If you feel the Twisters, chase it

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Rating: Full

Genre: Action, Thriller, Disaster

Studios: Universal Pictures/Warner Bros Pictures/Amblin Entertainment

Cast: Daisy Edger-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney and Sasha Lane

Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Writers: Joseph Kosinski and Mark L. Smith

Producers: Patrick Crowley and Frank Marshall

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch

Rated: PG-13 for intense action and peril, some language and injury images

Release Date: 07/19/24

Runtime: 2h 2m

Tagline: Chase. Ride. Survive.

Favorite Character: Tyler Owens

Quote: “If you feel it…chase it.”- Tyler Owens

Fun Fact: There was a leaked footage of Kate and Tyler kissing, but was ultimately cut thanks to Steven Spielberg.

The Review: Back in the good ol’ 1996 when visual effects are so advanced but so pure, you can’t just look up a video of insane tornadoes. You can only see them by going to your local theater, and buy a ticket Jan de Bont’s disaster blockbuster starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton that whose Oscar nominated visual effects swept the audience away. What’s it called? Hint: the title rhymes with ‘Blister’

Going forward all the way to 2024, VFX became more advanced and sequels and remakes sadly become more common, so of course there is gonna be a continuation to the 1996’s summer hit. Well technically, It’s more of a standalone feature, so the viewing of the previous may not be all that necessary. And yet somehow, the newly Twister release may actually become a huge box office smash.

All of these blockbuster ingredients were courtesy of the indie film director Lee Issac Chung getting promoted to the big summer film category. Bringing in Top Gun Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski to be one of the writers was a real bonus.

To tell you this, I am very fond of the disaster films, in fact it’s technically one of my favorite genres. Besides that it was entertaining, it could be pretty useful like it’s a book guide about surviving these natural disasters, depending on the accuracy and how good the VFX are. There are times Mother Nature is on your side, but there are some moments when she became your enemy. And Luke Comb’s hit song ‘Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma’ reminds us that ‘It’s comin for ya’

Former meteorologist student Kate (Daisy Edger-Jones) is now living in NYC, having given up on tornado chasing five years ago after one of them had gone wrong by claiming her colleagues lives, with the exception of Javi (Anthony Ramos). He comes to the Big Apple to show her that there is a new way to collect data from tornados, by using the three panels and encourages her to return to the exciting chasing career in Oklahoma by joining the Storm Par tornado chasers, which she agrees to.

Throughout the first parts of the film, audience would be focusing on Kate and Javi unknown to them their spotlight wouldn’t last long. Once we return to their home state, we would not help but turn our attention towards Storm Par’s brand new rival we may actually root for. A team that led by the social media influencer and a huge comic relief, Tyler Owens (rising star Glen Powell) who he calls himself “The Tornado Wrangler”

How big is he? he and his team drove INSIDE the tornado in his truck (don’t worry, the truck has drills that secures them to the ground) and showing off by launching fireworks inside the twister that would make us wanna repeat the stunt in real life (but seriously, please don’t unless you know what you are doing).

Luckily for Storm Par, the good looking redneck isn’t gonna stop them from putting their plan into action. They just get into the trucks and zoom off. If you haven’t noticed, the trucks has a entertaining easter eggs on the sides, I won’t say what it is but it completes the Twister duology’s personal Wizard of Oz collection.

I do have to admit, I really feel mixed about Bill Paxton’s Twister story. The story was pretty thin, but I am very appealed for the 90s visual effects and the 90’s atmosphere. The sequel, on the other hand expands the plotline quite a bit while staying true to the VFX. Which may be why 2024’s Twisters has accomplished overlapping its 1996 counterpart.

It truly helps that the film contains a realistic execution of the devastating aftermath that the unfortunate towns had to face. May be sad for those who actually went through that, and if that’s the case, grab some tissues. You also might want to make sure you save your popcorn for the ultra Mega climax that would blow you away (no pun attended).

One last thing. If you happen to live by a theater with a 4DX, hope you didn’t miss this opportunity to take a wild ride in that high tech auditorium because if you still haven’t experience it in 4DX, too bad, you completely missed it altogether, cause chances are, it ain’t comin back. Unfortunally, that pretty much includes me. If you didn’t miss it, congratulations, you have experienced the twisters safely.

Inside Out 2, the PIXAR sequel we DO need.

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Animation, Family, Coming of Age, Comedy, Fantasy

Studios: Disney/Pixar

Cast: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri, Lilimar, Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green, Adele Exarchopoulos, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Paul Walter Hauser and Yvette Nicole Brown

Director: Kelsey Mann

Writers: Dave Holstein, Meg LeFauve and Kelsey Mann

Producer: Mark Nielsen

Music by: Andrea Datzman

Rated: PG for thematic elements

Release Date: 06/10/24

Runtime: 1h 36m

Tagline: Make room for new emotions

Favorite Character: Joy

Quote: “Maybe this is what happens when you grow up. You feel less joy.”- Joy

Fun Fact: Sadness’ voice actress Phillis Smith came out of retirement to reprise her role and has to record her lines in Missouri

The Review: For the last few years, Pixar has been coming down with more of the downs than ups with few of their amazing films (Luca, Soul and Turning Red) skipping theaters and heading straight to Disney Plus, which I really get annoyed with that crap. And those who did make it to the big screen (Lightyear and Elemental) ended up with the struggles with both box office numbers and critics.

Thankfully, Inside Out 2 made a theatrical release Pixar movie comeback in a spectacular way we wanted to be. Yes it is a sequel. And the last time Pixar got one was the very much unneeded Toy Story 4. But this one was the one we pretty much needed as there are so many potential stages like Riley in college, Riley becoming a mom and perhaps in the future, Riley becoming a grandma!

Looking back to the first Inside Out movie, we all have been wondering how our mind works. Maybe we have workers inside our brains? Who knows? Props to Pete Doctor for his creativity of turning the brain anatomy into a corporation that’s themed to Pee Wee’s Playhouse. In other words, a silly cartoon world that delights both the kiddies and adults.

By the end of the 2015 film, the control panel was officially being upgraded by Pixar’s lucky charm John Ratzenberger (who he comes back to the sequel) that comes with puberty alarm, as Joy (Amy Poehler) quotes ‘It’s probably not important’ but we all knew it is extremely important. Being key to having a sequel created and all. So yes Joy, the Puberty alarm IS important.

Well unsurprisingly, it went off and the control panal being upgraded again. Joy tries to get rid of it with a new machine that launches bad memories far away. That didn’t work. With all of the chaos happening, four new emotions (five if you are counting June Squibb’s Nostalgia) suddenly arrives at the headquarters.

Those four we meet are a adorable little Envy (Ayo Edebiri), an emo Ennui (French actress Adele Exarchopoulos) that rather stares at the phone than do her job, a huge but very shy Embarrassment (Paul Water Hauser) and the one that shines out the most, a Pepe (of the Muppets) look alike Anxiety (Maya Hawke).

At first, the 5 OG emotions seem to be pretty welcoming and accepts these new workers, but all four of the newbies (mostly Anxiety) made it clear that Riley needs to fit in with popular crowd at Hockey Camp and believes the main emotions are not needed anymore. So the main 5 are locked in the jar and were sent on a one way trip to Riley’s memory vault.

And with that, begins Joy and Sadness’s adventure back to the HQ once again, but this time, Anger, Fear and Disgust joining the fun. But before that happens, we do get to see a PS2 animated Lance Slashblade that Riley (and Disgust) has a crush on drop by for a rescue along with Riley’s childhood icon Bloofy, a doggy version of Dora the Explorer. Carrying a talking Pouch named, well, Pouchy that has mostly dynamite inside of him, sounds like he could be one of the rejected characters from Looney Tunes.

But if you want to know what’s going on outside in the real world, Riley Anderson ( is a 13 year old from Minnesota (My homestate) now living in San Francisco with her parents, with her two best friends, and continuing to score in big in the Foghorns hockey team, and everything was going pretty smoothly, for now.

Things are looking up for her when she and her friends are invited to Hockey camp by the coach (Yvette Nicole Brown) to have a chance to be on the High School Hockey League. There is just one catch though, Riley will not be going to the same school as her friends, well, you can imagine where that teenage drama is going to be from. If not, see the movie yourself.

Just like the first film, Inside Out 2 is full of imagination and contains rich storytelling that would bring joy and laughter to all audiences, whether it is a five year old going to his first movie or a grandpa killing some time before his grandkids comes. And has so much brilliant ideas that can be expanded for the franchise.

But this whole Inside Out thing makes me wonder. If it is a real deal, who knows how many emotions are in our headquarters? Like 50? If so, maybe Pixar could have try to make room for a cute lovable emotion called ‘Love’ in the movie?

The Minions sixth film are still acting stooge-y in a fun way but with a splattered quality.

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Animated, Comedy, Family

Studios: Universal Pictures/Illumination

Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Joey King, Miranda Cosgrove, Sofia Vergara, Steve Coogan, Stephen Colbert, Chris Renaud, Madison Polan, Dana Gaier, Chloe Fineman and Will Farrell

Director: Chris Renaud

Writers: Ken Daurio and Mike White

Producers: Brett Hoffman and Chris Meledandri

Music by: Heitor Pereira

Rated: PG for action and rude humor

Release Date: 07/03/24

Runtime: 1h 34m

Tagline: This daddy’s a baddie

Favorite Character: Maxime Le Mal

Quote: “I can’t say my name is Britney! That would be a lie!”- Agnes

Fun Fact: The school Gru and Maxime used to attend, ‘Lycee Pas Bon’ is French for ‘High School

The Review: Everyone’s favorite minions are back on the screen for the sixth time since 2010 and since then, became another one of the yellow pop culture icons next to Spongebob and Pikachu. So far it has four main installments and two spin-offs with another heading for the 2027 date and the franchise didn’t ran out of gas…yet.

Gru (Steve Carrell) may not be a top villain as he used to dream of becoming, but he had done so many exceptional things beyond that. He adopted three girls (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Madison Polan) became a secret agent of the AVL (Anti Villain League), married agent Lucy (Kristen Wiig) found out he has a twin brother (also played by Steve Carrell) who has a tiny cameo in this fourth main installment and now, he and Lucy had a son, promoting both of them from adoptive parents to the biological parents. Sounds like a happy ending right?

Well we should know by now that whenever there is a sequel, there is always going to be a new sort of danger. They are now being targeted by Maxime Le Mal (Will Farrell who took to long to join the franchise) a cockroach obsessed villain and Gru’s school rival, which we actually saw him get arrested by Gru at the reunion a short time ago. The family was forced to retreat to Mayflower, in the upper class neighborhood in a not quite an upper class house. That’s not all there is to it, they are also assigned new identities as the so called perfect Cunningham family.

Now what about the minions? Well only a few of them was lucky enough to accompanied the family and be part of the main storyline, the rest of them are given jobs at the AVL that is once again ran by Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan).

We noticed by now that there are lack of any superheroes in this Despicable world. AVL was the closest we got to the Justice League, but Ramsbottom does try to fill in that void by using the sci fi experimental machine to turn the five minions into heroes based off the classic Marvel characters (the big balloony-looking one is my favorite out of the five).

But below the goofy minion-y antics that makes the kiddies giggle, there are very many very messy seperate subplots that was spread all over pretty much a huge chunk of the 95 minutes this film runs. There are so many of them I can’t really name them all.

I will, however, give a shoutout to the one subplot when Gru is reeled into the heist by his temporary neighbor’s teenage daughter (Joey King) a big fan of Gru and convinced him to steal the badger from his former Villain school. It does connect well with Gru trying to improve his relationship with Gru jr.

Another new character that Will Farrell plays here wasn’t too bad, Even if his own version of Gru (with French accent) wasn’t his best role. At least it does allow him to have a little Anchorman get together with Carrell. It was fun putting those comedy duo together for their cover of ‘Everybody’s Wants to Rule the World’ at the end, which really celebrates the Minions franchise (hint: cameos).

And did I mention that Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara voices Maxime’s girlfriend that is named Valentina. But did I really forget? She may look so trendy and have a small pup with her but she was very pointless and has nothing to do with a story, I don’t even know why they put her in to begin with. Maybe because Illumination loves this America’s Got Talent judge so much they are willing to create a useless character just for that moment. At least Maxime and Joey does play some big moments here.

I will admit, the ending feels like that this is it for the franchise, don’t worry, Minions isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Mainly because Universal cares more about mega moolah than trying to come up with an exceptional story, At the same time, they may be trying to come up with a story after all.

Quiet Place prequel focuses more on two amazing characters rather than the monsters and that’s okay

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Rating: Full

Genre: Horror, Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Suspense, Thriller

Studios: Paramount Pictures/Platinum Dunes/Sunday Night

Cast: Lupita Nyong’O, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Writers: John Krasinski and Michael Sarnoski

Based on: the characters by John Krasinski

Producers: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller and John Krasinski

Music by: Alexis Grapsas

Rated: PG-13 for terror and violent content/bloody images

Release Date: 06/28/24

Runtime: 1h 40m

Tagline: Stay Quiet Stay Alive

Favorite Character: Samira

Quote: “It’s good to have been back.”- Samira

Fun Fact: Frodo the cat was actually played by two cats.

The Review: What do we know about the ‘Death Angels’ from the last two Quiet Place movies? Well for one thing, they are armored alien monsters that is equipped with tough armor and has unusually extreme strength that could kill anybody who makes even one teeny tiny noise, even the fact that someone dropping a pin five miles away isn’t safe.

We may have known that those aliens are blind but they don’t need to see as long as they have unbelievably super powerful hearing. We also noticed that they don’t even have a spaceship (that would be pretty expensive), instead they hitch a ride on a bunch meteors

Once again, we enter John Krasinski’s world of the Death Angel invasion except, he is sitting out of the director’s chair for this one. Don’t worry, Krasinski is credited for story writing and he has a family movie out called IF.

I do believe it’s quite fitting for a prequel that’s taking a standalone direction to have a Michael Sarnoski (Pig) bring us his visions. Especially if its in a different setting. I mean throughout two movies, Krasinski brought us to a farm, the woods and on the island. But there is still a place we still have to explore, like New York City that is always noisy and chaotic and that is what this movie took us to.

At first, it starts like any other movie, characters chatting with different sounds added all over the place. I am very thrilled to say that the talented Oscar winning Lupita Nyong’O gives this years most powerful performance (so far) as Samira, a anxious terminally ill patient who seems to rather spent the rest of her time alone. Okay not exactly alone, she is accompanied by a cat named Frodo that is both a therapy cat and the film’s true star. I bet Cat lovers would watch the film anxiously, because we all know that if Frodo gives out one meow, game over.

Before the meteors strike, Sam, her caretaker (Alex Wolff) and Frodo went on a little field trip to the Big Apple just to see…a puppet show, not realizing that this may actually be her final destination. Literally. Comets slams the streets turning the whole screen white giving the audience a simulation of light blindness. We may not have seen what’s been going on for the first few minutes after the impact, but we defiantly get the idea what we are encountering.

Once she woke up, there are only a handful of survivors left in the city including Djimon Hounsou reprising his role from the previous film, and a random stranger (Joseph Quinn), who Sam would later develop a sweet friendship and take up most of the screen time with him. There are thankfully still helicopters right now, going around telling citizens to stay quiet at all times. After all, it’s not called The Quiet Place for no reason.

If that wasn’t stressful enough, all the bridges to NYC was blown up, leaving all the survivors stranded with monsters. There is only one way they can get out and that is by boats since we know that Death Angels are lousy swimmers. But that is easier said than done.

Regardless of the horrifying situation, Sam discovered some of the glimmering lights along the journey mostly involving her newly friendship with Eric. Her goal on the other hand was kinda questionable. I mean, in the apocalyptic world, Sam’s is worried about not getting pizza from Patsy’s? a sweet moment that may evolve into a relationship. Whatever, her and Eric together in scenes was a sweet moment.

Fans may actually be disappointed there aren’t any info from the Death Angels. I mean, do we really need them? Maybe they should stay mysterious. And for jumpscares, to those who do not like to be startled by them, there may only be one but it doesn’t mean you are safe from it. It is huge, so beware!

Day One can be scary and intense sure, but there is more than that. Saronski’s main purpose for this was to deliver a meaningful message about the acceptance of mortality. Still you may or may not chew your popcorn quietly.

Retro and violent are the two words to describe The Bikeriders

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Rating: Full

Genre: Drama, Crime

Studios: Focus Features/Regency Enterprises

Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist and Norman Reedus

Director: Jeff Nichols

Writer: Jeff Nichols

Based on: the photo book by Danny Lyon

Producers: Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Arnon Milchan

Music by: David Wingo

Rated: R for language throughout, violence, some drug use and brief sexuality

Release Date: 06/21/24

Runtime: 1h 56m

Tagline: Freedom is for the fearless

Favorite Character: Benny Cross

Quote: N/A

Fun Fact: The tattoos on Austin Butler’s Benny looked so real but aren’t. But the interviewer also thought it was real and asked him about it.

The Review: We may heard of films based on books, real life events, plays, etc. But I haven’t heard of a movie based on the photographs. That is until 21 years ago, when writer and director Joe Nicolas decides to read some of Danny Lyon’s photography book that filled with not just photos of one of the Chicago’s biker gang but also him interviewing them as well.

And then, it was 2022 when Nicolas finally, (I mean FINALLY) has a chance to make that authentic film a reality. Fortunally, he does not leave Lyon out of the film as he is a important character, being Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer) assistant and all. He is played by Challenger’s Mike Faist.

You may be surprised to see the film first focuses on Kathy interviewing the motorcycle riders in a bar while they do some of stuff you normally see them do. Drink, play pool, hit on ladies, etc. Kathy became lucky when she stumbled upon a biker that has quite a hairdo. That biker, named Benny Cross (Austin Butler) isn’t really much of a big talker. Despite that, he marrys Kathy Five weeks later after she ditches her asshole boyfriend, becoming Kathy Cross.

There is actually one more great main character to meet, a tough talking leader of the Vandals Motorcycle Club, Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy). We do get to see the origin of the Vandals, or at least an inspiration of it. Johnny was sitting at home with his family watching The Wild One, a 1953 movie starring Marlon Brando which is also about, you guess it, a motorcycle biker.

We met the three main characters, now the drama commences, sorta. The most dramatic moment during the 1965 scenes was when Benny comes out of the bar and get into the argument with a couple of non-Vandals that ended very ugly! One of them actually stabbed Benny in his foot with a shovel! Ouch. The rest of the shots in that year just goes with on with them partaking some of the biker activities like a motorcycle rally. It doesn’t go too big on the seriousness until we get time jumped to 1973, then not only it gets very serious, but really dangerous too.

People come to the movies sometimes just so they can see the times they grew up in and Bikeriders did that well with all the authentic sets, costumes and plenty of hair gel. Some of you may consider the 1960s Chicago the good old days when civil rights has boomed and when life was simple, you know, before the internet. But let’s not forget, Chicago is also a dangerous city in general.

Regardless with all the authentic and retro stuff, there wasn’t too much of a story in it. Bikeriders was actually more aimed for the love of the characters and those who admired 1960 than it is for the plot. Really good performances in the film. But the question is, Is it enough for Tom Hardy get an Oscar nod for being a Bike gang leader? Who knows? What about Austin Butler and Jodie Comer? Maybe.

Glen Powell is already a rising star and Netflix’s Hit Man really helps with that.

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Action

Studios: Netflix/AGC Studios/Monarch Media/ShivHans Pictures/Barnstorm

Cast: Glenn Powell, Adria Arjona Torres, Austin Amelio and Reeta

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Richard Linklater and Glenn Powell

Based on: the Texas Monthly magazine article by Skip Hollandsworth

Producers: Jason Bateman, Michael Costigan, Dylan King, Richard Linklater and Glenn Powell

Music by: Graham Reynolds

Rated: R for language throughout, sexual content and some violence

Release Date: 06/07/24

Runtime: 1h 55m

Tagline: He’s not a killer, but he can pretend.

Favorite Character: Gary Johnson

Quote: “All pie is good pie.”- Gary Johnson

Fun Fact: Why doesn’t Hit Man take place in Texas like it did in real life? Well there are financial difficulties down in that state, so it was much easier to set the film in New Orleans.

The Review: Have you heard of someone named ‘Gary Johnson?’ Neither do I. And no, it’s not the 29th Governer of New Mexico. It’s someone who was played by Top Gun Maverick’s Glen Powell who we are about to see as a cowboy from the upcoming disaster film ‘Twisters’. Before the action comedy starts, there is a little reminder that this is sorta a true story, after all, why wouldn’t Hollywood exaggerate? Then it wouldn’t be Hollywood.

Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) lives in New Orleans with two cats, living a simple life (oblivious to Powell’s simple narration) making a living by giving wisdom to his students as a Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at University of New Orleans. Doesn’t sound like it was all that exciting, but most people don’t know he has another job, a secret job, a part time Undercover Cop job. At first he doesn’t actually get into a role as a fake hitman until his trusty-ish coworker Jasper (Austin Amelio), who does play that part, got suspended.

Because of that moment, Gary realized he must step in to slap on different disguises and accents, something Split’s James McAvoy would have been proud of. That pretty much gives us a full on montage of getting his into mug shot photos. The montage may slow down the first act, but damn it was so funny and entertaining to see Powell portraying some made up characters within the movie (especially when he tries to impersonate Patrick Bateman)!

His agency coworkers (Sanjay Rao and Reeta) was so impressed that by the time Jasper comes back, he was replaced much to his annoyance. Gary’s improvising works, maybe a little too well. He was just sitting in a cafe as a hitman named Ron, eating pie, when comes in a distressing woman (Adria Arjona) seeking his make believe service to take out her asshole husband. And according to the movie, all it took to get the romance motor running was a couple of cat jokes, which may or may not work in real life, at least Gary didn’t try to woo her with couple of awful pickup lines.

Along the rest of the movie, is those two lovebirds getting on, while Gary tries to balance between his University job and playing the role as sexy Ron. All while dealing with a speed bump of Madison’s abusive husband (Evan Holtzman) they ran into at the club. Consider this to be a Hollywood movie, I know Madison will eventually find out ‘Ron’s’ true identity sometime in the running time. So whenever the time comes, brace yourself.

Now thinking about it, Hit Man may be a campaign to have Powell voted as People Magazine’s sexiest Man of the Year for 2024! Writers Linklater and Powell seems to have done that and add some twists and turns as well as some of the other ingredients to make an almost perfect romantic action comedy. If so then mission accomplished.

For my first Mad Max movie, Furiosa freaking ROCKS!

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Action, Post-Apocalypse

Studios: Warner Bros/Kennedy Miller Mitchell

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke and Alyla Browne

Director: George Miller

Writers: Nico Lathouris and George Miller

Based on: the characters by George Miller

Producers: George Miller and Doug Mitchell

Music by: Tom Holkenborg

Rated: R for sequences of strong violence, and grisly images

Release Date: 05/24/24

Runtime: 2h 28m

Tagline: Fury is born

Favorite Character: Furiosa

Quote: “That is the Dark Angel, the 5th horseman of the apocalypse.”- The History Man

Fun Fact: Anya Taylor-Joy didn’t have a drivers license while shooting, despite doing a car stunt.

The Review: Some of us didn’t notice, but Clint Eastwood is 94 years old and is still directing movies, and has an upcoming movie ‘Juror No. 2’ This man just doesn’t know the definition of ‘Retirement.’ Australian film mastermind George Miller is kinda like that. He’s 79 and and still has plenty of Wasteland stories to tell. I mean come on, he should be the ONLY one behind the camera of the Mad Max franchise. No other director. Not even Spielberg.

This badass female origin story is the only Mad Max movie I have seen so far. And it’s really pathetic that I haven’t even seen any Miller films with Max Rocktansky, an action character with cinema’s most awesome name (next to Gladiator’s Maximus). I know. Sad. Regardless, It is such a blessing to have Furiosa be the first of the Mad Max franchise for me to see.

Once the metal Warner Bros logo shows up on the screen, your mind is gonna be like ‘Gentlemen, start your engine!’ matching with a vrooming sound on the screen. If you have seen Fury Road, you might remember Charlize Theron explaining to Max as well as the audience of her origins. She once lived in a last remaining earth like area in Australia (and probably on earth) Green Place (Alyla Browne) getting kidnapped and taken to the camp of the mighty Dementus, Chris Hemsworth’s baddie that doesn’t include the mighty Norse mythological hammer. I also should let you know that Furiosa is split into five chapters throughout the movie.

The journey throughout the movie eventually leads to Fury Road’s Furiosa growing up in the fortress from the previous entry and she is being more fury working for the returning but younger and more fit antagonist Immortan Joe (only this one was portrayed by Lachy Hulme). Also returning was the insane chalked covered soldiers! And that was the first half of the movie, which has a well paced narrative with Browne turning into Taylor-Joy. Some of you may think that that half is slow, which I doubt that you’ll think of that, I don’t. Then we go into the second half that’s full of dynamic energy and the fast and furious action and stunts. That one truck chase scene that took 78 days is truly a wild ride!

Prequels can be unneeded some times. Prequels can be unwanted often times. But when Prequel stands out to all of the other prequels out there, especially when it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that easily sucks us into it. Oh what a movie! What a lovely movie!

Part 2 of the Rebel Moon saga is completely shallow even though it is full of Snyder spectacle

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Studios: Netflix/The Stone Quarry/Grand Electric

Cast: Sofia Baoutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher and Anthony Hopkins

Director: Zack Snyder

Writers: Shay Hatten, Kurt Johnstad and Zack Snyder

Producers: Wesley Coller, Eric Newman, Deborah Snyder and Zack Snyder

Music by: Tom Holkenborg

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language and suicide

Release Date: 04/19/24

Runtime: 2h 2m

Tagline: N/A

Favorite Character: Titus

Quote: “Power over the grain is power over all!”- Atticus Noble

Fun Fact: N/A

The Review: Zack Snyder is known for giving the audience some of the comic book style visuals. It’s no wonder he gave DC fans some of the DC treatment. So the question is, why did he rip off the Star Wars franchise?

Last time we saw Nora (Sofia Boutella) have defeated…no…killed the space terrorist Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) in the climax of Rebel Moon’s first part, The Child of Fire. But because there is a sequel and Skrein is returning, we all know he isn’t going to be dead for too long. And Snyder chose to just resurrect him with a machine that puts him in a cocoon like a Mogwai coming out to wreck havoc. Oh and it includes a obviously rubber chest for Skrein. Nothing else.

If you haven’t seen The Child of Fire. Then no need to spend two hours and fourteen minutes watching the whole story just to catch up. Our good friend Sir Anthony Hopkins (who voiced Snyder’s C3PO that goes by JC-1435) is able to save us time by giving a recap to Child of Fire. And for the entire movie, the Warriors from other planets we met in Part 1 and Villagers prepping for a climatic battle that actually started earlier than any action movie, so that was actually cool.

There is one thing about making a good world building movie, and that is that it takes time. Snyder should really have taken a year off just to put together a decent space opera. Snyder tries to be a next George Lucas and it all ends with weak storyline with an okay battle scenes. However, despite Snyder’s lousy way of telling a story, it is pretty much a visual feast like his other films. Given Rebel Moon Snyder’s project, we see some cool visuals, decent looking FX and had Tom Holkenborg had composed siren song filled score.

For my One Liner review for the 1st part of Rebel Moon, I asked if part 2 will win over the audience. The answer was that there is no easy answer. Some will watch in awe, some will watch in cringe. And I had no doubt Snyder could put more love into this space opera, but the VFX was fine the way it is. Many people not know this but Part one made the 10 finalist list for the Visual Effects category at the Oscars!

The new Garfield Movie was not awful but it had botched the source material that was so beloved to me and the fans of the comic strip.

~ fewburnedkurnels ~ Leave a comment

Rating: Empty

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Studios: Columbia Pictures/Alcon Entertainment/Prime Focus/One Cool/Wayfarer Studios

Cast: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillen, Brett Goldstein, Bowen Yang and Snoop Dogg

Director: Mark Dindal

Writers: Paul A. Kaplan, David Reynolds and Mark Torgove

Based on: the comic strip by Jim Davis

Producers: John Cohen, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Namit Malhotra, Craig Sost and Steven P. Wegner

Music by: John Debney

Rated: PG for action/peril, and mild thematic elements

Release Date: 05/24/24

Runtime: 1h 41m

Tagline: He gets bigger

Favorite Character: Jon Arbuckle

Quote: N/A

Fun Fact: Current Garfield voice actor Frank Welker was disappointed that he wasn’t asked to reprise his role in the movie.

The Review: Growing up, I was obsessed with Garfield comic strips. In fact, I was so obsessed with a bunch of comic strips. Reading them in Sunday papers was the best moment of that day, it is such a shame the newspapers are starting to go digital. And the fact Hollywood adapting them once in a while just isn’t the same. Blue Sky’s The Peanuts Movie truly worked out in the end (needs more recognition though, it deserves it). For Garfield, did the writers even read the comics?

We start with a little fourth wall breaking intro that Garfield (Chris Pratt) always does in media before cutting to him as a baby sitting in the box, seemly abandoned by his father but then a smell of the fresh pepperoni pizza lured him out of the box, running past Lorenzo’s Music store, (Get it? Because Lorenzo Music is the OG Garfield voice actor?) across the street and towards the Italian restaurant where we see a lonely Jon Arbuckle (Nicholas Hoult) before a cute tabby cat comes into his life as well as ours.

Life was easy for him and his canine sidekick Odie (Harvey Guillen) before was taken by a couple of pooches. Suddenly, it’s dad to the rescue! And he goes by the name Vic (Samuel L. Jackson)! Garfield, of course wasn’t too please to see him since he abandoned him long ago. And with the writers mind, the reunion turns into a Mission Impossible type of mission, They even had the theme song played in it.

If you are a Garfield fan, you know that Garfield has a lovable mother, but Sony decided it was wise to replace her with his father we knew nothing about, it isn’t the worst change of the film and hopefully may be canon to the comics, depending on what Jim Davis said. That wasn’t an only issue though. From the first announcement, we probably think ‘Did they just casted Chris Pratt as iconic cartoon characters for no reason?’ He’s done Mario last year, and the next thing you know, they will cast him as an animated Inspector Gadget. Seeing him as Garfield, just isn’t right. He doesn’t capture the fat feline too well. Bill Murray does it better than Star Lord. And yes, Murray probably doesn’t want to hear this.

This animated version of the beloved cat was kinda an insult to us fans. It could be the writers excuse to get Garfield to act like he was Tom Cruise. Those who aren’t familiar with the strips will find it cute. And shoutout to its father and son moments and easter eggs.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opens a ape-tastic new chapter of the rebooted franchise (sadly without Caesar)

~ fewburnedkurnels ~ Leave a comment

Rating: Full

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure, Drama

Studios: 20th Century Studios

Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon and William H. Macy

Director: Wes Ball

Writer: Josh Friedman

Based on: the characters

Producers: Wes Ball, Joe Hartwick Jr, Rick Jaffa, Jason T. Reed and Amanda Silver

Music by: Joe Paesano

Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence/action

Release Date: 05/10/24

Runtime: 2h 25m

Tagline: No one can stop the reign

Favorite Character: Mae

Quote: “What a Wonderful Day!”- Proximus Caesar

Fun Fact: The apes named all humans ‘Nova’ a homage to a mute human from the 1968 original.

The Review: 2011 is the year that Hollywood opens a new ‘Planet of the Apes’ book. Upgrading from the cheesy 60’s costumes to the motion capture CGI performances And so far, every one of the last 3 POTA films got an Oscar nomination for Visual FX, but no win.

You probably already knew that the 2017’s previous Ape film ended with the great tragedy. Our great Caesar passed away due to the wounds at the battlefield. It is a very tragic indeed. Hopefully, we can see Andy Serkis motion capture performance again with the flashbacks, if he is interested in playing the character one last time, if not, than the reuse of the footage from the previous POTA films is the best we can get.

The new trilogy means new setting. Technically, the new setting is still Earth. Just with less humans, no thanks to the manmade virus. So most of the humans are sadly gone. And those who did survive into 300 years lost their intelligence and became wild animals, think of it as the Darwin human evolution in reverse. Mother Nature takes the world by storm! And her design in the city may be really gorgeous and as stunning as Avatar’s Pandora, but as you learn from the Jurassic franchise, don’t mess with Mother Nature. Because the human race learned too late that she always win!

Noa ( lives a peaceful life in a new world, stealing eagle eggs from abandoned buildings and training them to be their companions at his village. What can go wrong? The answer would be a bunch of gorillas with electric weapons disrupting the harmony, terrorizing Noa’s village, killing his father and shoving him off the tower. Then he wakes up and finds everybody gone. All eagles are dead except for one that Noa struggles to befriend.

The adventure does provide us a bit of exploration of the new Earth, while gaining two new allies. One is Raka, a Orangutan who knew a bit about humans. And speaking of which, we are also introduced to Mae, who turns out to be one of the few humans on earth to still have the brains. The adventure eventually ends at the Kingdom of the Apes at the beach, ruled by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) with a quote (What a Wonderful Day) that echoes in my head. His goal was to open the mysterious vault of human stuff that he is obviously gonna misuse. Unless Noa and his reunited clan do something about it.

Wes Ball takes over the POTA story excellently, but it won’t be able to replace Matt Reeves. In fact, there is no characters in this movie that can replace Caesar (especially Proximus) but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the saga, so we might as well look forward to what’s yet to come in the few years. Hail Caesar!