Lucky Strike Review

Lucky Strike

  • Director: Rod Lurie
  • Writer: Rod Lurie, Marc Frydman
  • Starring: Scott Eastwood, Colin Hanks, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Taylor John Smith, Elijah Loyd

Grade: C-

The “desert island” survival movie gets a new twist with Lucky Strike, a low-budget World War II actioner which ultimately shows that perhaps we’ve officially run out of stories to tell of our greatest generation. Yes, the film – directed by Rod Lurie, who also co-writes the screenplay with Marc Frydman – is based on true events, but the commitment to telling a historically accurate story never feels as essential as Lurie likely wants it to be. Perhaps the film would have been better served by turning up the ludicrous stakes and action set pieces, throwing caution to the wind, which Sisu successfully trafficked in recently. The body count remains quantifiable, and the hero’s quest for survival never reaches the desperation necessary to feel truly engaging, so we’re left with a by-the-numbers period drama which feels like it’s getting by on the simplicity of its elevator pitch.

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Couture Review

Couture

  • Director: Alice Winocour
  • Writer: Alice Winocour
  • Starring: Angelina Jolie, Anyier Anei, Ella Rumpf, Louis Garrel

Grade: C+

Paris Fashion Week serves as the backdrop for writer/director Alice Winocour’s latest film, Couture. The story centers on three women navigating the complexities of life while focusing on their work in an industry not known for its empathy. Angelina Jolie produces and stars in what is her follow-up outing to 2024’s biopic Maria, which saw the cultural icon embodying late opera singer Maria Callas. Couture is a quieter project for the veteran actor, but still gives her the chance to flex her ability to fall effortlessly into any character she’s given. While there are bright spots to be found throughout, the film stumbles into uneven territory at times, never fully threading the needle. 

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The Invite Review

The Invite

  • Director: Olivia Wilde
  • Writer: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack
  • Starring: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton

Grade: A+

If you’re at all dialed into cinematic pop culture, you probably remember the moment that was the press tour for Olivia Wilde’s last film, 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling. Critics and audiences were divided on the film’s merits, but it was the off-screen relationships and shenanigans surrounding the Hollywood release that truly captured the zeitgeist. Wilde’s latest directorial effort, The Invite, feels like a triumphant return to a focus on filmmaking with the director turning in the strongest entry of her career so far. The story centers on two neighboring couples, each with their own quirky eccentricities, who meet for a dinner party. What starts as a conventional evening quickly devolves into chaos as the couples are forced to deal with new perspectives that magnify hidden truths in their own relationships.    

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Best TV Shows of 2026 So Far

Just like last year, the first half of 2026 has revealed a dearth of quality TV, which could easily make its way in the year-end list. From new discoveries to returning series either continuing on their journeys or ending entirely, we’ve been spoiled for choices in the first half of the year, and the second half is looking equally promising. Of course, there are still blind spots which I plan on catching up to, but I still feel confident that the list below is the best TV of 2026 so far.

Honorable Mentions:

  • The Bear, “Gary”
  • The Boys
  • Cape Fear
  • Daredevil: Born Again
  • Hacks
  • Margo’s Got Money Troubles
  • Spider-Noir
  • Shrinking
  • Welcome to Wrexham
  • Wonder Man
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Disclosure Day Review

Disclosure Day

  • Director: Steven Spielberg
  • Writer: David Koepp
  • Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell

Grade: B+

After a career spanning more than 50 years and making some of the most celebrated sci-fi films of all time, it would be fair for movie lovers to feel apprehensive when a new Steven Spielberg UFO film is announced. Could Disclosure Day have something new to say that wasn’t already explored in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or E.T., or War of the Worlds? His fifth collaboration with screenwriter David Koepp plays the hits explored in those, and other well-regarded sci-fi films – Contact and The Day the Earth Stood Still first come to mind – but still feels like a worthwhile, engaging, and best of all, original experience. Spielberg has been our most curious filmmaker, exploring what would happen when everyday adults and children encounter the extraordinary, and it’s this curiosity which carries Disclosure Day from beginning to end.

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