David R. Walker

Archive for March, 2026

Project Hail Mary

Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung

Running Time: 2 hours and 36 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller land some star power in their new film Project Hail Mary in the form of triple Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, La La Land, Barbie) as the main and possibly the only character Ryland Grace, a likable but reluctant saviour of the universe and maths teacher who is recruited by the government headed by Eva Stratt superbly played by German actress and Oscar nominee Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall) whose sternness off set’s Ryland Grace’s goofiness.

Project Hail Mary is a very strange science fiction film in that there is only one main character Ryland Grace who heads off into outer space to save the earth from imminent demise as the sun is being destroyed by a microscopic alien species which is also killing off the stars.

Eleven light years away, Ryland Grace is stranded on a super space ship with enough artificial intelligence to sustain him. The only problem is that he is the only survivor on this trip. Think 2001, a Space Odyssey. Grace realizes that he has to save the earth by journeying to this distance star in the solar system where he encounters a friendly alien whom he calls Rocky, voiced by James Ortiz.

After some initial communication difficulties, Grace and Rocky, a crustacean type alien strike up an unlikely friendship as they band together to find a specific organism to send back to earth to rejuvenate the sun.

Drew Goddard’s screenplay based on The Martian writer Andy Weir’s novel is both confusing and funny, yet it doesn’t have sufficient conflict to keep a film going for 2 and a half hours.

What saves Project Hail Mary from being a bad space trip is the brilliant acting by Ryan Gosling who has the charisma and screen presence to sustain this film amidst absolutely spectacular visual effects.

Project Hail Mary is a confusing film with a non-linear story telling method which makes the narrative less compelling while the directors choose to emphasize the cool space ships and the weird technology over human relationships amidst impending doom.

Sandra Huller does her best in an extremely limited role but her star power fades next to that of Ryan Gosling who carries this lengthy film, which is definitely entertaining but is basically a lengthy and weird space bro film. Huller is more suited to intelligent European arthouse cinema than flashy American sci fi.

Project Hail Mary has stunning visuals and brilliant cinematography by Greig Fraser who won an Oscar for Dune in 2022. Unfortunately the script needed some work and the lack of a singularity of vision makes Project Hail Mary a bizarre space film which lacks urgency, action and emotional resonance.

If you love beautiful visual effects then watch Project Hail Mary but a lack of editing and a decent script causes this space drama to lose its shine.

Project Hail Mary gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10. It’s entertaining but not brilliant.

Reminders of Him

Director: Vanessa Caswill

Cast: Maika Monroe, Tyriq Withers, Nicholas Duvernay, Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford, Rudy Pankow, Zoe Kosovic

Running Time: 1 hour and 54 minutes

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Director Vanessa Caswill’s transition from TV director to big screen director does not come off effortlessly in the lacklustre film adaptation of New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover’s novel Reminders of Him starring a low key cast including Maika Monroe as Kenna Rowen and Tyriq Withers as Ledger Ward.

Reminders of Him revolves around the redemption story of Kenna Rowen who moves back to Laramie, Wyoming after serving prison time for vehicular manslaughter when her boyfriend, Scotty Landry played by Rudy Pankow is killed in a freak car accident when she was driving them towards a diner.

Fast forward 6 years and Kenna is an ex-convict out on parole and dead broke and trying to find a job. She moves into a motel complex called Paradise and then she begins to pick up the shattered mess that is her life. Her beautiful daughter is being looked after by her dead boyfriend’s affluent parents Grace and Patrick Landry expertly played by Lauren Graham (Because I said So, Sweet November) and Bradley Whitford (Get Out, Saving Mr Banks). Scotty’s best friend Ledger Ward is playing foster dad to the precocious 5 year old, brilliantly played by Zoe Kosovic.

Unfortunately unlike director Justin Baldoni’s glossy adaptation of another Colleen Hoover novel It Ends with Us, this film version does not lift off the page and the characters with the exception of Ledger appear to be dull.

This film lacks a good casting director, since now there is an Oscar category for that profession and Reminders of Him needed a prolific actor or two to rejuvenate this film despite its autumnal cinematography by Tim Ives and breath taking mountainous scenery.

Reminders of Him begins with conflict and despair and as the narrative winds along a slow road to a more redemptive conclusion, the story leaves the audience with more questions than answers.

Romantic dramas always find an audience judging by how fill the cinema was on a Sunday afternoon, however this film could have been so much better yet it is saved by a great performance by Tyriq Withers (Him, I Know What You Did Last Summer) as the hunky bar owner Ledger Ward whose charismatic screen presence makes up for all that is missing with Maika Monroe as Kenna.

Maika Monroe (Independence Day: Resurgence) does lacks some screen presence, which is something she can work on as an actress and draw inspiration from the exceptional female talent on screen this decade.

Rudy Pankow’s onscreen moments as the pivotal Scotty Landry are too few to make the flashbacks scenes resonate emotionally.

Reminders of Him gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10 and is a romantic drama without the fireworks or flair, a middle of the road story about tragedy, loss and redemption.

Recommended for those that enjoy light hearted stories stripped of glamour or substance.

98th Academy Awards took place on Sunday 15th March 2026 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Oscar winners 2026: Full List of Winners

Best Picture: One Battle After Another

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan – Sinners

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley – Hamnet

Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn – One Battle After Another

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan – Weapons

Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler – Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another adapted from the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon.

Best Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw – Sinners

Best Costume Design: Kate Hawley – Frankenstein

Best Make up & Hairstyling: Frankenstein

Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Best Film Editing: Andy Jurgensen – One Battle After Another

Best Sound: F1

Best Production Design: Frankenstein

Best Documentary Feature:  Mr Nobody Against Putin

Best Documentary Short Subject: All the Empty Rooms

Best Original Score: Ludwig Goransson – Sinners

Best Original Song: K-Pop Demon Hunters

Best Animated Feature Film: K-Pop Demon Hunters

Best Animated Short: The Girl Who Cried Pearls.

Best Live Action Short Film: The Singers & People Exchanging Saliva -Tied Winner

Best International Feature Film:  Sentimental Value directed by Joachim Trier (Norway)

The Bride!

Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Bening, Peter Sarsgaard, Penelope Cruz, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Maguro, Jeannie Berlin

Running Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

After the success of The Lost Daughter, actor turned director Maggie Gyllenhaal presents her new audacious and avant-garde film The Bride! starring an amazing cast including Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard and her own brother Jake Gyllenhaal.

Writing and directing The Bride! for Maggie Gyllenhaal was a huge risk as she attempts to recreate a famous Gothic Horror novel and set it in Prohibition era Chicago in 1926, exactly 100 years ago.

Unfortunately the risk does not always pay off. Despite some unnecessary directorial embellishments, Gyllenhaal is strong on style and aesthetics but her narrative is weak and structurally confusing, much like the composition of Frankenstein himself.

This is a strange pastiche of gothic mixed with gangster as Oscar winner Christian Bale (The Fighter) expertly plays the lonely Frankenstein as he approaches Dr Euphronious played by five time Oscar nominee Annette Bening (The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia, Nyad, The Kids are Alright) to find him a companion, a physical relief from his lonely movie watching of the dancing film star Ronnie Reed played by Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain).

Enter The Bride, fantastically played with a manic relish and craziness by Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter, Hamnet) who is excellent as the mad Ida, a prostitute who is trying to trap a vicious mob boss. Buckley also plays a cynical version of Mary Shelley the author of Frankenstein in a series of weird flashback scenes which were totally unnecessary and detracted from the narrative.

As in the opening line of the film, Mary Shelley says “Darling, something has cracked” as she reimagines a companion for the monster Frankenstein.

It is refreshing to see Christian Bale back on the big screen in a solid performance as the socially awkward but aggressive Frankenstein, a complete antithesis to Jacob Elordi’s performance in Guillermo del Toro’s excellent Frankenstein.

Oscar winner Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) is superb as the feminist detective Myrna Malloy who outwits her male counterpart, Jakes Wiles played without effort by the director’s husband Peter Sarsgaard. Myrna and Jake are chasing after Frankenstein and his Bride, Ida or Penelope as they embark on a vicious killing spree from Chicago to New York.

The Bride! is very arthouse and strange. There are some quirky moments followed by some extremely violent scenes which detract from Gyllenhaal’s clear thematic homage to the cinema going experience. The narrative of this film is disorientating much like the doomed duo who are trying to outwit the police.

Thankfully three time Oscar winning costume designer Sandy Powell (The Aviator, The Young Victoria, Shakespeare in Love) does a fabulous job with the 1920’s costumes and the production design by Karen Murphy is perfect, linking the Gothic horror style with the shadowy world of gangsters.

The Bride! will find an audience but it is not a commercial film, but at least director Maggie Gyllenhaal delivered a film which was inventive, feminist and ferocious. Her cinema aesthetic is distinctive and bold.

The Bride! gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is worth seeing if you enjoy bizarre films like Siesta, Orlando and Stoker. Unfortunately having a great cast does not always guarantee an excellent film.

The 32nd Actor Awards (Screen Actors Guild Awards), honouring the best achievements in film and television performances for the year 2025, were presented on Sunday March 1^st 2026, at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Actors Awards in the Film Category:

Best Cast: Sinners – Michael B. Jordan, Jack O’Connell, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Lola Kirke, Saul Williams  

Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan – Sinners

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley – Hamnet

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan – Weapons

Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn – One Battle After Another