Movie: Roofman (2026)

 I was kind of excited for this movie because I listened to an episode of the Criminal podcast and heard about this story. It was funny, and tragic, and interesting. This movie doesn’t live up to that story. 

Roofman is supposed to be a comedy based in a great story . There’s an amazing cast attached. There is great potential, but it was wasted on the final product. 

This movie was bland. It happened. There was little emotion. Even the coloring (it has a tungsten tint) contributed to its dull feel. 

It was quite disappointing seeing the waste of Lakeith Standield and Juno Temple. And were they trying to make Peter Dinklage look average-sized?! Awkward.

I think with better editing the emotion and comedy could have been helped and the relationships wouldn’t have felt so rushed. They also missed out on the potential to expand about Roofman’s military skills. 

This was done by the same director that did Blue Valentine, which explains the sad, dull feeling. 

I watched this on a DVD checked out from my local public library in June 2026

Theatre: Phantom of the Opera 2026

 

Phantom of the Opera 2026 North American Tour

I bought tickets for me and my best friend to see this show as soon as it was announced in spring 2025 and I had a phone in my hand. That was a good decision. 

I love Phantom of the Opera. It is my favorite musical. My faulty memory says this is might be the third or fourth time I’ve seen it live on stage and I’ve only seen it at The Pantages. 

In this fantastic production the entire cast gave amazing performances. The Phantom was played by Isaiah Bailey who has a great voice and brought every ounce of emotion out of his role. Christine Daae was played by Jordan Lee Gilbert who sang the role beautifully. Even Raoul, played by Daniel Lopez, was notable and great. 

After seeing the stage production multiple times and three versions of the story on screen, I really took some time to question the story, notably who took advantage of whom. My bestie thinks Christine is the user, taking advantage of the Phantom’s guidance and tutoring, then when she gets successful, she leaves him in the dust for the handsome vicomte. But as I see it, the Phantom tricked her, taking advantage of Christine’s grief from the loss of her father and loneliness, he comes to her as a musically saavy ghost voice tutor. After her talents are discovered everything converges: She suddenly finds herself a star, the Phantom reveals himself as flesh and blood and the person who’s also been terrorizing everyone in the theater where she works. While riding that emotional roller coaster,  a man from her past shows up and showers her with affection and rich attention: Why not fall for this guy?

All Christine has known is being “guided” by one person or another. It doesn’t seem like she’s had to decide too much for herself so ghosting the non-ghost Phantom and choosing the rich guy Raoul makes perfect sense, especially considering the choices women had in that time period. But she’s a compassionate person, and although he misrepresented himself, in the end, she’s grateful to the Phantom for his guidance. Once you have that, everything else makes sense.