The Outside Scoop (Substack)

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Sep 19, 2026 8/10 Forgotten Island is quite simply one of DreamWorks Animation’s very best movies and its third all-timer (after Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Wild Robot) just in the last half-decade. Go to Full Review Forgotten Island (2026) 95% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Sep 17, 2026 8/10 Zach Cregger’s relentlessly exciting and grimly hilarious video game adaptation is among the biggest "false hope" franchise revivals since, I dunno, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’? Go to Full Review Resident Evil (2026) 96% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Sep 17, 2026 7/10 A clever high concept and nuanced turns from Alan Richson and Owen Wilson elevate Angel Studios’ genuinely suspenseful and surprisingly violent chase thriller Go to Full Review Runner (2026) 78% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Sep 17, 2026 4/10 The filmed presentation of the pop star’s recent concerts presents a definitive early-2010s icon struggling to stay relevant in the mid-2020s Go to Full Review Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour - Live from Paris (2026) 69% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Sep 17, 2026 4/10 Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s ode to 1980s slashers and grindhouse actioners merely apes their own earlier films while failing to adjust for modern-day horrors Go to Full Review Onslaught (2026) 60% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Sep 17, 2026 6/10 That it doesn’t live up to the hype isn’t automatically a mark against the film, as there should not have been all that much artistic hype to begin with. Go to Full Review Coyote vs. Acme (2026) 96% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Sep 17, 2026 6/10 Jason Statham's lean and (not-so) mean ‘Die Hard on a ship' actioner works on its own terms by avoiding overcomplication and gratuitous pageantry Go to Full Review Mutiny (2026) 50% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Aug 14, 2026 5/10 Now running 98 minutes and with a greater focus on its "case of the week," Chris Carter's director's cut of 'I Want to Believe' now plays, for better or worse, more like a two-part episode of 'The X-Files'. Go to Full Review The X-Files: I Want to Believe - Vrach Frankenshteyn (2026) 42% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Aug 14, 2026 8/10 Anne Hathaway delivers her fourth great performance of 2024 in David Robert Mitchell's often thrilling, grimly funny and genuinely scary adventure. Go to Full Review The End of Oak Street (2026) 86% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Aug 14, 2026 3/10 An otherwise harmless romantic comedy kneecapped by its gloves-off treatment of its frighteningly plausible premise, the Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner-led release is scarier than any 'Purge' movie Go to Full Review One Night Only (2026) 44% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Aug 5, 2026 7/10 Matt Johnson’s compelling, visually scrumptious and superbly acted picture is a thoughtful coming-of-age drama that just happens to be a "prequel origin story" focused on Anthony Bourdain. Go to Full Review Tony (2026) 93% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jul 29, 2026 7/10 This is a Peter Parker/Spider-Man for the COVID generation growing up amid a loneliness epidemic in a hellish, post-American-Dream economy. Go to Full Review Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) 90% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jul 15, 2026 9/10 A compelling companion to ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘The Dark Knight', Chris Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ works whether you dig into its "the film for our time" meanings or just relish in an esteemed auteur delivering a terrific big-budget popcorn entertainment. Go to Full Review The Odyssey (2026) 94% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jul 8, 2026 6/10 Dwayne Johnson returning to a franchise that represented the peak of his 2010s popularity and playing Maui in a way that takes stock of his 2020s decline is just fascinating enough to make Disney’s otherwise recycled 'Moana’ remake worth a casual viewing. Go to Full Review Moana (2026) 33% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jun 25, 2026 5/10 Coming after a studio-wide retcon and following DC Studios’s previous flick being almost subversive and transgressive by *not* being an apolitical grim-dark melodrama about trauma, ‘Supergirl’ feels like a so-so stowaway from a different DC universe. Go to Full Review Supergirl (2026) 52% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jun 16, 2026 7/10 While not quite as all-around terrific as the last three films, Pixar's fifth play-thing passion play excels on its own terms without undercutting its predecessors' concrete conclusions. Go to Full Review Toy Story 5 (2026) 92% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jun 10, 2026 9/10 ‘The Furious’ lives up to… no wait… actually surpasses the months of pre-release hype. Come for the craftsmanship, stay for the showmanship. Go to Full Review The Furious (2025) 97% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jun 9, 2026 7/10 An almost obsessively playful riff on the mid-80s kid-friendly fantasies that would, fairly or not, define Steven Spielberg’s cinematic legacy. However, in these grim (mer) modern times, it operates less as a "What if?" than as a "Why the hell not?" Go to Full Review Disclosure Day (2026) 79% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) Jun 2, 2026 7/10 If I argue that Mattel’s ‘He-Man’ reboot is akin to ‘Barbie’ for boys, it’s in a specific way that makes me even more curious about its in-development ‘Barney’ film. Go to Full Review Masters of the Universe (2026) 67% - -

Scott Mendelson The Outside Scoop (Substack) May 29, 2026 8/10 I don’t know a damn thing about creepypasta, but Kane Parsons's theatrical directorial debut works on its own cinematic terms as a slow-building, dread-infusing romp that needs no "It’s for the kids!" apologies. Go to Full Review Backrooms (2026) 86% - -