The Life of Chuck (2024)

On July 6, 2026July 2, 2026 By Rick McIn books, moviesLeave a comment

Wow. Original. Interesting. Uplifting

What a great movie.

The Life of Chuck is a 2024 fantasy-drama film written, directed, and edited by horror auteur Mike Flanagan.

Moving away from his signature macabre horror style, Flanagan delivers a life-affirming, emotionally resonant adaptation of Stephen King’s 2020 novella of the same name.

The film took home the prestigious People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

The movie explores the life of an ordinary accountant named Charles “Chuck” Krantz through an unconventional reverse three-act structure:

Act III: Thanks, Chuck! – The film opens during a surreal, crumbling apocalypse where infrastructure fails and the world is slowly ending. Mysteriously, massive billboards and TV ads appear everywhere thanking an ordinary man named Chuck for “39 great years,” baffling local residents.
Act II: Busking – The narrative jumps back to Chuck’s adulthood, capturing a profound, spontaneous, and joyous street-dance sequence during a business trip that celebrates pure human connection.
Act I: Childhood – The final act explores Chuck’s upbringing by his grandparents after his parents die. He grapples with a love for dancing versus his grandfather’s practical accounting expectations, all while living in a home with a supernatural, prophetic secret hidden in the attic.

The underlying thesis reveals that the global “apocalypse” in Act III is actually the fading consciousness and brain decay of Chuck himself as he lies dying in a hospital bed.

The film acts as a metaphor for the Walt Whitman philosophy that every single human “contains multitudes” and holds an entire pocket universe within their mind.

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Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day (2026)

On July 3, 2026June 29, 2026 By Rick McIn moviesLeave a comment

I saw Disclosure Day in the theatre.

Silly. But entertaining.

Rotten Tomatoes, critical approval rating of around 82%.

It could have been better if not so complicated.

I enjoy some of the small touches, however. For example, Emily Blunt’s character (Margaret Fairchild) has a musician boyfriend named Jackson, who is played by Wyatt Russell. That character is funny and believable.

Colin Firth makes a good bad guy.

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Hot Fuzz – Action Comedy Film

On July 2, 2026 By Rick McIn humour, movies, videoLeave a comment

An insane, over-the-top comedy.

Hot Fuzz is a 2007 British action comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg.

Pegg stars as Nicholas Angel, an elite police officer who is reassigned to a West Country village and investigates a series of gruesome deaths. Nick Frost co-stars as Police Constable Danny Butterman, Angel’s partner. …

Wright and Pegg spent eighteen months writing the script.

The first draft took eight months to develop, and after watching 138 cop-related films for dialogue and plot ideas

Influenced by American movies like Raising Arizona ,Bad Boys, & Point Break, the cinematography in Hot Fuzz (2007), shot by Jess Hall, parodies Hollywood action movies by applying a blockbuster visual style to a sleepy English village.

High-contrast lighting, wide-angle lenses, and rapid-fire editing.

The film features over 5,500 edits. Fast cuts connect quick “insert shots” (close-ups of objects like a gun, a pen, or a badge) with wide shots. This turns mundane chores into high-intensity action.

Director Edgar Wright frequently cuts to extreme close-ups of eyes, boots, and weapons to build dramatic tension.

The “Whip Pan”: The camera rapidly swings to the side. This creates a blur effect.

The “Crash Zoom”: The camera violently zooms into a character’s face during moments of sudden realization. It is a classic 1970s and 1980s cop-movie trope used for comedic effect.

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The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

On June 24, 2026May 22, 2026 By Rick McIn books, moviesLeave a comment

The Recovery Agent is the first book in an adventure-mystery series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich .

Launched in 2022, the series introduces Gabriela Rose, a professional recovery agent who specializes in finding lost treasures and stolen heirlooms for wealthy clients.

Something of a silly Indiana Jones clone.

Suspend your disbelief.

I probably won’t continue with the series — though ex-husband, Rafer, is very entertaining. Laid-back, charming, and infuriating to Gabriela, Rafer is a slovenly surfer dude.

Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to Janet Evanovich’s bestselling Recovery Agent book series for a feature film adaptation, with Gal Gadot producing and potentially starring as globe-trotting agent Gabriela Rose.

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

On June 1, 2026May 5, 2026 By Rick McIn books, moviesLeave a comment

I finally got around to reading (listening to) King’s 1992 hit novel.

A very unusual format.

Dolores Claiborne is a psychological thriller by Stephen King. …

The novel led to a 1995 movie adaptation starring Kathy Bates …

Dolores Claiborne, an opinionated 65-year-old widow living in the tiny Maine community of Little Tall Island, is suspected of murdering her wealthy, elderly employer, Vera Donovan.

The novel is presented as a transcript of her statement, told to the local constable and a stenographer.

Dolores wants to make clear to the police that she did not kill Vera, whom she had looked after for years, but does confess to orchestrating the death of her husband, Joe St. George, almost thirty years previously. Dolores’s confession develops into the story of her life, her troubled marriage, and her relationship with her employer. …

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Andor – season 2

On May 28, 2026May 17, 2026 By Rick McIn movies, TVLeave a comment

I really enjoyed season 1. The best Star Wars spinoff, so far.

A prequel.

Despite RAVE reviews, I never really got into season 2.

It’s confusing. I kept having to Google the too many characters.

Too much time spent on the Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen romantic interest, I thought.

BUT the ending was excellent. Not always easy to do in a series this complicated.

Beginning five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, the series employs an ensemble cast of characters to demonstrate how a Rebel Alliance forms in opposition to the Galactic Empire.

Central to the cast is the eponymous Cassian Andor, a thief who becomes a revolutionary and eventually joins the Rebellion.

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INTENSE Movie – Apex

On May 24, 2026May 16, 2026 By Rick McIn moviesLeave a comment

I had to pause at points. Too stressful.

Charlize and co-star Taron Egerton should be nominated for all eligible acting awards.

Watch Apex on Netflix.

Apex (2026) stars Charlize Theron as Sasha, a grieving rock climber and kayaker who travels to the Australian wilderness to process a personal tragedy.

Her isolation trip shifts into a high-stakes battle for survival when she is targeted by a deceptive serial killer.

New Zealand Olympic canoeist Luuka Jones-Yaxley served as one stunt double for Charlize.

BUT, Charlize (age-50), performed nearly all of her own rock climbing, bouldering, and fighting. She trained intensively for two and a half months alongside legendary American rock climber Beth Rodden.

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Wake Up Dead Man (2025 film)

On May 22, 2026May 15, 2026 By Rick McIn moviesLeave a comment

Wake Up Dead Man is the third film in the Knives Out series:

Knives Out (2019)
Glass Onion (2022)
Wake Up Dead Man (2025)

Each is an ensemble cast, classic whodunnit, with Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig) being the only recurring character.

Wake Up Dead Man is far different than the first two — though still very watchable.

It’s more Agatha Christie. A semi-locked room mystery in a Church.

I didn’t recognize Daniel Craig when he walked on to screen.

Critical Consensus

Reviewers frequently highlight the film’s gothic atmosphere and its shift toward a darker, more serious tone compared to the campier previous instalments.

Josh O’Connor’s Standout Performance: Almost every review singles out O’Connor (playing Father Jud) as the film’s MVP, with some calling it his best work to date.

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The Devil Wears Prada 2

On May 14, 2026May 13, 2026 By Rick McIn moviesLeave a comment

GREAT movie.

I’m surprised.

With zero interest in the fashion industry, I never saw the original.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 sequel reunites the core creative team and original lead cast to follow the characters navigating the modern, digital-first media landscape twenty years after the events of the original 2006 film.

Cast is fantastic.

Stanley Tucci as Stanley Tucci is always great.

But it was Justin Theroux playing a rich idiot that surprised me the most.

Gaga was hiliarous.

The dozens of celebrities doing cameos must have had a lot of fun.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.