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Summer is just around the corner! There are so many movies coming out the rest of the year. From huge blockbusters to director-led vehicles, I had a lot of trouble narrowing this list down to just ten. There are a lot more than ten movies I'm excited for the rest of this year. Masters of the Universe, Toy Story 5, The Invite, Werwulf...there are so many exciting new releases. And these are the ten that I am truly most excited for. 10. Digger Iñárritu's comedy-drama starring Tom Cruise is set to be an major Oscar contender I don't really know anything about Digger, and I don't need to. Alejandro G. Iñárritu is one of the most exciting directors of the modern era. After Birdman and The Revenant, all of his future films automatically make my radar, and this is his first American film since The Revenant. Tom Cruise is also taking a break from blockbuster filmmaking and going to a smaller, satirical drama, which, after he did with Maverick and Mission: Impossible, is a good sign. Iñárritu and Cruise is a recipe for success, so I cannot wait to see what this movie is. 9. Dune: Part Three The epic conclusion to the Dune saga looks like the awe-inspiring spectacle you'd expect I actually plan on reading Dune and Dune Messiah before this film comes out, but either way, I am very much looking forward to the final film in this trilogy. I don't think I love the first two Dune movies as much as everyone else, but they are undeniably exciting cinematic experiences. Dune: Part Two was especially awesome, and it left the story off as this subversive hero's journey that promised a darker turn for Paul Atreides. The trailer for this movie did it's job and just got me even more excited to return to the galaxy of Dune. Hearing Timothée Chalamet's chants backed by Hans Zimmer's pounding score just reminded me of everything I do love about Dune, so it got me just really pumped to see that again. 8. The Adventures of Cliff Booth David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino's collaboration is a team-up that I can't wait to see I have not seen Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood yet (I will before this film comes out), but either way, this is a dream collaboration for me. Quentin Tarantino is writing a spin-off to his own film...and it's being directed by David Fincher. These are two of my five favorite filmmakers of all time. And the way they make movies is so different. A Tarantino script turned into a Fincher movie just sounds like an absolutely incredible piece of cinema. This could be the least interesting concept in the world and it would make it on this list, because I am just in awe that this is even happening. 7. Resident Evil Zach Cregger's follow-up to Weapons should be thrilling, horrifying, and unexpected This is three entries in a row where I have no connection to the source material but I am excited because of what the film actually is. I have never played the Resident Evil games. I have no interest in them. And I've never seen a Resident Evil movie. And, yet, this is my number seven most anticipated movie for the rest of the year. The only reason is because of the director: Zach Cregger. Zach Cregger made ripples in the horror community after Barbarian was one of the most unique and deeply unsettling films of the 21st century. And then he exploded onto the scene with Weapons, which, in a year where Sinners didn't come out, would've been the best horror movie of the year. Either way, both Barbarian and Weapons were such exciting, thrilling, and unexpected movies that I just cannot wait to see what Cregger does with a big-budget survival horror film. I cannot wait to see what unique spin he gives to Resident Evil. 6. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping Haymitch's tragic story hits the big screen with an all-star cast I haven't read Dune. I haven't seen Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. I've never played any Resident Evil. But I HAVE read Sunrise on the Reaping. I love The Hunger Games. I think the movies are criminally underrated because they were released in the same window of time as Divergent and Twilight, but they are actually really complex, deep, and thematically rich dystopian stories. Sunrise on the Reaping is the most tragic, dark, and emotional Hunger Games story, and I think it will be adapted beautifully into this film. Francis Lawrence has an iron grip on how to direct these movies, and the trailer already showed this colorful, beautiful landscape that has been created for this one specifically. On top of the great source material and returning creative team, this movie has an absolutely star-studded cast. Mckenna Grace. Ralph Fiennes. Elle Fanning. Maya Hawke. Glenn Close. Jesse Plemons. Kieran Culkin. And more. Are you kidding me? That makes this even more exciting for me. I cannot wait for this film. Hopefully The Hunger Games renaissance starts up again after this. 5. Avengers: Doomsday The massive culmination of the Multiverse Saga is the year's biggest release I think I said this in my initial most anticipated list, but this is both my most anticipated movie of the year...and not. If I could pick one movie that is going to be released in 2026 to see tomorrow, I'd probably pick Doomsday. The MCU is my favorite movie franchise of all time, and the last time an Avengers movie came out, it was the biggest cinematic event ever. Now, there is simply no way that Doomsday and Secret Wars will top Infinity War and Endgame. That one-two punch was nearly perfect, and Doomsday simply has not had the intricate setup that Infinity War had. If it can even match that, though, we are in for something special. Doctor Doom has the potential to be one of the most exciting new villains, and I am curious how Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal will compare to Thanos. The massive, multiversal scale will also be something to behold. Doomsday will undeniably be another event. The question remains, though, will it be as good as Infinity War? The answer is almost definitely not, but again, if it comes close, that would be absolutely incredible. I am on edge waiting for this frickin' trailer. And I cannot wait for December. 4. Clayface The trailer for this movie honestly gave me nightmares On the complete flip side of Doomsday comes Clayface, a small, body-horror comic book film that will show us how the new DCU will differentiate itself from the MCU. Clayface was on my radar when Mike Flanagan was announced to be writing it, but I didn't really understand this film...until I saw the trailer. And it immediately clicked. This movie looks terrifying. This looks like a gross, disturbing body horror film set in Gotham...and that's really, really cool. Superman and Supergirl are the first two films in the DCU, and Clayface is going to be the third, which just shows how much confidence the producers have in their shared universe. This movie is going to be rated R. It's going to be freaky. It is not going to be this mega-blockbuster in the way that superhero and comic book movies so often are, and for that, I am just so appreciative. This is what I want to see more out of comic book media. These smaller, more creator-focused projects that don't try to appeal to the biggest possible audience. Clayface looks to be a true launching point for that idea, so I really, really hope it's great. 3. Spider-Man: Brand New Day The MCU may finally lean into a classic Spider-Man story Any movie starring Spider-Man, Batman, or Superman is automatically making my most anticipated films list. Hell, any movie starring any one of them will probably be in my top five most anticipated films. Brand New Day feels exciting in a way that is vastly different from No Way Home or any other Spidey film to date. We know basically nothing about this movie. The trailer teases a bit of the plot, but it's unclear exactly what is happening. We know Scorpion and Tombstone are in it, but we don't know who the main villain is. We don't really know what the Hulk and the Punisher are doing here. We don't know who Sadie Sink, Liza Colón-Zayas, or Tramell Tillman are playing. There's a possibility that we could see the black suit symbiote here. There's just so much potential for where this movie could take Tom Holland's Spider-Man, and I cannot wait to see where it goes. 2. Disclosure Day Spielberg's sci-fi thriller hits theaters in just two weeks Again, a new Spielberg movie will almost always make it's way onto my most anticipated list, and Disclosure Day is exactly the type of movie that I love. This looks like Spielberg getting back into his peak form, with an awe-inspiring sci-fi concept that seems to tap into the humanity that he's so good at displaying in his films. From watching the trailer, you just get all of the feels of classic Spielberg. There's mysterious creatures and seemingly wondrous worlds with a thrilling story tying all of this together. John Williams gives us hints of his score in the trailer, and I expect it to be fantastic. This movie comes out two weeks from today, and I simply cannot wait for it. It has been a long time since Spielberg has released a classic, original sci-fi blockbuster, so I will be there are soon as this hits theaters. 1. The Odyssey Christopher Nolan's historical epic is the release everyone is waiting for Alright. The hate on The Odyssey needs to stop. Stop pretending like you care about historical accuracy. Stop pretending like this is some true story that needs to be treated with the utmost, intricate facts of the era executed to perfection. This is a grand, mythological adventure with monsters and battles, and if the armor isn't exactly how it looked in Ancient Greece...who cares? Christopher Nolan is tackling the skeleton of Western storytelling, and there's no one better to take on this monumental task. The nearly three-hour epic promises to be everything you want from a cinematic experience. It looks grand, exciting, emotional, and seems to be heading towards "huge cultural event" territory. I think people online just want something to complain about, because this movie is going to be an absolute stunner. I cannot wait to see how Nolan brings us the epic of all epics. July 17 cannot come soon enough.

Bloody diabolical. With the final season of The Boys finally coming to a close, it is time to rank every single season. This show has definitely had its ups and downs, but its peaks are really, really high. Whether it be shocking violence and graphically disturbing imagery, sharp political commentary, or awesome character work, The Boys has been one of the most consistently popular shows of the 2020s. So, with it now having ended, here is my ranking of all five seasons. 5. Season 5 A messy, rushed season focused on future spin-offs rather than wrapping up the main show If you've been following the blog for the past few weeks, you know I have been let down by the final season of The Boys. What should've been a season focused on the final confrontation between Homelander and Butcher turned into a messy setup for Vought Rising that got all over the place with its messaging and plot lines. The season starts off incredibly strong, but quickly divulges into a slow-paced hunt for V1. Characters such as Soldier Boy and Sister Sage are switching sides every other episode for no apparent reason. The Boys feel sidelined in their own show as we spend lots of time with Ashley and Oh Father and The Deep and Firecracker for no real reason. Logic flies out the window with characters making sacrifices they didn't need to and believing that Homelander is the one true God out of nowhere. Look, it's tough to wrap up a show in a way that makes everyone happy, but The Boys was so frustrating because it didn't feel like a final season. It felt like the story was pulled in all sorts of different directions, and it just crumbled under the weight of all it was trying to do. The finale does admittedly get things back on track by ending everyone's arcs on satisfying notes, but it could not salvage a rushed final season with way too much happening. I think The Boys had a solid final hour, but the last full season was just a complete disappointment for me personally. 4. Season 4 An overstuffed season that leans too far into shocking imagery and political allegory Season four feels like where the wheels started to fall off. Now, this season has different problems than season five, but you can feel the show starting to lose steam. Instead of continuing with the sharp allegories and satire that was highlighted so well through the characters and their continuing feuds, season four introduces a litany of new ideas and characters that just push The Boys more into shock-fest territory than truly compelling storytelling. Every episode feels like it tries to outdo the last one by having a graphic image that sticks in your mind and traumatizes you. Every episode tries to make a direct parallel with something that happened in the real world. That's not really satire - it's just showing horrible things that have happened in our world through the fictional world of The Boys. The real problem that season four has that became a massive issue in season five was the overextension of what this story is. Season four tries too hard to make The Boys feel global and epic when it's really always been a smaller scale story about corruption and The Boys trying to expose Vought and Homelander for what they truly are. In making it this huge story about political turmoil and presidential assassinations, it loses the conflicts that made the first three seasons so good. Butcher and Homelander's rivalry no longer feels central to the show, and that just automatically makes it worse. It still has some good moments. I think Hughie's character gets a lot of development here and seeing Butcher continue to turn towards darker and more sinister path is really interesting, but it gets overshadowed in the attempt to make the show bigger than it was ever meant to be. 3. Season 2 A sophomore season that builds on what made season one great while being less fun overall For reference, season two of The Boys is leaps and bounds better than season four in my eyes. I think seasons four and five of this show are decent at best and bad at worst. Season two is a fantastic season of television that takes what season one had and expands it in a way that feels natural. The Boys are now on the run because they've been exposed by Vought. Nobody is safe. Homelander is more dangerous than ever. And yet times are more desperate than ever, because Becca is alive and has a kid. A kid with Homelander. This simple setup creates so much effective turmoil between the characters that season two just does so much with. The idea of Butcher's wife having a kid with Homelander is horrifying for both the audience and for Butcher, but Ryan is good and Becca loves him. That automatically creates a compelling conflict that strengthens Homelander's rivalry with Butcher. Beyond that, Hughie has to try to reconcile his relationship with Annie, who slowly starts to realize how monstrous Homelander truly is. All of this is magnified by the addition of the show's most evil character in Stormfront, who takes control of the media and the world and essentially helps Homelander gain more influence and power. All of these various conflicts come to a head in the show's best finale, where Ryan gains his powers in the final moments and lasers Stormfront...but accidentally hits Becca in the crossfire. What an ending that appropriately sets up an even better third season. Season two does occasionally get bogged down by The Boys constantly being on the run and not really being able to operate in secret. It's got less fun and more dark, bleak storylines that really will make you cynical about the world. But it's still the show in the midst of its peak form, and is ultimately a great season of TV. 2. Season 1 A perfect political satire with a dark, cynical edge and absolutely incredible characters Literally one month after Avengers: Endgame, the peak of superhero storytelling and popularity hit theaters, The Boys debuted and redefined what could be done with these types of stories. Between this and Invincible, superheroes were no longer seen as costumed crimefighters who were pure and always beat the bad guys. The Boys took the genre and made it grounded in our world of politics and media and pop culture. Corporate superheroes who were celebrities and involved in Congress and wars and all of that stuff was such a refreshing and unique idea, and The Boys took that idea and made it so that these superheroes were corrupt and exposed everything that could go wrong with people who possess this much power. At the center of what makes this season so fantastic is, of course, Antony Starr's Homelander, one of the most iconic villains of the 21st century. The idea of an evil Superman is nothing new, but Homelander took that simple concept and made it feel real. Taking inspiration from certain political figures and people in power made Homelander feel a lot scarier and more unsettling than any other evil Superman stereotype. Beyond just Homelander's unpredictability and terrifying narcissism, The Boys introduced us to a litany of fantastic characters. Billy Butcher, the vigilante revenge-seeker who sees Supes for what they truly are. Starlight, the wannabe real superhero who is introduced to the cruel world of corporate and media manipulation. Hughie, the moral voice of The Boys who also seeks revenge after his girlfriend's death at the hands of a Supe was glossed over by Vought. Season one of The Boys may not be perfect, but it's a darkly comedic satire that comments on our society through a powerful, tense, and ultimately very compelling eight episodes. 1. Season 3 The perfect combination of satire and allegory with awesome action and characters Some people don't love season three of The Boys, and I just don't get it. To me, this is the season that had a hand in every basket that the show wanted to be in. The characters are all at their peak. Butcher, now obsessed with taking Homelander out, discovers temporary Compound V. Hughie, after seeing how hard it is to take down these heroes, joins in with this, much to Annie's chagrin. Homelander, having now lost his son to Butcher, tries to find a way to bring him back. The Boys are desperate to take Homelander out because he's now really hunting them...and thus, they find Soldier Boy. Jensen Ackles's incredible Captain America parody is the cherry on top of a fantastic season. His no-nonsense attitude and unaware racism, sexism, and xenophobia is some of the best comedy the show has to offer. His presence gives Mother's Milk a chance to really shine as he tries to deal with his traumatic past. Frenchie and Kimiko are also given fantastic journeys in this season as they try to navigate their own trauma about drug addiction and growing up in abusive environments. And this season really wraps up beautifully with Annie unlocking her full potential, Maeve's redemption, and Homelander's first true victory over Butcher as he gets Ryan to flip to his side. I think this season is the absolute peak of The Boys. This was where it understood its characters and their various conflicts best. It also has some of the best Homelander moments of satire and terror, whether it be his "only man in the sky" speech or his murder of the Starlighter who threw a can at Ryan. It shows how dangerous media manipulation and unstable political figures can be while also giving us some of the most exciting sequences in the show. Tell me the multiple fights with Homelander, Soldier Boy, and a super-powered Butcher were not awesome. Exactly. You won't, because they are awesome. As is the rest of season three.

Blood and bone, my son. The Boys is a 2019-2026 black comedy superhero TV series created by Eric Kripke, produced by Kripke Enterprises, Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kickstart Entertainment, KFL Nightsky Productions, Amazon MGM Studios, and Sony Pictures Television, and distributed by Amazon Prime Video. The series is based off of Garth Ennis's 2006-2012 comic book of the same name. It stars Karl Urban and Antony Starr. This is the fifth and final season, although multiple spin-offs are in the works. "This is for my Becca." - Billy Butcher Plot As Homelander prepares for his final ascension to Godhood, Butcher and The Boys take one last shot to save the world from his wrath. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE SERIES FINALE OF THE BOYS!! The Sweet Going into this finale, I was skeptical. The penultimate episode of The Boys was probably my least favorite episode of the show. It felt rushed, illogical, and pulled together everything that had frustrated me throughout the entire season. I was curious to see how they were going to wrap all of this up, but I did not have a ton of hope that they would land the ship well. And, given the circumstances, I think this is a decent finale that ends things on a satisfying note for all of our characters. The rest of the season set this finale up to fail miserably, and it didn't, so for that, I give it props. The most important things were done correctly. As most finales do, this episode gives us a few incredibly satisfying moments that we've been waiting to see for years. This entire show is building to a final confrontation between Butcher and Homelander, and that fight, while way too short, is ultimately satisfying. I loved Ryan's appearance and his assistance in taking down his dad. And watching Homelander humiliate himself on live TV in the final moments before his death feels appropriate. He's spent this whole show seeking the approval of others without ever fearing that he might be mortal, so watching him beg for his life in the most pathetic way possible in front of the entire world before Butcher rips his brains out is great. I think the characters that got the most satisfying endings, however, were Hughie and Annie. I've been frustrated with their usage this season, because it feels like they've been sidelined for other characters and plot lines that I'm simply not invested in, but they get a few standout moments here. Hughie killing Butcher felt right even if it was rushed. Annie getting to beat the crap out of The Deep was also just immensely satisfying, and his death at the hands of the sea creatures feels appropriately pathetic. The final scene with the two of them was fantastic. I love that Hughie has returned to a quieter life with his own store and refuses to be a part of Bob Singer's office of Supe affairs. Annie remaining as a sort-of underground superhero is also really satisfying...but the best moment is when you learn the name of their baby. "Take care of your mom, Robin" is a perfect final line for The Boys. It hits emotionally, thematically, and feels like the right final moment for Hughie to get with Annie. The other characters also ended in satisfying places. MM being reunited with Monique and Janine was where we wanted to see him go. He deserves a happy life with his family, so it was nice to see him get that. Kimiko finally gets to live a peaceful, quiet life on her own with a dog. She will clearly spend the rest of her life doing all of the things her and Frenchie talked about, which I think fits her nicely. Even Ashley finally gets a heroic moment. She rescues The Boys and stands up to Homelander, losing her presidency in the process, but finally doing something she can be proud of. I also liked that this finale felt smaller-scale. The main conflict of this show has always been The Boys versus Vought, Butcher versus Homelander, etc. It's much more about personal vendettas and how they have to navigate the political climate to achieve these revenge plots and take down Supes. Seasons four and five have moved away from that and focused more on the bigger picture, which is why I think they've struggled. This finale gets back to those interpersonal dynamics between Butcher and Homelander. It scales back the epic-ness and delivers a smaller, more personal final battle that resolves these relationships in the ways that you want. So this is not a perfect finale. But I think it is a good finale. It's not Game of Thrones. It does not ruin the characters and kill the show. This may have been a disappointing season, but the ship landed in a satisfying enough way. The Sour I think a lot of my problems with this finale stem from the failure of season five to properly deliver on a lot of the setup it needed. This season was so concerned with setting up Vought Rising and having ridiculous humor that it forgot what was important to resolving this show. So when we do get to the resolution, it feels a bit cheaper and less earned than it should. The biggest problem I have is with the pacing. This finale is rushed. The reason it's rushed is not the finale's fault: it's the season's. If we hadn't spent so much time focusing on finding the V1 (which ultimately plays no role in the season whatsoever), we could've set up Butcher turning in his last moments and trying to kill every Supe on Earth a bit more. As it stands, it just feels too abrupt and not set up. I think it makes sense for Butcher to not be satisfied after killing Homelander. He has always been very anti-Supe, so him wanting to kill every superpowered being on Earth makes sense...but that specific turn just should've been set up more directly in this season. The only time they really hinted at this being his true final turn was in the previous episode when one of the psychics shapeshifted into Kessler. If this was more of a running thread throughout season five, the final confrontation between Hughie and Butcher could've been so much more emotional and effective. Butcher's last moments as he realizes how much Hughie reminds him of Lenny are good, but they could've been great if we really reined in on his emotional turmoil about wanting to use the Supe virus. And, while I think our main characters got satisfying endings, there are some characters that just disappear or have very abrupt deaths that I found completely unsatisfying. I have not liked Oh Father from the moment he was introduced, and I found his death to just be as stupid as his character. If Ashley got him this sex toy that wouldn't break based on his scream, why would it make his head explode? It just feels like a lame setup and payoff that did not work for me personally. And, as much as I'm glad that she was not involved in this final battle, Sister Sage was cemented in this episode as my least favorite character in the show. I get that she loses her powers so she's not as smart all of the sudden, but her becoming legitimately stupid and just leaving felt like such a waste. She was just terribly written throughout this entire season with her ineffective plans and abrupt changes of heart, so it's not really a surprise that her exit from the show is lame. And, finally, the absence of Soldier Boy is a crime. I expected him to not be in this finale, but come on. Getting choked out by Homelander for ten seconds is the last we're going to see of him? That is such a letdown for one of the show's best characters. While I do find Homelander's death satisfying and the fight itself good, it's too short. Now, I'm a hypocrite, because I didn't really mind the fact that Stranger Things's final confrontation was too short, but I was more positive on the final season and way more emotionally attached to Stranger Things than I am to The Boys. This entire show has also built to the ultimate confrontation between Butcher and Homelander. Having the fight last, like, five minutes feels a bit cheap. I also think Kimiko getting Soldier Boy's powers in the last two episodes of the show is an incredibly rushed and lazy way to take Homelander down. What if, instead of having this entire season be a pointless hunt for V1, The Boys decided they to try and copy Soldier Boy's powers to take out Homelander? If they couldn't figure out how to do that and then figure it out in the last few episodes, that could be much more satisfying. As it stands, it feels like the writers couldn't figure out a way to kill Homelander after he got V1 so they decided to squeeze in this random idea that Kimiko could take away his powers by getting the Soldier Boy blast. It feels rushed and lazy and does undermine Homelander's death a tiny bit for me. This is also a minor complaint, but I do think MM's role was actually a bit underwhelming in this finale. He didn't have much to do. He was the one to kill Oh Father, so I guess he does get a bit of a moment, but that's not really enough for me to be satisfied. If Soldier Boy was in this finale, he could've had a final confrontation with him. I also don't really understand Ryan going with him in the epilogue. Like, yeah, if that was setup, it would make sense for Ryan to go with MM, but the two of them have barely interacted, so it feels very abrupt and strange. Finally, (and this is, again, a whole season problem) the inclusion of the Gen V characters was simply terrible. I have not watched Gen V, and I am honestly a little bit annoyed that to fully understand a season of The Boys, you have to watch the spin-off. I said this in my last review, but Marie Moreau and the rest of the squad from Gen V are included enough in The Boys to confuse people who haven't watched the spin-off but not enough to satisfy fans who have watched it. They've struck the perfectly unsatisfying middle ground where nobody is going to be happy with their inclusion. That remains true here. Marie Moreu and her friends are completely useless in the final season. They could not be in this season and basically nothing would change. That's lame. Final Thoughts and Score So overall, this is a satisfying enough but heavily flawed finale to an ultimately disappointing final season. It's tough to wrap up TV shows, and The Boys definitely struggled. I'm not crazy about the finale but I am happy enough where all of these characters left off. I am going Savory here. Age range is 17+. SWEET N' SOUR SCALE Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible) "The Boys" "Blood and Bone" Fun Factor: 8.5/10 Acting: 8.5/10 Story: 7/10 Characters: 8.5/10 Quality: 7.5/10 Created by Eric Kripke Rated TV-MA for strong bloody violence, language, frightening themes and images, thematic elements Premiered on May 20, 2026 1 hour and 5 minutes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher Antony Starr as Homelander Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell Erin Moriarty as Annie January / Starlight Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk / Marvin T. Milk Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro Chace Crawford as Kevin Kohler / The Deep Tomer Capone as Frenchie Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett Susan Heyward as Jessica Bradley / Sister Sage Daveed Diggs as Oh Father Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher Giancarlo Esposito as Stan Edgar Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau London Thor as Jordan Li Jim Beaver as Robert Singer

Be careful who you wish for. Obsession is a 2025 supernatural horror film directed by Curry Barker, written by Curry Barker, produced by Capstone Pictures, Tea Shop Productions, and Blumhouse Productions, and distributed by Focus Features and Universal Pictures. It stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette. "Bear, I love you so, so much." - Nikki Freeman Plot Bear Bailey is a meek, insecure young man who cannot bring himself to confess feelings to his crush, Nikki. When he decides to use a mysterious wishing stick to make her love him, her infatuation slowly descends into madness until Bear's dream come true becomes the ultimate nightmare. The Sweet So Obsession came out this past weekend, and everybody is talking about it. I had heard some positive early buzz from some accounts I follow on social media, but as the release date approached, the hype became stronger. Now, this movie is everywhere. For a film with a budget of about a million dollars, this thing is absolutely dominating pop culture discussion right now. It has made nearly twenty times it's budget at the box office. For reference, that is like if Endgame made $7.1 billion dollars. That's completely insane and almost unprecedented. And I love it. I love that an indie, low-budget horror movie is performing this well. It demonstrates that moviegoers are still hungry for great original films. Naturally, I had to check this movie out. The previews looked awesome. My brother had seen it this past weekend and said it was crazy. I was very excited going in. The best thing about this movie (and the most universally praised) is Inde Navarrette. Navarrette plays Nikki Freeman, the crush of the main character, who is thus possessed by whatever wish-fulfilling demon comes from the One-Wish Willow. She delivers a star-making performance in this film. She is a 5-foot tall, beautiful, normal-looking woman...and she creates one of the scariest and most unpredictable movie characters I have ever seen. I was absolutely terrified of Nikki throughout this movie, and so much of my discomfort was due to Navarrette's uncanny ability to switch moods. It's like she's got this switch that she can turn on and off. Sometimes, she is normal, and then the switch turns to "on" and she goes becomes completely nuts. Sometimes, she's completely nuts and then switches back to normal. The way she smiles and moves feels almost human...and that's the most unsettling part. She plays this character who is trying to pretend to be human, and you feel that in the performance. She smiles too widely. She moves at a pace that's just off-kilter. The way she glides through the darkness will honestly haunt my nightmares. I'm sitting in my dining room at 10:30 P.M. writing this review and I am terrified of Nikki popping up somewhere in my house. The other thing that Navarrette does so well is sell the real Nikki's terror when she shows up, which makes it even scarier when we get the possessed version back. There's a quick scene where the real Nikki breaks through and talks to Bear, and it is one of the most unsettling and heart-breaking scenes in the movie. You barely even see Navarrette on screen when this happens, and her performance is still what sells the scene. From her absolutely blood-curdling scream to her super creepy facial expressions, this lady just gave arguably one of the best performances I've ever seen in a horror film. And let's talk about that. This is a horror film. Oh, yes, it is. I feel like there's usually one movie a year that is really able to break through and get to me. And even those might scare me a bit when I see them in the theater, but they really don't stick in my mind like this unwanted parasite. Longlegs and Weapons were scary, for sure, but I don't think any movie that I remember has truly traumatized me in the way that Obsession did. There was something else about this movie that almost felt nauseating. The combination of true psychological horror with the physicality of Navarrette and a few shockingly horrific moments made Obsession one of the most nightmarish experiences I have had in a theater. I also think this film does a great job of having a message behind all of the dread and horror. As a guy, the setup for this film is very relatable. Everyone has been scared to admit feelings to their crush, especially if its someone they are good friends with. Everyone has had these moments of frustration where they can't build up the confidence or they get rejected. That is a universal experience, and Obsession shows what happens when that reaches unhealthy levels. At the end of the day, this film is really an allegory for how toxic and dangerous co-dependency can be. You need to be able to be your own person. You need to be confident in yourself and comfortable in your own skin without having to have another person to build that self-esteem off of. What made this movie so horrifying to me is that I have been Bear. And I've wished that girls who probably don't reciprocate feelings like me back. The premise is so relatable and grounded, which makes the horror feel more real, even if it is a classic Monkey's Paw-type setup. I also loved Curry Barker's direction in this film. It's kind of funny to me that a lot of YouTubers are becoming film directors, but it does make sense. Creativity on YouTube translates easily to creativity on a film set. Barker is masterful in the way that he builds tension and suspense in this film. There's an intention in the way that the shots, editing, and sound mix together. The cinematography in this movie is often static - there's not a lot of camera movement, so it forces you to sit with often uncomfortable images for longer than you want to. Characters will be framed in corners of the picture so that you can see the background and get glimpses of something unsettling. The sound design was also a huge aspect of the horror. Quiet scenes will be broken by exaggeratedly loud sounds, which just makes it feel like the world is caving in around these characters. I just loved how this movie was able to linger so long on so much discomfort. It made it so that the horror seeped itself into your skin and stayed there for the entire film. Obsession also has a few scenes that are just absolutely shocking. Like, there's no other way to put it. There were multiple times where my hands were on top of my head and my jaw was basically on the floor. It earns these masterful strokes of utter terror through intricate character work and beautiful tension building. There are two scenes that come to mind. Without spoilers, the first involves a sticky note. The shock from this specific moment comes psychologically. When you get the revelation on this sticky note, your stomach just twists into knots as you realize how far this has gone. I won't even give specifics on the second moment I'm thinking of. I'll just say that it is the biggest jump scare of the film and it is a scene that is tattooed like an ugly scar into my mind. It was terrifying. Finally, I think the thing that elevates this movie to one of the scariest films I have ever seen is its unwillingness to soften these blows. This movie is dark. It's not quite Hereditary-level dark, but it's in that same territory. This is certainly the most a movie has traumatized me since I watched Hereditary, and I think that is because the script makes these characters and scenarios believable. Bear is a relatable protagonist, but all of the stuff he does and the bad choices he continues to make have such horrific consequences that it will make you not want to relate to him...and yet, you do. The idea of Nikki and the horror and intensity that she brings as a psychological presence is just so dread-inducing and sickening. The constant fear that she is lurking around every corner and waiting for Bear to make one move that proves he doesn't love her is horrifying. These characters are trapped in this un-winnable, endless situation that continues to escalate and become more disturbing as it goes along. And, yet, despite the constant escalation and near absurdity, everything feels logical because these characters are so well-crafted and the script carefully builds the tension and dread. The Sour As much as I think Obsession is a great movie, this is also one that will test your guts. Even if you aren't as scared by it as I was, it's an intense, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride from beginning to end. And I'm not saying edge-of-your-seat in the way something like Se7en or Gone Girl or Prisoners. This is edge-of-your-seat in the way that you are stressed at every single minute of this movie. You will constantly be anticipating scares and something terrible happening. Nikki is so unpredictable and freakishly unnatural that every single scene with her feels like something pulled directly out of a nightmare. It is an exhausting movie, but I mean that in a good way. That's what it's trying to do. It will stress you out. If you didn't workout on a given day, just go watch Obsession. It's great cardio! Your heart won't stop trying to pound it's way out of your chest! I realize that's not really a negative, I'm just saying that this is not a movie for everyone. I have already told some people to stay far away from this film because I know it will be too much for them. Hell, it was almost too much for me. The one thing that really did bug me a bit was the inconsistent dark humor. Some people have described this as a sort-of black comedy horror film. I could not disagree more. This is straight bleak horror with a few small instances of black comedy sneaking their way through. And I don't think those moments always hit. This movie is so intense and so disturbing that the moments where it tries to break the tension with a joke don't really work. Alfred Hitchcock famously said that comedy can often heighten tension and horror, and I do think that's true...but not really in the way that Obsession does it. Obsession will break up the horrific story with a full scene that is really devoid of tension and devote it to laughter in its own dark, twisted way, and these moments just don't really fit in. Because you are so focused on the suspense, you almost can't even pay attention to the attempted comedy. I think there was a way to make it more natural: Nikki, as infinitely horrifying as she is, could have moments where she's funny because of how creepy and weird she can be. But they never do that. Instead, there are a few comedic beats that just feel out of place within the larger narrative. Besides that, I just don't have much. This was one of the best movies I have seen this year. And it is also one of the scariest movies that I have ever seen. Period. Final Thoughts and Score Curry Barker absolutely delivers with Obsession, an absolutely nightmarish ride through the insecurity of relationships helmed by a breakout turn from Inde Navarrette in one of the scariest performances I have seen in recent memory. I am going Sweet here. Age range is 17+. SWEET N' SOUR SCALE Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible) "Obsession" Fun Factor: 8.5/10 Acting: 9/10 Story: 9/10 Characters: 9.5/10 Quality: 9/10 Directed by Curry Barker Rated R for strong bloody violence, extremely frightening themes and images, language, nudity and sexual content, thematic elements Released on May 15, 2026 1 hour and 39 minutes Michael Johnston as Bear Bailey Inde Navarrette as Nikki Freeman Cooper Tomlinson as Ian Megan Lawless as Sarah Harper Andy Richter as Carter Harper Haley Fitzgerald as Viola Darin Toonder as Harry

From the first. The Boys is a 2019-2026 black comedy superhero TV series created by Eric Kripke, produced by Kripke Enterprises, Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kickstart Entertainment, KFL Nightsky Productions, Amazon MGM Studios, and Sony Pictures Television, and distributed by Amazon Prime Video. The series is based off of Garth Ennis's 2006-2012 comic book of the same name. It stars Karl Urban and Antony Starr. This is the fifth and final season, although multiple spin-offs are in the works. "Thank you for saving me." - Kimiko Miyashiro Plot After Homelander seemingly achieves immortality, the Boys are thrust into a desperate situation as they try to cook up one last plan to save the world from it's self-proclaimed savior. The Sweet I've been behind on my reviews of The Boys (apologies), but I'm back for the final week of the show. We've got one episode left, people. And I am...thoroughly hesitant going into the finale. The penultimate episode of The Boys is a hefty mix of a few great things and some continuing questionable choices regarding the final season of the show. Let's cut right to the chase: this episode kills off Frenchie, a beloved character that has been with us since the second entry in the show. I have very mixed feelings on his death (which we will get to later), but I do think that it gives us a properly emotional send-off to this character. Frenchie has always been the sort-of lovable sweetheart of the Boys. Despite being a clear criminal, he has this enormous heart that is exemplified through his beautiful relationship with Kimiko. Their final exchange does tug at the heartstrings and feels like the appropriately emotional goodbye to this character who we've all loved since season one. Beyond that, this episode has a few good sequences and moments. It feels like Annie has not had anything to do all season, and she finally gets some interesting development that feels earned. She's been very cynical and pessimistic throughout this season, but M.M. finally gets her back to being the hero she has always been by explaining how he got the name "Mother's Milk". The Boys has lacked these endearing moments in the final season, and this one felt earned and satisfying. Annie's lack of purpose throughout this season has also been a huge frustration for me personally, so it was nice to see her finally get back to a bit of true heroism. I also think the banter between Butcher and Hughie was as good as its been throughout the entire run of The Boys. These two are the heart and soul of this show, and in a season as overstuffed as this has been, we've lost some of these quieter character moments between them. After they get captured by the psychics, the two of them get what feels sort of like a final exchange before they head into the finale. We see one of the psychics transform into Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Joe Kessler and expose Butcher as this disloyal psycho - to which Hughie responds by trusting Butcher and distracting the psychic so Butcher can kill him. It's a great little sequence in a vacuum, and I miss that we haven't gotten more of these moments this season. The Sour Unfortunately, I do not have a ton of faith in the final episode of The Boys. Because I haven't posted about The Boys in a few weeks, I just wanted to sort of iterate my feelings on the past few episodes. This season started off incredibly strong but has really faltered since the beginning. Homelander feels more like a source of comedy and cringe than an actual terrifying villain. This season is so set on being a backdoor pilot for the prequel, Vought Rising, that it is exchanging its own story to setup characters like Bombsight and Golden Geisha. And it simply doesn't feel big enough to be a final season. This episode really highlights that last point. We spend almost a full minute watching Sheline and Dogknott sniff each others butts and talk about what they ate for lunch. It's not funny. It's not being satirical. It's just gross-out humor, which we are spending valuable runtime on...in the penultimate episode of the entire series. I don't mind what people complain about as "filler". I think the episode where we highlighted Firecracker and Black Noir and had a few side adventures with the supporting cast was really interesting and added depth and complexity to all of the characters's attitudes and actions throughout the season. What I view as "filler" is the pointless, dumb humor that is taking away from moments where we could be building conflicts and raising stakes. This episode also starts shortchanging all of our villains besides Homelander. The Deep is still in this show for some reason, and he is now scared of the water because all of the fish hate him because of this oil pipeline spill. Samuel L. Jackson vocal cameo aside, this storyline feels like a complete waste of time. Again, it is taking away from building towards a final confrontation between Homelander and the Boys. I don't care about The Deep. He's not meant to be and isn't compelling. He's a pathetic joke of a character and is treated as such throughout the show, so trying to give him some sort of half-baked redemption because he feels bad for killing a bunch of fish in the final two episodes feels forced and unsatisfying. And let's talk about Sister Sage and Soldier Boy. Sister Sage is, in my opinion, one of the worst parts of both season four and season five. The writers of The Boys aren't really good at writing the "smartest person in the world" trope, so she comes off as pretentious and stupid when she's supposed to be a genius. This episode tries to justify her various failures because she miscalculated love as a variable...and I just don't buy it. In any way. You cannot tell me for two seasons that this woman is the smartest person on the planet and then whip out the "she didn't account for love" excuse in the penultimate episode. That is just lazy writing. Why hasn't this problem come up before? Probably because it wasn't convenient for the writers to use it until now. Soldier Boy, on the other hand, is one of my favorite characters in the show, although that's beginning to falter due to his execution in this season. Every other episode, this man switches sides. One minute, he hates Homelander. The next, he's proud of him. The next, he's trying to kill him. The next, he's defending him. The next, he's giving him V-1 because he was in love with Stormfront (which, strangely, hasn't come up until this season. Again, convenient writing). In this episode, he decides to abandon Homelander because he thinks the whole "him being God" thing is ridiculous. That's both true and in character for Soldier Boy. Sure, it's frustrating that he's flip-flopping sides again, but that feels like how he would act in this situation. But then Homelander just chokes him out. And freezes him. Are we serious? Soldier Boy, arguably the second-strongest Supe in the world, gets choked out in a minute and might be done on this show for forever? What a lame way to write Homelander's inevitable betrayal of him. He literally doesn't fight back at all. Let me re-iterate that: Soldier Boy does not fight back when Homelander starts choking him. What has this show turned into? I also hate the inclusion of the characters from Gen V. I get that they are part of this universe and probably should be included, but this show cannot commit to either fully including them or having them be cameos. I have not watched Gen V and I am of the belief that you should not have to watch another show to understand season five of The Boys, but the writers seem to think otherwise. Despite having references to Gen V in almost every episode and having Marie Moreau appear here, The Boys also fails to have them integrated into the plot whatsoever. Marie Moreau, who is apparently as strong as Homelander, shows up to talk to Annie and M.M. for a scene and then basically disappears. So these characters appear enough to confuse people who have not seen Gen V but don't appear enough to satisfy people who have. Nice job, guys. And, finally, let's circle back to Frenchie's death. Again, emotionally, I think this was done fine. But practically? This is an absolute betrayal. Let's look at A-Train's death for comparison. A-Train has an arc throughout the entire show where he slowly starts to doubt Homelander and realize that he can be a hero on his own, without the glitz and glamour of the Seven. He finally got over his fear of Homelander and went on the run with his family. Then, when the Boys need him again, he shows up and confronts the person he's most afraid of. In saving Hughie's life, the person who's life he had ruined by killing his girlfriend in episode one, he loses a bit of speed which causes Homelander to catch up to him. In his final moments, he calls out Homelander for what he truly is: a pathetic baby. In response, Homelander breaks his neck, but it's an incredibly satisfying end for A-Train. It makes sense for Frenchie to sacrifice himself to save Kimiko, but the way it is done is just so poorly executed. Frenchie turns on the uranium thing that they had been testing on Kimiko this entire episode to weaken Homelander and prevent him from finding her. This would be effective if it actually achieved either purpose. They are in a room with an open door. Homelander can just walk out of the room and close the door and then not be affected by the uranium. Or, in turn, Frenchie could walk out of the room and lock Homelander in there so he's stuck and Frenchie lives. Either way, it was completely unnecessary for him to expose himself to the uranium because it doesn't affect Homelander enough and he logistically does not need to be in there when it's turned on. And beyond that, Homelander just leaves after Frenchie turns on the uranium. Homelander. The one who hates the Boys with a burning passion and would like nothing more than to kill or hurt Butcher, Hughie, and Annie in any way. But he finds Frenchie...and just leaves him. He doesn't search further for Sage or Kimiko despite knowing that Sage is there. And he doesn't even kill Frenchie. It makes absolutely zero sense to me that Homelander would not either laser Frenchie or capture him. This is the guy that made the Supe virus that endangered Homelander's life. And he decides to just leave him. That is absolutely illogical to me. And it completely undercuts the emotions that you are supposed to feel when Frenchie dies. Final Thoughts and Score As of right now, this is pretty far and away my least favorite season of The Boys. It feels unsatisfying, rushed, and now illogical. I hope this finale can redeem it, but I don't have a ton of faith. I am going Sour here. Age range is 17+. SWEET N' SOUR SCALE Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible) "The Boys" "The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother's Milk" Created by Eric Kripke Rated TV-MA for strong bloody violence, sexual content, language, frightening themes and images, thematic elements Premiered on May 13, 2026 68 minutes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher Antony Starr as Homelander Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell Jr. Erin Moriarty as Annie January / Starlight Laz Alonso as Marvin T. Milk / Mother's Milk Tomer Capone as Frenchie Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro Chace Crawford as Kevin Kohler / The Deep Susan Heyward as Jessica Bradley / Sister Sage Daveed Diggs as Oh Father Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau London Thor as Jordan Li Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Joe Kessler Zach McGowan as Dogknott Emma Elle Paterson as Sheline

Discover the making of a king. Michael is a 2026 biographical drama film directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by John Logan, produced by Lionsgate Films, GK Films, and Optimum Productions, and distributed by Lionsgate Films and Universal Pictures. The film is based on the life of singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It stars Jaafar Jackson and Colman Domingo. "I believe music can change the world." - Michael Jackson Plot As Michael Jackson deals with his rise to fame, he must learn to balance his growing stardom with his loyalty to his family and the pressures from his abusive father. The Sweet Full transparency: I saw this movie last weekend. I just moved out of college, so, while I have had a lot of time on my hands, I just haven't gotten around to doing this review. I have been meaning to since I saw the film, but I was either being too lazy or just had other stuff I had to do. The other important thing to talk about before diving into this review is my experience with Michael Jackson. I am nineteen years old, so I did not grow up during Michael's heyday or peak or anything like that, but I have always loved his music. I remember my grandpa showing me the Thriller music video when I was a kid, and since then, Michael Jackson has always just been in my playlists and his songs have been a part of my life. I honestly should've had this movie on my most anticipated list, because I was pretty excited for it. Right off the bat, the best thing about this movie are the two lead performances. When you have a pop culture icon like Michael Jackson, it is absolutely crucial to get someone that will nail all of his little mannerisms and things he's known for. It is also nearly impossible, because Michael was such a singular entity within the entertainment industry. The reason he's so iconic is because there has never been and will never be anyone like him. The way he moves. The way he talks. The way he dresses. Everything about Michael Jackson was so specific to himself...and so it was a monumental task to find someone to step into those shoes. If you watch Jaafar Jackson in interviews or just see him in normal life, he doesn't really look or sound anything like his uncle. And yet, when he first appears in this movie, it isn't Jaafar. It's Michael. It's almost creepy how well Jaafar Jackson nails everything about Michael. From the pitch of his voice to the perfect moonwalk to the singing...it's just uncanny. Jaafar Jackson's vocals are blended with Michael's in this movie, which may contribute to some of the uncanniness, but I could not tell when Jaafar was actually singing versus when it was Michael's voice. Keep in mind that I have listened to Michael Jackson for my entire life. I know these songs like the back of my hand, and I could not tell the difference between Michael's voice and Jaafar's. I am just in awe of how well Jaafar disappears into the persona that was Michael Jackson. It is truly, truly incredible. The much more traditional great performance in this movie belongs to Colman Domingo, who portrays Joseph Jackson. Domingo is one of the most underrated actors in current Hollywood. I absolutely adore this guy in every movie that he's in. This may be his best performance that I have seen. Now, I haven't actually seen his two Oscar-nominated performances, but I expect this to be his third. When you talk about a commanding presence...man, does Colman Domingo have one in this film. Everyone who knows Michael Jackson knows that his father was ruthless, but Domingo captures the abuse and the control in such a specific way. He isn't loud and screaming. He's just in control. There's something in his eyes that just flashes when he's angry. There's a way in which he smiles at his kids that you see this man in the driver's seat of this family. Instead of being loud and scary (which many abusive parents in film are), he's deeply, deeply unsettling. There's a psychological fear rather than an inherently physical one, and that is all due to Domingo's masterful portrayal of this horrible guy. You also cannot talk about this movie without discussing the music. A Michael Jackson biopic was also bound to be commercially successful, because Michael Jackson has some of the most iconic and recognizable songs in history. Whether you are talking Billie Jean or Beat It or Thriller or Bad, all of these songs make an appearance in this film. Watching Jaafar perform these numbers as Michael just brings the King of Pop back to life in a way that is impossible in any other medium. Watching the production of the Thriller music video or Michael's iconic performance of Billie Jean where he debuted the moonwalk is just breath-taking. The final performance of Bad that we see in front of a screaming crowd captures what it must've been like to be at a Michael Jackson concert. Michael automatically gets some points for re-creating these incredible moments in music history with such love and delicacy that they feel so real. Michael currently holds a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, and, while I think some criticisms are absolutely valid, the one consistent knock on this movie that I do not agree with is the idea that it plays like a greatest hits movie without any real story. This movie is about the relationship between Michael and Joe Jackson. The film starts with the formation of the Jackson 5 under Joe's domineering eye and follows that thread as Michael tries to escape his father's control through gaining his own autonomy and fame. For these musician biopics, the writers need to pick a specific direction that they are going to go. This is a very specific snapshot of Michael's life that really informs who he was and why his life was so difficult. I think it is absolutely a story that has a true beginning, middle, and end. And I simply don't understand how some of these critics saw it as simply a "greatest hits" reel. Finally, I think this film does present somewhat of a complicated portrait of Michael Jackson. This point is going to be both a positive and a negative, because in some ways, it is a really good portrayal of the why. Why did Michael Jackson struggle with so many controversies and appear so strange in his public life? This movie gives you reason for that. You see how Joe's abuse and constant, dominating presence in his life broke him and made him into a fragile person who never really had a childhood. It humanizes this man who was so larger than life in both his performances and public perception. And that's what good biopics do. The Sour The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Michael Jackson's life is riddled with controversy and difficult, touchy subjects that are not touched upon at all in this movie. Now, that is not the movie's aim or focus. This is a story about Michael's relationship with his father. The primary story of the movie ends in 1984, right at the height of his fame. There's a little epilogue where we see Michael perform Bad in 1988, but the movie does not continue with the story beyond that. Instead, there's a title card that reads "His story continues...", which seems to tease a possible sequel. This is where Michael's portrayal of the titular singer as a complicated figure bothered me. If there is a sequel, which I believe there will be, I would expect that we would dive more into the controversies and the allegations that headlined Michael's later life. So if that does happen, this criticism will become less important. But the fact of the matter is that Michael Jackson is portrayed as this innocent, kind soul who was a victim of his father's vicious abuse. It never shows Michael doing anything wrong. He's wholesome and good-hearted...and I just don't believe that to be an honest portrayal of Michael Jackson. Look, he did do great things. He was a philanthropist and donated tons of money to charity and I don't think that should be ignored. But the sexual abuse allegations are, like it or not, a part of his legacy. And for a movie about his life to completely ignore that or any of his controversies...that just rubs me the wrong way a little bit. It is misleading and dishonest to present Michael as this wholesome figure who did nothing wrong. Whether the allegations are true or not, Michael Jackson did some weird things with kids. He admitted to sleeping in the same bed as underage boys. That's weird. And the movie doesn't even come close to touching on that. Again, if the probable sequel decides to explore the controversies and everything with Neverland Ranch, this will become less of a problem. As it stands, though, this feels like a dishonest portrayal of Michael Jackson because there is nothing even mentioned or hinted at about the allegations. I think Michael also undeniably would've worked better as a miniseries. Michael Jackson's life is incredibly interesting, and there are so many aspects of it that go under the radar when you have to squish everything into a two-hour movie. When Michael has his accident where his hair catches fire, we get about ten minutes of focus on that...and then move on. That was a traumatic accident in his life that informed his likely body dysmorphia and his constant wearing of his hat, but we don't touch on any of that. The brothers, the rest of the Jackson 5, are basically an afterthought. Michael's tense relationship with Jermaine is not touched on in any way whatsoever. And I'm not even saying that these stories and additions to the movie would've made it better: I am saying that there is too much to tackle in Michael Jackson's life across one movie. Hell, there's too much for two movies! We got one movie, and it only covers half of his life! I think musician biopics automatically back themselves into a corner, because so many of these people have such interesting, tragic lives that are turned into Hollywood movies. Freddie Mercury. Bob Marley. Whitney Houston. Amy Winehouse. These are iconic, iconic entertainers who have gotten biopics that are really controversial. Bohemian Rhapsody is not a universally beloved movie because of it's sanitization of Mercury's life. Bob Marley: One Love, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and Back to Black are just afraid to touch on the nastier, darker side of these tragic figures, and Michael has a little bit of that to it. These musicians have so much that happen in their lives, and these movies need to tell it all while also devoting at least thirty minutes of runtime to playing iconic music and showing them creating these songs. It's a tough balancing act that I don't think has really been perfected. Final Thoughts and Score I do think Michael is a good, albeit very flawed, film. Maybe if the sequel touches a bit more on Michael's controversies and gives us the full picture, my feelings on this movie will improve. For now, it's a Savory. Age range is 11+. SWEET N' SOUR SCALE Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible) "Michael" Fun Factor: 8/10 Acting: 9.5/10 Story: 6.5/10 Characters: 7/10 Quality: 7.5/10 Directed by Antoine Fuqua Rated PG-13 for language, disturbing themes and images, thematic elements Released on April 24, 2026 2 hours and 7 minutes Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson Nia Long as Katherine Scruse-Jackson Miles Teller as John Branca KeiLyn Durrel Jones as Bill Bray Laura Harrier as Suzanne de Passe Jessica Sula as La Toya Jackson Juliano Krue Valdi as Young Michael Jackson Jamal R. Henderson as Jermaine Jackson Jayden Harville as Young Jermaine Jackson Tre Horton as Marlon Jackson Jaylen Lyndon Hunter as Young Marlon Jackson Rhyan Hill as Tito Jackson Judah Edwards as Young Tito Jackson Joseph David-Jones as Jackie Jackson Nathaniel Logan McIntyre as Young Jackie Jackson Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones Mike Myers as Walter Yetnikoff Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy

Guess who finally got a ranking. I know, I know. I'm late to the party. The season finale of Invincible hit Amazon Prime a few days back, and I've just had a lot going on with the end of school and The Boys and a few other things I have been trying to cover. I was not able to get a review of the finale of season four out, but you will see my thoughts in this ranking. All four seasons of Invincible definitely have something to offer. Even the worst of this show is still pretty good. But there is a pretty clear ranking in my mind, so here it is. 4. Season 3 An unfocused season that has high highs but struggles with repetition Some people list season three as their favorite, and I just don't really understand that. This season undeniably has some absolutely incredible moments. I love the beginning plot thread where we see Mark turn against Cecil and the conflict that causes within the Guardians of the Globe. Obviously, the final battle with Conquest is incredible. But as a season of TV, I find this to be the most unfocused and repetitive. Even the great elements still feel reminiscent of what came before. As awesome as the battle with Conquest is, it feels somewhat similar to the season one finale. This season is also the one where I found the characters the most frustrating. Mark is angry and angsty throughout, and he often becomes tough to root for. Eve, who was one of my favorite characters in the first two seasons, gets her role basically reduced to being Mark's super-powered girlfriend. Oliver, while sometimes endearing and fun, is incredibly annoying with his constant conviction that he's able to handle the things Mark is handling. It's tough to have the characters in their most frustrating part of their arcs while also having barely any Omni-Man, who, in my opinion, is the best character in the show. This is still a good season of TV, but it did feel like Invincible was losing a bit of the magic here. 3. Season 2 A quieter, more melancholy season that really focuses in on the show's title character Season two of Invincible feels like exactly what it should've been: a much more somber and reflective run that deals with the fallout of Omni-Man's rampage. Mark's anger feels much more earned and compelling in this season than it does in season three, because he's very worried that he's going to turn into his father. Debbie is one of this season's standouts, as we see her try to move on with her life but struggle with loneliness and depression as Mark dives further into his superheroics. To me, seasons two and three blend together because they don't exactly feel like individual stories. I can give you a quick, one-sentence plot synopsis of seasons one and four, but I'd have trouble doing that with two and three. To me, season two feels like a collection of episode that take place sequentially but don't really have a clear beginning, middle, and end. I find the Angstrom Levy stuff to be underdeveloped and rushed in both season two and three, and I think part of that is the awkward structure of this post-season one story arc. Invincible is adapting a long-running comic that is designed as one story, not a bunch of stories split up into seasons. Angstrom Levy is a casualty of the adaptation, becuase we want to focus on the grief and trauma of what Omni-Man did...but we need a villain for Mark to fight in the finale, so he needs to appear once every few episodes to remind us that he's still here. In the comics, that can be spread out through multiple issues, but the pacing of a TV show is different and needs to be a bit more brisk. Again, I still think season two is very good, maybe even great, but it's definitely not the peak of this show. 2. Season 4 An epic continuation of Invincible that sets the stage for the coming conflict After the slight downturn that was those middle two seasons of Invincible, season four starts off with arguably the worst run of the show...and then quickly gets to arguably the best run of the show. This season starts off incredibly slow. The first four episodes (with the exception of episode two) feel like repetitive, uninteresting filler. Mark kills someone and struggles with his fear that he's turning into Nolan. They fight Mr. Liu. The Flaxans return. It all culminates with the critically panned Damien Darkblood episode that is the epitome of how frustrating Invincible can be with its insistence to avoid the Viltrumite storyline. But once we get back to the Viltrumites...oh, man, does this season get awesome. Invincible season four feels like a transition from an Earthbound superhero story about betrayal and identity to a cosmic space war with the highest stakes imaginable. How do you make the Viltrumites more intimidating than Omni-Man and Conquest? You introduce Grand Regent Thragg, the ultimate villain of the story who is miles scarier than any character we've seen in the show thus far. What makes him so scary and thus raises the stakes of the show so much is not his tremendous, seemingly unbeatable strength - it's his genius-level intellect. The finale of season four, while slower and not the epic fight we expected, was a haunting hour that really lets the dread of Thragg's plan sink in. The back half of season four feels like a different show than the first half. The action is visceral and exciting. Mark actually feels like a character again as he has to make important decisions that move him along his arc. Nolan finally gets some spotlight again and really starts to get his full redemption. And the stakes and conflicts are set for the future seasons of the show. 1. Season 1 The perfect subversive superhero story with an absolutely explosive finale For the first half of this season, I didn't really get the hype. I thought Invincible was a fun, albeit relatively normal superhero show. But as the season progressed and we saw more of the dark side of superheroes, it began to sink in. Invincible slowly began to turn into this brutal, often horrifying subversion of what you believe superheroes to be. I read about Invinicible after watching season one and an article I read described it as "What if Superman's idea of good was not what he thought it was?", and I think that fits perfectly. I love the slow-building dread and mystery behind Omni-Man's motivations. Seeing Damien Darkblood and then Cecil and then Debbie slowly begin to piece everything together just creates this looming sense of doom that sends you into the final episode with so much tension hanging in the air. What makes season one of Invincible so great, though, is the final episode. Where I Really Come From is, in my opinion, up there with The Rains of Castamere and Ozymandias as one of the great, shocking episodes of TV ever made. For seven episodes, we've been building to the ultimate confrontation between Mark and Nolan...and it does not disappoint. Nolan's true nature as a cruel, unforgiving conqueror is revealed in an explosive, horrifying action sequence as he beats Mark to a pulp and shows him how insignificant human life is. J.K. Simmons and Steven Yeun deliver two of the best vocal performances I've ever seen in animation. Omni-Man solidifies himself as one of the scariest and most powerful villains in fiction through his sheer beatdown of Mark and easy destruction of Chicago. It just culminates the carefully built tension and unease of the season beautifully, with a tragic, horrific ending that sets up the story of betrayal, identity, and redemption that Invincible is.

The Viltrumites are coming. The finale of season four of Invincible releases tomorrow! It is crazy to think that we've gone through another whole season of this show just like that. Season four has massively expanded the stakes and the world and has given us the best Invincible since the first season. Omni-Man is back as a true series regular, and that just automatically makes the show better. The penultimate episode of the season was possibly the best episode of the show since the finale of season one, so, naturally, I am eagerly anticipating this finale. Here are my predictions. I have not read the comics, so this is purely guesswork. 10. Paul Gets Killed Debbie's boyfriend may not be long for this world Debbie Grayson is possibly the most tragic character in Invincible because of how much her life broke when Nolan revealed himself as a psychopathic conqueror. The only real stable thing in her life is Paul, her real estate boyfriend who she is planning on moving in with. I do believe that Nolan and Debbie will eventually reconcile in some way, but I just don't think Paul can be in the picture when they do. Paul's death could be the catalyst for Nolan to offer some comfort to Debbie, especially if he dies at the hands of a Viltrumite. If he's involved in this episode at all, I just don't think his chances of surviving are very good. 9. Cecil and Nolan Team Up The GDA may have to trust Omni-Man once again One of the most interesting things that we did not get to see when Nolan momentarily returned to Earth was him interacting with Cecil Stedman. Cecil has been on the backburner this season, and I think it would be interesting to see him bend his morals (as he so often does) to once again work with Nolan and defeat this bigger Viltrumite threat. We know that Cecil barely trusts anyone, so it would be really interesting for both of their characters if he had to put his faith in Omni-Man once again. I don't exactly know the context in which this would occur, but I could see it happening. 8. The Guardians of the Globe Get Massacred Brit, Bulletproof, and others are very expendable The Guardians of the Globe are in a strange place right now. Robot and Monster Girl are still stuck on the Flaxan planet. Things are still iffy with their relationship with Cecil. I think with the team this broken apart (and a lot of the remaining members being relatively minor characters), they may be in danger. Black Samson, Shapesmith, Brit, even someone like Dupli-Kate...all of them could be in trouble if we've got a convoy of Viltrumites coming. If just Omni-Man was able to absolutely destroy the original Guardians of the Globe, these Guardians do not stnad a chance against Thragg and the rest of his army. 7. Debbie and Nolan Make Up a Little Mark's parents are likely going to interact again As I said earlier, I think Nolan and Debbie will eventually make up in some way, shape, or form. And, if we're going with the theory that Paul is going to die, Nolan could be there to offer some sort of solace for his ex-wife (although I think they're still technically married). The fact of the matter is that if Omni-Man is on Earth, he will have some chance to reunite with Debbie. We know that that first interaction did not go how Nolan wanted it to, but maybe future interactions could. And I think we could see one of those positive interactions in this finale. 6. Oliver Kills a Viltrumite Mark's energetic younger brother may show how much he's matured Oliver hasn't killed anyone since he gutted the Mauler Twins, but I feel like this is a special occasion. If you want to truly show our Coalition team as having any sort of chance against the Viltrumites, I think it would be cool to see Oliver take one down. Of course, he's young and probably can't, but I think if he can rein in his excitement about fighting and helping Mark out, he could focus his abilites and maybe take one of them out. After learning from Omni-Man in episode six, I think there's a chance that Oliver's training does pay off in this finale. 5. Thragg Decimates Earth The most dangerous Viltrumite is about to show Earth what true pain means This feels like less of a prediction and more of an inevitability. If Thragg is headed to Earth...things are just not looking good for humanity. What Omni-Man and Conquest did to the planet will look like a minor inconvenience compared to what Thragg could do to the planet if he wanted to. The question is not about whether he is able to decimate humanity. The question is whether or not he wants to. I know he likely wants to expand the Viltrum empire, which means he needs humanity, but he doesn't need all of humanity, so I am very fearful for everyone on Earth in this episode. 4. Mark Draws Blood from Thragg Thragg may realize how powerful Invincible truly is Similar to Oliver being able to kill a Viltrumite, I expect we will see some sort of crack in the invincibility (no pun intended) of Thragg. Even if it's as simple as Mark landing a punch on him and drawing blood. There's a zero percent chance that Thragg comes even close to being defeated in this episode, but I do think we could see one small instance of Mark landing some sort of hit on the Grand Regent. And this leads directly into my next point. 3. Thragg Wants to Recruit Mark The Grand Regent may want to add more power to his ranks If Mark is able to draw any sort of blood or actually injure Thragg in any way, I think that will make Thragg even more inclined to recruit him. Thragg is attracted to power, and Mark is undeniably powerful. He did kill Conquest, after all. If Thragg can see Invincible unleashed, his interest will definitely peak. I don't know if he'll try to convince Mark to join him or force him to, but either way, I expect that Thragg will want him on the side of the Viltrumites. This could lead beautifully into season five. If Thragg is trying to get Mark to join him, that would create some very intense and interesting conflicts for this next run of Invincible . 2. There is a Massive Cliffhanger Season four seems to be moving towards a dark, unnerving ending Invincible tends to ends its seasons on a cliffhanger, because it isn't adapting four different stories into four seasons. The comics are one long story without any true resolution built into these season breaks that are created by making it a TV show. So, almost inevitably, this season of Invincible will end on a cliffhanger, but it feels a bit more inevitable and a bit more ominous this time around. We just got to see the true threat of the Viltrum empire for the first time last episode. And they are now heading to Earth. This is headed in some dark, intense places, and I think season four will probably end on the note that it seems to be teasing. 1. Eve Loses the Baby Eve and Mark's unborn child is a major plot line that is still yet to payoff The one plot line that has been teased infinitely throughout this season is Atom Eve's pregnancy. Eve is pregnant with Mark's baby and has considered telling him on multiple occasions, but is yet to. If she has to fight Viltrumites while pregnant, that could mean trouble. Now, Thragg would definitely not want to kill the unborn child of Atom Eve and Invincible, but that might just happen with how brutal this confrontation is going to be. This would be a devastating way for Mark to find out about Eve's pregnancy, and it would add an even bigger layer of emotional conflict for the entire Grayson family and the Viltrumites.

All is ours. Invincible is a 2021-present animated superhero television series created by Robert Kirkman, produced by Skybound North, Wind Sun Sky Entertainment, Skybound Animation, Point Grey Pictures, and Amazon MGM Studios, and distributed by Amazon Prime Video. The series is based off of Image Comics's 2003-2018 comic book series of the same name. It stars Steven Yeun and J.K. Simmons. A fifth season has been confirmed. "Show me." - Grand Regent Thragg Plot With the Viltrumites on the retreat, the Coalition takes the fight to their home planet in a desperate attempt to eliminate Grand Regent Thragg once and for all. The Sweet The turnaround of season four of Invincible is kind of insane. After the low point that was episode four, it feels like this season has just turned into a completely different show. It went from a slow, filler-filled season that felt repetitive and frustrating into an epic intergalactic war with some of the coolest characters we've seen on the show thus far. I wasn't able to review episode six because of the premiere of The Boys last week, but I thought that it was another great entry in this season that continued to give us exciting action and thrilling developments in this war. Episode seven, however, blows the rest of this season out of the water. This is, in my opinion, the best episode of the show since the finale of season one. I have been waiting this entire season to see what the hype surrounding Grand Regent Thragg was. This guy is supposedly the big bad of Invincible , which are some big shoes to fill. He has to be scarier and more intimidating than Omni-Man and Conquest, which is a very tall order. And, after episode seven, I have finally been convinced that he is the ultimate threat that this show has been teasing. People have been criticizing Lee Pace's vocal performance as the Grand Regent of Viltrum, but I think it's just because he's being compared to J.K. Simmons and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Look, Lee Pace is not as good as either of them, but I think his portrayal of Thragg is actually fantastic. He isn't loud. His voice isn't even necessarily intimidating. What is intimidating and terrifying is his consistent calm and almost boredom. He is so much more powerful than anyone else we've seen in the show thus far, and he knows it. All of these other characters are beneath him. He isn't intimidated whatsoever. He's curious. He's thoughtful. He's not the brutal killing machine that Conquest was. He's not the rage-filled monster that Omni-Man was. He has more power than both of them...and he's wildly intelligent. That is a scary villain. This episode is also the most beautiful and well-animated hour of Invincible we've ever gotten...and it's not really even close. There are so many epic, gorgeous shots that feel like truly artful animation throughout this episode. Basically this whole episode is a brutal space war right outside of Viltrum, and that just allows for some incredible visuals. Whether you are talking about the sequence of the Viltrumites all killing each other and blood raining down over Emperor Argall's tomb, the explosion of Viltrum itself, the epic shots of Thragg in the throne room, or the final images of Mark and Nolan floating through space after being defeated, this whole episode is just visually stunning. This episode would be fantastic on a plot and character level alone, but the gorgeous animation just added a cherry on top. I feel like every character gets something awesome to do in this episode. Obviously Mark and Nolan are always the focus of these episodes, and they get plenty of great moments, but this episode truly feels like Invincible 's version of the Avengers assembling. We finally see Mark, Nolan, Oliver, and Allen fighting alongside Thaedus, Space Racer, Tech Jacket, and Battle Beast. The payoff of seeing all of these characters fight a bunch of Viltrumites is just awesome. It makes sticking through those rough first few episodes completely worth the wait. Sometimes, Invincible has these action-packed episodes that focus much more on visceral brutality than actual plot developments. The best episodes are able to have great character moments and plot twists that emerge through the action. This is why the finale of season one is almost impossible to top. This episode gets close, though. By waiting this long to show us Thragg in action, we feel the stakes and danger building. We see how his ideals and control of the Viltrumites really informs how this war will go. There are major consequences here as well. We lose Thaedus. Mark, Nolan, and Oliver are all beaten within an inch of their lives. And, of course, the final cliffhanger reveal as to where Thragg and the Viltrumites are headed is absolutely horrifying. I am terrified for the entire population of Earth. And I cannot wait to see what happens in this finale. The Sour I've got nothing here. This was an absolutely phenomenal hour of TV. I might have a few nitpicks if I thought about it really deeply, but nothing was significant enough to truly take away from my adoration of this episode. Final Thoughts and Score Invincible gives us one of the best episodes of the show with the penultimate entry in season four that sets the stage for an epic, brutal finale. I am going Sweet here. Age range is 16+. SWEET N' SOUR SCALE Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible) "Invincible" "Don't Do Anything Rash" Fun Factor: 10/10 Acting: 9/10 Story: 9.5/10 Characters: 9.5/10 Quality: 9.5/10 Created by Robert Kirkman Rated TV-MA for strong bloody violence, frightening themes and images, language, thematic elements Released on April 15, 2026 58 minutes Steven Yeun as Mark Grayson / Invincible J.K. Simmons as Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man Christian Convery as Oliver Grayson / Kid Omni-Man Seth Rogen as Allen the Alien Lee Pace as Grand Regent Thragg Peter Cullen as Thaedus Clancy Brown as General Kregg Tatiana Maslany as Telia Shantel VanSanten as Anissa Zoey Deutch as Zoe Thompson / Tech Jacket Phil LaMarr as Lucan Winston Duke as Space Racer Michael Dorn as Thokk / Battle Beast Frank Welker as Emperor Argall

Have a super day. The Boys is a 2019-2026 black comedy superhero TV series created by Eric Kripke, produced by Kripke Enterprises, Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kickstart Entertainment, KFL Nightsky Productions, Amazon MGM Studios, and Sony Pictures Television, and distributed by Amazon Prime Video. The series is based off of Garth Ennis's 2006-2012 comic book of the same name. It stars Karl Urban and Antony Starr. This is the fifth and final season, although multiple spin-offs are in the works. "What was I ever afraid of?" - A-Train Plot After Homelander's radical takeover of the United States Government, Billy Butcher and Annie January look to breakout the rest of The Boys from a Vought freedom camp and release the Godolkin Virus to end Homelander once and for all. SPOILERS AHEAD!! The Sweet After a relatively disappointing fourth season, The Boys is back...and more diabolical than ever. It's kind of ironic that The Boys is coming out at the same time as Invincible , because they are the two big alternate superhero stories that are not Marvel or DC properties. That automatically is going to create comparisons between the two of them. One of my main complaints about season four of Invincible is how slow it starts off. Well, The Boys does the exact opposite. There is so much that happens in these first two episodes. It's almost too much...but it's not. From literally the first scene, The Boys establishes the huge stakes that it will be carrying throughout this fifth and final season. All of the characters are in danger. Tensions are at an all-time high. Homelander is the most off his rocker that he's ever been. I absolutely loved how quickly The Boys got the plot going. You want your final season to start out with a bang, and that is exactly what these first two episodes do. These two episodes also get back to the humor that The Boys is known for. Season four leaned too much into the grotesque, shocking side of things that it lost the metaphors and sharp political commentary. Immediately, season five gets back to that. AI as a plot device has become a bit overused in today's day and age, but The Boys brings it in in a very logical and clever way. There's obviously some very gross, nauseating moments as well, but they feel funny and necessary in a way that they didn't in season four. The Boys is at its best when it can balance the comedy and dramatic, huge stakes well, and these two episodes do that beautifully. The first episode is literally all about a rescue mission that will kill three of our main heroes if it goes poorly. Through showing all sides of this rescue mission, we get a sense at where all the characters are at, and it really is setting the stage for what will be an epic final showdown. It is terrifying how much power Homelander has, and he exploits it as much as he can here. The moment that everyone is going to be talking about from this premiere is, obviously, the fate of A-Train. I published my death predictions on Tuesday, and A-Train was pretty high on the list. That was a good choice, because he doesn't even make it through one episode here. He's only in, like, three scenes, but they send him off beautifully. We see how far he's come and how much he's been redeemed. He has finally made peace with his brother. And, after debating whether or not he should go help Annie, he does, saving Hughie's life in the process. His final moments as he berates Homelander and calls him pathetic were just perfect . It felt reminiscent of Nacho Varga's death in Better Call Saul , and I mean that in an entirely positive way. He finally stands up to the force that has been oppressing him and forcing him to do terrible things all throughout the show. In doing so, he dies, but he dies with his dignity, and that's a powerful final note for A-Train's run to end on. The action sequences that we get here are also really fantastic. We get two major set pieces with little fight scenes sprinkled throughout, but having epic fights early in the season just reinforces how fast of a start this has gotten off to. Seeing Butcher with his powers is fun, albeit disgusting, but it also makes for some truly exciting spectacle, because he can now actually match Homelander or Soldier Boy or whoever else. I feel like I've both said a lot and not that much in this review, becuase I feel like I'm just praising The Boys for being The Boys . But that's good. You want your final season to feel like the true final season of your show, and, in its first two episodes, The Boys definitely does. I am very excited to see where this season goes and ultimately lands the ship. The Sour Again, I don't have much to say here. I think that these first two episodes were pretty great. There's a few problems that I have, but most of the issues are just issues with the show in general that are not necessarily specific to these two episodes. I know I said that the gross-out humor was much better than season four, and it was, but it definitely still gets to be a bit too much. There's one specific running gag with a character called Rock Hard (yes, that's his actual name) that just got overused to a point where it was no longer funny and simply disgusting. There's a few other moments that are like that, but again, that's just what The Boys does. It pushes the limits of where you can go with dark, dirty humor. I also think episode two is a pretty significant step down from episode one. It's still a very good episode, but it definitely feels a bit more disjointed and awkwardly paced than the first episode. Episode one balances all of the insanity going on well, and episode two cracks a bit when trying to get all of these plot lines the apt amount of screentime. Hopefully that's not a problem throughout this season. And, finally, this is just a nitpick, but Kimiko talking is just weird. I know that's not even really a negative. But it takes some adjusting to. And I don't know if I've fully adjusted. Just figured I'd point that out here. That really threw me off in these first two episodes, so hopefully it'll settle in and feel more normal throughout the season. Final Thoughts and Score The Boys is off to an absolutely blazing start to the end with a hilarious, high-stakes, and thrilling first two episodes that are properly building towards Homelander's final confrontation with The Boys. I am going Sweet here. Age range is 17+. SWEET N' SOUR SCALE Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible) "The Boys" "Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite" "Teenage Kix" Fun Factor: 9.5/10 Acting: 8.5/10 Story: 8.5/10 Characters: 9/10 Quality: 8.5/10 Created by Eric Kripke Rated TV-MA for strong bloody violence, frightening themes and images, sexual content, language, thematic elements Premiered on April 8, 2026 Episode runtime: 55 minutes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher Antony Starr as Homelander Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell Jr. Erin Moriarty as Annie January / Starlight Laz Alonso as Marvin T. Milk / Mother's Milk Tomer Capone as Frenchie Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro Jessie T. Usher as Reggie Franklin / A-Train Chace Crawford as Kevin Kohler / The Deep Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett Susan Heyward as Jessica Bradley / Sister Sage Valorie Curry as Misty Tucker Gray / Firecracker Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir II Ely Henry as The Worm John Noble as Sam Butcher Dylan Colton as Jetstreak Emma Elle Paterson as Sheline Derek Johns as Love Sausage Ess Hödlmoser as Cindy Omid Abtahi as Sameer Shah Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Countess Crow Andrew Iles as Rock Hard Daveed Diggs as Oh Father

Things are getting diabolical The fifth and final season of Amazon's other hit superhero show besides Invincible begins tomorrow. The Boys has been making its cultural footprint since it first debuted in 2019 with its sharp social commentary and extremely cynical outlook on life. I binged the show a few months back before season five came out just so I could make sure to cover the final season on the blog (also, I've wanted to watch The Boys for forever and just finally got around to it). I am very excited for this final season, and it's pretty clear that nobody is safe. I actually had trouble making this list because almost every character has a reason to die. But here are my final predictions. Let me also say that I am not including characters like Sister Sage or Firecracker on here, because I really wanted this to focus on the main cast. Yes, I know that Sage and Firecracker were big parts of season four, but I honestly expect both of them to die and they aren't very fun predictions. And there are some other characters like that. Every character on this list has been in the show at least since season three, with most being season one characters. 10. Hughie Campbell The moral voice of the Boys is not safe, but not in danger either Hughie is still probably the most innocent character on the show. He started off as this kind-hearted guy who tragically lost his girlfriend because of A-Train's irresponsible drug addiction. This obviously hardened him and turned him into a vigilante, but he still has this innocence to him. His clashes with Butcher are so interesting, because you can see that he deeply cares about him but also fundamentally disagrees with him. As arguably the most morally sound of The Boys, however, he could put his life on the line for Butcher or Annie or Mother's Milk and end up biting it in the process. He seems like the safest of The Boys, but they'll all be in pretty big peril throughout this season, so he still gets a spot on this list. 9. Kimiko Miyashiro She'll finally talk this season - but will she die, too? One of my personal favorite characters in the show is going to get an awesome arc this season. I'm very excited to see Kimiko talk, and I wonder how this is going to affect her relationships with Annie and Frenchie and everyone else. She's always felt like almost the black sheep of The Boys, however, because she joined the group in such a unique way. She's also a Supe, and we know that basically every Supe is in danger because of the virus. She may be a sacrifice that has to get made along the way to stopping Homelander. It would break my heart and Frenchie's heart, but it definitely could happen. 8. The Deep The most pathetic character on the show could have a pathetic end coming There are very few characters in fiction that I both hate and pity as much as The Deep. This dude is just a complete loser, and I think his death would probably mirror that. One of my roommates and I were talking about who we think is going to die in season five earlier today, and I told him if Deep dies, it'll be something stupid, like choking on crab legs or having an allergic reaction to something. A pathetic, worthless death for this character would be befitting...but I could also see him actually getting rid of his insecurities and weirdness and standing up to Homelander before kicking the bucket. Either route works for me. The former would be funny, and the latter would be emotionally satisfying. Either way, I think Deep has about a 50% chance of surviving this season. 7. Annie January Killing another one of Hughie's girlfriends is mean, but all supes are in danger this season I'm not exactly sure how they would kill Starlight in a satisfying way, but I think it could definitely service both her character and Hughie's. In the same way that Eleven's death services Hopper in Stranger Things , having Hughie deal with losing another girlfriend would force him to confront his full arc. Everything would come full circle if Annie died. She is also arguably the character that Homelander hates the most besides Billy Butcher. And she's probably the most powerful member of The Boys because of her abilities and her cultural influence. She could be framed as a sort of martyr if she dies that would allow the world to turn on Homelander. 6. Frenchie The Boys's main engineer has been dealing with demons for a while, so a sacrifice may be due I think Frenchie is probably the second most likely person to sacrifice himself (we'll get to the most likely at the top of this list). This guy has been dealing with his guilt about working for Little Nina for a while. He has trouble believing himself to be a good person. What better way to prove that you're a good person than sacrificing yourself for the person you love most? If Kimiko is in true danger, Frenchie would throw himself in the line of fire to save her. And, if you want to kill off a member of The Boys early to establish stakes, Frenchie is probably the character you could get away with doing that to. 5. Stan Edgar Vought's master of puppets is probably toast If we are going to get a true Homelander takeover this season, there can be no one standing in his way. And Stan Edgar is standing in his way. Edgar has always been this overarching presence that threatens Homelander with his influence and control over Vought and the media. With Vicky Neuman now gone, Edgar can reclaim his powerful status. Homelander inevitably won't like that, so unless there's an unexpected team-up here, I expect this to go pretty poorly for ol' Stan. Homelander is not going to want to be controlled by anyone, so if Edgar exhibits any attempts to do so, I think retaliation will come. 4. Soldier Boy The first supe is probably not making it out of this season Season five is bringing back one of the highlights of the best season of The Boys , and I also do not expect him to be long for this world. As I've said earlier in this ranking, no Supe is safe because we know that this season will deal with the highly dangerous virus that The Boys are trying to use to kill Homelander. Soldier Boy seems like he's too powerful and too associated with Homelander to make it out of this season alive. The Boys will either try to take him out early or Homelander will cease trusting him and kill his own father. With a show like The Boys , most of the villains have to die to have a satisfying ending. Soldier Boy is undoubtedly a villain, so I just don't see a scenario where he lives. 3. A-Train The slowly redeemed villain may end his run on a heroic note I was honestly considering throwing A-Train in the number one spot, because based on the marketing, he seems like the most likely to die. He hasn't been featured heavily and has been wearing the same outfit in basically every shot that he's in. That's a bad sign. It'd also be a powerful final moment of redemption for him to stand up to Homelander and complete his full arc from villain to hero. I also think anyone who has opposed and embarrassed Homelander as much as A-Train has is just automatically in trouble. I expect him to go early and brutally. Like, I think he could be toast in the first two or three episodes. Even if he doesn't, I definitely do not think he's making through this season at all. 2. Homelander The world will only be truly safe is Homelander is in the ground I do not think The Boys could end in a satisfying way if Homelander lives. Sure, they could completely subvert expectations and have him lose his powers and survive or something like that...but I just don't really see that happening. This is one of the greatest, most evil, and most hated villains in all of TV. Seeing him die would inevitably be one of, if not, the most satisfying moments on The Boys . Sure, sometimes you want to avoid taking the obvious route, but c'mon. Everybody wants to see Homelander dead. And it just doesn't feel like the world we be entirely safe if he was at all alive. So I definitely expect The Boys to succeed in their mission and end Homelander's reign of terror once and for all. 1. Billy Butcher Butcher's fate has been expected for multiple seasons at this point The only reason that Butcher is higher than Homelander is because it is basically all but confirmed that he's going to die. At the end of season three, he was given months to live after taking too much of the temporary Compound V. It also feels like his hands are just too dirty for him to survive. If there's anyone that's going to go out while taking out Homelander, it's Butcher. He's going to need to get Ryan out of Homelander's clutches to honor his promise to Becca before he departs. If Butcher somehow survived, I think it would feel like a cheap cop-out. They've been building to his death for, like, a season and a half at this point. There's just no way he makes it out. If Homelander is going to die, it pretty well seems like Butcher is gone, too. But we shall see starting tomorrow!

After all this time? Wow. It is finally here. I have covered the HBO Harry Potter series a bit on the blog - when it was first announced, I gave my thoughts, and as more castings have come out I've talked about them. But I don't think anyone who has read my blog has fully understood how much I love Harry Potter . I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when I was seven years old. I grew up on these books and these films. I'm currently listening through the full-cast audio editions of the books on Audible. I've been to the theme parks at Universal. I've been to the studio tour in London. I was Harry for Halloween one year. I sleep below a gigantic poster of Hogwarts in my room. This series is an absolutely enormous piece of my life, and when they announced this TV show, I was over the moon. Since it's announcement, this has been one of my most anticipated movies/shows in the forseeable future. I'm actually going to do something I've never done before on this blog: a full trailer breakdown, because there's A LOT to talk about here. So let's start at the beginning, shall we? Number Four, Privet Drive The Boy Who Lived's nasty aunt and uncle make themselves known in this trailer One of the things that immediately struck me with our first look at Harry's life at the Dursleys was really how much they are sticking to the books. Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw definitely look more like how Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia looked in the books, but you can see some moments in these first few seconds that are pulled directly from the pages. Seeing Harry at school being bullied by Dudley was an amazing touch. The books give us a few glimpses at Harry's school life, and I am so excited to see those moments brought to live-action. Aunt Petunia cutting Harry's hair is also snatched directly from the books. It's just a great way to show the faithfulness they are showing right off the bat. It also struck me how different this felt tonally. The Dursleys have always sort of been cartoonishly cruel, and, while I do get that vibe from the trailer, there's a bit more darkness and realism here. The cupboard under the stairs looks less like a comfy little room and more like a dark prison cell. Petunia's snarl and angry cutting of Harry's hair feels a lot meaner than I expected, and I think that automatically create more sympathy for Harry. So I was all for this little opening with the Dursleys. The one thing I will say is that 4 Privet Drive looked strikingly similar to the films. This isn't really a good or a bad thing, but it felt like everything, from the orientation of the house to the wallpaper, was ripped straight out of the movies. The Keeper of the Keys Nick Frost brings Rubeus Hagrid to life once more After we see Harry's Hogwarts letter, we cut to him on the London Underground with none other than Rubeus Hagrid, everyone's favorite half-giant. Harry tells Hagrid that he's always wanted to know about his parents, and we get some absolutely incredible and somewhat heart-wrenching cinematography as Hagrid tells him about Lily and James. I love the way the camera focuses on Harry's eyes and then moves up to the iconic lightning bolt scar on his forehead. It's a way to show him as Lily's son and then remind us as to why Harry is an orphan. But let's talk about Hagrid. If there's one aspect of the trailer that I'm not crazy about, it is Hagrid. Now, look, this is a teaser trailer. We literally hear Hagrid say one line and we get, like, four shots of him. I like Nick Frost as an actor. I actually think he'll do a great job, but something just feels a little bit...off. Robbie Coltrane is obviously so iconic and embodies the role so perfectly, and I feel like Nick Frost's version is immediately giving off a bit of a parody-type feel to it. Maybe it's something with the hair or the costume, but it just doesn't exactly feel like Hagrid to me. His voice also sounds a bit normal for me. Hagrid is supposed to be this gruff-sounding giant with a booming voice...and when he talked, he just sounded like Nick Frost. And, look, maybe his take on the character will work for me when I see it in the actual show. He definitely has Hagrid's warmth and lovability, so I think he will win me over. But based on what I saw in the trailer, I was just a bit hesitant. Boarding the Hogwarts Express Harry prepares for his journey and sees the Weasleys for the first time I did realize that this trailer hits the beats of Philosopher's Stone (the TV show is calling it that so I am too) pretty well. Right after we leave Hagrid, we move to Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express. I want to take a second to talk about two things that I absolutely loved here. First off, the cinematography is, again, gorgeous. Just look at this image above. That perfectly captures what Harry should be feeling in that moment. It's a sad yet hopeful image as Harry gazes out to see his future best friend among his family, an experience that he, Harry, has never known. And let me take a second here to talk about Dominic McLaughlin. I remember Chris Columbus (director of Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets ) described Daniel Radcliffe in his auditions for the first film as having a "haunting quality" that made him the perfect fit for Harry Potter. Well, I have great news: so does Dominic McLaughlin. Through the two minutes of him that we get in this trailer, I am absolutely sold on him as the person to step into the massive shoes of Daniel Radcliffe. Harry Potter is my personal favorite fictional character of all time. I can't put into words how much just he as a character means to me. Seeing McLaughlin nail every quality of Harry's, whether it be the somberness, the politeness, or the wonder at the Wizarding World, was a little emotional, to be honest. Again, I'm really holding off judgment on anything until the show comes out, but based on this first glimpse...this kid is going to absolutely knock it out of the park as the boy who lived. I'll talk about Ron later, but I did love this quick glimpse that we see of him with Molly and Ginny. You can automatically see Molly as a caring mother as she hugs Ron goodbye. Again, I love that shot of Harry looking out at them with a sort of desperation. We really don't see much of Ginny besides her reflection in the window, so I can't say much there, but this was a good tiny taste of the Weasleys. Arriving at Hogwarts The castle has a familiarity to it...but also looks noticeably different We then get a montage of shots of the arrival at Hogwarts. I'm actually glad that we did not see the exterior of the castle in this trailer. The reveal of the castle with the boats rowing across the lake is one of the most iconic moments in the series, so it really should be skipped in all marketing. Save that one for when the show comes out. I love the immediate interior of the castle. You can see in the shot above that it does feel like the Hogwarts that we saw in the movies, but it also has some differences that make it stand out. One thing you can immediately see throughout this trailer, especially when they arrive at Hogwarts, is that this show is going to be darker than the movies. The books are darker than the movies, so if they are going for more faithfulness, then darkness is a great way to go. While Philosopher's Stone is an inherently whimsical and fun adventure that does not possess the darkness of the later entries, there is a lingering somberness to the whole thing, and it really feels like the trailer captured that tone. We get our first look at Professor McGonagall as well as the Sorting Hat in this little montage. Janet McTeer is probably my favorite casting of the main Hogwarts staff. I think she looks great and will do great. The Sorting Hat definitely looks a little strange - it's black, which was unexpected, and it looks less beaten-up than I would assume, but I don't really care. That's not a big enough detail for me to be bothered by it. The shots of the rest of the castle are just incredible. It looks as grandiose and epic as you'd expect. The classrooms look fantastic . The greenhouses specifically are just a gorgeous set. We also get one quick glimpse of Neville Longbottom (which I am just noting here quickly) and he's adorable . I cannot wait to spend more time in these environments. Pair that with Anton Lesser's voiceover as Ollivander saying "Mr. Potter. I think we can expect great things from you," as well as the swelling score, and this just feels like exactly what I wanted to see. The Golden Trio Harry, Ron, and Hermione are one hundred percent back And there it is. Our first shot of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. With Luke, Leia, and Han, the greatest heroic trio in all of fiction (in my opinion). We really don't get a lot of the three of them together in this trailer, so I'm more going to use this section to talk about Ron and Hermione. Ron Weasley might be my favorite aspect of this trailer. He is, in my opinion, the thing that the show can improve on most. Ron is good in the movies. He's a good character. But he is so, so much worse than his book counterpart. They skimmed over so many of his complexities and gave so many of his incredible moments in the films to Hermione...so the show has a chance to redeem that. And, by the looks of it, it will. Alastair Stout and Dominic McLaughlin already have clear chemistry, and Stout's atittude and smile throughout the trailer just radiates Ron Weasley to me. The way that Ron and Harry unwrap the Nimbus 2000 and then jump up and down is just so perfect. I cannot wait to see that duo together. And now let's talk about the brightest witch of her age. Hermione Granger is, of course, one of the best characters in both the books and the movies. While Janet McTeer might be my favorite casting of the older cast, I think Arabella Stanton is my favorite of the younger cast. As I said earlier, I've been listening to the Audible full-cast audio editions of the books, and Stanton voices Hermione in the first three. She is perfect . Her voice acting fits Hermione beautifully, and you can tell from the glimpses of her in the trailer that her facial expressions and mannerisms will also fit Hermione perfectly. The most important part of this show is, without a doubt, these three young actors and these three characters. I have absolute faith that Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton will kill it as these three. But I also want to say this: if they don't, guess what? It's okay. They are kids . They are taking on three of the most beloved and popular characters of all time with monumental expectations. The world can be a nasty, horrible place, and Harry Potter is a way to escape from that. If you are reading this - do not let the nasty, horrible side of the world affect these actors. They have the opportunity of a lifetime, and they should absolutely be protected at all costs. This Little Jerk I already hate Draco Malfoy Oh, Malfoy. This is another piece of perfect casting. Lox Pratt is noticeably older than the rest of the actors, so his presence sticks out in the trailer. Draco Malfoy is immediately unlikable, and I love to see that. We actually see him with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson, and they just look great . Malfoy has a smug look on his face as they whip out their wands. Crabbe and Goyle look fantastically oaf-ish. We literally get a half-second shot of them, so I don't have much to say, but off of the first glimpse, they look great. Quidditch The wizarding sport is teased but not shown After seeing Malfoy and some other shots of the trio, we get to the Quidditch pitch, where we see the Gryffindors taking on the Hufflepuffs, a match that was not in the movies but is in the books. I love the Quidditch uniforms. I think the teaser image that was put out before the trailer that shows Harry's name on the back of his robes looks great. The one thing I don't love here is the broomstick. It looks pretty ugly from this one glance, but again, I don't care that much. It's a flying broomstick. It will be cool no matter how it looks. Alright - Let's Talk About It Paapa Essiedu's Severus Snape has been the most talked-about aspect of this show Listen. I love book accuracy. And if you are upset because you genuinely wanted Snape to be completely book accurate...fine. But I am also willing to let go of the books if I think the show has something better planned. Paapa Essiedu is a great choice to play Snape. He's a great actor, and he fits the role as the type of actor that he is. Does he look like how Snape is described in the books? No. But guess what? Severus Snape is a fictional character. Race has nothing to do with his character. And if Essiedu, a black man, is the best person for the role, then he should be Snape. This isn't some agenda that HBO is pushing. This isn't a DEI hire. Essiedu is a great actor, and he will make a great Snape. Watch his Hamlet soliloquiy. Then come back and complain about his casting. And, by the way, I also believe that most people who are mad about this casting are mad because they have some inherent racial bias (consciously or subconsciously), not because they care about book accuracy. I've heard arguments like "Everyone would be mad if they cast a white Black Panther", which is completely invalid, because Black Panther's race matters to his character . And the death threats towards Essiedu...like, c'mon, guys. That's just disgusting. Also...look at him! He looks awesome! He is absolutely giving off Snape vibes, but in a different way than Alan Rickman. Let me also say that Alan Rickman's Snape is basically untouchable, and Essiedu will differentiate himself in a way that will make it feel like a different version of the character. People are saying they wanted Adam Driver to play this role, but Adam Driver would've just been a lesser version of Rickman's performance. He looks more like him and acts more like him, but Essiedu can bring a different (possibly more book-accurate) interpretation of the character. Alan Rickman wasn't a perfect adpatation of the character, so why does skin color make or break how you feel about it? The Only One He Ever Feared Albus Dumbledore gets one quick appearance right before we get the title card John Lithgow's Dumbledore is one of the things I'm most anticipating in this show. First off, Lithgow is the only American actor who has been cast in a major role in the show or the movies. Not that that's a big deal, but I just find it notable. They got the half-moon spectacles. His hat is goofy in a perfectly Dumbledore way. He's holding a tuning fork for some reason. He looks great. Just like the rest of this show. I cannot wait to see what he does with the role. The Title Finally, everyone gets to watch this story under the same name This is the most minor of satisfying things from this trailer, but I love that they are sticking to this being called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . J.K. Rowling wrote it as The Philosopher's Stone . As Americans, it's always been The Sorcerer's Stone for us, but I'm glad that we are getting rid of that and making this the definitive title. I'm also glad that we're using the book titles. I expected this just to say something like HBO's Harry Potter , but we are getting the actual book titles, which is awesome. And arguably the most exciting thing about this trailer...Christmas 2026! This show comes out this year! I cannot wait. It's going to be an insane few months as we get more marketing and more excitement coming from the Wizarding World. A new era is truly beginning. And I just can't wait to go back to Hogwarts.