IT'S TIME TO HOP WITH HOPPERS

In Hoppers, rebellious nineteen year old Mabel is on a quest to save her beloved glen from the careless mayor Jerry. When she stumbles upon secretive "Hopper" tech developed by her college, she decides to use it as a way to turn the tide in her favor. Unfortunately, her best-laid plans go disastrously awry putting mayor Jerry and all of her town's inhabitants at risk. Now, Mabel and her small crew of animal friends will have to fight if they're going to save their glen and the town's population.   

The best original movie Pixar has made in eleven years. The humor is weird but funny, our cast of animals are cute as heck (You gotta love King George), the third act is unhinged, and there is plenty of heart throughout. It’s very cool our heroine is nineteen years old. It’s unexpected, but appreciated. 

The voice cast is strong. The stand-outs are Piper Curda as Mabel, Bobby Moynihan as King George, Kathy Najimy as Dr. Sam, Jon Hamm as Mayor Jerry, and Dave Franco as Titus. Jesse Andrews (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Every Day, Luca) is the sole credited screenwriter. His work here is strong. Daniel Chong (Creator of We Bare Bears) directs and does a very solid job. 

The main villain isn’t who you would expect, and how he looks in the third act is actually frightening. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve had a fantastic villain in a Disney/Pixar film, and we finally get one here. The message is great as well, but isn’t what most will walk away remembering from this. A feel-good, highly entertaining flick that doesn’t always go where you would expect it to. PIXAR IS BACK!!!

4.5 STARS

"WUTHERING HEIGHTS" DESERVES TO BE IN QUOTATION MARKS

 An interesting but loose adaptation of the unforgettable novel that favors style and sexuality over accuracy and faithfulness (It literally opens with a man getting a boner from being hanged to death). It gets some things right, but most things wrong. It adapts scenes from the novel or lines of dialogue well enough, but gets the overall story or meaning of the whole thing wrong. 

The characters’ personalities are mostly faithful, and it ALMOST gets the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine correct until they fuck like rabbits later on. This is a complete misunderstanding of the novel as the whole point of their love is that it is unrequited. As far as I recall, H&C never even kiss in the source material. It’s the pain of never getting to be together, physically or otherwise, that shapes our two leads and having them “get it on” only dilutes and weakens their relationship. 

All the actors perform their roles superbly. Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, Margot Robbie as Catherine, Hong Chau as Nelly, and Shazad Latif all impress. The cinematography by Linus Sandgren, score by Anthony Willis, production design by Suzie Davies (with set decoration by Charlotte Dirickx), costume design by Jacqueline Durran, and the vibrant colors are all intoxicating and easily sweep you away into Emerald Fennell’s lush world.

It’s a shame this isn’t really the novel. As is, it only resembles Wuthering Heights, but Wuthering Heights this is not. Let’s call it Withering Heights. Fennell’s version of the timeless story is not without its charms and merits, but fans of the source material will surely be disappointed. All that said, this is likely Fennell’s most accessible film to date as the sexuality is more-so implied than thrown in your face (for example: there is no nudity). In the end, if this gets more people to check out the novel, I suppose it’s worth it.

2.5 STARS

DON'T GET MARRIED TO THE BRIDE!

 In The Bride!, a dead Mary Shelley yearns to create a sequel to Frankenstein, and so partially possesses and kills escort Ida. Shortly afterwards, Frankenstein’s creature/Frank arrives in Chicago looking to re-animate a corpse and make it his bride. He enlists the help of Dr. Cordelia Euphronious, and together they dig up a corpse which just so happens to be Ida, bringing her back to life. When Frank brutally murders two men who were attempting to rape Ida, both go on the run from the law. Along for the pursuit are a detective and his secretary, and mob underlings sent to silence Ida. 

Jessie Buckley stars as Ida/Penelope/Penny/The Bride. Yes, Mary Shelley continues to partially possess her for the entirety of the film, leading to some painful and cringe outbursts as Ida waffles between two personalities. Buckley is the absolute worst, so much so that it makes you question her frontrunner status for Best Actress. 

Christian Bale puts on a good performance as Frankenstein/Frank. He is essentially the creature from the classic novel. In The Bride!, he has developed a love for film and dancing. Movie theaters are featured prominently throughout, though there is no deeper meaning to their usage and nothing really comes from it. There are also several dance sequences in The Bride!, including one (bafflingly) set to ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ which involves possession, an ability Frank only acquires for this one scene and goes unexplained. Bale brings some gravitas and pathos to his portrayal of Frank and is one of the only bright spots in the movie.

Peter Sarsgaard plays Jake Wiles, a determined and well-meaning detective who knew Ida before she died. He’s another bright spot. He’s likable enough and his sub-plot is fine, though it goes nowhere in the end, he serves very little purpose, and is even carelessly discarded at the beginning of the third act. His friendship with his secretary played by Penelope Cruz is cute, though she proves to be every bit as useless as he is, if not more so, by the end. 

Annette Bening plays Dr. Cordelia Euphronious, author of Event Horizon. Against her better judgement, she gets involved in the story of Frank and The Bride out of what appears to be a scientific curiosity. She isn’t given much to do, but makes an impression regardless.

The Bride! is written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal (the film even features Jake Gyllenhaal in a memorable supporting role). The screenplay is simply atrocious and bad. Gyllenhaal also fails to impress as director. It doesn’t take long at all for her to lose total control of her movie.

The Bride! is a wild, crazed sequel to Frankenstein with heavy Feminist overtones (the crimes of our duo inspires women all over the country to dress up like The Bride and commit similar crimes, another subplot that, once again, goes nowhere). The creativity on display is without boundaries, but this means there is also zero focus. This flick comes speeding at you and either you jump on board or are flattened like a pancake. It’s a hard one to keep up with.

The Bride! is overflowing with ideas (some interesting, some not-so-much), but every one of them falls flat and isn’t followed up on or explored. While you have to give credit for the insane creativity on display, The Bride! is a mess. It feels like Maggie Gyllenhaal’s take on Poor Things, a lesser take. The Bride! amounts to a gigantic, visually appealing/pretty, and very silly train wreck that wears out its welcome well before the end credits roll.

2 STARS

SMALLS' TOP 25 FILMS OF 2025

25. Thunderbolts*

24. The Fantastic Four: First Steps

23. Friendship

22. Little Amelie or The Character of Rain

21. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Loony Tunes Movie

20. The Lost Bus

19. Hamnet

18. Frankenstein

17. Jay Kelly

16. Companion

15. No Other Choice

14. The Long Walk

13. F1

12. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

11. The Voice of Hind Rajab

10. Bring Her Back

9. The Life of Chuck

8. Wake Up Dead Man

7. Train Dreams

6. Weapons

5. Warfare

4. Sinners

3. Sentimental Value

2. Marty Supreme

1. One Battle After Another

SCREAM 7 MIGHT JUST BE THE DEATH OF THE FRANCHISE

In Scream 7, Sidney has moved to the small town of Pine Grove and is living a mostly happy suburban life. Unfortunately, Ghostface rears his face once again, putting Sidney's beloved eldest daughter, Tatum, in danger. Now, Sidney is going to have to stop hiding and face her past once again. 

Yeah, this is the same quality as Scream 3. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s terrible. It’s bad, but watchable. The screenplay (Guy Busick, Kevin Williamson. Williamson directs as well) is one of the worst in the Scream franchise, the pacing is terrible, the nostalgia-bait only detracts from the film (even though that is the foundation this entire film is built upon), this is one of my least favorite versions of Sidney (She’s back in Scream 3 mode), and the killers are easily the worst in any of the Scream movies. They are uninspired, random, and have zero motivation (That said, I was still able to sus out who they were pretty easily). 

Matthew Lillard is fantastic as Stu Macher. He appears in 4 scenes, but only on phone screens or computer screens, so that’s disappointing. The best parts of this outing are Chad, Mindy, and Gale even though they aren’t in it much and are given very little to do. The kills this go-round are fine and get the job done, I suppose. The best scenes are the opening, the bar, and the security camera one. 

This flick has no meta commentary or dialogue, instead choosing to half-ass the theme of handing down trauma from parent to child. In better hands, they really could have done something with this idea. Instead, it’s just used to create the illusion of depth in a very shallow and uninspired film. A good deal of this flick is spent apologizing for Scream 6 ( even though 6 is far superior to 7). If all you want is to watch Ghostface kill some people, you definitely get that here. The trade-off though, is you get one of the dumbest Scream films in the franchise. Unfortunately, there is nothing to scream about here.

1.5 STARS

SMALLS OSCAR PICKS 2026

 Out of the Oscar nominations, here is who I would pick for each category. A *** indicates my pick for the corresponding category.

BEST ACTOR

Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another

***Timothy Chalamet - Marty Supreme 

Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon

Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Benicio Del Toro - One Battle After Another

***Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein

Delroy Lindo - Sinners

Sean Penn - One Battle After Another

Stellan Skarsgard  - Sentimental Value

BEST ACTRESS

Jessie Buckley - Hamnet

***Rose Byrne - If I had Legs I'd Kick You

Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value

Emma Stone - Bugonia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value

***Amy Madigan - Weapons

Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners

Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Arco

Elio

KPop Demon Hunters

***Little Amelie or the Character of Rain

Zootopia 2

BEST CASTING

Nina Gold - Hamnet

Jennifer Venditti - Marty Supreme 

***Cassandra Kulukundis - One Battle After Another

Gabriel Domingues - The Secret Agent

Francine Maisler - Sinners 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dan Laustsen - Frankenstein

Darius Khondji - Marty Supreme

Michael Bauman - One Battle After Another

***Autumn Durald Arkapaw - Sinners

Adolpho Veloso - Train Dreams

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Deborah L. Scott - Avatar: Fire and Ash

***Kate Hawley - Frankenstein

Malgosia Turzanska - Hamnet

Miyako Bellizzi - Marty Supreme

Ruth E. Carter - Sinners

BEST DIRECTOR

Chloe Zhao - Hamnet

***Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme

Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another

Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value

Ryan Coogler - Sinners

BEST EDITING

***Stephen Mirrione - F1

Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme

Andy Jurgensen - One Battle After Another

Olivier Bugge Coutte - Sentimental Value

Michael P. Shawver - Sinners

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

***Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey - Frankenstein

Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu - Kokuho

Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry - Sinners

Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein - The Smashing Machine

Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg - The Ugly Stepsister

BEST SCORE

Jerskin Fendrix - Bugonia

Alexandre Desplat - Frankenstein

Max Richter - Hamnet

Jonny Greenwood - One Battle After Another

***Ludwig Goransson - Sinners

BEST SONG 

Dear Me - from Diane Warren: Relentless; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

Golden - from KPop Demon Hunters; Music and Lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park

***I Lied to You - from Sinners; Music and Lyric by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson

Sweet Dreams of Joy - from Viva Verdi!; Music and Lyric by Nicholas Pike

Train Dreams - from Train Dreams; Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner; Lyric by Nick Cave

BEST PICTURE

Bugonia

F1

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme 

***One Battle After Another

The Secret Agent

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Train Dreams

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau - Frankenstein

Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton - Hamnet

Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis - Marty Supreme

Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino - One Battle After Another

***Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne - Sinners

BEST SOUND

***Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta - F1

Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern - Frankenstein

José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor - One Battle After Another

Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker - Sinners

Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas - Sirat

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

***Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett - Avatar: Fire and Ash

Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson - F1

David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould - Jurassic World: Rebirth

Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K. McLaughlin - The Lost Bus

Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean - Sinners

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Will Tracy - Bugonia

Guillermo del Toro - Frankenstein

Chloé Zhao & Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet

***Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another

Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar - Train Dreams

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Robert Kaplow - Blue Moon

Jafar Panahi - It Was Just An Accident

Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme

***Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value

Ryan Coogler - Sinners

SMALLS' BEST OF 2026

 2026 was a great year for film! Let's celebrate by taking a look at my nominations and wins for the year! The rules are there can only be up to 20 nominations in each category. Whenever you see a *, it indicates this film is one of the top in it's designated category/s.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

*Sinners

Warfare

*Fantastic Four: First Steps (WINNER)

*Wolf Man

*Train Dreams

*Wicked: For Good

*Marty Supreme

*Hamnet

*Frankenstein

*The Ugly Stepsister

*Until Dawn

Shelby Oaks

BEST SCREENPLAY

*One Battle After Another

*Sinners

*Marty Supreme

*Sentimental Value (WINNER)

Bring Her Back

*Weapons

*Frankenstein

*The Long Walk

*Train Dreams

Jay Kelly

Wake Up Dead Man

Hamnet

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Blue Moon

SCORE

*Sinners (WINNER)

Weapons

*One Battle After Another

Wolf Man

*Fantastic Four: First Steps

*Superman

*The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie

Hamnet

*Train Dreams

*Frankenstein

*Tron: Ares

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Shelby Oaks

*Sinners (WINNER)

*One Battle After Another

Warfare

*Bring Her Back

*Wolf Man

*Fantastic Four: First Steps

*Superman

*28 Years Later

The Long Walk

*Frankenstein

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Hamnet

*Sentimental Value

Black Phone 2

Keeper

*Lurker

*Train Dreams

Jay Kelly

*Wake Up Dead Man

*Marty Supreme

*Tron: Ares

Until Dawn

Weapons

*F1

No Other Choice

EDITING

*Sinners (WINNER)

*One Battle After Another

Warfare

*Bring Her Back

*The Long Walk

*Frankenstein

*Train Dreams

Tron: Ares

*Weapons

*Marty Supreme

*Sentimental Value

*Wolf Man

Hamnet

*If I had Legs I'd Kick You 

*F1

No Other Choice

BEST ACTOR

*Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another

*Michael B. Jordan - Sinners

*Miles Caton - Sinners

*Josh Brolin - Weapons

Peter Dinklage - The Toxic Avenger

*Timothy Chalamet - Marty Supreme (WINNER)

*Joel Edgarton - Train Dreams

George Clooney - Jay Kelly

*Josh O'Connor - Wake Up Dead Man

Jesse Plemons - Bugonia

*Paul Mescal - Hamnet

*Cooper Hoffman - The Long Walk

*Alfie Williams - 28 Years Later

*David Jonsson - The Long Walk

*Christopher Abbott - Wolf Man

*Brad Pitt - F1

*Stellan Skarsgard - Sentimental Value

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 

Jack Quaid - Companion

*Sean Penn - One Battle After Another

*Benicio Del Toro - One Battle After Another

*Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein (WINNER)

William H. Macy - Train Dreams

*Conan O'Brien - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

*A$AP Rocky - If I had Legs I'd Kick You

Tyler the Creator - Marty Supreme

Kevin O'Leary - Marty Supreme

*Jack O'Connell - Sinners

Aidan Delbis - Bugonia

BEST ACTRESS

Sophie Thatcher - Companion

*Jessie Buckley - Hamnet (WINNER)

*Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value

*Ariana Grande - Wicked: For Good

*Julia Gardner - Weapons

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

*Amy Madigan - Weapons

*Emily Watson - Hamnet

*Hailee Steinfeld - Sinners

Andrene Ward-Hammond - Sinners

*Sally Hawkins - Bring Her Back

*Judy Greer - The Long Walk

*Chase Infiniti - One Battle After Another (WINNER)

Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value

Inga Ilbsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value

*Odessa A'Zion - Marty Supreme

*Glenn Close - Wake Up Dead Man

*Riley Keough - Jay Kelly

Rebecca Ferguson - A House of Dynamite

BEST DIRECTOR

**Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another (WINNER)

Guillermo Del Toro - Frankenstein

Chloe Zhao - Hamnet

Noah Baumbach - Jay Kelly

**Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme

*Mary Bronstein - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

*Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value

*Rian Johnson - Wake Up Dead Man

*Clint Bentley - Train Dreams

*Ryan Coogler - Sinners

Alex Garland, Ray Mendoza - Warfare

*Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou - Bring Her Back

Mike Flanagan - The Life of Chuck

*Zach Cregger - Weapons

*Francis Lawrence - The Long Walk

BEST SOUND DESIGN

*Wolf Man

*F1 (WINNER)

*Warfare

*If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

*Sinners

Weapons

*Marty Supreme

*Train Dreams

*One Battle After Another

28 Years Later

BEST CASTING

*Weapons

Hamnet

One Battle After Another

**Sinners (WINNER)

*The Life of Chuck

*The Long Walk

Sentimental Value

Jay Kelly

The Lost Bus

**Marty Supreme

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

*Hamnet

*Marty Supreme

*Sinners

*The Ugly Stepsister

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Train Dreams

Wicked: For Good

*Frankenstein (WINNER)

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

*The Ugly Stepsister

*Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

*Sinners

Wicked: For Good

*Hamnet

*Frankenstein (WINNER)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Tron: Ares

Avatar: Fire and Ash (WINNER)

The Lost Bus

BEST ANIMATED FILM

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (WINNER)

Zootopia 2

Little Amelie or The Character of Rain

BEST PICTURE

One Battle After Another (WINNER)

Marty Supreme 

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Warfare

Weapons

Wake Up Dead Man

Train Dreams

The Life of Chuck

Bring Her Back

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Jay Kelly

Companion

The Long Walk

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Loony Tunes Movie

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Friendship

Fantastic Four: First Steps

Thunderbolts