My Movie Picks & Pans for July 2026: "Project Hail Mary," "Voicemails for Isabelle" and "The Sheep Detectives"

[I review "Project Hail Mary," "Voicemails for Isabelle" and "The Sheep Detectives"]

Project Hail Mary (2026)

A science teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship not knowing who he is or where he is. But then he remembers and also discovers an unexpected friendship.

On Earth, the sun is losing power which could kill one third of the earth's population in 30 years. But Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller), an official from the European Space Agency, is on it. She is the leader of a secret project to save humanity and she finds her way to Dr. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a middle school science teacher who previously submitted a paper detailing “Astrophage,” or single-cell organisms feeding on electromagnetic radiation... and if you understand that, you are better than I. 

Dr. Grace soon finds himself on the spaceship Hail Mary, on his way to try to stop the spread of the organisms before Earth is slowly destroyed, and it is basically a suicide mission, hence the spaceship's name. It's an eleven year ride and no return ticket. When Grace wakes up with full mountain man hair and beard, he realizes he is left with dead crew members and little memory of his immediate past.  But then he is contacted by an alien ship and meets a stone-like creature he names “Rocky” who is also alone on the same mission. And thus begins a buddy movie. I just wish it hadn't taken so long for Rocky to appear.

The story, written by Drew Goddard (based on the novel by Andy Weir) and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, is told through a series of flashbacks as Grace regains his memory, and we understand his relationship with Eva and how he ended up on this spaceship, though I am still not certain I understand. There is a question asked over and over in the film, "Why is a science teacher in space?" and I kept asking myself the same thing. Why him?  I know he wrote that paper, but he was a middle school science teacher, for god's sake. 

I might have gotten into this more if it wasn't for the fact that it took forever to get going.  I mean, Grace didn't meet Rocky until almost an hour into the film, and did I say that the film is almost three hours? I have a thing about movies being longer than 2 hours, and it's mostly Gosling alone on the spaceship and, much as I like him as an actor, I am not sure I like him that much all by himself for two hours talking to a headless rocklike creature, the product of puppetry and CGI. I could have lopped off at least 30 minutes of this film, and I  think it would have worked better.

And did he save the world?  By the time the movie came to an end, I didn't really care anymore.

And by the way, it was not lost on me that before I ever saw the film, much of the press was more about Ryan Gosling's cardigan than the film itself with people wondering where they could buy it or knitting one for themselves! So much for people being into the movie.

Rosy the Reviewer says...there is lots of science if you like that kind of thing, and for the rest of us, moments of fun, sentimentality and emotion, but all in all, and I know this might be an unpopular opinion, this just didn't do it for me. It was too long and too indulgent (for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime). 

Voicemails for Isabelle (2026)

When Jill's sister dies, Jill tries to stay close by continuing to call her sister's phone and leaving voice mails not realizing that a real estate agent now has her sister's phone number and is listening to Jill's voicemails.

Jill (Zoey Deutch) and her sister, Isabelle (Ciara Bravo), also known as Izzy, who has cystic fibrosis, grew up very close in Austin, Texas. Now Jill is an aspiring baker living in San Francisco but the young women stay close through calls and voice mails. Jill works under a demanding and abusive chef (Nick Offerman), so she regularly vents and relates her life to her sister.  But then Isabelle abruptly dies and Jill has difficulty accepting that, so to help her deal with her grief, she continues to leave voicemails forIsabelle, unaware that Isabelle's phone number has been reassigned to Austin-based real estate agent Wes (Nick Robinson), a guy whose ethics are sometimes in question.

At first, Wes is confused about receiving Jill's voice mails but eventually realizes that Isabelle is dead, but he can't stop listening and becomes invested in Jill's life, hearing about her dates with her co-worker Arthur (Lucas Gage) and dating podcaster Tyler (Toby Sandeman), and her desire to become a baker. So Wes convinces his boss to send him on a work trip to San Francisco but his real mission it to meet Jill.  They do meet but, of course, Wes doesn't tell Jill that he knows all about her because he has been listening to her voice mails.

In typical rom-com fashion, love ensues, then trouble ensues when Jill discovers that Wes has been listening to her voicemails to Isabelle and then...well, if you are a rom-com fan, you know where this will eventually go. But it's an enjoyable and poignant journey getting there.  

However, I have to say.  You know how sometimes you call a friend and want to leave a voicemail and you get a message that you can't leave a message because your friend's inbox is full because they haven't cleared it out?  I couldn't help but think...if Isabelle is dead, she can't clean out her inbox so at some point, wouldn't you think Jill would wonder about that? 

But that's just me and how my mind works, and if Jill had realized that and stopped leaving voicemails, then we wouldn't have this movie written and directed by Leah McKendrick, which was a sweet little journey with attractive lovers, an original romantic concept, beautiful San Francisco views with some "Top Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen" vibes thrown in and, though it's an exploration of grief, it's also often funny.  Something for everyone here.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a very cute and satisfying romantic diversion (Netflix).

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

A flock a sheep try to solve a murder.  Yes, you heard me.

In the English village of Denbrook, shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) spends his time reading murder mysteries to his flock of sheep. You heard me. He is very close to his sheep and all of them have names. He doesn't like other humans that much and enjoys the company of his sheep.  Turns out, unknown to Geroge, the sheep can understand him, and they love listening to the stories and actually discuss who they think the murderer is in the mysteries they are hearing.

And it's a good thing the sheep have been paying attention to those murder mysteries, because one morning, George is discovered dead outside his trailer. Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun), the town's only police officer, concludes that George was poisoned.

In true Agatha Christie style, the usual suspects are rounded up for the reading of George's will, which turns out to be a new one. Tim is there along with George's solicitor Lydia Harbottle (Emma Thompson), the Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith), the appropriately named butcher Ham Gilyard (Conleth Hill), innkeeper Beth Pennock (Hong Chau), neighboring shepherd Caleb Merrow (Tosin Cole) and Elliot Matthews (Nicholas Galitzine), a reporter who just happens to be in town for the local festival. It comes to light that George had a twin son and daughter who were sent away for adoption after their mother died in childbirth. The daughter, Rebecca Hampstead (Molly Gordon), also just happens to be in attendance.  She had reconnected with George and had just arrived from the United States to visit him for the first time. The twin son, Peter Van Vuuren, who lives in South Africa, is also there but only by phone. They all learn that George was secretly a millionaire after selling the patent for a medicine he had invented and the new will names Rebecca as the beneficiary instead of the animals rights charity that had been in the first will.

All of them had issues with George or something to gain if he died.  So who had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill George?

The sheep immediately realize that Tim is a bungling detective, so they decide to solve the mystery on their own, led by crime aficionado ewe Lily (voice of Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the ram Mopple (voice of Chris O'Dowd), along with Cloud (voice of Regina Hall) and the loner Sebastian (voice of Bryan Cranson) whom George rescued from a carnival. Other sheep voices include Brett Goldstein playing the twins Reggie and Ronnie; Patrick Stewart as Sir Richfield; Bella Ramsay as Zora; and Rhys Darby as Wool-Eyes. George hadn't read them all of those murder mysteries for nothing. They are on the case.

Speaking of Sebastian, turns out he was a "winter lamb," considered an outcast among sheep.  If you are a sheep, you are supposed to be born in the spring.  Spring good, winter bad.  There is also a little lamb in the flock who was born in winter, who had been rejected by the flock. And, boy did that little guy, get to me.

The anthropomorphic sheep are voiced by an all-star cast and, with the help of AI, are amazing and fun to watch, and yes, poignant.  This film, based on the book "Three Bags Full" by Leonie Swan (screenplay by Craig Maizin) and directed by Kyle Balda, reminded me of the 1995 movie "Babe," though the production values here are much more sophisticated. Speaking of production, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of "Project Hail Mary (see review above) are two of the producers of the film. 

I had been looking forward to this movie because I thought the concept was a fun one, and I was looking forward to Hugh Jackman interracting with the sheep, but that was not to be as he was killed off early on, so I was a bit disappointed in that, as well as the sometimes overly broad humor, silliness and sentimentality, but overall, it was a fun family movie.

Rosy the Reviewer says...so, yes, the humor is broad and the film is at times very silly and overly sentimental, but...okay, I loved those darn sheep, especially that little "winter lamb," and it got me. There were some tears at the end. (Amazon Prime).

See You Next Time!

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