

This is a movie that appears to be made with clear priorities. The absolute top priority here is to be fun. That’s not a bad thing for a summer blockbuster, but it’s not all positive. The movie does not take itself seriously and on occasion it is to the movies detriment. Adam/He-Man is most often the butt of the jokes and after a while it feels a bit too much. Goofy male heroes that everyone else mocks are a bit of a cliché in the modern day. While it felt like a journey for Adam this was okay, but there’s a joke at the very end where the movie goes all in on the memes of secret identities in a way that just makes Adam look… Well, mentally challenged. That said, a lot of the time this priority does pay off. There are a lot of jokes that do land and the movie is actually fun.

The second priority is to be true to the 80’s cartoon. The character design look really like the cartoon/toy versions. Even with Idris Elba being a race swapped Man at Arms, between his armour and moustache it still feels like the character. The world of Eternia too looks really like the fantasy world of the cartoon. Everything looks right. It doesn’t end there though. The cartoon always had a pretty thick layer of moral messaging, and even as an eight year old I cringed at the post story talks in the show. So when the film gets into a bit of cringe moralizing, it feels more like a reference than serious preaching. Especially since the movie spends more time mocking Adam for his talk-things-through attitude, than supporting it. Fun was the top priority after all.

HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA

The third priority here is to reference as many memes and in-jokes as possible. This makes the movie very self aware and feeds further into why the moralizing feels more like a reference than modern social preaching. That final joke, I found so grating is a part of these. It was a bit like having the “Batman runs away and you aren’t supposed to notice” meme in an actual Batman film. Mostly though this is more subtle. For example they play the Four Non-Blondes song “What’s up” at one point, a reference to the “Heyyey” He-Man meme video (A 20 year old meme at this point). They don’t however re-enact that video (In the movie), they just have the song play and at a point where it works regardless of the meme. There are also a lot of “Fisto” jokes. I think that was always somewhat expected. It’s just innuendo though, so it’s still kid friendly.

Fourth priority is a little unexpected and that is to try and emulte 1980’s Flash Gordon movie. Clearly this was roughly what they were aiming for in the style and they went so far as to bag Brian May to play guitar on the soundtrack. This part works really well because the soundtrack for this movie is an absolute banger and very much feels like an 80’s Queen influenced soundtrack. We do even get one Queen track (From a totally different 80’s movie, Highlander) in the mix too. Outside of the music there is a rocket cycle (Briefly) and just a general vibe that this was what they were going for. However the balance is off for Flash Gordon. The humour impacts versimilitude a bit too much. Flash was fun, but it always felt like it was taking itself somewhat seriously along the way. He-Man is far to self referential and comedic to hit that sweet spot.

The Plot’s In Hear Somewhere

Below those priorities are “Actually have a plot”. So if strong stories are your thing, this may not be for you. It’s not that it doesn’t have one, it’s just paper thin and full of contrivences. The movie doesn’t waste too much time on Earth, but between the Earth stuff and the intro backstory, there is little time to really explore Eternia after. A lot of the world and it’s characters don’t feel fleshed out. Evil Lynn for instance is very much in the background (Alison Brie is largely wasted). I can’t help but feel the entire Earth detour was unneccisary. Really this feeds into most of my issues with the movie. Do we need an audience perspective character for a 45 year old fantasy franchise? Without Earth, Adam wouldn’t be the goofy comic relief the whole time. On top of that, the 80’s cartoon moralizing wouldn’t have felt “Woke” had it not been filtered through a literal HR office.

These are what most of the negative reviews focused on too. But really, once you get past the Earth influence, everything else in the movie is actually very well done. Despite the race swap, Idris Elba makes a great Man-at-Arms. Teela feels like Teela from the cartoon series (Though the writers often didn’t know what to do with her). Trapjaw looks great and is elevated to pretty much the secondary antagonist (Over Evil Lynn), a surprising move that really paid off. But the stand out, shockingly is Jared Leto as Skeletor. He brings out the full ham for the role, but that is basically what Skeletor always was (At least in the 80’s cartoon). Instead of trying to give him some motivation where he sees himself as the good guy (As is the current trend), they just accept, he has a skull for a face, he is evil and he LOVES it.

Conclusion

Ultimately this is a solid, fun popcorn movie. It has flaws and if you focus too hard on the flaws you won’t enjoy it. But for the most part it is hard not to have a good time with this movie. He-Man is in truth a nearly impossible franchise to realize as a movie. The children that grew up with it at it’s peak are now around 50. The series had many elements hard to take seriously, starting with something as simple as the character names. So do you make a kids movie or do you take something that no adult could really take seriously and do it as a serious adult fantasy? The self aware comedy approach is probably the safest one. Safe doesn’t always pay off though and this movie is failing badly at the box office. But does it deserve that? In my view – No.

The movie is not trying to re-invent the wheel. It’s just trying to entertain while being true enough to the franchise that Gen X feel a bit of their childhood is on screen. It mostly got it right. The modern day clichés such as the male hero being the butt of all the jokes, while female character are overly dry and serious is hard to escape these days, but they don’t let it ruin the movie. The visuals, the soundtrack and the relatively frequent action helps to keep you interested as the movie goes on and many of the jokes land well. At times the movie feels like they truly nailed it. Other times, not so much. But it is an overall positive. This is a 6.5/10. Flawed in places, but fun enough to be worth watching anyway.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Project Hail Mary (2026)

Posted on by fenrisfil

So far this year while there have been some trash and some bombs (Sometimes both). But we’ve also had some surprisingly good movies. Honestly it’s a run of quality that I wasn’t expecting to see again. Especially unexpected was many being in the genre of science fiction, which has suffered badly over the last decade. I don’t want to go into a rant about that here, but it’s been a refreshing run watching “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die”, “War Machine” and now “Project Hail Mary”. This is an adaptation of the 2021 novel by the same name, by Andy Weir (Who also wrote the novel “The Martian”).

Project Hail Mary is directed by the team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The pair are mostly famous for their 21/22 Jump Street films from the 2010’s. However they haven’t directed a film since 2014, at least not credited. They were originally directing “Solo: A Star Wars Story” but were fired by Kathleen Kennedy and replaced. That movie then bombed at the box office. This return to science fiction gives them a chance to prove they were not the problem. Ryan Gosling stars. He is supported by James Ortiz, Sandra Hüller and Lionel Boyce. Drew Goddard provides the screenplay, with cinematography by Greig Fraser and Music by Daniel Pemberton.

Mission Into The Unknown

Doctor Ryland Grace (Gosling) wakes up on a spacecraft, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. This is the result of an induced coma he was put in to for the journey. His memory slowly returns throughout the movie (Which we see via flashbacks). After some initial moments of panic and discovery he recalls his mission and it’s importance. Our sun is dying due to a microorganism known as the “Astrophage”, this will result in catastrophic cooling of the Earth within 30 years. What’s more this phenomenon is affecting every sun in the nearby galaxy save for one – Tau Ceti.

His mission therefore, is to find out why and hopefully send a solution back to Earth. Just the solution though, as he realizes this is a one way mission. On arriving at Tau Ceti, he finds something he never expected, an Alien space craft. After some moments of initial panic, he slowly begins to communicate with the craft and it’s inhabitant. It turns out, Earth isn’t the only planet desperate to find a solution to the Astrophage problem. But now it is down to Grace to find a way to communicate with this alien and then work together to solve the problem and deliver the solution to their respective planets.

Heart of Stone

The movie clocks in at two hours and forty minutes. You would think would make it drag, but despite being somewhat of a slow burner, I barely noticed. The movie tells you backstory to the mission and Grace’s involvement alongside the “Present” story with the alien encounter. This staggered two story narrative really helps to keep you interested, without checking your watch. The two stories have their own tale which works separately, but come together at the end to bring the whole narrative to a new and interesting level. No spoilers, but it’s more character twists than plot twists here. The structure works really well and part of what makes this film good.

That said, the two are not even. The story on Earth quietly poses questions of what it takes to be a hero, but on the whole is mostly there for exposition. Not in a bad way mind, it has fun along the way and we learn a lot about Grace’s personality. The story on Earth is absolutely fine, but it’s not what people will be talking about after. That instead is the experience onboard the spacecraft. While this is very much a science fiction story, it becomes more personal and emotional. On one side it is about first contact and this is done with a a great deal imagination. But ultimately it becomes a buddy movie about a friendship built on necessity, but which grows into a deeper connection. It is emotional and heart warming, but doesn’t neglect a bit of humor and edge of the seat action either.

Building a Legend

Visually speaking, this is a stunning movie. While most of the credit for the story may come from Andy Weir’s novel, turning this into a visual reality and doing it so well is quite an achievement. I have to give credit to Lord, Miller and their cinematographer Greig Fraser. The scenes in space are beautiful, the design of “Rocky” (The alien) are superb. Given this is basically a small, faceless rock creature having it able to emote is a challenge. Eventually Rocky does get a voice (A computer generated translation of his language), but still has to move in a way that makes up feel he is a living, thinking and feeling being. The set designs too are top notch too and even the scenes on Earth are good to look at. This is a beautiful film (In more ways than one).

Obviously, the set up for this film puts a huge weight on the shoulders of Ryan Gosling. I always say when talking about micro-cast movies, but the lead in these circumstances can really make or break it. Fortunately, Hollywood rarely trusts such a role to someone that can’t handle it (We don’t talk about “War of the Worlds” (2025)). Gosling is an exceptional actor and an underrated one, so no surprise he nails it. His Earthbound support is solid too, especially Sandra Hüller who gives a lot of depth to her role without having to spell it all out for the viewer (This isn’t Netflix). But this is definitely the Ryan Gosling show. As well as being the only human for most of it, it is down to him to convince us that “Rocky” is real. Mission accomplished.

Conclusion

You can probably tell by this point this is going to be a high score. I really can’t find much in a way of flaws to this movie. The one flaw perhaps is there seems to be a notable leap from the early stages of communication between Grace and Rocky to being able to create a full translation program. I understand why there is the leap and given the length of the movie, fleshing that section out may well have started pushing the film to the “Too long” territory. However it was a slight knock to my suspension of disbelief. That’s it though, that’s the only negative I have. Other pitfalls have been skillfully avoided. For example, the humour could easily have pushed this film into “Kid’s movie” territory. But it didn’t, it was kept firmly balanced.

This is a movie I believe will resonate with everyone. It’s a rare thing and the only movie I can think of that may perhaps be comparable is “E.T.” (1982). With that in mind, I think this movie is going to absolutely slaughter the box office this year. I went to see it at a preview screening and it was packed, that’s a week before release and in a small town in the UK. Funny how a sci-fi that actually makes you feel good and hopeful and shows positive personality traits can be so incredibly appealing. It is something we have been lacking for a while. So it turns “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” didn’t hold my top posted review score for long at all. Project Hail Mary is a 9/10. Go and see it if you can!

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2025)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Today, we’re checking out Gore Verbinski’s new independent movie “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die”. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I watched the trailer several months back. This is a black comedy/sci-fi movie about a time travelers attempts to prevent the AI Apocalypse. Verbinski, a vocal anti-AI advocate (Which goes a little with the theme here) directs and Matthew Robinson provides the script. Cinematography is by James Whitaker and Geoff Zanelli provides the music. It’s interesting to note Robinson’s script was knocking around for a while until producers at 3 Arts Entertainment realized recent developments in artificial intelligence had create a sweet spot for this kind of music and jumpstarted the film into production. The movie stars Sam Rockwell with support from Juno Temple, Harley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz and Asim Chaudhry.

Arriving at a Los Angeles diner at 10:10pm, a mysterious man from the future appears to hold the restaurant hostage with a call to recruit a team of heroes to save the future. At first no one believes him, especially with the ridiculous outfit he is wearing, but he claims to have a bomb he can trigger at any time so they listen. He reveals information about each of them he shouldn’t have any knowledge of including predicting what they may say. Still, most are reluctant to join. After a couple of volunteers he picks the remaining team himself and the mission can begin. He warns them, it will be dangerous, confusing and they won’t all make it. He should know, this is his 117th attempt and all previous ones failed.

Attempt 117

Right out the gate this movie is a whole load of fun. But before I dive in, I want to take a moment to compliment the trailers for this film too. The trailer focused on the diner opening, but gave little away. Yet, I wanted to see this as soon as I saw the trailer. So, good work there. Anyway, the diner scene is a strong start. The premise is laid out, there’s a reasonable amount of comedy, and an entire groundhog day style section. Not that we see the timeline repeat. It’s more like that scene late on in Groundhog day where Bill Murray realizes he knows everyone around him intimately. The scene plays out well.Right up until he selects his team, you are somewhat guessing who will join him. The only exception is the depressed woman in the Princess outfit (Richardson’s “Ingrid”). She was clearly always coming.

That also ties in to the one, sort-of negative of the movie. There is a twist involving Ingrid that I saw coming a mile off. That said, this didn’t impact my enjoyment one bit and she was probably my favorite character of the team. The assembled team are all entertaining, though some are more relevant than others. Four of them are given a backstory via flashback that is used to break up the main plot. Each of these is a story in it’s own right, with it’s own message/social commentary. They all form part of the larger puzzle too, with it all coming together by the end. Three of the team however are there to be expendable. Perhaps that’s a negative, but the film is upfront with why they are there and what is likely to happen. Funnily enough, even they ended up being entertaining.

The Always Connected, Disconnected Society

This is a film with something to say. None of it is ground breaking, but it is natural, well expressed and entertaining. The movie looks at Phone obsession, the difficulties of teaching students while they are all distracted by tik tok and other nonsense (Especially the challenge of getting them to read a book). It also jokes of the goofiness of memes and AI prompting and the awkward intrusiveness of built in advertising. Entering darker territory, the movie examines the apathy towards school shootings and the concept of replacing the dead with AI copies. The movie examines our own loss of humanity while making all the above actually funny. The largest angle though is examining the growth of actual AI (Not just LRMs) and looking at the desire to give up on the real world and live in a virtual one.

Deep stuff, but the movie manages to say its bit, while making you laugh and keeping your focus. This isn’t really an action movie, but the action in it is solid and serves it’s purpose well. It doesn’t have Hollywood polish, but they managed a few things I’ve never seen before in regards to action. So I don’t see any negatives there. Due to the length of the flashbacks, the main plot is shorter than perhaps you’d expect. This another one of those parts where I don’t really see it as a negative, but it’s worth noting. The journey isn’t quite as epic as promised, but the story doesn’t suffer for it. There are gaps in the information we’re given, mostly involving everything between our heroes childhood and when he started time traveling. It is left a mystery, yet one that the film doesn’t really need answered.

Conclusion

This movie has quickly become a favorite for me. In recent years I’ve found movies to be lacking so many elements that are present in this movie. The originality, the fun factor, having something to say that doesn’t just leave me rolling my eyes and going “This… again?” It is all so refreshing. In previous decades this would be a definite cult classic. Something like Donnie Darko in the 2000’s or The Big Lebowski in the 90’s. These days though, the market for movies is more diluted and has so much competition from, funnily enough a lot of the things the movie is making it’s commentary on. I don’t know if the movie can make back it’s small budget or will get to become the legendary cult classic it deserve to be.

I’m going to do my bit for it though. I may be ending this blog this year so perhaps it’s not a bad time to break my highest rating yet. This is a high 8.5/10. Honestly, I may even rase this to a nine. Go see this movie.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.