Hoppers

I thought the trailer for Hoppers was a bit weird but I decided to see it last night because the response has been overwhelmingly positive.  I am so glad I did because I ended up really enjoying it!  Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) is an animal lover who learned an appreciation for nature from her grandmother (Karen Huie).  After her grandmother's death, she becomes determined to save the forest glade she visited with her as a child from a freeway overpass developed by Mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm).  She turns to her biology professor, Dr. Samantha "Sam" Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), for help and inadvertently discovers her secret research project, known as "Hoppers," which allows human consciousness to hop into a lifelike animal robot in order to interact with real animals.  Thinking that she can encourage the animals to return to the glade by becoming one of them, she hops into a beaver and escapes from the lab even though Dr. Sam warns her against interfering with the natural order.  She befriends the Mammal King, a beaver named George (Bobby Moynihan), and persuades him and the other beavers to build a new dam in the glade.  However, when this effort fails, George appeals to the Animal Council which includes the Insect Queen (Meryl Streep) and her son Titus (Dave Franco), the Amphibian King (Steven Purcell), the Fish Queen (Ego Nwodim), the Reptile Queens (Nichole Sakura), and the Bird King (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.).  Chaos ensues when Mabel's impassioned plea persuades the Council, and the new Insect King Titus, to assassinate Jerry.  The narrative becomes a bit unwieldy at this point but I really loved the ultimate message about cooperation, compromise, and coexistence because it is both powerful and timely.  I also really loved Mabel's character arc because she thinks that she is the only one who cares about the environment and trying to make a difference all by herself feels daunting but she eventually succeeds when she finds community and is willing to listen to what others have to say.  The character design is adorable, the animation showing the natural world is beautiful, the action sequences are exciting (especially the scene in which a shark is used as an assassin), and the comedy is a lot of fun (the montage of building the dam to "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy made me laugh out loud).  I was very pleasantly surprised by this and highly recommend it!

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

I love the show Peaky Blinders (I recently rewatched all six seasons and was reminded again of how brilliant it is) so I was beyond excited to see Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man with my nephew.  I have been disappointed with some of my most anticipated movies lately but luckily, despite my impossibly high expectations, that was definitely not the case last night!  In the midst of the Blitz, Erasmus "Duke" Shelby (Barry Keoghan) is running the Peaky Blinders with a recklessness that worries Ada (Sophie Rundle).  She visits Tommy (Cillian Murphy), who is now living in self-imposed exile with Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee), to get him to intervene with his son but he is consumed by the ghosts of his past.  However, when Duke is recruited by John Beckett (Tim Roth), a Nazi sympathizer involved in a plot to destabilize the economy of England, Tommy is visited by a gypsy medium named Kaulo (Rebecca Ferguson) with a message from her dead sister Zelda, Duke's mother.  He will only find the peace he is searching for if he saves his son so he makes a dramatic return to Birmingham.  After another tragedy and a physical confrontation between the two of them, Tommy and Duke form a plan with Hayden Stagg (Stephen Graham) to stop Beckett but can Tommy trust Duke?  Much like the series, this is stylish and intense with a compelling plot that subverts expectations, outstanding performances (especially from Murphy and Keoghan), and an epic soundtrack.  The action sequences are thrilling and I loved seeing the Peaky Blinders do the iconic slow-motion walk in formation along the canal.  In fact, I was practically giggling out loud at all of the call-backs to the show, especially the scene in which Tommy rides through the streets of Birmingham on horseback with an updated version of "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds because it mimics the opening scene in the first episode.  I do think the villain is a bit underdeveloped compared to other storylines (a casualty of only having two hours rather than six) but I really enjoyed Duke's character arc and I think Tommy has a more emotionally satisfying conclusion.  I loved this and think fans of the show will love it, too!

Note:  I wish that I had worn a peaked cap because so many in the audience were wearing them!

The Bride

Last night my nephew and I went to see The Bride, one of my most anticipated movies of 2026, with a large crowd at the Broadway.  I appreciate Maggie Gyllenhaal's bold swing for the fences but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.  The spirit of Mary Shelley (Jessie Buckley) possesses a gangster's moll named Ida (Jessie Buckley), who lives in Chicago in 1936, because she was denied the opportunity to tell the next chapter in Frankenstein's story when she was alive.  While Ida is possessed, she identifies the victims of the crime boss Lupino (Zlatko Buric) to a crowded speakeasy so he sends his henchmen Clyde (John Magaro) and James (Matthew Maher) to deal with her and she dies after falling down a flight of stairs.  Frankenstein's monster (Christian Bale), a lonely cinephile who idolizes the actor Ronnie Reed (Jake Gyllenhaal), visits Dr. Cornelia Euphronious (Annette Bening) and he convinces her to create a companion for him using the body of Ida.  She is reanimated but cannot remember who she is so Frank tells her that she is his bride.  Frank eventually kills two people who harass Ida and they are forced to go on the run while Detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant Myrna Malloy (Penelope Cruz) pursue them.  Ida is also forced to kill multiple times when possessed by Mary's rage and this incites a revolution of women who are tired of being silenced but it also gets the attention of Lupino who sends Clyde after her.  This leads to the inevitable confrontation.  There is a lot going on in the narrative and it is often very messy with wild tonal shifts.  Furthermore, the message is unclear.  I think I get what Gyllenhaal is going for (a woman finally finds her voice and a so-called monster is vilified by men who are the true monsters), but she doesn't quite get there because Ida speaks with Mary's voice, which often horrifies her, rather than her own and Frank's behavior is still very problematic.  Having said that, I loved the cinematography and the visuals, especially the use of Ida's bright orange dress against an almost black and white background because it is so striking.  I also loved the scenes in which Frank inserts himself into Ronnie Reed's movies and the scene in which he and Ida recreate a big production number is seriously cool.  Bale gives an incredibly nuanced performance as the lonely monster but Buckley is absolutely unhinged (in the best possible way) and you cannot take your eyes off her!  This is a mixed bag for me because it is definitely a case of style over substance but I have to admit that I really enjoyed the style!

Jazz vs. Pelicans

Last night I went to my first Utah Jazz game of 2026 with my friend Angela (she has season tickets and very graciously allows me to pick several games to attend with her) and it was a lot of fun despite the final score.  The Jazz, who were without Jaren Jackson, Jr., Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Jusuf Nurkic, and Vince Williams, Jr. because of injuries, played the New Orleans Pelicans and lost to them for the second time this week in a very sloppy game.  They didn't even score until the middle of the first quarter when Ace Bailey hit two free throws (I joked at the beginning of the game that he was our only hope).  That seemed to give the team a bit of a spark and they went on a 14-6 run to end the quarter 27-22.  The Pelicans deflated the crowd by hitting two quick shots to increase their lead to 10 in the first few minutes of the second.  After that, the Jazz couldn't seem to get anything going offensively or defensively so they ended the first half down by 25.  Keyonte George, who was back after missing 9 games with an ankle injury, scored 12 points in the third quarter, including a really pretty three-pointer and several free throws, and Elijah Harkless hit back-to-back three-pointers to spur a 13-0 run (and to spur the crowd back into the game) to get the Jazz within 16 points at the end of the third quarter.  I got really excited when the Jazz went on a 9-0 run to begin the fourth quarter but the Pelicans answered back with a 8-2 run.  Isaiah Collier got 12 points (he led the Jazz with 21) and Brice Sensabaugh got an exciting three-pointer at the end of the quarter but it wasn't enough and New Orleans won 115-105.  It is a bit frustrating to be a Jazz fan (I've only seen them win once in two years) but I always have a good time at the games with Angela!

Scream 7

Despite the controversy surrounding Scream 7, I thought the trailer was really intriguing so I decided to see a Thursday preview with my nephew last night.  I am only a casual fan of the franchise but I was incredibly disappointed with this installment (I am 0 for 3 with movies this week).  When Ghostface sets fire to the Macher house in Woodsboro, California after killing a couple spending the night there as part of the "Macher Experience," there is speculation that Stu (Matthew Lillard) is still alive.  Sidney Prescott-Evans (Neve Campbell) now lives with her husband Mark (Joel McHale) and daughter Tatum (Isabel May) in quiet Pine Grove, Indiana.  When she receives a video call from Ghostface threatening Tatum, she is unnerved when the killer unmasks and it is Stu.  However, when her family is attacked, Ghostface is revealed to be a mentally ill serial killer.  She suspects that the call was AI and begins investigating with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) but soon all of Tatum's friends, including Hannah (McKenna Grace), Lucas (Asa Germann), Chloe (Celeste O'Connor), and Ben (Sam Rechner), are brutally killed.  Eventually, Tatum must confront Ghostface in a scene that mirrors what happened to Sidney 30 years ago.  I did not mind the nostalgia that some have taken issue with because I think the dynamic between Sidney and Tatum, and her fear of passing on generational trauma to her daughter, is very compelling.  I also liked the subplot with Gale as she passes the torch of reporting on Ghostface to the Meeks-Martin twins (Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding).  There are even some really grisly kills and I did enjoy the opening sequence.  In fact, I liked the first two acts well enough despite the fact that the meta-commentary about horror tropes that makes these movies so much fun is largely missing.  What is most disappointing is the ridiculous and underwhelming Ghostface reveal because the motivation is convoluted and makes absolutely no sense (it also makes one of the kills truly diabolical).  What I also found incredibly frustrating is that, in my opinion, the perfect ending (to the movie and to the franchise if this is actually the final one) was right there.  Ugh!  Definitely avoid this!