Tag Archives: Disney+

Now Showing – 9 July, 2026

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Is today your ‘movie day’? Here’s what you can check out at the cinemas this week!

Moana – The Disney Live Action Adaptation Engine™ is still rolling, ‘updating’ the last officially crowned “Disney Princess” for her tenth anniversary. Directed by Thomas Kail (who oversaw the pretty spectacular Hamilton stage-film) the film is promising a Gus Van Sant’s Psycho level retread. Not only that but Dwayne Johnson himself live-prises his role as demi-god Maui, while Jemaine Clement once again voices Tamatoa. Relative newcomer Catherine Laga’aia takes the mantle of Moana, with welcome support from the legendary Rena Owen (Once Were Warriros) as Gramma Tala. Both the pig and the chicken are featured!

First Light – First-time Aussie Writer/Director James J. Robinson sees his debut come to screens this week. A co-production between Australia and The Philippines, the film features a Filipino cast portraying the members of a remote Luzon convent. Robinson has said that the project was both a way of connecting with his own Filipino heritage, as well as exploring issues surrounding his Catholic upbringing. The story of middle aged Sister Yolanda, who begins to struggle with her faith following a tragic occurrence, will likely resonate with those who have wrestled with their own doubt, faced the disappointing reality of institutions and lived in the shadow of colonialism.

Evil Dead Burn – This franchise is the gift that keeps on giving! While others wrangle with the disappointment of blockbuster debuts that can never be matched in sequels, the Evil Dead series have largely maintained a consistent level of quality because every one of them knows what to prioritise: Buckets and buckets of blood. The reigns have been handed to Sébastien Vaniček along with co-writer Florent Bernard and minimal supervision from OG Producer Rob Tapert and director Sam Raimi. Pitched as a “family reunion from hell”, this looks to be in keeping with the black humour and visceral thrills of previous installments. Groovy!

The Invite – Olivia Wilde helms this remake of the Spanish film The People Upstairs (2020), from a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones. Something of a French Bedroom Farce, Wilde stars alongside Seth Rogen as a strained married couple who host their upstairs neighbours (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) for dinner. Not being adequately prepared to host, and unable to stop bickering is embarrassing enough, but as the evening progresses and everyone becomes far more candid, the cringe-humour escalates.

The Mandalorian and Grogu – Review

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Directed by Jon Favreau from a story and screenplay by Favreua, Dave Filoni & Noah Kloor, starring Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, Steve Blum, Sigourney Weaver with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee & Martin Scorcese.

The Mandaloiran and Grogu is at its best when the filmmakers are reveling in the pulpy, adventure serial roots that were the initial inspiration for this whole Star Wars thing in the first place – those moments when the Lone Wolf and Cub of the galaxy far, far away, overcome strange and unfamiliar worlds and monsters mostly by their wits, space magic and a jetpack.

and maybe a little help from the Babus

To be sure, the bulk of the latest Star Wars film is fun in the popcorn cinema sense: gunfights, explosions, chases, creatures, spaceships. Where the film struggles to fully enthrall are the elements that call attention to characters and history that has come before in the franchise. “Lore” is the word. The film does not collapse under the weight of these elements, remaining consistently entertaining, but when the cinematic language is nudging, asking “You remember this guy? Huh?” it may lose audience members who have not consumed the entire canon to date.

For the most part the film is accessible to people who have not seen the series of which it is a continuation. The title characters are broadly drawn, and barely need dialogue to make themselves known: The stoic, hard-edged mercenary with a deep tenderness for his ward, an unwaveringly loyal and gifted infant. Together they hunt villains to the lawful order of the universe. The details barely matter; a plot involving twin giant slug crime-lords offering up a wanted war-criminal in exchange for the rescue of their nephew also barely matters. It is a mechanism to propel the duo forward to the next set piece – some of which are not quite as engaging as others. There are sweet, quieter character moments that can genuinely tug at the heart, though those loaded with dialogue can make the eyes glaze over a little.

The performances are a little harder to quantify in this kind of picture. Pedro Pascal as ‘Mando’ has a compelling voice, and radiates pathos and menace with a look in the few moments when his face is shown. However the film credits an additional two performers for the role – Lateef Crowder as the stunt performer and Brendan Wayne as the ‘suit performer’. Grogu (Baby Yoda) is brought to life by a team of practical creature builders, puppeteers, digital effects animators and sound designers, and is arguably more compelling than his adoptive father. Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) lends vocal talent to the role of Rotta the Hutt, though the creature itself is a fully digital performance and the voice is modulated so as to be unrecognisable as the one time Boss. Most other characters appear for brief interactions only, with Weaver’s peacekeeper Colonel Ward assigning missions and handling exposition, but Martin Scorcese (yes…that one) drawing genuine smiles as a nervy alien informant.

“A theme park ride, buddy…it’s a theme park ride!”

The Mandalorian and Grogu is, ultimately, disposable. Like those Serials of yesteryear, which were never intended to be watched repeatedly, this film is a fun story that sits in the progression of a larger one, but won’t particularly reward a revisit.

On a personal note…

I am a bit of a recovering Star Wars tragic and I recently introduced my young son to the original films, on which he reflected “Good, but I wouldn’t watch it again.”

He did, however, come with me to watch this film, and immediately insisted that we watch the series together.

The Mandalorian – Season One Reflections

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I’ve gotta get this out of the way up front: I’m kind of over Star Wars.

I never thought I would ever say – or write – those words. When I was a lad there was a briefly-lived publication called Sci-Fi Invasion, and I can clearly remember one of the articles starting with the words, “There comes a point when you just can’t watch Star Wars again.” I thought to myself at the time ‘that will never be me’. The galaxy far, far away meant so much to me during my formative years. It was the campfire around which I was able to peacefully engage with my older brother, and form connections and friendships in times when I felt quite alone.

That’s the unspoken power of our stories, isn’t it? And it’s the reason people get so passionate about sharing them, or in some cases defending them. To consider critisism of a beloved film (or TV series, or comic, or novel et. al.) feels tantamount to critisising the relationships that formed because of it – and if those relationships have been an important part of shaping the people we have become, does that mean we need to question our sense of self as well?

No. I don’t really believe that…I just want to point out that I can understand why some people may believe that.

For myself, I have simple grown tired of Empires and Rebellions and Jedi and Sith. Part of it is over-exposure – I can’t go five minutes without being confronted with some piece of Star Wars merchandise; part of it is a reaction to the ugly behaviour of some “fans” in the wake of some of the more recent films release; and part of it is overwhelming sense of inter-connectedness, or continuity, with books and cartoons and comics that just feels like too much to try and absorb in the limited time I have.

Then the director of one of my favourite films of all time got involved…and I’m hooked once again.

In the same way that my growing disinterest in Star Wars was the result of many factors working against my brain, The Mandalorian has fanned the flames again because of many factors working together to engage me again.

Firstly, it’s a Western. If you’ve seen my review of the great series Firefly, or the underrated Sean Connery pot-boiler Outland, you will know that I am a sucker for the Space Western. It’s true, Star Wars has always been heavily shaped by the legacy of John Ford or Sergio Leone, but The Mandalorian puts that aesthetic front and centre. The tales are of lawless people in lawless places, alternately trying to make their way and survive their enemies. As a bonus, it is also a pretty great Samurai show, so Kurosawa fans should find a point of connection.

Secondly, it stands on its own. I am aware that, for fans in the know, The Mandalorian is dotted with references to characters and events from the wider universe, but as someone who has not seen a single episode of The Clone Wars I can attest that my ignorance does not diminish my enjoyment of the series one bit. In fact, I might even go out on a limb and suggest that one could very well enjoy The Mandalorian without ever have seen a single film in the franchise.

Thirdly, it feels…expansive. One of the little bugbears about some of the entries in the Star Wars Saga is that degree to which, for a story that encompasses an entire galaxy, the scope of events and the characters involved seems awfully limited. The Mandalorian, though small scale and featuring only a handful of characters, boasts a diverse and at times bizzare gathering of aliens & misfits. Watching these individuals from wildly different backgrounds interact is a true delight. And one of them sounds like Nick Nolte.

The series is episodic in the best way – in that there are very few details that inform the plot of one episode too heavily linked to another. As a “soldier of fortune” type, Mando (as the title character is called) seeks contracts which typically will involve him visiting violence upon another person. His code – or creed, perhaps – means that we the viewers can feel assured that this violence is likely justified.
But there is an arcing story – a quandry that contributes to the conflict of each episode. Discovering, piece by piece, the details of Mando’s past and pondering the hints dropped to a greater threat looming in season two does not feel like a chore. Most welcome is the fact that my good buddy and showrunner Jon Favreau does not feel the need to end every single episode with a damn cliffhanger.

The Mandalorian is truly a breath of fresh air for a weary Star Wars afficionado. It’s worth the price of a subscription to Disney Plus, at least for as long as it takes to watch all the episodes. This is the possibility of a brighter, more engaging future for this universe…so check it out.

This Is The Way.