MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2026: Week 11 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Reminders of Him

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Vanessa Caswill

Starring: Maika Monroe, Tariq Withers, Rudy Pankow, Lainey Wilson, Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford

Colleen Hoover is the new Stephen King, said no one ever. But she's getting major film adaptations at an accelerated rate, so she might as well be. It Ends with Us might be remembered best for the intense drama of its production and subsequent legal proceedings as everyone sued the fuck out of each other but what gets lost in all of that is that before any of the dirty laundry was public, that movie raked in a shitload of money. There's clearly a hunger in the romantic niche that has struck gold and we might as well keep churning them out. Reminders of Him is equally as flawed as previous Hoover flicks but it also hits the notes that it needs to. That probably primes it up as being a success, even if it isn't as powerful as it has the pretense of being.

Reminders of Him tells the story of a woman who has recently been released from prison, found guilty of manslaughter after an automobile accident kills her fiancée. She tries to rebuild her life in their old hometown, longing to see the daughter she was separated from and forming romantic feelings for her deceased boyfriend's best friend. Melancholy melodrama is the name of the game in this one, because it's about being sad and how everyone around you makes you sad, especially the people who make you happy. This movie doesn't really allow its characters to have a personality outside of being droopy because of how life is unfair, as its only levity comes from a young girl with Down Syndrome who doesn't actually fit the tone of the film around her. The ultimate issue with this movie is that most of its scenarios are manufactured for maximum sadness, not producing a sensible transgression between its characters because it wants its main character to wallow in self-pity. There is little that's naturalistic about it and it doesn't exactly have a plot because it lacks actual progression in story beats, people just change their minds about things and sometimes events seem to escalate for almost no reason. Romantic drama is a tricky genre because the tension of conflict usually hinges in internal emotion that needs to be conveyed through nuance and performance. Every moment of this film wants to be weepy, which means there is little room for nuance as performers are constantly aiming for the same overworked note they've already achived. Reminders of Him is very monotonous because it's the same tune on repeat until the movie decides it's time for the happy ending. It will either make you cry or make you bored, depending one what you want from a movie like this.

The Secret Agent

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oscars Nominated: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role - Wagner Moura, Best International Feature Film, Best Casting

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Director: Klebor Mendonça Filho

Starring: Wagner Moura, Carlos Francisco, Tánia Maria, Robério Diógenes, Alice Carvalho, Gabriel Leone, Maria Fernanda Cándido, Udo Kier

With just minutes on the clock, I finally check off the last Best Picture nominee off my list as I waited a preposterously long time for it to play at my theater because a fifteen dollar digital rental is fucking bullshit. Sadly, I won't get to Arco for this very reason, so this will likely be my last big Oscar catch-up.

This movie takes place in 1970's Brazil (if you watched last year's I'm Still Here, you know what's going down because this is the same setting), where a man is targeted for assassination, and we follow him lying low and living among the people. It's less "secret agent-y" than one might hope for a film with this title, as he doesn't have gizmos, invade secret lairs, nor carries a license to kill, so don't have high preconceptions about what this movie is. It's more of a drama with slight paranoia thriller elements, as it has more to do with the type of life one lives under tyranny with a target on one's back and what that does to you and your loved ones. I guess I'm not surprised this movie is being celebrated this year, given that it's a pretty on-the-nose parallel to the current American government and how its treating its own citizens, and the movie has a really wild digression into a propaganda satire that I thought was really funny. I kinda wished the movie leaned more into itself because it's too restrained for my taste. I was invested by certain ideas of the film but its tendency to just mosey about itself so casually caused its thriller elements to never fully take hold of me. If the more personal elements had more pull, I'd probably say this was a yearly highlight. In the end, I just found it a well-made curiosity.

Slanted

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama, Horror

Director: Amy Wang

Starring: Shirley Chen, Mckenna Grace, Fang Du, Meytreyi Ramakrishnan, Amelie Zilber

It's literal whitewashing as The Substance gets an ethnic spin. An Asian high school student Shirley Chen grows up with an envy of the popular blonde Caucasian girls who gather all the attention. In her efforts to become prom queen, she elects to partake in a surgery that turns her into bombshell white girl Mckenna Grace and finds that her popularity spikes. Like that certain other body horror social satire that swept award season, Slanted has a lot to do with body image and the social stature of women based on said image. Instead of attacking agism, Slanted goes takes a more specific criticism, rooting in the effect of culture celebration of a specific type of body image in skin color and the negative psychological effects on those who live outside of it. Unlike The Substance, which featured a main character who sought to regain what she had lost, Slanted centers on a character who could never have it because of the way she was born. The metaphor is a little off-balance because they're specifically targeting influncer culture. I'm no expert on the social media scene but it seems like an area where most ethnicities thrive based on pretty looks and personality, and while top influencers might be of a certain type, ethnic influencers could still gather a large following. But it's primarily a story of idealism and influencers are a modern take on idols. The movie is very smart and very topical, though it loses some steam in simply being a Mean Girls spin on a very recent popular film that it's going to be difficult to avoid comparison to. Those looking for a disturbing body horror film might find disappointment here, as the body horror element is light and confined mostly to the climax. The movie is more of a high-concept fantastical drama of an Asian girl who longs to be something she's not and somehow getting her wish, and the abandonment of the traits that define her. It's horror in the loosest version of the word, but it's an exceptional metaphor.

Undertone

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Horror

Director: Ian Tuason

Starring: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco

A pair of paranormal podcasters look into a mysterious email that is sent to them featuring spooky audio recordings, where one begins to find them hitting a little too close to home. Undertone is an excellent example of what can be accomplished with budget limitation, creating an entire horror experience utilizing a single location and a main actress who is holding attention directly on her. The movie's primary fright delight is sound design, where its lead sacrifices one of her senses to the environment around her to listen to a separate environment that might be mirroring it. It's also interestingly shot, with a heavy focus on the negative space that she happens to be inhabiting. The plotting sometimes struggles to hit momentum, as it feels like the movie is trying to be Paranormal Activity through audio and sometimes stops and starts to relate personal drama that slows down the pace. The movie's interest value spikes when they're delving deeper into the mystery of the audio recordings, though admittedly their podcast sounds like it kinda sucks because they play up basic Mulder and Scully archetypes that are meant to talk around in circles and not make any progress. The podcast itself almost reflects the movie surrounding it, effectively made without being fully meaty. But if your ambition is to show what you can do with a minimal cast and less than a million dollars, Undertone is a hell of a statement.

Oscar Winners

All the Empty Rooms ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Avatar: Fire and Ash ⭐️⭐️⭐️

F1 ⭐️⭐️

Frankenstein ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Girl Who Cried Pearls ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hamnet ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

KPop Demon Hunters ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (N/A)

One Battle After Another ⭐️⭐️1/2

Sentimental Value ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Singers ⭐️⭐️⭐️