leebutler Action, Comedy, Review

Stop! That! Train! (2026) – Ai Ai Captain!

Released: 13th August
Seen: 22nd September

February 2nd, 2009. That was the date that the first episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race aired on TV. At the time, it was almost a non-entity; it was effectively shot in the spare room at World of Wonder with a cast of Drag Queens no one had heard of, with a grand prize of 20K and some makeup and it aired on LogoTV. If you told anyone that this show would go on for 18 seasons, have a yearly All Stars spinoff, be franchised around the world and create superstars who would end up making world tours, appearing on multiple major TV shows and headlining Broadway, you would be insane, but that’s what happened. Drag Race gradually became a phenomenon, growing in scale to an absolutely insane degree that a feature film of some kind that utilised this talent pool was inevitable. With hundreds of drag queens who have proven just how insanely talented they are at World of Wonder’s disposal, it would be absolutely insane if they didn’t, at some point, try to use that talent pool to make a feature film and with Stop! That! Train! it feels like they’ve managed to figure out exactly what to do with the talent they have available because they made something that’s honestly better than it has any right being.

Continue reading “Stop! That! Train! (2026) – Ai Ai Captain!” →
leebutler Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Review

Coyote VS ACME (2026) – Miraculous

Released: 17th September
Seen: 17th September

If everything had gone according to the plans of the cinematic terrorist known as David Zaslav, this piece of art would’ve been thrown into a fire, and he would’ve been able to write off about 30 million in taxes for the Warner Brothers company. That was the plan; that was what the finish line for this film was going to be. It must be pointed out that films die all the time; they get stuck in development hell, or some disaster happens so that the people who started the film can’t complete it, or they finish the film but the company that made it goes bankrupt so the film can’t legally be released. A film being made but not being released is not an uncommon event; what is uncommon is a company making a film, getting great test screenings, and then deciding not to release it for a tax write-off that wouldn’t even cover two months of the CEO’s total salary package. What’s even less common is a film that went through this process to then get bought up by a competitor who actually releases the film into cinemas. That alone should make everyone want to support Coyote VS ACME purely as a middle finger to the absolutely brainless moron who thinks his minuscule tax break is somehow more important than a work of art that people gave up time in their precious lives to create. It also helps that Coyote VS ACME is, and boy does it feel good to say this, one of the best goddamn films of the year.

Continue reading “Coyote VS ACME (2026) – Miraculous” →
leebutler Drama, Music, Review, Thriller

Mother Mary (2026) – Mother!

Released: 14th May
Seen: 9th September

When it comes to pop music, the genre largely belongs to women, and they manage to turn that light, fluffy, fun music into an absolute art form. From early icons like Madonna and Cher, to the 90s icons of Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera, to the millennial iterations of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, all the way up to the modern pop princesses like Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, every generation gets a pop girlie or two that they can latch onto and call their own. They are often expected to give the world grand, elaborate performances to provide their bright bubblegum music a touch of heft; any deeper meaning or impact of their music often has to wait a few years for people to reevaluate it, and any mental anguish they may go through while being a pop icon is pushed down, hidden for people to find out about in tabloids years later. Witnessing a pop icon in trouble is almost a rite of passage, and Mother Mary gives us a pop icon going through the wringer and it really does work… until the ghosts show up.

Continue reading “Mother Mary (2026) – Mother!” →
leebutler Comedy, Drama, Music, Musical, Review

Power Ballad (2026) – Charming

Released: 28th May
Seen: 8th September

It’s an undeniable truth that all music artists are influenced by other artists. All boy bands want to be The Beatles, all male artists are trying to steal some of Elvis’ swagger (and Elvis was just stealing from any black musician he knew of) and pretty much any modern female pop artist wants to be Madonna. It’s not hard to spot this, the entire music industry is built on people who are influenced by other artists and trying to express that influence in a way that doesn’t get them sued for copyright infringement. This is why you’ll see a lot of strange people getting writing credits on major songs, it’s weird that Right Said Fred are credited on a Taylor Swift song but she used the beat of their song I’m Too Sexy in her song Look What You Made Me Do so she has to give them credit… but what if she didn’t? What if a major artist just took a song from a struggling, lesser-known artist and just never gave them credit? Well, that would be the basic plot to the movie Power Ballad which has got its moments, but not as many as it should.

Continue reading “Power Ballad (2026) – Charming” →