MARY OLIVER: SAVED BY THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD
produced by: Sasha Waters
directed by: Sasha Waters
rated: not rated
runtime: 91 min.
U.S. release date: July 3, 2026 (limited) and July 10, 2026 (wider)
“Mary Oliver: Saved By The Beauty of the World” is my introduction to the celebrated, award-winning poet, as it will be for many viewers. Those well-versed in poetry know who she is, but maybe they don’t know much about her beyond her prose. Serving as both producer and director, Sasha Waters invites us to either be introduced to this Pulitzer Prize-winning poet or offers up an opportunity to get to know the woman behind the words. She does this by giving Oliver’s voice, perspective, and outlook priority throughout the documentary. Like Oliver’s poems, this film offers viewers an opportunity to ponder the world around us, hopefully with more deliberation, allowing us to examine who we are and perhaps observe the natural world more closely. Read more…
PITFALL (2026) review
written by: Victor Rose, story by James Kondelik
produced by: Alex Bogomolov and Wai Sun Cheng
directed by: James Kondelik
rated: R (for sexual material, language throughout, and drug use)
runtime: 108 min.
U.S. release date: June 26, 2026 (VOD)
“Whoa, watch where you’re throwing that damn thing, Scott!”
When folks of a certain age hear the title “Pitfall,” it may conjure memories of the classic Atari game of the same name, an adventurous 8-bit run through the jungle, running on crocodile heads, and avoiding those dreaded titular traps. You’d be hard-pressed to convince me that anyone involved in the production of the 2026 survival horror flick “Pitfall” has any clue about the light and breezy adventures of Pitfall Harry because this is neither of those things. In fact, to borrow the film’s title as a metaphor, the pit that “Pitfall” falls into is the one that made it think that it had to have “something to say” in terms of social commentary.
THE INVITE (2026) review
written by: Will McCormack and Rashida Jones
produced by: Ben Browning, Megan Ellison, and David Permut
directed by: Olivia Wilde
rated: R (for sexual material, language throughout, and drug use)
runtime: 107 min.
U.S. release date: June 26, 2026 (limited), July 3, 2026 (wide) & July 10, 2026 (wider)
The last film that Olivia Wilde helmed was 2022’s “Don’t Worry Darling”, which found her contending with horrible press, production woes, and box office disappointment. It was supposed to launch her directorial career in a major way. With “The Invite”, Wilde is back behind and in front of the camera, sharing the screen with a game cast, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton. That’s it. It is indeed an effort to keep things minimal, allowing Wilde more control with fewer characters to manage and a tighter space to work within. When it premiered this past January at Sundance, the movie mostly received high praise from critics, prompting a bidding war for its North American distribution rights that A24 eventually won. It’s rare to find studios releasing a comedy in theaters nowadays, let alone an adult relationship comedy like this, and while “The Invite” definitely has some laughs, it also touches on marriage, sex, and commitment with biting accuracy and surprising poignancy. Read more…
MINIONS & MONSTERS (2026) review
written by: Brian Lynch and Pierre Coffin
produced by: Chris Meledandri and Bill Ryan
directed by: Pierre Coffin
rated: PG (for violence/action, language, and rude/macabre humor)
runtime: 90 min.
U.S. release date: July 1, 2026
July is typically when a new entry in the “Despicable Me” franchise drops, and here we have the seventh and latest installment, called “Minions & Monsters” from Illumination, the animation studio under Universal Studios. As long as they make money, they’ll be cranking them out. Those little yellow buggers with denim overalls are either hilarious or annoying, sometimes both simultaneously. It’s directed by Pierre Coffin, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Brian Lynch, and has been involved as either a co-director or the voice of all the Minions since 2010. “Minions & Monsters” marks Coffin’s first solo directorial outing, and the sequel sets out to show how enamored it is with the movies, particularly filmmaking. The storytelling here may be a little uneven, but the main goal of fun and mayhem is intact, and cinephiles will get a kick out of the references to cinema history. Read more…
PETER ASHER: EVERYWHERE MAN (2026) review
produced by: Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine
directed by: Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine
rated: not rated
runtime: 118 min.
U.S. release date: June 16, 2026 (limited) and June 26, 2026 (wide)
At the cold open of the documentary “Peter Asher: Everywhere Man,” there’s a rapid-fire montage of everyone from Paul McCartney to Robin Williams stating his name from a podium at some awards telecast. It’s at least a couple of dozen presenters or winners, acknowledging their thanks and appreciation to Peter Asher. But why does that name sound familiar? Only those with an in-depth knowledge of the British Invasion, influential record producers, and Austin Powers will know who Peter Asher is. This documentary, which was co-produced and directed by Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, sets out to change that. Read more…
SUPERGIRL (2026) review
written by: Ana Nogueira
produced by: James Gunn and Peter Safran
directed by: Craig Gillespie
rated: PG-13 (for sequences of strong violence, action, language, and smoking)
runtime: 108 min.
U.S. release date: June 26, 2026
Remember last summer, when Superman’s cousin, Kara-Zor-El, showed up drunk in the movie’s last few minutes of James Gunn’s “Superman”? If you got a kick out of that, “Supergirl” offers more of that and then some. That may not be good news for those who eye-rolled at the depiction of Superman’s younger cousin or for folks hoping for a superhero flick to take the whole family to. Kara may be related to Kal-El, but they’re polar opposites, despite both hailing from planet Krypton, and that’s one of the aspects that “Cruella” and “I, Tonya” director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Ana Nogueira touch upon in this continuation of Gunn’s DCU vision and the first Supergirl movie in 42 years. Read more…
THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD (2026) review
written by: Michael Sarnoski
produced by: Aaron Ryder, Andrew Scott, Alexander Black, and Hugh Jackman
directed by: Michael Sarnoski
rated: R (for strong bloody violence)
runtime: 122 min.
U.S. release date: June 19, 2026
Let’s be real. An ultra-violent Robin Hood movie, in which the character is unrecognizable, and the story resembles nothing associated with the title character, would never do well during the summer movie season. This is more of a fall arthouse release. It’s mind-boggling what A24 was thinking dropping this dirge-like iteration of the famous character depicted as an aging outlaw, hoping to fade away into nothingness. It’s a dark re-imagining of Robin Hood that no moviegoer will expect out of “A New Hugh Jackman Movie”, which may be a good thing artistically for the actor and writer/director Michael Sarnoski (“Pig” and “A Quiet Place: Day One”), but it doesn’t bode well for the studio. Read more…
TOY STORY 5 (2026) review
written by: Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris
produced by: Lindsey Collins and Jessica Choi
directed by: Andrew Stanton
rated: PG (for some thematic elements and rude humor)
runtime: 102 min.
U.S. release date: June 19, 2026
With “Toy Story 5”, I’ve come around to the idea of more stories with these toys. I still maintain that it all could’ve ended after “Toy Story 3”, but the latest entry in The Most Endearing and Imaginative Franchise in Movie History, co-written and co-directed by Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo” and “WALL-E”) and Kenna Harris, has changed my perspective. Yeah, I know, that hyperbolic proclamation seems a bit much (if not quite specific), but I cannot think of one other franchise that has consistently delivered what we’ve come to love about these stories and characters with each entry. This movie is as charming, hilarious, and meaningful as the last sequel, and it actually has something to say about how we live, interact with others, and use technology. It’s never heavy-handed about any of that, and serves as a reminder that human imagination and play should be cherished, encouraged, and valued. Read more…
LET’S LOVE (2026) review
written by: Jamie Adams (additional material by The Cast)
produced by: Tom George and Rebecca Long
directed by: Jamie Adams
rated: not rated (strong language and sexual situations equivalent to an R rating)
runtime: 81 min.
U.S. release date: June 5, 2025 (VOD)
“This is, like, eight years of therapy undone.”
One of the more interesting phenomena of the last ten years has been watching the internet claim that some decade-old movie with a small but devoted following is actually the most beloved movie of all time and needs a ten-years-later sequel. The sequel gets made, and it does fine, like the first one did, because it turns out the huge following the fan base thought was there simply wasn’t there. This is one of the major themes explored in the new comedy “Let’s Love,” a charming film that can’t help but be just a little too inside-baseball for casual fans, as it criticizes multiple things about the film industry.
DISCLOSURE DAY (2026) review
written by: David Koepp
produced by: Kristie Macosko Krieger and Steven Spielberg
directed by: Steven Spielberg
rated: PG-13 (for action/violence, some bloody images, and strong language)
runtime: 145 min.
U.S. release date: June 12, 2025
The more conflicted I feel about “Disclosure Day”, the more disappointed I am in it. On the one hand, it’s wonderful to see and hear a Steven Spielberg and John Williams collaboration, possibly for the last time, once again. It’s easy to be reminded how synonymous Spielberg’s work is with the master maestro. It could also be Spielberg’s last science-fiction romp, so the anticipation and trepidation are understandable, but both should be measured. After all, the last encounter the director had with aliens was in 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, and we all know how that was received. On the other hand, “Disclosure Day” often feels derivative of Spielberg’s own previous endeavors, which makes sense considering the story came from the director, yet the screenplay comes from longtime collaborator David Koepp, someone who’s worked with Spielberg before, on “Jurassic Park” and “War of the Worlds”, to name a few. There’s a lot of information to process while watching “Disclosure Day”, and with it come so many questions, the confounded kind that surface once the cinematic Spielberg glow washes off. Read more…
