Masters of the Universe (2026) Review

 

On the distant planet of Eternia, Prince Adam is sent to Earth when his kingdom is taken over by the evil sorcerer Skeletor. Now 15 years later, he goes back to his home world and fights for freedom with old allies and the power of Castle Grayskull to become the cosmic hero… He-Man

When I was 10, there was one season reboot cartoon of He-Man that I quite enjoyed, so I have a slightly potent nostalgia for the franchise, and I got to say the director Travis Knight definitely nailed the tone and visuals of Eternia and especially all the designs for the characters and locations. So if you’re a fan of this franchise, you’ll definitely enjoy all the big and bombastically fun action sequences.

Another compliment I can give the film: the fight choreography was very well staged and shot in a very quick and dynamic style. You can tell whoever was in charge of the swordplay was having a lot of fun coming up with all the different creative moves.

A big surprise for me was how much I enjoyed Jared Leto as Skeletor; he manages to make him intimidating and creepy while also making him this over-the-top, mustache-twirling villain who adds a lot of alliteration to his evil speeches and chews more scenery than an army of termites lol. Not to mention the CGI to give him the skull face; it’s always convincing and very expressive. He definitely gave my favorite performance in the film.

Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam/He-Man is pretty solid in the role; he definitely looks the part and nails all the sword fighting.

Choreography, not to mention, brings a fair amount of humor and liability to the role; he also has a few scenes where he definitely gets to shine with his dramatic acting.

I will say the character is written a little too naïve, like he gets stuck on earth for 15 years, and he keeps telling people, "I know that sounds crazy, but I’m from this other planet with these people with powers, like a guy with a stretchy neck and a spring trap dude," and then it surprises him when people look at him like he’s crazy, like you think he wouldn’t have learned after the first few people gave him that look.

Idris Elba is super charismatic as Duncan, the King‘s Man at Arms; he’s given a lot of badass John Wick-type fight sequences while also kind of being the heart of the film as the story goes along.

The rest of the supporting cast are also great in their roles: Camila Mendes is very tough and sarcastically funny as Teela; Alison Brie is very funny and almost comedic in her take on a “Lady Macbeth” type character as Skeletor's right-hand woman and fellow sorceress Evil-Lyn.

He doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but I thought James Purefoy brought a lot of complexity and nuance to Adam’s father/the king.

Charlotte Riley, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Jon Xue Zhang, and James Wilkinson all looked like who they were supposed to and balanced the humor and action for the most part pretty well.

I will say this movie does lean a little too much into humor at points, like the movie starts out pretty serious, sets up its stakes well, and then they get to Earth and things definitely get pretty wacky pretty quick, but this is He-Man after all; the franchise is no stranger to cheese lol, but for the most part it's pretty well balanced, and when they get back to Eternia, we get a little bit more serious again. A lot of the action scenes keep the pace moving at a good pace. But then a little bit before the climax, it’s like the filmmaker took a big bowl of jokes and just poured them all into the script. The film has too many jokes, and most of them are just kind of "meh"; it kind of takes the wind out of the sails of the tension that was building, and this movie could’ve been 15 minutes shorter. I think it would’ve made for a tighter film because then things started to feel uneven in spots, not to mention the spatial blocking, and what certain characters should be doing at certain points started to feel off. The action is still solid, but all the jokes are too much. Like, I have never heard so many fisting jokes in my entire life. I don’t think there are any fisting jokes left; there are so many lol.

The CGI throughout is very well textured, especially on the character of the beast man; the way his fur would move around felt very authentic. It also has a lot of bright and distinct colors, not to mention some fun and creative designs for all the different castles and alien crafts, and all the lightning effects when Adam becomes a man definitely add gravitas to Adam becoming powerful.

I thought Adam had an OK arc about learning to believe in him and himself and be confident in his skills; it can get a little overexplained in parts, and the payoff isn’t as strong as I hoped, but it’s still solid and easy to follow.

And a very light spoiler… One of my favorite characters is in it, but just a cameo, still cool to see him

Masters of the Universe may not be the deepest film; I’d say it’s overly goofy in certain areas, but overall it is delightfully fun in a lot of its visuals, performances, action, and treatment of the material. I just wish the tones were more well-balanced and maybe the script tighter, but what I got was entertaining and a solid adaptation of the material. I give the film three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️; it’s a good example of a fun summer movie.

Backrooms Review

 

Clark, a manager of a furniture store, finds a secret magical door to seemingly endless rooms with strange and distorted designs, and things quickly become spooky and surreal.

So Backrooms is making a lot of money at the box office; it’s very successful, and I think that’s because the big selling point of this movie is the visuals of the backrooms themselves. They start out very simple, yellow rooms with furniture around, almost looking like a Salvador Dalí painting, parts with chairs being refused to the ceiling or different shoes melting into the floor, but everything is shot in big, wide, flat angles, and you’re just following people going from room to room. It's very good at putting you in the shoes of the characters and just wondering what you’re going to see next because you’ll be in one room and then go to a holiday room and then a room that looks like a spa, and then you’ll go, and then you’re in a classroom. It's like when you’re in a dream and things will just change or feel off automatically, but you don’t realize it because you’re in a dream. It's like a weird David Lynch acid dream version of that, which we’ve all had crazy dreams before, so it’s something we can all relate to.

Another strong point of the movie are the two leads, as previous stated there’s Clark (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) who’s going through a bit of a rough patch in his marriage and work life, and you do feel sympathy for him and his situation, but the mark goes on the more you realize this guy definitely has some issues he needs to work through, he makes for a complex and interesting protagonist, and Ejiofor is one of those actors who always brings a lot of emotion and gravitas to his roles.

The other protagonist is Clark’s therapist, Mary (played by Renate Reinsve), who is also going through her own emotional journey, and her character is a little more straightforward, but I like the actress and the vibe/acting choices she brought to the role; they just post well with what Chiwetel was doing, but also bring a breath of fresh air to the story and tone. Plus, I like her emotional arc and the payoff for it; it was simple but effective, the best kind of payoff lol.

The supporting cast was all very good; Mark Dupless has a small but intriguing role, and he’s very good at playing very quiet, minimal characters.

It won’t be a horror movie without some young teens who may or may not be killed, and Finn Bennett & Lukita Maxwell both bring a chilled but grounded perspective to the situation and work well off Clark; they also bring a nice comic element, which, given how sterile and unnerving things get, definitely brings a nice levity.

Krista Kosonen probably has the smallest amount of screen time, but with just a look, she really sells her performance and has a very memorable part.

I can’t say much about Robert Bobroczkyi's role in the film, but I’ll say two things… 1. God damn lol, and 2. He was very effective.

I’d be interested to know how the crew created the back rooms. Did they rent out a building and just create all these different levels with unique designs, or was there some CGI fiddling? Because honestly, you can’t really tell, and you can tell whoever was in charge of designing the back rooms was having a lot of fun with the distorted, almost avant-garde design of everything, as described in the film “It's like a copy of a copy of a copy."

You know if you had told me what the “big bad” of the film was on paper. It may not seem like much, but in the final film, it takes what could be a silly idea and makes it genuinely creepy and intimidating.

The film takes place in 1990, and so they use a lot of the big analog tape cameras for some shots, and I thought that added a lot of atmosphere and a cool look to everything, not to mention really making you feel like you’re in the perspective of the characters. Now there is a few moments where I’m like “dude why are you filming this, freaking run?”, but that’s something that happens in a lot of found footage type horror films and it’s not too bad, in fact there’s one jump scare that doesn’t even have any big blasting music and it’s for the most part silent I even got me, so good for you Backrooms

The soundtrack was very minimal but effective, and I think that is mostly lit with fluorescent lights and is still unnerving.

I could see this film getting some type of sequel where we see more Backrooms with maybe different characters, but it could also work as a standalone film, but give the box office, so I’m predicting we will probably see Backrooms 2 at some point in the near future.

The director of this film is Kane Parson, who worked on the original Backrooms viral videos when they were first released, so he definitely gets the tone right, but he’s actually 20 years old, which is kind of crazy considering how effective and talented he is at only 20… Like, how dare he? Can you just be lazy like we all were at 20? Why do you have to make us look bad? lol

I will say the third act does go in a slightly different direction, like I feel like where it ended up could’ve been set up a little better and it does feel a little separate from the rest of the film, but it is helped with some good performances and character moments, not to mention a few creepy visuals, but like I said, it could’ve been working into the store a little better

Also, this really has nothing to do with the movie, but it was kind of funny to see how many name producers worked on this film; like, the producer credits were pretty long, and it seemed like the only person they were missing was Steven Spielberg lol.

Overall, the film may have a simple premise of people wandering through creepy rooms, but the filmmaking, acting, style, tone, and visuals really elevate this into something unique and special. I give Backrooms a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I mean, something that makes low-end furniture stores seem scary is doing something right, lol.

Obsession Review

 

Music store clerk Bear (played by Michael Johnston) has a crush on his coworker Nikki (played by Inde Navarrette) and makes a seemingly harmless wish then Nikki was in love with him and it seemingly works… Too well

The best thing about this movie is Inde Navarrette's performance; how she’s able to immediately switch between lovesick kitten and arranged mountain lion is very impressive as she brings a lot of emotion to each scene.

On the flipside, Michael Johnston brings a lot of subtle acting and makes a great audience avatar for the film while also creating a lot of interesting discussions about how culpable and villainous his character may be. Personally, I feel like he is a little naïve and misguided but sympathetic throughout.

Also, I don’t know how many other people are going to get this, but Michael Johnston looks a lot like YouTuber Julian Smith, who would make a lot of these dark comedic, short films that remind me a lot of this movie, so it kind of feels like you’re watching a movie-length Julian Smith sketch, which kind of worked lol.

The film has a surprising amount of silly yet dark sense of humor, which is very surprising and disarming when it comes up and is effectively funny and is a good way to cut up the tension throughout the movie while still being within that dark tone.

The filmmaking is very intentionally bare bones, with a lot of long wide shots in creepily lit rooms and a dark color grading that adds a lot of quiet mystery and uncomfortable tension to the scenes.

The movie doesn’t go too far into the supernatural aspects and explanations, I wish there had been a tiny bit more, at least in relation to a certain plot point but for the most part, the way it was presented in the film is very ordinary felt very fresh and a nice subversion of these kinds of movies

Most of the film’s who comes from characters, acting strange, and rising tensions, but there are a few bloody parts that are effective, but not too brutal, except one scene in a car, you’ll know it when you see it and while you can kind of notice the budget in that scene it’s still very effective and comes out of nowhere at first

Megan Lawless as Bear’s friend Sarah is an underrated part of the film, her character is very likable down to earth and add a fresh breath to the tone when things really start getting cuckoo for Cocoa puffs lol

A very small spoiler… for some reason Andy Richter (yes that Andy Richter lol), appears in the film as the music store manager, he’s not in the movie a whole lot and I don’t even know if they show him in any close-ups, but it was a fun surprise to see in the film

Cooper Tomlinson as Bear & Nikki’s friend, Ian, brings a lot of humor and charm to the role, and he probably got the biggest laugh out of the audience at one of his scenes… You’ll know it when you see it.

The third act does feel a smidge rushed at points, like a certain character’s story does feel a bit rushed to a conclusion and things escalate pretty quickly, but never too unsatisfying an amount for the overall story.

The soundtrack was very effective; it being creepy and the minimal style really worked with the film's tone.

The cinematography is very moody and has a grimy feel that really matches some of the wild stuff that happens.

I liked the ending and where the characters went; it’s one of those movies I could have had like six different endings for that you could see working, but the one they chose I thought was a pretty good one. It even had some dark comedic elements to this.

Inde Navarrette also make some pretty memorable creepy faces that I’m sure we’re gonna see him memes for a while lol

Like I said, there isn’t a whole lot of gore, and it’s not too explicit, but there are a couple moments where things definitely get “squishy” lol.

Curry Baker’s directing as I’ve said is pretty impressive, it’s minimal, but you can tell intentional and he knows how to get great performances out of his actors while feeling natural and can really build tension to a satisfying pay off… apparently he supposed to be directing a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, which after watching this movie doesn’t really tell me how that movie will do or feel, but I do recognize this kids got talent so I’m at least interested to see where he goes with it… A future review to come soon lol.

I also got to see the movie with my buddies, and we all enjoyed it so that’s always awesome

Obsession is a strong somber debut for Curry Baker; it takes a familiar story and infuses it with a lot of stellar performances, interesting character beats, a good sense of humor, and memorable unsettling images that really make this film something special and enjoyable… I give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I’m not… obsessed with the film, but it's still pretty cool. 😅😂👍

The Mandalorian and Grogu Review

 

Mando and the kid must help the empire and deal with deadly bounty hunters, battle in arenas, and bargain with treacherous Hutts… They also shoot a lot of people along the way lol.

I think my favorite thing about this movie is the tone; it’s kind of like a mob/crime film set in the Star Wars universe, which I’ve never seen before, so it felt fresh and interesting, not to mention a bunch of fun, alien designs with good makeup effects, so the film was very good at delving you into the world.

So when I was growing up, my two favorite Star Wars characters were Yoda and Jabba the Hutt (maybe because they were both green; I don’t know lol), so I’ve always had a soft spot for Hutt characters, and this film has some fun ones. There is a brother and sister on my boss's team that are kind of creepy, like it’s implied they're the head of a weird family “Eyes Wide Shut" cult. I never thought I’d hear that in a Disney film lol, but the other Hutt was Jabba's son Rotta (played by Jeremy Allen White). The actor did a good job, and it was kind of cool to see how Hutts would fight. That's the only thing I’ve actually always kind of wondered about, and it was fun. They're kind of like sumo wrestlers mixed with tanks. Although I will say it was a little unintentional, it was funny hearing a Rotta talking about how "I'm not like my dad; I’m different," because it unintentionally made him sound like a 17-year-old. I’m like, "OK, go listen to your chemical romance and play Halo 2, bud, lol."

As a sidenote, it was a little surprising hearing Rotta speak English, like I’m so used to Hutts speaking in their alien language that it was a little jarring to be able to actually understand them lol.

Pedro Pascal is again solid as the Mandalorian, very good at playing the silent man with no name type. I also really enjoyed all his action scenes; they make him very badass and an efficient fighter.

Another sidenote: there is a fight scene in a snow bunker that takes place in shadows that I thought was pretty cool and stylish; it felt like something from a John Wick movie.

Baby Yoda is cute and fun; I’m sure Disney will sell a lot of Baby Yoda figures off this film lol. I’d also note that the animatronics throughout the entire film were very well done and blended seamlessly into the scenes.

The special effects were solid, there were some good sets, and the CGI on all the aliens was well textured, but I will say it isn’t anything you won’t see in a regular episode of The Mandalorian, and that’s not like a knock against the movie; it’s more of a compliment to the quality of the show, but that leads into probably my biggest criticism: it just feels like a season of the show edited down into a movie, like you can tell while watching the film, "Oh, this is where that episode probably ends and this is where the next one would start," which isn’t necessarily bad. I would just say, depending on your feelings towards the show and how much you enjoy it, I think it would factor in how you feel about the film.

Also, the film does feel more like a series of quests than one cohesive story. Now again, the show had a similar format, and it was enjoyable there, but in this movie, there definitely is a bit of a back-and-forth with everything, and there were certain parts that they really had to overexplain so you would get it, and it was all a bit much. Not to mention there’s a part where you feel like the movie is wrapping up, but then there’s like another half hour left. That half hour did have some enjoyable parts, but it did feel a little disjointed.

The music was solid; it was a good mixture of moody and minimal but seamlessly transitioned to bombastic and theatrical.

Sigourney Weaver is enjoyable as usual; she even gets to do a little bit of fun action.

I liked the worlds we went to; they weren’t necessarily the best-looking Star Wars planets, but they were fun designs.

The pacing was OK; it definitely felt disjointed and even slow at times, but whenever I started to lose interest, there would be something that would grab me again, so it wasn’t too bad.

Yet another sidenote: I have to ask, why would the empire drive those AT-AT walkers up the mountain like that? The walkway is so narrow; that seems oddly hazardous lol.

So the best thing and worst thing about this movie are the same thing… It feels like a season of the TV show fit into a movie. So how much you enjoy this film, I guess, depends on how you feel about that. For me personally, I do enjoy the show, and I do think if this was a season, it actually might be one of the better ones. I guess for me, the crime mob elements mixed with Hutt action made the film fun and enjoyable for me, so I give it 3 1/2 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Hutts, and it gave the film that little extra push for me.

Mortal Kombat II (2026) Review

 

In order to save Earth from an interdimensional tyrant, 90s action star Johnny Cage (played by Karl Urban) must join a group of fighters to compete in a martial arts tournament.

So let’s get right to the point; this is a martial arts movie, and I can safely say there are some pretty cool fight scenes throughout the film. It was fast-paced and kinetic, but not so fast you didn’t lose track of what was happening. Plus, how they used all the different weapons I thought was pretty creative and distinct for each character.

I think people are really going to enjoy Karl Urban's performance; he does the action scenes convincingly, and you believe his emotional arc, but he also has really good comedic timing. Like, I think this is one of the funniest performances he’s ever given; it feels very natural and it’s pretty funny.

I would say the two main characters of this movie are 1. Johnny Cage and 2. Kitana (played by Adeline Rudolph), a princess of an alternate dimension called Edenia whose land was taken over by the villain Shao Kahn (played by Martyn Ford), and she’s out for revenge. I like the relationship between Kitana & Shao Kahn. After he takes over, he adopts Kitana as his own daughter, and this gives Rudolph’s acting a chance to shine, as she’s very good at showing someone conflicted and trying to save millions, but by getting close to someone she hates, it was an interesting dynamic, and I thought they gave her a fun arc in a "Lord of the Rings good versus evil” kind of way.

But I have to say my favorite character was a returning Josh Lawson as Kano. You could tell the actor was having a blast playing this gruff but sarcastic bounty hunter, and a good chunk of his dialogue was probably improvised lol, but they were pretty funny and a real highlight of the film.

While not getting a whole lot of character development, I thought the supporting cast was solid: Jessica McNamee had a lot of fun spunk; Mehcad Brooks was sold as the “Tough Guy."

I was pleasantly surprised with Ludi Lin as Liu Kang; he was probably the best fighter in the movie, and his relationship with his resurrected cousin Kung Lao was very enjoyable in a "Star Wars, Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan” kind of way.

Lewis Tan did a good job and has one of the most unintentionally funny scenes in the movie.

Oh, this sequel infuses the story with more comedy than the original, and I think that’s when the script is at its strongest. The first half is good but nothing you haven’t seen before and very self-serious, but once they go to the outland (which is a great location) and run into Baraka (which, like the location, has a great design), the movie's humor really starts to shine, and the film really finds its groove as a fun comedic adventure film.

There are a lot of characters in this movie, like the movie is nearing its climax before Scorpion is roped back into the story, but he is fun to see, and as always, Hiroyuki Sanada is very good and enjoyable.

The CGI is solid; the best shots are saved for the over-the-top kills, which is good, and some locations can look a little green screen-ish at times, but they work with enough actual sets that for the most part they’re able to blend it well.

I wish Raiden had a little bit more to do, but they used him well in the story.

The art department was very creative with all the different locations for the tournament. I especially liked the character Sindel’s creepy boiler room torture basement; her character is basically a zombie witch, and I thought her location added a fun Hellraiser-themed haunted house atmosphere with spikes coming out of the floor during the fighting and strange, bubbling, green liquids; it was quite spooktacular lol.

Sort of spoiler: at the beginning of the film, they show one of Johnny’s 90s action movies, and that was one of the funniest scenes in the movie, just how they play it so seriously while doing some fun, silly things with really spot-on

While not a perfect movie and definitely having its moments of cheese, Mortal Kombat II has an enjoyable sense of humor and dedication to the fight, choreography, special effects, and fun tone that the film overcomes a decent script and really delivers a fun adventure film, best enjoyed on a lazy day. I give a film 3 1/2 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫. I’d actually be interested in a sequel; what better compliment can you give a film? 😂