The Naked Gun (2025)

"Nothing to see here! Please disperse!" In 1982, Leslie Nielsen first played the hilariously clueless Detective Frank Drebin in Police Squad!, an underappreciated, short-lived TV series that took the breakneck, deadpan absurdity of the movie  Airplane! and applied it to copland Six episodes and one cancellation later, that same character hit the big screen in 1988’s The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, which became an instant classic and spawned two sequels—the final one aptly titled Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult.

Now, 31 years after that final insult, The Naked Gun returns. The style? Still rapid-fire and delightfully ridiculous. The difference? This time, it's coming from the team behind The Lonely Island and Family Guy.

Akiva Schaffer directs, Seth MacFarlane produces and Liam Neeson plays Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., son of the late, great Nielsen’s character. He’s perfect in the role. Plus, Pamela Anderson joins in and holds her own, while the film throws everything at the wall.

It helps that it’s a tight 90-minute comedy, yet the reboot wrestles with the same truth as the original sequels: lightning rarely strikes twice, and never three times in a row. The film is funny, but rarely Airplane! funny. Not enough jokes work for me to suggest you buy a ticket and go out to see this when your TikTok delivers rapid-fire comedy without having to force a contrived plot between the jokes.  

All that to say that Naked Gun is only OK and hard to fully recommend, despite Neeson firing on all cylinders to dramatic deadpan perfection. If you go anyway, you may be disappointed, but you will laugh in a full theater with the community and that's hardly a bad thing.

In a nutshell: They don’t make them like this anymore, but they probably won’t again either.

Where to see it: In theaters, starting August 1.

Would it be better with Olivia Colman? Surely. But don’t call her Shirley.

Award potential: No.

The Ten Buck review: Not worth ten bucks.

Superman (2025)

Look, up in the sky! It’s yet another Superman, his eighth screen incarnation if you’re counting, and yes, we are doing this all over again. Should we be?

Mostly, yes. The new Superman smartly skips past the origin story. No exploding planets, no baby in a space bassinet, no discovering his powers at the Kent farm.  We’re dropped right into a world that already knows the guy in the cape and tights. Clark’s secret identity? She knows. Lois and Clark? Already a thing. Clark and The Daily Planet? Oddly sidelined. And that’s a shame.

What works, and works fast, is the film’s energy. Filmmaker James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) clearly brought his mixtape of comic book optimism. The colors pop, the pace zips and we are thankfully spared another dark, overly grim yawnfest. The film clocks in at a breezy two hours, which feels practically retro in an age of 3-hour superhero bloat. A standing ovation for that alone.

David Corenswet (Twisters, Hollywood) and his do-gooding Superman radiates a golden retriever vibe. He’s super, yes, but vulnerable in ways that make you actually care when he gets knocked around (and he gets knocked around a lot). Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) matches him beat for beat as Lois Lane, the two sharing skyscraper-leaping chemistry that fuels much of the film’s charm. More of that next time, please.

And there’s Krypto. The superdog. He flies. He growls. He steals scenes. You’ll leave wanting the plushie.

The first hour is pure joy. Banter, character beats, clever action. Then comes the large plot hole. I mean, a universal portal time hole thing.

Woof. It piles on cosmic threats and loses much of what made the early going so enjoyable. Superman gets beaten more than any other screen version before him. So much so that Mel Gibson is probably wishing he had this role.

Suddenly, the film feels pressured to go epic big, piling on way too many increasingly vague threats. The Justice Gang (maybe their name, maybe not) enters. They’re here to help, and somehow they get beaten up much less than the Man of Steel. It doesn't add up. Supes fights one threat, then another, then five more. Lois drives a spaceship — what is happening now?

Nicholas Hoult (Nosferatu, The Great, Juror #2) plays Lex Luthor in the most one-note Elon Musk way, and it's a mystery what his beef is with Superman is despite, well, spoiler avoided.

The real crime committed is — not enough Clark Kent. With all the universe-hopping, the grounded, goofy charm of Clark-in-the-city is sidelined.

For all its flaws, Gunn brings a welcome sense of humor, hope, and old-fashioned romance back to the DC Universe. Will it make its money back? Definitely. Will it make people want more Superman? Well, I left wanting more Krypto, Lois and Clark, so I'd say they might be on to something here.

In a nutshell: The first half is a colorful blast. In the second half, I was looking at so many things happening, and yawning. It's a toss-up, but yay, it's a tight two hours and Krypto saves the day.

Bonus Tip: No need to stay for the credits. Throwaways without much charm or intended humor.

Where to watch: In theaters starting this Friday. July 11, 2025.

Would it be better with Olivia Colman? Of course.

Award potential: Visual Effects is the only play here.

The Ten Buck Review: Down Krypto! Worth ten bucks.

The Materialists

Good news: Director Celine Song is back.

Bad news: After making my favorite film of 2023, she’s now made a rom-com. You had me at hell-no! For every Nora Ephron, Nancy Meyers or Richard Curtis meet cute that worked, there are hundreds of forgettable duds.

The director of Past Lives—that quiet gut-punch of a film about time, fate and choices—has followed her debut with a story about swiping right.

The Materialists plants us in a very Insta-friendly New York, where Dakota Johnson plays a high-end matchmaker who’s juggling two very different suitors (Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans).

Here, romance isn’t just roses and Meg Ryan karaoke —it’s ROI. Song explores the transactional side of modern love. There’s real bite in the script like an anxious bride nervously joking, “It’s not like my family needs a cow.” One other unique offering is I loved walking in not knowing which of the lead men would be the jerk in the end; I guessed wrong.

Most of the great rom-coms often ask us to conveniently dismiss our knowledge of life’s realities. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law meet up in an English cottage, c’mon.

Song is caught between her desire to speak honestly about what it means to be an authentic woman working in the dating industry while balancing her own wishes and create a fun, funny film with real consequences dropped in.

The movie’s split personality shows. It wants to be sharp and insightful, but also swoony and fun. Sometimes it’s both and other times it feels like it’s ghosting its own premise.

Is it frustrating? Occasionally. Predictable? Yes. Sweet? Often. Perfect? Nope. But in a summer stuffed with bombastic IPs, The Materialists feels like a great date to swipe right to (and one with great music).

In a nutshell: Not great, but fascinating. It’s no Past Lives nor Bridget Jones, but hey—it’s definitely not Bride Wars.

Where to see it: In theaters starting June 13.

Would it be better with Olivia Colman? Absolutely.

Award potential: None. I suppose the comedy Golden Globes has some potential.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks. This ones fine either in the theater or on the TV at home.

Sinners

Director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, Creed) reteams with his go-to leading man Michael B. Jordan to take a big, stylish bite out of the well-worn vampire genre. 

But this one’s different. Set in a gorgeously saturated 1932 Mississippi, the film oozes atmosphere, with velvet shadows and cool light. At the heart of it are twin brothers Smoke and Stack, both played with swagger and subtlety by Jordan, on a mission to open the hottest juke joint the Delta’s ever seen.

The film’s centerpiece is the joint’s opening night, where a preacher’s kid turned blues guitarist named Sammie (Miles Caton), takes the stage and belts out the bluesy “I Lied to You.” What follows is a dazzling, time-bending sequence that connects 1930s blues to its roots and stretches it forward through Jimi Hendrix all the way to modern-day rap. It’s an immersive and rare movie moment that genuinely transports you.

There’s even a jaw-dropping shot where the camera tracks a daughter walking from one grocery store to another across the street, her movements echoed by her mother walking the opposite way—as if closing a generational loop.

And yet, under all the groove and glitter, the audience knows something’s off. 

This party’s a setup. And Coogler milks that tension beautifully like an unseen shark in Jaws—until he doesn’t. The last act leans a little too hard into familiar vampire-TV territory that could be any True Blood or Walking Dead show. Still, it’s a thrill to watch something this visually bold and unapologetically original.

But even when its back-end stumbles into the familiar, this is the freshest thing I’ve seen in a long time. I won’t spoil more, except to say: blues, rock ’n’ roll, vampires and vampire flicks—they’re not going anywhere.

In a nutshell: Coogler’s dive into vampire territory is a gorgeous fever dream that starts like a masterpiece and ends like a midnight movie—but it's a great night out at the movies.

Where to watch it: In theaters now. It would be a sin for movie-lovers to not see it on a big screen with a full audience.

Would it be better with Olivia Colman: Yes, I know the perfect part and she'd sing the Irish ditty well.

Award potential: One thing for sure, "I Lied to You." as sung by Miles Canton, will be nominated for Best Song. Actors BJ, Miles and supporting Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku each have Oscar-clip moments, but the basic, back third of this film makes it a tough sell to remember nine months from now. 

Should Warner Brothers be wise enough to re-release it for Halloween, Coolidge could be in play for director and the picture could follow The Substance's 2025 nomination in a horror spot. Best Casting, a new award, fits perfectly here as do Cinematography, Sound, Score, Costume Design and Production Design. 

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

What are next year's Best Picture nominees? The films to get excited for.

This next year looks like a bad one for box office blockbusters (until Avatar arrives) but a good one for quality cinema. It’s a bit too soon to start calling the Oscar nominees, but here are 20 films that might just make the cut—and a list worth getting excited for.

After The Hunt

A college professor is forced to grapple with her own secretive past after one of her colleagues is faced with a serious accusation.

Director: Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers)

Actors: Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri (The Bear)

Anemone

A screenplay by Daniel Day-Lewis and his son tells the story of intergenerational family bonds, ending Daniel's seven-year retirement.

Director: Ronan Day-Lewis
Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Here we go, again. James Cameron's third film in the series, the Na'vi encounter fire-wielding clans, expanding the rich world of Pandora.

Director: James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic)
Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver

Blue Moon
A biopic of the later days of songwriter Lorenz Hart.

Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Dazed and Confused, the Before trilogy)
Actors: Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley (The Substance) and Andrew Scott (1917, Fleabag, All of Us Strangers)

Deliver Me From Nowhere

A music bio about early eighties Bruce Springsteen, who recorded his album Nebraska on a four-track cassette in his bedroom in New Jersey.

Director: Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart)
Actors: Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) as the Boss, Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice) as Jon Landau

Frankenstein

A modern adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic, shot in Edinburgh.

Director: Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)

Actors: Christolph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Star Wars) as Dr. Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) as the Monster, and Mia Goth (Emma)

The Bride
Which will be better? There's also the retelling of the Bride of Frankenstein, also adapted from Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein.

Director Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)
Actors: Jessie Buckley (Wicked Little Letters), Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard and Annette Bening

Hamnet

From the popular novel, a historical drama that explores the life of Anne Hathaway and her grief following the death of her son, Hamnet, whose death is believed to have inspired William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

Director: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)
Actors: Florence Pugh (Oppenheimer Little Women), Paul Mescal (Normal People, Aftersun, Gladiator II), Tom Burke (Living)

Highest To Lowest

A reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low, this crime thriller follows a businessman whose son is kidnapped, only for the kidnapper to demand a ransom that isn't what it seems.

Director: Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman, Do The Right Thing)
Actors: Denzel Washington, Michael B. Jordan

Is This Thing On?

Alex and Tess have reached an amicable end to their marriage, thus beginning the awkward stage of figuring out how to live separately while raising two boys and maintaining their friendships

Director: Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born, Maestro)
Actors: Laura Dern, Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, Andra Day

Jay Kelly

Get ready for the serious-actor Adam Sandler press tour! A coming of age movie written by Noah Baumback (Barbie, Frances Ha) and Emily Mortimer (Paddington in Peru)

Director: Noah Baumback
Actors: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Riley Keough (Zola), Billy Crudup (Almost Famous)

Kind of Kindness

The next dark comedy from Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Favourite, The Lobster)

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos 
Actors: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley (The Substance)

The Lost Bus

American drama film directed by Paul Greengrass, who co-wrote the screenplay with Brad Ingelsby, based on the 2021 book Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire — produced by Oscar-rally-queen Jamie Lee Curtis.

Director: Paul Greengrass (The Bourne films)
Actors: Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera

Marty Supreme

A professional table tennis player navigates the cutthroat world of competitive sports, drawing inspiration from Marty Reisman's life.

Director: Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems)
Actors: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler, The Creator

One Battle After Another

A series of battles, following soldiers who struggle to retain their humanity amidst the chaos of conflict. Anderson's first film to be released in IMAX.


Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread, Magnolia, Boogie Nights)
Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro.

Sentimental Value

A young woman in her late twenties faces the crossroads of life and love, while trying to balance her own ambitions with the weight of her family's history.


Director: Joachim Trier, (The Worst Person in the World)
Actors: Elle Fanning (A Complete Unknown) Stellan Skargargd (Dune, Andor), Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World)

The Ballad of a Small Player

A psychological thriller, where a gambler and a con artist flee Britain for Macau.

Director: Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front)
Actors: Tilda Swinton, Colin Farrell

The History of Sound

Two men travel together in the summer of 1919 to record the folk songs of their countrymen in rural New England. 

Director: Oliver Hermanus (Living, Queer)
Actors: Paul Mescal (Normal People, Aftersun, Gladiator II), Josh O' Connor (Challengers, The Crown)

The Way of the Wind

Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May, provided the six-year-in-the-making film is completed, is Terrence Malick's biblical epic. A bomb or a masterpiece? We'll find out soon.

Director: Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life, Badlands)
Top Stars: Ben Kingsley, Mark Rylance, Joseph Fiennes

Wicked: For Good

Sound familiar? Witch, please! Part two of the musical adaptation of the Broadway show, exploring the untold story of the witches of Oz. This time, there will be original songs.

Director: Jon M. Chu, (Wicked, Crazy Rich Asians)
Top Stars: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo

Predictions from The Wizard of Oscar — win your pool with stats

The Wizard of Oscar Predictions is here to help you win your pool the stat-tastic way.

There's lots to be excited for on Oscar Night as there has never been a year with many possible winners. It's another unique year for the Academy Awards, so we’ll need some wizardry math to help you ease on down the road to victory. We'll start with the easiest one.

Win the Best Director category

BAFTA recently chose Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), but you should go with whoever won the Director’s Guild of America award (DGA). Those winners have matched in 65 of 76 years, including last year's winner Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer. This year, Sean Baker (Anora).

Win the Best Adapted Screenplay category

The WGA chose Nickel Boys. The USC Scripter Awards has accurately predicted this category for 11 of the last 15 years. They chose Conclave. You should as well.

Win the Best Original Screenplay category

With a few above-the-line awards likely going to Anora, will the Academy toss one to much loved Jesse Eisenberg, reward the wild script for The Substance or just shower director Sean Baker with all the Oscars? '

The Writers Guild (WGA) is the closest guide on any given year. They chose Anora over BAFTA winner A Real Pain. Bet on Anora.

Win the Best Editing category

Throughout history, the winner of Best Editing always has a Best Sound nomination as well. That leaves Emilia Perez and Wicked. But this next stat works harder — no BAFTA winner nominated in this category has lost the Oscar since 2018. Go with BAFTA winner Conclave.

Win the Best Cinematography category

The Cinematographer's Award (ASC) is a good one to watch and they chose Maria in a shocker. The combo of choosing a Best Picture nominee over Maria plus BAFTA's choice seems like smarter math. The Brutalist has a slight lead.

Win the Best Animated Feature Film category

British Bafta gave animated to Wallace and Gromit, the hometown favorite. It's still a tight race with Inside Out 2 vs. The Wild Robot vs. Flow (which is also nominated as best Foreign Language film. Go with the math. 12 out of 17 PGA-winning animated films also won the Animated Feature Academy Award. The winner is the film that is also recognized for Sound and Song, The Wild Robot.

Win the Best Music (Original Score) category

"Epic" films usually win here. The Brutalist is more epicy than the other favorite, Conclave, and should have the edge here.

Win the Best Visual Effects category

Since the VES Awards launched in 2002, the winner of its top film category has gone on to score the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 12 of the past 22 years. They chose Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. That's a little more than half a chance, so I'm OK if you want to bet on Best Picture nominee Dune here. It has won here before.

Win the Best Foreign Feature Film category

In five of the past six years, one of the nominees was also nominated for Best Picture — that's the usual winner. But, Uh-oh, this year two pictures have nominations in both categories (Emilia Perez versus I'm Still Here) and another one is a Best Animated nominee (Flow). 

I'm Still Here is surging as the Academy discovered it later in the year. Emilia has been the frontrunner to beat but has recently been plagued with controversy. This is a close one.

Based on recent trends, there is a roughly 30-40% chance that the Best International Feature Film winner at the BAFTAs will also win the Oscar. BAFTA chose Emilia Perez over I'm Still Here, giving Emila the statistical edge.

Win the Best Actor/Actress/Supporting Actor/Supporting Actress categories

Adrian Brody delivered one of the all time great performances this year and my gut tells me he will win. But if you play the gut game on a few of the acting nominations, you'll lose big. Go with the four SAG winners every year and you will always get 3/4 correct.

The SAG voters are all actors and are the largest block of voters for the Academy Awards. They are a more diverse group, yet their picks align with Oscar more than any other. The stats say Demi Moore, Timothee Chalamet, Zoe Saldana and Kieran Culkin should polish their speeches now. 

Win the Best Sound category

The team behind Dune 2 is filled with legends in the field with multiple Oscars. Same for Wicked and The Wild Robot. 

Five years ago there were two awards, Sound Design and Sound Editing, now it is Best Sound and we have a few years of math to look at. I'd usually say go with Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Sound Mixing Award winner, which has matched 3 of the past 4 years since this became a singular Sound Oscar award. They chose A Complete Unknown (live) and The Wild Robot (animated). Both nominated here; yikes.

95 percent of the voters who determine the winner of the Best Sound Oscar are not members of the sound community at all, so I always say "vote for the loudest." War films usually win over musicals, so my fuzzy math points to Dune.

Win the Best Music (Original Song) category

There are no solid stats in this category except that Diane Warren never wins. It will likely be 16 losses after this one. There’s not a lot of math for this category, just remember that all members (not just musicians) vote in this category. Go with Golden Globe winner and showstopper “El Mal" from Emila Perez.

Win the Best Production Design category

This award, the 2012-renamed “Best Art Direction" award, doesn’t usually match Best Picture (just four times since 2000). The winner of this category often aligns with the winner of Art Director's Guild Award (AGA) which went to Wicked(fantasy), Nosferatu (period) and Conclave (contemporary). Your choice on those three, but I'll go with the one that made a library a spinning circle and recreated Emerald City, and the one that won BAFTA, Wicked.

Win the Best Costume Design category

Similar to Production Design, there are three in battle. Wicked won at the Costume Designer Guild Awards for Fantasy and Nosferatu won for Period film and Conclave for Contemporary. BAFTA, which resembles the Academy more than the Costume Guild, went with Wicked, your best bet here.

Win the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category

The MUAHS recognized The Substance for Best Contemporary and Wicked for Best Period/Character. Choose either, mathwise. The Wizard of Oscar is choosing the more dramatic one however, The Substance.

Win the Best Documentary Feature category (Feature)

There is no math here, every year is a wild new mix. But what is always true is that topics win. With apologies for oversimplifying five powerful films, choose the category that you think the Academy leans to in making a statement this year: No Other Land (Palestinian-Israeli alliance), Porcelain War (artists in war-torn Ukraine), Sugarcane (missing children at an Indian school system, Black Box Diary (sexual assault investigation) or Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (politics of decolonization shown in jazz form).

Win the Best Animated Short, Best Live Action and Documentary Short categories.

None of the nominations this year are from Pixar or Disney so I can only offer Vegas' picks: Wander to Wonder (animated short), The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (live-action short) and I Am Ready Warden (documentary short).

Win the show’s running-time tiebreaker.

In 2002, the show ran for four hours and 23 minutes. It's been trending down ever since, and this year it starts an hour early with hopes to finish closer to Super Bowl closure time. This year 

Here are the timings for the past ten years:
2009: 3 hours, 30 minutes
2010: 3 hours, 37 minutes
2011: 3 hours, 15 minutes
2012: 3 hours, 14 minutes
2013: 3 hours, 35 minutes
2014: 3 hours, 30 minutes
2015: 3 hours, 43 minutes
2016: 3 hours, 37 minutes
2017: 3 hours, 49 minutes
2018: 3 hours, 53 minutes
2019: 3 hours, 23 minutes
2020: 3 hours, 36 minutes

2021: 3 hours, 19 minutes

2022: 3 hours, 40 minutes

2023: 3 hours, 37 minutes

2024: 3 hours, 23 minutes

Win the Best Picture category

The Brutalist was snubbed for a SAG cast ensemble nom, which historically has been a dealbreaker. Conclave won that. But wait, Wicked and Conclave were left out of the Best Director category, only a few films have still won Best Picture (Argo, CODA) without it.

And only seven films in Oscars 9x year history have won Best Picture without a screenplay nomination, sorry Wicked. Wait, one of those exceptions was a musical (Chicago). 

Conclave won BAFTA. The Brutalist and Emilia Perez each won the Golden Globe and Anora won the Critics Choice. The Palme d’Or winner was Anora. 

Whatever to all of that. 

The PGA has a preferential voting ballot. While they are a more conservative group than Oscars, they chose Anora and you should too.

Good luck with your Oscars pool everyone!