Bigger and busier, this sequel can’t recapture the original’s spark After the return of Bob Iger as Disney CEO, a pivot was made to make less quantity of content for the streamer Disney +,  which had partially doomed his chosen successor Bob Chapek, and instead play it safe with sequels to beloved franchises. Thus, a greenlight was given for Moana 2 (2024), Toy Story 5 (2026), and Frozen 3 (2027). Among the anointed sequels to previous hits is Zootopia 2 (2025), which just hi

A bold new cyberpunk vision held back by tonal whiplash and a muted leading man Edgar Wright is a beloved director for many film nerds, known for a winking style and frenetic editing, the Brit has delivered some modern classics such as Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Scott Pilgrim vs. World (2010). Yet Wright has hit a ceiling, remaining within fun yet immature movies, instead of branching out. This constraint is put to the test with his largest budget ever in the remake: The Ru

A return to Oz that exposes fascism with clarity but stumbles in storytelling The phenomenon of Wicked (2024) seemed to work on multiple fronts, launching Jon M. Chu’s musical career as it deserved (after the box office disappointment of In the Heights (2021)), reviving the musical genre, launching Ariana Grande as a legitimate actress, and bringing a needed warning of fascist regimes. As such the follow up Wicked: For Good (2025) which completes the Broadway adaptation, coul

A heist without sparkle, the Horsemen return for a trick no one asked to see It would be hard to imagine, of all the franchises that studios have sought to prop up, that the one about magicians who pull off heists would be the one with best longevity. Yet, the Now You See Me films are now officially a decade-spanning trilogy, with the latest installment, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (2025) arriving in theaters.   Now You See Me: Now You Don’t utilizes the gap in time from th

Lynne Ramsay turns post-partum despair into a brutal, intimate portrait of a mind unraveling Lynne Ramsay is not a director to shy away from taboo subjects, especially regarding parenting. Her indie hit, We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) explored the guilt a mother has for heavily disliking her child, You Were Never Really Here (2017) delved into how a surrogate man can prove to be more of a father figure than one’s biological patriarch. Her latest, Die My Love (2025) peers

Scott Derrickson's follow-up is a convincing evolution from the first film Horror appears to be the last remaining genre where filmmakers deliver surprising new ideas. This is due to the small budgets, which allow more creative freedom. Still, the genre is not spared the exploitation of endless sequels, thus most good horror films are likely to have been watered down in endless follow-ups. Director Scott Derrickson delivered two great original horror films in Sinister (2012)