Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of March 21, 2022
The Lost City
Rated PG-13 for suggestive material, language, some bloody images, partial nudity and violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
In Theaters
Sandra Bullock is a romantic novelist who, along with her books’ cover model, played by Channing Tatum, find themselves on a real adventure on a remote island after an eccentric rich kid, played by Daniel Radcliffe, kidnaps her in an attempt to locate a hidden treasure. Along the way, a former navy seal, played by Brad Pitt, steps in to try to help with the dangerous rescue. As expected, the movie is charming and fairly entertaining, largely due to the larger than life actors on screen playing the story out. There are some nice laughs and a few thrills with plenty of sexual tension thrown in. Unfortunately the adventure isn’t really that adventurous and there are so many plot holes and inorganic plot devices that by half way it is hard to take the film seriously. Aside from the fact that it is way too reminiscent to Romancing the Stone, and the filmmakers were too concerned with just getting to the next big joke or set piece, giving the film a lack of originality and forcing it to be overly predictable when it is just trying to make the audience to not have to think too terribly hard. Luckily there aren’t a ton of these kinds of films, so they are nice to take in once in a while. That being said, last year’s Jungle Cruise was a way better example of the sub-genre, and it performed horribly at the box office, so we will have to wait and see if audiences will be kinder to Bullock than they were to The Rock and Disney. B-
Windfall
Rated R for language throughout and some violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 55%
Streaming on Netflix
Jesse Plemons is a tech billionaire who is looking forward to a quiet weekend with his wife, Lily Collins, at their vacation home when they discover someone has broken in (Jason Segel) with plans to steal from them. When things don’t go as planned, he decides to hold them hostage until a large sum of money is delivered for him. With only three actors and a fourth bit part, the movie feels like it could have been more successful as a play than a movie. They go out of their way to keep it simple and straight forward with some nice touches in the cinematography and music departments. The problem is that while the characters possess some of the raw elements that make a film like this work, those elements don’t materialize and by the end you just wait it out so you can move on. With better dialog and richer character development, this might have been a much more interesting project. C
The Godfather Trilogy: 50th Anniversary 4K Edition
Available on Disc and Paid Streaming
Every few years we get a new addition of The Godfather and if you are like me, you look to upgrade. From tape to DVD, from DVD to Blu-ray, and now from blu-ray to 4K, each usually coming every 5 years. Is it worth buying it again? If you are like me, you want to dig through the new special features, for which there are plenty here. In addition, this version has been meticulously remastered and restored. Did my eyes see much of a difference? Did I learn that much more knowledge about one of my favorite films? Not really, but these features are there. Probably the best reason to shell out the bucks is that the third movie has been offed and replaced now with The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, a far superior and way shorter recut of the less than stellar Godfather Part III. The suggestion I would give would be to forgo the physical copy which is almost three times more expensive than the streaming version, and even better, Apple TV tends to update your version when you purchase and a new one comes out in a few years. I bought the trilogy years ago, and when I go back to watch now it automatically pops up in 4K. It’s almost like future-proofing your favorite classic movies. #godfatherhacks