Features

In the Features archive, find a wide array of articles, interviews, reviews, podcast discussions, and posts from Cosmic Circus writers and contributors.

Refer to the Stellar Picks archive to find some of our top-rated movies, shows, books, games, and more!


FeaturesMovie ReviewsReviews

‘Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender’ Review: Continuing A Legacy of Animation Excellence

Nearly two decades after the original show concluded, Avatar: The Last Airbender influence can still be felt across comic books, so far two animated spin-offs, fan-fic storytelling, games, and television as a whole. From the beginning, it wasn’t simply the beautifully written world or the stunning element bending that gathered audiences in front of the TV. It was the emotionally mature

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FeaturesGame ReviewsGamingReviews

‘LIFTED’ Game Review: Fun Puzzles But Disappointing Platforming

Come along on a journey filled with danger, wonder, and adventure as you travel through time in LIFTED! This is the first game developed and published by Adventure Works, a new studio that was founded by former Disney Imagineer Jeffrey Ashbrook. Mr. Ashbrook was influenced not only by his imagination but was strongly inspired after speaking to an archeologist while on

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FeaturesReviewsSeries & Specials Reviews

‘Ride or Die’ Review: A Bumpy Ride for This Buddy-Action-Comedy

Prime Video’s latest action adventure comedy, Ride or Die, stars Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham, Ed Skrein, Calam Lynch, Savannah Steyn, Sylvia Hoeks, Bill Nighy, and more. The series blends a serious tone of espionage with the lighter themes of a buddy-comedy film, often giving the season some significant tonal whiplash. With that being said, is Ride or Die worth watching? Read more

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Book ReviewsBooksFeaturesReviews

‘Eyes Like Stars’ by Ashley Poston Book Review (A ‘Star Wars’ Romance Novel)

Now that the dust of the High Republic (and the Jedi) has settled, Star Wars is looking to the future of its publishing initiatives. Its newest one, starting this year, brings us books set around specific genres. The books will focus on putting genre first, such as horror, war, romance, fantasy, and more, and setting them within the Star Wars universe.

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FeaturesMovie ReviewsReviews

‘Pinocchio: Unstrung’ Review: Robert Englund Elevates the Poohniverse’s Best Story Yet

Since the launch of the Twisted Childhood Universe with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey in 2023, the franchise has become synonymous with one thing: taking beloved childhood characters and transforming them into blood-soaked slasher villains with absurd storylines. It’s a fun premise that’s celebrated by hardcore gore hounds but carries little weight in the realm of truly respected filmmaking. That just might

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FeaturesFilm FestivalsMovie ReviewsOn LocationReviews

Fantasia Fest 2026 Review: ‘Her Private Hell’ is Boring As Hell

During the opening ceremony of the Fantasia International Film Festival, Her Private Hell director Nicolas Winding Refn was awarded a Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award for his contributions to cinema. He made an impassioned plea on the importance of a festival like Fantasia and genre cinema as a whole: “In the mid-90s, when I began, we really couldn’t make genre movies;

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FeaturesFilm FestivalsNews & Rumors

Fantasia Fest 2026: Our Five Most Anticipated Films

Fantasia International Film Festival 2026 kicks off this week, and we are back once again to cover the biggest movies from the lineup. Last year brought many great titles, such as Rewrite, Foreigner, and more. The event also featured Sundance darlings like Undertone and Lurker. This year is another stacked lineup with films like Her Private Hell, Corpus, and more Sundance

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FeaturesMovie ReviewsReviewsStellar Picks

‘The Odyssey’ Review: A Pure Visionary Achievement

The Odyssey is a fascinating follow-up to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. In fact, it might be the film I was hoping Oppenheimer might become. A movie about a man conflicted by his responsibilities in changing the world through destruction, but the key difference is that Nolan places Odysseus face-to-face with his sin, while Oppenheimer lost its way. Here, Odysseus is confronted with the

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Book ReviewsBooksFeaturesReviewsStellar Picks

‘Star Wars: Legacy’ By Madeleine Roux Book Review

Since 2019, Star Wars has been light on sequel-era content, focusing more on the Mandoverse and High Republic eras. Recently, the publishing side has aimed to rectify and expand the era. The sequels are often the topic of contention within the fandom, but, as with any part of Star Wars. The more the era expands, the better it gets. Author Madeleine

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FeaturesMovie ReviewsReviews

‘Enola Holmes 3’ Review: A Major Disappointment

Why so gloomy, Enola? Why so drab? Why so dull? These are questions I asked myself while watching Philip Barantini’s Enola Holmes 3, a sequel that made sense, considering how great Harry Bradbeer’s 2022 second entry to one of Netflix’s most popular films was. Millie Bobby Brown was born to play the titular character at the center of Nancy Springer’s book series of the

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FeaturesMovie ReviewsReviews

‘Moana’ (2026) Review: A Dull and Unimpressive Remake

Watching Thomas Kail’s Moana, I felt a sense of finitude, which is something I don’t really feel while watching movies. But there was something about this dreadful shot-for-shot retread of Ron Clements and John Musker’s 2016 animated masterpiece that felt oddly melancholic. What was it, you ask? I finally realized that the era when Disney lazily releases live-action rehashes of animated

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