Author Archives: Keith Garlington

First Glance: “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” Final Trailer

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Those of you who aren’t rabid Star Wars fans like me, please indulge me for a moment. We’re only a few weeks away from Star Wars returning to the big screen for the first time since 2019. “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is the duo’s next chapter following three seasons on Disney+. And while we have already been treated to one teaser and one full trailer, it looks as if director Jon Favreau has saved the best look for last. Yesterday we got the film’s final trailer and it is exactly what I was looking for.

The latest trailer gives Star Wars fans plenty of cool things to soak up. We see Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young Mandalorian apprentice Grogu enlisted by the New Republic to hunt down remnants of the Galactic Empire. But it looks like they get in over their heads with Imperial warlords, gangsters, and fellow bounty hunters. The trailer shows off the franchise’s signature locations, some thrilling action set pieces, and a vast collection of characters who I can’t wait to see on the big screen.

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” soars into theaters on May 22nd. Check out the final trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

REVIEW: “Normal” (2026)

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In “Normal”, Bob Odenkirk plays Ulysses, but not the guy who undoubtedly first comes to mind when you hear that name. No, his Ulysses is a recently separated middle-aged man who arrives in the sleepy town of Normal, Minnesota to serve as the interim sheriff following the sudden passing of the previous one. But it doesn’t take long for Ulysses to realize that Normal is anything but what it’s name implies.

Directed by Ben Wheatley, “Normal” is the latest movie in what seems to be a growing wave of genre cocktails. And I’m happy to say it is one of the better ones. “Normal” is full of surprises, from its terrific assemblage of great characters to its free-wheeling gory violence to its insanely wacky sense of humor. It never shortchanges any of the three, making this an interesting, action-packed, and routinely funny 90-minute romp.

Image Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Ulysses is an easygoing lawman who fills various sheriff vacancies around the country without rocking the boat. His plans for his eight-week stint in Normal is to hold the fort down until the upcoming special election. While there, he encounters an entertaining assortment of locals, starting with his two chief deputies, the unintentionally goofy Mike (Billy MacLellan) and the overly ambitious Blaine (Ryan Allen). Both help to get Ulysses acquainted with his new constituency.

But his deputies only scratch the surface when it comes to the lively residents of Normal. The town’s smarmy Mayor Kibner (a very funny Henry Winkler), a razor-tongued barmaid named Moira (Lena Headey), and the late sheriff’s rebellious daughter Alex (Jess McLeod) are just a few who make up the film’s colorful and comical collage of characters. Wheatley has a blast with them, especially once his movie takes an especially bonkers and bloody turn.

The snowy Normal itself is not unlike so many other small American towns – vacant buildings, no industry, dwindling population, etc. Still it has its small-town personality which comes from its people. But not everything in Normal is as it seems. In fact, almost nothing is. And this vividly comes to light when a harmless, down-on-their-luck couple attempt to rob the town’s bank. It triggers an avalanche of twists involving a vault full of loot, the Yakuza, and an interim sheriff who has to sort it all out.

Image Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

“Normal” is penned by Derek Kolstad, the screenwriter of the first three John Wick films and Odenkirk’s two Nobody movies. In “Normal”, Kolstad combines the stylish ultra-violence of “John Wick” with the amusing subversiveness of “Nobody” to tell a story that could easily fly off the rails if not for its hilarious self-awareness. Wheatley handles the rest – serving up a taunt and punchy buffet of B-movie thrills and kills. And Odenkirk is the perfect centerpiece, matching dead-on deadpan with go-for-broke physicality.

And as I said above, “Normal” is full of surprises. Whether it’s the story’s many wild and wacky turns or the deliciously brutal bursts of blood-spraying violence, it routinely hits us with swings we never see coming. Wheatley does a great job holding it all together. He sustains a wildly entertaining pace while finding a nice balance between well-timed comedy and hardcore action. And the aforementioned self-awareness turns out to be an essential ingredient in this proudly preposterous and unabashedly excessive genre feast. “Normal” hits theaters April 16th.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

New on Home Video: Steven Spielberg: The Spotlight Collection

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Universal Pictures Home Entertainment partners with Paramount Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in putting together an extraordinary limited edition box set highlighting eight defining films from the career of visionary director Steven Spielberg. Only 5,700 units of this incredible collection will be available and sold exclusively on Amazon. The packaging features an 8-Slot SteelBook Library Case with each film getting its own individual 4K SteelBook.

Steve Spielberg: The Spotlight Collection includes these iconic movies: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and War of the Worlds. In addition to presenting each film in sparking 4K Ultra HD, The Spotlight Collection also features over 25 hours of bonus content across the eight titles. This is truly the ultimate box set for Spielberg fans and cinema lovers.

Steve Spielberg: The Spotlight Collection will be available on 4K Ultra HD and will include Blu-ray and digital copies. Preorders begin April 14th with the full release following on June 9th. See below for a full details of the box set including a list of special features.

About the Films:

JAWS (1975)
Cast: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
Screenwriters: Peter Benchley & Carl Gottlieb
Based on the Novel By: Peter Benchley
Music By: John Williams
Director: Steven Spielberg

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Francois Truffaut
Music: John Williams
Visual Effects: Douglas Trumbull
Director of Photography: Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC
Writer and Director: Steven Spielberg

E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
Cast: Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas
Music: John Williams
Director of Photography: Allen Daviau
Screenwriter: Melissa Mathison
Director: Steven Spielberg

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott
Music: John Williams
Screenwriter: Lawrence Kasdan
Story By: George Lucas & Philip Kaufman
Director: Steven Spielberg

JURASSIC PARK (1993)
Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, B.D. Wong, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards
Music: John Williams
Based on the Novel By: Michael Crichton
Screenwriters: Michael Crichton & David Koepp
Director: Steven Spielberg

SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle, Embeth Davidtz, Małgorzata Gebel
Music: John Williams
Based on the novel by: Thomas Keneally
Screenwriter: Steven Zaillian
Director: Steven Spielberg

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
Cast: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Jeremy Davies, Dennis Farina
Music: John Williams
Director of Photography: Janusz Kaminski, ASC
Screenwriter: Robert Rodat
Director: Steven Spielberg

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005)
Cast: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Tim Robbins
Music: John Williams
Director of Photography: Janusz Kaminski, ASC
Based on the Novel By: H.G. Wells
Screenwriters: Josh Friedman & David Koepp
Director: Steven Spielberg

Special Features:

Jaws

  • JAWS @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
  • The Making of JAWS
  • The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of JAWS
  • JAWS: The Restoration
  • Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
  • From The Set
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Galleries 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

  • Includes all 3 versionof the film (Theatrical Version, Special Edition, Director’s Cut)
  • Three Kinds of Close Encounters
  • Steven’s Home Videos & Outtakes 
  • Steven Spielberg: 30 Years of Close Encounters 
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Making of Documentary 
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Watch the Skies 
  • Deleted Scenes 
  • Storyboard Comparisons 
  • Extensive Photo Gallery 
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Original Theatrical Trailer 
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Special Edition Trailer

Raiders of the Lost Ark

  • Teaser Trailer 
  • Theatrical Trailer 
  • Re-Issue Trailer

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 

  • 40 Years of E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
  • TCM Classic Film Festival: An Evening with Steven Spielberg
  • The E.T. Journals
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Steven Spielberg & E.T.
  • A Look Back
  • The Evolution and Creation of E.T. 
  • The E.T. Reunion 
  • The Music of E.T.: A Discussion with John Williams
  • The 20th Anniversary Premiere
  • Designs, Photographs, and Marketing
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Special Olympics TV Spot 

Jurassic Park

  • Return to Jurassic Park: Dawn of A New Era
  • Return to Jurassic Park: Making Prehistory
  • Return to Jurassic Park: The Next Step in Evolution
  • Archival Featurettes:
    • The Making of Jurassic Park
    • Original Featurette on the Making of the Film
    • Steven Spielberg Directs Jurassic Park
    • Hurricane in Kauai Featurette
  • Behind The Scenes:
    • Early Pre-Production Meetings
    • Location Scouting
    • Phil Tippett Animatics: Raptors in the Kitchen
    • Animatics: T-Rex Attack
    • ILM and Jurassic Park: Before and After the Visual Effects
    • Foley Artists
    • Storyboards
    • Production Archives
  • Theatrical Trailer

Schindler’s List

  • Schindler’s List: 25 Years Later
  • Voices from the List
  • USC Shoah Foundation Story with Steven Spielberg (2008)
  • Let Their Testimonies Speak – Stronger Than Hate
  • About iWitness (2018)

Saving Private Ryan

  • An Introduction
  • Looking Into The Past
  • Miller and His Platoon
  • Boot Camp
  • Making Saving Private Ryan
  • Re-Creating Omaha Beach
  • Music and Sound 
  • Parting Thoughts
  • Into the Breach: Saving Private Ryan
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Re-Release Trailer
  • Shooting War

War of the Worlds

  • Revisiting the Invasion
  • The H.G. Wells Legacy
  • Steven Spielberg and the Original War of the Worlds
  • Characters: The Family Unit
  • Previsualization
  • Production Diaries
  • Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens
  • Scoring War of the Worlds
  • We Are Not Alone
  • Galleries
  • Theatrical Teaser Trailer

REVIEW: “The Drama” (2026)

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Sitting down and watching a movie that you know nothing about can certainly have its advantages. I know several people who go out of their way to avoid trailers and TV spots just because they prefer to go into a movie blind. That’s essentially what I did with “The Drama”. I knew some of the basics, but mostly I had no idea what to expect. As a result, I think the film played better for me than it would have otherwise.

I say that because it’s not hard to figure out where this combustible relationship drama is heading. But it’s the character work, rooted in writer-director Kristoffer Borgli’s screenplay and in the nuanced performances of co-leads Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, that gives “The Drama” a compelling psychological edge. Not everything ends as organically as it begins. But it works thanks to Borgli’s serious approach to storytelling and his willingness to let things get messy.

Image Courtesy of A24

Charlie Thompson (Pattinson) is a museum curator. Emma Harwood (Zendaya) is a bookstore clerk. The two meet in a Boston café and quickly hit it off. A short time later they are engaged to be married. But one seemingly harmless game with friends threatens to derail what looks to be a beautiful relationship. From there the majority of the “The Drama” plays out over the course of the turbulent week before their scheduled wedding.

The turning point for Charlie and Emma comes during a late-night dinner with their best friends, Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie). After a few too many drinks, the four play a game where each share the worst secrets from their pasts. I won’t spoil what Emma’s confession is, but it troubles to entire group to the point of driving a wedge between them. Rachel and Mike go as far telling Charlie he should leave Emma. But he’s unsure of what to do. And soon his fiancée’s secret becomes a destructive obsession that Charlie can’t shake.

Borgli uses his scenario to make a number of interesting observations about relationships. The essential nature of trust, the limits of forgiveness, the need of acceptance – they all come more into focus as Charlie and Emma try to hold things together. They put on the best show they can as they meet with their wedding photographer, dance coordinator, DJ, florist, and so on. But back home, it’s another story. Emma regrets ever saying anything and desperately wants to forget about it. But the increasingly paranoid Charlie’s fixation has him constantly bringing it up.

Image Courtesy of A24

As everything spirals, we repeatedly hear the word “empathy” spoken yet it becomes clear that neither Charlie, Rachel, or Mike have any. Instead all three are quick to cast their own harsh internal judgments about Emma which they can only hide for so long. Meanwhile Emma keeps certain details bottled up which adds to the pressure. It all leads to several volatile face-to-face reckonings which steadily intensifies the drama (no pun intended). It makes for a compelling, provocative, and morally complex anti-romance.

“The Drama” does have its issues. We end up getting a series of cliché-riddled flashbacks to Emma’s high school years that simply don’t work as intended. This is also one of those movies where it feels as if everything could have been averted with just one open and productive conversation. Still, it’s hard not to lose yourself in the messiness of Emma and Charlie’s crumbling relationship. That’s because Borgli views it through an honest and incisive lens while the formidable performances from Zendaya and Pattinson is the glue that holds it all together.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “They Will Kill You” (2026)

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Director Kirill Sokolov pulls from a wild assortment of influences to craft his new film “They Will Kill You”. It’s a genre fever dream, custom made for the midnight movie crowd, that is equal parts action, horror, and comedy. It’s a fast-moving and hyper-stylized extravaganza of blood and guts, with the kind of cinematic gusto to keep its audience onboard, even as the grindhouse glee starts to wear off.

There is very little in “They Will Kill You” that we haven’t seen before. And that feels strange to say considering how bonkers things get. Sokolov and his co-writer Alex Litvak throw together enough lore to get by, most of which bears a strong resemblance to the “Ready or Not” films. It too has a tough-as-nails female protagonist, a confined single location setting, rich and entitled elites, and a deranged satanic cult.

Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The difference with “They Will Kill You” is in how gonzo it’s willing to go. Sokolov takes some absurdly wild turns and it ends up working in the movie’s favor. So much so that it becomes easy to look past the familiar premise because you’re having so much fun amid the genre-blending chaos. And it doesn’t hurt having Zazie Beetz, whose physically demanding, go-for-broke performance impresses from the very first moment she appears on screen.

Beetz plays Asia Reeves, an ex-convict who arrives in New York City in search of her younger sister, Maria (Myha’la). Ten years earlier, Asia was arrested and sent to prison for shooting their brutish father who routinely abused Maria. Now she’s out and has tracked her sister to a towering co-op building in Manhattan called The Virgil. Posing as the new maid, Asia is greeted by the building’s superintendent, Lilith Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette) who immediately shows our hero to her room.

We learn that The Virgil was built in 1923 and is occupied by a number of pampered elites and a large staff of servants. The creepy building also has a dark supernatural history – something Asia becomes acquainted with after a group of robed intruders slip into her room late at night while she’s sleeping. But to their surprise, Asia is no damsel in distress. And as they try to apprehend her, she furiously fights back with fantastically gory results.

From there movie barrels forward, bouncing us from one blood-bathed action sequence to another. The story introduces a bumbling devil-worshipping cult consisting of “an unusual family with rather unusual needs”. But they mostly exist for the occasional laugh and as fodder for the force of nature that is Asia. And honestly, that’s perfectly fine considering the action is the film’s bread and butter. And it is ferocious, frequently tipping its hat to “Kill Bill”, “John Wick”, “Evil Dead”, and more.

Image Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The supporting cast is a lot of fun, most notably the comically sinister Arquette and a hysterically gonzo Heather Graham. But this is Zazie Beetz’s show, and she pours every ounce of herself into her performance. She’s not only fiercely charismatic, but also genuinely menacing in large part due to the intense physicality she brings to the role. She adeptly sells every vicious slash, every plunging stab, and every double-barreled blast.

“They Will Kill You” does pepper in a few themes dealing with race and class disparity. But as with most of its story, it never goes deep enough to matter. And though it tries, the movie never lands the second-half emotional punch it’s going for. About the only narrative beat that stands out is the deliciously off-the-rails ending which embraces absurdity in ways you won’t see coming. It fits nicely with the breakneck, gore-fueled action that makes this entertaining romp worth seeing.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

First Glance: “Mutiny”

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Like clockwork, you can count on getting a new Jason Statham movie every year. And while many of them follow the same basic blueprint, they usually all feature the same ingredients that fans of the 58-year-old action star crave. That’s certainly the case for Statham’s latest action thriller “Mutiny”. This time he teams up with director Jean-François Richet for what looks to be another bullet-flying, bone-cracking good time.

For many, the story of “Mutiny” will ring strikingly familiar. Statham plays another former Special Forces soldier keeping a low profile after being framed for a crime he didn’t commit. While working private security on a cargo freighter, he discovers a human trafficking operation with powerful military connections. Like any good hero he fights back, using everything he has at his disposal. The first trailer lays out the fairly by-the-book story. But it’s the kinetic action sequences and Statham’s steely charisma that make this a film to see.

“Mutiny” swings its way into theaters on August 21st. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.