Category: Reviews of Movies
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story: Directed by Eric Appel. With Diedrich Bader, Daniel Radcliffe, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Richard Aaron Anderson. Explores every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. I didn’t think they really needed to go as hard as they did with this mostly fictional biopic, but they DID go hard! I’m particularly impressed with Daniel Radcliffe, he’s done some great work after his Potter years and this is by far among the best Buy On Amazon!
Clerks: Directed by Kevin Smith. With Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonauer. A day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof. It had been a minute since I’ve seen this and they had it on Paramount+, so I guess I’m starting another Kevin Smith marathon? Maybe just the Clerks stuff this time around and not all the films. This is the first of them though and it’s as rough as a movie can be, but shows that with a solid script...
Earth Moods: See a vast array of colorful and calming corners of the world. Travel to blue glaciers, arid deserts, lush rainforests and pulsating metropolises to escape from the cacophony of everyday life. Great to put on while you’re having a morning breakfast conversation with your wife about your day’s plans which ends with her taking a nap. Buy On Amazon!
The Last Voyage of the Demeter: Directed by André Øvredal. With Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian. A crew sailing from Varna (Bulgaria) by the Black Sea to England find that they are carrying very dangerous cargo. Now available for home viewing, and after watching it on my home system I really wish I had taken the opportunity to see this in theaters, because this thing really hit much harder than I thought it would. Sure all the trailers gave away every aspect of the film and having yet another Dracula film feels ridiculous, but I ended up...
The Burrowers: Directed by J.T. Petty. With Clancy Brown, David Busse, Harley Coriz, Jocelin Donahue. In the Wild West a rescue party sets out to find a family of settlers that has vanished from their home under mysterious circumstances. If you’ve seen Tremors, you get the idea here, but coupling it with cowboys was an inspired move that held together for the first 30 minutes or so of the film, but sadly fell apart with overly aggressive “cowboys vs indians” story tropes that completely took me out of the narrative. The creature designs were pretty damn inspired though! Buy On...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Directed by James Gunn. With Chukwudi Iwuji, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own – a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful. I finally worked up the emotional courage to watch this again and it’s still just as emotionally exhausting as the first time. Buy On Amazon!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Directed by Ryan Coogler. With Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke. The people of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T’Challa. Watched again in celebration of having it in my collection. The more that I see this film, the more I enjoy it. Buy On Amazon!
Haunted Mansion: Directed by Justin Simien. With LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish. A single mom named Gabbie hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest and a historian to help exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts. The third movie of the first night of my HORROR MARATHON is the 2023 “Haunted Mansion” film, this one taking itself much more seriously with some distinctly unsettling elements to it, with mentions of children killing themselves, dead parents, and corpse brides. Everyone involved is playing to their strengths and my only complaint is that...
Muppets Haunted Mansion: Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher. With Will Arnett, Taraji P. Henson, Darren Criss, Yvette Nicole Brown. On Halloween night, Gonzo is challenged to spend one night in The Haunted Mansion. I remember seeing this back in 2021, really enjoying it, then tryicng to get my wife to watch, but failing spectacularly. She’s taking part in my HORROR MARATHON this year though, so last night was finally the night, and I’ happy to report that she fully enjoyed the experience, much like I did when I seent it previously. We still haven’t had enough quality content for the...
The Haunted Mansion: Directed by Rob Minkoff. With Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Nathaniel Parker, Marsha Thomason. A realtor and his wife and children are summoned to a mansion, which they soon discover is haunted, and while they attempt to escape, he learns an important lesson about the family he has neglected. This year’s HORROR MARATHON is starting with the first “Haunted Mansion film from 2003 with Eddie Murphy, it takes itself serious enough that some of the scares are legitimate enough, but remembers that it’s based off a Disney walking simulator, so there’s nothing that’s going to make you poop...
The Big White: Directed by Mark Mylod. With Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Blake Nelson. To remedy his financial problems, a travel agent has his eye on a frozen corpse, which just happens to be sought after by two hitmen. A goofy ball dark comedy with a soundtrack that doesn’t fit either of the moods that they’ve somewhat successfully mashed together, that’s about the most I can complain about, the rest of the film is competently done, but it’s my impression this one didn’t do as well as Robin’s other films, so if you want to see a...
X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Directed by Gavin Hood. With Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will.i.am. The early years of James Logan, featuring his rivalry with his brother Victor Creed, his service in the special forces team Weapon X, and his experimentation into the metal-lined mutant Wolverine. One of the few x-men movies that hasn’t been released on 4k disc yet, so when I saw a “3 disc limited edition” for just $5 at a local flea market, I quickly inspected the main bluray disk and bought it. The first disc is the HD version, then there’s dvd version, then third...
Luckiest Girl Alive: Directed by Mike Barker. With Mila Kunis, Chiara Aurelia, Finn Wittrock, Connie Britton. A woman in New York, who seems to have things under control, is faced with a trauma that makes her life unravel. A well done look at a woman wrapped up in several situations that have national attention right now with a sexual assault, a school shooting, and a woman feeling out of place in her own life after surviving both events. Mila Kunis is great as a survivor that’s taken life head on but despite her best efforts still not feeling fully in...
The Captains: Directed by William Shatner. With William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew. The Captains is a feature length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed Starship captains within the illustrious science-fiction franchise. A short look at the actors that played captains on the various Star Trek series, all through the lens of the first captain, William Shatner. His interviews range from the surreal with Avery Brooks to the emotional with Patrick Stewart to a friendly chat with the extremely personable Scott Bacula, then...
Prey: Directed by Dan Trachtenberg. With Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Stormee Kipp. Naru, a skilled warrior of the Comanche Nation, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth. Now out on 4k disk, this movie features some of the most gorgeous and awesome looking clouds I’ve ever seen in a film. The story is pretty light and easy to follow and everything makes sense, which may seem like a backhanded compliment, but considering how the last few Predator movies have gone, I’m happy to see the move back to a...
The Blackening: Directed by Tim Story. With Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo. Seven friends go away for the weekend and end up trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not. I expected it to be a racially insensitive horror comedy and that’s pretty much what we got, though I didn’t find the attempts at humor to be all that effective. Buy On Amazon!
Interstellar: Directed by Christopher Nolan. With Ellen Burstyn, Matthew McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy, John Lithgow. When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans. Received free as a part of the Universal Studios reward program, I think this is one of the only ways that this film would end up in my collection, because while it’s a great film in many aspects I think it fumbles some of the more important elements and for the love of...
Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental: Directed by Tony Kaplan. With Peter Sohn. Pixar director Peter Sohn takes viewers on a humorous personal journey through the inspiration behind Disney and Pixar’s feature film “Elemental.” Did you cry a little bit at the end of “Elemental” ? You’ll likely cry a little bit more with this look behind the stories that inspired the movie itself! Buy On Amazon!
Elemental: Directed by Peter Sohn. With Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie Del Carmen, Shila Ommi. Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, earth- and air-residents live together. Now it’s on Disney Plus! And I watched it there! It’s a great movie with some really fun visuals and a heart warming story that I loved to see again. Buy On Amazon!
No One Will Save You: Directed by Brian Duffield. With Kaitlyn Dever, Elizabeth Kaluev, Zack Duhame, Lauren L. Murray. An exiled anxiety-ridden homebody must battle an alien who’s found its way into her home. This movie has an interesting twitch that takes over an hour to pay off, but it’s a unique one that I haven’t seen very much of. The story isn’t all that unique but I appreciate the way they go about it and would love to see more horror / suspense movies like this one. Buy On Amazon!
The Creator: Directed by Gareth Edwards. With John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney. Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with artificial intelligence, a former soldier finds the secret weapon, a robot in the form of a young child. There’s a lot to like about this film, it has a gorgeous visual pallet, an interesting back story, an amazing world built for the characters, and a premise that really made me want to see it opening day, but sadly I don’t think it delivered on the high expectations. My main complaint is where...
Dredd: Directed by Pete Travis. With Karl Urban, Rachel Wood, Andile Mngadi, Porteus Xandau. In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. Watched again because I was bored and needed a pick me up. Buy On Amazon!
The Lego Batman Movie: Directed by Chris McKay. With Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes. A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne must deal with the usual suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, while discovering that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan who wishes to become his sidekick. I decided that I needed to check this out again since I had seen the two “LEGO Movie” movies and I think this LEGO Batman is the superior LEGO Batman, I’m not sure how a sequel could be made in the same vein as this one was with the full...
Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite: Directed by Jon Burton. With Clancy Brown, Troy Baker, Christopher Corey Smith, Charlie Schlatter. When the Joker and Lex Luthor form an alliance, Batman must team up with the Justice League in order to stop them. This came in a weird movie bundle of like 30 animated DC movies that was being sold for just $10 a few months back on Vudu and I’m just now getting around to watching anything from the bundle. I think I’ve actually seen this one in the past, as the story was familiar. Many of...
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: Directed by Simon West. With Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, Iain Glen, Noah Taylor. Video game adventurer Lara Croft comes to life in a movie where she races against time and villains to recover powerful ancient artifacts. Received free in this month’s Universal rewards program, it’s a fun movie that looks pretty good in 4k/hdr. Buy On Amazon!
After witnessing his parents’ death, Bruce learns the art of fighting to confront injustice. When he returns to Gotham as Batman, he must stop a secret society that intends to destroy the city. An exceptionally long time ago I bought two LEGO Batmobiles from Target (I think it was over a year ago!), they were the cars from the 2022 Film and the tumblr from Batman Begins. I built the 2022 car while watching the second LEGO film, and got most of the Tumblr done during this film, which still holds up as a serious story of an emotionally broken...
A special bond develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who together team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. One more entry for my Stan Lee collection, this 4k disk was free on the Disney Rewards page, so I scooped it up as soon as I saw it. It’s still a fun movie and has a typical “dead family” story line that Disney loves to use for plot development. Buy On Amazon!
It’s been five years since everything was awesome and the citizens are facing a huge new threat: Lego Duplo invaders from outer space, wrecking everything faster than they can rebuild. This was a pretty ok sequel to the first LEGO Movie, there’s a particular energy that carries on from the first but I fear that the special spark that’s required for the movie to be fully appealing was diminished in their rush to capture lightening in the bottle after the huge success of the first film. The puns are all a bit forced and the “in lego” story didn’t really...
The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker. I can tell you exactly where I got this wonderful toy! For my birthday my wife got me a LEGO Batmobile set that I’d had my eyes on for a while, so while I was putting it together I watched the film that inspired this version of the car. Buy On Amazon!
An ordinary LEGO construction worker, thought to be the prophesied as “special”, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the LEGO universe into eternal stasis. I went to see this is theaters again this last Sunday as the kick off to my official birthday schedule, I saw it in theaters when it was first released, saw it at home a few time, and enjoyed it all those times and for some reason they brought it back to theaters. It’s not a ten year anniversary yet, so I don’t know what prompted the reshowings, but...
Miles Morales catapults across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero. I started off my birthday weekend by watching part 2 of the Spider-verse films, which ends on a cliffhanger, something that when we originally watched the film really surprised my wife. I wasn’t surprised, but I was still pretty disappointed by how they did that. Other than that one small disappointment this is a fine film that continues the energy...
Follows the history of sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan. A well enough done story about the rich white guys that got even more rich off the fame of Michael Jordon. It’s not framed like that, with the impression that it’s an underdog story, but it’s clear that while Nike wasn’t the massive company it’s become now, it was still large enough to be in the same game as the top 5 shoe companies. Buy On Amazon!
The Star Wars saga continues as new heroes and galactic legends go on an epic adventure, unlocking mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past. The only way this movie would end up in my physical collection is if I got it for free, and since the Disney rewards store had it for free that’s how I got it in my physical collection. I had to watch it again to make sure, but yeah I still don’t like 2/3 of the film. All the stuff on the salt planet was pretty ok, but the rest of it was...
Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one. This first Tremors film was the one that got the franchise started and while it’s a novel concept, it really does fall apart once you start thinking about the physics of how these creatures are moving around undisturbed soil like they are in the film. Ignoring that small physics problem, I still enjoyed the movie. Buy On Amazon!
In an alternate Victorian Age world, a group of famous contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and adventure characters team up on a secret mission. No idea why I watched this, it was on Tubi and for some reason it called out to me, asking me to see if it was still as bad as I remembered. Not that it’s a great film, but I think it has some merits that I didn’t appreciate in the past. Those merits don’t really make up for just how bland I felt afterwards though. Buy On Amazon!
A group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a clue at their latest heist. Amazon had it for $8, so now I have it in my physical 4k collection. It still stands as one of the best surround sound movies with some of the most realistic gun play in a movie setting and I believe it was the only time that both Pacino and De Niro shared scenes together, or at least it was the first time. Buy On Amazon!
A young pilot stumbles onto a prototype jetpack that allows him to become a high-flying masked hero. After seeing the film about 20 times and having a ton of Rocketeer statues, comics, and toys, I realized that I didn’t actually own the movie on physical media, something that came to mind a few years ago, so it went onto my personal movie wishlist and it’s time finally came up a couple months ago and I just now got around to watching the disc. I still love everything about the film from the rocket itself to the romance and rugged adventure...
The universe of the Halo video game series is expanded in seven short animated films from Japan’s greatest anime directors and studios. I actually forgot I bought this back in July when it was on sale, but happily stumbled on it again when looking through my Vudu library for something quick to watch, and what’s quicker than seven short films? They’re all pretty damn good and have animation ranging from confusing watercolor fuzziness to hyper realistic cgi with stories involving Ronin or fast charge sprints to get back a lost package. I wish we were getting more content like this...
The true story of a heroic man, Hunter “Patch” Adams, determined to become a medical doctor because he enjoys helping people. He ventured where no doctor had ventured before, using humour and pathos. One of Robin’s best “real life” movies, there’s a lot of enjoy in this story of a man looking for a purpose, then fighting tooth and nail to get that purpose realized. Buy On Amazon!
Jocelyn is desperate to reclaim her rightful title as the greatest and sexiest pop diva in America after a nervous breakdown disrupted her most recent tour after Tedros, a notorious nightclub entrepreneur, reignites her passions. I’m a huge fan of Sam Levinson’s work so it was no big surprise that I enjoyed this 5 hour episodic story as much as I did, then to have the A24 support added in was just icing on the cake. There’s some heavy stuff being bandied about and some deviously delicious slow cooker moments that don’t pay off until the final 5 minutes. If...
An alien scarab chooses college graduate Jaime Reyes to be its symbiotic host, bestowing the teenager with a suit of armor that’s capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero known as Blue Beetle. Introducing a new superhero in a universe that’s quickly on the decline and in the process of being rebooted is an exceptionally brave step to take and I’m pleased to report that Blue Beetle stuck the landing, largely by eschewing major common elements of other comic book films. Sure there’s a hero learning his place in the world, true...
A kind-hearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true. I got the 4k disk from Disney for free as a part of their “Movies at Home” reward section of the Disney Points system. This life action remake is slowly growing on me, but still has a long way to go to climb the pedestal that I have the original animated version on. The problem is that Robin Williams was such a large part of the original film that making another version of the story...
Carl Nargle, Vermont’s #1 public television painter, is convinced he has it all: a signature perm, custom van, and fans hanging on his every stroke – until a younger, better artist steals everything (and everyone) Carl loves. I don’t think I can be blamed for assuming this was either a parody or homage to Bob Ross, but other than the hair cut Nargle has absolutely no relation or comparison to the superior Mr. Ross. Though there’s no Ross action, the story of a man having everything but losing it all because of his own hubris is done well enough, though...
Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne are dragged into the Quantum Realm, along with Hope’s parents and Scott’s daughter Cassie. Together they must find a way to escape, but what secrets is Hope’s mother hiding? And who is the mysterious Kang? I still like the world that they built here but still feel it’s a dark world with the need for more nature light. Buy On Amazon!
During World War II, an ordinary inhabitant of a ghetto fakes news about Allied offensives to inspire hope for other victims of the Nazi regime. I think we’ve watched all the good comedy films from Williams and now our journey is taking us to his less humorous or less well received films, a set of movies that I’ve put off for months because of either how poorly they did at the box office or how badly they’d make me feel. “Jakob the Liar” falls in the latter set of films, as it’s a well made film with a sad story...
While fleeing from dangerous assailants, an assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she left earlier in life. I have to assume that Lopez likes making these types of revenge / protector type of films, she’s starred in a few of them by now and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. “The Mother” isn’t a half bad film, but it definitely follows a familiar storyline that I’m familiar and tired with. The soundtrack makes up for the lack of a unique plot and honestly the action and special effects are serviceable with the exception of one motorcycle scene...
An orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle’s estate. The 2020 version of the story, this one moves the timeline from pre-electric to immediately after WW2, moves some of the set pieces around, and adds a ton of cgi that isn’t all that much noticeable, but it was only because there’s no way they had a bird do those tricks and some of the tree situations were straight up fantastical. I think I prefer the original adaptation, but that is in no means a knock against this version. Buy On Amazon!
Two men with commitment problems attempt a relationship. The marketing and interviews for this film were pretty bad, with my impression of the film as a “try-hard” over the top nonsense attempt at shock value, but other than a few orgies, there wasn’t much that was too titillating here and the comedy was spot on and a breath of fresh air. If you can get past watching a dude make out with another dude while two other dude go down on that first dude, then this might be up your alley. Buy On Amazon!
Set in a world with memory recording implants, Alan Hakman is a cutter, someone with the power of final edit over people’s recorded histories. His latest assignment is one that puts him in danger. Sometimes combining two things that I love (Robin Williams and science fiction) doesn’t work out in a way that’s enjoyable and “The Finial Cut” has no joy, no story of redemption, and no happy ending. As a concept the idea of a “Speaker for the Dead” that has direct access to the deceased’s life through their own eyes is a compelling one, but the direction that...
A young, recently-orphaned girl is sent to England after living in India all of her life. Once there, she begins to explore her new, seemingly-isolated surroundings, and its secrets. The first version of the film, this one is from 1993 and is set well before cars and electricity, but still has a captivating story of loss and how people deal with it. Also, how gardening can treat depression and aggression. Buy On Amazon!
