I did not watch Beavis & Butthead when it was a series on MTV. The stupid humor was just too hard for me to watch.

Heh heh heh I said HARD heh heh heh

I did not know this new movie was coming out on Paramount + until I saw a review of it from Chris Stuckmann on YouTube.

Heh heh heh I said Stuck, man heh heh heh

Okay, enough silliness. Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe does a decent job of providing plenty of clever “stupid” story and does give us some funny moments and situations.

Beavis and Butthead get involved in a space camp (through machinations) and get selected by accident to go on a mission into space. Through misunderstandings, Beavis and Butthead get pulled into a black hole and sent from 1998 to 2022. Beavis and Butthead engage in future fish-out-of-water shenanigans all over the place.

I have mentioned before how I am not a huge fan of the type of humor that is being used in Beavis & Butthead. Just this weekend, I watched Clerks 2 and disliked it because of the overtly sexual jokes, and, of course, Beavis & Butthead Do the Universe is nowhere near the level of Clerks 2, but it is definitely in the same ballpark. However, this film uses the humor in an effective manner, in a way that informs the characters of Beavis and Butthead. I have always said that this type of humor works best when the writing is clever and works into the story and not just for shock value.

Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge does the voice for the two titular characters. Other voices appearing in the movie include Gary Cole, Nat Faxon, Chi McBride, Andrea Savage, Phil LaMarr, Stephen Root, Martin Starr, David Herman, Ashley Gardner, and Susan Bennett (the real voice of Siri).

For what this movie was, it turned out pretty decently. I did laugh several times and the story was fine. The “Watcher” Beavis and Butthead characters made me laugh all the time. It is just an hour and 25 minutes and an easy watch. It is streaming on Paramount +.

3.5 stars

I have been waiting for the right time to watch this movie. I have heard a lot about RRR, an Indian Telugu-language film that was supposed to be a real kick. That is a definite understatement.

In 1920, during the British Raj, a cruel British administrator Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his vicious wife (Alison Doody) abducted a young girl named Malli (Twinkle Sharma) from her tribe of Gond. Gond tribe protector, Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) promised that he would bring the little girl back to her tribe.

Meanwhile, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) was a member of the Indian Imperial Police and he was dedicated to do whatever he could to advance in the ranks. Raju took the assignment of bringing Bheem to the British Raj.

Without knowing it, Raju and Bheem’s paths cross when they team up to save a young boy’s life after a train crash. They became best friends. Raju helped Bheem to meet the lovely British lady named Jenny (Olivia Morris). They bonded with each other, becoming as close as brothers.

However, their personal missions would soon come between them as their purposes were at odds.

Raju and Bheem were real-life historical Indian revolutionaries but these versions of these men are fictionalized and emphasized. They never really met in real life, but this was not the only thing that the film took liberties with. Little things like gravity or realism got in the way of these characters. You could tell right off the bat what kind of movie this was going to be as Raju waded through a mob of protestors to get to arrest one individual. Everybody here was shown to be larger than life… almost mythological, and that made this almost like a superhero movie.

This was not just a superhero movie but also a wild adventure, a musical with massive dance routines, a drama, or a bromance. There were a couple of times, with all of the slow motion that was happening that I thought I might be in a Zack Snyder movie.

Music was vital to the story as it was the song from Malli (along with her art) that led to the British snatching her and taking her with them to Delhi. The giant dance routine at the party- Naatu Naatu was just tremendous. There was another scene where Bheem was inspiring a crowd with a song later in the film too. The music was amazing and even when you wouldn’t think that it would work in a film, it did here every time.

This film was so filled with energy, joyousness and power. It was undeniably fun and colorful. I was engaged in the movie immediately and I never lost my interest despite its long run time. It was 3 hours and 7 minutes and it was epic. It was very violent. It was funny. It was exciting.

I was not sure what to expect from this one and the film length had led me to push off the viewing of this on Netflix. Yet, I loved this. Was there some ridiculous stunts? Absolutely. But I was all in despite of them and I was thoroughly entertained.

5 stars

Paramount + has a few new releases on their streaming service and I chose to watch a film called Jerry & Marge Go Large, which featured performances from Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening and directed by David Frankel.

Jerry & Marge Go Large is based on a true story of couple Jerry and Marge Selbee (Cranston & Bening) who, after retirement, were having trouble finding anything to get excited about. Jerry, who always had a remarkable skill for math, discovered a flaw in a game involving the lottery called Rollback. Jerry began playing the Rollback game every three weeks and was making money. He knew, however, that the more money he could invest in the lottery, the more of a payout the game would given them.

So, he told his wife Marge and, to his surprise, she was all in on the adventure. Taking yet another level, they formed a company and convinced the people of their small town to join them as stockholders.

Marge and Jerry would spend days printing out lottery tickets and then counting numbers after the lotto numbers came out.

Making things tougher, a group of young Harvard students led by Tyler (Uly Schlesinger) discovered the same flaw in the lotto and began to play too. The problem was, the number of groups involved brought a lesser amount of return and Tyler began to look for ways to get Jerry & Marge to get out of the game.

It truly is a remarkable story and plays out in a great film. I had a lot of fun with this movie. The biggest reason is absolutely the pairing of Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening. As the titular characters, Cranston and Bening are charming, lovable and so much fun. Cranston, in particular, does a fantastic job as the slightly odd, but endearing Jerry. The two actors shared a ton of chemistry as the older couple and I believed every second of the two of them on screen.

The story is warm and sentimental, but not to the point that it becomes too much. The addition of the Harvard kids and Tyler presented a nice counter-balance to Jerry and Marge and gave them a challenge in which to overcome.

There are some other solid actors involved including Michael McKeon, Larry Wilmore, Rainn Wilson, Jake McDorman, Cheech Manohar, Ann Harada, Anna Camp and Ana Cruz Kayne.

The film was nicely paced and was never boring. Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening were tremendously entertaining and enjoyable. There were some good laughs and an underdog story that really came through. Jerry & Marge Go Large can be seen on Paramount +.

4 stars

Just the other day I was reflecting upon the original movies on Netflix )after I watched The Man from Toronto) and how there were so many that were terrible and how they create a reputation of poorly made films on the streamer. However, I need to clarify that comment today. Fact is, most of the time, the animated movies that are released as original movie son Netflix range from watchable (Vivo, Monster House, The Wish Dragon) to the brilliant (Klaus, Mitchells vs. the Machines, Apollo 10 1/2). Even the few that do not work well for me have an audience for a younger viewer.

This weekend saw the release on Netflix of another of the animation films that would fall into the brilliant category as we get The Sea Beast, directed by first time solo director Chris Williams and featuring the voice acting of Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator and Jared Harris.

There had been an ages old war between the various sea monsters and the humans where the heroic hunter went out to fight and kill the monsters, giving their lives if needed. One of the most famous of the hunters was Captain Crow (Jared Harris), who was on the trail of the hated Red Bluster with his first mate Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) aboard his ship The Inevitable.

One day, in pursuit of the Red Bluster, the Inevitable had to break away from their prey in order to give aid to another hunter ship that was being attacked by another monster. After killing it, Crow brought the horn to the King and Queen of The Crown, who were unhappy that The Inevitable broke away from their pursuit of the Red Bluster to follow the hunter’s “code”. The King and Queen prepared to end hunters and offer the job to the royal navy instead.

Jacob approached the royals and offered a deal, a contest between the navy and the Inevitable to see who could return with the Red Bluster.

Meanwhile, an orphan girl from a family of hunters Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) stowed away on the ship, hoping to become a famous hunter like her parents. She bonded with Jacob eventually and the pair of them appeared to have been consumed by the Red Bluster. However, they survived inside the beast’s mouth and the beast returned to its home, allowing Maisie and Jacob a different view of the monsters.

First, the animation is computer generated and is just breathtaking throughout the film. The beauty of the ocean images were wonderfully rendered and the designs of the characters were top notch. There were plenty of shots in The Sea Beast that was art of the best kind.

Karl Urban, Jared Harris, Zaris-Angel Hator and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (who played Sarah Sharpe, another ship mate) do very strong work as the voices of the four primary characters. Urban and Hator have a excellent bond and they create a wonderful pair. Their relationship is a the heart of The Sea Beast. How Jacob and Maisie connected with Red, the name she gave the Red Bluster, works extremely well.

The film certainly has some “How to Train Your Dragon” vibes to it, but those films are exceptional and are a good series in which to base your story. The Sea Beast takes the ideas from Dragon and builds on their own mythology and takes the story into a different path. The finale of the film is tense and emotional and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

There was a scene in the film when Captain Crow went to find his ultimate weapon to battle Red and he went to find an elderly merchant named Gwen Batterbie (Kathy Burke). She was supposed to be a spooky character and she made plenty of weird implications that Crow would suffer for using the weapon, but this was only referred to once again and becomes an unimportant piece of the story. This was a waste of time and lacked an appropriate pay off. This was the weakest part of the film.

Despite that hiccup, The Sea Beast was a joyous good time with some great characters and an enjoyable story. It is truly a gorgeous looking film and would be a fun time for families of all kind.

4 stars

I had some hope for The Man from Toronto. Unfortunately, this was just another Netflix movie that is barely worth the time.

The film is one of the typical misunderstanding films where one of the characters gets mistaken for another and then winds up in an adventure. There is nothing new about any of this.

Especially with Kevin Hart as a lead. Sadly, Hart, who I have always liked, continues to play only the one type of character. He played the same ‘Kevin Hart’ role that he plays in every movie he is in. Woody Harrelson is here too. He has played this type of character, the hard nosed, tough killer, before as well. Again, nothing new found here.

That does not mean that this film couldn’t have worked, but the story is so imbecilic that it does not overcome the predictability. The film never grabbed my attention and was so dumb that the only way that this would work is if everyone else in the film was stupid as well and that does not make me enjoy it more.

The film dissolved into the lowest form of humor, including fart jokes and vomit. It is such a waste of time. Just another flop on Netflix.

1.4 stars

This weekend sees the release of the next installment in the Thor franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love and Thunder, the follow-up to the hugely successful Thor: Ragnarok, once again written and directed by Taika Waititi and starring Chris Hemsworth and a returning Natalie Portman.

The film begins with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) trying to find his path as he spends time going on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy. When multiple distress calls reach the Guardians, Thor realizes that [SPOILER], an old friend and ally of his, was one of them. Thor splits with the Guardians to go help [SPOILER].

This was when Thor discovered that Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) existed and that he was killing all of the gods. Gorr had been a man and was praying to the gods to help him save his daughter. The gods did not respond and she died. When Gorr found the dangerous Necrosword, he started on his path to murder all of the gods.

When Thor ;earned that Gorr was on his way to New Asgard, he returned in an attempt to stop him. He arrived in a fight with the shadowy creatures that Gorr created when he saw Mjolnir back in one piece. Thor was excited to see his old “friend” Mjolnir, but was shocked to find out that Mjolnir went to the hand of the Mighty Thor, who turned out to be his old flame, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

I am not sure how much of this storyline has been revealed in the trailers or interviews, so I am going to keep how and why Jane became the Mighty Thor under wraps for now. It does follow the Jane Foster Mighty Thor arc from the Thor comics by Jason Aaron. I also loved the little adaption to reveal how Mjolnir was able to be wielded by Jane.

Let me start off with Christian Bale. He is completely brilliant as Gorr the God Butcher. His performance was chilling and vicious, yet you could absolutely relate to him. He is one of the best MCU villains that we have gotten so far.

Chris Hemsworth absolutely slays as Thor once again. You can tell how comfortable he is in this character and that comfort allows Taika Waititi to take Thor into areas that we have not seen him yet. Natalie Portman also delivers a tremendous performance and the chemistry between Thor and Jane was off the charts. The chemistry between them never worked in Thor and Thor: The Dark World as it felt forced and out of line for the two characters. Everything with that is 100% fixed as the film has you rooting for them and that chemistry is put to a major test in the amazing third act of this film.

That third act was as emotional as I have been since No Way Home and Endgame. I was crying from excitement and from all manner of emotions that was striking me all at once. Obviously, I am not going to spoil the third act, but this was my favorite part of the entire film. Not to mention that we saw a character here that I would NEVER believe that we would ever see and it was completely comic accurate.

There was a lot of humor in the movie and much of it hit with me. I would say that I wish there were some times that the film did not take it as silly as it did. I didn’t mind the silliness that much, but I felt like I could have dialed it back a bit.

Oh, and the screaming goats were GOLD!!!! Loved every scene with them.

I have seen some complaints about Russell Crowe’s performance as Zeus. This did not bother me at all since this is truly the type of character that Zeus from the myths would be. I also found that Zeus’s bombastic nature was meant to be a façade to hide what he was truly feeling.

Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) had a good secondary story, and she does well with every second that she is on screen. We did wind up with less time than we got with her in Ragnarok and some more with her might have been welcomed. And, the Guardians of the Galaxy were not in the film much at all, basically a cameo in the first act.

Thor: Love and Thunder was a gorgeous film to watch. The shots in black and white that you see in the trailers are just astoundingly beautiful in the actual movie and created such a tone of dread fitting of the situation.

Both post credit scenes are great and offer up surprises.

I can understand why some people may not be a fan of Thor: Love and Thunder. There are moments in the film where the satire is too overpowering and threatens to send the film into parody and fans of the character may not be happy about that. However, I do not believe that the film ever takes that full step and I enjoyed most of the humor. Would I tone some of the humor/silliness back? Yes, but what is blended with the silliness is some of the best MCU action, heart and emotional stakes that we have had in a long while. The third act is one of my personal favorites of any MCU film and Gorr the God Butcher has to be included on any list of the best MCU villains to date.

Thor has been perhaps the MCU character that has taken the greatest character path since his first appearance of all of them and the direction of Taika Waititi and the performance of Chris Hemsworth has to be considered the reason why.

4.9 stars

How many times can this movie be remade? Father of the Bride has been made three times, 1950 and 1991 and now in 2022. The 1950 version had a sequel while the 1991 film had two sequels as well. So why do we need yet another version of this film?

The reason we need another remake is because they were able to come up with a undeniably entertaining and robust take on the formula that is funny, totally engaging story with some of the most likeable characters you would find.

Billy (Andy Garcia) and Ingrid (Gloria Estefan) are having major problems with their marriage and even therapy was not working. They finally decided that they were going to get a divorce. With their daughter Sofia (Adeia Arjona) coming back to Miami, they planned on telling her and their other daughter Cora (Isabela Merced) about their divorce.

However, Sofia beat them to the announcement drop when she told them that she was engaged to be married to a young man named Adan (Diego Boneta) and they were looking to get married within a month.

There are so many great moments that really work in the movie. Plenty of them are your typical issues that pop up, but the cast is so strong that any cliché melts away. Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan have great chemistry and you feel everything that Andy Garcia throw out there. You get mad at him when he is being stubborn and your heart melts when he is in pain.

Other cast members that I have not yet mentioned include Ruben Rabasa, Chloe Fineman, Pedro Damián, Ana Fabrega, Sean Patrick Dawson, Enrique Murciano, Ho-Kwan Tse, Macarena Achaga, Laura Harring, and Casey Thomas Brown.

Father of the Bride is streaming on HBO Max and it may be somewhat predictable, but it is engaging and fun and worth the watch.

3.9 stars

Watcher is a new film that just arrived on Vudu recently and I rented to give it a watch. The topic of the film intrigued me and I had seen it in the theaters for a few weeks before coming on Vudu.

The film is a psychological thriller directed by Chloe Okuno based on an original screenplay by Zack Ford.

Julia (Maika Monroe) and her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) moved to Bucharest for his job. They seemed to have a happy marriage and their apartment was very nice. However, it was not long after they moved in that Julia began to suspect that a neighbor at the building across form theirs had been watching her from his window. When a murder happened in the neighborhood, Julia’s suspicions became all the more intense, bordering on paranoid.

Francis started off as supportive, but he was not seeing the same problems that Julia was. Julia’s next door neighbor Irina (Madalina Anea) gave her some support and comfort, but she did not see any changes in the man watching her. She continued to be afraid of the man and worried about what he might do.

The film has some really strong atmosphere, filled with tension and an uncertainty of what truly was happening. It was nicely shot and set a mood for the film.

I do have to say that the old horror trope of the person who no one believes is overused. Why can’t the husband have just believed Julia about the situation? I mean, he was somewhat supportive, but he still had that aura of thinking that there was another answer to what was happening. There seemed to be better things happen when you just believe your spouse. The film did not give us any real reason to why he wouldn’t have believed what she was saying.

This was a decent horror/thriller that was engaging on a rainy Saturday morning. It may not be the best horror film of the year, but it was solid.

3.5 stars

That’s all right, Mama.

The biopic of Elvis is is the most Baz Luhrmann-film that I have seen in years, probably since Moulin Rouge. The film has so much style and such great music that you almost get swept away by that.

However, there are at least two brilliant performances at the center of this movie as well. Austin Butler as the King of Rock ‘N Roll, Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as the slimy Col. Tom Parker.

Anyone who says that Tom Hanks is just to much of an American beloved figure to ever play a bad guy has no leg to stand on any longer. Tom Hanks made this character so slimy, so unlikable that I wanted him to get his comeuppance the entire time.

But I do not want to blow past Austin Butler because this young man gave us a performance of a lifetime as Elvis. He was absolutely stunning in every minute that he was on screen. He was not doing an imitation of Elvis, he was tapping in the essence of the character. I believe that Butler is destined to be nominated for an Oscar for this role.

There was a lot about Elvis Presley and his relationships (especially with Col. Parker) that I did not know, and it was fascinating to watch things develop. How much Colonel Parker took advantage of “his kid” Elvis was just obnoxious.

Now, I do think that the movie is too long. It could have done with being 20 minutes or so shorter. There were a couple of moments that I would have liked to have had more depth, but the middle of the film could have been tightened up some.

However, that is a small issue because I enjoyed so much of the film. I enjoyed the stylish version of the story, the great performances and the music. It is a long film, but it is worth the time.

4.3 stars

Scott Derrickson, director of Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Doctor Strange, returned to Blumhouse with a new horror/thriller film called The Black Phone, based on a short story pf the same name by Joe Hill.

It is 1978 in a suburban town near Denver, Colorado and the town was being terrorized by a child kidnapper that had been dubbed “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke). After five kids had been taken, Finney (Mason Thames), a soft-spoken, timid teen with a sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), became the next kid abducted.

Gwen had been having some dreams that, at times, came true, but this was something that her abusive father (Jeremy Davies, Faraday from LOST) was very angry about. However, the police were interested in how Gwen knew some details from the case that had not been released to the public. Gwen was not the soft-spoken member of the family and she showed off her serious spunk.

Finney wound up in a basement with the Grabber, who wore a changing devil mask, not knowing what was going to happen. There was a disconnected black phone on the wall that kept ringing and Finney eventually discovered that the phone was a way to communicate with the Grabber’s previous victims. The other kids tried to give Finney ways to escape before it was too late.

This movie was just full of tension and thrilling moments. Scott Derrickson did an outstanding job of creating such an atmosphere of anxiety that you were desperate to have Finney survive his encounter or for Gwen to be able to make sense out of her visions. The scene between Madeleine McGaw and Jeremy Davies early in the film was so uncomfortable it made you just feel it.

The first act of this movie truly was mostly character situations as we saw a couple of other kids get taken before Finney was and this section of the film helped us understand our protagonist and the people in his orbit.

Speaking of our protagonist, this film is almost completely placed on the backs of Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, and these two young actors absolutely dominated their roles. They provided us with distinct personalities that were easy to root for and showed us the strength of both of them. Gwen may have stolen every scene she was in in the first half of the movie when she exhibited the passion inside the young lady.

We got a great character arc for Finney too as he has to develop from a punching bag into someone who would not take it any more.

I have gone this far without talking about Ethan Hawke and that is wrong, because he is brilliant as the antagonist of the movie. The Grabber shows several sides to his personality as he is interacting with Finney and he wears different masks with different facial expressions depending on his emotional states. It is an amazing character detail, and helps the character out since we do not see Ethan Hawks real face until right at the end of the film.

The film is shot beautifully, especially since the bulk of the movie takes place in a small basement with nondescript walls. So much is done with this setting that the production design is fantastic.

This was an exceptional film with great performances and a huge level of suspense.

4.5 stars

If you know me, then you know that I have hated most of the films made by Adam Sandler. I can’t say all of them because he had Uncut Gems a few years ago that was really great. It seemed that when Sandler wants to make a movie for an adult instead of for a 13-year old child, he can do good work.

I was still fairly uncertain about Hustle on Netflix. It was released a few weeks ago and I have looked at it several times. I had it on my Netflix queue. I heard some positive word of mouth and yet I was not in a rush to watch it. I just had that sinking feeling.

So when I watched it today on Netflix, I was ready for anything. I am pleased to say that I didn’t just like Hustle, but I found it to be an excellent film.

Stanley Sugarman (Adam Sandler) was a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, on the road constantly looking for that “next big thing” in players while he desperately wanted to be a coach. Team owner Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall) had a special spot in his heart for Stan and gave him an assistant coach position. Unfortunately, Rex died and his obnoxious son Vince (Ben Foster) took over the running of the team.

Vince wanted Stanley to head back out on the road to find the Sixers the final piece for a championship. Not leaving Stanley much of a choice, Stanley headed back out on the road, heading to Spain to scout a specific player. That player was injured and not playing that night, leaving Stan to float around the city on his own. On his travel, he came across an outdoor basketball game where a tall and noticeably skilled player named Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez) who was hustling other players for money. Stan saw that Bo had amazing abilities and he followed him to his home for a chance to sign him.

Stan had to go through plenty of adversity to try and get someone to notice the talent that Bo had.

The film is a lot of fun. Adam Sandler gives a extremely mature performance in a role that kept tossing challenges in his way. He had some great chemistry with, not only Juancho Hernangomez, but also with his on-screen wife, Queen Latifah.

Then, as if I wasn’t already enjoying the film, they trotted out “Dr. J” Julius Erving, one of my all-time favorite athletes and the man from where my own nickname came from, in the film a couple of times (Sorry Chris, no Larry Bird).

The film was produced by Sandler and LeBron James and featured a plethora of NBA stars and legends including Charles Barkley, Dirk Nowitzki, Doc Rivers, Mo Cheeks, Anthony Edwards, Seth Curry, Trae Young, Jordan Clarkson, Boban Marjanovic, Luka Doncic, Aaron Gordon, Shaq O’Neal, Tobias Harris, among many others.

If you are an NBA fan, this film is going to be a potpourri of highlights for you. However, you do not have to love the NBA to have this story of the underdog strike you. The film is about redemption. It is about family and how important they are to your life. It is about sticking to it and never giving up something that you love.

My opinion of Adam Sandler would change if he continued making quality entertainment like this.

4.2 stars

Chris Hemsworth and Netflix has had success in the past with the movie Extraction from a few years ago. This weekend, the streaming service dropped the next Hemsworth film where Chris played a different type of character than we have seen from him before.

Spiderhead finds Chris Hemsworth playing Dr. Steve Abnesti, a scientist at a experimental facility that takes volunteer prisoners and run drug trials on them trying to find a way to manage their emotions to allow for their redemption. Jeff (Miles Teller) was one of the prisoners who allowed the experiments to be done on him. However, Jeff begins to learn details about what was going on in the prison that started to have him questioning the morality of the experiments.

I found this movie to be okay. Are there some areas that are difficult to believe? Sure, but the suspension of disbelief never took me out of the film. In fact, I found myself more engaged with the characters because of the unlikeliness of everything. As we find out more about Jeff’s past and see how he was making connections to fellow convict Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), I found my personal feelings deepen with him. Miles Teller does a decent job with his portrayal of Jeff and you believe the anguish that the guy has been putting himself through.

I found Chris Hemsworth to be pretty decent as Abnesti. He had the charm that you would expect someone like this would have to have and he played his own troubled background well.

The story was not as deep as it could have been and did not take the risks that it could have, but it was solid enough to make Spiderhead a decent watch. It is certainly better than many of the films released on Netflix. Tat may not be the best complement in the world, but it is ana ccurate one.

Spiderhead was based on the short story “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders, and was directed by Joseph Kosinski.

3.2 stars

The Toy Story franchise takes a turn with a new movie that takes a character from the classic four-film franchise of Toy Story and turned it on its head.

Lightyear caused some confusion online for how this movie was existing. So much so that it started with apiece of text to explain it to the audience. It said that in 1995, this was the movie that Andy went to see in the theaters that made him want to get the action figure of Buzz Lightyear. So it is kind of a movie within a movie.

There has also been some controversy about Disney/Pixar replacing Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz with Chris Evans. This whole movie idea cleared that up as well as the voice of Tim Allen is now the voice that the toy company chose to sound like the original voice from the movie. All of us geeks who had talking action figures understand this concept.

The movie featured Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) on a mission with his fellow Ranger Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) investigating the suitability of a certain planet for colonization. However, the planet was shown to be dangerous and not worth the time. Unfortunately, Buzz gets the whole crew and people on the ship stranded on the planet.

Buzz refused to give up until the mission was complete so he kept experimenting with a new power source. Every time he would do so, trying to reach hyperspeed, would lead to him losing around four years on the planet, though it only seemed like four minutes to him.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It is a Pixar film so, of course, it was beautiful to look at and the animation was masterful. I will say that I did not find this as emotional as a typical Pixar film would be. There was only one point where I felt my emotions being tugged at and certainly nothing like Inside out, Coco or Up.

That does not make this a bad movie. By contrast, this is a fantastic science fiction film that felt like a big budget popcorn summer flick.

I love Chris Evans and I think he was remarkably good at making this character his own while still providing enough familiarity to be able to see the toy version of Buzz in his performance. Uzo Aduba was excellent as was Keke Palmer, who voiced Alisha’s granddaughter Izzy. Taika Waititi and Dale Soules voiced two of Izzy’s oddball crew, Mo and Darby prespectfully.

However, the standout of the film was easily Peter Sohn as Sox the cat. Sox was a robotic cat that was there to help Buzz after his first return from space and Sox got all of the great lines and is easily the breakout side character of the film. Sox was so great that I did wonder why Andy (in Toy Story) wouldn’t have also wanted a Sox toy along with his Buzz Lightyear because there was no way that Sox was not a huge toy seller from this movie. Sox will sell a ton of real life merchandise too, count on it.

I enjoyed the way that they incorporated Buzz’s classic villain, Zurg into this story. Zurg was voiced by Josh Brolin and the twist was one that I thought was well done.

I have to say that I never thought about Toy Story at all through the run of the film. I hope people do not come to this movie expecting some kind of sequel to the Toy Story franchise, because Lightyear is something else. It may lack some of the emotional heft that the best Pixar movies have, Lightyear is entertaining, funny, full of drama and exceptional voice acting and animation.

4.1 stars

A new movie arrived on Amazon Prime at the end of May called Emergency, a coming-of-age comedy/drama that included plenty of topical situations.

Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) and Sean (RJ Cyler) are best friends in college and Kunle was very successful and hoped to be accepted to Princeton. Sean had gotten tickets to the “Legendary Tour,” a practice of visiting seven frat parties in one night, and he wanted Kunle and him to be the first black students to complete it.

On the night of the Legendary Tour, a white girl showed up drunk and unconscious on the floor of their house, thanks to their housemate, Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), leaving the door to the house open. Kunle and Sean debated about what to do. Kunle wanted to call the police, but Sean said that if the police showed up, they would blame the two black guys and the brown one for doing something to the white girl.

Kunle convinced Sean and Carlos into taking the white girl to the hospital, but things started going wrong almost immediately.

These three men wanted to help this girl, who we discover later was named Emma (Maddie Nichols), but the underlying worries, especially for Sean, that, despite that they have done nothing wrong, if the police get involved, they would be blamed for everything.

Meanwhile, Emma’s sister Maddie (Sabrina Carpenter) was looking for her high school sister, whom she took with her to a college party and left her alone to be with her friends. When she realized that Emma was missing, Maddie really begins to panic.

Emergency does a really good job of switching between the comedic situations that it has tossed its main characters into and the more serious, downright life and death discussions and situations that these characters are faced with. The tonal switch in the third act was very well done and took a film that had some wild coincidences mined for humor and turned it into a commentary on the state of racial divide in the country, how perceptions can be different depending on who is looking.

The performances were all really great. The interactions between Donald Elise Watkins and RJ Cyler were very funny and also brutally honest. I really liked Sebastian Chacon as the third wheel in this relationship and someone who was vital in what they are able to do.

I was really scared that this might end up tragic at the end, because it did feel as if the film was moving in that direction. I enjoyed the resolution to the film, a resolution that was filled with intensity and suspense.

3.85 stars

Jurassic World: Dominion is supposedly the final of the Jurassic Park franchise, as this movie brought together characters and actors from across the franchise in the finale. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, Dominion started with the dinosaurs found across the country, free and wild.

I had heard plenty of negative comments about the movie online, so I had entered the theater with low expectations. As it normally happened, low expectations makes it easier to enjoy what I am watching. There is no doubt that Jurassic World: Dominion was not a good movie, but I have seen way worse. Heck, I found this much better than 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

While the dinosaurs roamed the earth, a mysterious group of large locusts began destroying the food supply of the country. The company Biosyn has been creating these locusts and working with the dinosaurs as well. Agents of Biosyn kidnapped Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) away from Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who had been raising her as their own. The raptor Blue had also given birth to a little raptor and that raptor was taken by Biosyn’s hired henchmen.

Owen and Claire pursued the Biosyn henchmen in an attempt to recover Maisie and the raptor. Meanwhile, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) went to recruit Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to help her infiltrate Biosyn and get evidence about the company being behind the locusts. She was invited in by Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) who was inside the company already.

Seeing the mixing of these characters from Jurassic Park/World was the best part of the movie. Jeff Goldblum is always great and there is still wonderful chemistry with Laura Dern and Sam Neill. This is all nostalgia and it was great. I enjoyed the addition of two new characters too: Head of Communications of Biosyn Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie) and pilot Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise).

The CGI/special effects were good, but there were a few times when it was not up to the standards set prior to this film.

Part of the issue I had with the film was there were several times, in particular during chase scenes, it was difficult to see what was going on. The shaky camera work here is meant to cover up some of the CGI that was just not good. This was a huge chunk of the first hour to an hour and a half of the film.

Which, by the way, Jurassic World: Dominion was two and a half hours and it felt like it. Many big action films with long run times seem to fly by but this one felt its length.

I thought the last hour or so was better, once the group came together and arrived in the base of Biosyn. However, there were also plenty of dumb choices and moves that make little sense. Things that are done simply because the plot needs it to be done.

While there are sections of Jurassic World: Dominion that I liked, it does not pull together in a sensible thriller and it has apparently lost the wonder of the first film.

2.6 stars