Rating: Full

Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror, Suspense, Thriller

Studios: 20th Century Studios/Scott Free Productions

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Johnson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu

Director: Fede Alvarez

Writers: Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues

Based on: the characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett

Producers: Walter Hill, Michael Pruss and Ridley Scott

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch

Rated: R for bloody violent content and language

Release Date: 08/16/24

Runtime: 1h 59m

Tagline: N/A

Favorite Character: Andy

Quote: “The solution for a claustrophobic astronaut is to give him more space.”- Andy

Fun Fact: It was supposed to be a Hulu movie, but it wisely went to theaters.

The Review: Ridley Scott’s last two Alien films of the franchise didn’t seem to pleasing enough to the fans of the Alien films. That was the sign that it was time for Scott to retire from the franchise and pass the space torch to ‘Don’t Breathe’ Fede Alvarez. His first order of business, swapping out the adult astronauts with some youngsters to make it really look like a average horror flick.

Rain (Cailee Spaeny) is stuck on the mining planet that doesn’t get any sunlight at all. Being trapped in the capitalism for the franchise’s famous Weyland-Yutani Corp was as expected gloomy. At least she wasn’t suffering alone, she has an android brother named Andy (David Johnson) that you may think that is her human friend at first until Rain installs a chip in him.

Life was not so pleasant for those two but the fact that Weyland-Yutani extending Rain’s time in the workforce to infinity was really the last straw for her. Luckily for her and Andy, there may be a ticket out of this slavery. There is a abandoned spaceship nearby the planet and if they can get it working again, they can make a great escape back to earth. That would actually have been a great plan, and probably would work so well have they not been part of the Alien franchise.

There are one of the rules of surviving in the Alien film that everyone wasn’t aware of; Never go inside the abandoned ships without any knowledge and preparation for what’s to come, because chances are, it probably has been abandoned for a reason. These kiddos didn’t even know what they are in for until it’s was too late.

After the few scenes, the cooling system was mistakenly deactivated and it had unfroze all of the iconic spider like creatures that Ridley Scott calls ‘Facehuggers’. You should know by now that when the Facehugger gets attached to you. You are pretty much finished. Why? Because their nature behavior was to plant the baby alien in your body then it quickly grows out of your chest. That is what poor Navarro (Aileen Wi) learned in an ugly way.

Throughout most the scenes that sets in the space station has a 1979 feeling floating gravityless in the air. It almost feel like the 1979 film except the film’s cinematographer Galos Olivares adds some red light (that symbolizes the horror genre big time) to the cinematography like Aaron Morton did in Alvsrez’s Evil Dead remake back in 2013.

As you know, Androids are pretty important characters for the franchise. Take a look at Ian Holm from the original and Michael Fassbender from the two previous entrees. but regardless of that, Johnson’s Andy completely dominates the best Humanoid Robot of the franchise competition, beating those two. Mostly because part of his character having every effort to make smart decisions that the humans couldn’t in frustrating situations (whatever it actually works or not)

The VFX of the movie is also the standout star of the film. The CGI Facehuggers was fine and the Saturn rings was legit, but watching the old school Xenomorph puppets and miniature effects returning to the screen was more rewarding than expected! I shall warn you though, you are going to want to hang on to your hat for the new experimental Xenomorph design taking place in the climax. I will not say what it is but it is interesting. Very interesting

I have only seen the 1979 film and the 2012’s Prometheus, so I might not have that much knowledge of the franchise or would be able to point out all of the callbacks that the fans would catch throughout the film. Still, seeing this film on the IMAX screen was a real treat for me. It was so amusing to reach my hand out whenever the Saturn like rings come on the screen.

Ripley is always going to be a true heroine of the Alien films. No one can replace her. Not even close, but man did Spaeney’s Rain try that, which was good as it came out with a badass outcome.

Rating: Few Burned Kurnels

Genre: Animation, Family, Comedy, Adventure

Studios: Netflix/Nickelodeon Movies

Cast: Carolyn Lawrence, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass, Ilia Isorelys Paulino, Matty Cardarople and Wanda Sykes

Director: Liza Johnson

Writers: Kaz and Tom Stern

Based on: Spongebob Squarepants created by Stephen Hillenburg

Producer: Robert Engleman

Music by: Moniker

Rated: NR

Release Date: 08/02/24

Runtime: 1h 26m

Tagline: Bring a Friend

Favorite Character: Sandy Cheeks

Quote: “Bikini Bottom, and everyone I ever loved, is gone…and all my streaming videos on demand! I can’t demand them anymore!”- Spongebob Squarepants

Fun Fact: Johnny Knoxville (who voices Sandy’s brother Randy) appeared in Spongebob before, in the episode ‘Extreme Spots’

The Review: Who lives in the Treedome at the bottom of the sea? SANDY CHEEKS! Who loves science and is a big thinker? SANDY CHEEKS! Who has her own movie which ended up being a Netflix stinker? SAND…wait what?

Like many of the Millennials, I was so obsessed with the iconic yellow sponge as a kid and was fortunate to see the first movie that came out 20 years ago. It was no Incredibles but it had immediately became a favorite for the Spongebob fans (most of them probably have just graduated from college)

As the huge Nickelodeon series celebrates 25 years of its broadcast, Netflix decides to execute the celebration of that milestone by releasing a spinoff about a Squirrel from Texas (Carolyn Lawrence) finds Bikini Bottom scooped up by a giant crane, leaving only her, Spongebob and her useless robo horse Sparky standing in front of the ditch that was once their beloved town.

But then the ditch spewed a powerful geyser that takes Sandy and Spongebob out of the ocean and to the Texas as they set off to rescue their town from the B.O.O.T.S. lab (which we learned was Sandy’s home before living underwater) in Galveston. But this isn’t an immediate transportation from point A to point B. Like the adventures in some of other children movies (Like 2017’s My Little Pony), they encounter new characters, both good and bad.

In case you were hibernating through January, someone had just got ahold of the entire movie around that time and leaked it online. Maybe it’s a good thing it happened. Because those who did successfully watch it before Paramount took it down probably did so to warn us with their review videos about this trainwreck that was releasing in August.

Back in B.O.O.T.S. lab we get introduced to the series lowest villians. Wanda Sykes (without her signature voice) playing a main anthologist with a name that clearly felt like writers Kaz and Stern has just taken the name from the Spongebob joke book. Her bozo sidekicks (Ilia Isorelys Paulino and Matty Cardarople) wasn’t any better nor they did they sound like they were even trying.

Animation was below mediocre. Live action was on sight terrible. But the most ‘What in tarnation is that?’ would be the flashback of Sue Nammie which is just a little girl with Wanda Sykes head clumsily cut and paste on the girl’s body.

It is such shameful that Sandy’s character development and the introduction to her family (Craig Robinson, Johnny Knoxville and Grey DeLisle) would have made this movie full of soul. Instead, it was all wasted on what is a animated film that has nothing but endless plot holes, forgettable musical numbers and recycled jokes. Now if only it was a TV special, it could be better…right? Right?

Rating: Full

Genre: Superhero, Action, Comedy, Adventure

Studios: Marvel Studios

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggans, Aaron Stanford and Matthew Macfadyen

Director: Shawn Levy

Writers: Shawn Levy, Rhett Reese, Ryan Reynolds, Zeb Wells and Paul Wernick

Based on: Marvel Comics

Producers: Kevin Feige, Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds and Lauren Shuler Donner

Music by: Rob Simonsen

Rated: R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, gore and sexual references

Release Date: 07/26/24

Runtime: 2h 8m

Tagline: Everyone deserves a happy ending

Favorite Character: Wade Wilson/Deadpool

Quote: “Welcome to the MCU. You’re joining at a bit of a low point.”- Wade Wilson/Deadpool

Fun Fact: I probably won’t say since it could potentially spoil the movie for ya.

The Review: After a load of the MCU projects failed hard last year, Kevin Feige decides to play it safe and only released one MCU movie for 2024. If you haven’t seen these recent films, not that I blame you, Marvel is still continuing in the Multiverse saga and that means anyone retired from playing a superhero/villain does not exactly stay retired, look at the Spider-men from No Way Home.

It has been 6 years since we last saw Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) gifting the Marvel fans with some wisecracking jokes and gore. He is at a medium point, not a high point but not a low point either. In other words, he moved on from being an anti-hero, wearing a toupee that he stapled to his head and is selling used cars for a living. Getting to the fact that he is no longer in a relationship with Venessa (Morena Baccarin) doesn’t sound like this is his medium point.

Before you can say ‘I wish something exciting would happen’ The TVA (from the Disney + show Loki) interrupts Wade’s birthday party right out of (literally) nowhere, ripped his toupee off for some reason and take him back to the headquarters. Ryan Reynolds is gonna have to put his signature mask back on.

It really makes a lot of sense for TVA to be the beacon to the threequel’s plot, especially in the Multiverse saga. Sad news for Owen Wilson fans, he is not in this one. We do however get to see Matthew Macfadyen playing a new TVA member with a very superhero-y name, Mr Paradox, I am not sure if that is even his real name.

In Marvel, every universe has a special anchor and without them, its very timeline is likely to disappear. Believe it or not, turns out Deadpool is sharing his world with 2017’s Logan. I’ll let you put two and two together. If not, the anchor in Wade’s universe is the same as the Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) that died seven years ago.

And if the deceased Logan won’t be able to save the world, Deadpool decides that there are plenty of different Wolverines that can. Universe jumping, Wolverine after Wolverine, he finally found what he believes to be a perfect one to save the world, only for Mr. Paradox to ruin Wade’s fun by announcing that the Wolverine he has is the worst one yet.

Next scene over, we are taken to the void where the 20th Century Fox logo stands abandoned (both fugitively and literally )and is home to the washed up Marvel characters goes when the studios who does Marvel movies in the past stopped caring for them, lead by the film’s villain, the unknown Professor X’s twin sister (Emma Corrin).

Reynolds and Jackman have an amazing chemistry. They go together like Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street despite Logan being a complete a complete opposite of the R rated Jokester. I don’t blame Wolverine for his grumpiness he lost everything in his world and now was taken against his will by Merc with the Mouth whose antics annoys the hell out of him.

The movie is also very gory, as the writers also has taken advantage of the fact neither Deadpool or Wolverine could die easily, so it sounds like an opportunity to give the fans a bloodbath that could go on till we get tired of it.

Levy pretty much gave us everything the fans have been craving. Cameo bombs, great soundtrack, laughable jokes about Disney owning Fox, etc. Which explains why D&W isn’t like the last two films. It is no Endgame, especially with the fact that the 2nd act didn’t feel like a Deadpool movie, but not that anybody is complaining, it is still a really R rated amusement park ride with tons of fans waiting in line to ride on.

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