Month: February 2025

Ne Zha 2 “Review”

Release date: February 14, 2025 (USA)

Director: Jiaozi (Yang Yu)

Budget: $80 million

Based on: Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin

Distributed by: Beijing Enlight Pictures CMC Pictures (Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canda)

Box Office: US $1.40 Billion

I’m so happy to have watched the 1st feature yesterday and now be apart and won in by this franchise. From streaming in the background to less than half way getting fully engaged and falling in love with a new franchise. Let’s dive into the sequel, with Ne Zha 2.

If you’re coming into this “Review” unaware of this franchise then let’s discuss the over-view rather than the sequel. If you’re coming into this “Review” to read about the sequel knowing and enjoying the first title…. then hear this. The sequel of Ne Zha makes the 1st title look like a okay movie. With 5 times the action, family development, friendship, emotion, lore, world building, epicness, humor, Villians, Heroes, etc, etc 😀 you’re going to love it.

If you read the previous “Review” you’ll know that I’m locking this feature into my 2025 best animated feature Oscar spot. Unless something comes out and totally surprises me. Animated titles for 2025 have an extremely hard battle ahead of them to dethrone this epic cinema master piece.

The Ne Zha franchise is based on a Chinese mythological character, focusing on the story of a young boy named Ne Zha who is born as a demon child. Destined to bring destruction, but fights against his fate to protect his village and defy the established order, often battling powerful deities and challenging the heavens with his supernatural abilities; the narrative explores themes of rebellion, self-determination, and overcoming prejudice against one’s perceived destiny

Anime enjoyers out there could relate to this with Naruto as Ne Zha. Also for the fighting and powers/abilities. Those into Dragon Balls Z and similar animes would get behind this franchise.

The animation is very well done and event improves with the sequel. Will there be a third title? Think, will there be a 4th,5th and 6th haha. The amount of lore and world building established in the sequel is insane where this franchise will take it.

My spoon is ready and my desert is before me 😀 Let’s get to eating good.

I’m super pumped to watch this again including that of the original. Popped Score for Ne Zha 2 is an easy top score of 9/10 going into my #1 spot of 2025 thus far and into my #1 spot for best animated feature.

Thanks for coming by Popped.blog for your newest batch of movie “Reviews”. This is a epic masterpiece and I’m excited to hear from yawl on this title / franchise.

See you back here Sunday night with Nickel Boys and my overall thoughts with the Oscars.

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Captain America: Brave New World “Review”

Release date: February 14, 2025 (USA)

Director: Julius Onah

Budget: $180 million

Story by: Rob Edwards; Malcolm Spellman; Dalan Musson

Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Based on: Marvel Comics

Did I get the Abigail treatment? If you’re avoiding spoilers then here’s a quick popped score – Personal Score: 3/10 (Stream) – Fair Score: 6/10 (It’s mostly okay but damn was it way to long to rewatch the trailer.)

Don’t read on, Spoiler Rant-ish warning going forth

If you’re a fan of Eternals, then you’ll probably enjoy this title. I could have walked out of Eternals and be happy to not wasted my time. I kind of feel like this with Brave New World. Nothing really happens in the universe of MCU. I feel like the U in MCU has been forgotten about.

A 2 hour movie to setup a 1 minute post credit scene to remind you of the U, is a waste of blooming time. When it takes an hour and a half in a 2 hour movie to watch the scenes heavily revealed in the trailers….it’s a waste of time. When it last 10minutes and sucked! It’s a waste of time.

Drawing out the outcome to get to the reveal for an hour and a half…..is a waste of time. It’s mostly fine at around a 6/6.5 out of 10 but personally I’d have played it in the background streaming it.

I’m seriously loosing faith that the MCU can return. I’m so tired of this new standard of Marvel film. The last good one outside of Deadpool was Shang Chi almost 4 years ago. I’m not interested in Fantastic 4 and hopeful for Thunderbolts to be fun, but otherwise….can we get Moon Night back please and start forming a new group of avengers with fun stories.

I’ll give it to secret wars before I drop the MCU. I really hope that can swing things around.

Shall I rant and go red hulk on this ? Or leave it there? Let me know in the comments.

With that out of the way…shall we get started on a discussion about the best animated movie of 2025 😀 Ne Zha 2, because I’ve been looking forward to hype the shit outta it since I watched it earlier :D.

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Paddington in Peru “Review”

Release date: February 14, 2025 (USA)

Director: Dougal Wilson

Story by: Paul King; Simon Farnaby; Mark Burton

Distributed by: StudioCanal, Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing

Based on: Paddington Bear; by Michael Bond

Box office: $104 million

Paddington may have gotten older since releasing in England vs now in the states, but lets buckle up for another charming dose of Paddington Brown. Now adventuring within Peru.

This is the third installment of the franchise and maybe the last? I honestly have no idea but it sure feels like a wrap on this series with all the characters getting older. Some leaving the nest, others finding their way and even a nod to some throw backs throughout the series.

Despite briefly seeing her at the end of the second feature. Aunt Lucy has become depressed, acting out of character and getting herself lost on an adventure. The Reverend Mother of the Home for Retired Bears, sends word to Paddington in hopes that reuniting him with his Aunt this would help in her depression.

Sadly the trailer shows 85% of the story so you know what comes next. Paddington and the Brown family will go off to look for Aunt Lucy while getting into many adventures along the way. This is the third installment so you’ll know if this franchise is for you by now…..right?

I honestly wish the film had the same energy from the ending scenes for it’s entirety. This could have pushed it into a repeat viewing. However this is a still a good fun movie and worth seeing. Popped scores this batch a 7.5/10.

Tomorrow I’ll try checkout both Captain America 4 along with Ne Zha 2. Then Nickle Boys for the best picture nomination on Sunday, before having surgery on Tuesday :D.

I’ll post my Oscar thoughts during next weekend after seeing Nickle Boys and maybe Emelia Perez/I’m Still Here.

Thank you for coming by Popped.blog for your “Reviews” and love to hear your thoughts on movies released thus far or even coming out soon for 2025.

Until next time! Keep on Popping 😀

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Heart Eyes “Review”

Release date: February 7, 2025 (USA)

Director: Josh Ruben

Producers: Christopher Landon, Adam Hendricks, Greg Gilreath

Distributed by: Screen Gems, Republic Pictures

Budget: $18 million

Music by: Jay Wadley

Character design and trailer were intriguing. Well butt in seat, lets check this title out shall we..

If you read my previous “Review” you have a gage in where this is going.

From the opening scene I was worried. The campy B horror movie was showing and I buckled in for a bumpy ride hoping for a decent movie at best. A glimmer of light came after this intro segment that unlocked a new category shortly after….. It’s so bad it’s good?

Before we get ahead let’s go into the movie shall we. Think Scary Movie where the killer (Heart Eyes) is going around killing couples. It felt like the movie was having fun on itself having parodies and following tropes overly used in other scary movies. Sadly for myself this teetered on the It’s so bad it’s good…..for some people? But not for myself.

It walked the tight rope but fell in the bad camp for myself. Or at least it’s almost so bad its good for some people tier. Slightly missing the mark of being good. Was it the execution? The overly used tropes. The fact that metal straws wont save the day? Or the fact that the coffee shop scene was the highlight for myself on the discussion of metal straws vs plastic cups… yea it’s not for me but it’s for someone. Which is clearly shown in the mid reviews on several platforms.

Check it out have fun? Or save yourself some time and wait for the hopeful better horror movie “The Monkey”? Either way this will be joining Love Hurts in my bottom 5 list for 2025 with a popped score of 3.5/10.

Going to attempt to have Captain America 4 review up by Sunday. All depending when I have chance to check the title out. Paddington 3 should go live Thursday morning. If possible I’ll try squeeze in “I’m Still Here” this week also before my surgery a week from today.

Thanks for coming by Popped.blog for your movie “Reviews” and excited / hopeful for the movies coming ahead of us in February 2025… January started off pretty good so dips are sure to occur.

See you next batch 😀

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Love Hurts “Review”

Release date: February 7, 2025 (USA)

Director: Jonathan Eusebio

Producers: David Leitch, Kelly McCormick, Guy Danella

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Budget: $18 million

Production company: 87North Productions

Not going to lie. I did see the RT score of 23% prior to watching this one. That being said, my love for Ke Huy Quan from Everything Everywhere All At Once had me enticed to still check out this feature.

If you’re a fan of anime then go check out Sakamoto Days. It’s similar in premise of bad guy gone straight for love, however the implementation here was poorly executed….unless you’re discussing the execution scenes then we’re having a good time.

Ke Huy Quan plays Marvin, a Milwaukee realtor who receives a crimson envelope from Rose, his former partner-in-crime whom he left for dead… She’s Back!

Living between his new life as a realtor clashed with his past, the story of love, brotherly conflict and family drama commences. Storyline wise you’re not getting anything special here. Sadly all the valentines stuff is pretty meh and poorly written.

The characters however are fun and a delight during fight sequences. This is the strength of Love Hurts and the only reason for checking out this feature. Between Ke Huy Quan (Marvin), Mashawn Lynch (King), Andre Eriksen (Otis) & Mustafa Shakir (Raven) these 4 actors were a treat and saved this feature from dropping below this tier I’ll be scoring it within.

For such a short movie, coming in at 1Hr 23minutes. There shouldn’t be any lows and boring segments. Short concise movie getting to the point and have fun with it. Sadly that wasn’t the case but glad the 3 fight scenes were enjoyable even if the fourth was a dud in comparrison.

Happy Valentines to me, we have our first movie of 2025 to make it on the bottom 5 list. Don’t worry it’ll have a valentine to join it shortly. Stick around for the next “Review”. Love Hurts gets a popped score of 4.5/10, no amount of boba will save this title.

With that “Review” conducted we have our first stale batch of “Reviews” coming at you to begin February. Big Ooof, but let’s hope next week has something exciting with Cap 4 & Paddington?

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Love Me “Review”

Release date: January 31, 2025 (USA)

Directors: Andrew Zuchero, Sam Zuchero

Language: English

Distributed by: Bleecker Street

Music by: David Longstreth

Produced by: Kevin Rowe; Luca Borghese; Ben Howe; Shivani Rawat; Julie Goldstein

But wait! There’s one more title to wrap up January 2025 😀 and what an intriguingly unique movie at that….for some individuals out there.

Let’s lay the ground work here as a premise, then let’s explore further into this experience. It’s not for everyone. Niche of the niche. But if you’re interested after this then stick around.

Long after humanity’s extinction. A smart buoy thaws from ice as the ice caps begin to melt. Meanwhile a constant orbiting satellite goes by over head. In a cute yet innocent meeting they find themselves meeting online and communicating. As they learn what life was like on Earth through old video uploads, they discover themselves and what it means to be alive and in love.

Sound interesting enough to continue?

Our Satellite is sent up into space in March of 2027 almost like a capsule of humankind. This Satellite acts as a welcomer for life forms that come to the planet formally known as Earth. (The year by the way is 2500’s) I am Satellite is his name and voiced / played by Steven Yeun.

The Smart Buoy, voiced / played by Kristen Stewart is Me. Forming herself on Deja rather than finding of Me is which is explored throughout the movie. Me, comes to be Me from watching a Youtube channel called Deja & Liam.

An experience is going to occur, if you did this title till now then excellent enjoy the journey. Otherwise you’re not going to enjoy the next part in this exploration of what is life?

Love Me, explores this self discover and meaning through different visual aspects. From the Earth as the Smart Buoy / Satellite. To VR Chat style living spaces. To real life interpretations.

While one copies that of life, the other experiences life within self learning over imitation.

The last minutes got away from the movie I had been enjoying but luckily wraps it up in an interesting experience. It’s not for everyone and fits nicely in with the. It’s a fine movie. Popped score of 6.5/10 with it’s Fine, good elements but not bad. I can see people not interested nor open to this type of experience really not enjoying this movie at all.

But for the niche of the niche, it’s something worth checking out.

With that fellow movie goers, wraps up January 2025 and is our #11’th movie watched this year thus far. Making great progress with the 100 movie goal. Still need to watch 3/10 of the best picture nominations for 2024 in a couple weeks but I’ll be sure to discuss my overall thoughts once that’s been completed.

Until Love Hurts / Paddington in February for our next movie “Review”.

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