Arts & Entertainment

Summer Movie Preview

by Clara Dicks

Disclosure Day

Steven Spielberg’s newest movie (his last came out four years ago) will be arriving in theaters June 12. The much anticipated sci-fi film starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Conner, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and Eve Hewson is probably one of the most talked about films of the year. I’m super excited for this and I think it’s going to be really really great.

Supergirl

The new DCU started off amazingly with Superman (2025) last year and now we’re going to get its sequel with Superman’s amazingly reckless and deeply traumatized cousin, Supergirl. The film is releasing on June 26 and it stars Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, and Jason Momoa. The trailer looks interesting and creates a really interesting characterization for Kara. I’m very excited and I just know that this franchise will be a jugernaut in the future.

The Death of Robin Hood

What I believe will be the most interesting Robin Hood movie in… well, years, will be releasing on June 19 and starring Hugh Jackman as Robin Hood, as well as Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgard, Murray Bartlet, and Noah Jupe. Robin Hood is an interesting character and I’m very excited to see a darker and more morally ambiguous take on the classic story.

Masters of the Universe

I’ll admit, when I first heard they were making a He-Man movie, I had… a lot of opinions. Most of them involving the words “money grab” and “nostalgia trip.” And then I saw the trailer and I am signifigantly more excited. Backed by an amazing director and writer and starring Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Jared Leto, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, and Morena Baccarin, it will be released on June 5.

Toy Story 5

The Toy Story franchise has not failed us yet and I don’t believe it will start now. The main cast is returning, along with adding Conan O’Brien, Greta Lee, Craig Robinson, and Shelby Ramara, and it will be released on June 19. Adding to the buzz is a new movie-tie in song from Taylor Swift. I do deeply enjoy the Toy Story movies and Pixar hasn’t historically made many bad movies, so I have high hopes.

The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated Odyssey adaptation will be released on July 17. It has one of the best ensemble casts I’ve ever seen, with Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, among many others. I am a big Greek mythology fan and Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors, so I’m really excited to see this. This is the first movie to be filmed entirely in IMax, which is cool.

Evil Dead Burn

The famous Evil Dead horror franchise certainly has an interesting history, doesn’t it? Starting in 1981 with an X rating and now one of the most famous horror franchises, including previously holding the record for most amount of fake blood used in a movie, at 36,000 gallons (until Iron Lung overtook it this year with 80,000). The newest addition to this franchise will release on July 9 and will star Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, and Hunter Doohan.

Spider-Man Brand New Day

Possibly the MCU’s most beloved character left off the last movie in a rather rough spot and left many fans desperate to know what happens next. On July 31, we will finally find out. With much on the main cast returning, Jon Bernthal will also appear as the Punisher, Michael Mando as Scorpian, and Tramall Tillman and Sadie Sink in unspecified roles (although I have my own theories about who she’ll play).

At the End of Oak Street

Previously a film fan mystery under the title of Flowervale Street, this movie caused many movie fans such as myself a headache, resulting in hours of theorizing and wondering. There were some crazy theories (look into the Flowervale Cloverfield thing) but now some of the mystery has been solved and we’ll finally have all the pieces of the puzzle on August 14. It will star Anne Hathaway (who is in quite the demand this year), Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, and Christian Convery.

The Dog Stars

This looks to be the summer of sci-fi, now including Ridley Scott’s newest, based on the novel by the same name by Peter Heller. Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Guy Pearce, and Benedict Wong will star in the sci-fi post apocalyptic thriller releasing on August 28. I have some really high hopes for this and it looked really interesting in the trailer.

Coyote versus Acme

Previously famous for its complex cancellation, which left many fans disappointed, this movie that was previously thought to never see the light of day will finally release on August 28. It stars Will Forte, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, John Cena, PJ Bryne, Martha Kelly, and Luis Guzeman, as well as Eric Bauza playing many of the Looney Toones characters.

Hope

I don’t know if I’m the only one interested in this movie, but to all my fellow fans of South Korean movies, the director of The Wailing will return at an as of yet unspecified date this Summer in his newest sci-fi thriller, starring well known Korean actors Hwang Jung-Min, Zo In-sung, and Jong Ho-Yeon, as well as Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, Taylor Russall, and Cameron Britton. It is releasing in the summer in South Korea and here in America in the fall

Project Hail Mary : Film Review

by Clara Dicks

The art of the cinematic alien. A staple of the industry since 1902, with the groundbreaking Trip To The Moon. And aliens can be put in any genre. Romance? They’re usually not too good, but they happen. Action? You got War of the Worlds, Alien, The Edge of Tomorrow, and Super 8. Horror? Predator, Cloverfield, and A Quiet Place. Comedy? Monsters Vs Aliens, Men In Black, Galaxy Quest, and Paul.

And the types of aliens vary, too. You've got evil aliens in The Faculty, Independence Day, No One Will Save You, and The Thing. You've got good aliens in Starman, Contact, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and ET. You got aliens that are harder to categorize, like in Arrival, Annihilation, Distract 9, and The Day The Earth Stood Still (the original from 1951, not the remake from 2008). You want aliens? We got aliens.

And now we have Rocky from Project Hail Mary, the best sci-fi movie of 2026, in my humble opinion. Delightful characters, incredible effects, and one of the sweetest film friendships in the past decade. Grace and Rocky are amazing. So let’s start on the review, shall we?

First off, we have Ryan Gosling being absolutely perfect as usual. He’s just so sweet and kind, but you can see the pain in his character until Rocky shows up. He’s alone, and he doesn’t hide the loneliness. And the cool thing with Rocky is that he’s not CGI, he’s a puppet, and the head puppeteer is his voice actor too. So that’s cool. I love practical effects in movies, especially nowadays. And all the characters are so fun and well fleshed out. The effects are utterly incredible. There’s this one scene where… well, I’m not gonna say what it is because spoilers, but just trust me on this. It’s beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It’s a wonderful scene.

Another thing I liked about it is that I read the book and it’s so book accurate. Some dialogue is word-for-word. And a thing with the book is that they use all the science talk. All of it. Every bit of it. Andy Weir, the writer, has a bit of a reputation for his obsession with scientific accuracy in his sci-fi. And as great as the book is, I couldn’t understand all the science jargon. The movie cuts most of it out, which I didn't mind, probably because the screenwriter and directors knew it would confuse everyone who isn’t a scientist or science teacher. And speaking of the writing and direction, both are great. Really, all in all, this is a great movie, and you definitely should watch it. Pick up the book, too!

The Sheep Detectives

by Clara Dicks

Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? They’ve been a staple of the movie industry since the dawn of film. And the modern murder mystery is an interesting thing because at this point, we all know the tropes, we all know the rules. So the modern murder mystery has to subvert what you know. Knives Out has a larger-than-usual ensemble cast, all with their unique motivations, and all have something to hide. Glass Onion gives you an obvious suspect and decades of deep-seated hatred. Wake Up Dead Man heavily focuses on the past of both its suspects and its victims. Zodiac and Memories of Murder are based on true stories. Enola Holmes uses the rarely seen female detective. See How They Run has comedy, and Missing and Searching make use of the internet for a fascinating new emerging genre in movies.

And now we have The Sheep Detectives, which took the murder mystery genre and used it to create a heart-warming story of found family, how to accept the truth no matter how much it hurts, and obviously a lot of sheep. The main cast stars Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Bryan Cranston, and Chris O’Dowd as the main three sheep, and features Bella Ramsey, Rhys Darby, Patrick Stewart, Regina Hall, and Brett Goldstein as some of the background sheep. Other notable actors like Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Emma Thompson, Tosin Cole, Kobna Holbrock-Smith, and Conleth Hill are featured as our fascinating cast of suspects, as well as the ever-amazing Hugh Jackman as our murdered shepherd, George. Everyone does such a good job, especially the voice cast.

The characters are so well fleshed out, especially the suspects. We've got the rival shepherd, the angry town butcher, the innkeeper with a grudge, the priest to whom the victim owed a debt, the victim’s newly-arrived daughter, the victim's lawyer, the slightly moronic but good-hearted police officer, and the charming news reporter. And the victim. Oh, dear, George. You know he’s going to die, but they really make you love him by fleshing him out so deeply. There's a tragic backstory, a deep love and understanding of his sheep, and a good man who gets murdered.

This is definitely a movie to see. The visual effects are also so good. It takes a lot of work to animate realistic-looking emotions on sheep. Plus, the film is a family-friendly murder mystery, which is really hard to pull off. But the whole idea of the sheep being the detectives and the lack of blood and gore involved in the actual murder is impressive! Absolutely a delightful movie and a must-watch for all murder-mystery fans.

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