Americana (2025) swaggered into my weekend with a bold cinematic presence that’s rare and addictive. My son and I buckled in for a modern neo-Western set among the wind-whipped plains of South Dakota, only to discover a film as wild and imaginative as any fireside legend. With a dreamlike story structure, staggeringly rich visuals, and a cast that constantly surprises, Americana isn’t just a movie; it’s a fever dream set to the rhythm of rattlesnakes and prairie wind. We exited the theater grinning, minds spinning, and firmly agreed on a sparkling 4.7 out of 5 stars.
The first Nobody caught viewers off-guard; a suburban dad, fed up with being overlooked and underestimated, spectacularly unleashes a hidden set of lethal skills. Naturally, expectations for Nobody 2 shot sky-high. Could lightning strike twice? Would Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell dish out another wild blend of slapstick humor, family drama, and hard-hitting action, or would the sequel trip over its formula? Fans wanted bigger brawls, sharp wit, and maybe just a touch of unpredictability that made the original a sleeper hit. Here’s the breakdown of how the sequel stacks up.
Exploring AI, Faith, and the Birth of the Cylons: There’s nothing quite like rewatching Caprica after almost twenty years, especially when you’re knee-deep in a Battlestar Galactica marathon. A recent chat about AI and spirituality in media sparked the urge (thanks to a friend who was revisiting the saga while preparing her analysis), and all those vivid debates about animism, polytheism, and the origins of the Cylons came roaring back. It’s wild how a movie made so long ago still feels on point today, especially as society keeps grappling with questions about faith, technology, and the blurry edge where one ends and the other begins.
From the opening frames, Weapons announces itself as a wild mix of folklore, frenetic action, and Haitian-inspired spirit possession. It’s rare to see a movie stitch together searing social critique (including plenty of chilling references to real community tragedy) with all the pulpy magic of voodoo, haunting supernatural rituals, and a plot that swings from kinetic horror to grounded emotion. What grabbed me most, and probably will stick with other genre fans too, is how the film conjures up its folk horror roots without sacrificing inventive fight scenes or the creeping sense of the unknown.
Friday, and this time, Disney finally delivers a sequel that sparks joy for both parents and kids. Sitting beside my son in a packed theater, we found ourselves grinning at inside jokes, clever twists, and the bizarre hijinks that define the saga. Watching as a longtime fan, and now as a parent, made this experience sweeter; the nostalgia hit hard, but it was the family energy that won me over.
High-Stakes Action, Stellar Cast, and a 4.5-Star Thriller Ride Buckle up, because “Relay” (2025) isn’t your average action flick; it’s a pulse-pounding ride that draws inspiration from the gritty spy classics of the 1970s and catapults them straight into today’s world of constant surveillance and data paranoia. Led by Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and Sam Worthington, the cast brings electric energy to a story saturated with suspense, secrecy, and morally gray decisions.
AMC A-List regulars know the electric rush of a story that grabs you; the darkness, the drama, the promise of something bold. “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight” sets up a child’s gaze on chaos and loss, dropping us into a world where innocence collides with reality but never quite finds its footing. Even with a plot that hints at legend, the film struggles to ignite, lost in scenes that blur together and action that fizzles faster than it should.
Shark movies almost always draw a crowd, but Dangerous Animals flips the script with a surge of adrenaline and a rush of surprise, adding in the serial killer twist. What started as a routine popcorn creature feature quickly twisted into something darker, mixing Jaws and terror with a sinister serial killer and his tangled web of digital horrors. The premise teases familiarity, but the film’s razor-sharp detours leave you wide-eyed and second-guessing every shadow.
Grieving from the loss of their mother, a disturbed young girl and her brother discover a magical pond that animates their sketches into real-life horrors. Fantasy-filled and dramatic, with edge-of-your-seat thrills, this movie does not disappoint. On top of that, we didn’t know what we were going to see that Monday night at the Cascade 14 theater in Burlington, as it was one of AMC’s never before seen by an audience in their theater’s films: Screen Unseen.
From the spirit-haunted caves of Homo habilis to the glowing circuits of techno-mystics, this groundbreaking work traces the evolving relationship between humanity and the unseen forces that animate our world. Drawing from a lifetime of mythic living and academic inquiry, shaped by the teachings of Anthropologist Bruce Grindal, the magical theories of Real Magic author Isaac Bonewits, and workshops attended with psychedelic visionaries Timothy Leary and Terence McKenna, author Thomas Baurley delves deep into the forgotten, the forbidden, and the freshly reawakened.
