Category: Entertainment News

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: 10 of the Best Lobster Spots In and Around NYC

Few things say summer in the city like a proper lobster roll — but the good news is New York’s lobster spots deliver year-round. From old-school seafood counters to white-tablecloth dining rooms, here are ten favorites in and around the five boroughs.

The roll call

Red Hook Lobster Pound in Red Hook is the classic pilgrimage — worth the trip alone. Greenpoint doubles down with Sailor & Siren and Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. Chelsea has three contenders: Cull & Pistol, the Lobster Place, and The Mermaid Inn.

Downtown, Mary’s Fish Camp in the West Village and Lure Fishbar in SoHo both do the thing properly, while Luke’s Lobster covers both the Upper East Side and DUMBO — handy no matter which side of the river you’re on.

Hot and buttery vs. cold and creamy

The great debate: Connecticut-style (warm lobster tossed in butter) or Maine-style (chilled lobster with mayo)? New York serves both with conviction. If you’ve never had an opinion, order one of each and settle it yourself — that’s what a seafood crawl is for.

Make a day of it with 20 fun things to do in NYC today, from waterfront hangs to evening jazz. And for a lighter evening plan, DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island is the feel-good film of the moment.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: 20 Fun Things to Do in NYC Today: Salsa, Jazz & Movies

Wednesday in New York has a way of sneaking up on you. One minute it’s a regular workday, the next you’re choosing between a salsa social in Washington Square Park and a jazz set on Orchard Street. Today’s lineup — twenty picks pulled together for September 30th — leans hard into that beautiful problem.

Here’s the full rundown, morning to night. All times are EDT.

Morning: markets and movement

8:00 AM — Bartel-Pritchard Square Greenmarket. Prospect Park West & 15th St, Brooklyn. The classic early-bird move: farm-fresh produce, flowers, and coffee before the city fully wakes up.

8:00 AM — Line Dance Fitness. Betsy Head Park Handball Courts, Boyland St & Dumont Ave, Brooklyn. A workout that doesn’t feel like one — line dancing outdoors with a group.

Afternoon: midtown musi

2:30 PM — Big City Folk: Midtown Music. Greeley Square Park, Broadway & 6th Ave (W 32nd–33rd St), Manhattan. A midday breather with live folk in the middle of Midtown — easy to catch on a lunch break.

Evening: the main event(s)

From five o’clock on, the city goes into overdrive. Here’s everything, in order:

5:00 PM — New York Swings with Josh Lee and the Family. Manhattan West Plaza, 385 9th Ave, Manhattan. Swing dancing outdoors as the workday ends — bring a partner or come solo, dancers tend to rotate.

5:30 PM — intenSati in Forest Park. Sgt. Schaefer Oval Lawn, Myrtle Ave & Park Lane South, Queens. Part workout, part spoken affirmation, all energy — intenSati classes are famously uplifting.

6:00 PM — Circus Arts in Herald Square. Herald Square Park, Broadway at W 35th St, Manhattan. Acrobats and aerialists in one of the city’s busiest plazas.

6:00 PM — Woven Together Fashion Show. Positive Exposure Gallery, 83 Maiden Lane, 4th Floor, Manhattan. An evening of fashion with a message — Positive Exposure’s work celebrates people of all abilities.

6:00 PM — Salsa Social. Garibaldi Plaza, Washington Square Park, 5th Ave & Waverly Pl, Manhattan. Open-air salsa under the arch — one of the night’s best bets if you want to meet people.

6:00 PM — Waterfront Workouts: Amp’d Bootcamp. Pier 2, Brooklyn Bridge Park, 150 Furman St, Brooklyn. High-energy bootcamp with skyline views. You’ll earn dinner.

6:00 PM — Open Mic. Q.E.D. Astoria, 27-16 23rd Ave, Queens. Astoria’s beloved comedy-and-more room opens its stage — comics, storytellers, and the wonderfully unpredictable.

6:00 PM — Tango in the Park. Sutton Place Park, East River (E 56th–57th St), Manhattan. Argentine tango as the sun drops over the East River. Hard to beat.

6:30 PM — Evening Salute to the Sun (Sunset Yoga). 66th Street Plaza, Riverside Park South, Manhattan. An all-levels flow timed to golden hour along the Hudson.

6:30 PM — Orchard Street Jazz Festival: Anna Webber’s Shimmer Wince. Close Up, 154 Orchard St, Lower East Side. Adventurous, modern jazz in an intimate LES room.

6:30 PM — Cate Le Bon with Lucrecia Dalt and Dagmar Zuniga. Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Ave, Queens. Art-pop at its most interesting — three distinctive voices, one big room.

6:30 PM — Maggie FM + Shearing + Raybody. Night Club 101, 101 Avenue A, Manhattan. A triple bill for the East Village’s indie faithful.

6:30 PM — The Art of Muzic. SOB’s, 204 Varick St, Manhattan (doors 6:30 PM). The legendary Sounds of Brazil room hosts a night of live music.

7:00 PM — BMI Acoustic Lounge: Bentley Robles + Anne Tello. Lucinda’s, 169 Avenue A, Manhattan. Stripped-down sets from two songwriters.

7:00 PM — Weak Signal + Masaaki. Union Pool, 484 Union Ave, Brooklyn. Guitars and noise in Williamsburg’s favorite backyard venue.

7:00 PM — Patsy’s Punk Bitch Happy Hour. Bossa Nova Civic Club, 1271 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn. Happy hour with a punk snarl — loud and fun.

7:15 PM — Movies Under the Stars in Harlem: “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.” Jackie Robinson Park Bandshell, 85 Broadhurst Ave, Harlem. Outdoor cinema to close out the night. And if one film isn’t enough this week, our Resident Evil review covers what’s haunting theaters right now.

Best for meeting people

If tonight’s about making new friends, the original roundup points to four winners: the Salsa Social in Washington Square Park, New York Swings at Manhattan West, the QED open mic in Astoria, and the early-evening dance parties generally. Hard to argue.

Good to know

Outdoor events are weather-dependent, so it’s worth a quick check before heading out. The roundup doesn’t list ticket prices, so confirm with the venue if you’re unsure. And if you’re crisscrossing the boroughs for all of this, robotaxi fleets are scaling up fast — the future of getting across town is arriving quickly.

Twenty picks, one Wednesday. See you out there.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Resident Evil Review: Zach Cregger’s Horror Triumph

Video game movies used to be where good ideas went to die. Then directors like Zach Cregger showed up. His Resident Evil — in theaters now — isn’t just the best film in the franchise’s history. It’s one of the best horror films of the year, full stop. And audiences agree: a $60 million domestic opening, $200 million-plus worldwide as of this week, and a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score. When was the last time a horror movie made everyone this happy?

Dread, done right

The premise is lean: Bryan (Austin Abrams) finds himself in a race for survival, in a brand-new story built from the bones of the beloved games. No homework required. You don’t need to know the lore, the timelines, or which game had the mansion. You just need a pulse.

What makes it sing is Cregger’s understanding of what actually made those games great. He told The Atlantic he plays them because “the game design and the pacing and the dread is so effective… That, to me, is the heart and soul of those games.” That’s the whole movie in one quote. This is horror built on pacing, not jump scares — corridors that feel too long, silences that feel too loud, a camera that knows exactly when to look away.

Abrams carries it beautifully. Bryan isn’t a superhero; he’s a guy trying to stay alive, and Abrams plays every shade of that fear without ever tipping into melodrama. You believe him. That’s rarer than it sounds.

Craft you can feel

What separates this from the average horror release is the craft. The sound design alone deserves mention — every creak, every distant thud, every held breath is placed with intention. Cregger understands that dread is a rhythm, and he conducts it like a maestro. The production design leans into decay and detail: environments that tell stories before anyone speaks. It’s the kind of filmmaking that rewards the big screen, where scale and sound do half the scaring for you. This is a director who learned pacing from games and atmosphere from the masters, and it shows in every frame.

The numbers tell the story

Let’s linger on the box office, because it’s genuinely remarkable. Sixty million domestic out of the gate. A second weekend holding at $23.3 million and pushing past $100 million domestic, per TheWrap’s roundup. Two hundred million worldwide and counting. For an R-rated horror film in September, those are the kind of numbers that make studio executives weep with joy.

And here’s the kicker: the same week Resident Evil crossed $200 million, Cregger’s next film — the Jennifer Lawrence sci-fi thriller The Flood — was announced. One director, one week, a historic hit and a dream project greenlit. Hollywood loves a winner, and this is how winning weeks look.

Why it works as an adaptation

Most game adaptations fail because they treat the source like a Wikipedia page to summarize. Cregger treated it like a feeling to recreate. The dread, the resourcefulness, the sense that safety is always one wrong turn away — that’s the games, translated honestly into cinema. Parade calls it a box office hit; we’d call it a template. This is how you do it.

The verdict

Resident Evil is scary, smart, and propulsive — the rare franchise entry that respects its source while doing something entirely its own. Cregger has now delivered Barbarian, the Oscar-winning Weapons, and this: three for three, each one distinct, each one excellent, each one proof that original voices still win big. He’s not just the most exciting horror director working. He might be the most exciting director working, period.

If you like horror, see it on the biggest screen you can find. If you don’t usually like horror, see it anyway — this is the one that converts people. Few films earn both critical love and crowd love in the same breath; this one did, and then some. A genuinely joyful week for the genre, and a triumph worth celebrating.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Forgotten Island Review: DreamWorks’ Warmest Adventure Yet

Some movies entertain you. A rare few wrap you in a hug and don’t let go. Forgotten Island, DreamWorks Animation’s fantasy-comedy adventure now playing in theaters, is the second kind. Set in the 1990s Philippines and steeped in Filipino folklore, it’s a film about friendship, memory, and the stories we grow up hearing — and it’s one of the loveliest things DreamWorks has ever made.

A story told with love

The setup is simple and perfect: two best friends, Jo and Raissa, find themselves trapped in Nakali, the mystical world they grew up hearing stories about. That’s it. No chosen-one prophecy, no universe to save — just two kids navigating a world built from the tales their families told them.

Writers-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado drew on their own friendship and on Philippine mythology to build the film, and you feel that intimacy in every frame. This isn’t folklore as set dressing. It’s folklore as home. The film trusts its audience — kids and grown-ups alike — to fall into a world that feels ancient and brand new at the same time.

Animation that actually looks like something

Let’s talk about the look, because it’s extraordinary. Forgotten Island layers hand-drawn 2D expressions and playful “sticker” elements over 3D models, with a clear anime influence running through it. In an era when so much big-studio animation has started to look like it came off the same assembly line, this film has fingerprints all over it. You can feel artists’ hands in the frame.

Early work-in-progress screenings at CinemaCon and Annecy this year had already built buzz, and the finished film delivers. Several outlets are calling it one of DreamWorks’ best — CBR went so far as to say it “transcends its flaws and could begin a new franchise.” When critics start talking franchise before opening weekend, you know something special happened.

A cast that sings

The voice cast is stacked: H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, Lea Salonga, and Kevin McCann. Lea Salonga’s presence alone is a kind of benediction — a legend lending her voice to a film celebrating Filipino culture feels exactly right. H.E.R. brings real musical soul to the proceedings, and the ensemble clicks the way great comedy ensembles do: everyone gets their moment, nobody steps on anyone’s laughs. Crawford and Mercado built the story from their own friendship, and that warmth radiates through every performance — you can tell this was a labor of love, not a committee product.

Representation that feels like celebration

Here’s what elevates Forgotten Island beyond “good animated movie” into something more meaningful. Filipino culture isn’t the backdrop; it’s the engine. The mythology, the humor, the family dynamics, the 1990s Philippines setting — it all comes from a place of genuine affection. Jollibee even ran a global promotional campaign around the film celebrating friendship and Filipino culture, which tells you how deeply this resonated beyond the screen. Stories that honor where they come from have a way of traveling everywhere, and this one is built to travel.

The verdict

Forgotten Island is that rare family film that respects every member of the family. Kids get a thrilling, funny adventure in a dazzling world. Adults get a meditation on friendship and memory that sneaks up on you — fair warning, the third act got us. At 109 minutes, it never drags, never panders, and never mistakes noise for excitement.

The directors have already told Collider they have sequel and franchise ideas, and honestly? Good. Nakali is a world worth revisiting. But even if this were a one-and-done, it would stand as a high-water mark: proof that original stories, told with cultural specificity and real heart, still win. It’s the kind of feel-good moviegoing we need more of — and a reminder of how great storytelling keeps finding new voices.

Go see it. Bring someone you love. You’ll both come out smiling — and you’ll be glad you shared it together.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Days of Thunder 2: Tom Cruise Back on the Track

Thirty-six years. That’s how long it’s been since Cole Trickle first white-knuckled his way around the track in 1990 — and Tom Cruise is finally coming back. Paramount has officially dated Days of Thunder 2 for June 2, 2028, with Cruise returning as the veteran NASCAR driver and Anne Hathaway co-starring as a talented team owner and engineer. If your pulse quickened reading that, you’re not alone.

The legacy play done right

Hollywood loves a legacy sequel, but it rarely loves them well. This one has a fighting chance because the pieces fit. Cruise described the plot to Entertainment Tonight as “a fun story” — classic Cruise understatement, the same man who called hanging off an airplane “a fun story,” probably. He called Hathaway “talented,” and coming from the hardest-working movie star alive, that lands.

Hathaway told ET she begins “on the track” in March, right after her new film Verity opens October 2, 2026. Read between the lines: real track time, real preparation. This isn’t a green-screen cameo; she’s putting in the work the way Cruise always does.

Why Hathaway changes everything

Here’s the inspired part. Hathaway isn’t playing the love interest or the sideline reporter. She’s a team owner and an engineer working alongside Cruise’s character. That’s a genuinely modern dynamic — brains and grease under the same roof — and it gives the sequel a reason to exist beyond nostalgia. Cole Trickle facing “modern racing challenges” (plot specifics remain unconfirmed, so we’ll leave the inventing to the fan forums) with a brilliant engineer in his corner? That’s a movie.

Director Jonathan Levine (50/50) might seem like a left-field pick until you remember what he does best: heart, humor, and characters you actually care about. A racing movie lives or dies on whether you care who’s in the car. Levine cares about people. Smart hire.

Racing’s moment

There’s never been a better time to make a racing movie. The sport’s cultural footprint has exploded — new fans, packed weekends, and a whole generation discovering the thrill of the track. Cruise, who famously does his own stunts and insists on the real thing wherever cameras allow, is the perfect ambassador for that energy. You can already picture the practical racing footage, the in-car cameras, the sound design that rattles your ribcage. Nobody fakes it like Cruise refuses to fake it.

And Hathaway heading “to the track” in March tells you everything about the production’s ambitions. Real preparation, real locations, real speed. In an age of weightless digital spectacle, there’s something deeply appealing about a movie that plans to make you feel the G-forces.

The Cruise summer-movie machine

Let’s be honest about something: nobody protects the theatrical experience like Tom Cruise. From the Mission: Impossible run to Top Gun: Maverick — the film that basically reminded the world why movie theaters exist — Cruise treats the big screen like sacred ground. Paramount knows it, which is why Days of Thunder 2 is one of their flagship theatrical bets for summer 2028.

And the appetite is real. Motorsport culture is surging right now — from packed grand prix weekends to racing’s growing grip on pop culture — and a Cruise-led return to the track lands right in the slipstream.

What we’d love to see

No spoilers to parse, no leaks to decode — just the good old-fashioned pleasure of anticipation. Will Cole Trickle be the mentor now, the aging lion showing a new generation how it’s done? Will the film reckon with how much racing — and Cruise — has changed in 36 years? The script is by Will Staples, and the only promise so far is Cruise’s own: it’s “a fun story.” Sometimes that’s exactly enough.

Our early verdict

Enthusiastic, with the engine revving. A beloved character, a genuinely exciting co-star in a genuinely exciting role, a director who understands heart, and the most reliable movie star on the planet treating a summer release like it matters. Hollywood’s biggest nights are built on exactly this kind of star power, and June 2, 2028 is officially circled on our calendar.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Hollow Preview: Sydney Sweeney’s Sleepy Hollow Reimagining

Some stories get retold because they ran out of ideas. Others get retold because someone finally found the right angle. Hollow looks like the second kind. Sony’s supernatural reimagining of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” puts Sydney Sweeney front and center as Katrina Van Tassel — and for the first time in the story’s 200-year screen life, Katrina is the protagonist. Fall 2027. Mark it.

Finally, Katrina gets her movie

Here’s what’s genuinely fresh about this one. Every version you’ve seen — including Tim Burton’s 1999 film with Johnny Depp as Ichabod — told the story through the men. Hollow flips the camera. The tale unfolds through Katrina’s eyes, and the love triangle with Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones stays intact, but the power dynamic is entirely new: Katrina is auctioned off for marriage to settle her family’s debts.

That’s a feminist reimagining with teeth, not a coat of paint. A young woman whose future is being sold to the highest bidder, in a haunted valley, in a story everyone thinks they know? That’s a premise with somewhere to go.

The team behind it

Writer-director Lindsey Anderson Beer (Pet Sematary: Bloodlines) is adapting her own debut novel — and yes, both the novel and the film are eyeing fall 2027, which is a neat little publishing-to-screen pipeline. Sweeney isn’t just starring; she’s producing through her banner Honey Trap, her first film production under the company. LuckyChap produces alongside Honey Trap and Lab Brew.

Casting news broke this week that Belmont Cameli — the Off Campus breakout — has joined as Brom Bones, confirmed by Deadline. Cameli talked to Entertainment Weekly on September 28 and described the film as “heavily thematic and stylized… a period piece,” adding that Sweeney is “a fantastic actress.” Ichabod Crane’s casting is still open, which means the triangle’s third corner is the industry’s favorite guessing game right now.

Why the timing is perfect

Gothic romance is having a moment, and audiences are hungry for period horror with a pulse. There’s something delicious about a story set in 1820 speaking directly to right now. The debt-marriage plot, the woman at the center of a legend that used to treat her as a prize — it lands differently in 2026 than it did in 1999.

And Sweeney keeps making interesting choices. Between this and her producing ambitions, she’s building the kind of career that lasts: big swings, real authorship, genre work with substance — the sort of Hollywood glow-up the industry loves to celebrate. A supernatural erotic thriller told through Katrina Van Tassel’s eyes is exactly the kind of role that separates a star from a celebrity.

A genre ripe for a comeback

The erotic thriller has been quietly knocking on Hollywood’s door for years, and gothic horror might be the perfect way back in. Think about it: the genre’s golden age gave us atmosphere-drenched classics, and Hollow arrives with all the right ingredients — a period setting, a slow-burn love triangle, and supernatural stakes. Done well, it’s catnip for adult audiences who want their scares with some sophistication. Done poorly, well — but nothing about this team suggests poorly. Beer wrote and directed her way into this chair, Sweeney is producing it herself, and LuckyChap’s track record with female-led stories speaks for itself.

The one thing to watch

The novel isn’t out yet, so detailed plot beats beyond the love-triangle-and-debt premise are unconfirmed — that’s industry talk territory, and we’ll wait for the book. But the bones of it are strong. Stories rooted in classic literature keep finding new life when someone finds the angle nobody tried, and “what if Katrina was the hero all along” is precisely that angle.

Our early verdict

Enthusiastic. A gothic period piece with a modern spine, a star-producer betting on herself, and a director adapting her own novel? Hollow has all the ingredients of the kind of mid-budget genre film people end up loving hardest. We’ll be watching the Ichabod casting news like everyone else — fall 2027 can’t arrive soon enough.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: The Flood: Lawrence & Cregger’s 2028 Sci-Fi Thriller

Every so often, an announcement lands that makes you sit up straight. Tuesday’s news did that. Jennifer Lawrence is set to star in The Flood, an original sci-fi thriller written, directed, and produced by Zach Cregger, and it’s headed to theaters on August 11, 2028 via Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. On paper, that’s already one of the most exciting pairings of the decade. In practice? It might be the movie that defines Cregger’s career.

How the week belonged to Zach Cregger

Let’s appreciate the timing here. Cregger’s Resident Evil — which we’re also reviewing this week and genuinely loved — crossed the $200 million mark worldwide the same week this announcement broke. A director coming off a $200M hit, an Oscar-winning turn with Weapons last year, and now one of the most gifted actors of her generation signs on for his next original? That’s not luck. That’s momentum compounding in real time.

The studio suits are all in. Warner Bros. Motion Picture chairs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy called Lawrence “one of the most gifted and compelling actors working today” and the film “bold and wholly original.” Cregger himself was characteristically direct: “Jennifer is one of a kind, and I’m beyond excited to see her in this role.”

What we actually know (and what’s just chatter)

Here’s the confirmed part: The Flood is an original sci-fi thriller. Not a sequel, not a reboot, not an adaptation of a comic or a game or a book you already know the ending to. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment co-produces alongside Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon — the same Weapons team. The project was originally developed under Cregger’s Amblin/Netflix deal, but New Line took it out of turnaround earlier this year after Netflix wouldn’t commit to a real theatrical window. That’s worth lingering on: someone chose the big screen over the algorithm. Reports say filming is set for Europe in early 2027.

Cregger has also told us what The Flood isn’t. He says it’s “not a straight horror film,” though he adds it’s probably the most disturbing thing he’s ever made. And his tonal compass is none other than Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he described as “a really thrilling horror movie about human nature.” Read that again. A filmmaker at the height of his powers is chasing Kubrick with an original story and an Oscar winner in the lead. August 2028 can’t come fast enough.

The industry chatter — and let’s be clear, this is chatter, not fact — points to a deep-space setting where a ship’s captain and crew answer a mysterious signal and find an alien artifact that distorts time, reality, and sanity. Plot details are officially under wraps, and we’ll treat them that way. But you can see why the rumor fits: Cregger’s fascination with dread and pacing, the kind of atmosphere-forward storytelling that made his Resident Evil so effective, maps neatly onto a Kubrick-flavored void.

Why this pairing works

Lawrence doesn’t do this often anymore. She picks her spots, and she picked this one. Since her Oscar, she’s been selective to a fault — which makes every yes of hers a statement. Choosing an original sci-fi thriller from a horror auteur says she wants to be scared a little, and she wants us scared with her.

Cregger, for his part, chose The Flood over directing the Weapons prequel Gladys (he’ll produce that instead). That’s a director betting his hot streak on something nobody has seen before. In an era when originals are supposed to be dead at the multiplex, that bet feels almost romantic.

The theatrical angle matters

Quick aside for the business-of-Hollywood crowd: the fact that this film exists because Netflix wouldn’t give it a real theatrical window is one of the best stories in the announcement. Audiences showed up for the kind of event filmmaking that demands a big room all year, and New Line read the room. The Flood is a theatrical movie by design, not by compromise.

Mark the date

August 11, 2028. Two years feels like forever, but think about what we’ll get between now and then: a production ramp-up in Europe, first-look images, a trailer that will almost certainly break the internet. This is the rare project where the announcement itself is the event. Original sci-fi, a great actor, a director at his peak, and Spielberg’s company backing it. We’ll be counting the days.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Toy Story 5 Review: Pixar’s Billion-Dollar Return

Thirty-one years after a cowboy doll and a space ranger changed animation forever, they’re still the most reliable friends in movies. Toy Story 5 — released June 19 and now streaming on Disney+ — isn’t just another sequel. It’s Pixar’s biggest film ever: over $1.13 billion worldwide, the largest opening in studio history ($160 million domestic, $310.2 million global), Certified Fresh at 93% critics and 94% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, and an A CinemaScore. Numbers like that don’t happen by accident. They happen when a studio remembers exactly what it’s for.

Toys Meet Tech

The premise is almost suspiciously perfect. Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the gang face their most insidious villain yet — and it isn’t a person. It’s the Lilypad, a tablet device that’s quietly eating Bonnie’s playtime as her world goes digital.

Every parent reading this just felt something. That’s the genius of it. Pixar took the central anxiety of modern family life — the screen versus the toy box — and turned it into a Toy Story movie. Not a lecture, not a scolding, but a story. What happens to toys when the kid stops playing? What happens to play itself? The film asks these questions through adventure and comedy rather than speeches, which is why they land. It’s the rare family film that gives adults and kids the same story at different depths, and both depths work — a kind of storytelling craft at its most generous.

Director Andrew Stanton — an Academy Award winner and one of Pixar’s founding voices — co-directs with Kenna Harris from a story by Stanton, and you can feel the veteran hand. This is a filmmaker who understands that the toys were never really the subject. The subject was always time: how it moves, what it takes, what it leaves behind.

The Gang’s All Here

Tom Hanks returns as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, Joan Cusack as Jessie, Tony Hale as Forky — the voices are as warm and lived-in as your favorite sweater. Hanks in particular does some of his finest work in the series here. Woody has been through a lot across five films, and Hanks plays every year of it: the loyalty, the doubt, the fear of becoming irrelevant. There’s a quiet scene between Woody and Jessie about what they’re actually for that might be the emotional high point of the whole franchise. No spoilers, but keep a tissue handy.

Newcomer Scarlett Spears voices Bonnie, and the film also features an original song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” written and produced by Taylor Swift with Jack Antonoff. Yes, that Taylor Swift. The song fits the film like it was always there — wistful, warm, and just the right side of bittersweet. It’s already doing serious business on the charts, because of course it is.

Why It Earned Every Dollar

Let’s put the numbers in perspective, because they’re genuinely historic. Toy Story 5 is the highest-grossing film in franchise history and the third-highest-grossing film of 2026, behind only Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey. Its opening weekend set a Pixar record that may stand for years. And the Disney+ debut pulled 20 million-plus views in its first five days — one of the biggest streaming launches Disney has ever had, feeding a franchise with over 2 billion hours streamed.

But here’s what matters more than the grosses: the reason for them. Deadline’s Damon Wise called it “a fun, thoughtful, multi-generational family film,” and that nails it. This is a movie grandparents, parents, and kids can watch together and each get something real. In an era of fractured attention — when even fashion’s biggest nights compete with a thousand glowing rectangles — a film about choosing play over pixels feels almost radical. Pixar didn’t just make a sequel. It made an argument for its own existence, and for the kind of childhood wonder that no device can replace.

The Stanton Touch

It’s worth saying plainly: Andrew Stanton is one of the great directors working in any medium. The man made a movie about a trash-compacting robot that barely speaks for its first forty minutes and turned it into a masterpiece. In Toy Story 5, his touch is everywhere — in the clockwork set pieces, in the jokes that work on three levels, in the patience to let a quiet moment breathe.

The animation itself is gorgeous, obviously — it’s Pixar — but what stands out is the tactility. The toys look touchable. The bedroom light looks like late afternoon in a real house. When the Lilypad glows, it glows with that specific cold blue of a screen in a dark room, and the contrast with the warm practical world of the toys tells half the story visually. This is craft in service of feeling, which has always been Pixar’s whole deal.

The Verdict

Toy Story 5 had every reason to be a victory lap and chose to be something better: a real movie, with real stakes and real heart, that happens to continue the most beloved animated franchise ever made. It’s funny, it’s moving, it looks beautiful, and it understands exactly why these characters matter to people. The billion dollars is nice. The feeling is nicer.

If you missed it in theaters, it’s waiting on Disney+ right now. Watch it with the people you love. Watch it with your phone in another room. Woody would insist.

Verdict: a classic. Pixar’s biggest hit is also one of its best — a worthy new chapter that earns its place beside the originals. To infinity, and thank goodness, beyond.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Heart of the Beast Review: Brad Pitt’s Alaskan Triumph

Every year has one movie that reminds you why theaters exist. In 2026, it’s Heart of the Beast. David Ayer’s survival drama — released September 25 by Paramount — pairs Brad Pitt with a retired combat dog for a 58-mile trek through the Alaskan wilderness, and the result is the most emotionally overwhelming film of the fall. Critics agree: it’s sitting at 87–89% on Rotten Tomatoes, the best-reviewed film of Ayer’s career. Audiences agree harder: 93–96% on the Popcornmeter, with an A- CinemaScore. When was the last time critics and crowds lined up like that? Go see it and you’ll understand.

A Simple Story, Told Perfectly

The setup is clean enough to fit on an index card. Retired Army Special Forces officer James Belmont — played by Pitt — survives a plane crash with his retired combat dog Odin, a German Shepherd played by a dog named Uber. Stranded in Alaska, the two make a brutal 58-mile trek to safety, leaning on their bond and their shared scars.

That’s it. That’s the movie. And it’s everything.

What makes Heart of the Beast soar is its refusal to complicate a perfect premise. Ayer, reuniting with Pitt fourteen years after Fury, directs like a man who finally trusts silence. Long stretches pass with no dialogue — just wind, snow, breath, and two survivors reading each other’s body language. The Alaskan wilderness is photographed with genuine awe, all jagged peaks and merciless white, and the film never lets you forget the scale of what these two are up against. It’s the kind of elemental filmmaking that strips everything down to what matters, the way the best celebrations of craft remind you that tradition and skill beat noise every time.

Pitt, Stripped Down

Brad Pitt has given a lot of great performances, but there’s something different happening here. James Belmont is a man running on fumes — physically wrecked, emotionally guarded, held together by routine and duty. Pitt plays him without vanity and without showboating. It’s all in the eyes and the economy of movement: a soldier who knows exactly how much he has left and spends it carefully.

The critics’ consensus keeps circling the same word: powerful. And the performance earns it honestly. There’s a scene — no spoilers — where Belmont has to decide whether to keep going or lie down in the snow, and Pitt plays the entire decision without a word. You watch a man argue with death and win the argument by refusing to have it. It’s as good as anything he’s ever done.

J.K. Simmons and Anna Lambe round out the human cast with strong supporting turns, but let’s be honest about the billing here.

Odin Is the Star

Every critic says it, every audience member says it, so we’ll say it too: the dog is the real star. Uber, playing the three-legged Odin (reportedly fitted with titanium teeth — this dog has seen things), delivers one of the great animal performances in recent memory. Not cute. Not a trick pony. A working dog doing working-dog things: sensing danger, refusing to quit, checking on his human with a look that will flatten you.

The man-and-dog dynamic is the whole film, and it works because Ayer treats Odin as a full character, not a prop. Odin has his own arc, his own fears, his own courage. The bond between James and Odin — two retirees from the same war, carrying the same scars — gives the trek its meaning. When audiences call this a tearjerker, this is why. Bring tissues. Seriously.

There’s a long, proud tradition of great dog movies, and the best of them understand that the dog isn’t comic relief — the dog is the moral center. Heart of the Beast belongs in that company, and it might be the new high-water mark. It’s a film about loyalty that actually understands loyalty, the kind of sincere emotion that feels genuinely uplifting rather than manufactured.

Ayer’s Best Film

Let’s talk about David Ayer for a moment, because this is a career moment. His previous best-reviewed film was End of Watch at 85%. Heart of the Beast has cleared that with room to spare, across 61 to 140-plus reviews. The man who made his name on gritty LA crime dramas and the tank warfare of Fury has made his most tender film in the coldest place imaginable. There’s something poetic in that.

The craft is undeniable. The cinematography — singled out repeatedly in audience reactions — finds terrible beauty in the whiteout. The pacing trusts the audience. The score knows when to swell and when to get out of the way. At a reported $82 million budget, every dollar is on screen, and the film opened to a solid $19–20 million domestic and $50.1 million worldwide — a strong start for an original adult drama in this market.

The Verdict

Heart of the Beast is the rare film that delivers everything it promises and then quietly gives you more. It’s a survival thriller with the tension of the best of them. It’s a war-aftermath drama with real insight into what service costs. And it’s a dog movie — one of the great ones — that will leave you hugging your own pets a little tighter.

See it on the biggest screen you can find. See it with someone you love. And when Odin does the thing in the third act — you’ll know the thing — try not to cry. Everyone else in the theater will be crying too.

Verdict: a triumph. The best-reviewed film of David Ayer’s career, one of Brad Pitt’s finest performances, and a dog for the ages. Heart of the Beast is essential viewing.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Whalefall: Josh Brolin’s Deep-Sea Survival Thriller Preview

The pitch is three sentences long, and you will not forget it. A young man scuba-dives off the California coast searching for his dead father’s remains. He is swallowed whole by a massive sperm whale. He has one hour of oxygen.

That is Whalefall, arriving in theaters October 16 from 20th Century Studios. The trailer dropped in August, and if the film delivers on its premise, we’re looking at one of the year’s most gripping theatrical experiences.

The Martian Meets 127 Hours

That comparison comes from ComingSoon, and it’s doing honest work. Like The Martian, this is a problem-solving thriller: a smart protagonist, a lethal environment, a clock running down. Like 127 Hours, it’s survival stripped to the bone — one person, one impossible situation, no cavalry coming.

But the emotional engine is pure Whalefall. Jay Gardiner, played by Austin Abrams, isn’t diving for sport. He’s diving for his father, Mitt Gardiner — played by Josh Brolin — whose remains were lost at sea. Inside the whale, with sixty minutes of air, Jay has to use his father’s own survival lessons to get out. Grief as a toolkit. That’s a beautiful, painful idea, and it gives the spectacle a heartbeat. The best survival stories were never really about the environment; they’re about what the character carries in with them. This one wears that on its sleeve, in the best way — a reminder that the most uplifting stories are often the ones that go through the dark first.

The film runs 106 minutes. Tight. That’s the right length for a pressure-cooker — long enough to earn the dread, short enough that nobody gets to breathe.

Duffield Knows This Terrain

Director Brian Duffield co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Kraus, adapting Kraus’s own 2023 novel. That’s a strong sign: the author in the room, shaping the adaptation of his own book. Duffield’s directing credits — Spontaneous and No One Will Save You — show a filmmaker comfortable with high concepts played straight and with real feeling. No One Will Save You in particular was a near-wordless alien-invasion thriller carried almost entirely by craft and one performance. A man alone inside a whale? That’s the same muscle, flexed harder.

And the producing bench is serious: Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment is aboard with Duffield, Jeb Brody, and Allan Mandelbaum. Grazer doesn’t produce small movies by accident. When a producer of that caliber backs a 106-minute survival thriller, it means the script earned it.

The Cast

Austin Abrams carries the film as Jay, and it’s the kind of role that makes careers — alone on screen for long stretches, acting against darkness, water, and a ticking clock. Josh Brolin plays his father Mitt, presumably in the flashbacks and memory sequences that give the survival lessons their weight. Brolin brings instant gravity; you believe a man like that would teach his son how to stay alive. Elisabeth Shue plays Jay’s mother Zara, with John Ortiz, Jane Levy, and Emily Rudd rounding out the cast. Shue is one of those actors who elevates everything she’s in — her presence suggests the family story will hit as hard as the thriller mechanics.

Why Theaters Matter for This One

Some movies you can watch anywhere. This isn’t one of them. A film about being swallowed by a whale — about pressure, darkness, the sound of your own breathing in a mask — wants a dark room and a big screen and an audience holding its breath with you. The trailer already suggests the sound design will be half the experience: creaks, currents, the awful closeness of it. This is a theatrical proposition in the old sense, the kind of big-screen event that reminds you why shared spectacle still matters — though here the voyage is considerably more alarming than a luxury cruise.

October 16 is also well chosen. It’s the heart of fall movie season, when audiences are hungry for something with teeth after the summer’s lighter fare. A survival thriller with prestige credentials and a killer hook should play very well there.

The Honest Unknowns

We’ve seen a trailer, not the film. The premise is airtight, the team is strong, but execution is everything with a concept this extreme. Can 106 minutes inside a whale sustain tension without repeating itself? Can the father-son story land without slowing the thriller? Those are craft questions, and Duffield’s track record suggests he knows exactly what he’s doing. Still — preview means preview. We’ll know on October 16.

Verdict: can’t wait. Whalefall has the year’s best hook, a director who specializes in exactly this kind of tension, and a cast built for it. One hour of oxygen. One hundred six minutes of movie. See it with people who don’t mind holding their breath.