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Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of June 1, 2026

Masters of the Universe
Rated PG-13 for some suggestive material, sequences of violence/action and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75% at time of writing
In Theaters
I grew up with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. At times it gave me inspiration. At others, severe body dysmorphia. Looking back, you can easily see that it was a franchise designed to sell toys (and possibly protein powder). The Saturday morning cartoon told the story of a handsome young prince named Adam, who upon lifting his sword and saying “by the power of Grayskull! I have the power!,” is transformed into a giant, muscle-bound hero. Together, with his giant tiger and several other gym rats with weird powers, they fight the skull-faced Skeletor and his minion army. Honestly, the show was super dumb, as was the Dolph Lundgren movie in 1987. So hopes weren’t too high going into this one, to say the least. But I try to have an open mind, regardless of the film, and in this case I’m glad I did. Playing the role of He-Man is relative newcomer Nicholas Galitzine, who turns out quite perfect for the role. With Jared Leto as Skeletor and Idris Elba as Duncan, the film made some smart moves with casting, giving the movie much more street cred than you would expect. But what really gives the film its edge is its sense of humor. The movie never takes itself seriously, as it shouldn’t. This is a stupid story and the more earnestness you tell it with, the worse it becomes. The action figures had the dumbest names you can imagine, and to give some rationale behind this, they wrote them in as the names young Adam gave them before he was sent to Earth. Upon his return fifteen years later, he only knows them by their ridiculous monikers from his childhood. What should have been a big budget Hollywood dud finds itself rescued from itself by a smart narrative that makes everything tongue in cheek. While not as clever as the Barbie movie, Master of the Universe manages to impress where it shouldn’t, giving us a much more entertaining two hours than you would ever expect from such a picture. B+

Backrooms
Rated R for some violent content, language and bloody images
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
In Theaters
Based on the viral Youtube videos, Backrooms tells the story of a lonely furniture store owner (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who discovers a hidden collection of mazes under his store with nightmares lurking around every corner. There are some very scary moments throughout the film, with some decent tension and jolting jump scares. And it helps to have two Oscar nominees starring with Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) to give the film realism and credibility. But honestly, you need a primer for this one. If you don’t know what the movie is before going in, it won’t help you while you’re watching. There is backstory that is important, and personally, I hate it when a movie requires homework before watching it. Maybe in the future I could find this to be a decent horror film, but upon my first viewing, I found the unfamiliarity with the prior videos to be a handicap, making the movie that much harder to understand or enjoy. C+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of May 18, 2026

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Rated PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 61%
In Theaters
With the success of the Disney+ television series, it only makes sense that Disney would want to create an entire movie around their Mandalorian franchise. For those of you who have completely missed out, the Mandalorian tells the story of bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe who takes up with a young apprentice who went by the name “baby Yoda” until it was revealed that his real name was “Grogu.” Not one of my favorite creative choices, but that is the way. Together, they would go on missions that would both make them a little money and take on any Imperial powers that scattered through the universe after the death of Darth Vader. In this adventure, Mando and Grogu are hired by Jabba the Hutt’s siblings “The Twins” to find their nephew, Rotta the Hutt, voiced here by Jeremy Allen White, who has been kidnapped by a notorious gangster. But when they find that he was not actually kidnapped, there is a change of heart which forces the hunter to become the hunted. Quite honestly, the film is exactly what I thought it would be: a two-hour version of the tv show, with a much bigger budget. From the moment the film starts, it is one action-packed scene after another, with tons of monsters and drama. Aside from a dreadfully boring scene before the third act, the film keeps you on your toes. While the special effects and action are exciting enough, the story lacks any heart or weight. It Is like a video game where you go from one fun challenge to another, but the movie did nothing to push the story of Mando and Grogu forward. I expected much of what I saw, but I was really hoping for a lot more, especially from a theatrical release. I do like the whole “Western” theme they have on the show, and that is alive and well here, but with so much at stake for the overall Star Wars Universe, I’m surprised that Disney didn’t try a little harder. B-

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of May 4, 2026

Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)
Rated PG-13 for suggestive reference and strong language
No Rotten Tomatoes Score at Time of Review
In Theaters
There have been very few artists in our relatively short modern music scene that have resonated like Billie Eilish. At 24 years of age, she has already garnered the status of giants like Taylor Swift, Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. In this newest theatrical concert experience, one of the most famous and respected filmmakers in the world, James Cameron, takes on her live experience with a stunning 3D filming that has to be seen to be believed. Between each song is a short interlude, showing everything from her concert prep, to her creative process, to her puppy room used to both improve her mental health and find homes for rescued dogs. Sure, the film sells her as a generational talent with a heart of gold. But in this case, perhaps she is. Having met her myself a couple of times, she has always been genuinely nice and her songwriting and performance skills are truly spectacular. And since she is so young, she has had relatively little time in her life to experience the drama that is seemingly inevitable for such a star. So in lieu of said drama, we get pure creativity on a massive scale, co-directed by one of the greatest filmmakers of our lifetime. What this movie shows best about Billie is that she is not on stage merely to entertain – she is there to connect. The film shows how Billie has changed her audiences lives for the better, given them a place to fit in, and in some cases truly saved them. I can highly recommend this unusual theatrical experience if you get the chance to go to the movies while it’s still there. It won’t be nearly as powerful watching from your couch. A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of April 27, 2026

Animal Farm
Rated PG for thematic elements, language, some action/violence and rude humor
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 28% at time of writing
In Theaters
I have to admit that this one is a little perplexing. The immensely talented Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings) directs this animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic story about what happens when the animals revolt and start running the farm. The main character, a Pig named Lucky (voiced by Gaten Matarazzo of Stranger Things) wants to do what is right for all of the animals, but the head pig Napoleon (voiced by Seth Rogen) wants to run things like an authoritarian, taking all the spoils for himself and eliminating good leaders that stand in his way. The screenplay is from one of the best adult comedy filmmakers in the business (Nicholas Stoller) who did Bros, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek) and the stellar cast includes Glenn Close, Steve Buscemi, Kieran Culkin, Woody Harrelson and many other big names. The odd part, though, is the studio. Angel Studios is known for its faith-based, conservative material. And to me, this movie looks to be wagging a finger straight at the current administration. Sure its just a film they acquired and not one that they set out to make, but it’s an odd choice for them regardless. Not in a way that should offend too broadly, but rather in a way that says “what is going on now was foretold decades ago and we need to heed the warning.” I have to admit that the animation is a little crude, and from what I’ve read, the narrative doesn’t exactly stay lockstep with the source material (I’ve never read the book), but I can certainly appreciate the guts to represent a film that might anger, or at least shock, its main audience. As for being family-oriented, the kids may like it well-enough, and it’s definitely kid-safe, while the adults will spend most of the time deciphering the message. B-

Beef: Season 2
Rated TV-MA
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
Streaming on Netflix
The first season of Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, was such a crazy and unexpected experience that I honestly couldn’t wait to see where they might take a second season. If you’ve seen the first season, you know that that story is completed. So this second journey is with all new characters and fresh beef. The dramedy revolves around a middle-aged married couple (Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan) who are caught fighting by two of their country club employees (Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny), with misconceptions and bad decisions flying around waiting to hit whoever is in the way. The wrench in the works comes in the form of a new owner of their club (Oscar winner Youn Yuh-Jung) who arrives with her own set of problems needing to be solved. While all of the poor choices end up with rather bad resolution, the show lacks the actual “beef” of the first series. The spirit is kind of there, but the inciting incident seems less than believable and the story evolves into a wild, shapeless form that is hard to follow at times due to its inconceivable nature. I can see why such a cast would take on this project, but I didn’t think the story-telling to be nearly as strong as the first, and ultimately, the last chapters, while creatively disastrous, are hard to connect with. C+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 16, 2026

Project Hail Mary

Rated PG-13 for suggestive references and some thematic material

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

In Theaters

Based on Andy Weir’s best-selling sci-fi novel, Project Hail Mary tells the story of an astronaut and scientist named Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) who wakes up in space to find his crew is dead and he is the only one left who can study why the sun is dying and what can be done to save it. While at the study point in space, he comes across another life form in the same predicament who is trying to save his own planet from the dying sun. The two become instant friends and scientific colleagues as they try to work together to find a solution to save their respective planets. There is so much to love about Andy Weir’s stories. The last major motion picture based on his work, The Martian, was a thrilling tale that blended strong emotional content with hardcore science fiction. Now this one takes it up a notch. From the opening moments where Dr. Grace wakes up in space, you get the full sense of the mission, it’s importance to mankind, and how immensely difficult it will be to accomplish the feat. Through a series of flashbacks, you get to know exactly what gets him to his current situation and why he is the perfect person to be there. He is a brilliant man who wants nothing more than to find the truth, but who also knows that the truth can get you into a little trouble. Or a lot of trouble. He is like most of us, at least in spirit, which allows the audience to more closely connect and empathize with his plight. And then you get the story with Rocky, which just makes the movie that much more special. While there are other actors in the movie, including Oscar-nominated Sandra Hüller, this really is the Ryan Gosling show, and he delivers here like no one else could. I can’t even think of another actor for this role after seeing this. On short videos and even SNL, the joke is that the movie is like Interstellar meets E.T., which is a moderately cringy Hollywood formula idea. I wouldn’t exactly say that this is accurate but being that Interstellar and E.T. are two of my favorite films of all time, to strive for such a thing, while still making an incredible film that stands on its own, is a wonderful endeavor. My only critique is that the film is a bit too long. I’m not even sure what I’d cut, but it does lag just a bit. But that fault is completely forgivable given that you get such a remarkable experience out of it. And for the most part, the film is family friendly too, allowing it to hit the four quadrants probably better than any movie in years. I really do get a sense that this will go down as one of the great sci-fi classics of our lifetimes. A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 30, 2026

Daredevil: Born Again – Season 2
Rated TV-MA
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Streaming on Disney+
Season One of the Daredevil reboot on Disney+ might have ended with a huge cliffhanger, but at least Marvel and Disney didn’t make us wait overly long for some resolution. In this newest iteration of the hit dark super-hero drama, the villain Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) is back and now the mayor or New York City. With his secret police force which forgoes due process and rules with an iron fist, corruption is committed out in the open and the blind vigilante Daredevil (Charlie Cox) is one of the few things that can get in his way. While the mild-mannered lawyer turned masked hero still won’t purposefully kill, he seems a lot more comfortable with a loss here and there and the people he surrounds himself with are willing to take a bad guy down the hard way. The relevancy to the current administration and ICE are less than subtle here, but just different enough to excite, and maybe at least not turn off, most of its audience. During the first season, you could draw a comparison, but this show seems downright prophetic when you examine it closely enough. While the Netflix version was very good, this new storyline is simply stronger in all aspects, including acting, action, production and relevancy. I’m very happy that they kept Cox and D’Onofrio in the starring roles, as they both have really grown into their roles as they have ultimately only gotten better since their debut over a decade ago. While it’s not exactly Marvel’s most popular franchise on TV right now, it certainly is their strongest, and I hope they can continue on with the roll they seem to be on. I hope that Disney can continue to keep churning out more quality seasons of this streamer without losing the new edge they have given it. A-

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 9, 2026

Hoppers
Rated PG for mild language, action/peril and some scary images
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
In Theaters
It’s been a while since Pixar has delivered the kind of quality we were used to in the first twenty years of their existence. Their films have always pushed the envelope in terms of animation, but in recent years, story has really suffered. So it’s nice to see them back on track with this latest animated pic. Hoppers follows a young girl named Mabel (Piper Curda) who wants nothing more in life than to save her local pond she grew up going to. But the mayor (Jon Hamm) wants to build a highway right through it. She finds out that he can’t do that if the wildlife comes back to the pond after a strange disappearance, but she doesn’t know how to bring them back. Then one day she discovers that her college professor is working on a secret project where humans can transfer their brains into robotic animals to better study them, and she gets the bright idea to “hop” into a robotic beaver. Once inside the beaver, she has the ability to work with the various animals of the forrest in an attempt to stop the human encroachment. Just in time for a fiery political year, Pixar is making a film about political activism. And it really works. The story is creative, the writing sharp, the characters are interesting and it is as funny as it is moving. Maybe more so. There were also some big laughs here, which came at completely unexpected moments. Some of the story choices were a bit odd at times, but I give risk-taking the blame and I have no problem with that. Personally, I’m thrilled to see Pixar still attempting to make innovative original content, and the story feels as fresh as any tale like this could be. There is a moment where Mabel asks her professor if the hopping is just like Avatar. And of course they deny. I’m assuming this was a conversation the filmmakers had with tons of people as they were pitching it, but thankfully this movie is a very different category of filmmaking and any similarity is surface level. I love it when films take me by surprise and this one most certainly did. A-

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of February 16, 2026

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
Rated R for pervasive language, violence, some grisly images and brief sexual content
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
In Theaters
I got a hold of this little gem the week after its release, but man am I glad I caught it. Brought to us by Pirates of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski, the movie begins as a seemingly homeless crazy man, played by Sam Rockwell, shows up in a cafe, claiming to be a man from the future who is trying to save the world from a collapse brought about by unregulated AI. He claims to have been in this same cafe over a hundred times, and he knows for certain that the perfect combination of people joining him will help him change the world, but he doesn’t know what combo yet. Convincing enough people to join along, he sets off on an adventure to take out the creator of the world’s demise. At this point, the film tells the brief backstories of its cast, making sure we know just enough about them and the overall world around them, and enough to bring us back to the mission at hand and the consequences of its failing. With a solid cast, including Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Juno Temple, Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz, the film quickly turns into a phrenetic but fun mess that is as entertaining as it is relevant. It reminds me of the 2026 film Idiocracy, which is incredibly important and prophetic, but has only achieved cult-classic status due to not being able to deliver a great movie, but rather a bucket of great ideas. This movie does that equally well and could possibly find the same audience. I’m not sure why it didn’t get a bigger release, but it’s certainly worthy of one. I can’t wait to turn people onto it, just for the nutty conversations that will obviously blossom. I found the film to be highly entertaining and engaging on a surface level but humorously frightening in a way that is both serious and not. It wants the audience to laugh out loud and yet still take the subject matter seriously. Maybe it’s too complicated and deep for most. Or maybe it’s too silly. That will be in the eye of the beholder. But I hope a lot of folks get to see it so that we can have those conversations for decades to come. B+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of February 9, 2026

Crime 101
Rated R for sexual material/nudity, language throughout, and some violence
No Rotten Tomatoes Score at time of writing
In Theaters
Thor, Hulk, Catwoman and the new Joker (Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry and Barry Keoghan) team up in this new crime thriller about a criminal with a heart of gold (Hemsworth) who is stealing jewelry along the 101 Highway in California in order to make enough money to retire a rich young man. But when a cop (Ruffalo) begins to hunt him and a young, ambitious fellow criminal (Keoghan) begins to steal his future heist gigs, he is forced to make some big choices about his theft career. The first thing you’ll notice is that you couldn’t ask for a better cast. The ensemble here is solid and their characters are complex enough that you can understand why they wanted to play them. And they all do a good enough job. They are all believable and compelling. So the biggest question arises from why is the film so blah? Perhaps it’s the horrific title, which makes a little more sense once you understand that it’s named after U.S. Route 101 and not a crime class, but the very play on that is cheesy at best. Maybe it’s because the pacing is a bit of a bore. Maybe it’s because it wants so badly to be like other crime thrillers, that its overall familiarity hurts its likability. Whatever it is, the film just never comes together like it should, giving us a film that is not bad, but also not great. It falls right in the middle. You won’t hate that you spent the money on it, but you’ll wish you had waited until it was streaming. While I won’t give too much away here, the ending is a complete cop out and changing that could have fixed the entire project. Writer/director Bart Layton’s vision for his characters is so far out of reality that it throws you off, and not in a good, you-won’t-see-it-coming kind of way. C+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of February 2, 2026

Dracula
Rated R for Violence, some gore and sexuality
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54%
In Theaters
The Fifth Element creator Luc Besson is back in action, taking on the legendary romantic story of Count Dracula. Originally called Dracula: A Love Tale when it was release in Europe last summer to a mediocre reception, the movie is finally getting its U.S. debut, where it hopes to do at least slightly better. Dallas area’s own Caleb Landry Jones plays Vlad, set against Christoph Waltz’s priest, who becomes the film’s Van Helsing character, in spirit, not by name. Production-wise the film is beautiful and flashy, fully reminiscent of a Luc Besson production. They went all out on costume, makeup and set design, and the score by Oscar-winning composer Danny Elfman is truly remarkable. It will be hitting my playlist regularly now that I have discovered it. Where the movie struggles is it feels like Besson got his inspiration far more from watching other Dracula movies and less so from the book. In this regard, it is almost too much like Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula then it should have been. Sure, they embellished and changed some things up, but many of the elements are still there in full display. That being said, I really liked Caleb’s portrayal of the count, even if the actors around him were a bit boring for a film such as this. When he is on screen, you don’t really need much more. I like Christoph Waltz in nearly anything he does. Here he is a bit underused, but still strong. Having him play roles like this in Frankenstein and Dracula back-to-back is an odd choice for him to make, but technically this one did release first, at least for most of the movie-watching world. The most important requirement here is the film’s entertainment value, which fortunately the film manages to pull off. It was beautiful to watch and engaging from end to end, even if it had its problems here and there. I can easily see it as a decent date night movie, much more so than the other options showing in theaters right now. B