This week we look at one of the best and most talked-about horror films of 2025, as well as a raunchy and hilarious animated animal film. They are all debuting in the same week as the return of a beloved space alien series.

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Here’s our roundup.

“Weapons”: Two of the best films of 2025 — Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” and Danny and Michael Philippou’s “Bring Her Back” — dabble in the horror genre. And now we can add a third — Zach Cregger’s ingeniously structured, character-rich slow burner, a smashing follow-up to his 2022 daring directorial debut “Barbarian,” which was one of the best films of that year. Cregger’s multiple-perspective framing deepens, enlightens and peels back the layers on all of its beautifully written characters. In the opening voice-over we’re informed that 17 children from Maybrook Elementary ran out — with arms hanging like the wings of a seagull —  from their homes one night at 2:17 a.m. and vanished. All were in Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class and now angry parents — including Archer Graff (Josh Brolin) — are branding her a witch. All of this is related in the film’s mesmerizing Grimm-like opening. And that’s all you know before seeing this cipher that hits you with brutal violence and dark humor in jolts. Cregger — who was an actor himself — draws out the best from a cast that includes Amy Madigan in an unforgettable performance (and that’s all I’m saying about that); Austin Abrams as a drug addict caught in the madness; Alden  Ehrenreich as a cop with a past tied to Justine; Cary Christopher as the student in Justine’s class that was left behind and Benedict Wong as the school principal. Cregger’s screenplay is one of the best of the year and brings to detailed life every one of these characters while addressing grief and group think, although none of these themes outweigh the thrust of his fable-like storytelling. Larkin Sieple’s ominous cinematography enhances the mood and deserves every award nomination it could get. So does this movie. Details: 4 stars out of 4; in theaters now.

“Fixed”: This vulgar and riotously funny animated comedy from director/co-screenwriter Genndy Tartakovsky (“Samurai Jack”) counts down the 24 hour escapades before horny rescue dog Bull (voice of Adam Devine) gets the old snip-snip. Bull’s been living the high life before he realizes he’s going under the scalpel and looking down at other dogs who have had their day at the vet. He’s also been making the moves on the dreamy neighbor next door, the show dog Honey (voice of Kathryn Hahn). She, though, has a strapping and snotty suitor named Sterling (Beck Bennett). The 2023 live-action “Strays” gave voice to a pack of uncouth dogs similar to this but that film’s relentless grossness didn’t always hit the bullseye. “Fixed” does nail the target, even when it pushes the taste boundaries to the very outer limits, which it often does.  Ideal vocal casting – Idris Elba’s strutting Boxer Rocco steals the movie time and again – and a go-for-broke screenplay (a bit in the city that involves cats and a sequence at a strip/sex club along with the film’s finale are inspired) — make this into the raunchiest comedy this summer that will zip up the streaming charts as fast as a dog running away from a snip-snip appointment. Details: 3 stars; available now on Netflix.

“The Pickup”: Prime’s original movie division produces a paint-by-numbers bomb, a film more akin to “content” or “product” rather than an honest to goodness piece of entertainment. Eddy Murphy and Pete Davidson go through the motions as odd-couple security armored truck drivers caught in the crosshairs of a heist. Murphy barely generates a chuckle as a weary veteran intent on getting home for his anniversary (Eva Longoria, wasted as his wife) while Davidson’s horny puppy dog shtick wears thin after minute 10. Somehow this ineptly plotted affair lured Keke Palmer into its lair and her comedy chops all but gets handcuffed by an illogical, unfunny screenplay. Amazon might well be throwing money at fast-food projects such as these, but next time they might want to attempt to make something that doesn’t feel so lazy and utterly pointless. Derails: 1 star; available on Amazon Prime.

“Witchboard”: Horror veteran Chuck Russell (“A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors,” the 1988 remake of “The Blob”) puts a hot new engine into a kitschy 1986 supernatural cult classic and not only does he vastly improve on the original reworking much of everything about it and gives diehard fans a gory, well-acted throwback that faithfully adheres to the genre playbook. Although it runs on for far too long (nearly 2 hours!), Russell executes the bloodshed and witchery in Gothic style. What further enables it is its young cast: Madison Iseman as distressed Emily, who becomes bound to a stolen witchboard that unleashes gruesome fury on those around her and Aaron Dominguez as her growing more concerned fiancé Christian. They fully invest themselves into their characters and give us reasons to care what fate will befall them. Christian does have his hands full, not only with Emily flipping from troubled to vixenish in a sultry minute but from preparing to realize his dream of opening a New Orleans cafe. Plans go awry (beware of that rogue meat slicer!), of course. The alluring but slithery presence of occult expert Alexander Babtiste (Jamie Campbell Bower, wickedly good) adds more spice to a guilty pleasure to savor. Details: 3 stars; opens Aug. 15 in theaters.

“Boys Go to Jupiter”: With dashes of surreal animated out-thereness akin to the mindblowing works of graphic novelist and filmmaker Dash Shaw and a smattering of musical numbers (including one about eggs), Julian Glander’s quirky/nutty coming-of-able fable foists itself around the adventures of aFlorida teen and high school dropout named Billy 5000 (winkiably voiced by NPR’s Planet Money host) as he tries to make a cool 5 Gs without working too hard. While Billy pursues getting rich – not always in the most legal ways – a ridiculously cute alien thingie gloms on to him. Billy’s journey also finds him crossing paths with other curiosities,  tied to a  huge orange juicing company run by an Oz-like presence named Dr. Dolphin (Janeane Garofalo). Glander lampoons the ‘burbs of Florida and has attracted an impressive vocal cast – Miya Folick, Cole Escola, Eva Victor, Julio Torres and more – for an animated breath of fresh air that creatively skewers America’s capitalistic ways. Details: 3 stars; opens Aug. 15 at Rialto Cerrito in El Cerrito, the Balboa in San Francisco; also available for one week on MUBI Go.

Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].