CRUNCHONTHIS.COM

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of April 21, 2025

Andor: Season 2
Rated TV-14
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
Streaming on Disney+
Since Disney+ launched in 2019, their goal was to produce a huge amount of content for their Star Wars franchise, filling in the gaps of the massive universe with new stories and characters for us to adventure with. In 2022, they released the first season of Andor, created by Rogue One writer Tony Gilroy (also of Bourne Identity and Michael Clayton fame), which tells the story of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in the events that lead up to 2016’s Rogue One. It was an adult-themed Star Wars show that struck big with fans hungry for a series that was worthy of the Star Wars label. Season One left us with huge chasm of time to fill before the impending doom of its hero, which we are quickly made aware of in season 2 when we see the time stamp at the beginning of the first episode: BBY 4, or 4 years Before the Battle of Yavin, the war that would take down the empire in 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope. I have to admit that I’m not as negative on the multitude of new movies and series as some other fans have been. I like nearly all of them okay and enjoy learning more about the Universe surrounding the stories that filled and deeply influenced my childhood. But while I like (sometimes really like) the content seen so far, I LOVE what Disney has done with Andor. In this new season, you not only see the adventures of renegade rebel hitman Cassian Andor, but we also get to become more aware of the rise of the rebellion through the actions of antiquities dealer/resistance leader Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard) and the politician who would take over the rebellion in Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly). We also get more interplay from the evil forces of the galactic empire, including super baddie and Death Star mastermind Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and Deedra Meero (Denise Gough), the ambitious officer who is desperately trying to prove herself while trying not to think about the evil she is committing. It all results in a strong group of characters and a complex web of plots with writing that is undeniably powerful and effective. What also works here is the ticking of the clock with a countdown that will effect the entire galaxy, although unbeknownst to them in the moment. By the end we get an impressive and entirely bingeable series that will undoubtedly leave fans satisfied. While most of Disney’s shows are released weekly for the course of the run, this series will be dropping three per week, starting this week, and will finish its series of 12 episodes in a month’s time, without forcing you to wait until July to complete the watch, or start the binge. A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of April 14, 2025

Sinners
Rated R for sexual content, language, and strong bloody violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
In Theaters
Writer/director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) teams up with Michael B. Jordan again for this supernatural thriller about a pair of twins in 1930’s Mississippi (both played by Jordan) who come back to their hometown, after a stint in Chicago, to open a juke joint. After buying a local sawmill, they hastily put together a band, featuring their young cousin Sammie (newcomer Miles Caton), a blues prodigy with huge potential, and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) a local legend as the band leader. Opening night begins to go off with nary a hitch, until a trio of music-loving vampires show up to try to crash the party. When the teaser premiered last fall, I didn’t know what to think of it. Was it a crime drama? Thriller? Horror flick? Musical? Race war? All I did know was that Ryan Coogler has an impressive resume and the likelihood of disappointment was low. On that last point I was correct. Sinners does not disappoint. It works on so many levels and its genre is hard to account for. It is a true piece of art with elements of all the above, elevating it to an almost indescribable experience that will simply leave you floored by the end. On that note, make sure you stay until after the credits roll. Obviously, Coogler is the glue that holds the film together. His writing is strong here and the directing is visionary. And Jordan serves as a great lead, playing two roles and having a fun time while doing it. One unexpected element is Miles Caton and his character Sammie who blows the roof off the place in a star-making turn that will leave audiences buzzing. And then there is the wind in the movie’s sails provided by Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther, Oppenheimer) whose musical vision is breathtakingly on display here. While it’s early in the year movie-wise, I can easily see this score being the one to beat come awards season. Rich in blues, classical and rock, the music is the palette the movie is being painted on, giving the film an almost ethereal feel and unforgettable quality. A

Sacramento
Rated R
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
In Theaters
Lovable loser Michael Cera is about to become a father, but his neurosis is driving his wife (Kristen Stewart) nuts, and something needs to change for both of them. Writer, director, and costar Michael Angarano provides that catalyst for him when he shows up unannounced, wanting to take a road trip to Sacramento from Southern California in order to spread his father’s ashes. But nothing his friend says is on the level and the road trip turns into a chaotic circus with two unstable individuals trying to figure out their lives. If you like awkward comedies (and I mean super awkward), this might be a good buddy movie for you. It is quirky to the extreme and a bit of a mess. But I will admit that the humor isn’t for everyone, and its oddness can be a bit unsettling. Personally, and probably unprofessionally on my part, I was thrown off by Cera’s horrible beard, which he should have never grown. But aside from the nightmarish facial hair, the project just seemed off to me, which I feel was on purpose. There were moments I laughed, but there were more where I could tell they were trying to get me to laugh, unsuccessfully. At least it was short, but I would still only recommend a watch once it comes out on streaming and the only thing you have to lose is 90 minutes. C+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of April 7, 2025

The White Lotus: Season 3
Rated TV-MA
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Streaming on MAX
Now that this popular TV event is over for the season, it is fully available to binge at your leisure, and I would highly recommend you do so sooner than later, as it is the show everyone is talking about and you are bound to learn things you don’t want to know, the longer you wait. In season three, creator Mike White brings us to a beautiful resort in Thailand. The show begins with gunfire and a dead body floating in water before it goes back a week, giving you time to put everything together before finding out what actually happens in the season’s finale. As you’d expect, the characters are full of drama, maybe more so than previously, and you can see the death coming from inside any of the camps. The season brings on some big names and an overall very talented ensemble, with some of the biggest names stepping in later in the season. The group includes Walton Goggins, Michelle Monaghan, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey and Patrick Schwarzenegger, as well as some names that we will no doubt be seeing and remembering in the future. While the previous two seasons have brought about some disturbing and reckless behavior, this season takes the cake with themes of incest, familicide and revenge. But it’s mostly in good fun, if you have the right sense of humor, and the drama proves to be riveting. While a lot of folks choose to wait and binge, millions of people tuned in every Sunday, impatiently waiting to see what would happen next to this huge gang of misfits. Yes it pushes the envelope, but in a way that makes the audience into more a voyeur, looking through the window, watching what they know they aren’t supposed to see. This just adds to the fun, and by the end, your jaw will surely drop to the ground as much of the story is resolved. I’ve always enjoyed Mike White’s projects, but I’m especially glad that he has found his footing here and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for season 4. A

1923: Season 2
Rated TV-MA
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
Streaming on Paramount+
This Yellowstone spinoff got off to a hell of start, leaving us with a huge cliffhanger waiting for this series finale. Picking up right when there left off, John Dutton’s great aunt and uncle (Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford) are being threatened by the town’s billionaire (Timothy Dalton) who wants their land in order to build a giant ski resort. Meanwhile, Dutton’s mother and father (Julia Schlepper and Brandon Sklenar) are desperately trying to make it to Montana from Africa in order to finally be together and save the ranch. Having been separated in season one, they both are making the difficult journey with a huge plethora of obstacles at every turn. While I love the show and the drama it provides, these obstacles for getting back to Montana will truly wear you out as it doesn’t seem that anything goes right for them at all. But the acting and the tremendous production carry us through the blood-drench conclusion that everyone wanted to see coming. Unlike Taylor Sheridan’s other hit shows (Yellowstone, Lioness, Landman) this one comes close to being pornographic or at least like something you used to see on late night Cinemax. Dalton’s character is a sadomasochist and the scenes involving his two prostitutes are highly sexual and disturbing. I remember I tried to get my mom to watch 1923 at the beginning of last season, and I am glad that she ignored me on that one. The Hallmark Channel it ain’t. But regardless, this final chapter in the 1923 saga is a solid piece of entertainment and another excellent example of Sheridan’s work. A-

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 31, 2025

The Friend
Rated R for a sexual reference and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
In Theaters
Based on the award-winning novel by Sigrid Nunez, Naomi Watts plays a single novelist living in a small New York City Apartment whose mentor and friend, played by Bill Murray, commits suicide, and bequeaths his giant Great Dane to her. As her apartment doesn’t allow dogs, and she has no interest in taking care of a 150-pound behemoth, life is tough as she tries to figure out a new home for the animal. But as she starts to bond with the dog, things start to change. I was really looking forward to this one after seeing the trailer, as it looked like a great Bill Murray vehicle that would undoubtedly be sad at times, but it also looked to have real potential for being funny. So there was a little disappointment that Bill Murray plays a relatively small role and there is very little humor to be found. While Murray doesn’t have the expected screen time, he is looming large in every single frame, as the entire film is basically about him. While the film lacks in laughter, it turns out to be a highly intellectual and poignant look at the relationship between a dog and their owner, as well as a thoughtful viewpoint of suicide and legacy. With the subject matter being so grim at times, the filmmakers make a tremendous attempt at trying to keep the tissues away by keeping the focus off the sad things, while always making them the elephant in the room. This proves to be effective, and while I did drop a few tears, I wasn’t balling like I expected as I moved through the film. Naomi Watts was such perfect casting here, turning in a deep and moving performance which draws in empathy like a black hole. You can easily put yourself in her shoes as you experience her ups and downs. This ends up being a very different kind of dog movie than I have ever seen. As I have already inferred, there is no hijinx or silliness anywhere to be found here. Instead, this turns out to be a more mature discussion about the relationship between man and beast which fixates more on the human and the influence that dogs have on them. B+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 24, 2025

Bob Trevino Likes It
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and thematic elements
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
In Theaters
In 2024, this little independent movie by filmmaker Tracie Laymon won the prestigious South by Southwest Narrative Feature Competition and Audience Awards, making her the hottest new indie filmmaker on the scene. And she just happens to be from Houston. I have to start out with a disclosure that I have been friends with Tracie for over 15 years, and while 2024 was a great year for her, she has been working hard for a very long time to get there, which makes me extremely proud of her accomplishment here. In this fictional take on true events from her own life, the story follows Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira), a traumatized young woman with perhaps the world’s most selfish father (French Stewart) who finds a friend online (John Leguizamo), who happens to have her father’s same name. The two lost souls come together to form a tremendous friendship that would change both of their lives for the better. Sweet but never sappy, the film had real potential to transform into a movie of the week flick, but never treads there as it really dives into Lily’s pain and insecurities, helping the audience not only understand her but truly empathize, cheering her on as she learns to stand up for herself. But it is also the plight of Bob Trevino that wins you over as you experience his pains and the giant hole in his heart that allowed the friendship to develop. Leguizamo has always been a solid contributor to the films he chooses to be in, but he’s never done anything like this, and while I’m sure his presence helped to get the film made and seen, this project should have a tremendous positive impact on his career as well. And relative newcomer Barbie Ferreira holds her own and more as her arc proves to be one worth getting behind. Holding it together is the strong personal writing and directing from Laymon, giving the movie real gravitas as you move through Lily’s journey. And while I may be a bit biased here, I’m not alone when I say that this is the best film so far in 2025, and an indie that is definitely worthy of a night out at the movies. A

The Penguin Lessons
Rated PG-13 for some sexual references, thematic elements, and strong language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%
In Theaters
Another remarkable story based on true events takes place in 1970’s politically charged Argentina as a British school teach hired to teach English (Steve Coogan) finds himself the not-so-proud owner of a penguin as he cleans one up after an oil spill, and the government won’t allow him to leave it behind. So, he takes the penguin back to his school, where it starts to influence everyones’ lives. Directed by Oscar-nominee Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) the film earns its stripes as a feel-good comedy, but weighted down by the politics of the day (which feel relevant now), the movie does its best to transcend what could have been merely a cheesy little animal comedy into a much more broad and effective drama. It helps to have Coogan who was perfectly cast here in a role that very few actors could have realistically portrayed. And the irony of having Jonathan Pryce as the head of the college was also a nice touch as one of Pryce’s most popular roles was playing Juan Perón in Evita, and the turmoil of the timing of this story comes at the heels of Perón’s death. So, while the film is adorable and quite funny, it also has a serious touch that proves to be substantial. Overall, the movie is both enjoyable and rewarding, and while it’s hard to believe something like this could have actually happened, it’s fun to learn that not only did it happen, but it was just as impactful to those who were part of it. B+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 10, 2025

Novocaine
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout and grisly images
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
In Theaters
Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is just a friendly, nerdy assistant bank manager with a disease that leaves him unable to feel actual pain. Since he must be extremely careful in his life choices, he spends most of his time playing video games at home when he’s not at work. But when he quickly falls in love with a new bank employee (Amber Midthunder) he begins to consider throwing caution to the wind. And when she is taken hostage by a trio of bank robbers, he goes after them with reckless abandon in order to get her back. Ever since he came on the scene with The Boys, Quaid (son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan), has become a very popular lovable loser. And he plays that to a T here. You immediately like him and want him to succeed in love and life, while feeling bad for his disability. But while he can die from even minor mistakes like chewing solid food (apparently he can bite his tongue off and not know it), his exploits become incredibly fun to watch as you feel the pain that he doesn’t. The filmmakers find increasingly creative ways for Nathan to hurt himself without actually hurting himself, and the worse it gets, the funnier (and cringier) it gets also. Of course there are some mental gymnastics you have to get past, like the almost complete lack of law enforcement (apparently, the San Diego police department takes off during the Christmas holiday), but those issues are handled well by Matt Walsh and Betty Gabriel, who at least make the paltry police presence entertaining. Overall, this is a really entertaining date movie with an edge that hits as a thriller, romantic comedy and pseudo horror flick due to the extremely violent images that will have you looking away much of the time. A-

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 3, 2025

Daredevil: Born Again
Rated TV-MA
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Streaming on Disney Plus
Sometimes being a “film critic” comes with some amazing perks. In this case, it’s Disney allowing me to watch the entire season of Daredevil: Born Again before its release this week. Daredevil was never considered one of Marvel’s prime properties until the MCU suddenly gained interest, and thusly grabbing it away from Netflix. But rather than change it from its gritty, R-rated feel and production style, producer Kevin Feige decided to keep it as is and continue on. So, returning here are the incomparable Charlie Cox as the blind vigilante and Vincent D’Onofrio as the villain Kingpin. While D’Onofrio’s Kingpin got some play in the poorly received MCU streamer Echo, it was his return to Daredevil that has gotten all the fans excited, and rightfully so. With a first episode that will leave you breathless, we find Daredevil’s alter ego, defense attorney Matt Murdoch, laying low, and mostly staying out of trouble. But he badly wants back in when he discovers that Kingpin has somehow now become the mayor of New York City and is up to something sinister. With most of the episodes serving their own storylines while servicing the larger picture, the show is a breeze to binge at the end but will be something to look forward to if you don’t mind the weekly waits. What will have most fans excited is that Marvel has largely left Daredevil alone. It is a tough, no-nonsense vigilante thriller with undertones of our current political climate. If there is any difference, it’s that the writing has improved, with less of the cheesiness that we occasionally got previously. Since I can’t talk plot points yet due to the majority of the ten episodes coming over the next two months, I’ll just point out that you won’t be disappointed. There are some truly next-level baddies with Kingpin’s shadow casting down on the whole thing. A

Paradise: Season 1
Rated TV-MA
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
Streaming on HULU
Finishing its first season this week is the new streamer Paradise from HULU. This unique crime thriller starts hard as a secret service agent (Sterling K. Brown) assigned to the president (James Marsden) finds the president dead in his room upon taking over his morning duties. This sets off a season-long mystery to discover who the killer is, and subsequently solve the enigma of why this is all taking place in a city under a mountain after what appears to have been an extermination-level event in the outside world. This extremely creative series idea from This is Us creator Dan Fogelman doesn’t really deliver on all its promises, as its ideas far exceed its budget, but it does provide a nice end of the world thriller with some really big surprises and even bigger questions. Sterling K. Brown proves to be one heck of a choice for the lead, and he never disappoints, but the writing and directing at times can be pretty lame, and the rest of the cast isn’t at the skill level to pull it off without flaw. But it starts interesting and gets better as it goes, moving past its obvious limitations with flare. And as it has been quite the popular streamer, season 2 is already in the works. B

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of February 10, 2025

Love Hurts
Rated R for strong/bloody violence and language throughout
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 19%
In Theaters
Superbowl weekend is traditionally the worst weekend at the box office for the entire year, and thus any films opening this weekend are essentially studios sending their dead-on-arrival films to the graveyard. And while recently some studios have had some critical success with some of their low budget horror flicks like Heart Eyes, Love Hurts is a prime example of what the studios are trying to rid themselves of. In this uber-short (83 minutes) action flick, recent Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) is a lovable real estate agent who is forced back into the life he tried to escape when his brother discovers his whereabouts and a girl he allowed to survive (former Oscar winner Ariana DeBose) comes back to seek revenge. While the reviews would have you believe that this is a film completely without merit, there is some mighty good action and martial arts in this project. Almost enough to get you to like it. The fighting choreography is impressively fun, and the characters are different enough to draw interest. There are also some decent laughs here and there. What hurts here is the story, for which there isn’t much of one. From the beginning, you should be scratching your head about why a person trying to stay hidden and incognito has his name on every billboard in town. That clue alone is enough to make this tale completely nonsensical. But then the plot kicks in to help you realize that this movie is all style and no substance. The one saving grace is you’ll be watching the trailers almost as long as you’ll be watching the movie, and that brevity might be its best quality. C+

The Gorge
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, brief strong language, some suggestive material, and thematic elements
No Rotten Tomatoes Score at the time of writing
Streaming on Apple TV+
Two highly skilled assassins (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy) are appointed to a one-year post as a solo guard in a tower on each side of a gorge, somewhere in a remote part of the world. They are explicitly told to not communicate with the other, but a sweet little romance begins to form right before they discover the true purpose of their jobs: keep out the deadly monsters who are trying to escape the gorge. This is certainly an interesting little straight-to-streaming project from Dr. Strange director Scott Derrickson, which provides a little bit of everything you want from a Valentine’s Day pic: romance, thrills, and horror. In that regard, the film works, for what it is. It also helps to have two great actors in the leading roles, with Sigourney Weaver thrown in for good measure. While the monsters are well-crafted, the secrets of the gorge aren’t the most compelling, but the action is fairly non-stop, overcoming any obstacles that a poorly conceived plot would provide. B-

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of February 17, 2025

Captain America: Brave New World
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, action and some strong language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 49%
In Theaters
Other than last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel has slowed its roll as it has attempted to give us a new meta storyline that would eventually lead to a new Avengers epic. Unfortunately, fans didn’t care much for the whole multi-verse thing (aside from making fun of it in Deadpool), and the new franchises within the franchise didn’t take as well as they had hoped. For this new Captain America movie, you might have some homework that you won’t like, or you can just go in hoping to get the gist. The quick and easy is old Captain is gone and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) now holds the shield. Watching the streaming series Falcon and Winter Soldier will give you enough background there. The painful part is that this really follows up on the heels of The Eternals as the story revolves around the celestial corpse that rose out of the Indian Ocean. America has learned to mine it and holds the first example of adamantium, a substance more powerful than vibranium. The newly-elected president (Harrison Ford) sends the new Cap to fight a few battles, but the real enemy lies within as a somewhat embedded villain (Tim Blake Nelson) discovers a way to turn soldiers against themselves, which causes an international incident, which leads to a hidden issue with the president that makes him angry – and you don’t want to see him when he’s angry. There’s a lot thrown at you here and honestly, there’s too much to catch. The story feels like it is a middle episode of a series, with poor exposition and almost no resolution. Personally, I hate it when Marvel does this. I’d rather have a complete story that can serve as a later puzzle piece, but instead we get here a piece we don’t even know what to do with. I’m sure they hope this will all make sense later, but they’ve been going this direction for a while now. For the last couple of years, we’ve gone from excellent Marvel films to uninteresting and confounding storylines that just don’t fit, and worse, ones we don’t care about. With this new Captain America, if you go for the special effects and the fights, you’ll get a few and you should be happy. The production is good, and the acting is okay given how bad most of the dialog is. But it’s definitely a turn off your brain kind of flick, which will not serve the modern MCU well. C+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of January 13, 2025

Wolf Man

Rated R for grisly images, bloody violent content and some language

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 

In Theaters

From Blumhouse and writer/director Leigh Whannell (Upgrade, Invisible Man) comes this new take on the wolf man story which follows a young man (Christopher Abbott) who makes a trip home to remote Oregon to clean out his father’s house after the state declared his absence as likely death.  Bringing his wife (Julia Garner) and daughter (Mathilda Firth) along with him, the trip escalates into a nightmare quickly when their moving truck crashes while trying to avoid a strange creature in the road, and that creature scratches his arm before running away.  They quickly find their way to his childhood home to barricade themselves in, but unfortunately his scratch becomes infected, and he begins to evolve (or devolve) into something else.  For the last several years, Blumhouse has been pumping out some very decent b movie horror flicks, and this is no different.  It is effectively scary at times, with a few jump scares, but mostly a slow burn suspense as you know what is coming, but you don’t know how it will be delivered.  The acting is good enough, although I expected a little more from Garner, who blew me away in Ozark.  I was also thrown off by her distracting mom jeans, which had me cringing pretty hard.  But overall, I liked the interesting take on the classic horror story and the production is solid.  Although the film was pretty simple, its attempt at horror worked and I found my heart rate elevating many times throughout.  B-

Better Man

Rated R for nudity, drug use, pervasive language, sexual content and some violent content

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88% 

In Theaters

Every year, I run out of time when trying to watch every single film that needs to be seen before I vote for awards and write my end of year favorites list.  And thus, I always have films that would have or could have made my list or ballot but get left out.  This year, I would count Better Man among these.  The film is based on the life of mega pop-star Robbie Williams.  Who is Robbie Williams you may ask?  Good question.  He is big everywhere except the U.S., and he is especially huge in the UK.  And I mean huge.  Look him up.  In this brilliant film by writer/director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman, Rocketman), Robbie chose to have his character played by a chimpanzee since he considers himself to be not quite fully evolved as a human.  It was also a smart way to have his voice give life to the character without having to have him act in the film.  Honestly, audiences didn’t know how to take this, and thus they didn’t.  It opened this last weekend and literally made about a million dollars.  That’s it.  But those who did watch it enjoyed it.  I loved it so much I had to watch it again the next day, and now I can’t get the songs out of my head.  Songs that probably every Brit knows by heart, but which I have never heard before last week.  The film is an exciting musical adventure, and the chimp thing works incredibly well.  When you get into the film, not only is it not distracting, but it turns into a powerful and moving picture that will be hard for you to shake.  I fear that theaters might have dropped it like a hot potato due to its lack of performance, but I have no doubt that you’ll be able to watch at home in no time, which I highly encourage.  This is really a special little film that most folks will find absolutely mesmerizing and eye-opening.  A