Tom Chatalbash

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU is thankfully a Star Wars adventure worthy of the big screen that offers plenty of galactic fun for the whole family. Favreau rightfully chooses to take this IP back to its Eastwood-esque space western roots as he effectively expands this world instead of constricting it, introducing a myriad of exciting new locales, characters and gnarly creatures, Allen White’s Rotta The Hutt a huge standout. The set pieces have needed visceral flair and are brimming with that infectious Star Wars energy I’ve been missing, especially in theaters. It’s not out of this galaxy good, the story needing far more meat on the bone and the growth of our main duo lacking, but as someone who went in with relatively low expectations, I had quite a bit of fun with Mando and Grogu this go round the stars. Yes, Grogu is still adorable as ever. See in IMAX! Full review Tuesday 👍

so we’re all in agreement that she deserves an oscar right

Warfare(🌟🌟🌟) is a 90 minute shot of adrenaline that absolutely entertains. But while this film entertained me, Warfare is definitely not an all-time war film because like a shot of adrenaline, once you come down from the high of this film and start to look around, you realize that there isn’t much messaging here. In other words, I’m still not totally sure why this film was made or what this film is trying to say about war. Nevertheless, by 2025 standards, Warfare is unquestionably a film that deserves your attention and deserves to be seen in theaters. Great war films don’t just bring you into combat through sound and picture- they provide commentary on the war that is actually being fought. Whether that commentary is for one side of the war, against one side of the war, or simply speaking on the horrors of of war itself, great war films say something about war. I know this sounds reductive, but classic war films come with what feels like effortless commentary on war: Platoon comments on war’s devastation. Apocalypse Now comments on war’s corruption of man’s mind & spirit. Saving Private Ryan comments on the burden of sacrifice men make during war. The problem with Warfare, however, is this film doesn’t really make a statement one way or another about war & doesn’t really comment on anything. I don’t know if I learned anything about the Iraq war by watching this film, nor do I feel like I better understood the motives of either side during in the war. Warfare doesn’t even comment on the actual conflict itself or why there’s a war going on in the first place. Instead, Warfare feels like 90 minutes of sheer horror on the battlefield. And don’t get me wrong, there’s still value in that. Value in the fact that this film jacked my heart rate up to the max the last 45 minutes & captivated me the entire way through. But the point here being that this movie left meat on the bone and could’ve been better. The best part of this film is the cast. This is ensemble consists of actors entirely from my generation & I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. Kit Connor, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Michael Gandolfini, Charles Melton, D’Pharoh Woon-A-Tai, and most of all, Joseph Quinn, all absolutely shine. They’re vulnerable as hell & each one of these young actors approached this film with the utmost sincerity. It excites me thinking about where these actors will go in the next 20 years. I really think Warfare could be a film we all look back on fondly because a generation of young actors collaborated together and crossed paths at the start of their careers. Like I said, I’m really proud of these guys for taking on this project with full commitment. Ultimately, Warfare doesn’t meet its full potential because it doesn’t say enough about the Iraq war. But this is still a good film that’s definitely worth seeing.