Month: April 2025

Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing “Review”

Release date: April 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Hiroyuki Hata

Art director: Kurumi Suzuki

Cinematography: Kazuya Iwai

Distributed by: Shochiku

Editor: Ayumu Takahashi

Only got on my radar due to being a movie and not a concert exclusive movie. I’ve seen nothing of Miku content. I don’t watch V-Tubers outside of Ironmouse so I’m probably not the targeted audience for this title. With that caveat said. Shall we jump into this “Review”?

I’m going to compare this to Colors Within for comparison as “Reviewing” an anime movie focused around music. Firstly before that. I did love the messaging and get the point behind what Miku was attempting. I just didn’t connect with her song which impacted my experience.

Side Note for readers: You’re going to hear the word SEKAI a lot in this movie. A potential drinking game? I’ve only heard this in reference to Isekai’s. SEKAI in Japanese means “World” or “Universe” which you’re going to be jumping around a lot which was a little jarring at first to know if the characters were the same people or different versions of one another.

The story / premise of this movie is based around Miku wanting to reach those in need of support and form a deeper connection through emotional music. (Sadly her song didn’t hit with me unlike Colors Within) In order to achieve this due to having difficulty connecting with those surrounded in darkness, she reaches out to others that are able to reach people through their music (Which I did enjoy once you finally get there).

For around 45minutes this movie was okay. Then it started to “Cook” as people say. Some very interesting story and character development occurs that got me interested in the title….which was sadly ruined by repetitive conversation going over and over what Miku’s mission was and how they were going to achieve her mission and reach her and others alike.

The reason why I compare this to Colors Within is because this process setting up the concert was extremely drawn out and should have been cut down. While Colors Within was enjoyable and the music did connect with me which kept me engaged wanting to see their performance. Miku can’t sing was sadly not resonating with me but maybe that’s because I knew nothing of these characters. I disliked the robotic voiced characters over the human ones. (Apologize if these people are big in this world. I’ve no idea.)

For me personally it was good overall. I’d give it a 7/10. But fans are loving this title. Socials are from 6.4 on IMBd to 96% on RT & Fandango. Fun fact for those wanting more after the credits. There’s an after show which plays for an additional 10-15minutes. (Which was weird as the lights up go up during the credits. So having an anchor concert in bright lights was off).

Did you checkout this title? Have plans to? Seen Colors Within? Love to hear your thoughts below. Colors Within is $10 right now on Amazon Prime which I may actually go purchase to revisit their music.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and I’ll see you next batch :D. Big one next week! Thunderbolts. – Spoilers are all over the internet so be careful if you’re hiding from them.

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Until Dawn “Review”

Release date: April 25, 2025 (USA)

Director: David F. Sandberg

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1h 43m

Producers: David F. Sandberg, Gary Dauberman, Asad Qizilbash, Lotta Losten, Roy Lee, Carter Swan, Mia Maniscalco

Distributed by: Sony Pictures Releasing

Loved the video game, little silly it got remastered the next system generation rather than making a sequel. Now we have a movie based on the video game. Will a sequel movie arrive before the game?

Played the video games and interested in this feature? Or saw the trailer and wanted to check it out? Let’s discuss Until Dawn for both, then dissect which experience I’d recommend.

Clover’s sister has disappeared for a year when Clover and her friends go searching in her sisters last known area for answers. While traveling down this road they go through a wall of water that reveals a place of shelter to figure this strange situation out.

What comes next for our group of 5, is nightly resets full of terror that resets upon everyone’s death if the group doesn’t survive until dawn.

From here enter the scares? / Many dozens of villains which will differ between game to movie. For those that played the game. Stick with the game experience. This doesn’t really offer you anything new unless you’re interested in seeing a sequel setup which (From my experience) the game left pretty open ended depending on your ending unlocked.

For those interested in the trailer and never played the game. Check it out, maybe it’ll get you to play the video game which does a vastly better job at creating atmosphere, tension and the horror experience.

By throwing so many enemies at the audience it didn’t allow the film to setup each enemy to have it’s time to play and create scares. There are some surprises and cool moments but sadly when comparing to the game. It didn’t succeed in my eyes.

Not an entirely bad watch but nothing more than above average at best. Popped score for Until Dawn at a 6/10. Socials have this from 53% to 6/10 on IMBd.

Did you play or checkout the movie of Until Dawn? Love to hear your thoughts below. Did you get any easter eggs from the movie that I missed? I only played the game through once so I’m sure there’s a lot there I didn’t see but loved my playthrough over watching this feature when comparing them.

Thanks for coming to Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Stick around if you’re on the fence of Colorful Stage! The Movie:- Unless you’re already watched / locked in then maybe my “Review” isn’t for you.

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The Accountant 2 “Review”

Release date: April 25, 2025 (USA)

Director: Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Ben Affleck; Jon Bernthal; Cynthia Addai-Robinson; Daniella Pineda; J. K. Simmons

Running time: 2h 5m

MPAA rating: R

Distributed by: Amazon MGM Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

How’s this getting lower scores than The Legend of Ochi! Something smells off here. The Legend of stolen Sneaks got flipped with Accountant 2 while Ochi got flipped with Sneaks 😀

Been a minute since the first title but this started and ended with the same energy as the first. Thoroughly enjoyed this feature. Loved the chemistry between Ben Affleck & Jon Bernthal. Brothers to the end :D.

Not going to dive into this story. It’s literally the movies adventure to discover. So sit back and enjoy. Don’t miss the beginning as it sets up all the adventure.

Heard this is apart of a trilogy and I’m ready for what’s to come. No post credit scene so feel free to leave straight after the title ends. Loved how this continued development from characters in the first installment.

Only critique is some scenes felt a little long but added to character growth / setup for fun scenes shortly to come from them :D.

More substance than action movies like A Working Man. Some material can be heavy for some audiences so be prepared for that. It had me on the edge of my seat along with many others when looking around the theatre.

Was hovering around an 8 to 8.5 but going to place The Accountant 2 at a 8/10 great watch. May watch again. For sure would revisit if watching this as a trilogy. Socials are giving this from 7.3/10 on IMBd to 92% on Fandango.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews”. More to come tomorrow as I catch up with Until Dawn & A Miku Who Can’t Sing. Didn’t check it out at first thinking it was a concert. Found out it’s an actual movie. Stay tuned for tomorrow on that :D.

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The Legend Of Ochi “Review”

Release date: April 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Isaiah Saxon

MPAA rating: PG

Running time: 1h 35m

Cinematography: Evan Prosofsky

Distributed by: A24

A24 is back at it again with another title. Is this being praised by fans or are movie goers actually enjoying this? I’d love to know if this is a Joker 2 situation or am I completely out of touch these days liking Sneaks and ….. Let’s get into it 😉

The trailer didn’t interest me but I have a mission to 100 so checked out Legend of Ochi.

With a dark intro into this world of Ochi and the gang of young boys lead by Willem Dafoe (Playing Maxim) going against this “Evil?” creature I was optimistic! That was short lived. Not going to harp on a young actor. The main lead Yuri (Played by Helena Zengel) seemed to have her dialogue out of sync with her lip sync. In addition to her character being annoying.

The story and hope for Ochi and his clan was what got me…..sadly (Some Minor Spoilers?) You don’t get to see them much compared to the humans….

Our human group Maxim and his son Petro (Played by Finn Wolfhard) along with daughter Yuri among the many boys of this village are hunting / defending the village from these creatures. Maybe I missed the why behind Maxim’s motives but I had enjoyment / investment into these human characters. I wanted to see Ochi and the story behind them all.

My comparison or reference is going to see Gremlins and having their story forgotten about or not written in for the sake of this humans and their journey.

For my personally this missed massively where I wouldn’t even stream it or at least watch the beginning scene and ending 15/20 mins. The remainder was a slog. I looked up how long this feature was. 1 Hour and 35minutes. I felt like this was longer than 2 hours. People were shocked I liked Sneaks. :O If you liked Ochi more than Sneaks or even liked Ochi and didn’t watch Sneaks. I’ve lost it 😀

The Legend of Ochi felt like a waste of time that offered me nothing. I could do a spoiler “Review” if interested and the further reasons why I didn’t like this title. I came for the legend and got a hunt to extinct Ochi. 2.5/10 Popped score on this one. Going to bump Cap 4 up as it doesn’t belong in it’s placement currently. Ochi is going down in my bottom 5 list of 2025 thus far.

Maybe a little harsh but compare this with Sneaks. Let me know what you preferred and I’d be curious to see if I’m out of touch with the general viewing audience or if we have a Joker 2 situation occurring with A24 fans here.

IMBd had this title at 6.2/10 up to RT score of 80%.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” stay tuned right after this for The Accountant 2 “Review” :D.

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Sinners “Review”

Initial release: April 18, 2025

Director: Ryan Coogler

Running time: 2h 17m

MPAA rating: R

Budget: 90 million USD

Producers: Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian

Kudos to Ryan Coogler on creating a trailer that teases what’s to come in this title while also not showing his hand like a few other movies we’ve had this year and prior.

If you know me you’ll know I like to speak code. So let’s speak code on this one to keep those cards sealed and in hand so your enjoyment of this title can be at its fullest.

The time period is 1932 and twin brothers Smoke & Stack being played by the incredible Michael B. Jordan return from Mississippi Delta after years of being away working in Chicago for Al Capone.

Using their $ they purchase a sawmill to start up their new business, a juke joint for the local black community. Their cousin Sammie is introduced as an aspiring guitarist, joining them despite opposition from his pastor father who warns that blues music is supernatural….

Now if you know, you know, and if you don’t, then avoid the trailer and go in blind for a pretty big reveal of this movie and why people are speaking so highly of it. The majority of this title is taking place over a period of a day leading to the events that start this movie with a whammy. (Don’t miss the intro scene, turn up on time).

I thoroughly enjoyed the build up and journey of these characters as the trailer reveals but that alone is a solid good watching experience. Then the aftermath and what comes next is what I’d watch this title again for. Despite how good the setup was. It’s what keeps this going into the 9 tier but sits solidly at 8.5 drawing this title out a little long but totally worth going out and watching this feature at least once.

I just watched this yesterday and looks like my wife wants to check it out today so I’ll be going back already, haha. Socials has this from a 8.2 to 98% so people are thoroughly enjoying Sinners.

Without going into spoilers. You may hear buzz about hope for a sequel. Stick around slightly longer during the credits. You’ll see why. Sinners will display and you can walk out the theatre then but you’ll know when it’s time to leave. Wanting more blues, stick around to the very end for that last scene but nothing story related if you want to save 5minutes.

For those that watched the trailer – Non Spoiler – After Second Watch

Just got out from second watch, OMG it’s incredible. Loved the pacing during second viewing. Go to bathroom before you get to the club otherwise you’re almost locked in or miss some of the best scenes. Music was insanely good and all the characters and actors do incredible! Maybe due to a couple chatting next to me in my first viewing but loved loved loved this second watch. My wife even gave the movie a 10/10 so bumping it to 9/10 and placing it on my top 10 list.

Enjoy 😀

Thanks for coming to Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Did you enjoy Sinners? Want to discuss what could come next? Then let us know in the comments below.

Coming up this week we have The Accountant 2, Legend of Ochi & Until Dawn “Reviews”. Would anyone be interested in me “Reviewing” Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie or randomly On Swift Horses?

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The Wedding Banquet “Review”

Release date: April 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Andrew Ahn

Story by: Ang Lee, James Schamus, Neil Peng

Running time: 1h 43m

Screenplay: Andrew Ahn, James Schamus

Distributed by: Bleecker Street, Universal Pictures

Super cute trailer got me curious for a fun comedy at the movies. After all the action we’ve had this spring.

The Wedding Banquet focuses the story around 2 gay couples that are best friends. Lee & Angela (Played by Lily Gladstone & Kelly Marie Tran) are attempting to have a child through IVF and Min & Chris (Played by Han Gi-chan & Bowen Yang) having their own set of relationship and personal troubles.

The first hour until we get nearer to the trailer segments was a little long setting up our characters and getting to know them. I didn’t personally find a connection with them until the stories started to intertwine. Min proposes a green card marriage with one of his friends as his grandmother is threatening to return him to Korea due to his visa expiring.

I loved the character of the grandmother Ja-Young (Played by Youn Yuh-jung) as she has her own journey and development. Angela’s mother is also a fun addition May Chen (Played by Joan Chen).

Loved the Kingdom Hearts shout out which may bring this rating up haha but honestly it was fun and a good watch even with the slow burn. Popped scoring of a fine to good but personally I’d settle with a 6.5/10 for The Wedding Banquet.

Enjoy the character journeys, personal growth and fun times ahead, specially in the second half.

Thanks for coming to Popped for your movie “Review” of the Wedding Banquet. I’ve heard from others I’m definitely alone on my enjoyment of Sneaks, so I’m curious if this is another hit or miss with movie going watchers. IMBd has this title at a 6.7 along with Metacritic. RT is sitting strong with 88%.

Stick around for the next “Review” Sinners.

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Sneaks “Review”

Release date: April 18, 2025 (USA)

Directors: Rob Edwards, Chris Jenkins

MPAA rating: PG

Producers: Laurence Fishburne, Gil Cloyd, Helen Sugland, Leonard Hartman, Patrick Worlock

Running time: 1h 28m

Production companies: Cinema Gypsy Productions · See more

Maybe the low expectations. Maybe all the heart and soul in this feature. I have to say, had a solid time in this one. Shame not many will see it over movies like Minecraft though.

The trailer does a great job focusing on the shoes so I wont go into the other layer this title has. For a movie about shoes this title captured (At a lesser quality) the feeling of toy story and similar titles with talking inanimate objects.

The combination of music, characters, emotion and meta jokes was such a surprise I was between great and solidly good. I think others maybe at the lower end of fine to good but this title got me thoroughly entertained.

Edson our high school basketball player (Voiced by Swae Lee) finds himself in competition for these beautiful new shoes which he’s in dyer need of for this career. The Collector (Voiced by Laurence Fishburne) has other plans. In an adventure between them both. Our main story comes from the journey of our sibling shoes during the theft. Being stolen from Edson they find themselves apart. (Shoes are called Ty & Maxine (I believe it’s Maxine)).

Ty is the type of shoe that wants to be owned by the Collector and treated well on a pedestal. Maxine on the other hand being brand new out the box, wants to experience life with someone that will use them for their aspirations in life. The Collector by the way has his companion dog called Mercury which is solid in this feature.

There’s so many more characters and fun people in Sneaks to enjoy. Even the narrators of the story were a lot of fun. Meta jokes and lots of shoe puns / jokes.

If you check Sneaks out let me know what you thought. Not many scores are posted so IMBD alone has Sneaks at 5.2/10 & RT Critic score at a 50%. So take this with a grain of salt. I love me some animation movies and this got me in the gooey center. Talking about it with my wife last night I was chuckling looking back at certain jokes and lines.

If working man is a switch your brain off popcorn flick. Maybe this is leave your critical animator eye at the door. It’s not Into the Spider verse, but the combination of music, soul and laughs had me scoring this at a 7.5 / weak 8 Popped Score. Worth a viewing. Has some nice messaging and definitely better than Minecraft which is insane people are still coming out to cause havoc with the chicken jokey scene.

Enough of that though let’s not dive into a rant. Today we check out The Wedding Banquet. Any movies that caught you off guard? I’m usually one to have some sort of opposite experience to others so I’m curious what’s yours.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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Warfare “Review”

Release date: April 11, 2025 (USA)

Directed by: Ray Mendoza; Alex Garland

Running time: 1h 35m

Budget: $20 million

MPAA rating: R

Distributed by: A24

Solid trailer to begin with but what’s more solid is seeing this budget! $20 Million for Warfare while Disney spends 10 times this is an insane difference. Nice job A24.

I mentioned it the other day how A24 are inconsistent with their quality of movies comparing to neon. Well here is Warfare the movie we thought we were getting when Civil War released last year. I’m going to end this “Review” with a bit of a spoiler that I’ll mark clearly with if you’re interested. But before that let’s discuss Warfare and why I may even nominate it the Oscar for sound/editing.

The entire movie has been created from memory from all those that survived this war. Stick around throughout the credits to see the veterans and their movie counterparts. It’s pretty remarkable seeing this after watching what goes down during this title.

Warfare sets the viewer up with a platoon of American Navy SEALS on a surveillance mission in an insurgent territory of Iraq. Throughout the setup of this mission the silence and lack of action was so powerful when action gets going. I mentioned Oscar earlier. This is where it could win it. Any action after those intense silence moments sets the theatre a light with explosions that will shake you in your seat. Make sure to watch this in a theatre. The sound was incredible and the edit created so much suspense.

It’s a well crafted war film that’s definitely worth the view. Popped scoring of 8/10! Warfare is great. Stick around for the nitty gritty if you don’t mind some “story” spoilers.

Placing the thank you here to seperate my thoughts above to the Nitty Gritty below. So with that thank you for coming to Popped for your movie “Reviews” and looking forward to the week ahead. Sneaks on Thursday, followed by potentially sometime over the weekend or early next week, Sinners & The Wedding Banquet.

See you next batch on the Popped.blog 😀

Potential Spoiler Chat – The Nitty Gritty

Didn’t want to take away this from your movie going experience. So placing the nitty gritty at the bottom of this “Review”. Despite being a surveillance mission and not wanting to take away the fact this is based on real Navy SEALs literal memories.

The story / plot is the weakest for me personally. I got to the end feeling like nothing was achieved. Think of Warfare as a piece of action from a slice of War. You’re focused on a singular point of conflict without getting the bigger picture. To get this title into a stronger 8 and maybe even a 9. I’d love to have seen a bigger picture pull out and the impact of this surveillance mission on the overall war that’s occurring over Comms.

Maybe I missed something or the point trying to be communicated to the viewer but that’s the nitty gritty of it all. Had a great time watching this title but don’t go in expecting a story with mission objectives and a moving plot. Theirs a moving plot for the characters, emotion and for survival but you’re in place for the majority of this movie and A24 and the cast made it a worthy watch at the theatre.

If you read to the end I’d love to hear your thoughts on Warfare in the comments and what did you think of Civil War? Will A24 be releasing War movies like these every April going forth? I’m curious to see if their branching out the scope to a realistic global war movie that’s grounded like these on a small budget.

Thanks for coming by Popped and I’ll see you next batch.

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Drop “Review”

Release date: April 11, 2025 (USA)

Director: Christopher Landon

Producers: Michael Bay, Cameron Fuller, Jason Blum, Bradley Fuller

Language: English

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Box office: $3.4 million

Trailer was pretty cool and had me intrigued. Let’s discuss the final Drop of this weeks Batch.

Welcome to the final feature of today’s batch. Having seen the trailer ? There’s still a lot of enjoyment in this title. Does it show a lot of the thrill? Yea, but it doesn’t ruin it. The intro sure does hook you if the trailer hasn’t already.

Violet is a widowed mother trying to get back out there in the dating game. This feature is around that date and the craziness that consumes this date when Violet begins to receive Drop messages being sent to her cellphone.

A short movie of an hour and a half, it’s got good pacing and even has some extra fun for those that watched the trailer. (You know me and the battle against the spoilery trailer :D)

Everyone’s a potential suspect. So who’s your suspect in this mystery? Check out Drop at your local theatre to find out. Going to be fairly short with this one to avoid spoilers and all.

A solid good movie worth checking out with a 7/10 Popped score. Maybe a sequel in our future? We shall wait and see for what stories can be created. I’d love to learn more though but let’s discuss that in the comments :D.

Socials on this title are fairly high with 6.5 IMDb to 83% on RT.

Thanks for checking out this weeks triple batch of “Reviews”. Anything stand out to you? Something I missed (Other than Warfare. Seeing that Tomorrow/Monday). Lots of features releasing throughout April so it’ll be a busy month of movie going experiences and entertainment.

What title are you most looking forward to?

See you next batch!

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The King of Kings “Review”

Release date: April 11, 2025 (USA)

Director: Jang Seong-Ho

Based on: The Life of Our Lord; by Charles Dickens

Box office: $7 million

Music by: Kim Tae-seong

Production company: Mofac Studios

Loved the animation and was curious to check out an Angel Studio movie. So what better way than to checkout The King of Kings on Passover.

I’m not religious to start with so take this experience with that knowledge. In school studying Religious Education I wasn’t really into all this but the information learnt was useful to know of different religions. Having media and tales told through well created content like The King of Kings would have been great for my childhood self and recommended for today’s youth. More stories and tales should be created by this team for all religions. They did a very good job.

This feature kept me entertained despite all the distractions occurring. I watch a lot of movies but the audience for this title were something else. Lots of talking, babies crying. People on cellphones, some recording small scene clips. There was an awful lot going on but the feature kept me entertained.

What’s The King of Kings even about? Well this is a tale being told from a father to his imaginative son (Whom has a fascination for King Arthur, Dragons and Sword Fighting). A story told by Charles Dickens of Jesus Christ. From his birth to his resurrection. Loved all the interactive scenes between storytelling and “real life” segments along with telling a story through the eyes of a curious young boy.

Mentioned at the start. I’m still in the camp of King Arthur. Didn’t quite resonate with these religious tales in my youth and still love Dungeons & Dragons. (Not that they can’t both be enjoyed by any means). This was a fun experience and mostly being enjoyed on socials from 62% to 7.2/10 on RT & IMDb. Maybe it’s the impact it had on the audience I was with but I had a very good time with a 7.5/10. The crowd applauded throughout the ending and despite going hard at the end. Angel Studio made a good point of having children experience this title.

(P.S My own little message on that ending pay it forward message) – About the paying it forward program that Angel Studio’s offers. Please actually use it when you’re unable to afford or experience this feature. Taking free tickets, refunding them or just experiencing this on someone else’s dime is pretty low when the children at the end of this title are literally speaking to the audience for those unable to. It’s a good message when heard and used by the right people. It’d be horrible if someone that doesn’t require this pay it forward program to exploit for free tickets / money.

I’ve got a few Popped Dates planned. One of those is the discussion on this current Minecraft Chicken Jockey meme going around. The fact Jack Black & the films director are endorsing it is shameful and needs to be discussed. Not just for this title but future installments and for others interested in replicating it with other properties. Having fun is one thing. But disturbing public viewings, creating chaos, causing damage to property and further stress and work on theatre staff is not having fun.

Little different on the ending to this “Review” but felt right to place that here on a title that had an audience with little ones. This is 2 of 3 in this week’s batch of “Reviews”. Prepare for the last… Drop ;).

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