This week on After the Frame, we’ve got two movies operating at very different levels of ambition, but both giving us plenty to talk about.

We start with Digger, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s loud, strange, politically charged satire led by Tom Cruise in one of his most interesting performances in years. The movie is visually impressive, stacked with talent, and occasionally lands on genuinely sharp ideas about power, art, crisis, and ego. But it can also be blunt, self-satisfied, and much less funny than it thinks it is. The ambition and performances were enough to outweigh the mess for us.

Then we move to Verity, a movie that should have been pulpy, sexy, and completely ridiculous in the best possible way. Instead, it somehow drains the energy out of Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, and even Anne Hathaway. We get into the lifeless performances, weak script, nonexistent tension, and how a movie with this much built-in melodrama ended up feeling so strangely empty.

One movie swings hard enough to survive its flaws. The other barely swings at all.

This week on After the Frame, we start with Resident Evil, Zach Cregger’s latest swing at horror. Austin Abrams gives the movie a strong center and the pacing keeps things moving, but the goofy tone and lack of emotional weight leave us wondering whether a merely good movie can still feel disappointing when it comes from the filmmaker behind Barbarian and Weapons.

Then we move into Primetime, a much more complicated conversation. Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, and Skyler Gisondo deliver standout performances in a movie that digs into fame, ambition, media, and what happens when a sense of moral purpose starts getting tangled up with entertainment.

The big question is whether Primetime’s uncomfortable perspective makes it more fascinating or pushes its argument too far. We get into the performances, the technical craft, the moral unease, and why this is the kind of movie that can leave different viewers walking out with completely different reactions.

One movie is a fast, goofy genre ride. The other is the kind of film you may still be arguing about days later.

This week on After the Frame, the three of us are getting into the kind of movie conversation that starts with one opinion and somehow turns into an argument about four completely different films.

From the ambition of Sinners and the blockbuster spectacle of Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning to Jurassic World Rebirth and Superman, we trade takes on what worked, what fell short, and which movies actually delivered on the hype.

There are disagreements, unexpected defenses, a few questionable takes, and plenty of appreciation for the moments that remind us why we love going to the movies in the first place. No carefully coordinated rankings this time, just three movie fans seeing where the conversation takes them.

Big movies, bigger opinions, and absolutely no guarantee we’ll agree on any of them.

This week on After the Frame, we’ve got two very different reviews before zooming out for a bigger conversation about the state of movies themselves.

We start with Insidious: Out of the Further, a return to a horror franchise that may finally be running out of places to go. There are still a few effective scares and a genuinely uncomfortable dental-horror hook, but familiar mythology, recycled genre beats, and characters we struggle to care about leave us wondering whether some horror franchises simply need to know when to stop.

Then we switch gears with Finding Emily, a perfectly competent modern rom-com that raises a completely different problem: what happens when a movie does almost everything fine, but nothing memorably? We talk about the performances, the straightforward execution, and why being merely “solid” can sometimes be more frustrating than taking a big swing and missing.

That leads us into a wider conversation about how we’d improve the movie business, from the types of stories studios should be taking more chances on to the habits, trends, and creative decisions we’d love to see change. Less about complaining that “movies are bad now,” and more about what could actually make going to the movies better.

Two reviews, one bigger industry conversation, and plenty of thoughts on what Hollywood should keep, kill, and rethink.

This week on After the Frame, we’re diving into two movies that take familiar childhood imagery, twist it into something stranger, and somehow find more heart than expected along the way.

We start with Coyote vs. Acme, a long-awaited Looney Tunes adventure that understands exactly why these characters still work. The live-action/animation hybrid looks great, the slapstick hits, and the courtroom premise gives Wile E. Coyote’s endless string of failures a surprisingly sincere payoff about effort, perseverance, and continuing to try when absolutely nothing goes your way.

Then we move into Buddy, a much darker spin on childhood television that imagines what happens when the cheerful world of an old-school kids’ show turns deeply sinister. We talk about the killer opening act, the very specific surreal comedy, Cristin Milioti’s ability to ground the insanity, and why the movie never quite reaches the heights of its initial setup.

One resurrects classic cartoon chaos. The other turns childhood nostalgia into a nightmare. Both prove there’s still plenty of mileage in taking something familiar and making it very, very weird.

This week on After the Frame, we start with The End of Oak Street, a throwback summer adventure built on dinosaurs, old-school escapism, and strong technical craft. We break down the Amblin-style energy, the performances, the brisk pacing, and why the movie works as a fun popcorn thriller, even if it never quite captures the soul of the classics it’s chasing.

From there, we widen the conversation to one of the most frustrating things in movies: when the idea is way better than the final product.

We dig into films with killer premises, huge potential, and the kind of concepts that immediately make you want to buy a ticket, only to leave us wondering how so much promise turned into something merely okay. Some needed deeper world-building, some took the wrong story path, and others simply never capitalized on the thing that made the concept exciting in the first place.

One solid dinosaur adventure, plenty of missed opportunities, and a whole lot of “how did you have THAT idea and make THIS movie?” energy.

This week on After the Frame, we swing into the next chapter of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man before stepping directly into one of the most dangerous debates in comic-book movie history.

We begin with our review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a grounded, street-level reset that gives Peter Parker’s emotional journey room to breathe. We break down the fresh direction, striking comic-book style, carefully timed humor, and how the movie builds on the consequences of No Way Home without feeling trapped by the past. We also discuss the expanded cast, the new character dynamics, and why this feels like the confident beginning of a new era for Spider-Man.

Then we turn our attention to the casting choices that still leave Marvel and DC fans asking one question: What were they thinking? We count down our ten worst superhero castings, judging the biggest gaps between performer and character, not simply the weakest acting. Some were damaged by bad scripts, some fundamentally misunderstood the role, and others became distractions from the heroes and villains they were supposed to embody.

One of the strongest Spider-Man movies in years, ten casting decisions we’re still arguing about, and enough comic-book hot takes to guarantee a completely calm and reasonable response online.

This week on After the Frame, the superhero news cycle is working overtime as DC and Marvel reveal more of what’s coming next.

We break down the new trailers for Lanterns and Clayface, two projects taking the DC Universe in dramatically different directions. One brings an intergalactic mythology down to Earth for a dark detective story, while the other pushes Gotham into full body-horror territory. We discuss what worked, what has us cautious, and whether DC’s willingness to jump between genres is becoming its greatest advantage.

Then we swing over to Marvel for the latest on Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday. We unpack the new footage, story possibilities, character reveals, and the growing expectations surrounding Marvel’s next major crossover event.

We also recap the biggest wins, surprises, and unanswered questions from DC and Marvel’s appearances at San Diego Comic-Con before closing with an Avengers: Doomsday activity that forces us to lock in our predictions before the multiverse inevitably proves us wrong.

Trailers, theories, Comic-Con reactions, and enough superhero speculation to get us cooked online by opening weekend.