The Splits: "Splitsville," reviewed.

My Washington Post review is the new polygamy comedy from Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Martin, the cowriters/costars behind The Climb, is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Jaws"

Having done the dirty work of surveying all three Jaws sequels for the Paper of Record earlier this summer, it’s only right that three-fourths of the original PCHH cast had me back to talk about the titanic original. Which I’ve seen on the big screen twice this summer.

Unpacking the lore of "Alien: Earth" in the Paper of Record

Timothy Olyphant plays a synthetic named Kirsh in Alien: Earth. (FX)

That advanced degree in xenobiology I’ll be paying off for the rest of my life was an adolescence well spent. My Washington Post essay unpacking the lore of Noah Hawley’s FX spinoff series Alien: Earth is here.

Resistance is Futile: "Ne Zha II," reviewed.

Ne Zha is part boy, part demon, all movie star. (CMC/A24)

 I’m well aware that many an enthusiastic plus-one has endured a similar cycle of befuddlement / intermittent exhilaration / ultimate exhaustion during a quarter-century where in the entire American industry has remade itself in the service of lore-dense, 2.5-hour-plus “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” and superhero sagas. No one who can easily tell Mr. Terrific from Mr. Fantastic should complain that a film that has brought so much delight to so many people is too confusing. And yet, I must confess I spent most of the very bright Ne Zha II in the figurative dark.

My Washington Post review of what is currently the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time is here.

Ed McBain, Akiria Kurosawa, and Spike: "Highest 2 Lowest," reviewed.

The great Jeffrey Wright in Highest 2 Lowest. (Apple/A24)

My Washington City Paper review of Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee’s loose present-day adaptation of the 1959 Ed McBain novel King’s Ransom, which was previously the basis for Akira Kursoawa’s 1963 High and Low, is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Alien: Earth"

Babou Ceesay as Morrow, the cybernetic Inspector Javert figure of Alien: Earth. (F/X)

On today’s Pop Culture Happy Hour I had a gay old time (double) jawin’ with Glen Weldon and Joelle Monique about Alien: Earth, an attempt by Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley to implant a feature-film embryo into a prestige-TV host body.

Who asked for "Nobody 2"? The answer is right in front of you.

Bob Odenkirk, a Very Good Boy, and Connie Nielsen in Nobody 2. (Universal Pictures)

Bob Odenkirk is be the only guy headline an action franchise more than 30 years after being an off-camera writer on Saturday Night Live, and the only guy to headline an action sequel the same year he was nominated for a Tony. Nobody director Ilya Naishuller moved on to the not-bad John Cena / Idris Elba buddy comedy Heads of State (which inspired this list of asskickin’ screen presidents), but we’ve got Nobody 2 anyway. My Washington Post review is here.

"The Naked Gun," denuded.

Liam Neeson has a very particular set of briefs in The Naked Gun. (Paramount)

Funny is back, baby. My Washington City Paper review of The Naked Gun ‘25 is here.