This week’s episode of What the Hell Should I Watch? almost didn’t happen thanks to a technical meltdown, so what you’re getting is a leaner, faster, slightly feral edition of the show — but there were still way too many movies to ignore.
We’ve got the return of Gore Verbinski after an eight-year break, one of the best Canadian movies I’ve seen in years, and a horror lineup that completely fell apart.
Here’s what I watched this week.
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Fresh For Your Eyeballs
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (dir. Gore Verbinski)
Gore Verbinski finally returns to filmmaking after A Cure for Wellness, teaming up with Sam Rockwell for a strange, time-looping sci-fi comedy about ordinary people tasked with stopping an AI apocalypse. Set largely inside a diner, the film plays like a series of interconnected vignettes with Haley Lu Richardson and Juno Temple adding heart and chaos. It’s weird, ambitious, and surprisingly charming.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
This is a love letter to Toronto and one of the most purely Canadian movies I’ve seen in years. Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll turn their cult series into a feature that somehow mixes time travel, the CN Tower, and a lifelong dream of playing the Rivoli. Chloe and I caught this at the Rio and the crowd energy made it unforgettable. It’s chaotic, funny, and deeply rooted in Toronto culture. I also sat down with Matt and Jay for a 12-minute interview you’ll see later this week.
Cold Storage
A gooey, splattery horror comedy starring Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, and Liam Neeson. Written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park), this one leans hard into creature effects and gross-out moments. It’s never elevated horror, but it delivers enough B-movie fun for genre fans.
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Horror Takes a Nosedive
The Strangers: Chapter 2 & Chapter 3
Renny Harlin’s reboot trilogy continues to unravel. Chapter 2 is dull and oddly bloodless, while Chapter 3 somehow manages to be even more pointless. Neither film brings tension or invention to the franchise, and both feel like empty exercises in IP maintenance.
Dracula (dir. Luc Besson)
Luc Besson attempts to reframe Dracula as a tragic romantic hero and instead delivers a confused, derivative mess. Caleb Landry Jones never feels right for the role, Christoph Waltz looks bored, and the entire film feels like a lesser, hollow echo of Coppola’s version — with none of the passion or style.
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New to the Library
This week’s additions to my physical media shelf:
Dark Blue (Blu-ray upgrade)
Blue Moon – Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart, which Chloe and I saw at VIFF
The Thing With Feathers – Benedict Cumberbatch in a surreal grief drama
300: Rise of an Empire (3D) – the Zack Snyder sequel he didn’t direct
Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 – Raoul Peck documentary
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Next Week on the Show
Coming up:
Wuthering Heights (Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi)
Crime 101 (Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Mark Ruffalo)
Possibly: How to Make a Killing
Hopefully: Sirat and Pillion
Chloe plans to bring Greenland 2: Migration
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This was a short but packed episode — with a big win for Canadian cinema, a welcome return from Gore Verbinski, and a reminder that not every Dracula or Strangers reboot needs to exist.
New episodes of What the Hell Should I Watch? drop every Friday at 9am Pacific on
Steve Stebbing 