MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2026: Week 25 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

The Death of Robin Hood

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Drama

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård, Murray Bartlett, Noah Jupe

Hugh Jackman went and made Logan again. Only this time with a bow and arrow. The Death of Robin Hood does exactly what the title suggests, while also offering an examination of the reality beneath a legend. Like Unforgiven, but with more Game of Thrones. The idea of using such a myth as an examination of what type of right bastard might have inspired it is intriguing. I kinda wish they devoted a whole movie to his actual actions and the interpretations that spread through word of mouth. They made this movie instead, where Robin Hood is a dangerous old fart who is a contrast to the righteous figure that his legends portray him as. That's okay for initial shock value, but the movie just kinda drones on in his own misery without really exploring how he inspires such a myth. One of the reasons Unforgiven works is because of Clint Eastwood's lifetime of making westerns that it acts as an epilogue to. Logan also works because of Jackman's history of making X-Men movies. The Death of Robin Hood struggles because while there is an entire history of Robin Hood lore, this is a version of the character we only barely know and we hardly know anything about his relationship to the lore itself. I like the movie's swagger, but I need more details.

Oh well. There is an episode of Firefly that kinda already did that, where Jayne accidentally drops a payload on top of an impoverished town and accidentally becomes a folk hero. The Death of Robin Hood only succeeded in making me reflect on that episode and also an episode of Doctor Who where Clara wants to meet Robin Hood and the Doctor insists he didn't exist, only to go back and find that he not only existed but he was the exact jolly swashbuckler he has always been stereotyped as. I am just now imagining how it would have went down if the Doctor and Clara met this Robin Hood instead. Never meet your heroes, I guess.

Girls Like Girls

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Hayley Kiyoko

Starring: Maya de Costa, Myra Molloy, Levon Hawke, Zach Braff

This queer coming-of-age heartbreaker is almost part of a mini-franchise, as director Hayley Kiyoko has used the title "Girls Like Girls" as the title of a song and followed it with a novel that fleshes out the narrative of her music. Now she's here with a film adaptation of that novel, which tells the story of a teenage girl who befriends another girl and finds out they both have a mutual physical attraction to each other. Will they? Won't they? Should they keep it as a secret? And if they do, will the pressure that comes with that drive them both crazy? It's very basic, and that's not always a bad thing. What's frustrating about this movie is that something emotionally resonate always feels on the tip of its tongue but it always finds a way to stunt it's delivery of it, through shallow writing or wooden acting or both at the same time. The movie feels like it wants to be a film that sizzles with moments between two people that are unsaid and it can hit quite strongly when it is that. It loses that steam when those moments are interrupted with actual speech because very little of the dialogue is engaging. I feel bad for this movie because there is a very tender story about an outsider who is struggling to solidify her personal identity, the movie just did not make me feel anything. An undemanding viewer who just wants a queer love story might find enough here to give this a watch, but there are also better options out there.

Leviticus

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Horror, Romance

Director: Adrian Chiarella

Starring: Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Mia Wasikowska

More queer cinema this week, from girls learning to not be afraid of kissing other girls to boys learning that they should be afraid of kissing other boys. Gay teens are taken to a "healer" in one of those "pray the gay away" type of things. However, this particular ritual attaches a demon to each of the boys, who takes the form of the person they lust after most and follows them wherever they go. Kinda like It Follows or Smile, only with LGBTQ flavored spice, just the way we like it. Leviticus is more allegorical than it is frightening. It actually makes you wait a really long time for a horror sequence. Not in a slow burn sense because it's always in momentum. It's just soaking in its thematic bath oils. The movie plays with worldbound homophobia from every angle resulting in a self-loathing homosexual trying to navagate when the view of everyone else looks upon them with discomfort. It's all very on-the-nose, and sometimes it wobbles from being powerful and just being too simplistic, not wanting to explain itself and hoping people just get it. The themes and the premise are both sturdy and effective despite its genre thrills never feeling fully developed, but there is a full movie here that is well worth watching.

Toy Story 5

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure

Director: Andrew Stanton

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Conan O'Brien, Scarlett Spears, Greta Lee, Shelby Rabara, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Craig Robinson

Welcome back, Toy Story. You always got a friend in me, even when your big Buzz Lightyear franchise doesn't pan out. Pixar's inaugural IP has always been very consistent, usually only brought back when they have an idea that works. That doesn't stop online film nerds from being cynical about it. Every Toy Story movie has been deemed "pointless and unnecessary" sight unseen since the second one. Meanwhile, Pixar is cooking in the background, laughing to themselves "lol we gonna make you ugly cry, bitch." I will admit that a Pixar movie hasn't hit that special note that I had gotten used to seeing from them in a while, since maybe Coco. Toy Story 4 was a part of that wave (which I still enjoyed but never felt compelled to revisit), so maybe my expectations for a fifth were room temperature. Maybe that's why I liked it quite a bit more than the fourth and am thinking it's probably the best movie Pixar has made so far this decade.

Toy Story 5 focuses more on Jessie than previous installments, which were mostly Woody focused. Jessie is the new head honcho of Bonnie's toy group, though as the youngster gets older, she starts becoming more shy around other kids. Jessie starts scheming to get Bonnie to interact with other children, only to find Bonnie's attention starts to be stolen by her new piece of tech, Lilypad. Bonnie's attention soon becomes more drawn to her screen instead of her toys, and it also makes making friends even more challenging for her. It's a very on-the-nose commentary on screen addiction and how it's generating generations of withdrawn people. There's also an allusion to social anxiety, though Bonnie's particular case doesn't seem to stem from screen addiction. She was shy before she got her Lilypad, and she used it as a conduit to actually make friends. But that aspect becomes more about peer groups because she's around other kids who don't really seem to like her at all.

What I liked about this story is that it's not about the toys going on a new adventure in a different environment that has its own toy culture. Each previous Toy Story sequel did that and it started to feel formulaic. There is a bit of a back-to-basics element to Toy Story 5 that I felt really works in this movie's favor. It's the most simple storyline since the original and it mostly keeps things in the toybox without overthinking it. Everything in the movie is about the bond between a child and their toy, and the imagination that stems from it (or lack of one where Lilypad is concerned). The most expansive part of the movie has to do with a detour back to the house where Jessie's first owner, Emily, which pays off both in the main premise while also bringing closure to that little bit of trauma that Jessie has been harboring since the second movie.

Also, there are about fifty Buzz Lightyears now because of course there are.

The movie is fun and touching, which is exactly what we want from a Toy Story movie. Personally, I liked it better than both the fourth film and the Lightyear movie. There are even parts of this movie I'd say hit harder than Toy Story 3, but Toy Story 3 is probably the better movie. Anyone with an affection for this series, or with wee ones who also love it, will find it delivers the goods.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Backrooms ⭐️⭐️

The Breadwinner ⭐️⭐️

Disclosure Day ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Furious ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Mandalorian and Grogu ⭐️⭐️

Masters of the Universe ⭐️⭐️1/2

Obsession ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pressure ⭐️⭐️1/2

Scary Movie ⭐️

The Sheep Detectives ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Stop! That! Train! ⭐️⭐️⭐️