Stubs - Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Florence Pugh, Tramell Tillman, Marisa Tomei, Mark Ruffalo Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Screenplay by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers. Produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad, Rachel O'Connor Run time: 145 minutes. Color. USA. Superhero

Note: This review contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

It may seem like this is a little late in the run to be reviewing Spider-Man: Brand New Day¸ but there’s a reason for that. Brand New Day arrived at theaters with really big box office with hype to match. Sometimes, that can be kind of off-putting, and we had other things to do this summer.

The sequel comes five years since Spider-Man: No Way Home, and does and does not try to fill in the years that have passed. As you recall at the end of No Way Home, everyone, including MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), has forgotten Peter Parker is Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and while MJ and Ned have gone on to college together, Peter has stayed behind and continued his vigilante crime-fighting. We see Ned and MJ’s lives through social media posts, but what Spider-Man has been doing is not so well documented, including run-ins with Mac Gargan / Scorpion (Michael Mando) and working with and against another vigilante, Frank Castle / Punisher (Jon Bernthal).

Batman: Hush

Back in 2002, DC published Batman: Hush, a famous twelve-issue story arc by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee that depicts a mysterious stalker named Hush sabotaging Batman from afar. In 2019, this storyline received an animated adaptation of the same name as part of the DC Animated Movie Universe, a series of connected films split into two arcs, the first one based on the “New 52” version of the DC universe. Batman: Hush released near the end of this first arc, though I didn’t know that going in when I watched an old recording on a DVR. I also hadn’t read the original comic, which helped me enjoy the film a lot more, although my vague knowledge of Hush as a character did give me a mixed feeling on the end result.

Coyote vs. Acme

If you’ve followed news around the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery, Inc., chances are you’ve heard about president/CEO David Zaslav’s controversial decisions to shelve a number of projects in 2023 for the sake of a tax write-off. While Bat-Girl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt were mostly completed at the time of this decision, there was severe backlash from both the internet and the larger film industry over the decision to write off Coyote vs. Acme due to it being already fully-completed. In response to the backlash, Warner Bros. Discovery eventually reversed this decision with the intent to sell the distribution rights to another company. Eventually, it went into the hands of Ketchup Entertainment (distributor of The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie), whose promotional campaign for the long-awaited theatrical release included throwing a lot of shade at Warner Bros. Discovery for wanting to write it off, as well as an early screening during San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year. As a show of support for the movie, I made sure to see it opening weekend and found it to have been worth saving.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Wii)

Despite the gameplay difficulty of the original Sonic Riders, it was enough of a hit to warrant a sequel in 2008, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Zero Gravity). Like the first game, it received a multiplatform release, but skipped the Xbox platform entirely. Since I had previously sold the PS2 version I had as a kid, I eventually re-bought the game through the Wii version due to price and availability, as part of a desire to play though the Riders trilogy for the first time. On finally being able to see it through, I found this game to be an improvement over the original in many ways, creating what I thought was a more fun experience overall.

Buddy (2026)

Although horror is not necessarily my favorite genre, this theatrical year has ended up more horror-heavy for me than in previous years thanks to some more unique premises and the presence of a recognizable name or IP. Of all the horror films on my radar this year, however, few had me more intrigued than Buddy, the theatrical debut of Casper Kelly, the mastermind behind Adult Swim Yule Log and, more famously, Too Many Cooks. The premise of a horror spin on children’s shows alone caught my attention, but the casting of Keegan-Michael Key and the knowledge that Kelly had created it sold me, as I had faith that he could do the concept justice through his unique lens. As the release date drew nearer, and the more I saw of the rather clever marketing campaign, my anticipation grew, enough that I made the effort to drive to a theater further away than usual just to catch a morning showtime on opening day. While the final film wasn’t exactly the same experience one might expect if they were only familiar with the viral Too Many Cooks, it’s nonetheless very Casper Kelly and felt very much worth the extra effort.

A Celebration of 1800 Reviews

Below is a list of links to every review from 1701-1800, broken up every 25 links for easy navigation. Each review will also be color-coded as such: Movie, Video Game, Comic.

1-300. A Celebration of 300 Reviews

301-400. A Celebration of 400 Reviews

401-500. A Celebration of 500 Reviews

501-600. A Celebration of 600 Reviews

601-700. A Celebration of 700 Reviews

701-800. A Celebration of 800 Reviews

801-900. A Celebration of 900 Reviews

901-1000. A Celebration of 1000 Reviews

1001-1100. A Celebration of 1100 Reviews

1101-1200. A Celebration of 1200 Reviews

1201-1300. A Celebration of 1300 Reviews

1301-1400. A Celebration of 1400 Reviews

1401-1500. A Celebration of 1500 Reviews

1501-1600. A Celebration of 1600 Reviews
1601-1700. A Celebration of 1700 Reviews

1701. Lilo & Stitch (2025)
1702. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle
1703. Elio
1704. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
1705. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
1706. The Sound of Music
1707. Tron: Catalyst (PC)
1708. Tron: Ares
1709. Me & My Katamari
1710. Beautiful Katamari (+ DLC) (Second Look)
1711. Katamari Forever
1712. Touch My Katamari (Second Look)
1713. Frankenstein (2025)
1714. Little Nightmares III (PS5)
1715. Fobia Vol. 1
1716. Silent Hill f (PS5)
1717. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
1718. Odds Against Tomorrow
1719. Once Upon a Katamari (PS5)
1720. I Wake Up Screaming
1721. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution (GBA)
1722. The Big Steal
1723. Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: At a Confessional
1724. Dispatch (PC)
1725. Armored Car Robbery

 

1726. Sonic Heroes (Xbox)
1727. Larceny, Inc.
1728. Zootopia 2
1729. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (Film)
1730. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)
1731. Miracle on Main St.
1732. Tron RUN/r
1733. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) (PS3)
1734. O. Henry’s Full House
1735. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) (PS3)
1736. Blast of Science
1737. Blackmail (1929)
1738. One Battle After Another
1739. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
1740. Megadeth: Behind the Mask
1741. Anvil! The Story of Anvil
1742. Return to Silent Hill
1743. Iron Lung (Film)
1744. Samaritan
1745. They Call It Sin
1746. Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
1747. Mission: Impossible
1748. Mission: Impossible 2
1749. Star Fox
1750. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

1751. Mission: Impossible III
1752. Hoppers
1753. Star Fox 64 3D
1754. Star Fox: Assault
1755. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
1756. Star Fox Command
1757. Star Fox Zero + Star Fox Guard
1758. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
1759. Starlink: Battle for Atlas (+ DLC) (Switch) (Second Look)
1760. TMNT (2007)
1761. Super Mario Galaxy (Switch)
1762. George of the Jungle
1763. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
1764. God of War: Sons of Sparta
1765. Exit 8 (Film)
1766. Mercy (2026)
1767. Le Ballet Mécanique
1768. Devil May Cry 2 (Second Look)
1769. The Devil Wears Prada
1770. The Devil Wears Prada 2
1771. The Sheep Detectives
1772. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
1773. A Farewell to Arms
1774. Toy Story (Second Opinion)
1775. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (PC)
 

1776. Toy Story 2 (Second Look)
1777. Mortal Kombat II (Film)
1778. The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act 
1779. River City Girls 2 (PS5)
1780. Toy Story 3 (Film)
1781. Toy Story 3 (Game) (PS3)
1782. Toy Story 4
1783. Toy Story 5
1784. John Wick
1785. Supergirl
1786. 007 First Light
1787. John Wick: Chapter 2
1788. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die
1789. Deltarune Chapter 5
1790. Moana (1926)
1791. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
1792. Descendants: Wicked Wonderland
1793. John Wick: Chapter 4
1794. Ballerina (2025)
1795. The Odyssey (2026)
1796. Mortal Kombat (1995)
1797. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender
1798. Dr. Who and the Daleks
1799. Sonic Riders
1800. Citizen Kane (Second Look)

Movies: 67 (1,161 Total)
Video Games: 32 (562 Total)
Comic Books: 1 (29 Total)
DLC: 0 (26 Total)

Book: 0 (1 Total)

Stage: 0 (1 Total)

Stubs: Citizen Kane - A Second Screening

Citizen Kane (1941) Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead. Directed by Orson Welles. Screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles. Music by Bernard Hermann. Produced by Orson Welles. Run Time: 119 minutes. U.S. B&W Drama.

There is a real difference between watching a film on home video and watching it in a theater. This recently happened to me with Citizen Kane, which recently was part of a Fathom Event, celebrating its 85th anniversary. I had previously reviewed the film for this blog, based on watching it on disc. I won’t go through the history of the film, or a detailed synopsis, please see the previous post for that.

Classic Hollywood films, of which this would definitely count, were made to be seen in theaters and that is really the only way to get the full experience filmmakers intended. While I had seen the film several times, I did get a different appreciation for it, seeing it in a theater.

We were treated before the film with an introduction by Leonard Maltin, the well-known film critic/historian. In his prologue, he lauded Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made. That’s a high honor to lay on something and the only way to prove that is to watch the film.