Now Showing: Street Fighter (2026)

Y’all, I know this is a weird way to start my thoughts on the new Street Fighter movie, but hear me out: there’s a connecting thread here—I did not like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, like, at all.

That sentiment only got stronger on a rewatch, especially when I compare it to Illumination’s first pedestrian take on Nintendo’s flagship Plumber. I’m not so deluded as to discount that I may have just been a dweeby curmudgeon about DreamWorks’ production because hey, I’m not really the target audience for the movie—kids are the demographic here. So, through that lens, yeah, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie was, at its worst, a harmless romp with a flimsy origin story, paraded with a huge production budget, and propped up by a bunch of talented voice actors and Chris Pratt.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a whole different stool of shit, though, for what I have affectionately coined to be Super Mario Brainrot ™; the movie moves at an erratic pace to mask its lack of a compelling story with nonstop spectacle of back-to-back action sequences or glamor shots that are more concerned with Easter eggs and references—and none of it is endearing—it’s just hollow and corporate.

Street Fighter (2026) brought up a lot of those same feelings, only somehow worse. Some of the references are deep-cut footnotes buried inside another Easter egg, like some weird Inception-ass nonsense where you need Joseph Gordon-Levitt to give you the kick back to reality, where things are organic and not so forced that it hurts. Street Fighter (2026) isn’t just bad fan service that’s also hollow and corporate like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is—it’s way more cringe than I had bargained for, and unlike the second Nintendo and Illumination joint, this film IS aimed at me—I AM the demographic. As such, I’m way more comfortable talking about how my overall experience with the film turned out to be a few kernels of fun sandwiched between a whole lot of poop from a butt.

Click to read more ...

PPR 6th Year Anniversary Special: Street Fighter Commentary

Six years may not seem like a long time for some folks but, that’s quite time stamp when you really look at it, that’s 312 weeks, which is also 2,190 days, made of 52,590 hours; that’s impressive for a podcast driven website that has never literally shit itself—I can’t say the same from a figurative standpoint though.

So what better way to celebrate than what we normally do; Sitting down and goofing up a storm on what may possibly be one of the biggest film flops of the nineties—that’s how. Starring Jean Claude Van Damme, Raul Juliá, that one lady from Agents of Shield, and more, it’s Street Fighter, the movie based on the game…that’s now a movie—adapted from the hit video game (is this this getting through yet?)

In this anniversary commentary special, we bear through all of Van Damme’s cringe inducing dialogue, reminisce about all the Nickelodeon game shows that donated their stage sets to the production of this film, Love Boat, and more—strap in and prepare yourselves.

I know we’ve said it before (and will most likely say it again the actual anniversary podcast), but the countless nights of editing, writing, laughing, and crying would not have been possible without you guys—I’m sincerely grateful for everyone who has supported us. The T-shirts and posters are still being made but will hit the store really soon (we’re really sorry about the wait!) I’m truly blessed to have PPR, all of us here are, and it’s all thanks to you lovable shmucks.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on our Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

Click to read more ...