Exit 8 (Film)

When the independent Japanese game The Exit 8 (JP: 8番出口) by Kotake Create was released in 2023, it made a big splash on the indie game landscape, inspiring numerous other games to put their own spin on its unique anomaly hunting mechanics. This popularity would eventually lead to it getting a Japanese live-action film adaptation, titled Exit 8 (JP: 8番出口), directed by Genki Kawamura, in 2025. The existence of the film adaptation intrigued me even as someone who hadn’t played the game but knew about it, more so when distributor Neon gave it a limited (sub-only) US theatrical run earlier this week. Not knowing when I’d have another chance to see it, I managed to secure tickets for the most convenient screening within my area and found it to be well worth the effort.

God of War: Sons of Sparta

Note: The review contains spoilers for God of War: Sons of Sparta and God of War: Ghost of Sparta. 

The God of War series is no stranger to having canon installments developed by other studios outside of Santa Monica Studio, but not a full original console game. Such is the case with God of War: Sons of Sparta (Sons of Sparta), a PS5 exclusive co-developed by Mega Cat Studios, the studio behind Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit. Unusually for the series, let alone for its high profile, the game was shadow-dropped on the PlayStation Store during the February 2026 PlayStation State of Play. Although the release was sudden, I still got the game on release day, though it took a while to finish due to my own personal endurance. Upon completing it and reaching the post-game, I thought it was a worthy entry in the series, but not without some questionable design choices.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

The success of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, grossing over $1 billion on a $100 million budget, would naturally justify a sequel, announced one year later and released in 2026. Despite animation studio Illumination’s track record for the inconsistent quality of their output, I still enjoyed The Super Mario Bros. Movie (in spite of its flaws) and felt growing hype as the sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, drew closer, enough that I finally played the original game that it was based on, Super Mario Galaxy. Although some skepticism and negative critic reviews popped up during the lead-in to the film’s release, I felt that I should see first-hand how it shaped up compared to the original. Unfortunately, for every enjoyable element, there is something that holds it back from greatness.

George of the Jungle

Back in 1967, ABC aired George of the Jungle, one of Jay Ward’s most famous creations, which lasted 17 episodes (thanks to the animators regularly going over budget) and spawned some legacy media of its own. One of these was a film adaptation, George of the Jungle (GOTJ), which started life as a spec script called Gorilla Boy that parodied Tarzan. Disney would buy this spec script and have it rewritten into GOTJ (fitting, since the original cartoon was itself a parody of Tarzan). The final film released in 1997 and, in spite of the mixed reception, would more than earn its $55 million budget back with a final box office tally of about $174.4 million. I myself had vague memories of watching it as a kid, though not in a theater, and recently found myself curious about it again while revisiting the original cartoon. One stream through Disney+ later and while I can see how many children of the 90s would have more familiarity with this incarnation than the original, as well as fond memories, I found it less than stellar watching for the first time through adult eyes.

Super Mario Galaxy (Switch)

Back in 2007, Nintendo released Super Mario Galaxy (Galaxy), an early release for their explosively popular Wii system and the third 3D platformer in the Super Mario series. During its lifetime, it sold nearly 13 million copies on its original platform and continues receiving critical praise, even against other modern Mario titles. Although I had heard about the game for nearly two decades, including comparisons made against other games like Sonic Lost World, I got hyped enough for the release of a 2026 film adaptation, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, that I decided I should finally play the game and express my thoughts on it as the first Mario game reviewed on this blog. Fortunately, I can confidently say that it lived up to the hype, though Mario’s journey through the stars wasn’t entirely a smooth one.

Before continuing, I want to firmly establish that this review is based on the Switch version of the game as presented in Super Mario 3D All-Stars (which I played through a physical copy) and played with a Switch Pro Controller (due to suspected JoyCon drift). As such, I will not make any comparisons with the original Wii release or the later Switch compilation re-release with Super Mario Galaxy 2.

The version used for this review.