TUBI ORIGINAL: Great White Waters (2025)

Directed and co-written (with Geoff Meed) by Anthony C. Ferrante (Blind Waters and, of course, Sharknado), this has Gia Shah (Angela Cole) diving in the Florida Keys for the first time since the death of her husband. She finds cocaine that belongs to drug kingpin Mr. Reverend (Steve Hanks). It was lost after the last set of his goons were eaten by sharks.

The mob lord sends Jareth Danzo (Johnny Ramey), Lee (Michelle Ng Mini), and Charlotte Harlow (Ashton Leigh) to recover his stash and eliminate the sharks (and anyone else). Somehow, someway, that means that Gia has to go to the ocean floor and get the coke while avoiding tons of sharks.

Should you watch it? Well, it’s a movie by The Asylum about sharks. It’s on Tubi. It’s free. Somewhere in the middle of all those things and the demands I have put on myself to watch every Tubi Original and most shark movies, I made the choice to check it out. It’s not anything you haven’t seen, but if you’re looking for a movie where bikini-clad girls fight one another and are threatened by a series of sharks, why are you on my site?

You can watch this on Tubi.

Sizzlin’ Summer of Side-Splitters 2025: Smurfs (2025)

Aug 25-31 Natasha Lyonne Week: There’s a new season of her weirdo mystery of the week coming out (I can’t remember the name rn, you can look it up), and she’s been steadily delivering chuckles for decades now.

Directed by Chris Miller and written by Pam Brady (who has worked with Trey Parker and Matt Stone on their projects going back to Cannibal: The Musical), The Smurfs is the sixth full-length movie for the cartoon characters created by Peyo.

Rhianna is Smurfette, following Katy Perry and Demi Lovato, while John Goodman is Papa Smurf. This is the kind of movie that has Dan Levy, Kurt Russell, Marshmello, Nick Kroll, Alex Winter, Amy Sedaris, Nick Offerman, Jimmy Kimmel, Natasha Lyonne and more, all to tell the story of how the Intergalactic Evil Wizard Alliance once battled the smurf force of Papa Smurf, his brother Ken and the best smurf ever, Ron for magical supremacy until Papa decided to run following a defeat and hide, occasionally battling Gargamel but rarely getting involved in the world of magic — until No Name Smurf tries to find what his talent is, tries the occult and leads Gargamel’s brother Razamel to Smurf Village where he takes nearly every one of them, doing what his brother never could.

Many reviewers said it was tedious, dull and unfunny. Me, I liked it, but I watched so much Smurfs as a kid that I know who Johan and Peewit are.

I could do without James Corden being a voice in these movies, though. There’s also no Frank Welker in this. Come on, what the smurf?

Popeye’s Revenge (2025)

Why does Popeye need revenge?

Along with Popeye the Slayer Man and Shiver Me Timbers, this is what happens when a property goes into the public domain.

ITN also made the Twisted Childhood UniverseWinnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, its sequel, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare and Bambi: The Reckoning — which reimagine your favorite storybooks as slashers. This is the same thing, with Johnny (Steven Murphy) popping out a bully’s eyes and getting the name Popeye and…man, I can make it through all the Amityville films and the Popeye and Mickey Mouse movies may be the end of me.

Olive (Kelly Rian Sanson) is Popeye’s sister in this, and final girl Tara (Emily Mogilner) kills her and Popeye, dispatching the sailor with a lawnmower because, well, look, I got nothing.

Did director William Stead and writer Harry Boxley ever see a single Popeye cartoon? Ah, Boxley also made Mouse of Horrors and Cinderella’s Curse. It all makes sense now.

Look, I love a slasher. I just want people to consider, if they’re going to take a public domain property and make a movie, maybe they can make something different. But no, Popeye and Mickey Mouse are monstrous death machines, and in 2026, Pluto the dog, Betty Boop and Nancy Drew’s story “The Secret of the Old Clock” will all be killing people too.

You can watch this on Tubi.

CHATTANOOGA FILM FESTIVAL: The Misadventures of Vince & Hick (2025)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Apologies for how late this is — catching up on so much work!

Hick Dunn (Chase Cargill) is just out of prison, can’t get a job and has promised to make it to his daughter’s birthday even if he has no clue how to make it happen. Soon, he meets Vince Campbell (Heston Horwin) and they form a friendship — as much as one can exist between these two guys — of one ex-con who fights his way out of everything and a con who is out to work everyone.

Starting as a web series in 2021, this is now a full movie, directed by Trevor Stevens and written by Horwin. It feels like a comic book universe that allowed Tarantino and all the 90s neo-noir that cashed in on his success to replace superheroes. With 24 hours to steal a car and take it to New Mexico, this is a buddy film that aims for more than its low-budget origins and succeeds beyond expectation.

Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025: The Metal Band’s Guide to the Black Hole (2025)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Apologies for how late this is — catching up on so much work!

During a fiery highlight performance by the metal band Iron Puppy, the lead vocalist and bassist Jeong-cheol’s long hair caught fire. How does a metal band continue with a short-haired singer? The fans have left, no one cares, so metal god  O.G. Osborune (Xavier Liaudet) guides the band to a black hole and reveals a divine mission: to find hair from a virgin ghost and perform with it, therefore returning to all that is metal fame.

Directed and written by JEON Ah-hyun, this South Korean short combines loud music, video games, Japanese pop culture and so much more into quite the stew. It also made me very protective of my hair and thankful that it has stayed with me for so many decades.

Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025: Babanba Banban Vampire (2025)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Apologies for how late this is — catching up on so much work!

Based on the manga by Hiromasa Okujima and anime series by Itsuro Kawasaki, this is the tale of 450-year-old vampire Ranmaru (Ryo Yoshizawa).

He works at the family-run Koi Bathhouse, where he nearly died ten years ago while in the sun, being saved by the son of the owner, Rihito (Rihito Itagaki). Despite a long history of being a vampire lord, Ranmaru has been keeping the place clean as a janitor. But the truth is, he’s waiting for Rihito to grow up so he can feast on him, except that now his big meal is about to lose his virginity — which would ruin the taste — to his girlfriend Aoi.

Directed by Shinji Hamasaki, this was fun. Sure, I’ve never read the manga or seen the anime, so I bet if I had and were I obsessed with those things, I’d have something to quibble with. But this felt like a live-action cartoon and entertained me every step of the way.

Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025: Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants (2025)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Apologies for how late this is — catching up on so much work!

Guo Jing may have wandered the martial world honing his skills, but he has learned to appreciate the time he spends with his lover, Huang Rong. However, his tranquility goes away when he learns that Huang Rong’s father is the man who has killed his masters. Yet he has gone to anger too quickly, as it was all a misunderstanding and now, he may have lost her love forever. He must also come to terms with the man who raised him, Genghis Khan, and choose between family loyalty and justice.

Based on chapters 34 through 40 of Jin Yong’s legendary martial arts novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes and directed by the legendary Tsui Hark, this brings back the feeling of large-scale Shaw Brothers wuxia films. Hark has already made two other adaptations of the book, Swordsman and Swordsman II.

I loved the end of this film, where Guo Jing pushes through thousands of soldiers to have an audience with Genghis Khan and speaks to him of heroism and the responsibility of protecting one’s own people.

Currently the highest-grossing wuxia movie in Chinese cinema, this has a perfect use of its leads, Xiao Zhan and Tony Leung Ka-fai (Big Tony, not Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who is Little Tony).

A24 4K UHD RELEASE: Bring Her Back (2025)

The follow-up to Talk to Me and inspired by psycho-biddy horror, Danny and Michael Philippou tell the story of Andy (Billy Barratt) and his partially sighted step-sister Piper (Sora Wong), who have gone from finding their father’s dead body in the shower to living with a counselor, Laura (Sally Hawkins). She lost her daughter, Cathy (Mischa Heywood), due to an accidental drowning.

Laura is also fostering Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a boy who she has infused with — and here’s where the movie leaves reality behind — a demon named Tari, whom she learned how to incarnate via a Russian videotape. As part of this strange rite, Oliver will eat the body of Laura’s dead daughter, Cathy — who is being kept in a freezer in the garage — and regurgitate it into Piper, who will become Cathy.

Yes, it’s an absolutely insane idea. Still, everything else surrounding this idea is based in reality, a world where Andy is fighting through a concussion and grief and regret over his past behavior in the wake of his father’s abuse.

I found this superior to Talk to Me and look forward to what these two decide to do in the future. This just has the right edge of menace, with drowning and constant rain continually being presented as equally upsetting events. It also realizes that sometimes even the smallest body damage can be the most disgusting.

The a24 4K UHD release of this film has a commentary track by Danny and Michael Philippou, a deleted scene, a making-of feature and six collectible postcards. You can get it from Diabolik DVD.

TUBI ORIGINAL: The Divorce Lawyer (2025)

Zahra Jones (Ciera Angelia) loves her husband Mark (Marcus Woods), but he’s so into his job that he moves away, abandoning her. He tries to stay in touch, but come on, she’s a beautiful black woman in a Tubi Original. There’s no way she’s not getting back out there and getting over him by getting under someone else. It ends up being her divorce attorney Joshua Wright (Jake Newton), who, as soon as you see his white ginger look, you’ll say, “That guy’s crazy.” You’re right.

In a matter of moments, Zahra and Mark are back together and quickly get over the past that she let another guy beat her guts, but whatever. They’re grown, as they say. They can do what they want, no matter how dumb they are. Because Joshua is one of those rich maniacs who has a secretary (Bella Chadwick) who is in sexual servitude to him and who can casually murder your best friend (Robyn Rose) and brag about it before using the white cops and privilege and being wealthy to get Mark in trouble instead of the other way around.

Director David Y. Chung gets why we watch Tubi Originals. People acting borderline mental for 90 minutes. In this world, event planners can have the sexiest, most deadly lives.

You can watch this on Tubi.

TUBI ORIGINAL: Can’t Have It All (2025)

Fashion stylist Ari (Grace Sol) hasn’t looked at the title of the movie that she’s in. I mean, to be fair, she’s in a science fiction movie. How else do we describe a world where women pay male cam actors for FaceTime sex? I mean, yes, it is Johnny Longway (Leandre White), but I think that perhaps no woman has ever paid for cyber sex or watching guys on cam.

Anyways, after she gets cock blocked by her boyfriend Todd (Daniel Jeffries), she goes and jills off before getting into a second relationship with Darnell (D. Da Don). Then, she decides that she still won’t look at the name of her movie and gets both to move in with her. Arguments about breakfast come quickly.

Directed by Beasy Jones and Rodney Sizemore, this is one of those movies where people keep making bad decisions before meeting violent ends and the whole time, you wonder, “Do you realize how off everyone is here?” No one cares, because it’s a movie and if they could hear you, that would be weird.

This might be the most entertaining Tubi Original ever because everyone in at starts at 10 and then just cranks it up. Everything is the end of the world. Everyone is a horrible person. Everyone just wants Ari, and she pays for it. Also: Tremendous CGI gunfire.

You can watch this on Tubi.