Month: July 2026

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of July 13, 2026

The Odyssey
Rated R for violence and some language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
In Theaters
When you think Christopher Nolan, your mind should immediately imagine big, smart epic filmmaking. For decades, he has brought us some of the grandest movies imaginable, such as The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar, Inception and his recent Oscar-winner, Oppenheimer. Now he is taking on The Odyssey from the ancient Greek poet Homer. The story takes place after The Trojan war as King Odysseus of Ithaca (played here by Matt Damon), and his men, make the journey back home after winning the war. But instead of going straight home, they make a few stops along the way, all the while testing the gods and confronting monsters, deadly armies and all sorts of perilous traps. Meanwhile, Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland) are held captive in their own kingdom by suitors who want to marry the Queen, in case of the death of Odysseus, and overthrow the prince. From the moment the movie starts, you know you are in for a long but deeply satisfying ride. While it’s a bit of a slow burn at first, that is just Nolan setting up the stakes, and as soon as the action starts, it hardly lets up. There is danger around literally every corner and our heroes find themselves knee-deep in it every time. It’s hard to review a film such as this without over-using words like impressive, impactful, and huge, but it is all these things and more. The cast itself is one of the finest ever put on screen, full of Oscar-winners and iconic figures such as Damon, Holland, Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Mia Goth, and many, many others. Nolan has never had an issue attracting great actors to his scripts, but The Odyssey is just ridiculous. He also brings back long-time collaborators such as cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and composer Ludwig Göransson to a production worthy of their skills and talents. What is most important here is Nolan’s vision. He is thoughtful in every detail, telling a story that will be greatly appreciated by fans of the work, and to those that have never heard of it before this weekend. He makes it relevant to today’s political climate without making it preachy or distracting. In the end, you get an Earth-shattering, monumental motion picture that will leave you exhausted but still thrilled that you were able to experience the three-hour journey. If you do get the chance to see it in IMAX, I would highly advise doing so. This is the first movie ever filmed 100% with IMAX cameras, with visuals and sound truly worthy of the technology. A+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of June 29, 2026

Lucky Strike
Rated R for language, violence and some grisly images
Rotten Tomatoes Score 57%
In Theaters
Based on true events, Lucky Strike tells the story of a soldier (Scott Eastwood) during The Battle of the Bulge who finds himself the lone survivor of an attack, but deep behind enemy lines without any aid to come get him. Using his wits and a desire to survive, he must make his way through the German lines and back to safety. Director Rod Lurie (The Contender) has given us some really great films over the years, so expectations were high. I found the movie to have a 70’s feel to it, like maybe a vehicle for Steve McQueen or even Eastwood’s dad, Clint. It is definitely a one-man show, and Scott is good enough here. The action is tight, at least tighter than the script. The dialogue was predictable and what you would expect from a screenwriter who grew up on these types of films. The story was also something that most have seen before, but if you’re new to war movies, you might not get the sense of that. To get down into it, the movie at times gives you the feel that you are watching the movie within the movie. In Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a character much like our hero here in a film called the The 14 Fists of McCluskey, which gets fully fleshed flashbacks. DiCaprio plays a character similar to Clint Eastwood in that film, which to me makes sense with this new story. Alas, I was distracted enough during the film to not take it as seriously as it wanted to be taken, thinking up these alternate scenarios. Perhaps if they got a bigger star, the film could have held more interest. As a theatrical release, I think it is going to suffer under the weight of the tentpole films at every corner. But it might possibly find a home on streaming soon, giving it a home with an audience who thrives on these kinds of projects. C+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of June 22, 2026

Supergirl
Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, action, language, and smoking
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54%
In Theaters
At the end of last year’s Superman reboot we found out that Superman’s dog, Krypto, was actually the pet of his cousin, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock). This story plays as a prequel, but not quite an origin story. The setup occurs as a young girl’s entire family is killed by a villain with super strength, known as Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). The girl (Eve Ridley) wants revenge and seeks out anyone brave enough to help her. Supergirl just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time (a bar on a distant planet where alcohol has greater effect on her) when she finds herself forced to protect the girl from the villains she is trying to recruit. The two have a run-in with Krem and Krypto is shot with a poisonous dart that will kill her best friend unless she finds the antidote within 3 days. The unlikely team go after Krem, one to avenge her family and the other to save her pet. The story is definitely serviceable, especially since it is most action and very little fluff. We do get a backstory for her origin, but it is quick and painless and actually sheds light (literally) on some important Superman lore. I’ve never really had a lot of interest in the Supergirl storyline, but I found this to be a rather compelling spinoff idea. First off, and I thought this last year, the dog is genius. Without Krypto, this new franchise would have a tough time generating this much interest. I find that we are immediately taken with the plot here and ready to rescue the super canine. I liked the approach they took making it a buddy pic of sorts, but while I think Milly was a great piece of casting, I didn’t think much of Ruthye’s character and Krem seemed more like a baddie from Guardians of the Galaxy than from the DC Universe. The only A-lister in the cast is Jason Momoa as the wild card Lobo, another part I’m not sure we needed but who at least added some comedic effect. Once again, this summer delivers another film that I didn’t love yet didn’t hate. I did find some potential for the franchise, but I’m still not sure what they are going to do with it. While James Gunn didn’t direct this one (it was helmed by Cruella director Craig Gillespie) you can still see his fingerprints all over it. I’m hoping that eventually that will be a good thing and not what we ended up getting towards the end of Zach Snyder’s run. B-

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of June 15, 2026

Toy Story 5
Rated PG for some thematic elements and rude humor
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
In Theaters
Back for another sequel is the gang from Toy Story. If you remember from the last film (and I kinda forgot), the new kid is Bonnie and her favorite toys are Jessie and her horse Bulls-eye. But when her parents try to help her make friends by buying her a tablet to make her fit in, she quickly forgets about all of her physical toys and Jessie ends up dejected and back at her original home with potentially a new owner. But she desperately wants to get back to Bonnie and get her off her tablet. As you can probably tell here, this is a Jessie movie and not a Woody and Buzz movie. They are both in it, but as side players. The thing I’ve always loved about the Toy Story franchise is the buddy element. It’s always worked for me, and I’ve really enjoyed all of the movies to date. This latest story seems to be an inevitable direction as electronics have taken over. I would think that phones and console games are a more dangerous enemy, but the tablet is at least a toy-sized device that can house a Toy Story character easily enough. The film is well-enough made with some clever turns and a good message for kids. But what I loved about the first four films (and the Buzz Lightyear spinoff) doesn’t exist here. Those films weren’t just tolerated by adults to keep their kids happy but rather enjoyed by adults. This one, unfortunately, seems like a kid’s film that won’t irritate the parents too much while they are in the theater with them. In this regard, it feels like they are out of stories to tell and leaning in on the cash grab, taking advantage of the fact that Toy Story is still a massive franchise worth exploiting, but not exploring. Perhaps the biggest disappointment here is that the director is long-time Pixar fixture Andrew Stanton (A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo) who traditionally brings his A game. But this one doesn’t feel like a Stanton project at all. It’s like they still have a pretty car, but it has run out of gas. C+

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of June 8, 2026

Disclosure Day
Rated PG-13 for some bloody images, action/violence and strong language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%
In Theaters
If there was a poster child for movies about aliens from outer space, it would be director Steven Spielberg. It’s hard to imagine a conversation about the genre without mentioning movies like E.T., Close Encounters, War of the Worlds, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (we try to forget about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). And now there is Disclosure Day. The movie feels like Spielberg from the very beginning. With a script from David Koepp (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds), a score by John Williams and cinematography by long-time collaborator Janusz Kaminski, there is no doubt who made the film from its opening moments to its closing credits. The story starts off like a mystery that the audience must be patient to unravel. A young man (Josh O’Connor) is running from an unknown branch of the government with some kind of secret technology in his possession. We are unaware of what this tech does, but we do know it is dangerous and weird things happen around it. We also know that a young weather girl from a Kansas City television station (Emily Blunt) suddenly has a gift to read minds and then understand and speak in all sorts of languages. When she goes on the air, she utters what sounds like a form of communication, but no one knows what it is. The two must somehow find each other and figure out how to use their abilities to change the world. I’ll let you unravel the story from here, as I think knowing too much can greatly hurt your enjoyment of the film. Personally, I wish I hadn’t seen a trailer and had gone in completely cold. What’s important here is the theme of the movie. It’s almost like Spielberg is preparing us for something. With his previous films, he made us either fall in love with or fear aliens. But it was always with a fantasy narrative. Here, it seems he is trying to tell us that information is about to hit, and you need to be ready for it. The world needs to be ready for it. It’s a move to have us at least somewhat mentally prepared for the inevitable disclosure that might be just around the corner, if you believe in that sort of thing. It won’t be just a small release of videos meant to distract from the Epstein Files, but full evidence of alien life on Earth. He asks big questions, like how religion will come into play. What effect will it have on the planet. Will it cause chaos? Will it simply change our worlds’ focus? It’s an adult alien film, and I do have a little concern that it won’t perform well at the box office, but it’s still worth watching, and might give us a lot to chew on as we begin to process its themes and its overarching questions. A-