- The Purpose of the Journey: Sam Neill (1947-2026) (July 13, 2026)
When Sam Neill’s family shared news of his passing today, the outpouring of affection online was breathtaking. The death of a movie star often comes with waves of the clips that helped make them famous in the first place, but the response to the loss of Neill felt more personal. Yes, you could easily find scenes from “Jurassic Park,” “The Piano,” “In the Mouth of Madness,” “Event Horizon,” and many more, but you could also stumble upon footage of Neill cuddling a duck, taking a farm selfie, standing up for what he believed in, or speaking about mental health and depression. He was more than an actor; he felt like a friend. When we say that an actor will be missed, we often mean the actor’s work. In this case, it truly feels like we will miss the person who was Sam Neill.
The key to understanding Sam Neill lies in how he brought that humanity to every role he played, whether hero or villain. He was never flashy, but he was as consistent as they come. There may be bad Sam Neill movies; there aren’t any bad Sam Neill performances.
And the list of the most memorable ones spans a wide range of budgets and intents. Most people today will point to his incredible one-two punch in 1993, when he starred in two of the most essential films of their era: “Jurassic Park” and “The Piano.” Given the genuine affability of a man who loved his farm more than the red carpet, Neill had a striking career in horror, appearing in essential works like “Possession,” “Dead Calm,” “In the Mouth of Madness,” “Event Horizon,” and more. He could ground out-there concepts with what felt like genuine intellect. We believed his characters were smart, and there’s something scarier about the smartest guy in the room being unable to stop the madness of a horror film.
Neill was born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Northern Ireland to an English mother and a New Zealand father. They moved back to New Zealand in 1954, catching the acting bug (and taking the name Sam) in productions at the University of Canterbury. He made his acting debut in a TV film in New Zealand in 1971, but his international breakthrough came six years later in Roger Donaldson’s excellent “Sleeping Dogs,” often cited as the first feature-length film produced entirely in New Zealand. Two years later, Neill appeared in “My Brilliant Career,” alongside Judy Davis in Gillian Armstrong’s Oscar nominee.
From there, the parts came consistently. After the success of “Omen III: The Final Conflict,” “Possession,” and “Ivanhoe,” Sam Neill was in contention to step into James Bond’s shoes after Roger Moore exited the franchise. Timothy Dalton got the job, but the screen test below is truly worth watching to wonder how different movie history could have been.
The rest of the ‘80s included memorable turns in “Dead Calm” and “A Cry in the Dark,” but he really became a household name in the ‘90s. “The Hunt for Red October,” “Until the End of the World,” “Sirens,” “In the Mouth of Madness,” and “Event Horizon” are all great, but it was the ’93 double feature that displayed Neill’s range as an actor who could look at home in any genre, in any period.
One of the best films to watch today to appreciate Sam Neill is Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” in which Neill’s deep humanity comes through in his character’s gruff exterior. It’s a lovely performance in a great comedy.
There were so many great little turns throughout Neill’s career. There are TV fans out there today mourning what they loved about “Merlin,” “Peaky Blinders,” and even the recent “Untamed,” too. He felt like one of those actors who only took parts that truly interested him, or opportunities to elevate specific creators. He was politically active in New Zealand in his support of Aboriginal causes, and open about his battles with cancer in the last few years (although his family made clear his passing was cancer-free).
In one of Sam Neill’s final interviews for The Guardian, he was once again remarkably open and deeply human. He says in there that he’s “had to overcome the ordinariness of [his] appearance.” It’s a funny thought for someone so magnetic on-screen to consider himself ordinary, but it speaks to how Neill went through the world, never thinking that he was above anyone else because he happened to be a movie star. He was just as much an activist, a farmer, and a friend. And a heck of a good duck cuddler.
- He’s Just That Guy: Jeffrey Wright on “Basquiat” (July 13, 2026)
For Jeffrey Wright, everything comes back to Jean-Michel Basquiat. When he was cast by Julian Schnabel to play the celebrated abstract neo-expressionist artist, who’d died a few years prior at the age of 27 in 1988 of a heroin overdose, Wright was relatively new to film. He was making the sometimes perilous jump from being a Tony-winning actor in Angels in America to tackling a different medium (he previously appeared in a bit part in Alan J. Pakula’s “Presumed Innocent” and opposite Sidney Poitier in the television movie “Separate But Equal”). The undeterred, magnetic, headstrong artist who moved through the world with a slink in his walk was an early challenge in an illustrious career marked by many triumphs.But it was “Basquiat” that established Wright as a viable film actor. Not unlike his work in the theater, he was around an immensely talented cast that included Benicio Del Toro, David Bowie, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Michael Wincott, Claire Forlani, Parker Posey, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, and Courtney Love. And while that large ensemble was an aid to Wright, it subtracted from the responsibility of being not only the lead actor but also the lead as the star who’s playing a star. Such a task requires dynamism and prowess, a combination of skills that conjures imagination out of reality. Wright’s turn as Basquiat seems to take on that tall task with aplomb, offering an off-kilter alchemy of frenetic self-belief.
Upon release, “Basquiat” and Wright’s performance garnered widespread praise. “[Wright] gives a performance of almost mystical opacity,” wrote Roger Ebert. The film has since been added to the Criterion Collection. Wright will also return to Basquiat’s story, playing the artist’s father in Julius Onah’s “Samo Lives,” with Kelvin Harrison Jr playing the role once occupied by the actor.
Wright’s return to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where he sat down to speak with RogerEbert.com, represents a kind of homecoming. The film played the festival back in 1997 with Wright and Walken in attendance (in fact, a picture of the pair of them with the late festival president Jiří Bartoška, biting down on roses, is one of the fest’s most iconic images). He returned to KVIFF after nearly three decades to accept the festival’s President’s Award.
During our conversation, Wright and I discussed capturing Basquiat as a person, working opposite Courtney Love, and the legacy of this endearing artist. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
For the role of Basquiat, you spent 5 months learning to paint. Do you still paint, and if not, do you think learning how to paint still feeds into your faculties as an actor?
I don’t paint, but I think about painting a lot. I think about wanting to paint, and about creating a space where I can and will do it. But I’ve been kind of busy, and I’ve got kids. [Laughs] They’re older now, but I could see myself creating a space for that.
But I tell you, the thing that I still do maintain from that time, and that was enhanced by my experience working on that film, is a sense of composition. I think one of the things I exercised while working on that project was my visual muscles. Schnabel has a brilliant eye. Obviously, Jean-Michel had a stunning sense of color and composition. My eye matured. And I have to say that Julian lent me additional light on certain kinds of compositional ideas when we were working on “Basquiat.” So, although I don’t paint so much, I still do feel the influence of that experience. And I do look forward to painting again someday.
Did that compositional training alter the directors you wanted to work with?
I don’t think so. I think maybe it enhanced my appreciation for the work of certain directors. I think I take better photos. [Laughs] But also, there may be an opportunity to kind of express that myself by getting behind the lens as opposed to in front of it in the future. At the moment, it’s just about finding time, prioritizing it, and finding the right story to tell. And I think I may have one. If we can put it together, maybe it’ll happen next year.
I hope it happens! In prior interviews, you’ve talked about how up until the first day of shooting, you were struggling to find a way to play Basquiat. But then you took a walk, saw some plush ducks for sale, and that moment became a touchstone for your approach. What happened?
Well, it was really the walk; it was the journey that was important. I think he really was, if anyone is, shamanistic.
I mean, his art is so encrypted, and it resonates with things that seem like they are not there on the canvas, things that are greater than the sum of their parts. There’s a kind of mysticism within his work that hearkens back to Caribbean ideas and African ideas. But there’s also this stuff that resonates out of it, and that’s not by accident.
And so when I was trying to find him, it just felt like I was opening myself up to as many sources as possible. There were many signs along the way. In some ways, in fact, you might say his work is a series of signs that are trying to cast your eye toward things that he feels should be seen or not seen. So, I was just trying to read the signs and find him. That last day I walked from, I don’t know, I walked about 70 blocks. Part of it was thinking about where he is physically, or how I am going to represent him physically.
Also, the work is done when it’s done. We had another day before we started filming. There were different aspects of the canvas that I needed to work on before we did that. It happened like that with Angels in America, too. When I was doing that on Broadway the first time, it took me forever. Or I guess it took me as many days as I needed or as many days as I was allowed, rather [Laughs], to find that character. And when time’s up, here he is. That’s just sometimes how I work. I tend to work best under pressure.
This is such a stacked ensemble; I’m always struck by the worlds colliding of you and Courtney Love, who appears in two scenes in the film as Basquiat’s fling Big Pink. What was that first scene like, when you two met on the street?
Courtney showed up fully, Courtney.
We’d never met before. I was obviously kind of new on the scene. She either didn’t quite get who I was or what I was doing. And then we rehearsed, and I won’t go into detail, but there was one moment where the light bulb went off for her—and then we were off to the races. We just did it, and she understood the assignment, and so did I.
It’s funny, though, when we were shooting that scene, I forget exactly what street that was, but we were setting up the shot, and I remember this very vividly: it was maybe the first week of filming that scene where we first meet. We’re setting up a shot, and we hear: Mr. Director, you’re blocking the traffic! We looked out, and it was Willem Dafoe calling to Julian out of a car as he happened to be passing by. Of course, Willem was in the movie, but you know there was so much of that kind of New York as a character. We were filming not too long after Jean-Michel had passed. There were still remnants of his world around. At that time, in 1995, when we filmed, it was all kind of there. The city, as a living thing, kind of accommodated us too. Everybody who came to be part of that film did so because they loved that world and Jean-Michel’s work, even if they did not know him. They wanted to be part of that, to touch that. So, Courtney, like everyone, came because this was the hip place to be; this was where they wanted to be, and that represented who he was.
He had that type of magnetism, and I think his work has it, which is why his iconography is recognized globally. Everywhere you go in the world, you’ll see references to his work. You’ll see that same old crown everywhere you go. You’ll see influences on young artists all around the world. He’s just that guy; he’s one of those humans who had that resonance. He wasn’t an ordinary dude.
You just finished shooting “Samo Lives” last fall, and the cast is notably young—very few of them were even alive when Basquiat died. He’s essentially a “historical” figure to them. What was that generational difference like?
Well, I think it’s really cool that young people are so intrigued by him and by that time. They recognize that something special was happening during that period. There’s something that they want to connect with, that they recognize is rich. And you know, things happen in cycles. I think part of revisiting this is wanting to dredge up that kind of creative purity, that sense of like an iconoclastic, anti-corporate purity. Everybody knows that’s the shit. It’s just harder and harder to be that. So I’m really glad they’re doing it out of respect and curiosity. And if I can be of some help, I’m glad to. I can only be supportive of that.
You’re one of the few actors who have been in both a Spike Lee film (“Highest 2 Lowest”) and a Singleton film (“Shaft”). How do they compare as directors?
Film nerds of the highest degree. I loved working with Spike. We had come close to working together many times. But I think what they have in common, profoundly, is that film is a home for each of them. To them, film is deeply personal. I think they probably saw the world through film. I know Spike does. His absolute most fluent language is the language of film. That was probably true of John too.
Admittedly, I didn’t know John as well personally as I know Spike. I’ve known Spike forever. I live in Fort Green, and I see him all the time. So, I knew him before I worked with him. But I suspect that was probably true of John too, that he was most comfortable in film. Even though the Spike you see is exuberant and does his thing, both he and John were pretty reserved people. They were at their loudest and clearest through the language of film.
- KVIFF 2026: Lover, Not a Fighter, If Pigeons Turned to Gold, Only Beautiful Things to Look At (July 13, 2026)
Though I have departed from Karlovy Vary after a week and a half of taking in promising films in the picturesque spa town, I remain in Czechia. I’m currently in Prague taking stock of the festival (more on that in the near future) and finally wandering away from cinemas. And while I always love getting the entire expanse of central and eastern European moviemaking represented at KVIFF, I’m always keen to remember to seek out the many Czech works that populate this cinematic celebration. In this dispatch, I’m thinking back to three regional films I watched at Karlovy Vary, a couple of which were honored at the festival’s conclusion.
The winner of the Proxima Competition, Czech writer/director Martina Buchelová’s “Lover, Not a Fighter,” is a modern screwball romance that acutely captures a kind of youth culture that’s struggling to navigate gendered clichés, modern isolationism, and personal loss. It concerns the obnoxious but ultimately vulnerable Andrej (Adam Kubala), who is working through his feelings for Miša (Michaela Kostková). But certain hang-ups get in the way of Andrej expressing his love to her: his immature 20-year-old moodiness, his alcoholism, and his unstable home life, which involves living with his caring grandmother while his debt-ridden father dates a significantly younger woman. These tribulations accumulate into a frank and endearing coming-of-age work whose visual acumen and intimate realism make for a surprisingly poignant adolescent rom-com.
“Lover, Not a Fighter” moves with the rhythm of a digital world. Vertical videos, often mimicking cellphone footage, though sometimes flexed to wide screen to bring us back into classical film language, populate the movie. In the opening, we see a drunk Andrej and a sober Miša enjoying a meet-cute at a tram stop: She tries to help him, but he is too unstable to manage (a theme that’ll recur throughout Buchelova’s incisive picture). They will not meet again until Miša’s father, who’s worried she might be a lesbian because she hasn’t gotten over her previous break-up, brings her over for a dinner date with Andrej’s sensitive cousin Pet’o (František Beleš). Rather than falling for Pet’o, Miša gravitates to Andrej.
The aforementioned vertical compositions will eventually record Andrej and Miša’s many dates, their growing comfort in one another, and their difficult split. From there, though the pair aren’t wedded, the film follows the marriage-remarriage screwball form, albeit with some wrinkles.
What’s especially refreshing about “Lover, Not a Fighter” is how loose yet tightly conceived its writing is. The film is broken into several chapters that move back and forth in time and often shift focus from the story’s protagonists to side characters. It also includes subheads that could either be mimicking texts or internal monologues.
Moreover, Buchelová doesn’t feel the need to make every scene ladder up into a grander theme. She allows seemingly extraneous moments: Andrej imagining a boyband in his closet, Miša’s father stealing spoons and investing in building an underground bunker, Pet’o‘s dimwitted friend coming over and causing havoc—to solely further the emotional groundedness and realism of these characters. By the end, we perceptively know every figure with the familiarity of a close friend.
“Lover, Not a Fighter” is further uplifted by its game ensemble. Each actor plays every scene, no matter how nonsensical, with a sincerity that reaches above the moment’s inherent comedy. By treating youth culture, particularly modern romance—in all its instability and nervousness—with great respect, Buchelová crafts a delightful feature debut built on honest relatability.
Taking a decidedly darker turn through Czechia is the writing/directing of Pepa Lubojacki’s abrasively personal documentary “If Pigeons Turned to Gold,” which premiered prior to KVIFF at the 2026 Berlinale. Formally experimental and ruthlessly raw, the documentary sees Lubojacki considering the intergenerational trauma and cyclical drug addiction of her family. She primarily focuses her attention on her brother, a jovial houseless alcoholic man living in a ramshackle shack, and she also follows her similarly troubled cousins. Through their unhoused lives, she considers her own mental health and the well-meaning impulses that compel her to go through cycles of supporting, denouncing, and cajoling her brother into sobriety.
Lubojacki employs a chaotic sonic and visual language, composed of grating outbursts of thrumming techno music, intertitle cards denoting soul-searching topics, like “have you ever grieved somebody who isn’t dead yet,” and childhood photos brought to “life” by AI animation. The latter, which puts voices to the photos of Pepa and her cousins, causing their mouths to move with English as their output, is notably off-putting.
One could see this uncanniness being intended: Haunting and fractured conceptions of an upbringing filled with turmoil and pain hiding behind a kid’s smile. All of these components are emblematic of the shambolic effect of addiction to substances and to other people—ultimately, Lubojacki’s repeated confessions that she can’t quit her brother mirror her brother’s resignation that he just can’t help but drink—that can cause a life to spiral into oblivion.
Such an emotional whirlpool presents the opportunity to pull Lubojacki down too. As the film marches toward its end, her voice becomes more and more prominent, revealing the personal struggles, including a recent bout with suicidal ideation, that have troubled her during the saving of her brother and the making of such an intense project.
Her difficulties evoke the documentary’s thesis, uttered by an AI pigeon with a fedora in a bar: “What if pigeons could turn to gold?” The idea being: what if those we dismiss, ignore, and push aside were treated as treasures? Would it lead to harmony, or would it turn the now valuable pigeon into something to be hunted and possessed? What if a filmmaker saw every tragedy, hurt, and regret through her lens with a purity that could cause them to lose themselves in the meaning-making conjured by the memories and buried anxieties these very images inspire? Could any filmmaker, or film for that matter, withstand that kind of unraveling of the soul? In that regard, “If Pigeons Turned to Gold” flies headlong toward the sun of its subject, wings be damned.
“Only Beautiful Things to Look At,” from writer/director Ivan Ostrochovský, is the kind of well-meaning film that’s difficult to pull off. A winner of the FIPRESCI Award in the Crystal Globe competition, the detailed period piece takes place in the 1980s and follows Ingrid (Anna Geislerová), a pragmatic doctor hoping to become chief surgeon at her hospital. To those ends, she collides with two barriers: she’s a woman and not a Communist Party member.
More troubling to viewers, however, is that she dutifully carries out a policy in Czechoslovakia that seeks to sterilize Romani women. Ingrid doesn’t question the directive. In fact, she’s quite skilled and efficient at carrying it out. That is, until a new orderly, Agáta (Simona Boledovičová), a half-white, half-Romani woman somewhat passing as the former, begins working at the hospital.
Before long, Ingrid and Agáta become close friends—developing a surrogate mother-daughter relationship. They share their days lounging together in the sun and going to the movies. As they grow closer, Ingrid begins to question her medical career and the inherent bigotry in her state-approved surgical practices. Ostrochovský’s film, therefore, is about an oppressor, told mostly from the oppressor’s point of view, as they discover they were an oppressor and that the people they were oppressing are actually human. Once again, pulling off these kinds of narratives is a kind of high-wire act that can often feel like empty-calorie progressivism.
The intimate performances do keep Ostrochovský in balance: Geislerová smoothly forms an icy exterior with the intent of melting it away, while Boledovičová intimates the knot of hiding one’s identity in hopes of being embraced by the dominant culture. But because so much of this film is told from Ingrid’s point of view, Agáta often feels distant from the primary narrative. Since we already know where Ingrid’s internal struggle is headed when we reach her realization, it comes with very little payoff. Worst yet, in a final cathartic scene, it’s not a joyous Agáta we see last but a delighted Ingrid—making it appear as though Agáta’s hopes and health are secondary to Ingrid’s self-awakening. It’s a tremendous stumble in a film that never really finds its footing in its journey toward a statement.
- Fascinating New Angle on Legendary Career Explored in The Dreamer’s Path by Brent Simon (July 13, 2026)
There have already been so many books written about the work of David Lynch, and it seems like an industry that will only explode in the coming years now that his filmography is tragically complete. Now that writers can see the full breadth of Lynch’s output from the early short films through “Blue Velvet,” “Twin Peaks,” “Mulholland Dr.,” and beyond, it’s tempting to analyze the singular filmmaker solely through his directorial efforts.
Brent Simon, the former President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (and, it should be disclosed, a friend of mine and former freelancer for a book I edited called Magill’s Cinema Annual), has taken a unique and rewarding approach to considering Lynch’s artistry: Examining the times that Lynch chose to get in front of the camera. The Dreamer’s Path: Twin Peaks and David Lynch the Actor is a must-own for fans of one of the best creators of his generation, an argument that Lynch’s on-screen work said as much about his interests and talents as his direction.
Simon began working on The Dreamer’s Path before the passing of one of his favorite filmmakers, expressing disappointment that a planned interview with Lynch for the book never took place. Whereas a lot of authors might have simply folded up the project when that central conversation never happened, Simon forged on, analyzing every single time that Lynch has been on screen from his early shorts through films by him and others, and, of course, his extensive work as Gordon Cole on “Twin Peaks.” That’s the acting work for which Lynch will be most remembered, but Simon spends time considering how every appearance, even early ones in which he had no lines, said something about Lynch’s growth as an artist.
Believe it or not, David Lynch had almost three dozen acting credits, according to IMDB, although some, like a reported cameo in “The Elephant Man,” are in question. While Gordon Cole is his best acting work overall, I’ll always have a place in my heart for his memorable supporting turn in John Carroll Lynch’s beautiful “Lucky” and, of course, his stunning cameo at the end of “The Fabelmans.” He had an acting career as unpredictable as his directing one, doing experimental shorts, two episodes of “Louie,” and a couple dozen voice roles on “The Cleveland Show.” You couldn’t put Lynch in a box as a director, and the same held true for his acting career.
What’s striking about Simon’s book is how many people were willing to talk to him about working with David Lynch the Actor. He spoke with over 70 people about their collaborations with Lynch, including Louis C.K., Heather Graham, John Carroll Lynch (no relation), Jennifer Lynch (relation), Michael Ontkean, and, remarkably, the legendary Isabella Rossellini. Simon marries detailed research with the humanist touch that comes from including so many collaborators. It’s not the kind of dry critical analysis that comes so often with books that dissect the influence of auteurs; it’s the kind of warm remembrances that come when people are asked to share a story about someone who is a friend as much as a colleague.
In the end, The Dreamer’s Path is a wonderful combination of underreported subject, detailed research, and passionate writing. Simon’s admiration for Lynch, not just his work but the person himself, comes through on every page. There are a lot of books out there about David Lynch, but this one is different, a must-own for fans of “Twin Peaks.” And maybe even for fans of “The Cleveland Show.”
- Netflix’s Aggressively Wholesome “Little House on the Prairie” Plays It Safe (July 9, 2026)
“Little House on the Prairie” is an American institution. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s fictionalized semi-autobiographical accounts of growing up on the American frontier in the 1870s and 1880s have been wildly popular since the first book’s original publication in 1932 and have sold over 73 million copies. The beloved television adaptation starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert was a formative influence for a generation of viewers and has never gone out of syndication since its original premiere. A sizable influx of new fans even found their way to the series during the pandemic, as the show offered viewers warm and necessary escapism during a particularly dark time.
While it’s unsurprising that a streamer like Netflix might want to take a crack at reimagining this classic for a new generation, any revival or reboot would need to walk a fine line between honoring what has come before and striking out on its own path. Good news: The streamer’s “Little House on the Prairie” re-imagining understands the assignment, and the result is a pleasant enough eight-episode drama that more than looks the part, without ever really challenging its audience or complicating its own depiction of life on the American frontier all that much.
Based on the third book in Wilder’s series of novels, “Little House” follows the Ingalls family as they leave the Big Woods of Wisconsin behind and journey into Kansas in search of a fresh start in the steadily expanding American West. Armed with a flyer promising free land, Charles (Luke Bracey) is optimistic about the family’s future, though his wife, Caroline (Crosby Fitzgerald), and daughters, Mary (Skywalker Hughes) and Laura (Alice Halsey), are sad to leave their old life behind.
Arriving in the aspirationally named Independence, the family settles in, fights off some dreadful CGI wolves, and builds a house for the winter as they get to know new neighbors and an assortment of other townsfolk who are also chasing their own idea of the new American dream. The vibes are relentlessly wholesome, the scenery almost offensively sun-drenched. In many ways, this is “Little House” by way of Instagram, and the show’s stories are largely surface-level affairs in which the family faces various challenges and triumphs over them through the power of love and community.
Little House on the Prairie. (L to R) Alice Halsey as Laura Ingalls, Skywalker Hughes as Mary Ingalls in episode 101 of Little House on the Prairie. Cr. Eric Zachanowich/Netflix © 2026
To be fair, the Netflix version does attempt to modernize the source material a bit, adding some necessary fresh perspectives to the classic story and addressing some of its more problematic elements. Black settlers serve key roles in the town’s larger economic ecosystem, including as its doctor (Jocko Sims) and the owner of the general store (Barrett Doss).
Independence’s women also have larger roles to play, from the snooty, try-hard wife of a wealthy railroad executive (Mary Holland) to a decidedly non-traditional widow (Rebecca Amzallag) who wears trousers and cherishes her own personal freedom. And this “Little House” makes a point to acknowledge that the Ingalls—and hundreds of other settlers just like them—came to Kansas to settle on land that did not belong to them and that, technically, was not up for grabs.
Unlike the original TV series, where the Osage are only present in its pilot episode, the tribe has a major role to play throughout the season, and the show purposefully establishes the Ingalls’ neighbors, the Mitchells, as a sort of Indigenous mirror to the town’s white families, complete with a precocious young daughter (Wren Zhawenim Gotts) who becomes Laura’s best friend. However, while these are all welcome changes, this “Little House” isn’t a remake that’s interested in rocking the proverbial boat or straying particularly far from the traditional themes and the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps aesthetic that made the original series so popular. Family is paramount. Resilience is necessary. And community is the only way to survive.
Yes, the Ingalls clan faces its share of setbacks, from wild animal attacks and money troubles to outbreaks of crippling fever. But none of their problems ever feels too perilous or lasts for all that long. Everything is surprisingly clean, lost animals are always found, and broken bones mend cleanly without keeping anyone away from their chores for longer than strictly necessary. Even petty sisterly jealousies are resolved fairly quickly, and there’s basically no problem that singing songs together or a night of fiddle music can’t solve.
Little House on the Prairie. (L to R) Warren Christie as John Edwards, Alice Halsey as Laura Ingalls, Skywalker Hughes as Mary Ingalls, Luke Bracey as Charles Ingalls, Crosby Fitzgerald as Caroline Ingalls in episode 102 of Little House on the Prairie. Cr. Eric Zachanowich/Netflix © 2026
If you’re looking for anything approaching a realistic depiction of the difficulties of carving out a life in an untamed wilderness, well. This isn’t that show. On the plus side, fans of the original will undoubtedly be relieved that this reboot isn’t the dark and gritty reimagining that many likely feared. But “Little House” plays it so safe in the storytelling choices that it never manages to be all that interesting, either.
To its credit, the show is beautiful to look at, full of sweeping landscapes, picturesque vistas, and beautiful sunsets. And its characters remain recognizably familiar, merely given new shades and layers. Caroline and Charles are treated as fully formed figures who exist beyond the simple “Ma” and “Pa” archetypes, and both are allowed to question whether they’re truly meant for life on the frontier.
Sadly, the show never does all that much with the oft-hinted problems the family appears to have left behind in Wisconsin, or the apparent lingering tension between Caroline’s family and her husband. Bracey and Fitzgerald have warm, believable chemistry, and Warren Christie turns in a solid supporting performance as a troubled neighbor and Civil War veteran who essentially imprints on the Ingalls family. But the series’s true star is Halsey, who, at just ten years old, steals the entire show.
Any “Little House” remake will naturally live and die by its Laura, and Halsey is a delight, spunky and bold in a way that occasionally feels too modern, but is endlessly charming throughout. Given the often thankless task of playing the more responsible (read: dull) older sister, Hughes holds her own as a Mary who’s trying to navigate her own coming of age—Crushing on a boy! Wanting her own life!—even as circumstances prevent her from being but so independent.
Netflix’s “Little House on the Prairie” is the kind of remake that’s essentially designed in a lab to appeal to the broadest possible swath of viewers. That’s not necessarily a criticism—the experience of watching the show is perfectly enjoyable. But it’s difficult not to wonder what a version of this show that wasn’t quite so aggressive…adequate might have been like.
All eight episodes screened for review. Premieres July 9 on Netflix.
- Doc About Pokemon Trading Card Game 'CardBound' Official Trailer (July 13, 2026)
"This is the first Pikachu ever released." Watch the official trailer for this documentary titled CardBound, made by filmmaker Jacob Zanghi. A film about rare Pokemon cards and the geek collectors obsessed with them. CardBound is a doc film uncovering the origins, stories, and many mysteries behind the most iconic Pokémon TCG cards. From the first-ever glossy Pikachu and Jigglypuff promos to rare discoveries and high-end collecting, CardBound explores the cards, the chase, and the culture that built the modern hobby. Featuring Logan Paul, Deep Pocket Monster, Duke Dennis, Olympic champion Noah Lyles, and many other prominent voices from the Pokémon and collecting communities, CardBound explores why people collect, how history can disappear, and what happens when one discovery challenges everything collectors thought they knew. What begins as an investigation into the earliest Pokémon cards becomes an epic journey leading to the discovery of a previously unknown card that may be the first Pokémon card ever officially printed. If you want to watch the doc, good news is available online to watch right now including on YT for free. Enjoy. // Continue Reading ›
- First Teaser for 'Crystal Lake' - A New 'Friday the 13th' Prequel Series (July 13, 2026)
"There's something in these woods... and all it knows how to do is kill." A24 presents a new horror series ready for streaming this fall - Crystal Lake, a prequel series to Friday the 13th, following a doomed small town where camp counselors come to die. Peacock will be debuting the first 8 episodes of this new series for streaming starting in October in the fall - during the horror season. It is a prequel to the original 1980 film that kicked off the franchise and stars Linda Cardellini in the leading role of Pamela Voorhees, Callum Vinson as a young Jason Voorhees, along with William Catlett, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins, Phoenix Parnevik, and Gwendolyn Sundstrom. The actually went back and filmed at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in Blairstown, New Jersey, the exact same camp location and town used in the 1980 original film - really connecting it all back to the first Friday the 13th. After a grand total of 11 sequels in the F13 Jason series so far, do we really need to go back and make a prequel? Why is this necessary? But with A24 producing and a talented team behind it, this might actually turn out pretty good anyway. A quick first look at some footage. // Continue Reading ›
- First Trailer for 'Once Upon a Time in a Cinema' Comedy from Ireland (July 13, 2026)
"The cinema brings them together for an experience that's so much more than the picture." Myriad Pictures has revealed the official trailer for an indie throwback comedy called Once Upon a Time in a Cinema, about one wild unforgettable night at a small-town cinema in 1984. It already premiered at the 2026 Dublin Film Festival earlier in the year and opened in Ireland in cinemas back in May. The US release is supposed to be coming up later this year, though not sure when exactly. A beleaguered cinema owner's worst Friday night becomes his crowning moment of glory when a packed show descends into chaos and also unites the community. Told in real-time during the 8PM movie playing (Breathless starring Richard Gere). Filmed on location in Limerick, Ireland, a cinema owner wrestles with the legacy of the past and the challenges of the future in a drama that is funny, wise and rings of authenticity. Starring Irish actor Colin Morgan as Earl Clancy, the cinema manager, along with Calam Lynch, Clara Crichton, India Mullen, Niamh Cusack, Stanley Townsend, Elaine O'Dwyer, Daniel Woodage, Liam O'Brien, and Ryan Burke. This looks really good and quite uplifting, all about the magic of cinema. It's worth a look - hope it's out in the US soon. // Continue Reading ›
- Renate Reinsve & Helene Bjørneby in Norwegian Film 'Butterfly' Trailer (July 13, 2026)
"I think we live in two very separate realities." 🇳🇴 🏝️ Palace Films has revealed the first official trailer for a Norwegian indie dark comedy titled Butterfly, an intriguing story about estranged sisters who must come together on the Canary Islands to deal with their very peculiar mother's legacy. This first premiered at the 2026 Rotterdam Film Festival earlier this year and has a Norwegian release set for September. The trailer is mostly in English as this is how the two sisters communicate – since they grew up in elsewhere. The brilliant Renate Reinsve leads Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s Butterfly, an intriguing and mystical drama about two estranged sisters who reunite in Gran Canaria after the sudden, mysterious death of their mother. This co-stars Helene Bjørneby as his sister and Numan Acar. The sisters meet again in Gran Canaria after their parents' deaths, only to inherit an unfinished resort & esoteric retreat. Through the strange and the sincere, Guttormsen explores the stories we construct about ourselves and the ones we avoid. It seems super kooky and extra strange, a very Norwegian indie creation about how weird life can be for some people. Take a look. // Continue Reading ›
- Must See Full Trailer for Inarritu's 'Digger' Movie Starring Tom Cruise (July 13, 2026)
"Digger here got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna get dig us out again!" Can he do it?? Warner Bros has finally revealed the actual full official trailer for Digger, the entirely original new Tom Cruise movie directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu that's hitting theaters starting in October this fall. This has been a big mystery for a while - with cryptic teasers only building up the hype but not revealing much yet. Well – now we know exactly what's going on! The most powerful man in the world, a greedy oil barren, embarks upon a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's unleashed (a massive apocalyptic Greenland iceberg known as Judy) destroys everything. Tom Cruise stars as the Digger Rockwell, along with Jesse Plemons, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, Sophie Wilde, Emma D'Arcy, Robert John Burke, Burn Gorman, Michael Stuhlbarg, & John Goodman. With cinematography by maestro Emmanuel Lubezki reuniting with Innaritu again after Birdman & The Revenant. My goodness this looks incredible! This is absolutely a modern day Dr. Strangelove, playing up the absurdity of this situation as all these big wigs try to solve the problem – but only end up making tings worse. "Digg or die." Let's go! This is the kind of bonkers, all-out big and insane and hilarious movie we all need right now. I cannot wait to see it this fall. // Continue Reading ›
