Month: November 2026

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of November 2, 2026

Wild Horse Nine
Rated R for sexual references, pervasive language, drug use and some strong violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
In Theaters
Martin McDonagh has made some of the most memorable dark buddy movies of our generation. It pleases me to tell you that Wild Horse Nine will be a welcome addition to the list that includes In Bruges, The Guard and The Banshees of Inisherin, when it comes to this sub-genre which McDonagh has mastered like no other. In this new story, the year is 1973 and two CIA agents, played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, are sent to Easter Island by their bureau chief, played by Steve Buscemi. Their mission is largely unclear, but we know that they both have checkered pasts, and if you know your history, you will be aware that a coup is about to happen in Chile which will have long-ranging consequences for South America and the world. But the movie is not about the coup. It’s about the characters, and these characters are so well-written with performances that should put both lead actors in contention for hardware this awards season. Most of us already love Malkovich and Rockwell to death, so seeing them come to life in these roles can only be described as the sweet spot. And with McDonagh’s writing and directing, the film is as sharp and witty as you can possibly imagine. The production is also top notch with a perfect score from Carter Burwell and incredible cinematography from Ben Davis, both of whom who have worked many times with McDonagh on other projects. These guys know how to make a spectacular movie and the chemistry between the crew and cast is impressive here to say the least. While it’s a tough year to compete, especially with The Odyssey and Dune 3 set to dominate, Wild Horse Nine might just sneak in and surprise many an award show this year. A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of October 26, 2026

Wicker
Rated R for sexual content, language and brief full nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
In Theaters
This adult fairy tale tells the story of a fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) in a small village by the sea. Every day she catches fish and then sells them to the villagers while she is ridiculed for the odor of her trade and her loneliness, since she hasn’t taken a husband. Then she gets a bright idea and pays the local basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) to make a husband for her. His creativity and artistry come up with a beautiful and sweet man made of wicker (Alexander Skarsgård) who has been put on Earth to make her happy. But this sets off a wave of anger and jealousy from the townspeople who do not think she deserves this gift, and they begin to covet a creation of their own. Not since 2000’s culinary creation Chocolat have we seen such an adult-focused fairytale to sink our teeth into. Here, writer/director team Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson create a lovely little story, very specifically designed for an adult audience. In this case, the relationship, and the overall story arch, is based on sexual loneliness. The new wicker husband meets the needs of the fisherwoman that she didn’t even know she had. And then he fixes the roof. He is the perfect man. Every woman in the village is jealous of her, and every man has now seen his shortcomings. Most of this is done in a very comical way with some very big laughs and even some uncomfortable smaller ones. This is a dark comedy for sure, and the tone does change, as you’d expect, but it never loses its heart, and it manages to capture your imagination throughout. If you can avoid seeing the trailer beforehand, I would advise it. You will pretty much know the entire story from the two-minute preview. The story remains pretty simple and highly dependent on the premise. But the performances are extremely enjoyable, and the movie is terrific for a date night, as long as your date has a slightly adventurous sense of wonder and humor. B+

Popcorn Perspectives

Week of October 12, 2026

NAZA
Unrated
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
In Theaters
From the Oscar-winning team of Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who brought us 2024’s documentary No Other Land, comes this sobering account of the Israeli strategy of their war with Gaza, told directly from the mouths of soldiers. The Hebrew military acronym NAZA refers to collateral damage and in this case, the documentarians interview 24 IDF intelligence officers to discuss their methods of killing Hamas leaders using drones and missiles. The interviews are all done on the rooftops of high-rises in Tel Aviv, in the dark, to protect their identities, and for good reason: Netanyahu has already begun trying to track down these whistleblowers in order to prosecute them. Their stories are absolutely haunting and heartbreaking. In each case, they admit that their strategy included killing children. If the intended kill was one Hamas leader and fourteen members of their family would be killed also in the process, that would be considered fifteen NAZA, which was completely acceptable. They freely admitted that their tactics were to kill them at their homes, with their families, and they used their children many times to know when they would arrive home by listening to their phone conversations and waiting for them to excitedly yell “Daddy is Home!” The film is rather short at 80 minutes, but the weight is incredible. There is a constant attitude from the operatives that something had to be done after the events of October 7, but you could hear it in their voices and their stories that they were committing the very acts that were committed against them in WWII. And while most audibly showed remorse, you would have to assume that it was felt by all in order for them to have the bravery to tell their stories, knowing that it could land them in prison, or worse, if they were ever found out. This is certainly not an easy film to watch, but it will change you profoundly, regardless of what your thoughts on the subject are currently. A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of October 5, 2026

Digger
Rated R for pervasive language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 51%
In Theaters
Just a few weeks ago, Digger was at the top of the Oscar predictions, showing the film to be competitive in all categories including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Tom Cruise) and Best Supporting Actor (John Goodman). But then people saw it, and instead of placing bets on the prediction markets, they found themselves scratching their heads. For the first act, you get exactly what you think you are going to get if you had watched the trailer. Then you get the first indication that this is not going to be a straightforward film. I normally hate spoilers. But if it’s a matter of a little spoiler and you not watching a film at all because of bad reviews, I’d rather clue you in, just a little. And since the movie got destroyed at the box office this week, this will let you know why I think the reviews have been unfair. So here’s the twist. At the second act you discover that the whole story is inside the tech rehearsal for a play. Tom Cruise is just an actor playing Digger. The supporting cast are mostly just extras in a big-budget stage production. For many of the critics reviewing, this is where things went sideways and they just weren’t able to get past the shock. I think many were expecting Citizen Kane or Dr. Strangelove, and then this happened. Personally, I expected a film like that also, but I felt I got it. The film does move through your brain in weird ways that are hard to process in the moment. I believe that it is supposed to linger in your head so it can grow on you, which is precisely what it did for me. When we critics leave a theater, we are usually given a comment card where we are asked to give our immediate opinion. Many times, we sit in the lobby and discuss what we just experienced. For Digger, this might have been a bad thing. Writing down your opinion for the studio immediately upon exiting the theater sometimes locks it in and might not be in the best interest of the marketing department. When I saw it, I was the only person in the theater and there was no one to ask me about it afterward. I left thinking “well that was just odd.” But then I started to digest it and put it together. What started as a neutral or even negative opinion developed into something else entirely. I started to understand what director Alejandro González Iñárritu was trying to tell me, and I loved it. It’s like taking in a complex piece of art in a museum. If you just walk by and glance at it, you won’t appreciate it. But when you sit down and take it in properly, things have the ability to start coming together. I think that this film is a misunderstood masterpiece that may or may not find an audience, depending much on whether or not folks actually give it a chance. A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of September 14, 2026

The Weight
Rated R for language, some violence and bloody images
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
In Theaters
In this decent little indie, Ethan Hawke plays a down on his luck veteran who is sent to a work camp after a regretful altercation. Wanting nothing more than to return to his daughter, he strikes a deal with the corrupt warden, played by Russell Crowe, to smuggle gold bricks through the Oregon wilderness. So along with a few other prisoners, they set off on a dangerous journey in order that he might have a chance at seeing his child again. While Hawke has been in his fair share of bigger budget films over the years, it’s indies like this that he really digs into and there’s a good reason why – he’s really good at playing unconventional characters that don’t usually exist in bigger pictures. There’s nothing particularly great about this project in regard to story or production, but Hawke manages to give you something worth caring about in a flawed character with bad fortune. While Crowe has second billing, his part is relatively small. But he doesn’t just phone in the role, which helps the project in the few minutes he’s there. You could call this an action film, but it’s the drama and performance that become most memorable. And in this pre-fall movie season, it might just be a film that catches a small but entertained audience. B

American Doctor
Unrated
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
In Theaters
Getting a small theatrical release is this documentary about three American Surgeons who travel to Gaza to help with medical efforts to save lives from the massive amount of violence being committed upon the Palestinian population. Part medical drama and part cry for help, the movie gives a compelling look at the atrocities being committed while still focusing on the resolve to not give up hope. It is a very challenging film and one that made me more mad than sad. At only 90 minutes, the movie is quickly paced and drives to show you the dire outlook without being unfairly judgmental. But be aware that the film seems to exist mainly to show you the last remaining minutes, which will tear you apart as you bear witness. Likely to get an Oscar nomination this year, if not a win, this film is as gripping a motion picture as you will see all year. A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of August 24, 2026

The Dog Stars
Rated R for language and strong violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 38%
In Theaters
Based on the best-selling novel by Peter Heller, The Dog Stars takes place after a flu pandemic has wiped out most of the Earth’s population. A young man with an operable plane (Jacob Elordi) finds solace in taking his dog, Jasper, on various supply runs and scouting missions in the Denver area, only to come back home to his crotchety compound mate Bangley (Josh Brolin). But when he hears a voice on his radio coming from Grand Junction, Colorado, he dreams of escaping to see what else is out there. There’s a beauty to the first act of the film that is quite compelling. While danger presents itself, it’s the survival and loneliness that are most impactful. It’s really easy to like the two main characters and you quickly understand their relationship and its complexities. But when our hero leaves for Grand Junction, the film gets weird. And then it gets weirder. For the first half you see random bandits who try to infiltrate the camp. They call them “roaches” and they behave exactly in that matter. When they start to show up in numbers, they are less a tribe and more of a thoughtless hive mind bent on senseless violence and destruction. I thought this to be way too literal and a poor choice for the screenplay (and if it was in the book this way, then the source material was faulty). But then in the third act, things just take a turn for the surreal and this is where I really had to question if what we were seeing was actually happening or a dream. I’m all for odd twists and turns, but the third act just didn’t make sense to me at all. It was like a silly action film rather than a post-apocalyptic nightmare. I appreciated the injection of Guy Pearce and Margaret Qualley into the story. Their presence added much more legitimacy than you would expect, but their subplot and their actions seemed misaligned with the overall narrative. In the end, I’m not sure if this was a missed opportunity or just a book that didn’t need to be made into a movie. If director Ridley Scott can’t do it right, I’m not sure who could. This makes me think that the filmmakers had immense difficulty trying to visualize what they were reading on the page. C

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of August 17, 2026

The End of Oak Street
Rated PG-13 for some strong language, bloody images, some strong violent content and suggestive material.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
In Theaters
Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway play a young couple trying to raise their family in a suburban American neighborhood. They have their little problems and fights, but they are forced to become a tighter-knit unit when one night a mysterious cosmic rip occurs and their neighborhood is transported to prehistoric times where dinosaurs begin to torment their streets. There’s not much to this film when it comes to surprises or story. If you watch the trailer, you get what you think you’re going to get: a quick roller coaster ride full of ancient reptiles and big scares. Thankfully, the movie really delivers. It jumps right into the thick of the plot rather quickly, and once the action hits, it rarely lets up. None of it really makes any sense, and honestly, you don’t need it to. This is supposed to make you dream up a scenario of what would happen if dinosaurs tormented your home, and for the most part, it really works. There are some dumb character choices, but at least they all lead to fun exchanges, and the plot holes are easily ignorable. Production-wise, the movie is way better than it should be, with a gorgeous score from Michael Giacchino (Up) and
terrific special effects, both digital and practical, which use our modern understanding of what dinosaurs looked like, rather than what we saw from 1993’s Jurassic Park and its subsequent chapters. The movie probably isn’t going to get much attention in a summer full of huge over-performing tentpoles, but it’s a nice light diversion that is both frightening and fun. B