Tag: Movies

Whatcha Watching, Geekly: July 15, 2026

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Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, and today, our writers share what they’ve been watching over the past month. This’ll be movies and shows. Anything goes. Feel free to share what you’ve been watching over the past month, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things started with what I’ve been watching over the past month.

Kyra’s Movies

I’m a true crime junkie, and the genre dominated the films I watched this past month. I’ll begin with The Murder of Rachel Nickell. Oh, boy. This one hurts. Rachel Nickell was slain in front of her toddler child, the one pictured above. I can’t even imagine the horror, the guilt, the fear, and the trauma that caused. Nickell bargained her life for her son’s. Nickell’s son has to live with that for the rest of his life. He blamed himself. He blamed his father for not protecting the family. It wasn’t until after the Bisset Murders (a mother and daughter killed by the same murderer, Robert Napper) trial and conviction that Nickell’s case was solved, and she found justice.

Again, I can’t imagine witnessing the murder of one’s mother at two and a half years old. The Murder of Rachel Nickell spends plenty of time interviewing André Hanscombe (Nickell’s partner and father of her son). We get a great window into his mindset, leaving the UK for France because he was scared the killer would return for his son. We don’t get as much of Alexander Louis, the pair’s son, but I may soon watch The Witness, which is a Netflix docudrama told from Alexander Louis’s perspective. Or I might not. The Murder of Rachel Nickell isn’t an easy watch. I took frequent breaks.

I’ve seen so many documentaries and docudramas on the Murdaugh family over the past year or so, and just when you think you’ve seen it all, Alex Murdaugh gets released by a technicality. Instadocs: Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted deals primarily with disgraced county clerk Becky Hill. In short, Becky Hill was writing a novel about the Murdaugh family’s various scandals. With her ties as a county clerk, Hill had insider information. She also stood to gain from a guilty verdict. If Murdaugh was guilty, she’d sell more books. Instadocs: Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted briefly describes what happens and shares a couple of viewpoints. Hill may have had a juror kicked off the case, and more likely, she told the jurors to beware of Alex Murdaugh because he lies. Regardless of what former county clerk Becky Hill did, she did enough to throw out Alex Murdaugh’s murder conviction.

Instadocs: Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted is what the title suggests, it’s an instadoc, meaning a quickly made documentary in reaction to an event. It clocks in at thirty minutes. While I like the idea of a documentary of this type (especially for a follow-up or update to a larger documentary series like Netflix’s Murdaugh Murders, which I’ve also seen), this format doesn’t give the documentary enough time to flesh out either side of the argument. Hill denies most everything. The dismissed juror escalates the allegations against Hill. The truth is most likely in the middle, but the result is the same. Alex Murdaugh is “unconvicted” of the murders of his wife and son because of a mistrial.

Netflix’s The Crash has plenty of time to show multiple viewpoints. This documentary centers on Mackenzie Shirilla and whether she purposefully crashed her car into a building at 100 miles per hour to kill the other two occupants of her vehicle. Shirilla has been convicted, and her appeals have been denied. Two major pieces of evidence led to this conviction: automobile feedback and Shrilla mentioned killing her then boyfriend, Dominic Russo, by crashing her car a week before the event.

The latter piece of evidence is self-explanatory. Russo and Shirilla had a turbulent relationship. Russo even recorded Shirilla during a violent outburst. This wasn’t when Shirilla threatened to crash her car with Russo inside, but it illustrated the couple’s relationship. Numerous witnesses corroborated Shirilla threatened to kill Russo by crashing her car. Many of those same witnesses viewed it as an offhand comment, not one Shirilla would enact. But the former piece of evidence (automobile feedback) proves more compelling.

Newer automobiles have the equivalent of an airplane’s black box. Shirilla’s car shows she had her foot firmly on the gas pedal ten seconds before impact. Not once did she take her foot off the pedal. This most likely debunks her excuse that she blacked out. The prosecution argued that if Shirilla blacked out, she wouldn’t have been able to slam her foot on the gas. Shirilla wasn’t drunk. She did have THC in her system, but she had less than her usual amount and had plenty of practice driving while under the influence. Is The Crash a tragic accident? Or did Shirilla murder her boyfriend (who some say planned to break up with her) Death Proof style?

Kyra’s Show

I’m in the middle of compiling a deep dive on The Pitt’s autism representation (Dr. Mel King) for a future post. I won’t go into too much detail about that here. Simply put, Taylor Dearden does a phenomenal job of portraying a neurodivergent character. I can’t wait to share that post with you in November. Yikes! We still have some time, but not much. Anyway, I don’t mind rewatching The Pitt. It’s the most accurate medical drama. That’s not me saying it. I’ve heard medical professionals who worked in an ER sing The Pitt’s praises. So, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that The Pitt also has great autism representation. Okay. I’m done with that aspect.

The Pitt plays out over a single twelve-hour shift, complete with heading in early for a shift handoff and staying late for the same thing. Each episode hops from one patient and their family to the next. Some build off each other in satisfying ways. All of them show different aspects of an emergency room worker’s job. I prefer the first season slightly more than the second because you’re flying into the series blind. I also watched the two seasons back-to-back. I may have been more surprised by the second season if I didn’t watch them immediately back-to-back. Still, love the characters. The pacing is on point. The frenetic pace drives The Pitt. And I didn’t know how The Pitt would attempt to keep up the energy from season one to season two. It accomplished that. Minor spoiler: the second season takes place on July Fourth.

Oh, boy! The fact that The Pitt chose July Fourth as the date for its second season proves it understands the ER better than most shows. More accidents occur on July Fourth than on any other day in the United States. Mrs. Geekly, a nurse, has worked plenty of July Fourths. Based on Mrs. Geekly’s tales, I wrote down all the injuries I expected to see, and The Pitt delivered. If you like medical dramas, you should watch The Pitt.

That’s all we have for this month. Season and Skye will join us next month. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Supergirl Movie Review

Supergirl Movie Review

Published on by Kyra1 Comment

Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. A couple of our writers watched the DCU’s second movie entry, Supergirl, this past week. Sure. We’ve only watched the movie once, so this may be more of a reaction than a review. Typically, I like to watch a movie at least twice before dubbing my thoughts a “review.” But I do have some thoughts, and I may be joined by another of our writers for Geekly’s Review/Reaction of Supergirl.

Kyra’s Thoughts

Supergirl is a good movie. I don’t know where all the hate for the movie originates. I’d even say Supergirl is on par with last year’s Superman, with one significant flaw holding it back: “the brides.” The brides represent an even larger issue of Supergirl attempting to cater to a wider audience. We’ll return to the brides and the rest in a minute, but back to Supergirl as a whole. The acting is on point. Eve Ridley gives a great performance as Ruthye. Milly Alcock is perfect as a Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (the movie’s source material) version of Supergirl. And Jason Momoa was more believable as Lobo in three seconds than he was as Aquaman through three DCEU films.

However, Lobo is also the reason why Supergirl isn’t as good as it could be–Lobo was a ploy to get other demographics interested in the movie, but we’ll talk more about that later, too. Again, I love Momoa in the role, but the character disrupted this movie. Other critics claim that Supergirl’s plot is scattered. Lobo is the main reason the movie’s plot goes off course. The writers shoehorned a character who didn’t exist in the source material: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. While a scattered plot may be a fair criticism of Supergirl, last year’s Superman had a far more scattered narrative. I didn’t look at some of these critics’ reviews for Superman, but I venture to guess they didn’t dock Superman nearly as much as Supergirl for the same flaw. And Superman was worse in that regard.

My biggest gripe with Supergirl also stems from Lobo’s presence: the brides. I told you we would return to this topic. In the source material, the main villain, Krem, is a mercenary who really loves killing people. Lobo is also a mercenary who really loves killing people. How do we differentiate between them? Make Krem a sex trafficker. No. Just no. The brides (girls around 13) gave me the ick while I was watching Supergirl. It took me a minute to figure out why the brides made me cringe. I can see why this could be a dealbreaker for some. Supergirl could’ve omitted Momoa’s Lobo (or given him a cameo, seriously, three seconds was all Momoa needed to show he embodied the character) and replaced his scenes with a hopeful scene or two from the source material. This could’ve brightened the movie. Possibly even allowed for more comedic moments, which brings me to my next point.

Supergirl’s darker tone could also be a dealbreaker for others. Supergirl is a very different character from Superman. And that’s a fantastic thing. Corenswet’s Superman never knew Krypton. Alcock’s Supergirl watched her family, her home, and her people die. I love how Supergirl showed the difference between these two characters when they shared screentime. If anything, Supergirl upstaged the DCEU’s Superman. Cavill’s Superman had PTSD for unspecified reasons. Alcock’s Supergirl has PTSD for a very concrete reason: she watched the last of Krypton die. This is the equivalent of Cavill’s Superman as a CIS man trying a menstrual cramp simulator and screaming at the first setting. Alcock’s Supergirl would claim that setting tickles.

I could even see some people disliking Supergirl’s use of trauma to propel the narrative. Sometimes, you just want a dumb, fun movie. Heck, 2025’s Superman could be categorized as a dumb, fun movie, so the DCU conditioned audiences (through one movie) that the new DCU will be bright and fun. Despite its tonal differences, Supergirl fits within the DCU. And I’d argue that Kara overcomes her trauma, and that should be lauded. Supergirl’s trauma makes her interesting. Kara possesses numerous conflicting emotions. At one point, Supergirl was a red (rage) lantern in DC Comics. The fact that she chooses hope makes her a hero. While Supergirl is dark for a PG-13 movie, it’s nowhere near as dark as 2008’s The Dark Knight. So those critics need to stop clutching their pearls or throw that same vitriol at The Dark Knight.

The final negative I’ve seen from most Supergirl critics is the movie’s sepia-toned world. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow features vibrant colors. The Supergirl movie doesn’t. And this is where I’m bringing back the idea that Supergirl included certain things in the hopes of appeasing different demographics. Supergirl’s sepia-toned worlds resemble the Snyderverse films. News flash, DCU. Snyderverse fans only want the DCEU to return. Nothing you can do can change that, so why not go with more vibrant colors? And we return to Lobo. Yes. Lobo was that problematic of an addition to this story. At first, I thought the DCU wanted another marketable character in the Supergirl cast (sell some toys or a variant popcorn bucket), but the more I thought about it, Lobo’s presence was meant to appeal to testosteroni males. After all, Lobo is the Main Man.

Supergirl works as a worthy follow-up to 2025’s Superman. I’d like to see where the DCU takes the Superman family. Yes, there are more members of the Superman family the DCU could explore. Supergirl suffers from appealing to a lot of different demographics that it had no hope of winning over. Synderverse fans are a lost cause. And despite Lobo’s inclusion, many of the testosteroni boys whom Lobo was meant to win over still dubbed Supergirl “woke” because it’s a movie about a super-powered woman. Supergirl has the bones of a fantastic movie. The performances are phenomenal. Too bad the DCU tried to cater to certain demographics.

Those are my thoughts on Supergirl. Let’s see what Season thinks about the film.

Season’s Thoughts

I also think Supergirl got too much hate from critics. If you isolate Supergirl from Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, it’s an enjoyable movie. It’s fun to watch regardless, but I couldn’t help myself from comparing it to the source material. I’ll get to the source material later.

Supergirl showed Kara overcoming adversity, but that got overshadowed by Lobo and the sex trafficking of young girls. The reason the movie gave for the sex trafficking of young girls was because the Brigands were an all-male race. Okay. I suppose you can argue that reason, but the sex trafficking was so unnecessary and ham-fisted into the plot. It was plain gross for the sake of being gross. Krem also killed one of the girls for sport. If the Brigands really needed these girls to continue their race, why kill one of them instead of capturing them?

Speaking of Krem, an interesting design choice was made for him in Supergirl that doesn’t match with Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. My guess is it goes back to Lobo’s inclusion. Lobo is already an interesting looking character with extreme expressions and mannerisms. In Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Krem looks like a red-headed barbarian with crazy eyes. Supergirl made Krem out crazy-fie Lobo with several piercings across his face, leather clothes, and a rat tail turned into a braid. They also gave him red eyes. You know, to match Lobo. Since Krem was the more evil between himself and Lobo in Supergirl, he had to have a more extreme appearance. I see you, Craig Gillespie.

I’m sorry to all the Lobo fans out there, but he was a distraction. Spoiler alert: Lobo stole Comet’s scene in Supergirl. In Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Comet is the one who saves Supergirl from the onslaught of Brigands, losing his life in the process. This is a very dark and emotional moment in the source material. I cried when I read it. In Supergirl, Lobo rescues Supergirl from the Brigands and turns it into a slapstick comedy moment. Supergirl explained Lobo’s reason for being present was that he was after the bounty of one of the Brigands. That makes sense for Lobo’s character, but Supergirl is only one-hundred and seven minutes. All of Lobo’s screentime is distracting from the main story.

On to the positives. Supergirl was fun to watch. Milly Alcock did an amazing job of capturing Supergirl as a character. Eve Ridley also did a good job of portraying Ruthye. Ruthye’s internal monologue wasn’t included in Supergirl, but I didn’t mind. The movie could have easily been lengthened to over two hours if Ruthye narrated the movie.

I didn’t think Supergirl would include the green sun. I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it included, but it cut out the extra exposition in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which was much appreciated. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow dragged a bit on the extent of Supergirl’s affliction to the green sun. In Supergirl, Ruthye’s strength was portrayed through her restraint and perseverance. We didn’t need to watch her slay monsters.

That’s my take on Supergirl. Geekly Gang.

Hey, hey, Geekly Gang. Kyra Kyle here again. Did you agree with our takes? What do you think of Supergirl? Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.

Geekly Casting: Overwatch

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Happy Monday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here, and today, we have another Geekly Casting. Skye and I will be casting for a hypothetical Overwatch film. I found it difficult to pare the list of Overwatch characters to a manageable number. I forgot the original Overwatch launched with 21 characters. Twenty-One! We’ll cast a full twenty-one characters, so I researched Overwatch’s original cast–the one they used during demos before the game officially released–and found twelve. That’s a much easier number. I added a couple of characters (two) who will show up at the end of my segment. One makes sense for lore reasons, and the other sounded like fun to cast. So, we’ll have fourteen cast members. Yay!

Looks like Skye is sitting out this Geekly Casting. Hopefully, she’ll return soon. I’m flying solo with this Geekly Casting, so let’s get it started. Here is Geekly’s Casting of a hypothetical Overwatch movie.

Bastion: Ben Burtt

I almost didn’t cast anyone to voice Bastion. But someone does just that in the game: Chris Metzen. While Chris Metzen would make a great Bastion for an Overwatch film (because he is Bastion), I opted to go with Ben Burtt, who voiced Wall-E. Let’s be real. Bastion has Wall-E tones. If you’re not going to go with the original, you can’t go wrong with Ben Burtt.

Tracer: Emilia Jones

Tracer is young, British, and full of spunk. I had plenty of choices for this role, but I chose Emilia Jones (Locke & Key and CODA) because she’s already proven her acting chops. She’s received multiple awards and was nominated for a BAFTA. Jones just needs a big break. Tracer could be that big break. And it doesn’t hurt that she’s a dead ringer for Tracer.

Reaper: Tyler Dean Flores

While I could’ve gone with an older, stoic Latino actor like Danny Trejo or Javier Bardem, I wanted to go younger with Reaper. Tyler Dean Flores got his start on The Dark Knight Rises and has steadily built a varied and impressive acting career: When They See Us, I Saw the TV Glow, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Flores has range and is another actor who could use a big break. Flores could give Reaper depth.

Widowmaker: Megan Northam

Widowmaker is a French ballerina turned sniper. Who better to portray her than jack-of-all-trades Megan Northam? Northam trained for a decade on the cello at the Nantes Conservatory. She’s even a dancer. Great! And Northam is French. Perfect! Northam’s breakout role came in 2021 in the French comedy Robust. She later starred in Netflix’s Notre-Dame and the Amazon Prime series, Greek Salad. I could easily see Northam pull off a convincing Widowmaker.

Pharah: Jamila Awad

Jamila Awad has had a varied career. She’s acted in comedies and dramas alike but hasn’t been in a major project in half a decade. Awad took part in a UNICEF campaign alongside numerous Egyptian and international artists, including Mona Zaki. The objective of this campaign was to enhance awareness of children’s rights on a global scale and within the Arab region. And last year (2025) Awad was the face of Armani Beauty. I could see Awad make a triumphant acting return as Pharah.

Reinhardt: Michael Fassbender

German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender needs little introduction. He’s freaking Magneto. While he may need to be aged up a little bit for the role of Reinhardt, Fassbender can pull off the accent. He has the gravitas that will pull in combatants and viewers as Reinhardt. The only thing that surprises me with this pick is that I haven’t cast Michael Fassbender in anything yet. A good Overwatch film could erase the less-than-stellar Assassin’s Creed movie. Yikes!

Mercy: Isabel Lucas

“Heroes Never Die.” The same can be said of Samantha Cage, Isabel Lucas’s character in MacGyver. Lucas certainly has the look to play Mercy. It also helps that Lucas can speak Swiss-German, so Mercy’s accent should be no problem. Recently, Lucas has returned to Australian film, but I’m sure the role of Mercy could convince her to return to Hollywood.

Torbjörn: Bill Skarsgård

Bill Skarsgård is another actor who needs no introduction. The Pennywise actor may seem like an odd choice for Torbjörn, but Skarsgård is no stranger to mountains of prosthetics. He loses himself in most of his roles. And can’t you see Skarsgård in full Torbjörn makeup and beard extensions? It’d be glorious.

Hanzo: Brian Tee

Chicago Med star Brian Tee is no stranger to action films. He’s been featured in Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The Wolverine, Jurassic World, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, where he portrayed none other than Shredder himself. Yeah. Tee has the credentials to pull off a menacing Hanzo.

Winston: Crispin Freeman

I’m keeping it simple with Winston. His voice actor Crispin Freeman retains the role. Why not? Winston will most likely be predominantly CGI. It makes sense to keep Winston’s video game voice actor. Nuff said.

Zenyatta: Feodor Chin

I’m sensing a trend here. I’m going with Zenyatta’s original voice actor Feodor Chin. The role will most likely be achieved through CGI, so why not have the classically trained Chin reprise his role? Chin has forgotten more about acting than most of us will ever know. He’s starred in live action, animation, and video games. Chin has countless acting credits, but here’s a list of his highlights: Big Little Lies, Lethal Weapon, Jane the Virgin, New Girl, Hit-Monkey, What If?, and Regular Show. And that’s on top of all Chin’s video game voice acting.

Symmetra: Anjali Bhimani

Okay. I’m three for three with these last three roles. I’m sticking with Symmetra’s voice actor Anjali Bhimani. Clearly, Symmetra won’t be CGI, but seeing Bhimani in live-action roles makes me smile. She was one of the reasons I watched Ms. Marvel. And if you’ve ever seen Bhimani on YouTube Dungeons & Dragons videos, you know she has charisma to spare. Being a D&D fan gives Bhimani extra geek cred. It also doesn’t hurt that Bhimani also voices one of my Apex Legends’ mains, Rampart. She’s gotta be the live-action Symmetra.

Genji: Mamoru Miyano

Mamoru Miyano may be primarily known as a J-Pop star and voice actor, but Light Yagami from Death Note is one of Miyano’s voice acting credits. Ah. I like the idea of an android Light wreaking havoc. Miyano has the presence to pull off Genji’s voice. And if you noticed, Genji is one of my final two entries. He wasn’t one of the original 12 characters in Overwatch’s demo, but I couldn’t include Hanzo without including his brother, Genji.

D.Va: Bae Suzy

D.Va may be an E-Sports star, but she gives off crazy K-Pop Idol vibes. I’m leaning into the K-Pop angle with Bae Suzy, who just so happens to have built a solid acting career. I can see Bae Suzy saying “Nerf This” before ejecting from a mech. It also doesn’t hurt that Bae Suzy has martial arts training. She can pull off an action role like D.Va.

Those are my picks for a hypothetical Overwatch live-action film. Thank you for reading. You’re awesome. We all know, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.