movies

Transformers One Review: Sometimes, going animated is a best choice

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Animation, Sci-Fi, Action, Comedy, Family

Studios: Paramount Pictures/Hasbro Entertainment/New Republic Pictures/Bayhem Films/Di Bonaventura Pictures

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm

Director: Josh Cooley

Writers: Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari and Eric Pearson

Based on: the toys by Hasbro

Producers: Michael Bay, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Aaron Dem, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy and Mark Vahradian

Music by: Brian Tyler

Rated: PG for sci-fi violence and animated action throughout and language

Release Date: 09/20/24

Tagline: Witness the Origin

Favorite Character: Orion Pax/Optimus Prime

Quote: “Hi there. I’m B-127. I’m actually working on some really cool nicknames and the one I’m floating with right now is Badass-A-Tron, which is actually pronounced…BADASS-A-TRON.”- B-127/Bumblebee

Fun Fact: The trailer was first released in the spacecraft in outer space.

The Review: You may remember Optimus Prime of the Transformers toy line when it was flying off the shelves during 1984 when the toyline and the classic cartoon was first introduced. That toy craze didn’t happen again until 2007 when Michael Bay’s live action film franchise begin with a bang but slide down as more movies came along.

Taking this prequel is animated director Josh Cooley (who won an Oscar for the very much unneeded Toy Story 4) driving us into the planet Cybertron where two working class miners Optimus and Megatron are a couple of BFFs trying to show the transforming bots that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to their life.

Yes. You heard me. Optimus and Megatron used to be best friends right before they became well known rivals, except during their time in the film, their names are Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry).

The adventure doesn’t really start until there was an incident involving at the race got these two banished to the trash incineration in the unknown bottom floor with nobody but comic relief Bumblebee (Keegan-Michael Key) or as he likes to call himself ‘Badass-A-Tron’

The adventure starting in the trash place doesn’t sound that much. It starts when they find a hologram that is actually a map to the ancient place on the surface, where most of the Primes once stood but died out leaving only Sentinal Prime (Jon Hamm) still standing. And tagging along with these three guys, a pushy Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson)

When the trailer first came out, I don’t know what to think much about that movie other than the point that the new animated reboot looks almost completely like a comedy rather than the action genre that the franchise was best known for which I find a little weird.

But as I saw the movie, it completely blew my expeditions away.

For those who grew up with the 80’s cartoon (Which you can check out on Tubi) will find the character designs very nostalgic, taking back to the old days where they sit in front of the TV with a bowl of sugary cereal sitting in their lap.

Except, the movie ditches the 2d animation with a promised metallic animation being inserted with the beautiful environments (especially the surface).

Don’t get me wrong, Peter Cullen will always be THE Optimus Prime voice. But if the film is gonna take us back to the beginning, we might as well have someone younger like Chris Hemsworth take Optimus’ voice box and deliver us a silly personality (that works).

So in end result, we got another winning animated film in the 2024 calender.

Uglies Review: The Scott Westerfeld adaptation came out 19 years too late

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Rating: Empty

Genre: Sci-Fi, YA Adaptation, Drama

Studios: Netflix

Cast: Joey King, Keith Powers, Chase Stokes, Brianne Tju, Jan Luis Castellanos, Charmie Lee and Laverne Cox

Director: McG

Writers: Whit Anderson, Jacob Forman and Vanessa Taylor

Based on: the novel by Scott Westerfeld

Producers: John Davis, Jordan Davis, Robyn Meisinger, Dan Spilo, McG and Mary Viola

Music by: Edward Shearmur

Rated: PG-13 for some violence and action, and brief strong language

Release Date: 09/13/24

Runtime: 1h 40m

Tagline: Perfection is an illusion

Favorite Character: Shay

Quote: “All my life. I wanted to be pretty. I thought it would change everything.”- Tally Youngblood

Fun Fact: The sets used also appeared in another YA adaptation Allegiant.

The Review: Scott Westerfeld had sold 6 million copies of his sci-fi novel Uglies in 2005. It wasn’t just popular series but it may have been the one who that started the Teen Dystopian novel genre such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. So why did the 2024 Netflix movie feel like it’s a complete ripoff of those adaptions?

Well for one thing, it is mainly when the movie was released. If the movie was made shortly after the book came out, it may seek a potential movie franchise right before the Twilight franchise made fangirls go crazy for Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

But Hollywood, of course, decided that now is the good time to bring it to life…after the YA adaptation craze had died out completely.

And to be honest, even though the books was well received back then, the fictional world does sound awfully like it was created by an 8 year old girl who dreams of being pretty 24/7 when she grows up. And since I never read the books, seeing the story as original just wasn’t possible for me.

Like other teen dystopian stories the world was in a huge natural crisis. And the war broke out. So in order to cease the chaos scientists had created a special flower that became a new source of energy. And for the big bonus, it allows everyone to look so perfect like Barbie and Ken.

They call the the pretty ones, well, ‘Pretties’ But those who aren’t really lucky are consider outsiders of society and are called the ‘Uglies’ Alright. Where you end up isn’t because you’re lucky. It’s due to how old are you. Every Uglies are all minors 15 years and under living in the academy like place.

Which means that once they have hit their 16th birthday, they are required by law to undergo a cosmetic surgery to make them look like a person filled with perfection, granting them admission to the Pretties side of the city where every night is a party and there are no responsibilities.

Getting to the main character focused plotline, the 25 year old Joey King plays a 15 year old girl that is about 3 months away from getting her surgery. She was so excited for it that she couldn’t wait longer to sneak into the Pretties territory just to see her best friend Peris (Chase Strokes) who had his surgery 3 months before Tally’s due date.

She does indeed find him, only, his personality has changed and doesn’t really care for her as much, almost like he doesn’t remember her that well, signaling that this whole pretties thing was all just diabolical scheme controlled by Dr Cable (Lavernne Cox) a bland Teen Dystopian mastermind that we barely noticed.

So basically, that is what this film is. A bland story with ugly CGI work and unchecked plot holes that was flying all over the plot with too many cliches from the YA novels and a same old message about being yourself and that you are pretty on the inside.

Here’s the real message. If the producers are gonna do a movie based on the novel, one of the lessons is the longer they have an ideal story based on the book put on hold, the more duller the final result would actually get by the time it was released.

Seriously, it seems like McG was fast fowarding much of the city plot just so he can get to the smoke scenes which just happens to be less stellar and very similar to the arena part of the Hunger Games. All so he could cram it all in a hour and a half movie. In that case, he didn’t do a good job. Hey, it could always get more ugly.

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.

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

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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!

Upcoming Summer Blockbusters 2024

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I thought I might give you a little schedule for the year’s blockbuster season!

ACTION/ADVENTURE

What kind of summer action movie is there that doesn’t have fights and explosions?

June 7th: Bad Boys for Life (Sony Pictures)

June 7th: Hit Man (Netflix)

June 21st: Trigger Warning (Netflix)

June 28th: Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter 1 (Warner Bros)

July 19th: Twisters (Universal/Warner Bros)

July 26th: Deadpool and Wolverine (Marvel Studios)

August 9th: Borderlands (Lionsgate)

August 9th: The Instigators (Apple TV+)

August 16th: Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter 2 (Warner Bros)

August 16th: The Union (Netflix)

August 23rd: The Crow (Lionsgate)

ANIMATION

Now that kids are out of school and homework is out of their schedule, they now have the time to check out these sequels and originals

June 14th: Inside Out 2 (Disney/Pixar)

June 14th: Ultraman: Rising (Netflix)

July 3rd: Despicable Me 4 (Universal/Illumination)

August 2nd: Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (Netflix/Nickelodeon Movies)

COMEDY

If the movie is good, funny! If not, summer cricket sounds

June 28th: A Family Affair (Netflix)

July 3rd: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix)

July 18th: My Spy: The Eternal City (Amazon Prime)

August 2nd: Harold and the Purple Crayon (Sony)

August 2nd: My Old Ass (Prime)

August 15th: Jackpot (Prime)

DRAMA

Laughing out loud is fine, but being a serious isn’t all bad.

June 21st: The Bikeriders (Focus Features)

June 21st: Kinds of Kindness (Searchlight)

June 21st: Fancy Dance (Apple TV+)

July 4th: Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (Angel Studios)

July 12th: Fly Me to the Moon (Sony/Apple Studios)

July 12th: Sing Sing (A24)

August 9th: It Ends with Us (Sony)

August 23rd: The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat (Hulu)

August 23rd: The Forge (Affirm Films)

HORROR/THRILLER

One way to cool off during a hot day is getting chills and goosebumps.

June 7th: The Exorcism (Miramax)

June 14th: The Watchers (New Line Cinema)

June 28th: A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount)

July 5th: MaXXXine (A24)

July 12th: Longlegs (Neon)

August 2nd: Cuckoo (Neon)

August 9th: Trap (Warner Bros)

August 16th: Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios)

‘The Greatest Hits’ actually became ‘The Greatest Mediocre’

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Romance, Drama, Fantasy

Studios: Searchlight Pictures

Cast: Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet, Austin Crute and Reeta

Director: Ned Benson

Writer: Ned Benson

Producers: Ned Benson, Stephanie Davis, Shannon Gaulding, Cassandra Kulukundis and Michael London

Music by: Ryan Lott

Rated: PG-13 for drug use, strong language and suggestive materials

Release Date: 04/12/24

Runtime: 1h 34m

Tagline: Find the right song, change your past. Find the right person, change your future.

Favorite Character: David Park

Quote: N/A

Fun Fact: Played at 2024 SXSW Festival.

The Review: There are times when you will be hearing a certain song on the radio that will slightly bring you back to the moment of your past. Whatever it is, it is either a good memory you want to relive or a bad one you’d rather forget.

Both in her past and present, Harriet Gibbons (Lucy Boynton) is a music loving-ish main character who has been wearing headphones all the time. It’s not because she is trying to get lost in music. It is pretty much a opposite in fact. A couple years ago, she met and fell in love with a stranger (David Corenswet) at a music festival. As a couple years go by, it went all smoothly like it was a cheesy Hallmark movie.

Sadly, that whole Jack and Rose roleplaying ended when there was a car accident involved. Max was killed in that accident. While Harriet did survived, she ended up with some psychological scars from that moment. It was that exact horrible moment when Harriet would be like Barry Allen in the lab accident. She can time travel. No machine or fancy technology needed. All she needs was music that reminds her of her time with Max.

As much as time travel seems like a pleasing soulution, she just can’t seem to prevent the accident. And considering how much grief she’s in, she has to attend a Supporting Group (led by Reeta) of people going through loss. It is then she meets an David Park (Justin H. Min) an antique store owner mourning his parents along with his sister (Andie Ju) Sure David may be a great guy, but he cannot replace Max at least not according to Harriet.

Ned Benson’s idea of turning that moment into a time traveling feature does sound like something we all can relate to, especially if it’s the time when you are in grief. Unsurprised, it was a very thin romantic story that doesn’t cover enough romance to be consider one. The Greatest Hits, fortunately wasn’t The Greatest Miss but I think if Ned Benson could put more to the thought of the plot, then it would become The Greatest Hit with emotions. The ending was believe it or not, a good choice.

Abigail showed us that the horror genre are in good hands of the duo directors, Radio Silence

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Rating: Full

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Studios: Universal Pictures/

Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir and Giancarlo Esposito

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet

Writers: Guy Busick and Stephen Shields

Based on: Dracula’s Daughter

Producers: Paul Neinstein, William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, Chad Villella and Tripp Vinson

Music by: Brian Tyler

Rated: R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use

Release Date: 04/19/24

Runtime: 1h 49m

Tagline: Children can be such monsters

Favorite Character: Abigail

Quote: “I’m sorry about what’s gonna happen to you.”- Abigail

Fun Fact: 95% of Abigail’s stunts was done by Alisha Weir herself.

The Review: I’d bet horror fans everywhere are bummed about the fact that Wes Craven is gone, luckily there are two of the horror directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and have their own production company. Like other major directors, they would go off to explore other genres. Before that happens, we got another scary movie of theirs to explore.

Radio Silence’s retelling of the Universal’s 1936 Dracula Daughter tells us a different kind of a vampire story, about a talented little ballerina named Abigail (Alisha Weir, Matilda the Musical) who gave us her demo during the opening credits. There is one twist though, she is a vampire. And perhaps a talented actress too since her expression kidnapping was so real during that part. They didn’t confirm that she is a classic monster till later in the film but we all probably already knew that. We do see Abigail retiring to her bed, acting all like a human being and not a stereotypical vampire that sleeps in coffins.

Moving on to the kidnappers, The opening pulls off a stunt that makes you think ‘I thought this was a horror movie, not a crime movie’ because, well, it does feel like a crime thriller, for the first 10 minutes. The leader (Scream’s Melissa Berrera) leads the team to kidnap the daughter (Abigail) of the wealthy man and bring her to the wooden mansion, intend to have her handcuffed to bed until her father gifts them with $50 million. I love the fact that the mansion well ensembles the setting from one of Radio Silence’s other films, ‘Ready or Not’

The group wad given instructions by Gus Fri…err i mean…Lambert assigned codenames to them, preventing us from learning their real names and identities but don’t worry, you’ll find out about them later. For the first moments, Abigail will fool the kidnappers by acting all damsel in distressy. Then…Karma will take a bite on them. Let’s check the horror tropes for this movie. Lock in the mansion? Check! The group slowly getting picked off one by one? Check! The remaining survivors trying to survive and get out? Double Check!

I would like to credit Composer Brian Tyler for giving us an epic version of the Swan Lake in what perhaps is one of the best parts of the film! I am not gonna say much, you’ll have to check it out for yourself! I almost forgot to mention something. One of the members of the soon to be unfortunate kidnappers, Dean is played by Angus Cloud who sadly passed away last July. It was sweet for Radio Silence to make him a ‘In loving memory’ trope before the end credits.

This is more of a horror movie for those who enjoy more of the bloody parts than the campy jumpscares. Yes, the final film wasn’t all too bloody brilliant, but the idea of a vampire ballerina is indeed is! I mean, what horror filmmakers wouldn’t have thought of that?

Road House (2024)

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Action, Thriller

Studios: Metro-Goldwyn Mayer

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida and Conor McGregor

Director: Doug Liman

Writers: Anthony Bagarozzi, David Lee Henry and Charles Mondry

Based on: the 1989 film by Hilary Henkin and David Lee Henry

Producer: Joel Silver

Music by: Christophe Beck

Rated: R for violence throughout, pervasive language and some nudity

Release Date: 03/21/24

Runtime: 2h 1m

Tagline: Take it Outside

Favorite Character: Dalton

Quote: “It’s been a while since I’ve been clubbing.”- Knox

Fun Fact: There is a bar next to the book store called ‘The Double Deuce Restaurant’ which obviously pays homage to the original Road House movie.

The Review: It was 1989 when Patrick Swayze became a tough bouncer in the cult classic ‘Road House’ and when they remake cult classics, chances are it won’t meet up the fans expedition. I may even make them think ‘Why did they even have to remake it?’ like 2011’s Footloose. Thankfully, Doug Liman’s take isn’t those kind of remakes.

Just like the others, there are some major changes. Instead of giving us a character that didn’t need a backstory, gives us an added story to the main character. For Gyllenhaal’s version, he portrays a UFC fighter who just couldn’t get over the time that he accidently killed one of his opponents in a match. His second chance comes when a stranger (Jessica Williams) offers him a job as a bouncer in the road house called…well…’The Road House’ in the fictional Glass Keys in Florida Keys. Things however, don’t go smoothly, where he meets new friends also meets new threatening enemies.

Watch both versions of Road House back to back and you might see the one biggest difference, where it takes place. The remake swaps a midwestern Missouri town with the one in Florida Keys. But to be honest with you, I actually believe that 2024 Road House got the location right. It’s the setting that gives the viewers vibes of the stylish 1980’s TV series Miami Vice. Or to those who had a PS2 in 2002, the controversial Grand Theft Auto Vice City. Both of these media may actually have influenced Doug Limin to create a new type of story for the 2024 remake, I’d be surprised if they haven’t.

There may be one reason you would be checking out the 2024 Road House, the brawls . And talk about some of the insane stunts! For example, the one scene where Dalton takes a nice stroll along the edge of the bridge when suddenly the truck ran him over and…I won’t spoil it for ya but it is insane! I havn’t seen the original but i have a feeling the villain would be something to take seriously. The villains in the 2024’s version is not exactly memorable except for maybe Knox (real life fighter Conor McGregor).

2024’s Road House is much more of a silly flick you’d watch for just for the heck of it. Jake Gyllenhaal was pretty much acting all douche like he’s auditioning for the role of Deadpool but he would still entertaining enough to give the old viewers a chuckle and more violent enough to feel like they are in front row seats of Wrestlemania.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

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Rating: Empty

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Monster

Studios: Warner Bros Pictures/Legendary Pictures

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns and Fala Chen

Director: Adam Wingard

Writers: Simon Barrett, Terry Rossio, Jeremy Slater and Adam Wingard

Based on: Godzilla by Toho

Producers: Alex Garcia, Jon Jashni, Eric McLeod, Mary Parent, Brian Rogers and Thomas Tull

Music by: Antonio Di lorio and Tom Holkenborg

Rated: PG-13 for creature violence and action

Release Date: 03/29/24

Runtime: 1h 55m

Tagline: Bow to your new king.

Favorite Character: Shimo

Quote: “Is that a mini Kong?”- Bernie Hayes

Fun Fact: The baby Kong in the movie is named ‘Suko’

The Review: Last time we saw a giant ape and a giant lizard crossover, they were fighting for…i don’t even know what they were even fighting for. All I know is that film was half epic, half boredom. Perhaps this sequel will be more epic….or not.

We continue their epic with Kong, who has been acting all too human, relaxing in the spectacular Hollow Earth (I wish that place was real) while Godzilla is sleeping in Rome’s famous Colosseum and gaining radiation in France. And for the human plot, a deaf girl Jia (Kaylee Hottle) is now living with scientist Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), trying her best to be a good mother and trying to get her newly adopted daughter to live a normalized life, but when she was once part of the Iwi Tribe, it ain’t gonna be easy. Especially when you have a psychic dream about Kong.

For the major event, the sinkhole opens and with that, we are in for another monsterous adventure. The transportation dives into a beautiful new world, I can tell you the audience will be seeing the screen in awe. There should be a storyline that would match the amazing mysterious inner planet. Nope. There really isn’t. Sure there is fighting involved, I mean why wouldn’t there be? But that is all there is for the rest of the film. Just preparing to fight and fighting. Just like the previous entree.

I have never seen last years Japanese Godzilla Minus One but after getting an VFX Oscar and getting critical acclaim, it tells me that GMO’s take on the classic monster is so freshing, as for Godzilla x Kong 2, it isn’t. Mostly because the uncanny CGI was too distracting. The new monsters added to the film series is the best part of the mindless Monsterverse the two titans for this film. Mothra’s return, wasn’t too bad but could improve. Baby Kong is cute, but he and Scar King fell victim to the could-have-been-better CGI. And as much as I want to love Shimo for it’s diamond sparkly fins, it looks more like a plastic toy you buy at Target.

Crossovers are supposed to be epic. There must be a better way to get the two monsters to work together. But if you are a fan of both Godzilla and King Kong, you will cheer. Try cheering at the theater, that makes the whole experience more fun.

Dune Part 2

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama

Studios: Warner Bros Pictures/Legendary Pictures

Cast: Timothy Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Lea Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Writers: Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve

Based on: the novel by Frank Herbert

Producers: Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, Patrick McCormick, Mary Parent and Denis Villeneuve

Music by: Hans Zimmer

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some suggestive material and brief strong language

Release Date: 03/01/24

Runtime: 2h 46m

Tagline: Long live the fighters

Favorite Character: Feyd-Rautha

Quote: “You may die. You may see. The beauty and the horror.”- Lady Jessica

Fun Fact: It took 44 days to film to film the Sandworm riding scene.

The Review: When it comes to franchises, sequels don’t usually live up to the original, but sometimes, it does. Some may surprise you like last years Dungeons and Dragons movie and others it actually isn’t surprising, like the part 2 of this beautiful epic sci-fi movie.

Part 2 picks up after the first one on a desert planet, Arrakis where Paul Atreides (Timothy Chalamet) and his pregnant mother (Rebecca Ferguson) are with the Fremen clan that they finally found with some help of Paul’s literal dream girl (Zendaya). Now in order for Paul to gain the Fremen’s trust he needed, he must complete some training one involving a megazilla moment of him riding on what they called a ‘Grandfather’ Sandworm. Meaning it could be the largest sandworm in the desert!

Dune 2 succeeded in bringing the audience to a new world. And these sets, I don’t know if they are real sets or CGI. Now if you aren’t familar with Frank Herbert’s story, you might at first think one of the first scenes takes place on Mars. I don’t blame you because that, my friend, is how good the cinematography is. and the part with the Emporer’s nephew (Oscar nominated Austin Butler) being the highlight of the film along with the Harkonnen’s black and white film sequence gives the film more of a specticule. That, the visual effects and score is already up to win those categories for the 2025’s Oscars (bring it on Furiosa).

You might have noticed that as we get further into the movie series or franchise or whatever, we also get further into the story that was created from the mind of Frank Herbert. For those who say the 2021’s Dune doesn’t have a plot, I can tell you that this one adds more to the plotline. Now the one negativity about the film was the whole entire movie feels like it only tells the 2nd act of the story, meaning when the film ends, the Sci-Fi chronicle still won’t be even over yet!

I can tell you, Dune Part 2 ROCKS! Totally exceeding the first one by far, but I swear if they don’t make the third one and make it like Return of the King, there will be problems for the franchise. So we’ll just have to wait for a couple of years to see if Villeneuve can properly close the book.