Category: Below – Above Average

Fight or Flight “Review”

Release date: May 9, 2025 (USA)

Director: James Madigan

Executive producers: Melissa Bale, D. J. Cotrona, Alastair Burlingham, Danny Chan, George Bennett

MPAA rating: R

Producers: Tai Duncan, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christopher Milburn

Running time: 1h 41m

Seeing on the poster, From the Producers of John Wick, I was ready to go. Coming out from Clown in a Cornfield I was ready for what I thought was going to be the better movie of the two…. let’s discuss.

Want to know a similar experience – Check out my Love Hurts “Review” – Outside of the combat and fight scenes I was bored. I felt like I missed an entire story prior to this as the feature opens in mid fight on a failing plane. Then goes back 12 hours. All the story elements are discussed rather than shown throughout the title. Famous saying “Show don’t tell” should have been discussed with the storyboard.

Our main leads are totally fine. They had fun and I loved the energy during the fighting. Josh Hartnett plays Lucas Reyes a recruited member of the FBI to track down “The Ghost” escaping on a plane to San Francisco. Thing is, when arriving in the plane he finds out the entire plane has been filled with assassins assigned to kill “The Ghost” also. Charithra Chandran plays Isha a flight attendant that gets herself mixed up in this mess when knocking on the bathroom at the wrong time.

Summed up, that’s the story. Sit back and get through all the discussion of why their after The Ghost. The relationship between Lucas and the head FBI agent assigning this task to him and have fun with all the action scenes and surprises.

More action than Love Hurts which helps in the hour and 41minute run time. Feature sets up a sequel if you’re left wanting more but no end scene on this one.

Popped score of 6/10, it’s okay. Fun action, some fun jokes but little of anything else outside of that. I probably wont be back for a sequel unless I need it for my 100 films of that release year.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and with this double batch I’ll catch you next week for Final Destination: Bloodlines & Hurry Up Tomorrow. That is unless I catch Rosario / Shadow Force during the week.

Planned for the remainder of May is Lilo & Stitch, Mission Impossible. Bring Her Back, Friendship? If I can find somewhere playing it & Karate Kid: Legends.

Did I miss anything I need to see prior to June? Let me know in the comments below!

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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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Snow White “Review”

Release date: March 21, 2025 (USA)

Director: Marc Webb

Budget: 209 million USD

Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Adapted from: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Snow White

Music by: Jeff Morrow (score); Larry Morey and Frank Churchill (songs); Pasek and Paul (new songs);

“Reviewing” Disney’s Snow White: Not getting involved in politics and all. Just discussing the movie as that’s why we’re here on Popped. To discuss and “Review” movies of which this is.

For those already decided on watching or forgoing this feature. This “Review” isn’t really for you…..unless you’re open to the thought of checking it out or interested in my thoughts. Otherwise, on the fence or curious, stick around for my journey across the kingdom of Disney’s SnowWhite.

The Good

Rachel Zegler is Snow White in this version of Snow White. Surprised me with how good she made the bad scenes, almost saving the movie in moments which blew my mind that I actually liked her. From her songs to the new story additions she felt in place….Until those gosh darn last 30minutes after a certain story beat occurs…..how poisoned things went to end it all.

Andrew Burnap whom plays Jonathan in this edition of Snow White. This tweaked story added to this edition of Snow White introduces a band of bandits that fight in the name of the king. Their leader Jonathan was a nice addition to this story and worked well with it, not feeling forced or out of place unlike his merry band which seemed to offer just comedic relief and little of a band of bandits.

The Story & Music which some was new and others was nostalgia play. Scenes with the dwarves was saved due to the music. I still didn’t like them but between the music and Snow White I didn’t hate them.. The first 15minutes was all new? story before leading up to the intro of the original film. (The Original is a little hazy in memory so apologize if some of it was actually in there) Up until the last 30minutes the story progressed well and I enjoyed the new additions weaving between an okay 5.5 to a fine movie 6.5. Sadly the bad was just bad enough that the poison hit that much harder into my system.

The Bad

Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Until she turned into the evil witch, I hated all the scenes with the Evil Queen. It felt like she just read the script and didn’t get into her character. The songs felt off and the story / acting was pulling me out of the world being created. Bad casting? I’m not sure. Maybe a mixture of that and a poor script which led to the poison to end my curious bite.

The Seven Dwarves were saved by nostalgia plays of music. I disliked their design going in and I couldn’t get behind them whilst watching their scenes. The ending was a total WTF and their….magic? hands was not explained nor lead to anything later on. Maybe the magic of CGI? You’ll have to tell me about that scene in the mine because WTF. I was honestly enjoying my delicious Harkins Popcorn until that scene made me freeze in shock.

Partial bad nod to the huntsman – I see they attempted to pull off the original scene but didn’t hit the same. Maybe it was what came after in the woods but a partial bad nod.

The Poisoned Apple

This movie would have been just okay to fine at best depending on your personal experience. That all changed for myself in the last 30 minutes as the movie needed to wrap up. I wont spoil the ending but I’ll drop a couple of things nodding to it.

Dopey was almost in there as an okay member of the film. Actually getting some scenes where I rooted for him… WTF Disney…WTF.

Gal Gadot resolution / ending / Her Singing 😦

The kingdoms people again resolution / ending was very odd and jarring compared to the setup of the film.

With that we come to our conclusion of Snow White. A roller coaster of slight ups and down but staying pretty consistently between the 5’s & 6’s. Came to an awful downward journey in the last 30 minutes coming in at a 4.5/10.

What are your thoughts on the movie Disney’s Snow White? Skipping it for a different movie this week / next? Or holding out for Minecraft? Love to hear your thoughts and I’ll see you across this weekend with a few titles.

The Alto Knights, Ash & Locked before next week ending March with Death of a Unicorn, The Woman in the Yard & A Working Man to end March and jump into Spring season of 2025 movie going before Summer lands around the corner.

Thanks for checking out Popped for your movie “Reviews” and I’ll see you next batch :D.

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Black Bag & Opus “Reviews” – Double Batch

Release date: March 14, 2025 (USA)

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Budget: $50 million

Distributed by: Universal Pictures, Focus Features

Cinematography: Peter Andrews

Produced by: Casey Silver; Gregory Jacobs

Double batch coming your way a little late due to busy / lack of interest in this mid range batch… no offence.

Seeing the current review scores, I’m glad it’s doing well. Love the cast but the pacing is so incredibly slow. Lack of action and only picked up in last 20minutes. I compare this movie to being in a 50MPH zone stuck behind someone going 30. I want to get to my destination but it’s taking forever.

Slow rides don’t put you off? Then have fun. 6/10 Popped Score

Distributed by: A24

Budget: $10 million

Music by: Danny Bensi (score); Saunder Jurriaans (score); Nile Rodgers (music); The-Dream (music)

The weirdness that intrigued me, maybe the thing that puts you off.

Think a lower budget Indie A24 version of Blink Twice. Popstar from the 90’s is returning to release a new album. Inviting several guests to his groups little “Resort?” we get introduced to our main lead POV Ariel Ecton being played by Ayo Edebiri.

Ariel is a journalist doing a report on this popstar / album but finds herself mixed into a twisted plan with….. cultists…. :O.

It’s a weird movie but personally a much more enticing one than Black Bag giving this a fine rating of 6.5/10. Again the weirdness will put off many. But for some, it maybe the thing that gets you to like it.

Rapid fire batch this week. Expect Snow White, Ash & Alto Knights to come for the next up-coming batch :D. Followed by to end the month, Death of a Unicorn, Women in the Yard & Working Man.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and I’ll see you next time 😀

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Mickey 17 “Review”

Release date: March 7, 2025 (USA)

Director: Bong Joon-ho

Screenplay: Bong Joon-ho

Budget: $118 million

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

Adapted from: Mickey7

Maybe my interest levels were set high as I waited all weekend to check this out…. shall we?

(Added after writing….P.S – If you plan to watch this, maybe turn back now….)

Mickey 17, I wish they cut almost an hour of content / story that could have been used to better the storytelling and establishing the world and reasons for the characters motives. (Yea I’m going to hold back on my rant from last night after watching the film).

Maybe that content was told in Mickey 1 through 16 but this movie had so much useless bloat. Setting up parameters and then throwing away those parameters moments later within the same scene. Unlike a few features I’ve checked out recently where the final act looses me. This title had the opposite effect.

Pacing and introductions were fine at first however the pacing was slow and bulked by pointless sex scenes. Sex jokes and useless bloat that was setup just for a plot point that could have been told in such a better way than using up 40 minutes of screen time. Like who the fuck / when the fuck did the opposition get setup. That came out of freaking nowhere. Anyway, the final act brought my bored, totally over the characters and awful plot back into a sense of enjoyment when the point of this story finally clicked into place. (Slight spoiler but it’s in the trailer and posters so…) I loved the aliens (Or residents) of the planet we end up going to.

If it wasn’t for that saving grace I was honestly wondering why was this feature made. I understand now why people are praising Robert Pattinson and the directors previous works. Because the movie was almost dog ****. My wife and father in law said they had a good time and enjoyed it so I’m sure my thoughts are the minority on this one but something about it just didn’t click / connect to keep me entertained.

I’ve already bagged on a particular title from last year so I wont do so again. So let’s use a more recent example feature that bombed / got low ratings but I actually enjoyed. “In the lost lands”.

While In the Lost Lands had a terrible script and executed storytelling poorly drastically towards the middle and ending. I loved the world that was built. The characters, despite dialogue missing a lot. Was held together with a specific style that was fun and entertaining. Despite Mark Ruffalo being annoying so you hate him to want him out the picture. I really hated the character for hating the character itself. I felt no connection in any positive light to himself and his wife. I hated them both. I disliked all the scenes they were in and felt the story was dragged down with all the bloat before it got somewhat good. In the Lost Lands I was captured by the world where I didn’t care the movie got poopy. I was having a good time. Mickey 17 was saved by the aliens and thank fuck for that because I could have walked out and felt like I missed nothing from the experience.

Unpopular opinion ? Maybe. But that’s why it’s a “Review” my honest thoughts / experience watching this title. Want a rant / a breakdown into why I didn’t like this title even further? Then let me know in the comments and I’ll continue. Would I recommend… probably not when better content is out. Curious to see what kind of experience you’ll have? Then check it out and hopefully have a good time. Bring this down to an hour and half movie I’d of given it a 7 but with the bloat and boring almost hour of eh, I’d give this a 5.5 / 6 out of 10. An above average feature. It’s a movie…..

Well there it is, my “Review” on Mickey 17. Was it smart to switch this release with Sinners. I think so. Having this now allows a potential better movie in the summer and hopefully washes the bad taste out of my mouth from the sauce.

Excited for Looney Tunes, curious to check out Black Bag aaaaand seeing the early reviews coming in for Opus… Maybe we’ll get a new addition to the bottom 5 movies of 2025. Mickey 17 didn’t make it on the list but it’s one of my lower rated features thus far for 2025.

I think Ne Zha 2 broke me setting the bar so high that all I want is to devour that content again and again. Longing for the English Dub to release and the third title to be confirmed / discussed :D.

Thanks for coming to Popped blog for your Movie “Reviews” and hopefully the sauce wasn’t so bad that this left an after taste in your mouth for movies going forth. Overall though 2025 is shaping up to be a better year for content thus far…..right? 😀 Maybe we should break the spring down comparing to last year once we hit April.

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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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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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Presence “Review”

Distributed by: Neon

Budget: $2 million

Music by: Zack Ryan

Produced by: Julie M. Anderson; Ken Meyer

I’m writing this at 1:18am so let’s hurry this along so it doesn’t play on my mind haha. You know what they say about 3am :S. Without further ado, Presence “Review”.

Presence takes place in the POV of “Casper” the “Friendly” ghost as we don’t fully know who this presence is. I’m going to name it Casper for this “Review”. The film starts of almost to floaty as we navigate around this home. Never leaving while always looking out. Our “Happy” family comes for a house tour to setup the stage for this feature prior to making a purchase and living there for the remainder.

I’m not going to get deep with this one to avoid spoilers / the journey. For such a short film I’ll leave the door open for the experience while giving my impressions of the film. (Maybe a small segment to end with a slight spoiler).

Picture Paranormal Identity photography style of filming for this title set within this home. Focused on this family of Mum & Dad with their Son & Daughter. I hated the Mum & Son while became attached to the Dad & Daughter. This title is rather slow and can be boring if not “attached” or connected with a character in the film. Without that connection I can see this movie having little to nothing for you as a viewing experience.

It’s Paranormal Activity with little to light Activity and more Paranormal Presence with a Family Drama being viewed from the sidelines.

I’d say its not a bad movie. But the ending did keep it from getting a good rating for a Popped score of 6.5/10. It’s unfortunate as I was interested in this story / journey. It’s just a shame that ending kind of fell apart. (More in the spoilers segment below).

Spoiler ish Segment

Beware!

Let’s Begin.

It’s established early ish on that this Presence is able to interact with objects in the real world. Then is able to be felt / be known to certain individual/s. Soooo how comes the ending threw that aside to deliver such a jawing outcome O.o.

Also, a character sets up a clue to be solved by stating a Window that cannot be opened…..the window I’m assuming they allure to at the end was never mentioned being unable to be opened… Sooo, why drop that “Clue”.

I’m sure you can break into some more than that but I’ll leave it there and await your thoughts below.

Spoiler ish Segment Fin

Thanks for reading and coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” :D. Stay tuned for the next batch coming at you real soon.

Tomorrow night planning for Flight Risk. Monday I’m planning for The Brutalist, Colors Within & A Secret Movie :O :D. Wednesday & Thursday have some surprises instore also so stay tuned for a jam packed movie week.

We’re thus far OnTrack to 4x our 2024 January watched numbers :O which is insane!. 300 Movies in 2025 if we kept up that pace haha. I kid I kid, 100 is a pretty reasonable goal for 2025. See you tomorrow night!

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One of Them Days “Review”

Release date: January 17, 2025 (USA)

Director: Lawrence Lamont

Producers: Issa Rae, Sara Rastogi, Deniese Davis, Poppy Hanks, James Lopez

Distributed by: Sony Pictures Releasing

Budget: $14 million

Production companies: TriStar Pictures; Hoorae Media; ColorCreative; Big Boss; MACRO

Mainly watched this movie due to seeing Morgan Peter Brown in the trailer for this feature. It may have taken almost 45 minutes to see him but loved! That he was in a big screen title :D.

I’m not going to lie, this movie wasn’t for me. The humor wasn’t hitting with me and I’m probably just not the audience for this feature as younger movie goers were loving it.

Took 40minutes before I genuinely laughed to give you context going in on my experience. It’s an okay movie personally. I prefer the Friday movies & Dude Where’s My Car for buddy duo’s getting up to crazy events in their daily lives.

Keke Palmer playing Dreux & SZA playing Alyssa are our buddy duo as they come to find themselves in a bit of trouble having 9 hours to pay their rent or get evicted. Coming up with ways to both find and earn the money had its charm. I enjoyed certain characters over others. It’s mainly just the jokes weren’t hitting for me which was hard to get through some scenes.

Where I sat in the theatre was mostly quiet but maybe this is for the younger crowd? I have no idea. Check it out if you have time. I wanted it to be on par with Wolf Man slightly under but the amount of time for a short hour and 37 minute title that I felt mid just getting through the scenes / checking my watch waiting for Morgan Brown to turn up was to much to say this id slightly above average at best with a 5.5/10 Popped Score.

I hope you enjoy the jokes and all but it wasn’t for me. I’m hoping for a better experience next week with Flight Risk & Presence? Possibly The Brutalist if I’m able to find somewhere close to watch it for last years potential best picture? The Colors Within would be nice to see also if the theatres near by get booked.

However, until then, expect to see some Anime “Reviews” coming soon. Sakamoto Days, My Happy Marriage Season 2, and potentially Solo Leveling Season 2. Thanks for coming by Popped. Blog and enjoy your movie going week.

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Wolf Man “Review”

Release date: January 17, 2025 (USA)

Director: Leigh Whannell

Budget: $25 million

Adapted from: The Wolf Man

Producers: Ryan Gosling, Jason Blum

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

I had low expectations going in. I had some moments that I enjoyed, moments that I appreciated, and a whole lot of mid-moments. Shall we begin?

The trailers didn’t entice me to watch this. Just the dangling hope for that Universal Horror-Verse coming after Black Phone 2 for Blum house features. Will this be selected for that Universe?

Wolf Man introduces us to a child version of Blake going hunting with his father before skipping 30 years into the future. I rather enjoyed this setup and loved the characters being introduced and the lore setup along with it.

Then the time skip happens. I didn’t like the dynamic of this family from the trailers. As much as I enjoy Julia Garner from Ozarks whom plays Charlotte, Blakes wife. I didn’t connect to their chemistry. The daughter was just fine with her mother but had much better chemistry with her father. Matilda Firth did just fine as Ginger.

Overall this title felt like a monster movie of the week. It’s just a fine movie with elements of being good. Something that sets this slightly above is the unique perspective of Blake changing into the Wolf Man and his wife Charlotte having different outlooks on the situation. Sadly this didn’t occur enough but I appreciated this attempt.

There was tension during this movie, even when the enemy was shown on screen, which is usually lost after the main “Scary” villain is shown. I enjoyed some story aspects that this movie had. It’s just a fine movie. I’d like to have seen a different ending but it’s just fine.

If you enjoy your monster movies then have a blast otherwise. An above-average movie at best. 6.5/10 Popped Score.

You can’t always have a Better Man of a Good time but it’s not a Borderlands bad time 😀 Thanks for reading and checking out Popped. Blog for your movie “Reviews”.

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