Movies & TV Archive

A parent's honest age guide to every Middle-earth film and series — the scary scenes, the right ages, and where to start with kids.

Season 4 opens with some of the best episodes the show has ever made, sags a little in the middle, then sticks the landing. Not its best season — but still genuinely great. Rating: 8.

Avatar Book 1 introduces Aang, the gang, and a war-torn world. It's charming and funny on the surface, and quietly lays every emotional foundation the saga will pay off.

Book 2 is where Avatar levels up: Toph joins, the world darkens, and the season builds to one of the great gut-punch finales in all of animation.

Book 3 brings everything home: Zuko's redemption, the Day of Black Sun, and a four-part finale under Sozin's Comet that pays off three books flawlessly.

Netflix's live-action Avatar is a genuinely good remake — gorgeous, respectful, well-cast — that still can't match the humor and emotional precision of the cartoon.

Korra's debut book drops a brash new Avatar into a modern metropolis facing an anti-bending revolution. A confident, stylish, self-contained start with a great villain.

Korra's most uneven book is also home to its most beautiful hour: the 'Beginnings' two-parter, which reveals the origin of the very first Avatar in a stunning new art style.

Book 3 is Korra firing on every cylinder: the franchise's best villain in Zaheer, spectacular action, and its darkest, most powerful finale. The series' peak.

The final book pairs a sensitive recovery arc with a fascist conqueror, a colossal finale, and an ending that quietly made television history. A powerful close.

New to Avatar? A clear, beginner-friendly guide to the Four Nations, the four bending arts, and the Avatar — everything a parent needs before starting it with the kids.

Avatar or Korra first? How the two shows differ in tone, hero, and themes — and the simple answer on where to start, plus which one might be more your speed.

A deep-dive on Korra's stunning 'Beginnings' two-parter — the story of Wan, the first Avatar, the lion turtles, and where bending and the Avatar truly came from.

A faithful, joyful adaptation of the East Blue saga with pitch-perfect casting that gets better every episode. The live-action curse is broken. Rated 4/5.

Into the Grand Line is bigger and braver than Season 1, and its Drum Island back half is the show at its absolute best. A fantastic 4.5/5.

How to start the 1,100-episode One Piece anime without burning out — where to begin, how to handle filler, and how a busy dad can keep up.

Wes Anderson's most awarded film is also his most complete — a perfectly framed caper of murder, friendship, and pastry that earned four Oscars. Rating: 4.5/5.

Wes Anderson's most alienating film is also one of his most rewarding — a grief-soaked nested narrative that baffles before it illuminates. Rating: 4/5.

Din Djarin and Grogu make the leap to the big screen with everything intact: the father-son bond, the action, the heart. The Space-Dad story cinema always deserved. 4/5.

Apple Immersive Video puts you pitch-side at the Bernabeu with 80,000 fans. Goosebumps guaranteed. The finest spatial sports experience ever made. 5/5.

Denis Villeneuve's Dune (2021) is the sci-fi adaptation fans waited 40 years for. A 5/5 spectacle and one half of an all-time great.

Dune: Part Two is the rarest thing in cinema, a sequel that surpasses the original. A 5/5 and one of the greatest theatrical experiences ever.

Tom Holland, the Spider-Verse, the PS5 games and more — one dad ranks every Spider-Man film and game honestly, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day now the new #1.

New to Dune and not sure where to start? Our complete beginner's guide covers whether to watch or read first, the right order, and how to enjoy Arrakis.

A gloriously cheesy Sony Marvel relic — Nicolas Cage as a flaming skull stunt rider. A nostalgic, fun guilty pleasure. Not good cinema. Absolutely worth watching.

The grittier, cheaper, considerably weirder Cage sequel. The film around him is a mess. He is not. A honest 2.5/5.

Our Halo Season 1 review. Paramount's bold, divisive live-action take on Master Chief — strong action and a great lead, but a story that strays from the games.

Our Halo Season 2 review. Paramount's darker, tighter second season course-corrects toward the games and builds to the Fall of Reach. The better season — a 4/5.

Kraven the Hunter goes hard-R with brutal hunt-action and genuine grit. The script is thin but the tone is more serious than anything else in the SSU. A fair 3/5.

Madame Web had the bones of a fascinating premise — clairvoyance, fate, the spider-web of destiny. The execution is a 2/5 stumble.

Morbius is a generic, weightless vampire origin that produced some of the internet's finest memes and one of the SSU's lowest points. Honest 2.5/5.

Spider-Man 2 is the Raimi trilogy's peak -- a 4/5 sequel with Alfred Molina's unforgettable Doc Ock, the train fight, and a hero worth rooting for.

Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man is the first genuinely great comic-book film — a 4.5/5 origin story that still earns its place in cinema history.

Spider-Man 3 is a 3/5 mess -- ambitious, overstuffed, and tonally confused. The emo dance is real, the disappointment is real, and Raimi clearly lost the fight with the studio.

Spider-Man reimagined as a 1930s noir detective with Nicolas Cage. Stylistically stunning, tonally unlike anything in the genre. A genuine, enthusiastic 4/5.

Overstuffed with studio ambition but emotionally devastating where it counts. Garfield and Stone deliver the best Spider-Man romance ever filmed. A 4/5.

Marc Webb's underrated reboot gives us the best Peter Parker yet. Garfield is magnetic, Stone is electric, and the film earns its place.

Tom Hardy vs his own symbiote in the most chaotic, self-aware buddy-comedy Marvel has produced. A 4/5 for pure, shameless fun.

Andy Serkis leans fully into the Eddie-Venom odd-couple comedy. Slighter than the first, still a blast. And that post-credits scene changes everything. 3.5/5.

The Last Dance closes the Tom Hardy Venom trilogy with a cosmic threat, messy plotting, and enough Eddie-Venom chemistry to earn a solid 3.5/5 farewell.

Christopher Nolan rebuilds Batman from scratch — non-linear origin, Liam Neeson's mentor-villain reveal, Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow. A 5/5 that rewards every rewatch.

The DCU launched with an animated show about monsters on a black-ops mission. It's weirder than it sounds, better than expected, and episode 6 is an absolute standout. Rating: 4/5.

Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix make a DC film with no interest in being a superhero film. A character study in the Scorsese tradition. Uncomfortable, brilliant, essential. 4/5.

Todd Phillips turns the Joker sequel into a jukebox musical. Joaquin Phoenix is still committed. The film around him is a 2.5/5 disappointment — and the box office agreed.

John Cena, a helmet shaped like a toilet, and one of the best DC shows ever made. Peacemaker Season 1 is chaotic, hilarious, and weirdly moving. Rating: 4/5.

Peacemaker Season 2 starts disappointingly slow — then absolutely detonates in episodes 6 and 7. Stick with it. This is Gunn's DCU at its most deranged best. Rating: 4/5.

Matt Reeves' The Batman puts Robert Pattinson in Year Two as a detective-first Dark Knight. Atmospheric, technically brilliant, and occasionally too long. 3.5/5.

Heath Ledger's Joker redefined what a superhero villain can be. Christopher Nolan's most ambitious film, the genre's greatest performance, and a 4.5/5 that was never going to be anything else.

Christopher Nolan closes the trilogy with Bane, a broken Batman, and an ending that earns the full weight of three films. Not the best in the trilogy, but the right conclusion. 4/5.

HBO's The Penguin gives Colin Farrell's Oz Cobb eight episodes and a flooded Gotham to conquer. Outstanding crime drama, one of 2024's best TV series. 4/5.