Month: May 2024

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of May 27, 2024

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Rated R for sequences of strong violence and grisly images

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

In Theaters

With the immense success of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, writer/director George Miller decided to give us the backstory for Charlize Theron’s Furiosa with this huge prequel.  Set many years before the events of Fury Road, a young child Furiosa is snatched away from The Green Place of Many Mothers by an evil Warlord named Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).  Forced to watch her mother die trying to protect her, she must first find a way to survive before she can strategize her revenge.  If you love the world of Mad Max, then this is a film that should have you excited, and you’ll probably walk away very happy.  It is a big, epic revenge thriller with many of the elements from all of the previous films.  I’ll admit that many of the big set pieces are just grander visions of the chase scenes from the last film.  While they look new and cool, they are largely unoriginal and they take away from the real spirit of the film, which is about vendetta at all costs.  Surprisingly, much of the film follows Furiosa as a young girl and it takes half of the film before Anya Taylor-Joy steps into the role.  She looks a little frail and fragile for the part in all honesty, but she is a fantastic actress and manages to fill Theron’s shoes just fine.  The real star of the film is Hemsworth, who manages to be a perfect sadist with a warped sense of humor.  You couldn’t have asked for a better villain for such a project.  As you would expect, the production is stellar and Miller really wants to give the audience its money’s worth.  But it’s two and a half hour running time seems pretty long and there are many moments when the film drags where it shouldn’t.  It’s one of those “I liked it but didn’t love it” kind of features that has the bones of something much better, but does a good enough job in entertaining, even with its limitations.  B

Hit Man

Rated R for some violence, sexual content and language throughout

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

In Select Theaters Now, Streaming on Netflix on June 7

Texas writer/director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Bernie) brings us this great little comedy, based on a real life character, starring fellow Texan Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) as a school teacher who moonlights with the New Orleans Police Department as a fake hit man trying to set up people looking to hire one.  When a beautiful and vulnerable women (Adria Arjona) attempts to hire him to kill her abusive husband, he stops her before she can get arrested, and then ends up starting a steamy relationship in the process.  While the film is mostly a comedy, it certainly has its dark elements as the plot begins to twist, but it also turns out to be one of the most entertaining films we’ve seen this year.  And while the film could have ended up being a predictable farce, Linklater keeps the movie fresh and nuanced, with a huge amount of creativity combined with a constant eye on how real people could or would behave in similar situations.  This authenticity elevates the film while still delivering the laughs and the thrills.  The movie also gives Glen Powell a huge steppingstone to what will most likely be a huge career.  But more than anything, I especially loved how Linklater turned the life of a very interesting dude named Gary Johnson (who passed away in 2022) into such a wild and crazy adventure that, while it might not be completely true, you really want it to be.  A      

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of May 20, 2024

IF

Rated PG for thematic elements and mild language

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 47%

In Theaters

This new family film from writer/director/actor John Krasinski (A Quiet Place, The Office) follows the life of a young girl (Bailey Fleming) who is going through a lot as she tries to process that her father (Krasinski) is about to have a major surgery (for an untold illness).  Having already lost her mother, she has been forced to grow up quickly and has lost all connection with being a child.  But when she moves in with her grandmother, she begins to see a group of Imaginary Friends (IF’s), and she goes to work with the man living with them (Ryan Reynolds) to help find them new kids to befriend.  For the most part, the film is filled with whimsey and creativity with a touch of magic.  There is a lot to like about it, with lovable creatures and a good message.  And the production is top notch with Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List) and Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (Up) providing the marvelous sight and sound to the project.  Where the film falls short is the story and unfortunately, the directing.  The narrative is more than a bit confusing, until the end where they try to clear it up.  In fact, the film purposefully confuses, as if it was worried that actually being on the level might give too much away.  But this only serves to give the film a dreamy, make-believe quality that takes you out of the picture.  All of this leads to the point where you realize that this pre-teen has practically no adult supervision as she wanders around New York City on her weird little mission that appears to have more to do with mental health issues rather than coming to terms with adult problems using her imagination.  I can just picture how a CPS employee would view this project.  As for the presence of Ryan Reynolds, I expected more in the way of a sense of humor.  While there are a few chuckles, it is far from funny and unfortunately it gets a little manipulative, trying to make the audience cry way more than it makes them laugh.  As for the audience, I think it is best-geared for a much younger, less-discerning audience who can just get by with enjoying the lively characters and the wonderful music and not think too much about what is actually happening.  C

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of May 13, 2024

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Rated PG-13 for intense sci-fi violence and action

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

In Theaters

Continuing the saga set up by the original Apes trilogy, several generations have passed since Caesar fell, and many different ape clans exist now , all with different laws, rules, and varying morals.  This story follows a young ape named Noa from a tribe of apes who have come to excel in raising and working with hawks.  As Noa and his two best friends find their eggs which will soon be their hawks to raise, they also discover a human female, who begins to follow them around in the shadows.  But one violent night, a clan of apes bearing superior strength and weapons, comes across their village while looking for the human.  Killing many and taking the rest as hostage, most of the apes are forced into slave labor by a ruler who calls himself Proximus Caesar.  Temporarily escaping capture, Noa finds the human but cannot elude the villain for long.  While in captivity, we learn that Proximus Caesar needs the slave labor to help open a vault built by the humans centuries before.  And the human, who goes by the name of Mae, will do anything to stop them from getting in.  Since we have lived through several of these stunning Planet of the Apes movies, we are already primed for what they can be.  With so many fantasy movies, the story serves the special effects, creating a mindless fantasy where not much thinking is involved.  But here, just like in the others from this newest edition of the franchise, the special effects serve the story, thus giving us a smart, thrilling drama that better captures our minds and our imaginations.  I really loved the characters here and what they were able to do with them.  I was also happy to see them start up something new now that the previous chapters have been told.  It certainly appears that a new storyline, whether it be a trilogy or even more ambitious, is coming our way, and I will park my nerdy butt in a chair for each one, with a tub of popcorn, ready to enjoy them.  A-

You Can’t Run Forever

Rated R for language, drug use, brief sexual content, suicide and violent content

Rotten Tomatoes Score: None at time of writing

In theaters and paid streaming

Oscar-winner JK Simmons (Whiplash) plays a man with a warped sense of humor, who goes on a random killing spree in the woods, killing nearly everyone he comes across, in a twisted sense of vengeance.  When he comes across a father and his teenage stepdaughter on a drive, he kills the father, but the girl escapes into the woods where he attempts to chase her down.  To be honest, almost all big actors make bad movies, and many even b-movies like this.  While it’s getting the big studio treatment from Lionsgate, this is ultimately a low-budget independent film with bad acting, bad writing and bad directing.  If you had seen it at a local film festival, sans Simmons, you might have enjoyed it for what it was, especially since the cinematography is good enough and the sound design is professional.  But it’s hard to remove all that with Simmons being so out of place within the context of nearly every other aspect of the film.  His motivation is silly, his actions are imprudently deadly without cause, and it feels like it is being violent just for violence’s sake.  The police response is comedically incompetent, and then there is the group of volunteers looking to find the girl, fully knowing that there is a gun-toting psycho on the loose nearby.  You want it be something it is not and it never delivers.  D  

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of April 29, 2024

The Fall Guy

Rated PG-13 for drug content, action and violence, and some strong language

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

In Theaters

From Deadpool 2 director (and former stunt man) David Leitch, comes this high-octane action comedy, loosely based on the 80’s television show of the same title.  Here, Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a legendary stuntman who gets spooked when a stunt goes terribly wrong.  Playing the part of Jody is Emily Blunt, a crew member Colt was in love with before his accident, only to ghost her afterward.  When he is called back into action again, this time to work for Jody, who is now a big-time director, he jumps at the chance of redemption and hopeful reconciliation, only to find that his life is in danger since the actor he stunts for (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is missing.  Packed with action and humor, the movie meanders between beats, never taking anything too seriously, but always having fun along the way.  Sure, the movie is essentially a series of big set pieces with the necessary story interjected to propel it, but even though the whole thing is ridiculous – it works.  Gosling is so perfect in this part, chewing up the screen with his very believable stunt man vibes, poking fun of Hollywood, while making you forget that he actually is Hollywood.  And with Blunt as his leading lady, you get fantastic chemistry and a believable romance.  The script never ventures too deep, but the surface-level courtship is more than enough to put a smile on your face.  And then there is Taylor-Johnson, who doesn’t really appear in the film until late in, but when he finally does show up, he gives us the frosting on the cake.  His Matthew McConaughey impersonation as the Space Cowboy is a riot.  While there are a few plot-holes and maybe a little too much tongue-in-cheek dialog at times, the faults of the project are largely forgivable, and the end result is a terrific date movie that should both excite you and at times even have you in stitches.  B+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton 

Week of April 8, 2024

Monkey Man

Rated R for sexual content/nudity, language throughout, drug use and strong bloody violence

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

In Theaters

Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) writes, directs and stars in this new revenge thriller about a young Indian man, living on the streets of Mumbai, who dreams of revenge against the man who killed his mother, and the system that gave that man power.  Shaping itself like an Indian version of John Wick (and even paying homage to that franchise) the film is an exhilarating action flick that captures your attention from the opening scene until the closing credits.  Showing the city as a cesspool of corruption and depravity, the movie doesn’t exactly serve as a travel commercial for Mumbai, but it does deliver a background that has you cheering for the hero that much more, as you see his struggle just to survive until he has the opportunity to follow his dream of vengeance for those that took everything from him.  Unlike Wick though, you don’t get the sense that his fighting ability comes from decades of skilled execution, but rather from just being desperate and scrappy.  With his big training montage at the end of the second act, I’m not certain that there is enough there to propel him into the finale, but it is nonetheless fun to watch, and it doesn’t over-pronounce itself.  Being that this is heavily focused on Indian culture and religion, much of the tapestry of the movie might not make sense to an American audience, especially the rationale for the title Monkey Man, which references the Hindu god Hanuman and his plight.  But having a great knowledge of Hinduism is hardly necessary since the universal tale of revenge is vastly more important.  If you’re still interested in learning more after you see it, then there’s a world of information available for you.  Overall, I found the movie to be a lot of fun and a tremendous amount of value to your entertainment dollar.  Consider me a Monkey Man fan.  A-

The First Omen

Rated R for violence content, grisly/disturbing images and brief graphic nudity

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

In Theaters

This period horror flick, taking place in the early 1970s in Italy, tells the story of a young American who moves to Rome to begin her life as a nun.  Before she can take her vows though, she discovers a series of grisly truths that cause her to give pause to her decision.  It’s so wild that the recent film Immaculate and this tale are so similar in their basic story, so much that it is incredibly distracting.  That being said, this is a better film, with better acting and far better production values, but unfortunately it is not extremely scary or disturbing.  Billed as the prequel to the original 1976 The Omen, and the trilogy that ensued, it’s hard to think of the film as anything but irrelevant in its goal to give a backstory to a set of movies that weren’t very good in the first place.  Although the original was a modest hit, making a prequel now is a rather risky venture given that so few people, outside of its cult following, could tell you anything about it.  They would have been better off here just creating a new franchise. C+   

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of April 1, 2024

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Rated PG-13 for creature violence and action

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54%

In Theaters

Now that Kong has been sent to live in the world that exists underneath the surface, he is trying to make his home one he can survive in safety and satisfaction.  But when he discovers a new tribe of giant apes led by a real baddie with a secret weapon, the scientists at Monarch devise a plan to have Kong and Godzilla fight the new creature together.  If you didn’t watch Apple TV’s new show Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and you can’t really remember what happened in the previous film, don’t worry.  It would be very hard to get confused here.  This film might have set a record for least dialog as the human plot is more of that of a narrator to what the Titans are doing and far less for plot development and actual meaning.  In fact, I would have preferred even less human interaction as almost everything the humans did was annoying and unnecessary.  Most people are coming to see a film like this for watching monster battles, and those are a plenty here.  The action sequences are quite fun, although pretty silly, and fully capable of filling up the time for a theatrically released film.  A lot of this new universe they have set up does’t make much sense, and can be quite tedious on the brain if you try to do the mental gymnastics required to try to figure it out, but when Kong rips a monster in half, or when Godzilla destroys Rome only to fall asleep inside the Coliseum, it proves that turning off your brain every once in a while is a justified thing to do.  And given that the movie was a smash hit on opening weekend, I’m guessing that we will see even more of these films coming our way in years to come.  B-

Wicked Little Letters

Rated R for language throughout and sexual material

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%

In Theaters

From Thea Sharrock, the director of The One and Only Ivan, comes this little British comedy about an older spinster (Olivia Colman) who gets the police involved when she starts to get vile and sexually explicit letters from an anonymous literary attacker.  She and her family believe the letters are from the single mother next-door (Jessie Buckley), who they assume to be a woman of poor character and loose morals.  But as the police learn more about the “crime,” the story begins to get more and more convoluted.  If you didn’t notice Sharrock’s name in the title, you might easily guess that this is a film by Mike Leigh (Topsy Turvy).  Especially since its dry wit combined with a phenomenal cast are very much his signature.  While the film is not a gut buster, it certainly is both very funny and quite entertaining.  Colman and Buckley play off each other extremely well, and while the plot is somewhat predictable, it is still effectively written so as to not make you care that you guessed it correctly.  If you are in need of an adult comedy that is slightly off-kilter, and full of loads of naughty verbiage, you will surely enjoy this dirty little picture.  B+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 25, 2023

Late Night with the Devil

Rated R for violent content, a sexual reference, some gore and language

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

In Theaters

This low budget horror indie from IFC stars David Dastmalchian (Dune, Oppenheimer) as a late-night show host from the 70s who has played second fiddle in the ratings to Johnny Carson for years.  In an attempt to drive said ratings, he plans a Halloween show for the ages, complete with a medium who can talk to the dead as well as a possessed teenager.  But when an evil spirit is unleashed in the theater, home viewers are given a bigger scare than they asked for.  For sure the story is interesting, and the performances are decent enough, for a B-movie.  But there’s a lot of that here.  If this were a major studio release, it would be widely panned.  But for an indie, it’s not bad.  Different expectations for sure.  Personally, I didn’t find the movie very scary or intense, but members of my family did.  So, in that regard, I can say that for the right audience, this might be a decent horror film.  But for many like myself, the movie is just a bizarre and intriguing found-footage pic with a smart angle that is well enough put together to be entertaining.  B-

Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces

No Rotten Tomatoes Score at the time of writing

Streaming on Apple TV+

Steve Martin has had one fantastic career, starting as an avant garde comedian in the 70s, followed by a great run on SNL, and then on to a legendary movie and television career.  This new documentary follows Steve’s life in two parts.  Part one focuses on his younger years up to his very first movies.  Part two shows an older Steve, along with his friends Martin Short, Jerry Seinfeld and others, as he recollects what has gotten him to what is going on today.  The documentary really helps you understand the comic genius that he is and at the same time gives you an appreciation for the person he has become and what shaped him.  If you don’t know much about the man, this will surely give you a great primer and springboard to go back and take in all of the classic films, television and recordings.  If you are like me and have loved the man all of your life, literally, you will now feel like you know the man personally and intimately.  It is a truly great homage to one of the greatest entertainers of the last half-century.  A

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of March 18, 2024

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Rated PG-13 for supernatural action/violence, suggestive references and language

No Rotten Tomatoes Score at time of writing

In Theaters

Following up on the events of 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Paul Rudd and  his new family have now moved from Oklahoma to live in New York City, where they have reinvigorated the ghost busting business.  But things go awry when a new spirit is introduced into the world who wishes to destroy the planet with frost.  So the new Ghost Busters and the old (including Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts) must team up to take on the newest monster before he exterminates mankind.  The movie manages to basically entertain throughout, although it tends to be so tongue in cheek that it never elevates to a decent narrative and unfortunately, most of the jokes fall pretty flat too.  I found myself chuckling here and there, but I never got a big laugh.  Or a big scare.  There is a lot of potential here to frighten, but as scary as the new baddie looks, he is just not very intimidating.  And while the actors all seemed like they were having fun – it never once looks like they were taking the project seriously.  As for the return of the old cast (in bigger parts this time out), it still seems like they are there simply for the nostalgia and not to actually add anything to the project.  So while the movie is sometimes fun, and even creative, it is also incredibly superficial and self-aware to the point that it doesn’t hit the highs that it is more than capable of hitting.  B-

Road House

Rated R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%

Streaming on Amazon Video

Loosely based on the original Road House from 1989 starring Patrick Swayze, this new tale follows Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton, an ex-MMA fighter with a death wish who goes to work to clean up a bar in the Florida Keys.  But the bar he’s bouncing at is the target of a local criminal determined to bring it down.  And he will do anything it takes to burn it to the ground.  This project has been getting a lot of bad press of late, mostly because Director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) was furious that it was going straight to streaming rather than getting a theatrical release.  I would agree with him that the film should have gone to theaters first, as it would have probably had some success there.  It’s not a great film, just like the first one was pretty bad.  But in spite of the terrible reviews, the first was a modest hit, especially for an R-rated film, and still has a small cult following today.  Here Jake goes all out for the role, looking spectacular with his new physique and you can tell he put a lot into preparing for the role.  And while the story is pretty lousy and the acting, for the most part, matches the story, the melee is what people will be watching for and they won’t be let down.  Larger than life MMA fighter Conor McGregor plays the hired hitman sent to take Dalton out, and the final battle is like Kong vs. Godzilla.  If that’s what you are into – you’ll be more than satisfied.  Personally, I would have liked better-than-B-movie writing and acting, but I could mostly appreciate the film for what it was and try to ignore what it wasn’t.  C+