FILM REVIEWS:
THE BRIDE! (USA 2026) **
Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal
This is the second film in recent years that is a re-invention of classic literature. I am not a fan of re-inventions of classics, though one can argue that a lot of work and effort goes into re-telling of stories, so as not to offend anyone. I did not like “WUTHERING HEIGHTS’, the reinvention emphasised from the quotation marks of the film title, and in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, the exclamation mark THE BRIDE! emphasising the fact. The film draws inspiration from the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, which was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein.
In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein's monster asks Dr Euphronius to create a companion for him. Together, they give life to a murdered woman known as "the Bride", sparking romance, police interest and radical social change.
This Bride of Frankenstein speaks and speaks too much, her dialogue full of vulgarities and insults of everyone, from her lovers and sex employers. And even when not, she might be better silenced. Jessie Buckley gives good performances, but one wishes it would be one that shows more of her acting versatility. Buckley redoes her boisterous role in HAMNET, where sometimes enough is enough and silence might be used with more subtle storytelling.
A lot can also be said about the performances besides Buckley’s. Christian Bale returns after a hiatus playing the titular Frankenstein (called Franky in the movie), and he is still as attractive as ever despite his makeup to look like a monster. Penelope Cruz is largely wasted as an ambitious detective supporting her boss, played by Peter Skarsgard. Academy Award Nominee Annette Bening also stands out as a doctor who supports Frankenstein. The director’s younger brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, also plays a matinee idol, Ronnie Reed.
The otherwise serious and depressing nature of the film is lifted by musical numbers, as the love-lorn Frank loves to watch old romantic musicals. Uplifting musical numbers, including “Put it on a Ritz”, add a much-needed uplift to the film.
THE BRIDE! feels like BONNE AND CLYDE as the two lovers are pursued by the police. It also feels like the recent “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” for the disturbing romance between the leads. But it is a horrific film and a horrific romance, with the world not used in a favourable context. Despite all the effort expended together, what might be admired for its stunning cinematography and period atmosphere, the overlong film feels much too long and boring before its ending.
THE BRIDE! Opens in theatres this Friday, March 6th, counter-programming with Disney/Pixar’s HOPPERS, an excellent, feel-good, very funny animation feature.
Trailer:
HOPPERS (USA 2026) ****
Directed by Daniel Chong
HOPPERS, the new Disney/Pixar animated feature, is budgeted at an estimated $ 150 to $200 million and, as expected from Pixar, an absolute delight.
After a group of scientists invent a way to "hop" human minds into lifelike robotic animal bodies, an animal-lover named Mabel Tanaka uses their technology to embody a robotic beaver and thwart a construction company's plot to destroy the local animal habitat, unwittingly starting an animal uprising against all humans.
It seems that the filmmakers had checked every box that makes a good film, including:
- a protagonist who is female with lots of female characters, such as Dr Sam and her assistant, instead of male characters
- a male villain, who is political with shades of Trump, but this one goes into a change unlike Trump
- An eclectic cast of characters, like Dr Sam’s assistant, is black
- humour that caters for both kids and adults
- good musical numbers and an original song
(Mark Mothersbaugh composed the film's score, marking his first composition for a Pixar feature film after composing for the Toy Story Toons short Hawaiian Vacation and several Cars Toons shorts for the studio.[In addition, the film features an original end credits song written and performed by SZA titled "Save The Day”._
- colourful creatures that includes insect and mammals
- impressive animation that includes fire and water
- a timely premise within spice-fiction and an AI robotics plot
- an urgent premise involving saving the world
- comedy and adventure
- important current world issues like environmental commentary (corporate expansion vs. conservation)
- emotional coming-of-age themes (Mabel grows from a little girl with her grandmother to an undergraduate student
The plot involves an undergrad Mabel trying to save her town glen from destruction. Mayor Jerry wants a highway through it, but if Mabel can show that wildlife is in the glen, the project will be halted. Mable waits and looks for a creature, like a beaver, to show up. A beaver shows up, but Mable trails it to a lab where she discovers the process of hopping. She becomes a hopper, taking her brain into the body of a robot beaver.
The theme of death, Mabel’s grandmother’s passing, is not shown on screen, but the death affects Mabel for the rest of her life.
Three heavyweights lend their hand to the voice characterisations, while having a lot of fun winning the princess. Jon Hamm voices the greedy Mayor Jerry, Meryl Streep the insect queen, while James Franco voices Titus, the insect queen’s son.
Director Dabile Chong has worked extensively as a storyboard artist with Disney and Pixar on hits like the TOY STORY franchise. Chong said that one of his inspirations for the films was the nature documentaries in which robot animals are placed in the animal world; "It felt like it was ripe for comedy. His sense of humour should be appreciated by kids and adults alike.
Through the theme of empathy across species, including corporate responsibility, identity and belonging and seeing the world from a different perspective — literally, HOPPERS succeeds as a feel-good sci-fi fantasy that is one absolute winner.
HOPPERS opens in theatres this Friday, March 6th.
Trailer:
PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN (UK 2026) ***
Directed by Tom Knight
Review Embargoed till Thursday9am ET. Please check back later.
PEAKY BLINDERS opens in theatres on March 6th and opens on Netflix on the 20th.
STRANGERS IN THE PARK (SPAIN 2026)
Directed by
The 2026 Netflix film STRANGERS IN THE PARK, directed by Juan José Campanella, is a character-driven comedy-drama about two elderly men with very different political views who form an unexpected friendship through a series of conversations on a park bench in Buenos Aires. One can complain that the film looks staged as it is based on the Argentine stage play Parque Lezama.
The film takes place mostly in Parque Lezama, a historic park in Buenos Aires. Nearly the entire narrative unfolds through conversations between two men who meet repeatedly on the same park bench over months and eventually years. The park becomes a symbolic neutral ground where strangers share memories, regrets, and political beliefs.
Their first meeting is shown at the start of the film, but through the course of frequent meetings, their relationship turns from hostility to warmth.
The hostile first meeting begins with León Schwartz (played by Luis Brandoni), an elderly Jewish man who regularly visits the park. León is blunt, politically outspoken, and somewhat grumpy. In his youth, he was a committed left-wing activist who once believed deeply in revolutionary politics. He sits beside another older man, Antonio Cardozo (played by Eduardo Blanco), who has a far more relaxed and tolerant philosophy about life. Their first conversation quickly becomes an argument. León complains about politics, corruption, and how society has abandoned its ideals. Antonio counters with a simpler view: life is too short to cling to ideological battles.
Despite the disagreement, the men begin talking again whenever they encounter each other in the park. The film progresses.
If one cannot bear listening to two old folks arguing about politics or listening to the failure of Argentina’s democracy and other political agendas, stay away from the film. But the film also contains other issues, such as aging and mortality, and the loneliness of old age as experienced by the two men. At best there is a reflection of the meaning in their lives, whether each has lived a satisfactory one, in their own eyes.
STRANGERS IN THPARK opens for streaming on Netflix Friday, March 6th.
Trailer:
BANLIEUSARDS 3 (STREET FLOW 3)(France 2026) ***
Directed by Kery James and Leïla Sy
STREET FLOW 3 (Banlieusards 3)is the third and supposedly final instalment of the STREET FLOW trilogy on three brothers growing up in a tough Paris suburb.
Street Flow (original French title Banlieusards) is a French drama film series on Netflix that has grown into a trilogy with continuing storylines.
The story follows the lives of three brothers from the Traoré family growing up in a working-class neighbourhood (banlieue):
Noumouké — a 15-year-old teenager trying to find his path.
Soulaymaan — the studious brother who’s training to be a lawyer.
Demba — the eldest brother involved in street life and crime.
The story centres on Noumouké’s struggle to choose which path to follow — whether to pursue education and opportunity with Soulaymaan or get pulled into crime and danger through Demba’s world.
STREET FLOW 3 continues and concludes the story of the Traoré brothers — Noumouké, Demba, and Soulaymaan — against the backdrop of life in the Parisian suburbs (banlieue) as they face critical turning points in their lives.
The core theme of the film is choices and consequences: each brother must decide which path to follow, and those decisions will not only shape their own futures but also affect their family and community.
Noumouké has made significant progress in his music career, reaching a major milestone and gaining recognition. However, his old environment and the pull of the street world — with its temptations and dangers — threaten to derail his ambitions.
A central tension in his storyline is balancing artistic success with loyalty to his roots, and resisting influences that could undo his hard-earned progress.
Demba is building a New Life. Facing the Past, Demba has been trying to put his criminal past behind him and build a more stable life alongside Djenaba (his partner).
Despite his efforts to start fresh, past choices and mistakes reemerge, challenging the peace he’s attempting to create. His arc explores themes of redemption, responsibility, and whether one can truly escape earlier life decisions.
The third brother, Soulaymaan, deals with Law, Love, and Civic Commitment.
Soulaymaan has developed his career as a lawyer and finds romantic love again, indicating personal growth and stability. As municipal elections approach, his commitment to representing and serving the residents of his neighbourhood is tested.
The family crime drama dynamics work well in what is a tense, character-driven story with more drama than action. The story also demonstrates how one’s past will always catch up with one, and how difficult it is to change one’s path in life, especially when it is a life of crime. One can sympathise with the three brothers not for want of trying. Though this film is touted as the final instalment, there is more of the story that can be continued.
Tough Paris suburbs as a setting have been a favourite setting for tough action dramas ever since Ladj Ly’s LES MISERABLES b rose into the scene, winning it also an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature.
Trailer:
WAR MACHINE (USA 2026_
Directed by
LIONSGATE, the studio that had its heyday with the TWILIGHT and DIVERGENCE franchises, and now struggling to have a hit, joins forces with Netflix for a no-nonsense action sci-fi film, WAR MACHINE. LIONSGATE specializes in action and horror films. Their last success was THE HOUSEMAID.
The final recruits of an Army Ranger selection course face a deadly force from another world. Hence, the sci-fi component.
The film tries its best to cover all bases. The script goes into the deep reason 81 joins th range training program called RASP. The Rangers are the best of the best and are always on the fighting front lines. Alan Ritchson plays81. The recruits are given a number an don longer have a name. 81 joins the Rangers because he had promised to join the training program with his brother so that they can make a difference serving America. But the brother and his unit were all killed by a surprise Taliban attack when 81 showed up to help them in the desert with a broken vehicle. Now, 81 joins the Rangers alone. He is one angry, dedicated ward machine.
The story takes place largely in a remote wilderness training zone where the U.S. Army conducts the final stage of its brutal Ranger selection program. Only the toughest candidates make it through this last 24-hour survival exercise. The trainees are led by an experienced Ranger instructor and veteran soldiers observing the test. The central character is “81”, a stoic and highly skilled combat engineer who is considered one of the strongest candidates in the program.
WAR MACHINE is an action-packed male’s wet dream. There is no female slant on doing what is right or any message championing minorities. But it celebrates men at war, supposedly doing the American good, to a fault. At best, the film mixes military realism with sci-fi action: a Ranger training mission turns into a fight for survival when a powerful alien-like machine begins hunting the soldiers. Silly but exciting enough!
WAR MACHINE is available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, March 6th.
Trailer:
