Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a sequel to the dark fantasy horror comedy Beetlejuice.

Tim Burton comes back to direct but leaves the writing to Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Seth Grahame-Smith. Gough and Millar are best known for writing 2004's Spider-Man 2, and the hit series Smallville and Wednesday. While Smith is probably the worst writer on the team having written Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, though I will give it to him that he did write The Lego Batman Movie.

While Michael Keaton is the namesake for the movie, the main character is Lydia Deetz, played by returning Winona Ryder. She has a good character arch for a sequel that had a lot going on. There are two villains to deal with, and then there's the best addition Wolf Jackson played by the talented Willem Dafoe.

Burn Gorman has a small but memorable role as well as a cameo by Danny DeVito that people will remember. You might remember Gorman from Pacific Rim. Monica Bellucci fits the role but isn't given much to do.

The film is slow and full of nostalgia. It gets better as storylines are wrapped up and ends on a great note. Result: A-

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Onslaught (2026)

Onslaught is a grindhouse action/horror movie, and I had no idea it was going to turn into a slasher until about five minutes in. Adam Wingard , a V/H/S alumni, writes and directs, and while the action can be pretty good at times, it's also flawed in some pretty obvious ways. The biggest problem is the plot armor given to the heroine. Why can these super soldiers hit everyone else just fine, but suddenly can't hit her? It makes some of the action feel less exciting when you know the movie is going to bend the rules to keep her alive. Adria Arjona spends the majority of the movie dressed like she's headed to Walmart, but somehow she doesn't look bad. Few people could probably pull off an outfit like that and still make it work. She does a decent job in the role, even if the character is clearly protected by the script whenever the action gets going. Dan Stevens has a great cameo, and Reginald VelJohnson brings his classic acting chops to the movie. Drew Starkey pla...

The Runner (2026)

The Runner is directed by Kevin Macdonald and written by Mark Gibson , and it starts off incredibly cringe. Considering Gibson's past work, that isn't exactly surprising, but the camera work and directing choices are all over the place as well. The premise itself is already pretty unrealistic, and the movie does very little to make it believable. It also doesn't help that the pacing makes the whole thing feel much longer than it actually is. Gal Gadot's portrayal of a mother is so awful that I started wondering if she's ever actually interacted with her own children. There are moments where she runs with decent form, but then there are other times when she's running all limp-wristed, exactly as you'd expect someone who clearly isn't a runner to run. More importantly, her character is incredibly difficult to take seriously. Even though she has a kidnapped child, she still acts like she should be bossing the kidnapper around. It doesn't feel like a...

Coyote vs. Acme (2026)

Coyote vs. Acme is directed by Dave Green , and this is easily his best work to date. Some of that credit belongs to Samy Burch , the Oscar-nominated writer whose screenplay gives the film enough personality to keep it entertaining. All that praise aside, Coyote vs. Acme is fun but ultimately nothing particularly special. The film is appropriately silly for a Looney Tunes movie, but the pacing is its biggest problem. At 103 minutes, it feels noticeably longer than it needs to be, and cutting it down to around 90 to 95 minutes would have made the movie considerably tighter. Will Forte is easily the best casting choice in the film. He fits the comedic tone perfectly and brings the right amount of energy to a movie that depends heavily on its absurdity. John Cena , on the other hand, is easily the worst casting choice. His performance is so wooden that it feels like he's barely trying, and he seems to be phoning it in throughout most of the movie. It's especially noticeable wh...

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