Flow & Mufasa “Review”

Release date: October 30, 2024 (France)

Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Language: English

Distributed by: UFO Distribution

Box office: US$6.8 million

Latvian: Straume

Music by: Gints Zilbalodis; Rihards Zaļupe

Missed this one upon release however with this title winning best animated movie for the golden globes I had to check it out.

Flow is a beautiful movie not only in visuals but in its heart and soul. Flow sets us up with an introduction to this cute cat shown in the image above. Very quickly we’re introduced to an array of characters that either serve as a threat or established entity in this world.

When a natural disaster? Occurs we find ourselves in a world that continues to flood. Higher and higher the water level rises and the journey that flows ahead of us is a journey of our cat and companion animals that shows even your enemies can be your closest friend.

Loved this journey, however I’d give it a solid one of watch with maybe a repeat viewing down the road. Worthy of praise but to beat Wild Robot! COME ON haha, but seriously it’s really good. Better than Inside Out 2 for a 1 time watch but couldn’t imagen checking this out again.

With no dialogue anyone can watch this title and enjoy the visuals and story on screen.

I’d give it an 8.5/10 but could be an 8 with how much I’d like some information established that goes unanswered along the way.

Release date: December 20, 2024 (USA)

Director: Barry Jenkins

Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Adapted from: The Lion King

Box office: $481.6 million

Music by: Dave Metzger; Nicholas Britell (score); Lin-Manuel Miranda (songs)

Doing a double batch here as these titles came out last year. Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to talk about them specially with the Oscars coming up and Flow maybe among them?

I had no interest with Mufasa, however an annoying but catchy song/saying was in my mind. I always wanted a brother…..I always wanted a brother…. I always …okay okay I get it. Let’s watch this thing and give it context.

This was a rollercoaster of a score / experience. On one hand, when it’s hitting your nostalgia play this title felt so good but played on it so cheaply. If it wasn’t for the epic journey ahead this title wouldn’t have been as good. Hmmm kind of feels like Furiosa doesn’t it with Fury Road.

Loved the mini sequel that starts this title. Kind of lost me when we went into the backstory. That was until we meet Mufasa and his brother Taka. I thoroughly enjoyed the “Evil” lion tribe the white lions. These were awesome and actually had my favorite song “Good Bye” :D. Felt like a threat and gave so much weight to Mufasa and his actions.

Mufasa felt like such a giga Chad which was cool to see. Loved his journey and despite Taka being a cowardly entitled character. Loved the switch into his Scar alter ego which we’ve known from the original Lion King.

I’d give Mufasa a solid 7/10 but that’s mainly due to Nostalgia and with how the movie ended making me want to watch the original once more. I never saw the “Live Action” version of Lion King so I look forward to checking it out now. Will a sequel come from this ? Unsure.

If they re-wrote or cut like 30minutes from this title a potential 8 could have been scored for Mufasa but sadly the lows and ehh moments kept it from being great and just a solid good. Better than I expected that’s for sure.

Thank you all for coming by Popped.blog and checking out this latest batch. We come nearer to the Oscar nominations and I’m excited to see what outcome comes for 2024 movies.

Looking ahead for 2025, tomorrow I’ll be checking out Better Man and curiously hopeful to have A Complete Unknown experience but we’ll have to wait and see.

Until next batch, enjoy The Popped Cast and look forward to a Wallace & Gromit “Review” real soon :D.

January 8, 2025 0

2025 Early look ahead

Welcome fellow movie goers, this update will go over an early look at 2025 currently and break down month to month what’s planned to be reviewed. Maybe some hidden secret gems. Some disappointments? We’ll review in 2025 December to see the outcome.

By each month in bold will be movies I’ll lock in a review of, all going well. The Italic number is either a polled or a surprise random movie watch to add to months reviews.

January 2025 – 6 | 2

I usually don’t cover movies released outside the theatre but maybe 2025 will have exceptions?

The Damned – Reviewed | Wallace & Gromit (Netflix) | Better Man | One of Them Days |

Wolf Man? | Flight Risk | The Colors Within? | Dog Man

February 2025 – 7 | 3

March 2025 – 3 | 1

Mickey 17 | Night Zoopocalypse | Black Bag? | Novocaine | Suggestions?

April 2025 – 5 | 1

May 2025 – 5 | 2

June 2025 – 5

Ballerina | Elio | Train Your Dragon | 28 Years Later | M3GAN 2.O

July 2025 – 5 | 1

August 2025 – 4 | 1

Bad Guys 2 | Naked Gun | Freakier Friday | Nobody 2? | Insidious Tale

September 2025 – 1

Conjuring | Eeep please release more movies this month

October 2025 – 4

Tron | Black Phone 2 | Good Fortune | Mortal Kombat 2

November 2025 – 4

Predator | See Me 3 | Wicked | Zootopia 2

December 2025 – 3

Freddy’s 2 | Avatar 3 | SpongeBob

This was using firstshowing.net on January 5th so hoping more releases get added toward middle of the year. Some months look bare :S.

52 Locked in movies with possible 63 with the added 11. 2024 the goal was 50 movies. We ended up reviewing 75 Movies! – Maybe 100 would be a lot? However I’d like to hit 75 Movies again in 2025 with the hope of hitting 100 😀 – All depends on those lack luster months mentioned above.

Top 5 from the above list I feel will be:

Avatar 3 | Wicked 2 | Black Phone 2 | Bad Guys 2 | Superman ?

My hopes of a top 10:

Dark Horse Shoutouts:

Love to hear your thoughts on this list – Anything stick out / Missing from the list? Lets jump into 2025 with awesome movies ahead of us. Lots to be added I’m sure so keep an eye on the podcast for future announcements or on his update tab :D. Happy Watching All ❤

January 5, 2025 0

The Damned “Review”

Release date: January 3, 2025 (USA)

Director: Thordur Palsson

Language: English

Distributed by: Vertical

Production companies: Elation Pictures; Netop Films; Wild Atlantic Pictures; Ley Line Entertainment

A very enticing trailer hauntingly got into my mind. This drew me into watching this feature, which kind of came from nowhere until last month before popping up.

So where do I start before suddenly stopping the review. Without spoilers I wont just suddenly leave you in limbo confused / working out what just happened. Did it hurt the overall score? Yes! But worthy watch for anyone interested in putting in the work during lots of slow build up.

Enticed or not, let’s get into The Damned “Review”. 19th-Century widow is forced to make an impossible choice, during an extremely cruel winter where you’ve succumbed to eating not only your reserved food but also the bait in which to harvest the food. Seeing a ship sinking off the coast, do you save those that may cause risking what’s left of the village’s dwindling supplies?

Odessa Young, playing our main lead “Eva” does a very good job in establishing herself in this world and involving her cast and the viewer through these haunting scenes. The sense of bitter winds, faced against odds. Hope only comes from those within your family and unable to trust or allow trust from any unknown sources.

Game of Thrones – Rory McCann does an excellent job here with Odessa fleshing out the opening scenes and creating bonds between the viewer and this family that’s against all odds coming into the winter season.

If you’re able to give this feature a chance. Just know the pacing can be slow but deliberate. Intentional to create several feelings within you along the way. Are these characters slowly losing it? Have their decisions come to haunt them. Are these visions/horrors something of paranormal or physiological? This film will have you questioning yourself by the end and that journey will be what makes or breaks this experience.

Is this a good movie? A close miss? A mid-range like that of our first movie of 2024 Night swim? If Night Swim is to be our 5/10 average middle of the pack film. I feel like the cinematography and direction from Thordur Palsson sets this feature above the pack at a 6.5/10. An above-average title that had moments of solid goodness but depending on your takeaway, narrowly or massively misses the mark and keeps itself from getting out of this tier for a Popped review.

Not a bad start to 2025 and happy new year to all those returning to Popped. Blog for another year. I appreciate all those that followed us here throughout 2024 and I’m excited to see our top 10 list slowly come together as we navigate 2025.

A trial and error pilot episode of the official Popped.blog podcast is out with another episode to come later into the weekend ahead. We’ll be discussing this title a little more and breaking down what’s to come throughout January for Popped.

Check out The Popped Cast by clicking this link.

Don’t forget to cast your votes for January’s Poll on the top menu of the page. Decide on which Anime/Movie you’d like reviewed outside of the mentioned or announced ones currently spoken of.

Thanks again and see you in the next batch.

January 2, 2025 0