- Inaugural FECK Awards to Honor Extraordinary Changemakers in Chicago on April 4th at the Ritz Carlton (March 21, 2026)
I am thrilled to announce that the Inaugural edition of The FECK Awards will be celebrating amazing individuals and/or organizations in Chicago on Saturday, April 4th, who truly embody the principles detailed in my book, It’s Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity Through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion and Kindness. The FECK Awards are more than a typical award; they are a call to action, honoring everyday heroes and leaders whose actions are helping to build a more humane, understanding, and compassionate world. We announced the 2026 recipients of these awards, whom we found following a nationwide search. And as an added bonus, we identified Honorable Mentions whose work and deeds were also so impactful we wanted to shine a light on them.
Congratulations to Azim Khamisa and the Tariq Khamisa Foundation from San Diego, California, for embodying the transformative value of FORGIVENESS. After his son Tariq was tragically killed in 1995 during a gang initiation robbery, Azim made the extraordinary choice to forgive the teenage offender responsible. Instead of allowing grief to turn into hatred, Azim partnered with the young man’s grandfather, Ples Felix, to found the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, dedicated to stopping youth violence. For more than three decades, the organization has reached more than two million young people with programs promoting accountability, forgiveness, and nonviolence.
Our recipient whose story exudes the value of EMPATHY is Melvin Parson from Ypsilanti, Michigan (pictured above). He founded the We the People Growers Association and We the People Opportunity Farm, which have transformed lives through urban agriculture and second-chance employment. After experiencing incarceration, homelessness, and addiction earlier in life, Parson built a program that created dignified jobs and workforce training through soil-changing opportunities, growing and selling fresh farm foods and creating the Good Soil Café. This helped formerly incarcerated individuals to foster understanding, opportunity, and healing while reducing recidivism. Just as we were going to inform Mr. Parson about his award, we were informed that he passed away earlier this month on March 5th. His work lives on.
Jayera Griffin of Riverdale, Illinois, is this year’s award recipient best representing the principle of COMPASSION. She began serving her community at just 14 years old by organizing free laundry days so students could have clean clothes for school. Now 22 and graduating from Western Illinois University in 2026 with plans to become an elementary school teacher, Griffin continues to lead initiatives that support and uplift her community, including organizing CPR and AED training for young people, collecting clothing for seniors, and organizing school supply drives and holiday programs for neighborhood families.
Last but certainly not least is our winner who embodies KINDNESS, David Ludlow Jr., of South Elgin, Illinois. He was born with Down Syndrome, and now at age 35, demonstrates the profound impact one person’s generosity can have. Each year, he saves his earnings to purchase toys for his local fire district’s Toys for Tots drive. In 2025 alone, he donated nearly 100 toys, inspiring an outpouring of additional donations from the community. At Rising Lights Project, a learning space for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, Luplow is known for his quiet acts of kindness that inspire a ripple effect in the community.
We look forward to introducing our FECK Awardees or their representatives to the audience at 6 pm at the Ritz Carlton Water Tower Place. Members of our Panel of Judges will also be in attendance. The evening will start with musical selections from award-winning jazz vocalist Tammy McCann, and international vocalist Calvin Bridges. Come join us for an evening of joy and inspiration!
I would also like to highlight our Honorable Mentions in each category starting with Forgiveness: Judge Kathleen Coffey, founder of the Homeless Court at Boston’s Pine Street Inn, in Boston, Massachusetts. Each month for 15 years before retiring in late 2025, Judge Coffey transformed a room at the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter into a courtroom where people experiencing homelessness, facing misdemeanors, nonviolent felonies, or default warrants, could come before her to be heard and have their cases adjudicated, allowing individuals to rebuild dignity and self-respect through employment, housing and other opportunities.
Our Honorable Mentions in the categories of Empathy, Compassion and Kindness are:
-The Cancer Cartel in Enumclaw, Washington. Founded by three remarkable cancer survivors, Kerry Solmonsen, Katy Tinney-Olson and Shelly Tinney-Miller, this national non-profit was born from their firsthand experience of how wellness and financial considerations can be at odds. In it’s Mission Statement it says: Cancer Cartel provides financial resources to cancer Warriors. We want anyone in the battle against cancer to be able to focus all of their energy on getting well and nor on how much having cancer is costing them. From gas money to groceries, power bills to mortgage payments, we are fighting to tear down financial barriers to wellness. (They depend on grants,strategic partnerships, and donations which are passed directly to cancer Warriors, and all operating costs are underwritten.)
-Michael Airhart, founder of Chicago’s Taste for the Homeless. Airhart’s nonprofit provides services to uplift homeless people and those living in shelters to become contributing citizens by providing hot food, clothing, hygiene items, and social services. He said it is a calling for him, as he could not just walk past people who needed help without providing it. His organization has grown with the aid of many kind people who are attracted to his goodness.
-Hector and Diane Corona are founders of City Kids Camp in Chicago. It is a free summer camp for children from economically disadvantaged communities, allowing them to experience a true outdoor adventure in a peaceful environment. They recognized the healing power of nature, just allowing kids to be kids away from the cares of the city.
These descriptions are but a thumbnail introduction of what each of the Winners and Honorable Mentions bring to the world. On April 4th, when we celebrate these everyday heroes in person and introduce them to each other, our inaugural honorees will show what it truly means to “give a FECK.” Their stories remind us that each of us has the power to uplift others and help create a kinder and more compassionate world. Join us for an inspiring evening of storytelling, celebration, and community honoring these remarkable individuals and the values they represent. Reception begins at 6pm CT, followed by dinner and the awards show at 6:30pm CT. For full event details and to order tickets, visit GiveAFECK.com.
- SXSW 2025: Beast Race (Corrida Dos Bichos), Campeón Gabacho, Grind (March 20, 2026)
As the effects of late-stage capitalism become not only more pervasive but also irreversible, it’s understandable that the art created will reflect a range of reactions to aspects of our crumbling reality. Whether they’re depicting alternate futures or presenting heightened versions of what we presently experience, it’s encouraging that these films in this dispatch road map serve as vessels for that rage.
Messy as some of these expressions might be, there’s an invitation in each one, as if the filmmakers are asking viewers to brainstorm new ways of surviving. What does become clear is the filmmakers’ belief in the enduring spirit of humanity, and that maybe the way to survive increasingly digitized lives is to press into the messiness, awkwardness, and inconvenience of in-person relationships.
Brazilian cinema has been having an exciting moment in the cultural limelight thanks to the success and visibility of projects like “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” “I’m Still Here,” and “The Secret Agent.” The thrills of the Brazilian action film “Beast Race (Corrida Dos Bichos)” are a little more straightforward, taking its themes around government malfeasance and corrupt authority figures and slipping them into the straitjacket of a story that feels a bit like “The Hunger Games” by way of “The Running Man” and a dash of “American Ninja Warrior.”
I’ll always support watching the rough gems of a country that may not otherwise get the same airtime as “elevated” art house fare (from Korea, I champion “Extreme Job” as much as “Burning”) and while there’s enough to admire, the film feels like a diminutive exercise as its most thrilling moments will most likely have you thinking of the other films its drawing from. The result is a film that has both too much going on and not enough to set itself apart.
The ambition and world-building are undeniable from the first frames by directors Fernando Meirelles, Rodrigo Pesavento, and Ernesto Solis, where an on-screen crawl expedites the necessary information before we’re thrust into the film’s propulsive premise. Set in a future where Rio de Janeiro undergoes a drastic transformation after Guanabara Bay dries up, the powerful and wealthy take advantage, using the arid land as a launchpad for cruelty.
The city hosts the titular beast-race competition, where under-resourced participants run across the terrain to reach the finish line. They face not just each other but the locals who bristle at having their homeland transformed into a playground for the well-off’s appetites for violence. Those who run have to also offer someone for “collateral”–usually a family member–who will become the property of the wealthy person sponsoring them should they lose. Mano (Matheus Abreu) is the latest unfortunate soul to be drafted into these games and races to save his sister, Dalva (Thainá Duarte).
The titular races are thrilling, with Gustavo Hadba’s cinematography capturing them with a kind of panache that makes it feel like we’re on the ground with the runners as they duck and weave through obstacles. But at over two hours, there is perhaps one race too many, and they rarely feel that different from one another.
Thematically, the film feels a bit muddled: Mano’s struggle is with whether he can beat the system through his participation, and without spoiling the film’s ending, the message of his struggle feels confused; is it best to give up? Is the only way out through? His relationship with his sponsor, Nadine (Isis Valverde), is also a point of narrative tension, but it seems too shallow and rushed to ever quite resonate.
If you are interested in seeing dynamic set pieces, “Beast Race” will deliver, but the story in between never feels compelling enough for one to want to stick around. I’m all for a big swing, but the punch has to connect, and what we’re left with is a bunch of scattered blows looking for somewhere to land.
The scale of Jonás Cuarón’s “Campeón Gabacho” may not be as large, but that doesn’t stop this pertinent story from trying to tell its narrative in a big way. It’s one of the most visually inventive films I’ve seen at the festival, and it moves with an excitement that’s hard not to be enraptured by. It’s as much a celebration of the endurance of the human spirit as its creativity, a beautiful testament to our ability to bounce back when we have the right people in our corner. Seldom do movies like this nail the balance between the heartbreaking and the entertaining, but this film flies effortlessly between those modes.
Cuarón’s effervescent film follows Liborio (Juan Daniel García Treviño), a migrant from Mexico who arrives in NYC in search of a better life. Within moments, Liborio realizes the bitter truth: it turns out it’s quite easy to start anew in the land of the free, you just have to deal with the xenophobia, exploitation, police brutality, unrequited love, economic disparity, and sense of self-loathing that seems endemic to all who try to escape where they come from. Priding himself on his ability to take hits, both physical and emotional, he is drawn into the orbit of Abacuc (Rubén Blades), who runs an orphanage and encourages the young man to channel his anger and rage into boxing.
This isn’t a film of small emotions, and so much of “Campeón Gabacho” serves as a gleeful exploration of how we all universally feel emotions in new ways. Treviño gives a truly singular performance as Liborio, playing the wide-eyed, thin-lipped fighter with an inner pain that can barely be concealed by fighting. He frequently takes breaks from what’s going on and turns to the camera–“Fleabag” style–and speaks with a satirical tone; he believes all he’s good for is being thrown around as life’s punching bag. It’s rewarding to witness him transform from a solo act into someone who embraces the responsibility of being an icon and visionary; the very perseverance he hates himself for is the very thing that will inspire the people around him.
There are surrealist flourishes that give the film its personality; Cuarón seems to suggest that the emotions these characters feel are metaphysical, letting the world outside them react to what goes on inside. Take a moment when Liborio and Aireen (Leslie Grace) begin to fall in love: the film shows the two of them being lifted from the rooftop they’re on and flying into the sky, eventually into the cosmos.
It’s a touching moment and an example of the film feeling alive, wanting to showcase and honor its characters’ emotions. There’s much to trade blows at in the world and much to solve behind anger and fists. “Campeón Gabacho” gives space for our anger and hope, saying both are needed if we are to survive this world. Ultimately, a riotous crowd pleaser that tells the struggles (and hopeful triumphs) of immigrants with flamboyance and whimsy.
The horror anthology “Grind” tackles its questions about capitalism and exploitation head-on. Directors Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust direct vignettes exploring the various vocations that have emerged from the gig economy, from food delivery to influencer work.
The various shorts are succinct enough to be enticing just at an elevator pitch level but it’s more rewarding to see how far each director takes their film’s concept: “ML” focuses on a woman whose failure to sell a certain number of leggings results in terrifying consequences for her and her husband, “Delivery” follows a driver who finds himself caught in a time loop after he drops of food for a suspicious client, “Content Moderation” focuses on someone who goes crazy after subjecting themselves to the worst videos of the internet, while “Union Meeting” mixes creature feature thrills with a group of people at a coffee shop who are thinking about unionizing. They all fall delightfully off the rails, a testament to the directors’ confidence in their twisted visions.
These anecdotes bleed seamlessly into each other, which makes it feel like you’re drinking a demented smoothie of insanity in all flavors. This works in “Grind’s” favor as microdosing each one might have sapped the project’s momentum. The films vary in tone and effectiveness, but there’s a sobering quality to their absurdity. Grant, Dougherty, and Stardust aren’t content to let their stories stay in the realm of satire. We may not have an axe-murderer sent our way yet if we miss a couple of deadlines here and there, but as corporations are backed by technologies that enable those in power to enforce work cruelly, that possibility isn’t entirely out of the question.
While the jury’s still out on the timeline our robots will take over for us, this in-between state we find ourselves in is one characterized by rampant exploitation. It’s far easier for companies to promise 1-day shipping, higher quotas, and faster delivery services if they don’t care about the people who put their bodies and minds on the line doing such work. “Grind” films offer a collage of the people who are being sacrificed on the altar of “magic.” Do we consider the people who race to deliver the duct tape that we wanted expedited? What’s going on with the souls of those people who have to subject themselves to violent images every day and have to filter through them? It may not be perfect, but it acts as a pulpy wake-up call to wake us up from our doom-scroll-induced slumber.
- SXSW 2026: Brian, Basic, Seekers of Infinite Love (March 20, 2026)
A previous dispatch from this year’s SXSW highlighted how so many of the horror films here seem to be almost existential in their questioning who we want to be in the 2020s as technology continues to redefine the human condition. The funny thing is that several of the comedies this year also contain existential foundations regarding how we define ourselves whether it’s through high school popularity, online drama, or even joining a cult. They all have elements that can feel a bit sitcom-y although two of them overcome those foundations to find something truthful and funny, while the third can never get over what its broad sense of humor does to flatten its characters.
The best of the bunch, although just barely, is Will Ropp’s clever “Brian,” a film that I like for more than just its awesome name. Written by Mike Scollins, “Brian” is at its best when it digs below the abrasive personality of its titular character, a high school student who pushes past awkward to obnoxious. It’s not unfair to say that it’s a film with echoes of “Napoleon Dynamite,” but it’s willing to ask if these quirky comedy protagonists might also have a notable degree of mental illness. Brian (Ben Wang) seems at first to just be another weird teenager, but there’s something darker under the surface of his outbursts and when Ropp takes Brian’s panic attacks seriously, his film defies some of its coming-of-age tropes. Of course, it helps to have Randall Park to just come in and nail several scene-ending punchlines like a comedy assassin.
Brian is a movie kid we’ve seen before: the most bullied at his high school until he meets a new kid named Justin (Joshua Colley), an outgoing young man who helps bring Brian out of his shell. When Brian isn’t suffering full-on panic attacks (what he calls “freak outs”) at school, he’s pining for one of his teachers (Natalie Morales) or dodging insults from his obnoxious older brother (Sam Song Li). His mother (Edi Patterson) wants to protect Brian, but she also gives him the space to figure out who he wants to be, and he’s decided that, in order to get closer to his teacher crush, he’s going to run for Class President against the pretty boy who has never had opposition before and a vocal feminist who wants to change the school government from within.
Wang understands this character well, rarely giving into traditional comedy tropes of the “bullied nerd.” He humanizes Brian in a way that’s essential to the success of the film, allowing us to care about what happens to a kid who can truly be kind of a jerk. That’s also a positive quality of Ropp’s film in that they don’t get overly sentimental in their presentation of Brian or his arc. By refusing easy outs, “Brian” feels more like a character study than your average teen comedy. We may not all be able to see ourselves in the quirky Brian, but it’s the film’s desire to be specific instead of some idea of universal that makes it work. Brian doesn’t have an easy life, but neither do a lot of teenagers. Heck, most adults, too.
At its core, Chelsea Devantez’s “Basic” is also about people figuring out who they are through the emotionally fraught world of social media and ex-partners. It turns that high school isn’t the only place where popularity and identity lead to irrational behavior. In this case, it’s the story of a woman who becomes obsessed with her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, thinking that her perfect online persona is a challenge to her own happiness. Of course, there’s more to her than meets the Instagram.
Ashley Park is excellent as Gloria, a woman who wonders why her boyfriend Nick (Taylor John Smith) doesn’t post any photos of them online. After all, he posted non-stop when he dated the gorgeous Kaylinn (Leighton Meester), and so Gloria is constantly seeing photos of Nick in a happy relationship with someone else. It doesn’t help that Kaylinn has resurfaced in their online life, commenting on one of Nick’s photos. What does she want? Gloria decides to turn her cyberstalking into the real thing and tracks down Kaylinn, only to realize that jealousy goes both ways.
The best elements of “Basic” illuminate how so much of our online lives are a lie. We can only see part of the picture when we look at happy couples on our social feeds, and we make assumptions about how much better other people have it than we do, forgetting that everyone shapes their online lives to give a desired effect. Park and Meester are excellent, finding different comic rhythms that truly allows “Basic” to become more than its title. The first half can feel a little thin, and the whole thing relies way too much on voiceover, but that falls away with Meester and Park’s comic chemistry as two very different women who discover their common ground.
The characters in Victoria Strouse’s “Seekers of Infinite Love” are also trying to find common ground, but none of it feels true enough to register beyond their thin characters in a sitcom plot. A new entry in one of my least favorite subgenres—comedies about families who have to go on a road trip to learn to be decent to each other—“Seekers” stars some incredibly talented people, but they get lost in a film that doesn’t have actual human behavior. It’s one of those movies in which the characters are pushed around by sitcom beats instead of doing or saying things that feel organic. Some of the laughs come just because this cast is so undeniably talented, but they eventually succumb to a project that never really figured out what it was seeking.
Strouse was smart to cast her film with people who have proven their skill at acerbic comedy, especially the wonderful “Hacks” Emmy winner Hannah Einbinder, who plays Kayla. She arrives at her lawyer brother’s (John Reynolds of “Search Party”) office with her brother (Griffin Gluck of “American Vandal”) only to learn that their sister Scarlett (Justine Lupe) has joined the cult that gives this film its title. Scarlett’s siblings hire an expert in cult extraction (Justin Theroux) to get her back, but Kayla’s fear of flying forces them into a road trip to retrieve Scarlett before a mass suicide makes that impossible.
Clearly, this ensemble knows how to sell a broad comedy that features pit stops at a fat camp and a car chase after a child is kidnapped, but they can’t push through the sitcomish nature of the overall script enough to sell it. We end up knowing almost nothing about these characters other than how they annoy each other (and us), making it difficult to root for them to reach their destination. In a SXSW of comedies about where we’re going, this one gets lost.
- SXSW 2026: Never After Dark, Dreamquil, Drag (March 20, 2026)
My final genre-centered dispatch from SXSW 2026 features three films that mostly take place in single settings, using storytelling devices made famous by everything from J-Horror to “Black Mirror.” They’re a mixed bag of quality, three films that have undeniably interesting premises but vary in how they follow through on those premises. Once again, filmmakers at SXSW seem to wear their influences on their sleeves with these flicks including nods to Hideo Nakata and, believe it or not, Douglas Sirk. You never know what you’re gonna see in Austin.
The best of the three by some margin is Dave Boyle’s effective “Never After Dark,” a nod to Japanese and South Korean horror films like “Ringu” and, most effectively, “A Tale of Two Sisters.” Like much of the horror from that part of the world in the ‘90s and ‘00s, “Never After Dark” is a story about how real-world violence creates ruptures that bring forth supernatural reckonings. It’s one of the better-made films I saw in Austin this year in terms of craft, a work that builds atmosphere and tension to a truly insane final act. Some of the slow burn of the first two acts sizzles a little too slowly, but it gets to something memorably intense, especially for those with a particular aversion to people losing their teeth in horror movies. Ew.
“Shogun” star Moeka Hoshi is excellent as Airi, a traveling medium who we first believe is going to her newest job with her sister in the backseat, only to discover that the sibling isn’t really there, a sort of “Sixth Sense” companion for our protagonist, one that can only be seen in reflections. This sets up Airi as the real deal; she’s no charlatan looking to grift the grieving. After all, she has a ghost for a BFF.
Airi arrives at a remote country home that’s haunted by a grotesquely disfigured man who stalks the property at night. Our medium has techniques for this kind of thing that allow her to “pierce the veil” to determine what the ghosts need, but this one behaves differently. When Airi discovers that the supernatural elements of this story aren’t nearly as deadly as the living ones, “Never After Dark” becomes an intense thriller, using imagery that recalls great horror films without ever feeling like a direct copy.
Hoshi’s deeply present, engaged performance is one of the main reasons “Never After Dark” works so well, but it’s also an undeniably well-made piece of horror filmmaking in terms of craft. Boyle glides his camera up and down the stairs of this perfect setting, one of those old homes that feels haunted even before bloody figures prowl its halls. He knows how to get a lot of mileage out of a figure in the background or, in the final act, sudden violence. It’s a film that may not live entirely up to the best of its influences, but it’s made by someone who clearly understands why those films have become such an important part of horror history.
One of the oddest films of this year’s SXSW is Alex Prager’s “Dreamquil,” an unexpected blend of Sirkian melodrama and something more akin to “The Twilight Zone” or “Black Mirror.” Ultimately, it’s way too thin a script, one that just doesn’t have enough narrative or thematic meat on its bones, even if I admired some of the more unusual swings of its design.
“Dreamquil” unfolds in a probably inevitable future in which the air quality has become so toxic that people exist mostly in virtual reality. If you think your family is driving you crazy now, imagine how it will be when you can’t leave the house anymore. Carol (Elizabeth Banks) and Gary (John C. Reilly) are struggling through a rough patch in their marriage, heightened by the claustrophobia of this vision of the future. They’re presented with a virtual wellness retreat called “Dreamquil,” which will allow Carol to recharge and return committed to her marriage and son. Much to Carol’s surprise, while she was away, Gary brought in an AI version of his wife, someone who does many of the same things as the real Carol … but better.
What would you do if you were replaced by an AI version of yourself? And would you replace your own partner with a version that never complained? These are questions at the core of this “Black Mirror” premise, but Prager doesn’t add enough new to the conversation.
Much better than the shallow script are the design choices that make “Dreamquil” look like a ’50s melodrama with bright colors in costume design and old-fashioned elements to the art direction, too. It’s a visually effective trick that heightens the sense of displacement, and it’s nice to see a film at this year’s fest that takes these elements seriously, given how often I was frustrated by the lack of visual language at SXSW. I just wish it were lifting up a more interesting project.
Speaking of failed potential, there’s Raviv Ullman & Greg Yagolnitzer’s bleak “Drag,” a movie that starts with a clever conceit but devolves into something so brutal and downright mean that it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Its star remains a wonderfully physical and impressive performer, but she can’t keep this one from living up to its title. It’s a drag, man.
The star is the great Lizzy Caplan, who plays a burglar breaking into a fancy home one night with her reticent sister (Lucy DeVito). Sis is just supposed to be the getaway driver, but she runs into the McMansion when she hears a scream, only to find Caplan’s character immobile in the bathtub after throwing out her back. The only solution here is simple: one sister will have to drag the other out of the house before the owner returns. Little do they know that the man of the house (John Stamos) is a serial killer.
What starts with an almost comical premise, as the relatively short DeVito is forced to physically drag Caplan down the hall and push her down the stairs, becomes something much darker in the second half, and the directors can’t handle the tone switch and don’t really earn the truly depressing ending. Part of the problem is that the jolt of the clever casting of seeing Uncle Jesse go Patrick Bateman wears off when one realizes he’s just not quite right for the part. He’s not believably menacing, which turns “Drag” into an exercise in cruelty without actual stakes. It’s always a joy to see Caplan do her thing, but she should drag whoever convinced her to sign onto this one.
- “The Faithful: Women of the Bible” Doesn’t Match the Grandeur of its Premise (March 20, 2026)
For people of faith who just want to see Bible stories on screen, Fox’s “The Faithful: Women of the Bible” will work. It’s essentially a series of three made-for-TV movies that tell different Old Testament stories from women’s perspectives.
The first film, “The Woman Who Bowed to No One,” which was the only one given to critics, dramatizes the journey of Sarah (Minnie Driver) and Hagar (Natacha Karam). In this version, Abraham (Jeffrey Donovan) is a side character, and Sarah is a force to be reckoned with.
These stories have endured for thousands of years, at least in part, because there’s real meat on them. What must it have felt like for Sarah, desperate to have a child, to recommend that her beloved husband sleep with another woman? And then for Sarah to raise that baby as her own? And for Hagar, who is certainly grateful to have escaped the Pharaoh and find herself with kinder masters in Sarah and Abraham—what did she feel trying to give the baby up but remain near it? What sort of life was that?
THE FAITHFUL: L-R: Minnie Driver and Natacha Karam in “The Woman Who Bowed to No One/The Woman Who Spoke to God” two episode presentation of THE FAITHFUL airing Sunday, March 22 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. CR: FOX. © 2026 FOX Media LLC.
These questions echo some of our current conversations around surrogacy, but of course, they go in a different, more faith-specific direction.
And that direction is not inherently bad, but “The Faithful” doesn’t exactly pull it off. Part of the problem is that the show needs more table-setting. Yes, a large portion of its audience will know these stories. But we are also modern media consumers, and we expect shows (or a series of made-for-TV movies) to build the world we step into when we turn on our screens.
“The Faithful” mostly skips all that. So it’s not entirely clear if we’re in our own logical world or one of miracles. Obviously, that’s a problem of adapting this particular subject matter—it’s supposed to be true and holy. Magical realism, if you will. And some adaptations of that genre have worked recently, capturing the thrust of their source material by keeping the magic extraordinary and ordinary.
Productions like Netflix’s “Cien Años de Soledad” and HBO’s “Like Water for Chocolate” work because they are sumptuous. Watching them, it feels like you could step into Macondo or revolutionary Mexico. You can taste these places, smell them. And since they feel so rich, when a curse becomes real, or food literally transmits emotions, that too feels real.
Unfortunately, “The Faithful” doesn’t take that track. Its aesthetic is more of your local nativity play, the kind where kids perform with blankets over their heads, secured with braided ribbons (if they’re lucky).
Surely an IP as important as The Bible deserves a higher budget. Hagar’s wigs are distractingly bad. The costumes are only slightly better than my Vacation Bible School’s productions in the nineties. The voice-of-God effect… is a voiceover.
THE FAITHFUL: L-R: Tom Mison and Alexa Davalos in “The Woman Who Risked Everything” two episode presentation of THE FAITHFUL airing Sunday, March 29 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. CR: FOX. © 2026 FOX Media LLC.
It just doesn’t match the grandeur of the project.
And there’s another problem. Sarah’s episode is called “The Woman Who Bowed to No One,” and it opens with a scene in which a young Sarah refuses to bow to the man her parents want her to marry. She rejects him and ends up with Abraham. Which is nice, but is basically every plucky, on-screen heroine of the last 35 years.
Later, it takes actual divine intervention to save Sarah from other men who would have her bow to them. But since we don’t meet anyone else, and the show refuses to do any world building, their reactions ot Sarah make no sense. Why is she so alluring to them? Is she different from other women? How?
This show doesn’t take the time to answer that question, and so Sarah feels ordinary to our 21 century sensibilities even as “The Faithful” insists she’s anything but. And that disconnect creates a barrier to the show’s humanizing aim, keeping us at a distance from these characters rather than allowing us to feel their struggles.
And there are other odd choices that undercut the film’s reason for being. For example, we see Hagar giving birth and the pains that go with it, but we don’t see Sarah’s. Narratively, that’s such a missed opportunity. Hagar’s pregnancy conforms to the natural order, so there’s nothing much interesting in her birthing sequence. Sarah, though, is way past the age when even modern women give birth. So what’s it like to get a baby out at that age? And thousands of years ago at that? For unknown reasons, “The Faithful” doesn’t go there, refusing to get into some of the messy questions a truly feminine retelling of the Bible would ask.
Which is to say, there’s not enough in “The Faithful” to entice viewers who aren’t hungry to see Bible stories on screen. And that’s a shame, because there’s a real idea here to do something more than make background noise for Easter egg hunts. Unfortunately, “The Faithful” seems to think it has a captive audience with its retelling of Sarah and Hagar’s tale, rather than finally giving these complicated women the respect they deserve.
- Classic Trailer Rewatch: 'Wild Wild West' - Will Smith's 1999 Disaster (March 22, 2026)
"Gotta stick to what we each do best!" Time for a throwback to 1999 and a whole different era of Hollywood movies. Who remembers this one? More importantly - who can forget this one? Even though it's so awful, I still remember it. Wild Wild West is a famously bad 90s movie creation that became an infamously bad box office failure in 1999 - just two years after Men in Black was a huge box office smash for Will Smith. Directed by MIB's director Barry Sonnenfeld, Will Smith stars in this western-steam punk fusion action comedy remix. The two best special agents in the Wild West must save President Grant from the clutches of a diabolical, wheelchair-bound, steampunk-savvy, Confederate scientist bent on revenge for losing the Civil War. Kevin Kline co-stars as an inventor, with Kenneth Branagh as bad guy Dr. Arliss Loveless, Salma Hayek, Ted Levine, M. Emmet Walsh, and Bai Ling as Miss Mae Lee East. Many movie fans may also know that Kevin Smith used to tell a story about how a producer tried to get a giant mechanical spider into a movie – and Smith refused until it then ended up in Wild Wild West instead – becoming an iconically bad villain gimmick. These two classic 90s trailers below were scanned from original 35mm prints and uploaded to YouTube for our enjoyment. Fun to hear Big Willie's WWW rap song for this film right in the trailer, too. // Continue Reading ›
- Ciaran Hinds Journeys Across Ireland in 'The Three Urns' Film Trailer (March 21, 2026)
"Maybe we'll meet – up there." "Maybe we'll all meet up there..." Break Out Pictures has debuted an official trailer for a film titled The Three Urns from Ireland, a road trip comedy from two Irish filmmakers. This premiered at the 2026 Dublin Film Festival and opens in Ireland starting in April, though still no word on when it will show up in the US for release. Back in his home country to spread the ashes of his beloved wife, a man races to his destination. In a milk float. Chased by a beautiful French woman in a smart car, plagued with battery issues. Written and directed by filmmaker John-Paul Davidson and Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck, this gentle character piece turns a pilgrimage into a moving search for connection and meaning. The great Irish actor Ciaran Hinds stars as "The Man" back home in Ireland, along with Olga Kurylenko, Lisa Dwan, Stephen Dillane, Stephen Fry, Sinéad Cusack, Ingeborga Dapkunaite. This looks charming and amusing – a good romp through Ireland meeting plenty of kooky characters. Enjoy. // Continue Reading ›
- Review: Lord & Miller's 'Project Hail Mary' is Modern Sci-Fi Perfection (March 20, 2026)
"Grace Rocky Save Stars!!" It's finally here. Rocky and Ryland, space buddies, in a story about saving our worlds. Project Hail Mary is a cinematic adaptation of the bestselling book written by Andy Weir. A full 11 years after we got to experience The Martian with Matt Damon, another Andy Weir adaptation, his words are back on the big screen in this interstellar story about using science and ingenuity and creativity to solve existential problems. Acclaimed directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, best known as just "Lord & Miller", are the directors behind this big screen adaptation and they've knocked it out of the park. Project Hail Mary is an intellectual space movie with built-in levity that is design to be more of a character study about what it takes to solve great problems. It's a sci-fi spectacle, for sure, but it's not an epic space action movie. Most of it takes place inside a spaceship, a set they built for real on sound stages, with limited green screen. And the best part about it is Rocky, an alien friend he meets on his mission, who is brought to life by puppetry as a practical character performed for real on set and not something created with CGI later on. I couldn't be happier with Project Hail Mary - it's everything anyone could want from a space movie & more. // Continue Reading ›
- Official Trailer for Zach Galifianakis's 'This Is a Gardening Show' Series (March 20, 2026)
"What we're leaving this next generation, they may have to know this stuff." Yep! Better learn how to grow your own veggies for a better future. 🌱 Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for a calming new series called This Is a Gardening Show, literally a show about gardens, hosted by Zach Galifianakis, Reminds me of the series "Painting with John" on HBO, which is also calm and meditative. This Is A Gardening Show is a refreshing and whimsical take on gardening. Blending lighthearted comedy with a sincere appreciation for humans & nature. "He is genuinely interested in how to grow stuff," states director Brook Linder. "Making this show often felt like Zach's excuse to talk to other gardeners. I kinda think his garden was struggling and he needed help he couldn’t get by walking up to these people in their backyard. You will see a grown man honestly gasp when shown the proper way to plant a seed. This is peak TV." Yep and I cannot wait to watch. Looks wholesome and funny in all the right ways. Now I want to sample some of Zach's homegrown veggies. // Continue Reading ›
- 18th Century Comedy Film 'Savage House' Trailer with Richard E. Grant (March 20, 2026)
"You're an acquired taste, sir." Paramount UK has revealed a fun official trailer for a British kooky comedy called Savage House, the latest film made by filmmaker Peter Glanz, who wrote ad directed this. It's ready for a release in UK cinemas starting in June this summer, but still has no final US release date set yet. While this is very British, I think US audiences will be just as amused. Set in 18th century England during pox outbreak and Jacobite uprising, Sir Chauncey and Lady Savage blindly pursue better life. Their pursuit filled with ironic decadence and bloodshed. A darkly satirical play on class and power. "Duels erupt like sudden thunderstorms, alliances crumble over candlelit dinners, and the Savages’ stately home becomes a stage for absurdity and brutality alike." Staring Richard E. Grant as Sir Chauncey Savage & Claire Foy as Lady Savage, with Bel Powley, Kila Lord Cassidy, Jack Farthing, Richard McCabe, Vicki Pepperdine, and Pip Torrens. This looks bonkers! An all-out wacky comedy like The Favourite – should be a fun time. // Continue Reading ›
