Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

The Waterboy (1998)

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Well, it was nice while it lasted.

After two enjoyable movies in the Sandler Saturday, the streak is over as I watched The Waterboy and I was ready for it to be over ten minutes into the film.

Adam Sandler played Bobby Boucher, a waterboy who was constantly being abused and picked on by the coach (Jerry Reed) and other players. When the coach fired him, Bobby went looking for another waterboy position. When he joined the South-Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs, coached by Coach Klein (Henry Winkler), he discovered that the years of being abused allowed him to direct his anger into tackling people. This led Klein to offer Bobby a place as a linebacker on the team.

There is a solid cast in the film including Oscar winner Kathy Bates, Henry Winkler, Fairuza Balk, Jerry Reed, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Paul Wight, Blake Clark, and Rob Schneider. There are a bunch of cameos too including Bill Cowher, Jimmy Johnson, Brent Musburger, Dan Patrick, Lynn Swann, Lawrence Taylor, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler and Dan Fouts.

This was so stupid. I was so ready for this to be done. I did not like the character of Bobby and I thought everyone around him was so mean and rotten that it made things hard to watch. None of it was funny. It was also sadly predictable.

The football game at the end had some giggles to it, but it was way too late to save this.

I have put this one out of the way. It is a crapfest.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

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We’re off to a great start, this Sandler Saturday.

I would definitely say that Punch-Drunk Love is not an Adam Sandler movie. He stars in the film, but it is an Adam Sandler movie the same way Uncut Gems is an Adam Sandler movie. Uncut Gems was a Safdie Brothers and Punch-Drunk Love was a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.

According to IMDB, “Barry Egan hates himself and hates his life. The only male among eight siblings, Barry is treated poorly by his overbearing sisters. Despite owning his own business, he has gotten nowhere in life largely because of his insecurities. He leads a solitary life, which allows him to hide his violent outbursts that occur when he’s frustrated. His solitude however allows him to think, he stumbling upon a scheme to travel the world on a pittance, travel which he has never done. Concurrently, he meets two people who pull him in two different directions. The first is Lena Leonard, a friend of his sister Elizabeth. Barry is slow to realize that Lena is attracted to him, he making her make all the first moves. Lena is eventually able to get Barry out of his shell, she who sticks around despite his obvious problems. His burgeoning relationship and thus new life with Lena is threatened by the second, “Georgia”, who he contacted in an effort to alleviate his loneliness. Georgia and her “band of brothers” do whatever they can get get out of Barry what they want, no matter the price to Barry.“

Adam Sandler is really good in this movie. Again, he is playing a character and it is a character considerably deeper than most characters he plays. Barry is a socially awkward, lonely man who has a horrible self-image. He is extremely compelling during the film even when he is doing some of the strange things that he does. You can see how much talent Adam Sandler actually has as an actor.

The film is very much a PTA film, weird, strange and fairly chaotic. There are many surreal elements to the movie that work well within the context of the film.

I loved the relationship between Barry and Lena (Emily Watson). It was sweet and original. I liked how it did not go the way I expected.

We are 2 for 2 so far.

Happy Gilmore (1996)

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I kicked off the Sandler Saturday special event her at EYG with Happy Gilmore. This idea came about because I noticed that, though I have said that I hated Adam Sandler movies, that I really haven’t seen very many of them. So I planned a day to binge as many Adam Sandler movies that I could stomach.

Happy Gilmore was the first of the films and I have to say, I kind of liked it.

I know… I’m surprised too.

Of course, I had seen the infamous scene with the Bob Barker fight. It is easily the most famous fake celebrity fight in movie history.

All of the things that I have hated about Adam Sandler movies in the past were in Happy Gilmore, but it felt to me as if they were kept in check. The traits that I have hated in Grown Ups 2 or Pixels were not as annoying as they were there. Perhaps cause it felt like Happy Gilmore was a real character and not just the same Adam Sandler-type that I have seen him play over and over. Maybe if I had seen this at the end of today it would stand out more. But as the first film in the Sandler Saturday, Happy Gilmore was better than I thought.

That does not mean that there aren’t stupid things that would never happen. The whole ending bit with the tower or the Volkswagen hitting him on the golf course are ridiculous, but, for whatever reason, they worked here. I can suspend disbelief for certain things.

So we are off to an unexpectedly good start for the Sandler Saturday.

Freakier Friday

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I remember seeing the original Freaky Friday 1976 version at the drive-in here in Maquoketa. I remember enjoying it tremendously. Of course, I would have been 7 or 8 years old.

I did not ever watch the rebooted film, Freaky Friday from 2003 and this movie, Freakier Friday, is a sequel to that. However, I assume there is no major need to watch that one. I mean, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan switched bodies, and they learned lessons.

Now, throw a couple of more people into the mix as Jamie Lee and Lindsay switch bodies with Lindsay’s daughter and her soon-to-be step daughter and hijinks ensue.

Freakier Friday is a one-note joke that gets stretched way too thin. I get it. The older people are in young bodies and vice versa. It depends on the charisma of its main actors. Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons have moments. This ensemble is decent, but, again, there is only so much you can do with this concept before it gets old.

Because the premise stretches thin, a lot of what they did was just too silly or over-the-top. Most of the film does not work, which does not cover for the moments that do work.

There is a concert scene at the end of the film that is enjoyable.

I don’t have a lot more to say about this movie. It is basically the same as the original concept, but with just four people instead of the two. There is not much original. They do not try and reinvent the story. It is basically the same. It survives on the strength of the actors.

2.5 stars

Weapons

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I have been anticipating the new movie Weapons for quite awhile. The premise of the film was truly creative.

According to IMDB, “When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.“

I really enjoyed how this film played with POV. The film showed the events of the story from multiple different characters. The first section was from Justine’s POV. Justine is played by Julia Garner and she is the teacher whose classroom had the missing kids. I was amazed how unlikable this character was. She certainly played against the trope of the classroom teacher.

We saw POV from Archer (Josh Brolin), police officer Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), Marcus (Benedict Wong), James (Austin Abrams) and only remaining kid Alex (Cary Christopher).

Cary Christopher did an exceptional job as Alex. His pain and anguish was obvious even through his quite nature.

Josh Brolin was great here too. I loved how he was in pursuit of his missing son and he seemed to be more successful with his efforts than the local police.

The acting from the ensemble was all great. It was well cast and they all brought it. The story was creative and well laid out. I do think the truth came out a little sooner than I thought it would, but it did build remarkable tension during the story. Dialogue was well written and sharp. I do think it dragged a little in the middle, but overall, this is a great film.

4.5 stars

Together

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I did not know much about this movie. I knew it starred Dave Franco and Alison Brie, but that was about it. As I was watching the trailers before the movie (which were heavily horror), I thought to myself, “Is this going to be a horror movie?” Not only was it a horror movie, it was a body horror film.

Now, while I do love horror, body horror is my least favorite of the subgenres of horror. So it already had that working against it.

According to IMDB, “Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. With tensions already flaring, an encounter with an unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love and their flesh.“

After the film was over, I looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score for this and it was 90%. I have to say, that score shocked me.

Because I hated this.

Not only did I not like the body horror stuff, but the biggest thing was I thought there were so many scenes and moments that I found funny. Laugh out loud funny. I was rolling my eyes at some of the scenes because they were so ridiculous. I was trying not to actually laugh out loud in the theater in case others in the room thought it was tense.

However, with the scene at the very end (no spoilers), I could not keep from belting out a laugh. It was the most ridiculous thing I think I have seen in a long time.

The more I thought about this, the worse it became. I thought both Franco and Brie were compelling during the film, but I just was not enjoying the story the film was telling me. It made little sense and I found the stuff that was supposed to be anxiety building to be silly.

I definitely do not agree with the whole world apparently. I hated this.

1.4 stars

Monster Island

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This B-monster movie debuted on Shudder at the end of July. I came across it the other day and thought it might be some scary fun to watch it.

Set during the last days of World War II, a Japanese Hell Ship, which was transporting POWs, was sunk by an American ship. Saito, a Japanese soldier and Bronson, a British POW end up stranded together on a mysterious island. In their attempt to survive on the island despite their differences, they come across a mythological monster from Malay folklore called Orang Ikan.

Orang Ikan means “Fish Man” in Malay and this monster (played by Alan Maxson) looked like a combination of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Sleestak from Land of the Lost. This Orang Ikan then went about a Predator-like hunt with the two men, as they struggled to survive.

It was really odd with the film since Saito did not speak English and there were no subtitles on the screen. We, as audiences, were every bit as uncertain about what was happening as Bronson was. You had to watch the way Saito carried himself and his body language if you wanted to see what kind of man he was.

His actions immediately showed that Saito was someone who you could trust and, despite the language differences, would be a friend in this situation. We do find out that Saito had been on the ship and chained together initially with Bronson because he was being returned to Japan to be put to death for being a traitor to Japan.

Dean Fujioka played Saito and Callum Woodhouse played Bronson. Both did a decent job in this clearly low budget film.

The film was short and moved along briskly. I did find myself engaged by the survival attempt by the two men and I did like that the film took some time to build the relationship between them. It was more than just fighting for their lives that brought them together but a little bit of character development.

It was an okay movie that was worth a watch on Shudder. The Orang Ikan may not have been as slick as most horror movies these days in appearance, but the film’s practical effects were appreciated.

3.2 stars

War of the Worlds (2025)

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To be fair, I went into the new version of War of the Worlds on Amazon Prime expecting that it would be a terrible movie. I had watched a… review of sorts.. from Dan Murrell and it was a remarkably entertaining video, you can see HERE.

I also had watched Jeremy Jahns’ review, that he dubbed War of the Worlds “dogshit.”

So, my expectations could not have been lower, but my morbid curiosity overcame my better judgment.

Told in screen time (like much better movies Searching, Unfriended, Host), War of the Worlds featured Ice Cube as William Radford, an NSA computer security analysis, who is in charge of watching the people of the US. According to Rotten Tomatoes, “A computer security analyst working for the U.S. government finds his daily life disrupted by an alien attack. Accustomed to dealing with virtual threats, his struggle extends to secrets the government may be hiding.”

After watching it, I can why everyone hated this movie. It is truly bad. Everything about it was terrible. The acting was terrible. The story full of holes. Nothing makes sense. Characters do the stupidest things.

I do love to see Clark Gregg in roles. The former Agent Coulson is great, but even he could not make up for this travessty.

Now, this is one of those movies that had some laughs in it, but it was not written to be funny. Some of the situations were just so ridiculous that they couldn’t help but be laughable. It feels like a film that would be great for the RiffTrax guys to riff on.

The biggest part is how blatant the Amazon Prime advertising was in the film. If you did not know that this was showing on Amazon Prime, the product placement and reference would surely show you. If only I knew where to get an Amazon Prime gift card.

Truly one of the worst movies of the year.

0.3 stars

Bad Guys 2

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Bad Guys 2 is the newest animated film from DreamWorks, released this weekend. It was a sequel to a surprise hit from a few years ago.

The previous movie was fine, but I did not love it. How would the sequel rate in my mind by comparison? About the same really. Honestly, I would say that this sequel is a little better than the first one.

The Bad Guys are a group of reformed criminals who found it difficult to get opportunities as former criminals in the world. After struggling to find gainful employment on the right side of the law, the Bad Guys are recruited by a new group of criminals to join them for a gigantic theft on a worldwide scale.

I had some troubles with this movie. In particular, I did not like the style of animation that they were using. There was something that I was just not on board with in the animation. I believe it was the way they mixed the three dimensional animation with two dimensional flat looking animation. A lot of it was the eyes of the characters, which seemed to be a different animation style than the rest of the characters’ bodies. It bothered me and it took me out of the story several times.

I was not a huge fan of the story being told either, though I did appreciate the messages that the story was holding to and how they were looking at certain concepts. They definitely looked at how difficult it was to “go good” when no one believed you had gone good. Some of the story was a little slow and predictable.

Of course, they spent a lot of time with the fart jokes. Now, I shouldn’t criticize that since I found the fart jokes in Naked Gun today funny, but they kept it at a scene or so where as this was a main character trait for Mr. Piranha.

However, I will eventually recommend this movie and the biggest reason is for the characters involved and the voice actors of the film. The voice work is easily the best part of the movie. Whether it be Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, the lead of the film, or Zazie Beetz as Diane, his love interest and the current governor. Whether it be Marc Meron as Mr. Snake and his love interest Susan, voiced by the wonderful Natasha Lyonne. Whether it be Danielle Brooks as the main villain Kitty Kat or Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark. This cast was great.

I left out Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula, Alex Borstein as Chief (actually she is the Commissioner) Misty Luggins (and I think she stole all the scenes she was in), and Maria Bakalova as Pigtail. All of these characters had their moments in the film and helped pull what was not the best film I had seen into a much more watchable time at the theater.

In the end, I am giving this a higher rating than the original, but neither of these Bad Guys films are knocking my socks off. They are okay and that is about it.

3.3 stars

Naked Gun (2025)

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Trying to post review on phone as I have a busy afternoon and this would help. We’ll see if my tech ability matches my plans.

The new Naked Gun arrived in theaters today and it was a lot of fun. I’ve missed this type of movie, a satire film that used to be regular. Some of the top films of this subgenre included Airplane!, Hot Shots and Young Frankenstein. Unfortunately, these films just became stupid instead of funny and this type of movie became rare.

Naked Gun franchise was some of the best of this style of film as Leslie Nielsen led the way as Frank Drebin.

Now, Liam Neeson has taken the lead of this film as Frank Drebin Jr. and showed some remarkable comedic timing while delivering a deadpan attitude and straight face to all the insanity around him.

Pamela Anderson is a co-star of the film and she does an exceptional job. There is a scene with Anderson and jazz that is tremendously funny.

It is also great to have Paul Walter Hauser in the film as Frank’s partner. He fits in well too.

The cast is great and are game for just about anything. Some of the comedy does not hit, but most of it does really well.

The story is much like other Naked Gun films, but the craziness feels fresh and funny.

While I wouldn’t want a million films like this, Naked Gun proves that this style of film can work if it is clever and funny, and provides us with a cast willing to do anything.

4 Stars


The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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I have been excited about this movie since the announcement that Marvel was getting the rights back to the Fantastic Four. To say that the previous big screen efforts to put Marvel’s First Family on the big screen were less than successful would be an understatement. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the fourth attempt to get these characters right.

Fourth time is definitely a charm.

I loved this movie. There were so many things that this film does well, but above all, this felt like the Fantastic Four that I knew from the comics. The adventure felt very much like an FF adventure. This was so great.

We jump right in to the story, without the need for an origin story, although the film does give us some background exposition to catch anyone up to speed in a very clever manner at the very beginning of the movie.

The film wasted no time in setting these four up as a family, which is perhaps the singularly most important piece for a Fantastic Four movie. Sue discovered that she was pregnant and announced the glorious event.

However, their excitement was short lived as a being appeared in New York riding a surfboard, heralding the soon arrival of Galactus, the universal force that would be consuming the planet.

The Fantastic Four head into space to confront the gigantic Galactus.

The casting of the characters in this film is pitch perfect. One of the most controversial casting choices was Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards. Pascal, who has been in a ton of movies lately, does an incredible job of becoming Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic. I believe that Pascal loses himself in the role and truly embodied Reed. You could believe that Reed was a super genius, but still had his own issues, among others , guilt and self-frustration over perceived failures.

Vanessa Kirby was great as Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman. She showed what a powerhouse Sue is in both her use of her powers and the presence that she provides. Joseph Quinn played Sue’s brother Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. This Johnny was less of a playboy as he has been seen before, though that is implied to be there as well, but he is shown as a much more positive force inside the group. Then Ben Grimm, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, feels like the heart of the team. This version of Ben Grimm is less of the brooding monster that we have seen before and more of a character who has accepted what his life was now.

The chemistry between the foursome is vital for the movie and they all work so well together. They felt like a family, from the relationship between Sue and Reed to the brother-like banter between Johnny and Ben.

The visuals of this movie was stunning. It may be the best looking Marvel movie that we have seen in ages. The imagery in space was as good as you see in any prestige project. I have heard others compare the visuals here to Interstellar and that is a fair comparison. To be fair, there were some moments of iffy CGI when dealing with Franklin Richards, the baby, but I am okay with that. No need to stress out a real baby in some of these situations.

Galactus is an absolute marvel (no pun intended). Voiced perfectly by Ralph Ineson, Galactus has come a long way since his days of being a cloud of dust in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. There is no reason that a giant purple man with antennae-like ears on a helmet should look anything but silly in live action, but this Galactus is positively sensational, if not, scary. This character was imposing from the second we see his outline in the darkness.

Another major controversy among those who want to make this a problem was how Julia Garner was hired to play a female Silver Surfer, based on the Shalla-Bal character. Those who complained about this apparently did not know that the comics did have a version of Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfer. Garner does a remarkable performance as the Surfer and anyone who wants to complain about it is just looking for issues to have. Surfer was powerful and compelling and did have a story reason for the casting of a female actor in the role, narratively speaking.

The story was filled with stakes and tension, and there were some scenes where I legitimately was not sure what was going to happen. I found so much joy in this as this film got these characters so right, truly for the first time on screen.

They did have some of the typical Marvel humor, but, to be honest, it was kept at a reasonable level. Again, in a film that could be very satirical, this was grounded, keeping much of the drama within the four of them. Even with Galactus coming to devour the earth, this felt more like an internal battle for the FF.

There are two post credit scenes. The first one being a major set up for what is next in the MCU.

The retro feel of the world that this team of Fantastic Four is set is part of the awesome vibe this movie gives off. A futuristic 1960’s feel was all over the setting and brought something different to the MCU. The choice to place this in the 828 universe instead of the 616 one was an excellent choice. It also gave the film a chance to really honor FF co-creator Jack Kirby. This movie did feel like a Jack Kirby style of comic from the 1960s.

Matt Shakman did a magnificent job directing this film. He had directed the WandaVision Disney + series which is still considered by many, including me, to be the best Disney + Marvel show of all time. Shakman brought that feeling of family as he did in WandaVision and there were so many clever visual shots in the film. I loved the way the FF used their powers. Especially Reed, whose stretching could look really goofy, but, instead, was very effective.

I loved this movie. The “It’s Clobberin’ Time” line had me in goosebumps and tears. I was so engaged with the Fantastic Four: First Steps that it is my current favorite movie of the year so far. I saw this in IMAX and, man did everything look great. I can’t wait to see it again.

5 stars

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

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In 1997, there was a horror movie released called I Know What You Did Last Summer, with Sarah Michelle Geller, Freddie Prinze Jr, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Ryan Phillippe. It was a reasonable hit, but it was not a film I loved. I rewatched it a few years ago and felt that it was a decent watch, but had a lot of stupid things happening in it.

In 2025, a Legacy sequel was released to I Know What You Did Last Summer with younger stars, along with a couple of the actors who had appeared in the first film. It was not a reboot or a reimagining. It was a sequel 28 years later… and not a zombie movie.

A group of friends were involved in a tragedy on the 4th of July and decided to cover it up. A year later, much like before, the friends reunite and a slicker-wearing, hook wielding killer stalked them, trying to murder them.

Couple of things, the movie is basically the same film from 1997. The plot is very similar to the original. Then, the film is basically Jaws. Why don’t the people in charge believe in the dangers coming to their towns on the Fourth of July?

This was truly stupid. The acting was terrible. The characters were all just barely characters. The story is totally stupid and made almost zero sense. The end of the film was such a mess, even for a slasher movie.

There is a pre-credit scene that sets up for a sequel, but I can not imagine that it is something that we will ever see.

The only parts that had any sort of interesting pieces was the part of the movie that nostalgia was involved. The rest was just so bad.

1.5 stars

Superman (2025)

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The DCU is finally here as James Gunn revealed his huge blockbuster to officially kick off the DC Universe films, in a reboot that has been in the planning stages for years. They started off with their classic character, Superman.

I can state, without a doubt, that James Gunn has done an amazing job with a film that soars to remarkable heights and is loaded with a ton of comic book-y fun.

It seems as if you can’t do a comic book movies these days without a ton of controversy, and Superman is not an exception. There have been complaints flying around about the use of the term immigrant in reference to Superman as well as the movie being “woke.” Despite these criticisms and talking points looking to drum up hatred, Superman (2025) is a wonderful movie and a great time in the theater.

No origins here, which is a great thing. We all know where Superman came from and how he wound up in Kansas, so why waste time showing it once again? Gunn is right in that we do not need to see baby Kal-El land, Bruce Wayne’s parents shot or Uncle Ben be killed ever again. We know these stories.

The world of this movie is fully encompassed with metahumans already and the dangers of the world are quite clearly shown.

The opening info tells us that Superman has stopped a war between a couple of countries and this is one of the big sticking points for a lot of people involved. This is the back drop of everything that goes down.

David Corenswet played Superman and he does an unbelievable job at it. He approached Superman with the right amount of heart and joy, even if he seemed to have a bit of a temper. It is really refreshing to see a Man of Steel concerned with saving people around him. There are a bunch of scenes showing that Superman cares for the people of earth, even after they turn on him.

I won’t give away why they turn on him, but it feels like it absolutely could happen in the world we live in today.

Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane are already dating, and she knows about his true identity. There is amazing chemistry between these two and they bring sparks to the screen. Lois Lane is shown as an intelligent and strong woman who will take whatever risk she needs to take for her passions, whether that be the story she is pursuing or the man that she loved.

Superman’s iconic enemy, Lex Luthor, was played by Nicholas Hoult. This is my favorite version of Lex Luthor to ever appear in live action (or animated, btw). Hoult gave him such an evilness, but he did it without creating a cartoon. I understood Luthor’s motivations, even if they were horrendous. Nicholas Hoult was sensational in the role.

There were several other heroes appearing in the film, inside the Justice Gang, which included Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern, played with that slimy perfection by Nathan Fillion. Isabela Merced (from season two of Last of Us) as Hawkgirl, who did not have as much to do, but was pretty cool when she was involved. Mister Terrific, played by Edi Gathegi. Mister Terrific had a major part to play in this movie and he was awesome. I loved how they used these group of heroes instead of pulling out some of the more heavy hitters of the DCU.

The film looked really good, especially any scene with flight involved. The score was decent but James Gunn, who is well-known for his needle drop songs in some of his other movies, did not have many here. That did not distract me. In fact, I did not even think about it until the end credits.

When we first meet them, I was not a fan of Ma and Pa Kent (Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince), but I have to say they grew on me later in the film.

Krypto the dog was well used, even if I thought maybe he was used too much. Krypto has some solid scenes in the film. He is important and not just there to make everybody “awww” over a cute dog.

Some of the jokes did not land, which made a few scenes a touch awkward, but most of the humor worked fairly well. There were not as many jokes as some of James Gunn’s previous films, but there definitely had some humor in it.

I don’t think there is any other way to look at this other than as a triumph for James Gunn’s new rebooted DCU. Superman was colorful, exciting, dramatic, funny at times, and had so much heart that has been missing from Superman in other recent iterations. Outside of a few nitpicks (such as some of the workers at the Daily Planet… what was up with those characters?), I think this was a smashing success.

4.9 stars

F1: The Movie

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I was a week late for this one, but it was not high on my too see list because I am not much of fan of auto racing in any form. However, I knew I have enjoyed other movies centered around the sport such as Rush or Ford vs. Ferrari, and I had heard a ton of positive word of mouth, so I wanted to make sure I had the chance to see this in the theater before it became available on Apple TV +.

I went to the IMAX theater at Cinemark to see this and it was definitely worth it. The film looked amazing with sensational cinematography, had its share of exciting moments and was thrilling at times.

According to IMDB, “After a nasty incident almost ended his career, Sonny Hayes has retired from Formula One and now races a Porsche, but when an opportunity comes from the owner of a struggling team, Sonny makes a return to Formula One racing, alongside a hot new rookie teammate, but soon realizes that he can’t take the road to redemption on his own.”

I thought Brad Pitt was clearly the standout, both in the acting area as well as having the most developed character. Most of the other characters of the film were not necessarily as deep as they could have been, but the main story focused on Sonny Hayes, so it is understandable why he got the most details.

Javier Bardem is always fun, and he does a decent job with what he was given here. Damson Idris is the other main driver with Sonny, playing Joshua Pearce. Kerry Condon was fine too, having some chemistry with Brad Pitt, but, again, her character was not as fully explored as she could have been.

I do think that I had some issues with understanding what was happening during the races as there were a lot of strategies that were pulled out that perhaps a more knowledgeable racing fan might understand more than I did. It wasn’t off-putting, but there were times that I had to stop and try and figure out why they were doing what they were doing.

However, the scenes of the racing were fantastic as was the scenes of the crashes. The film was able to build my own suspense during the races as I did not know what they might be doing.

I enjoyed the music of the film, as it really helped set the mood in many cases. There were some issues that I had with the sound of the film though as some of the voice over work of the announcers was difficult to hear during the racing scenes. I have had that compliant in the IMAX theater before so it may not necessarily be the film’s fault.

Joseph Kosinski directed this film. He had directed Top Gun: Maverick and F1: The Movie shared the same kind of thrills of that movie. The film creates a wonderful world in this F1 racing film and the creative aspect of this movie is its strength. The characters are okay. The story is okay. The look is fantastic.

See this on a big screen because I think it would be the way to truly enjoy this film.

4 stars

Jurassic World: Rebirth

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The seventh film in this franchise was released on Wednesday as Jurassic World: Rebirth found its way into theaters for the Fourth of July weekend.

With Scarlet Johansson and Mahershala Ali leading the cast, Jurassic World: Rebirth resets the franchise after the seemingly final film Jurassic World: Dominion.

It is five years past the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, where it seemed as if the humans and the dinosaurs were going to be living in the same world. Turned out that was not going to work out for the dinos as they found out that living on earth was bad for them and they had to move closer to the equator.

A group of mercenaries led by Zora Bennett (Scarlet Johansson) and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) went to the island where all the worst of the dinosaurs, the weird mutates from the science experiments were cast out in a chance find DNA of certain dino monsters that can help cure diseases.

Also, there was a family who were out sailing (I guess near the equator) and a dinosaur in the water caused their boat to capsize. They also wound up on this mutant monster island (no Godzilla or Kong to be found). The two groups cross paths at the beginning.

While there are so many problems with this movie, I’ll start with some of the good things. I thought there were some good action scenes or dinosaur chases sequences. There was a scene with a dinosaur and a inflatable raft that was fairly tense. Some of the action was pretty good.

I think Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali are charismatic performers and I like cheering for them. Of course, I was cheering for them because I like them as actors, not because they have characters that I enjoyed. We’ll get back to the characters in a bit.

Unfortunately, that was about it for positives for me. I found myself bored quite a bit at the beginning of the movies. I thought these characters were all just bland and one-dimensional and if they weren’t played by familiar and likable faces, I wouldn’t care about these people at all.

The dinosaurs were not really dinosaurs. They are actually just monsters and most of the designs were okay at best. There were several times when you could easily see the green screen. Some of the monsters were cool and looked good on the screen, but just not enough. Give me more of the T-Rex instead.

The film basically had two stories crammed together in the movie that really did not have any crossover. The mercenaries after the DNA is one story and the family stranded on the island is the other. There was not enough story for either one of them, let alone for both.

There are so many moments in this movie that were basically recycled from the original three films, just tweaked a bit. There really was not anything new or original in the movie.

Rupert Friend’s character is right out of the stereotypical playbook for this type of film. You could easily see what this guy was going to do a mile away.

I’m not even going to comment on Delores.

I was very disappointed, but not surprised at Jurassic Park: Rebirths, which is more like Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla and less like Rogue One. Bringing David Koepp back in (who was a writer on the classic and iconic original Jurassic Park) did not help this franchise at all. It did have a few moments that were decent, but certainly not enough for a two hour and fifteen minute slog.

2.6 stars