Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of May 16, 2022
Firestarter
Rated R for violent content
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 12%
In Theaters and Streaming on Peacock
In 1984, this horror film, based on the book by Stephen King, was met with mediocre reviews, but managed gain an audience and propel the career of its main star, then child actor Drew Barrymore. Now in 2022 it is getting a reboot, with even worse reviews and proof that the filmmakers learned no lessons at all from the first outing. The film tells the story of a young girl with special telepathic abilities, including the ability to ignite any target with her mind. Her father (Zac Efron), having some special powers himself, attempts to save her from being a government target, but forces are at hand to capture her and her talents. There is plenty wrong with this film including some horrific acting and poor production values. Efron was not bad, but he looked out of place amongst the B movie cast on display here. To drag the film deeper through the mud, they chose to have John Carpenter write a cheesy score and the lousy special effects would have looked crappy in 1984. The book, from what I remember, was riveting and scary, but for some reason a second film has now failed in delivering anything close to its original vision. C-
Dog
Rated PG-13 for language, thematic elements, drug content and some suggestive material
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
Available on Disc and Streaming
Channing Tatum stars and co-directs this buddy comedy about a soldier who is tasked with driving a dog down the Pacific Coast in order to attend a fellow soldier’s (and the dog’s trainer’s) funeral. The dog turns out to be quite the handful and gets him in a lot of trouble and danger along the journey. We’ve had a lot of these sorts of films in recent years, so making the film seem fresh and nuanced is a really challenging feat. But fortunately there is a lot of skill at hand here and the film manages to both touch and entertain in equal amounts. With both human and dog suffering from PTSD, the narrative finds a way to grab your heart just when you think things are taking a silly turn, grounding the story in a way that proves necessary in order to keep its authenticity alive. Ultimately it ends up being an organically sweet yet fun road movie that is actually worth the trip. B+
Senior Year
Rated R for brief drinking, drug use, sexual material and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 29%
Streaming on Netflix
Rebel Wilson heads up this adult comedy about a young cheerleader who goes into a coma for 20 years after a tragic cheerleading accident, only to wake up as middle-aged woman who still feels the need to fulfill her high school dreams. Returning to her high school to complete her senior year, she sets out to become captain of her cheer squad and the homecoming queen, and she will do anything to accomplish this life-long goal. I have mixed feelings on this one. There are some genuinely funny moments here and Wilson goes over the top in both good ways and bad. While I laughed plenty of times, I cringed even more, especially during the multitude of choreographed dance sequences that did nothing for the film but strip away what little dignity it had. By the end, my eyes couldn’t roll any further into the back of my skull as I tried to refrain from turning the channel. C