MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2026: Week 26 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Couture

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama

Director: Alice Winocour

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf, Garance Marillier

The Randy Couture Story!

Angelina Jolie stars as a filmmaker who has been diagnosed with breast cancer who finds herself coping with her diagnosis while in France away from her family. This half of the movie is pretty good. Jolie is pretty wonderful and it's a very realistic and engaging depiction. Unfortunately, that's not all that the movie is because it pads itself out with a subplot about supermodels that is very empty and just does not compliment the primary story. I think the purpose of the movie is to contrast a woman contemplating her mortality against a group of women who are starting the prime of their lives but only one of these stories has anything thoughtful in it. Watching Couture tears me in half because I want to praise the movie for Jolie but everything else just sucks the air out of the room. But that's just the truth when a perfectly good movie has cement around its ankles and is dumped into the ocean.

Jackass: Best and Last

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Comedy, Documentary (kinda)

Director: Jeff Tremaine

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Dave England, Danger Ehran, Preston Lacy, Rachel Wolfson, Jasper Dolphin, Dark Shark, Poopies, Zach Holmes

I don't care what you think. It's been a long week and I'm going to sit here and enjoy a Jackass movie.

For those who are unaware of the late Gen X/early Millennial legend, Jackass was a very short-lived series on MTV back in the day that was basically a very physical prank show, as the stars would find outrageous gags and stunts to pull on each other or just come up with obvious bad ideas then execute them just to see what would happen. I didn't think they'd have squeezed out five movies out of that, but whatever makes these guys happy. Best and Last is touted to be the final entry in the stunt series, which might be for the best. What seems to have been keeping this franchise going is the promise of bigger and bolder stunts, though they might have peaked as a "full package" in the second installment, which is probably still the most insane of any of these movies (and has the only prank that made me nearly vomit, and you know exactly which one I'm talking about). It's hard to keep the "WE ARE IMMORTAL" mid-twenties spirit of Jackass alive when everyone is in their fifties. As for this latest installment, what strikes me is that some of the pranks have more theatricality than usual and are less awe-inspiring. Many of the biggest laughs come from clips of previous installments ("Silence of the Lambs" is still one of the funniest things I've ever seen). I can't attribute that to this movie, but I did get jollies out of seeing the older material. The movie does offer some rarely seen footage from the MTV archives that the channel did not want to air for a variety of reasons (very valid reasons) and edits them into the movie. This includes the very first stunt that Johnny Knoxville filmed for the franchise, which is also, surprisingly, the very dumbest thing I've ever seen anybody on Jackass ever do, where Knoxville takes a loaded gun and shoots himself point blank in the chest while he's wearing kevlar. They, very rightfully, never aired this and, honestly, it's debatable whether or not it should be in this movie, either. But it's at the very least locked behind an R-rating in theaters, making it less likely a child will see it and try to replicate it. And they throw in an extra precaution with an added warning at the bottom of how dangerous this is while showing it, just to cover their bases. Other unaired TV footage includes Knoxville posing as an escaped convict in public, which went unaired because the cops became involved, and Knoxville getting pushed down the stairs in a cardboard box, which MTV didn't air because they found the stunt too easily imitatable.

New stuff is relatively tame and hammy by comparison, but the elder Jackasses are all masters of amusing themselves. Steve-O is still sticking things up his rectum, including a robot's finger for a "prostate exame." The problem with this stunt is that they're limited on edits and angles that they can actually show in the movie, so we get a lot of footage of Steve-O screaming, but the lack of footage of a robot "probing" him makes it just look like it's rubbing peanut butter on his ass. They have more success in playing with electricity, as Knoxville gives Steve-O light shocks while he's trying to give Zach Holmes a tattoo and later delivering them to Sean "Poopies" McInerney's groin region. Highlighting new bits is a series of stunts at the end called "Escape Room from Hell," which is a gauntlet of bullshit that almost turns into a Jackass version of a Saw movie. There is fun to be had here if you have an affection for Jackass. If you don't, then you shouldn't have bothered. Jackass is gonna Jackass, and they're very good at Jackassing. They might be hanging up their rocket shoes for good, but one might wonder if Knoxville might be open to letting the younger members of his team carry the torch for a new generation. Or he could just let it retire with a record of zero cast and crew killed while filming their nonsense. Sometimes you gotta quit while you're ahead.

Lucky Strike

⭐️1/2

Genre: War, Thriller

Director: Rod Davis Lurie

Starring: Scott Eastwood, Colin Hanks, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Taylor John Smith

Scott Eastwood is stuck in German territory during the Battle of the Bulge and takes a long hike to get home in this rudimentary war film that really makes you wish it's better than it is. Lucky Strike seems written by someone who digests a healthy diet of 1940's war propaganda movies: filling dialogue with awkward exposition, getting into heavily staged scrapes along the way, and presented through boundless patriotism. What charm those movies have don't translate to the modern lens, and the movie just feels stilted and underdeveloped. On a more positive note, cinematography does a lot of heavy-lifting, as there is some inventive camerawork for a movie that is otherwise very lazy. Unfortunately, it's always focused on actors reading blocky, over-scripted dialogue while the suspense sequences ring get frustrating because it never portrays Eastwood's main character consistently. Some of the hurdles in the plot only happen because Eastwood's character is portrayed as an inobservant moron while the climactic sequence gains traction because Eastwood is eagle-eyed all of a sudden. And then there is a schmaltzy ending that left me more puzzled that heartwarmed. The ending twist is that the whole movie is a tender love story between a lost soldier and his dependable radio, which is something the movie never sets up at all. It's jarring when this becomes the case because his use of his radio is largely brushed over in the narrative.

Ultimately, this is a movie that seems primarily geared toward the elderly couple who was sitting behind me, who just wanted to watch a war movie and exclaimed out loud what was happening during every plot beat. "Oh my gosh, he's all alone!" "Oh my gosh, it's the Germans!" "Oh my gosh, he's under fire!" "Oh my gosh, he better run!" "Oh my gosh, IT'S AMERICA!" If that's the way you watch movies, Lucky Strike is a movie for you.

Supergirl

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Superhero, Science Fiction, Action, Adventure

Director: Craig Gillespie

Starring: Milly Alcock, Jason Momoa, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet

It's time to check in on the new, rebooted (improved?) DC Universe with an outer space adventure with Supergirl, who spends most of the movie in a hangover, only vaguely doing superheroics. I'm not fully sure she knows where she is half the time, but Kryptonian Kara Zor-El is enlisted by a little girl who seeks revenge for the death of her family. Supergirl only becomes invested when everyone's favorite superpup, Krypto, is poisoned by the very bad guy the girl is searching for, giving the pair a common goal as Kara seeks the antidote for her beloved dog.

Watching Supergirl is a tale of two experiences. One is a flavorful adventure following a troubled character stumbling through chaotic scenarios. The other is one a dry stupor of tonal issues that gets less interesting as it goes. Any viewer who leaned into either is equally valid. Supergirl is both of these things at the same time. I should note that I probably enjoyed this movie more than I didn't. This movie is primarily about a broken girl who regains a reason to care whether she or anyone else lives or dies, and I found it compelling enough to stay engaged. Ultimately, how the movie executes it is pretty muddy. The movie has more of a story than last year's Superman, but it has less plot. Supergirl is a venture of fits and starts of Kara stumbling around with a clear goal but no actual plan except "Get the thing." The design of the movie is by purpose because she's not in a good state-of-mind, but the film never solidifies her with a rhythm to her chaos that satisfies as an actual plotline. Meanwhile, the movie has a lot of adventure but is never particularly adventurous because our character is never keen on exploring or saving people. She just finds herself in new surroundings and crashes out of them without allowing the audience to fully embrace or understand them, causing the film to feel somewhat loose and lacking in spectacle.

There is a potential counterweight to this and that lies in character value. Is Kara interesting or at least entertaining? She is both of these things. Milly Alcock plays this type of girl without hope with enough charisma to make her presence one of the film's strongest assets. Does it counter that the movie sometimes feels like it has less of its shit together than she does? Hard to say. It depends on how hard she wins you over. She's not enough to mask too many of the film's faults, so that's probably a problem. Supergirl is a flawed production, which is apparent by just watching it. The question is whether the primary thing it gets right is the most important thing. I belive it's maybe of fifty-one percent importance, so I'll give the movie credit.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Backrooms ⭐️⭐️

The Death of Robin Hood ⭐️⭐️1/2

Disclosure Day ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Furious ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Girls Like Girls ⭐️⭐️

Leviticus ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Mandalorian and Grogu ⭐️⭐️

Masters of the Universe ⭐️⭐️1/2

Obsession ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Scary Movie ⭐️

The Sheep Detectives ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2