Month: March 2025

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+