Monthly Media Recap - August 2026

 Some people say July 5th is the start of spooky season but I prefer August 1st. 

91 days until Halloween!

Links will take you to a trailer.

 

In writing the post, I realized there's an unintentional Riverdale reunion among three of the movies. Do you know which ones or am I the only grown ass adult that watched Riverdale? 

 

 

Series

 

Elle: From the World of Legally Blonde (Prime)

First, what's with that title? Are they planning a Legally Blonde Cinematic Universe? That aside, this was a lot of fun. If you like watching Elle Woods do her thing, you'll get it in spades...pink spades. You can tell the actress playing young Elle studied her character and mannerisms. The supporting cast is pretty great too. 

 

Gatchaman Progress

Only 3 this month. Currently up to 85

 

 

Movies

 

 

Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026, HBO Max)

I'm still holding a low key grudge against this. It is an absolutely terrible movie if you're wanting a lot of Mummy. However, it's a pretty solid Evil Dead movie, which I guess should be expected since the director's previous movie was Evil Dead Rise. My bad for not watching the trailer, I guess. I call this one Evil Dead Rise 2: Egyptian Boogaloo. Definitely have to give it credit for "going there" in some scenes and the gore.

 

Rating: 6/10

 

The Long Walk (2025, HBO Max)

How do you make an interesting movie when 99% of it is teens walking? Excellent writing and great actors. This really sucked me in. I feel like I got to know these guys and when it's time for some of them to leave, it hits you. With what the movie gives you (not a lot), the premise doesn't make much sense but it's more about the journey.

 

Rating: 8/10

 

*Enola Holmes (2020, Netflix)

Pre-game rewatch to gear up for the newest installment. Didn't remember a lot of it so I had a good time all over again. It's good to see MBB playing someone other then Eleven, especially a character that's more light hearted.

 

Rating: 7/10

 

 

Forbidden Fruits (2026, Shudder)

Tosses The Craft, Heathers, and Mean Girls into an upscale clothing store in a mall. Overall, I liked it but there are some parts where the pacing was a bit slow. It's definitely got "a vibe" that you can't help but feel throughout. Unfortunately, I'm on a different wavelength but I predict it's going to find cult status with people that feel the vibe.

 

Rating: 6/10

 

Obsession (2025, Peacock)

Well deserving of all the praise (and money!) it's gotten. I only knew Inde Navarrette from TV's Superman and Lois but she hits this out of the park and into a whole other ball field! She deserves an Oscar nod for this performance. Creepy and sometimes shocking, this is the perfect case of being careful what you wish for.

 

Rating: 9/10 

 

 

Spooktacular! (2023, Prime, Shudder, Tubi)

A documentary about the first Halloween horror theme park: Spookyworld! It's not often you get to see a doc about something in your state...at least one that doesn't involve an investigation. Even if you've never heard of it, if you're a lover of Halloween, there's plenty to enjoy in seeing how this local legend came to be. 

 

Mortal Kombat II (2026, HBO Max)

I had such high hopes for this after seeing the trailers. What happened? For the amount of fighting and kool moves it has, it's kind of boring. There's little to no oomph in the fights no matter how kool they look. But I will say, they don't hold back on the fatalities when they come along. It's got a 2020s budget with a 1990s script. They should have made Johnny the main focus and let Karl Urban do his thing..although it's weird hearing him do an American accent.

 

Rating: 6/10 

 

 

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026, Hulu)

Scream queens Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton teaming up? Yes, please! This picks up right at the end of the first one and continues the cult craziness with more of the comedy and violence that made that one so much fun. Plus now you've got Elijah Wood and Sarah Michelle Gellar in the mix!

 

Rating: 8/10

 

Masters of the Universe (2026, Prime)

At best, I've been a casual MotU fan. I watched the cartoon and only ever had a Skeletor figure because he looked cool. That said, I feel like this movie had a target and shot with 100% accuracy. This is the Flash Gordon for the 2020s, except they knew what they were making. It's an incredibly fun action movie that serves up plenty of knowing winks to its fan base. Oh, and if you're worried about Jared Leto being in it, don't. You won't even notice him because you never see his face.

 

Rating: 7/10  

 

This Month

New: 8  Rewatch: 1

 

Year to Date

New: 48  Rewatch: 2

Marvel Doorables Series 3

 I remember a while back seeing the first series of Marvel Doorables and thought it was cool they were starting to do those after Star Wars. And then recently I saw series 3. Not only did I not ever see series 2 but there were two waves for that series! I'm kind of annoyed at that now that I know they exist, some of my favorite characters were in series 2!

 

But anyway, on to series 3...

 

 I immediately recognized the outer ring on the packaging as one of Dr. Strange's portals. Series 2 had similar packaging but again...never saw them. Back when the Star Wars ones debuted, I started keeping this list of codes bookmarked on my phone. It's not the best to work with on a phone screen but it's definitely helped me zero in on the ones I want. Mrs Dex calls it cheating because it removes the surprise. I like to think of it as avoiding having duplicates and getting my favorite characters.

 

Speaking of codes...

 

  

They haven't gotten rid of them but they're certainly making them harder to see by using black printing on a black background. I had to use my phone's flashlight to help make them easier to read.

 

Let's see who I got (spoiler alert: I already knew).

 

 First we've got Elektra and Moon Knight. MK is the main reason I picked up this one. He's got a pair of crescent darts and Elektra's got her itty bitty sai.

 

 Next is Jubilee and a "special edition" Vibranium Miles Morales.They did an awesome job on Jubilee not only with her powers in full effect but blowing a gum bubble. Classic! Miles is obviously a chase figure being somewhat translucent, similar to the Star Wars hologram figures.

 

 One of my favorite things about Doorables is the package is usually some sort of display for the figures. Let me tell you, between the tiny space and curved walls, it's not easy standing them up in there! It's hard to see but there's a removable cardboard background with a helicarrier on it. Looking at more series 2 pics online, it looks like there's different backgrounds you can get.

 

If you want to see who all is in Series 3, check out the Doorables Wiki. As you might guess from the name, they also have every other Doorable series cataloged there too! 

15th Blog-iversary!

 I tried to find an image of a fun 15th birthday cake to slot in here. Either I didn't look hard enough or there's just some really bland images out there.

 

 I can't believe this thing is still going after 15 years! If you're one of the handful of people reading this, thanks for stopping by. If you're not...let me know how you're seeing this.

 

Here's a look at the Top Ten posts of all time.

 

 Last year, I said I didn't think anything would ever dethrone the top two posts, but I was wrong! 

 

Coming from out of nowhere, the August 2025 Monthly Media Recap jumps in at the number two spot. It wasn't even in last year's top ten! I wonder what it is that made it so popular over the last 365 days? The venerable Andy Gibb poster drops two spots to fourth place. There was a time when he was THE most popular for many years.

Milton Bradley's Flipsider game continues its climb up to seven from nine. And the Addams Family's own Wednesday cracks the top ten with her recent card game.