Atomic Fangirl

“Who’s praying for you?”

Story: After the death of his wife Khadijah, Latif finds himself trying to be both mother and father to his three children. With a teen, a tween, and an infant girl allergic to formula, it’s rough. With his past as an assassin for a powerful Muslim criminal overlord, it’s rougher. When his personal and past lives crash together in a brutal way, he has to take a stand. No matter how much he wants to become a new man.

Genre I’d put it in: Messages That Will Linger Movies
Release Date: 2026
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Original, with recognizable action beats and a powerful message religious films wish they could successfully convey.
Animals okay?: N/A
Special Shout-out: Adia, as Latif’s daughter Fatiha. She was amazing in Mike Flanagan’s The Midnight Club, but this is truly a deeply moving performance. I hope she gets even more roles she can sink into.

Gotta say: I saw this screener two weeks ago. And it was so powerful, I had to sit with it, because I couldn’t form the words to accurately encapsulate my response to this breathtaking film. So instead? I will fumble my way through, much the same way Latif does his life after his wife’s death. With the best of intentions, knowing full well I’ll probably miss some things along the way.

“Oh shit. This just went to hell.”

Story: You know all those stories about a sleepy little town that has a police force that never really sees any action? The one that suddenly has a rash of murders they need to solve, and quickly, as the town is slowly starting to crumble from the destruction in these murderer’s wake? Yep, poor police chief Ko Bum-seok finds himself in this position, and he’s definitely not happy about it. As he and his force – okay fine, basically just rookie Im Sung-ae who’s somehow loaded for bear – try to stop what’s happening, things really get crazy. Like, huge monsterous creatures crazy. What’s going on? Why is it happening to Our Little Town? And what is his cousin doing trying to “help”?

Genre I’d put it in: What Was That Stories
Release Date: 2026
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Original, but with vibes from films like The Host, Attack the Block, and lots of Kaiju/alien films because why not.
Animals okay?: Not in any way, shape, or form. And there’s close-ups of the aftermath.
Special Shout-out: Lee Sang-hee as the hilariously overtaxed Ahn Nak-yeon. His terrified-yet-stubborn banter with Hwang’s Bum-seok is pitch-perfect, blending terror with slapstick in a way I live for in Asian cinema. He’s absolutely incredible.

Gotta say: Before we get started here, I just need to say that Hope does not suck. But it does fail in that it seems to promise one thing, then switches stories more than halfway thorough. While films like From Dusk Til Dawn do that seamlessly (spoilers for a 30 year old film I guess), making it a glorious genre change? Hope feels clunky and listless, as if producers said “yeah, I guess they should be aliens, right?” That passionless shift feels like a record scratch rather than the start of the really good stuff. And in that way, Hope fails.

“What the hell is going on?”

Story: It’s 1982 and couple Denise and Greg Platt look like the model family with their two kids, cute doggo, and lovely house in the suburbs. But when strange lights start flickering outside, their suburban oasis starts to experience weird occurrences. That’s not the worst of it; one morning that flicker turns into an all-out shift in reality. Well, at least they get to see what dinosaurs really looked like? Maybe not the best thing that’s ever happened to the neighborhood.

Genre I’d put it in: Spielbergian Stories
Release Date: 2026
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original:
Animals okay?: Dinosaurs. Suburban pets. Not as much carnage as could be, but still there are moments that can hit really hard. Lead pupper survives though!
Special Shout-out: To writer/director David Robert Mitchell for naming his lead Denise. I am nothing if not easily swayed by seeing my rare-ish name in movies.

Gotta say: Street feels like E.T.-era Spielberg meets Jurassic Park. It’s fun, action packed, and delivers several emotional gut punches in between the action. I’m calling it now – this is a film that’s gonna clean up on streaming. But you’ll want to see all that glorious dino action on the big screen, if you can.