- Season 2 of Netflix’s “Running Point” Is An Easy Layup (April 23, 2026)
I’ve always been amused by sports-themed movies and TV series that exist in a parallel universe with fictional teams, e.g., the New York Knights in “The Natural,” the Miami Sharks in “Any Given Sunday,” and AFC Richmond in “Ted Lasso.” In the breezy and endearing Netflix series “Running Point,” the professional basketball league is known as the ABL, and instead of the Los Angeles Lakers, we have the Los Angeles Waves, which is actually a better name than the Lakers, a moniker the team retained when the franchise moved from Minneapolis to L.A. in 1960.
In that same vein, Kate Hudson’s general manager Isla Gordon isn’t strictly based on Lakers exec Jeanie Buss, even though the similarities between the two are clear, and Buss serves as a producer on “Running Point.” It’s all fiction—and as we’re reminded in the woefully choreographed basketball scenes in Season 2, sometimes it falls far short of verisimilitude. I mean, the hoops sequences in “The White Shadow” back in the day were more authentic.
RUNNING POINT SEASON 2. Toby Sanderman as Marcus Winfield in Episode 203 of Running Point Season 2. Cr. Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix © 2025
That’s OK, though, as “Running Point” isn’t a sports drama on the order of “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.” It’s more in the vein of a workplace comedy/drama where the actual work takes a back seat to the multitude of running story lines about a group of flawed, believable, well-drawn characters who are constantly in crisis mode because somebody screwed somebody over, or someone came up with a terrible idea, or this person betrayed THAT person, and nobody saw that coming! Add some welcome newcomers to an already stellar cast, sprinkle in a steady stream of crackling dialogue with pop culture references, rely heavily on Hudson’s considerable talents in the lead, and you’ve got a well-oiled, mainstream comedy franchise that arrives just as the real playoffs are kicking into gear.
With an abundance of drone shots consistently setting the sunny Los Angeles tone, Season 2 of “Running Point” kicks off with Isla and the Waves determined to build on the promise of the previous season, where they fell just short in Game 7 of the Conference Finals. The front office is humming, with Isla working (mostly) in tandem with her barely competent siblings Ness (Scott MacArthur), Sandy (Drew Tarver), and Jackie (Fabrizio Guido), as well as her wisecracking, bundle-of-energy best friend Ali (Brenda Song). The roster has jelled, though it’s going to take some time to get used to the new coach: the reclusive, old-school curmudgeon and basketball savant Norm Stinson, played with low-key, masterful aplomb by sitcom Hall of Famer Ray Romano.
What could possibly go…right? Things get stickier in the La Brea Tar Pits as Isla has to deal with one crisis after another. Slick and boisterous and utterly untrustworthy eldest sibling Cam Gordon bursts in fresh out of rehab and immediately starts scheming to regain control of the team. (Justin Theroux is a scene-stealing force as the series villain.) Ali feels undervalued and considers taking a position with Toronto Trappers. (Another excellent fake team name!)
Isla is finally ready to walk down the aisle with her patient, long-suffering fiancé, Lev (Max Greenfield, in an underwritten role), but does she still harbor feelings for former Waves coach Jay Brown (Jay Ellis, in leading-man form), who is now coaching in Boston? Oh, and let’s not forget the bubbling love triangle involving two Waves players and the former child star Zoé Debay (Aliyah Turner), who is on the verge of becoming an A-List movie star.
RUNNING POINT SEASON 2. (L to R) Drew Tarver as Sandy Gordon, Justin Theroux as Cam Gordon, Kate Hudson as Isla Gordon, Scott MacArthur as Ness Gordon, and Ike Barinholtz as Cousin Bennie in Episode 208 of Running Point Season 2. Cr. Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix © 2025
Add to that about a half-dozen other subplots, product placement images for a food delivery app that could use some good publicity, a cameo by a famous reality star playing herself, a number of familiar faces dropping in for an episode or two, and Isla making a meta reference to a certain beloved rom-com in the Kate Hudson canon, and “Running Point” sometimes feels overstuffed. Sure, it’s fun to see the invaluable character actor Ken Marino hamming it up as Al Fleischman, “The Toilet King of Orange County,” and series co-creator Ike Barinholtz delivers laughs as a “loser cousin” of the Gordon family, and hey, there’s Scott Speedman, and how about that, Octavia Spencer just dropped by!
All that time spent on high-profile pop-ins and meandering storylines sometimes comes at the expense of further developing the core characters. I’d like to see more of Song’s loyal and funny and self-deprecating Ali, Fabrizio Guido’s sweet and increasingly confident Jackie, and Scott MacArthur’s goofy madman-with-a-heart Ness.
Still, thanks to Hudson’s performance as the likable but deeply flawed and self-centered Isla, and the crisp writing that serves up steady laughs in each episode, “Running Point” seems poised to stay in contention for multiple seasons to come.
Especially if most of the action continues to take place off the court.
Full season screened for review. Currently streaming on Netflix.
- Netflix’s Animated “Stranger Things: Tales from ’85” is an Insulting Waste of Time (April 23, 2026)
Yes, on the one hand, even doing an animated spin-off of Netflix’s pop culture juggernaut “Stranger Things” feels a bit like a cash grab, but cartoon installments in hit franchises, especially those with young audiences, are common across the TV landscape. It’s not just trying to squeeze as much as possible out of an aging fandom; it’s trying to embed a world in a new one by getting them young.
They were common in the Saturday-morning cartoon era in which the show is set (I’m old enough to remember “The Real Ghostbusters”), so the news that the Duffer brothers were producing their own spin on the form in “Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85” actually sounded pretty cool. Making an animated show that feels like something Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin would have watched between trips to the Upside Down? It’s certainly better than just another spin-off.
Although maybe it’s not. Every chance to do something inventive and interesting in “Tales from ‘85” is ignored for lazy fan-fic writing, slack plotting, and inconsistent characters. It never feels like canon, even though it’s supposed to be, not so much connecting the second and third seasons of “Stranger Things” as much as feeling like a half-baked Reddit post about what might have happened during the prime of the show.
In a stunningly misguided choice from inception, the team behind the show, including showrunner Eric Robles, ignores one of the key words in their title: “Tales.” Those Saturday morning cartoons? Usually told self-contained stories within their familiar universes and just consider that possibility for a moment here. The writers could have highlighted different characters in each episode, even playing with genre if they had any ambition, but instead, they just wrote a ten-episode variation on what people already know about “Stranger Things” and cut it into chapters. Half the characters are missing, and half of the ones who are here don’t feel like their live-action counterparts. Other than a few interesting choices in terms of character design, “Tales from ‘85” does nothing memorable, a shadow of things people liked years ago instead of a vision of the future of this franchise.
“Tales from ‘85” unfolds early in that year, between the prom that ended season two and the post-summer mall adventure that took place during season three. Fans should remember where these characters are in their series-long arcs: Mike (Luca Diaz) and Eleven (Brooklyn Davey Norstedt) are figuring out their newly romantic relationship; Will (Ben Plessala) is confronting the awkwardness of being the town “Zombie Boy”; Lucas (Elisha Williams) and Max (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) have only begun to flirt; Dustin (Braxton Quinney) is exploring his role as a potential hero; Hopper (Brett Gipson) is overprotective of a surrogate daughter who can likely protect herself. Other major characters like Joyce, Billy, Murray, and Robin are missing entirely because they haven’t been introduced or are just off doing their own thing. Even Jonathan is M.I.A.
The focus on the kids makes sense given the intended audience, but most of them don’t feel of a piece with their live-action versions. Dustin actually becomes the de facto lead as the group investigates a series of Upside-Down-related incidents, and Quinney’s voice work is awkward in ways that don’t match the source. The writers can’t figure out where Eleven is on the spectrum of her powers, turning her into practically a Jedi early in the season before diving right into a climax that replicates the end of season two almost to a parodic degree. Jeremy Jordan has fun as Steve Harrington, and Alessandra Antonelli gets the best episode as Nancy Wheeler, but it’s a problem when the older kids steal an animated show from the younger ones.
Another problem comes from the familiarity of another “new kid in town” storyline, this one centering on Nikki Baxter (Odessa A’zion) and her parents. Again, we get an outsider narrative about a kid who’s not like anyone else at school, becoming a major part of the storytelling.
It’s all so aggressively uninspired, a sign that the producers were terrified to do anything different from what the live-action show had already done. Presenting kids with their own version of a hit isn’t a bad idea; giving them a watered-down, less interesting shadow of the same thing is an insulting one.
Whole series screened for review. Now on Netflix.
- DOC10 Spotlights Some of the Best Documentaries You’ll See This Year (April 23, 2026)
The consistently impressive DOC10 technically starts next weekend, but there’s a build-up to it that begins tomorrow, April 24th, with a series called “Speak Truth,” which the fest says, “Brings together powerful films, thought-provoking conversations, and dynamic civic dialogue exploring the most urgent issues of our time.”
Some of the best documentaries of the last few years are included in these combined programs like the highly acclaimed “The Librarians,” “The Last Republican,” and “The Grab,” along with fantastic new films from the fest circuit like “Closure,” “Remake,” and “Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie,” three films I can personally highly recommend.
To give you a sense of what’s about to unfold during DOC10, we thought we’d gather some quotes from our coverage and links to read more about the films in the program that we’ve covered. Pick your faves and get tickets here.
(Also, if you want to keep the non-fiction love going, the Chicago Critics Film Festival features “When a Witness Recants,” “Black Zombie,” and “Broken English” the week after DOC10. More on those next week.)
SPEAK TRUTH
“Sabbath Queen” (April 24, 7 pm)
Amichai and those he encounters ask how best to honor Jewish values and preserve the community despite the pressures of assimilation and personality. Amichai chooses inclusion. He says, “Not everything we’ve inherited is worthy of being passed on.” How do you add without diluting? Even he, feeling the weight of nine centuries of rabbinic ancestors, questions how that will be seen a century from now. The questions the film raises are particular to the individuals, but the issues of identity, family, and the challenges of modernity are universal. – Nell Minow
“The Librarians” (April 25, 7 pm)
This is not about politics. It is about trust. We should trust the people who trust us to tell truth from propaganda, not the people who think we must be “protected” from challenging ideas. If we limit library books to those that don’t cause anyone discomfort or distress, all that will remain are Pat the Bunny and Goodnight Moon. Dictionaries, atlases, the Civil War, any war, science, Shakespeare, and even the Bible will be locked away. – Nell Minow
“American Doctor” (April 26, 12:15 pm)
If you didn’t know the extent of the tragedy covered in “American Doctor,” the documentary will not let you forget it. It is a visceral view of the impossible task facing healthcare workers and hospitals targeted by the Israeli military in Gaza. It has a few first film issues, like music that overtakes certain scenes or a few moments that don’t add to the narrative, but it is a formidable debut, an unflinching view of a story we’ve heard about but might not fully understand unless our social media feeds show us these testimonies. – Monica Castillo
“The Grab” (April 26, 6pm)
“The Grab” makes a convincing case that the world powers that went to war over oil in the last few decades will be doing it over water and food in the ones to come, even linking the fight for resources to the conflict in Ukraine. Cowperthwaite sometimes gets a little lost in the vastness of her subject matter—there’s a tighter version of this that focuses more on one country or major player involved in the issue—but it’s hard to blame her for wanting to express the entire scope of how much trouble we are all in when it comes to the dwindling supplies provided by Mother Earth. – Brian Tallerico
“Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” (April 27, 7 pm)
The documentary’s co-directors, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, shoot Lear in the present day with the sort of tender regard you might lavish on a grandparent if you had feature film-quality cameras and lighting and your grandparent didn’t mind being followed around by a movie crew. Their camera moves in close on Lear as he talks about his successes and controversies in American television, his collaborations with writers and actors, and his battles with network executives and censors over the political content of his shows, which resembled political debates as often as they did farcical family spats. – Matt Zoller Seitz
“The Last Republican” (April 28, 7 pm)
The movie also gives a strong sense of Kinzinger as a person walking against the winds of change and dealing with tendencies in the American character that elude party definitions. “Everybody’s self-centered,” he tells Pink. “That’s the fight now of my next part of life, fighting against that cynicism.” – Matt Zoller Seitz
“Steal This Story Please!” (April 29, 7 pm)
“ICE Under Watch” (May 3, 12:30 pm)
DOC10
“Give Me the Ball!” (April 30, 7 pm)
Conversely, Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff’s wonderful documentary, “Give Me the Ball!” is a splendid history of the life and legacy of tennis great Billie Jean King. Taking us from her early childhood years, romping around playing any sport involving a ball (giving the film its name) to the present day, where King is set to finish her history degree in May (at the age of 82), it’s hard to imagine that the documentary left any stone unturned. – Peyton Robinson
“Soul Patrol” (May 1, 6 pm)
At times, “Soul Patrol” can be a harrowing viewing. Emanuel, Lawton Mackey, Thad Givens, Emerson Branch, Jesse Lewis, Willie T. Brown, Willie Merkerson, and Norman Reid each share why they joined the army. Some did so because their friends and family went—arguing that for Black families, it was often considered a badge of honor to have a son serving in the military—while others did so to escape jail time. These men also share how they were programmed to kill, and, in the case of one soldier, had to learn how to strike the complicated balance of de-programming oneself during leave and later re-compartmentalizing in the field. – Robert Daniels
“A Child of My Own” (May 1, 8pm)
“Remake” (May 2, 1pm)
Most of the time, he sounds wistful, uncertain, and almost fumbling through what he wants to express. That aspect actually gives “Remake” so much of its power because it makes it feel more personal. In a sense, it’s like a eulogy, something that gains more power through its emotional pauses even if its grammar isn’t perfect. At times, he speaks not about Adrian but to him, using “you” as if his son can hear him. I hope he can. – Brian Tallerico
“Everybody to Kenmure Street” (May 2, 3:45 pm)
Felipe Bustos Sierra’s “Everybody to Kenmure Street” is a spirited and imperative portrait of collective action whose urgency painfully speaks to now. In his approachable documentary, Sierra first roots the 2021 rebellion in the mixed legacy of Glasgow. While a montage shows the many political stands the city has taken: from the anti-apartheid movement that treated Mandela as hero to Black Lives Matter—it doesn’t shy away from the fact that Glasgow, like many other European and American cities, was built on the backs of the enslaved. That heritage is threaded through the visual language, which leans on the aforementioned montages, as well as by way of talking heads who are well aware of the city’s checkered, though often politically fervent, history. – Robert Daniels
“Cookie Queens” (May 2, 5:30 pm)
“Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story” (May 2, 8:15 pm)
It’s kinda hard to explain the Bamford appeal. Just know that she is fearless on stage, someone who uses her mental illness and upbringing to remarkable comedic effect. There are a few jokes in “Paralyzed by Hope” about the death of her mother that so brilliantly verge on offensive, but instead just come off wonderfully personal and relatable. She’s one of those performers who doesn’t really have boundaries, especially when it comes to sharing personal demons of her own and her family, but she never feels like she’s being cruel to those she loves. She’s undeniably brilliant, and yet that genius is shaded by crippling depression that led her to believe for years that she might hurt herself or others at any minute. – Brian Tallerico
“The Baddest Speechwriter of All” (May 3, 2 pm)
“Closure” (May 3, 4:15 pm)
One of the best documentaries of Sundance 2026, “Closure” is a moving story of how grief and love can harden into determination. Daniel will never stop looking for his son, even if the day he finds him will be the worst of his life. What does it do to a man to devote so much time to seeking a conclusion that can only cause pain? And what can we learn from the digital ballast that Chris likely took into that water with him? “Closure” plays like a warning: Pay attention to what your kids are watching and saying online, or you might be stuck in the purgatory of the unknown pull of the Vistula River, too. – Brian Tallerico
“Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie” (May 3, 7 pm)
There’s also a prescience to “Knife” that neither Rushdie nor Gibney could have predicted. Violent acts like the 2022 attack feel even more likely today than they did then, as political violence and ideological battles often rage unchecked. It’s clichéd to say that a movie can stem something as insidious as what’s happening around the world when people choose violence over words, but there’s something undeniably inspiring about seeing Salman Rushdie fight back against those waves. May we all be so strong. – Brian Tallerico
- The Eight Best Episodes of Netflix’s “Untold” Series, Ranked (April 22, 2026)
Building on the foundation laid by ESPN’s excellent “30 for 30” series, Netflix launched its own franchise of films about unusual sports stories in 2021 under the banner “Untold.” With an intent to tell unique sports stories with the insight and visual language of documentary filmmaking instead of just a basic cable TV special, the first series of films took different angles on both famous stories, like Caitlyn Jenner and the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and largely unheard ones like the saga of the Danbury Trashers. With the drop this week of the final chapter of the sixth series, it’s the right time to look back at the entire franchise and pick out the ones you really need to see.
By and large, the most interesting “Untold” films have lived up to the meaning of that word. Too often, especially from the third series on, it felt like the producers were sacrificing insight for access, telling stories that had been very, very told. For example, 2023’s “Swamp Kings” about the Florida Gators was so clearly vetted by Urban Meyer’s lawyers that it had all of its potential edge completely sanded away. (This year’s “Jail Blazers” falls victim to a similar sanitizing that drains its possible impact.) Chapters about Brett Favre, Connor Stalions, Victor Conte, and even Hope Solo suffered because they felt so very told.
These are the eight that have avoided that trap, and with two from the most recent series, there’s reason for hope for the future of this Netflix team.
8. “Operation Flagrant Foul” (2022)
David Terry Fine’s unpacking of the story of Tim Donaghy arguably lets its subject off the hook a bit more than it should (and some who know the story well have illuminated what it excludes), but the reason this one justifies inclusion on this list is simple: It feels prescient. As gambling becomes more and more a part of the sports landscape and headlines are made about NBA players getting caught in its net, it’s feeling more and more like Donaghy was the canary in the coal mine. Gambling is too profitable at this point to be eliminated from professional sports; it is undermining the integrity of professional sports more every day. How we reconcile these two things will shape so much of what “Untold” fans love going forward.
7. “Johnny Football” (2023)
Right around here is when “Untold” started to feel a bit too sanitized and “told,” but this chapter from season three features such a captivating subject that his personality overcomes the sense that we’re only getting a specific version of the story. Johnny Manziel was the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, someone who seemed like a generational player, but off-field behavior and on-field inconsistency ended his career before it began. In “Johnny Football,” Manziel is a fascinating interview subject, someone who is unapologetically himself but also seems increasingly aware that he fumbled the ball.
6. “The Death & Life of Lamar Odom” (2026)
Yes, our esteemed critic Richard Roeper is right that this one ends with kind of an incomplete shrug, ignoring the problems that its subject has continued to battle since filming concluded, but it’s captivating before then in a way that recent chapters of “Untold” have failed to be largely because it actually digs its nails underneath a story that had been so superficially told. Everyone thinks they know the story of Lamar Odom, especially the drug-fueled chapters he wrote while married to Khloe Kardashian, but the titular subject, his ex-wife and even a brothel owner who was there when Odom almost died are surprisingly open about the details of exactly how bad things got when Odom’s addiction overtook everything else in his life.
5. Chess Mates (2026)
The best installment in the “Untold” series since season two is this unforgettable unpacking of the saga of Hans Niemann, an American chess grandmaster accused of cheating by both Chess.com and World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. This is one of those stories that sped through the social sphere when it unfolded in 2022, but enough time has passed that it’s a perfect fit for “Untold.” Niemann, Carlsen, and the Chess.com guys sit down to take the story beyond the anal beads that made headlines, highlighting the larger-than-life personality at the center of this film without really letting him off the hook. Did Hans Niemann cheat? The film argues there’s significant evidence that he did it regularly online, but you’ll have to watch to decide for yourself if he did it at a table. And how.
4. Crimes & Penalties (2021)
It’s time for a run of the first and easily best series of “Untold” films, this one ranking high on the list because it felt like a story that had never been told at all. Outside of the people in its region, who had heard of the United Hockey League team, the Danbury Trashers, before “Untold”? Directed by Chapman and Maclain Way (“Wild Wild Country”), this film is so out there that it’s surprising no one has tried to do a narrative version of it yet. Paul Walter Hauser seems like a good fit for James Galante, a Genovese crime family figure who bought the Danbury Trashers and gave them to his 17-year-old son A.J., who, well, didn’t do a great job.
3. Breaking Point (2021)
Also directed by the Ways, this is arguably the most important episode of “Untold” because it casts a spotlight on an issue in professional sports that often gets swept under the rug: mental health. Mardy Fish was one of the rising stars of tennis in the 2000s before his severe anxiety derailed a career that once seemed more promising than his old friend Andy Roddick. In 2011, Fish was ranked as the best American tennis player in the world. In 2012, his anxiety impacted his play so much that he had a catheter ablation because he felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. By 2015, he left tennis entirely. For generations, pro sports haven’t addressed mental illness, depression, or anxiety enough, and Mardy Fish’s courageous interviews in this film helped correct that.
2. Malice at the Palace (2021)
The first film in the “Untold” series laid the foundation for what this franchise could be by taking a story most sports fans knew in some capacity and digging into the headlines. Anyone old enough to watch TV in 2004 probably heard about the Malice at the Palace, a brawl between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons that spilled into the stands. Director Floyd Russ doesn’t just replay the salacious footage of the unexpected violence; he digs into how it was reported and the impact it had on the people involved. It’s a great documentary, “Untold” or otherwise.
1. The Girlfriend Who Doesn’t Exist (2022)
The same thing that worked about the first episode of “Untold” is at the core of why the premiere of the second series tops this list: A story you think you know told with more insight and new depth that you hadn’t considered. In 2012, everyone was captivated by the story of Manti Te’o’s girlfriend, which turned out to be an elaborate catfishing by someone named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Catfishing as a concept was such a timely one that how Te’o was fooled became all anyone talked about after Deadspin broke the story, especially given how the death of his imaginary girlfriend had become such a talking point the year before. To this day, there are people who still believe Te’o played a role in the hoax. This film not only corrects so many of the bad headlines, but it also humanizes Te’o in a way that likely helped facilitate his comeback as a current NFL Network analyst.
- Volume Six of Netflix’s “Untold” Offers More Digestible Breakdowns of Sports Scandals (April 21, 2026)
Netflix will never run out of juicy material for its “Untold” sports documentary series, which over the years has tackled scandals and controversies such as the “Malice at the Palace” brawl between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons; the Manti Te’o catfishing saga; the rise and crash of Johnny Manziel; and the Michigan football sign-stealing debacle. Think of the possibilities for future episodes! “Lost in Translation: Shohei Ohtani and the Interpreter’s Big Bet.” Or how about, “Losing Parlays: The NBA Betting Scandal.” I know I’d tune in for “Power Couple: Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson,” or “Riley Gaines by Losing.”
Volume 6 of “Untold” isn’t an outright whiff, but it’s hardly one of the compelling seasons in the series to date.
In order of release dates, my ratings for all four eps:
“The Death & Life of Lamar Odom” — 2.5 stars
In the opener of this well-made but frustratingly incomplete episode, we learn the Haunted Museum in Las Vegas features an exhibit consisting of the bed, the nightstand, and the mirrors from the room at the Nevada brothel where former NBA player Lamar Odom overdosed in 2015. Really? People want to see that?
“I was dead for three days,” says Odom in the present day, having survived something like a dozen strokes and six heart attacks. “The Death & Life…” chronicles Odom’s life, his basketball career, his controversies—and, of course, his marriage to Khloé Kardashian, who is also featured in the doc and delivers foul-mouthed yet strong and insightful commentary on this chapter in her life.
It’s a shame Odom and Kardashian appear separately, as it could have made for great television to hear their respective sides of the story, particularly Odom’s drug-fueled and horrific behavior, while they were in the same room. Not that we don’t have sympathy for Odom and his struggles with the disease of addiction, especially when we learn details of his upbringing. Odom’s mother died when he was 12, and his father was never there. (When an unconscious Odom was near death in a hospital following the 2015 overdose, his father showed up in some half-assed plan to establish guardianship, he’s bought off with a pair of Nikes and $100, and disappeared.)
The final moments feel just…off. With the anthemic “Do Your Best” by John Maus on the soundtrack, we see what appears to be the final moment of shooting the doc, with Odom then cracking, “I’m a Netflix baby now. Does this make me an A-lister? I’m with it. I’m ready to go to Vegas, bro…I’m gonna marry somebody in Vegas. F— it. I’m joking.” That note rings particularly false given that just three months ago, Odom was arrested in Las Vegas and faces charges of DUI and traffic violations.
All right, so they finished filming this “Untold” ep before that incident. Surely there was enough time to at least include an end title card detailing that very sad and alarming update to this story.
Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
“The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill” — 2 stars
“The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill” sounds like the title of a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle or Flannery O’Connor, but it’s actually a twisted and sad and yet not particularly involving story about two people who ruined each other’s lives over a horse.
We are taken inside the niche sport of dressage—horse ballet rooted in the training of cavalry horses for the battlefield—and the 2019 shooting of dressage competitor Lauren Kanarek by her trainer, former Olympian Michael Barisone. The dispute started after Barisone allowed Kanarek, who was more of a hobbyist than an elite equestrian, to ride a promising horse named Jay-T. (Barisone describes it as letting a novice drive a Corvette.) Lauren eventually buys Jay-T for $20,000, with Barisone claiming he was “extorted” into selling the horse. That’s the launching point for an escalating war involving Facebook posts, threats, allegations of stalking, psychological warfare, and 911 calls. The madness turns into violence, with Barisone shooting Kanarek, charged with attempted murder, and being found not guilty.
That might sound juicy and lurid, but it’s mostly a flat portrait of two lost people who dragged each other down a horrific rabbit hole for no earthly good reason.
Untold: Chess Mates. Danny Rensch and Erik Allbest in Untold: Chess Mates. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
“Chess Mates” — 3 stars
Near the top of this episode, we see a clip of Piers Morgan asking an interviewee subject: “Have you ever used anal beads while playing chess?”
Ah, that old gambit.
“Chess Mates” is a well-paced documentary that knows it has two fantastically brilliant, charismatic, and, yes, at times insufferable “characters” in the generationally great Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and the upstart American prodigy Hans Niemann. Director Thomas Tancred lays the groundwork by walking us through the explosion of online chess in 2020, due to the pandemic and the popularity of “The Queen’s Gambit.” Niemann becomes a streaming star while acting like the Jake Paul of chess. By that time, Carlsen was long established as one of the best chess players of all time and was considered far superior to the brash American.
When Niemann pulled off a shocking upset of Carlsen at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, rumors flew about Niemann cheating, with wild (and unsubstantiated) stories of Niemann allegedly using a remote-controlled, vibrating sex toy to receive signals from some co-conspirator. (The claim went viral in large part due to an Elon Musk retweet.)
“Chess Mates” is a wild and involving tale about two oddball geniuses who can’t stand or trust each other. It’s always a good sign for a documentary if you start thinking the material is so rich that it would make for an intriguing feature film. And sure enough, A24 has an adaptation of this story in the works, with Emma Stone producing and Nathan Fielder directing. I’m thinking Gaten Matarazzo as Carlsen, and Noah Jupe as Niemann…
Untold: Jail Blazers. (L to R) Bonzi Wells, Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire in Untold: Jail Blazers. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026
“Jail Blazers” — 2.5 stars
Here’s former Portland Trail Blazers president and general manager Bob Whitsitt describing the tumultuous run of the team he led from 1994 to 2003:
“The last 40 or 50 years in the NBA, there’s been only three teams that had a moniker. You got the Showtime Lakers. Then you got the Bad Boy Pistons. And then you got the Jail Blazers.”
This is not the victory lap you think it is, good sir.
“Jail Blazers” revisits a team and an era that had a major impact—sometimes positive, just as often not so great—on a city with only one major professional sports franchise. I’m wondering, though, if the saga of that talented but troubled and underachieving group holds much interest for those of us outside that smallish market. Rasheed Wallace, who still holds the single-season record for technical fouls, is frank and funny in his recollections, but doesn’t seem all that bothered that the Trail Blazers never reached the top of the mountain.
The Portland organization kept acquiring players with questionable and in some cases serious off-court histories—but the documentary only scratches the surface and doesn’t try to figure out WHY this kept happening. It’s a competent recap, but it relies too much on archival footage and cursory examinations of racial dynamics and media framing, without offering new insights. With a subject so explosive and controversial, the approach here is a bit too safe.
- New Trailer for 'The Birthday Party' Island Drama with Willem Dafoe (April 23, 2026)
"Your future is lying there. Pick it up." Quiver Distr. has debuted their official trailer for the film titled The Birthday Party, directed by Spanish filmmaker Miguel Ángel Jiménez (of Seagull, The Night Watchman, Window to the Sea). This originally premiered at the Locarno Film Festival last year (we posted the trailer then, too) and is now set for US release in June this summer. Willem Dafoe stars as Marcos Timoleon, a wealthy Greek businessman, who's hosting his daughter's 25th birthday party on his own island. Unforeseen events unfold, jeopardizing his power and challenging his entire life's foundations. It's set in the late 1970s, somewhere in the Mediterranean, where Marcos Timoleon, an Aristotle Onassis-like tycoon, is throwing a lavish, extravagant birthday for his daughter and sole heiress. The filmmaker explains: "The Birthday Party is a film about power, legacy, love mistaken for possession, and the quiet violence within privilege – set on a paradise island that slowly reveals itself as a prison." Along with Dafoe, this stars Vic Carmen Sonne, Joe Cole, Emma Suárez, Christos Stergioglou, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, and Elsa Lekakou. I'm very intrigued by this film – especially with Dafoe as Dad handling this prickly & complex lead role. Have a look. // Continue Reading ›
- Official US Trailer for Carla Simón's 'Romería' Following a Spanish Girl (April 23, 2026)
"I always thought this is where they hid your father." Janus Films revealed the US trailer for the acclaimed Spanish indie film titled Romería, the third feature from award-winning Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón (also of Summer 1993 & Alcarràs). Her latest is an autobiographical tale of her life growing up in the 80s & 90s, about odd relationships with her family and discovering the mysterious truth about her parents. This premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival last year and it also played at the Busan, Hamburg, New York, London, Vancouver, Vienna, and Denver Film Festivals last year as well. With her mother's diary in hand, Marina's search for official documents for university leads her to her biological family on the Atlantic coast. What starts as an administrative quest reveals long-buried family secrets. It's a "poignant, sun-kissed drama about family identity and secrets along the coast of Spain." Starring newcomer Llúcia Garcia Torras in a triumphant debut leading as Marina, with Mitch Martín, Tristán Ulloa, Celine Tyll, León Romagosa, Hans Romagosa, Marina Troncoso. A vibrant, captivating film about Spanish families and their secrets. // Continue Reading ›
- Full Trailer for 'De Gaulle: Tilting Iron' & 'Sovereign Edge' French Films (April 23, 2026)
"One battle will seal our fate. You will lead it." France's Pathe has unveiled their main official trailer for the two De Gaulle movies, retelling the story of iconic French president Charles de Gaulle. Yes – the same man that the Paris airport is named after. French filmmaker Antonin Baudry directs two back-to-back movies called De Gaulle: Tilting Iron & De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge which will arrive in French theaters this summer - in June & July. It's premiering first at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, obviously, before the French release. A two-part story of the French general & statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany & Vichy France in WWII and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. The two movies follow De Gaulle's life initially between 1940 and 1945, then trace his march towards his political career. Featuring Simon Abkarian as Charles, with an ensemble cast including Simon Russell Beale, Florian Lesieur, Benoît Magimel, Mathieu Kassovitz, Loïc Corbery de la Comédie-Française, Anamaria Vartolomei, Niels Schneider, Félix Kysyl, & Karim Leklou. It looks a bit too staunchly bureaucratic to be entirely entertaining, but still might be worth a watch anyway. // Continue Reading ›
- Meet the Villains in Featurette for Nicolas Cage's 'Spider-Noir' Series (April 23, 2026)
"I was never a hero. I only did it from the thrill..." Prime Video has revealed a new first look featurette for the spin-off Spider-Man series called Spider-Noir, arriving to watch online at the end of May this summer. This is looking like tons of vintage fun! Adapted directly from the real Marvel comics – from Spider-Man: Noir #1 (2009). An aging, down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York City is forced to grapple with his past life as the city's one & only superhero. Nicolas Cage stars as as Ben Reilly / The Spider – an older and grizzled version of Spider-Man from an alternate world based on 1930s NYC. He returns to being the Spider after stepping away years ago because of a personal tragedy. The cast includes Lamorne Morris as Robbie Robertson, Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy, plus Karen Rodriguez, and Lukas Haas. The series will be available in classic black & white as it was intended, based on the comic, as well as in full color to watch as well. The video introduces us to the main bad guys of Spider-Noir: Brendan Gleeson as head honcho mob boss Silvermane, along with Jack Huston as Sandman (aka Flint Marko), Abraham Popoola as Tombstone, Andrew Lewis Caldwell as Megawatt. Plus a glimpse of Jack Mikesell as Jimmy who has pyrokinesis. The more they show, the better it looks. Should be a blast to watch once it debuts this summer. // Continue Reading ›
- Full Trailer for Crime Thriller 'Carolina Caroline' w/ Weaving & Gallner (April 23, 2026)
"How do we you know if we're good people pretending to be bad...? Or bad ones pretending to be good?" Yowza! Magnolia Pictures has debuted the sizzling hot full official trailer for the film Carolina Caroline, an acclaimed indie romantic thriller from filmmaker Adam Carter Rehmeier (Jonas, Dinner in America, Snack Shack) ready to roar into theaters this summer. The film premiered to rave reviews at TIFF last fall and is hitting the big screen in June. This romantic heist thriller features Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her tiny Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast. Lots of sex and trouble! Also starring Kyra Sedgwick, the film features a wide-ranging country music soundtrack to boot, with tracks from artists such as Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Loretta Lynn, and over a dozen others. This stars Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Kyra Sedgwick, and Jon Gries. Early reviews call the film a "rip-roaring, tragic, joyride" that features "a pair of dynamite lead performances." Gallner also follows up calling it a "sexy summertime crime love story chaotic fun for your eyes." Now this is one helluva trailer! I'm down. // Continue Reading ›
