Arch Campbell
I hope you see something good at the movies
Sunday, October 18, 2026
VERITY - 2 Stars - THEATERS - October 2, 2026 & THE HOUSEMAID ---- 2 Stars - HBO Max - October 9, 2026
Verity takes another go at the sexy thriller with the hot husband in the middle. In Verity, Anne Hathaway plays a fabulously successful writer who can no longer speak or move after a terrible car crash. Hot husband Michael Showalter needs a ghost writer. Of course he finds sexy, in need of work writer Dakota Johnson. And of course, Dakota has to move in with the couple and their young son. Pretty soon Dakota and hottie husband start canoodling. What's the harm, after all, Anne can't move or speak ---OR CAN SHE? Verity is more of a type than a movie.
The Housemaid - HBO MAX - one week later on a main streamer --- October 9, 2026. 2 Stars. Same movie except it's Sydney Sweeny and Amanda Seyfried and another hot guy I've never heard of --- Brandon Sklenar. Nice twists end both movies. Both belong to a long line of sexy thrillersplayed off season for decades.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Movie Guide
The Rivals of Amziah King - 4 Stars - APPLE - August 14, 2026 - Delightful modern noir with Matthew McConaughey as a beekeeper/musician/town character and newcomer Angelina LookingGlass as Matthew's foster daughter who takes over the business and avenges those who sabotaged McConaughey.
Thursday, October 1, 2026
PRIMETIME - 2 Stars - September 26, 2026 - THEATERS
Robert Pattinson turns never lets up as former NBC reality show star Chris Hansen in Primetime. Hansen, as host of NBC's "To Catch a Predator" creates something of a sensation as he exposes internet predators, caught on camera believing they are meeting an underage teen for sex. Don't expect any heroes in this story. The predators are entrapped and humiliated for the sake of entertainment. Primetime has plenty to say about network television's quest for ratings at any price. Instead of moral outrage I left the theater with a headache.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Coyota vs. Acme - 2 1/2 Stars - THEATERS - August 28,2026
Everything Wile E. Coyote dredges up from the Acme corporation flops - rocket skates, cannons, giant slingshots. He's had enough of it, ruining his pursuit of the - BEEP-BEEP - roadrunner. Licking his wounds one night Mr. Coyote catches and for Will Forte's ambulance chasing law firm. So begins Coyote Vs. ACME. The mix of cartoons and humans is nice, recalling but not quite equaling Who Killed Roger Rabbit, the gold standard of this kind of thing. As with the original cartoons, Coyote vs. ACME offers plenty of pratfalls, especially into very deep canyons. The finale drags out many of the Warner Brothers great stable of characters led by Foghorn Leghorn, the overgrown rooster/bully at the head of ACME. Kids will like. Some will try to make this a statement on heartless giant corporations. If you go, just go for the fun.
Sex and Death at Camp Miasma - 3 1/2 Stars - THEATERS - AUGUST 7, 2026
Forget about every Friday the 13th knock off you ever watched. Sex and Death at Camp Miasma leaves them in the dust laughing all the way. Hannah Einbinder seems perfect as a cutting age Gen X filmmaker hired to reboot a tired teenage slasher series. She travels to the camp where it all happened. Wouldn't you know the now forgotten star of the original films lives here. Gillian Anderson channels her best Gloria Swanson - explained as "...you know, like the old lady in Sunset Boulevard." The deaths are over the top grizzly, the monster is ridiculous, the lampoon of Hollywood execs lands right on the money. Watch out for all the metaphors about sex, and violence, and fame and generations. This thing is great fun. Don't take Grandma, unless your grandma is Jamie Lee Curtis.
