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I still think about this scene and this whole movie when I think about my life and my future.

Deepest Pixar movie ever made

Soul (2020), dir. Pete Docter

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Phantom Menace Poster 1999 | Empire Magazine 2024

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STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR (2023)

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Indiana Jones and The Great Circle reveal trailer and breakdown

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The Mandalorian and Grogu movies are happening at Lucasfilm and Disney!

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THE MANDALORIAN 1.04 – "Sanctuary"

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Wonka Review

“Come with me, and you’ll see, a world filled with pure….” PG rated fun wrapped in a great Timothee Chalamet performance and smothered in a cartoony screenplay. Welcome to the world of Paul King’s Wonka.

Based on the iconic Roald Dahl character, Wonka follows the inventor/magician/chocolate maker, Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet) in his early years as he arrives at the Candy capital of the world to make the world’s greatest chocolate against the wishes of the vicious candy cartel (Matt Lucas, Paterson Joseph, and Mathew Baynton).

With a simple premise, director Paul King and co-writer Simon Farnaby crafts a scrump-dilly-umptious world that feels like the pages of a Roald Dahl book have been ripped from the spine and plastered on the silver screen.

This movie could have taken itself too seriously especially given the seriousness of Wonka’s back story but instead, the writers recognize what made Willy and The Chocolate Factory (and really, all famous Roald Dahl movie adaptations) so great and so beloved: their family friendly tone and cartoony story that feel like an Saturday morning cartoon brought to life. In this regard, Wonka succeeds with flying colors.

The movie does have a lot of heart to compliment all the goofiness thanks to the man in the chocolate-brown top hat: Timothee Chalamet as Willy Wonka. Chalamet gives an inspired performance worthy of his recent golden globe nomination. He makes young Willy optimistic, kind, charming, and an underdog you love to root for. He also carries the emotional backbone of this movie as Chalamet’s Wonka tells his emotional back story bit by bit culminating in an ending that will leave children and their parents in tears.

If I had to make one complaint against Chalamet in Wonka, it’s that the actor is not a very good singer and unfortunately, this movie is a musical and almost every song is done by Willy Wonka. His mediocre singing hurts the musical element of this movie significantly, luckily this film doesn’t rely too heavily on the songs and music to lift the story up. It’s able to stand without the musical numbers (which begs the question why this movie was made into a musical in the first place?). At least Chalamet gave a great musical rendition of “Pure Imagination”, I’ll give him that.

Also special shout out to Hugh Grant as Lofty The Oompa Loompa. He absolutely killed it with his voice over and motion capture performance. The CGI for the Oompa Loompa was surprisingly better than what we saw in the trailers and it really worked to bring the Oompa Loompa to life unlike previous iterations of the character. They even made Laurie’s character 8 inches tall like in Roald Dahl’s Charlie in the Chocolate Factory!

Wonka is far from movie of the year but it is a visual delight as sweet and gooey as Roald Dahl’s wacky writing and as fun as a Disney Afternoon animated show. It also has enough heart to warm older and younger audiences alike. The musical element was not necessary in this film but at least Gene Wilder would be proud of this attempt to reinvent his iconic character.

7.5/10 Stars: Good

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I cried during this scene in the theatre

When I left fire Land... I gave my father the B Ks... the big bow. It is the highest form of respect. But my father... did not return the bow. Did not give me his blessing. He say, if we leave fire Land... we will lose who we are. They never got to see all of this. They didn't get to see that I never forgot we are fire. This is burden I still carry.

Elemental (2023) dir. Peter Sohn

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Repeat after me: Hakuna Matata! It means no worries.

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STAR WARS REBELS, 3x12, "Ghosts of Geonosis, Part 1" (2017)

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Finally got to live my childhood dream of playing Michael Jackson: The Experience on Wii.

Thoughts: character designs and graphics don’t hold up (don’t understand why the characters look similar to Michael without actually using Michael’s pictures). Music catalogue could have been a lot bigger. There’s only 2 game modes in the whole game.

However this game was the most detailed workout I’ve ever played in a dancing game with actual Michael Jackson moves from his videos and concerts

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For the first time ever, all of James Cameron’s movies have been remastered in 4K including The Abyss and True Lies which have never been available in HD on any digital platforms.

They are all on sale on most digital film and tv platforms including Google Play Store and iTunes

HIGHLY RECOMMEND purcashing these movies especially The Abyss, one of the first James Cameron movies to use CGI and a water tank for filming underwater.

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The Color Purple (2023) Review

I'm not sure if I'm the best person to discuss this adaptation of The Color Purple since I haven't read the book, watched the classic Steven Spielberg film, or went to any of the broadway musical adaptations (apparently this movie has an 2005 musical and a 2015 revival). However, I do have strong opinions about this film I want to share with you all.

As someone who has never experienced The Color Purple, this adaptation was the perfect way to first experience this INCREDIBLE story! This adaptation has it all: breathtaking cinematography, fantastic performances, great musical numbers, and a story that shows why The Color Purple has been such an influential book/movie/musical for over 40 years.

Set in early 20th century Georgia, the movie follows Celie (first played by Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, then Fantasia Barrino) as she endures nearly four decades of abuse from the men in her life while trying to find her lost sister, Nettie (first played by Halle Bailey, then singer Ciara). After meeting several different women in her life, Celie learns what it means to love herself and find hope in the darkest times.

My biggest concern coming into this movie was that the addition of songs, dance, and broadway style musical numbers would take away from the drama and historical realism that The Color Purple is known for. Luckily, those fears are laid to rest very early on in this film as the story balances entertaining and visually colorful musical numbers with powerful dramatic storytelling that is unlike any story I have experienced on screen. This movie takes an unapologetic look at life as a poor black woman in the deep south of the early 20th century while tackling universal themes that audiences can connect with. Self-love, self-respect, loss, abuse, racism, faith, religion, hope, and forgiveness are only some of the themes that tie this story together; all centered around Celie and the lives she interacts with in her multi-decade journey.

The musical numbers never take away from the depth on-screen but enhances it with well choreographed and beautifully sung music from the original stage musical. Each song is deeply rooted in African-American made music genres including jazz, blues, and R&B. The music features a mix of songs from the original stage musical and new numbers written specifically for this film. All of these songs flow perfectly together and are beautiful to watch on the silver screen. The cinematography and direction of this movie are some of the best I've seen all year.

What everyone will most likely take away from this adaptation are the performances and they are right to do so. Fantasia Barrino delivers an Oscar worthy role in Celie, a timid yet kindhearted sister, mother, and wife who endures an unbelievable amount of suffering only to find her inner strength and chart her own course. All while singing and dancing as if she's back on stage. Hopefully this is the first of many film roles for the American Idol singer. Danielle Brooks also delivers the performance of a lifetime as Sofia, the fearless woman who marries Celie's stepson, Harpo (Corey Hawkins). I was not expecting such a powerful role from Brooks after her comedic performance in James Gunn's Peacemaker but she taps into her Orange is The New Black energy with Sofia; balancing humor, charm, and drama to add a new perspective to an already diverse movie.

I finally see now why Alice Walker's 1982 novel and Stephen Spielberg's Oscar nominated film are so iconic. The Color Purple is a breathtaking story of pain and love and thanks to this adaptation, audiences can now experience it with new songs and great performances from up-and-coming new stars of the film industry including Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, and Halle Bailey.

I can't wait to experience the originial novel and movie but I am thoroughly satisfied with this musical experience.

8.5/10 Stars: Great

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Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Review - Wet ‘n’ Wild Part 2

After 10 years, 16 movies (from middling to high quality), one terrific tv show, and a Snyder cut, the DC Extended Cinematic Universe has come to a close with yet another controversial film to round out the already inconsistent film saga.

Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom follows defender of the deep, Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa) as he faces off against his old nemesis, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Matteen II), who has been enhanced by ancient Atlantean technology and a black trident that has the power to destroy both the surface world and Atlantis. Aquaman must team up with his old nemesis/bitter little brother Orm/Oceanmaster (Patrick Wilson) to find and defeat Black Manta swiftly.

This film has inklings of greatness in it, especially when it involves stars, Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson. Unfortunately, this aspect of the film is the only thing that carries this movie. Every other aspect drags this movie down and comes across as mediocre superhero schlock.

The film has a fun time with the enemies-to-friends dynamic of Orm (Patrick Wilson) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa). It’s not original but it is effective thanks to enthusiastic performances from Momoa and Wilson who have a lot of fun with their respective roles. I also enjoyed Randall Park as Dr Stephen Shin; the character made a brief appearance in the previous Aquaman (2018) but only to set up the sequel. In this film, the character is an Atlantis obsessed marine biologist who brings some much needed human empathy to this “fish person” centric film. It’s a fun role for Park even if it’s not a memorable one.

The rest of the cast is just useless as Aquaman’s parents played by Nicole Kidman and Temuera Morrison are rarely in the film and exist only to provide emotional support to the title hero. Amber Heard’s Mera has significantly reduced screen time due to the controversy around the actress but it doesn’t change the fact that the character is useless and not well acted.

The biggest disappointment to the cast is Yahya Abdul-Matteen II as Black Manta. Where the first film shows Manta as a villain with a sympathetic back story turned into a ruthless monster, the second film shows Manta as a physical badass who serves only as a puppet for the real villain: the CGI equivalent of Atlantean ‘Sauron’ who doesn’t even fight Aquaman at any point in this movie. Sorry if that’s a spoiler.

Black Manta had so much potential coming into this movie but was wasted thanks to the poor writing of this script. Mateen did the best he could with this character (that deserves to be said) even if it wasn’t enough to save Manta.

Speaking of bad writing, this movie is chuck full of it! Despite some great moments like some dialogue heavy moments between Aquaman and Orm and some epic fight sequences, most of the script is just a mediocre superhero story we have seen a hundred times in the last 15 years. It lacks originality and is coupled by bad underwater CGI (minus a few good action sequences). There’s one moment in particular towards the end of the movie where Aquaman and his brother have a big fight that had a strong message about brotherhood that was severely underplayed by bad dialogue. That was the low point in a screenplay filled with low points.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is far from the worst superhero movie this year (ie. The Flash) but it’s a fairly mediocre one that doesn’t leave an impact. Especially since the few good aspects of this movie cannot be improved upon in future films now that the DC Extended Universe is officially over. I guess movies like this are exactly why James Gunn is rebooting the DC cinematic universe from scratch but the optimist in me was still hoping for something more from the franchise that brought us Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, and Shazam.

5.5/10 Stars: Mediocre