All User Reviews

Check out my full review @ https://www.manuelsbento.com/hoppers-2026-a-vivid-leap-into-radical-empathy/ Rating: B HOPPERS completely disarmed me. As a massive animal and nature lover, Mabel's journey of transferring her consciousness to understand the natural world brought me close to tears multiple times. Pixar delivers stunningly immersive forest visuals and a high-energy voice cast that keeps you hooked. While the narrative gets a bit overcrowded with too many ideas to reach the studio's absolute peak emotional heights, its reflection on human greed feels painfully accurate. It's a de…

Checkout my full review @ https://www.manuelsbento.com/apex-2026-primal-thrills-and-physical-prowess-elevate-a-familiar-survival-formula/ Rating: B APEX is a remarkably solid, propulsive survival thriller that knows exactly what it wants to achieve and delivers on all fronts. Charlize Theron's extraordinary physicality and commitment to her own stunts are jaw-dropping, while Taron Egerton brings a wonderfully unhinged energy to their intense, high-stakes dynamic. Even though the narrative beats follow a fairly formulaic, predictable path with somewhat thin character development, Baltasar…

I am reviewing Bugonia (2025) and Save the Green Planet (2003) together because I watched Bugonia before I discovered that it was a remake. As a rule, I don't watch remakes, especially Hollywood versions, because my experience is that they are never as good as the original. In this case, however, both of these films were excellent. My understanding is that Jang Joon-hwan was scheduled to direct the remake but was unable due to health issues. The choice of Lanthimos as replacement was perfect - I can't imagine anyone else truly understanding the wacky, dark humor of this narrative. Both f…

Check out my full review @ https://www.manuelsbento.com/balls-up-2026-a-frustratingly-dull-misstep-in-raunchy-comedy/ Rating: D BALLS UP is a frustratingly dull experience that collapses under its own absurd premise. Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser try their best, but the hit-or-miss humor and terrible visual effects leave them completely stranded. As a native Portuguese speaker, the cringeworthy Brazilian accents and butchered pronunciations were especially painful to sit through. Peter Farrelly aims for silly, raunchy fun, but delivers a generic, episodic misstep that completely m…

Smart, fast-paced, and deeply thought-provoking, this thriller follows a mother fighting to free her falsely accused daughter. But as she digs deeper, she is forced to confront a mounting pile of evidence that suggests her daughter might actually be guilty. Taking place across Russia, Israel, and India, the show challenges viewers to question what they would ignore to protect the ones they love, and whether unconditional love has its limits. It's one of my top favorite shows in 2026 so far!…

This is the first product of a collaboration between **_Anne Rice_** and her son **_Christopher Rice_**(also an author), deciding to rework her own novels as a TV series universe after reclaiming the production rights from Universal Studios. Unfortunately some fans did not get that memo, so have dismissed it as Hollywood "woke crap" that doesn't respect the source material. You'll find many reviews online that go down that route of ignorance, but both the original books, and the reimagined TV show version are examples of how creatity can deliver variations of the same tale that both work withi…

I'll start by saying I'm not a hater; I wanted to enjoy it, I really did. But I think some scriptwriting decisions were made that really hurt the final result. I'll begin with the scene where they discover the backrooms. While the opening scene is interesting, the scene where the protagonist finds them is not. Having a clear exit point significantly reduces the tension for him. He controls the space, he's oriented, and he doesn't seem lost or confused by having to take paths he wouldn't choose if fleeing the creature. He quickly finds his way back. This sequence evokes so little fear that the…

Spoilers, of course. The movie starts off with a bit of 4th wall breaking with a ugly fish reappearance to talk about theater etiquette, which is appreciated with an eccentric fanbase like this. And then a message directly from GLITCH about spoiling, pirating, and leaking, unfortunately ironic considering it was leaked a month before it would have been published to YouTube and Netflix. I happened to stay spoiler free just for this early theater release. There is then a funny, not that helpful, mini recap from Caine. I think they included this because they know a lot of viewers (teenagers…

Once every few years, there comes a movie that you know - you KNOW - is gonna be a genre-defining cult classic that critics (and devout fans) are gonna talk about for years and years to come. ‘Is God Is’ is one such movie. When someone recommended it to me and I watched the trailer, I knew I was gonna love it, but I didn't know that it would, in its own right, turn out to be a masterpiece. The blend of mystery, comedy, symbolism, horror, thrill, and social commentary that Aleshea Harris (writer, director) managed to create here is so perfectly balanced and timed that it's almost impossible to …

Travis Knight's reboot easily becomes the highest-rated entry in the franchise's film history, and it earns it. Jared Leto's Skeletor steals the show, balancing humor and villainy in a way that lives up to the memes, and Galitzine nails He-Man's heroism and Prince Adam's emotional core. Daniel Pemberton's score embraces the '80s roots with glee. The fun is undeniable — the comedy and action-packed sword-fighting land for critics and audiences alike. It's just 40 minutes too long and leans too hard on self-deprecating meta-humor where sincerity would've hit harder.…