Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes “Review”

Release date: May 10, 2024 (USA)

Budget: $160–165 million

Based on: Characters; by Rick Jaffa; Amanda Silver; Premise from Planet of the Apes; by Pierre Boulle

Super non spoiler review. This movie offers so much exploration and discovery I want you to all enjoy the ride before you going into this masterpiece.

I’ve been holding off watching the “legacy” series for after having seen this movie and after coming out I’m super excited to see what’s to come along with find out easter eggs planted in this feature. I love the modern day trilogy based on Caesar. The first is a perfect movie with the sequels being very close with a 9.5 for the second and a 9 for the third title personally.

My interest in this new addition was risen by the fact that Director Wes Ball will be directing the Legend of Zelda movie next. With that I’ll be splitting this review into two reviews for that purpose. One going over this film as a Planet of the Apes title. The second being that of my trust for Wes Ball in creating an epic Zelda movie despite the obvious concerns how bad a live action Zelda could be when we just got such a good Mario Animated title last year.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes “Feature Review”

This 4th installment of the modern era of Planet of the Apes shows so much respect to the Caesar trilogy. Expanding on Caesars teachings and continues to develop and explore those teachings from two different perspectives from the same lessons.

I watched Kingdom with a BIG fan of the originals and the franchise as a whole. He had an incredible time watching this movie and was picking up easter eggs from the legacy series which I’m excited to explore over this coming week.

Introducing us to our new lead Noa taking over many generations down the line from Caesar in the previous installments. We’re introduced to such an expansive and beautiful world. It felt like Assassins Creed Origins with Noa and the companion to his clan their trusted Eagles.

There’s so much varied tones and elements within this movie my movie going experience was like going to a theme park and running wild through all the areas getting on roller coasters and seeing all there is to see.

There’s so much that the trailers kept back on (Great Job! 20th Century Studios) that I want you to explore from here. Honestly if you enjoyed the Caesar trilogy what are you waiting for? Go have an epic time watching this 9/10 spectacle feature. If you’re new to this franchise then welcome. You can join here and explore so much content from Caesar’s origins to the legacy series set way way way past this point in time.

Will there be more? I sure hope so! What time period will be next? That’s a question for the team that continues this series toward the legacy series of movies. I kind of want it to end as the first film starts but it sure would be nice to see the legacy movies done with current day cameras and technology.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes “Wes Ball Zelda Review”

This movie felt like Assassin’s Creed Origins meets Last of Us. The world building and exploration was spot on for Zelda titles like BoTW & ToTK. It can also work with smaller environments like Gerudo Valley & Kokiri Forest.

So many shots in my head were replacing Noa with Link or even imagining Princess Zelda is certain shots depending what story they end up going with. The flawless integration with the Apes, humans and the environments was truly breath taking and can easily be seen adapted to work with The Legend of Zelda.

The music has already been written for Zelda and adapts to the story telling and visuals. I feel LoZ is in good hands with Wes Ball and hope his team is as strong as the team that supported him on this epic feature.

Thank you for coming by and reading another Popped movie review. Have you seen Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes? Watched the entire or some of the previous movies? I’d love to hear your (Non Spoiler or Spoiler Tagged) Comments below and what’s to come from here for this awesome franchise that I just want more and more of connecting Caesar Trilogy to the Legacy Titles.

May 9, 2024 0

the Fall Guy “Review”

Release date: May 3, 2024 (USA)

Director: David Leitch

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Box office: $8.5 million

Music by: Dominic Lewis

Summer 2024 has officially kicked off with the Fall Guy releasing in theatres.

I loved the spotlight focus going into the movie on stunt workers and their craft, as this is greatly deserved but often missed in the movie industry. By highlighting the hard work and dedication of these unsung heroes, “the Fall Guy” brings a fresh perspective to the world of film making.

The attention to detail in showcasing the artistry and risks involved in stunt work adds depth to the movie and sets it apart from typical action films. Kudos to the filmmakers for shedding light on this essential but often overlooked aspect of film-making.

I’ve personally not thought of this aspect sitting in the movies which was an eye opener going forward. They even included a nod to stunt workers not receiving Oscars themselves which should totally be looked into.

Now I’m not going to spoil over half of this movie so you’re in safe hands going forth. I will mention and compare this to a movie I never reviewed this year “Argylle”, the movie that had such an awesome first hour then rapidly fell off a cliff each 30 minutes to the end.

If Argylle was a parallel of the movie and real life writing a story and having writers block in finishing the 3rd act. the Fall Guy was its parallel in understanding the script and succeeding in the pay off of the 3rd act.

You’re going to want to stick around when the credits roll as they show a lot of behind the scenes of the stunts within the movie along with a fun mid credit scene.

The characters and supporting roles were excellently casted and written. My wife and I fell in love with them all and I appreciated how they genuinely made two kick ass woman rather than going the Disney route of late.

Emily Blunt is playing the director of this movie and Hannah Waddingham is her producer (Apologize if she’s not I didn’t quite get her title – She’s her boss of sorts). I loved them both and they have great scenes from start to end.

Just as Argylle had secrecy to how much is shown in the trailers. the Fall Guy was able to disguise a lot from the viewer in context of scenes shown to how they came across in the movie. I may honestly be done with watching trailers UNLESS they continue on this trend. I don’t want to see the movie before watching the movie. It may possibly be why I enjoyed Boy Kills World, Challengers & Sting so much this year.

The movie has so many fun meta moments and totally runs with it. The actors and stunt workers show their passion and look to be genuinely having fun creating this title. As a fan of Comic Con and love the fancy Hall H events. the Fall Guy manages to offer up a fun level of excitement not only in the movie but also in the industry of fans and their love for movies.

I gave points to this title for keeping me awake despite being rather tired. I never actually fell asleep as the sound track would kick in or a fun action scene would keep my attention glued. I loved the soundtrack used throughout this feature and the intro to introduce us to this universe.

the Fall Guy staring Ryan Gosling kicks off summer 2024 just as he ended summer 2023 as ken. Gosling has been hard at work performing his own stunts and grown into a fine man of action packed goodness. He has so much fun with this character like the energy ken had with barbie.

[ Prior to posting this “Review” I didn’t include a section on the actual stunt doubles and looked up this little tid bit – Logan Holladay performed the film’s driving stunts while Ben Jenkin was Gosling’s primary stunt double, taking numerous hits for the actor]

This movie centered around the stunts and action along with a romantic chemistry between Ryan and Emily’s characters. The parallel between their story along with the story being created within the film was well written that the second half of the movie really paid off unlike the title I mentioned at the beginning for failing on.

Imagine a movie concentrated on just the action scenes tied together with mystery, espionage, romance and a poetic symmetry between what the viewer is seeing and the film is creating. I thoroughly loved this movie and with a bow tie ending settled from a 8.5 to a 9/10. My wife had 2 critiques for this film which due to all the fun being had was able to turn away from to enjoy the movie. She also said a solid 9/10.

The summer is here and you can follow along my journey here at Popped! Check out my top 10 summer predictions and let me know what you thought of the Fall Guy in the comments.

May 3, 2024 0

Challengers “Review”

Release date: April 26, 2024 (USA)

Director: Luca Guadagnino

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

Box office: $7 million

Cinematography: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

Music by: Trent Reznor; Atticus Ross

Honestly I didn’t really pay attention to the trailers. Thought this was a tennis movie until I was informed there’s lots of drama with Zendaya character dating 2 guys. I went in to see what Zendaya is up to outside of Spiderman and freaking loved the entire ride.

Challengers stars Zendaya as Tennis player turned coach – Tashi Duncan. Mike Faist as Art Donaldson & Josh O’Connor as Patrick Zweig. I thought when people mentioned Zendaya being the main character that there wouldn’t be other main characters but I felt as these 3 equally shared the spot light with one another.

Each of them had fantastic performances which captivated me along the entire story unfolding. This movie has one of my favorite story telling methods where it starts with the ending or a moment in time where the film takes you back to piece together the details required for that moment later on in the film.

Bravo to the director for this movie as I felt like the movie flowed like a tennis match going back and forth introducing characters and information about our 3 leads opening up and unveiling more and more. You may pick your sides and maybe even switch as the scenes revealed more but the entire way your captivated with what’s being displayed on screen.

I don’t want to entire spoiler territory so I’ll go up to a point without crossing. Art & Zweig are the best of friends and Zweig has a infatuation with Tashi. Art was smitten upon first sight of Tashi and from there the competition was on to win her affections over. I use competition as Tashi only speaks of Tennis and refers to all situations around Tennis. Not as she’s a prize to fight over despite that’s kind of what’s going on. She wants the best and that’s the better player the one whom wins at Tennis.

I’ll stop there and wait for your thoughts on this back and forth for after you’ve watched the movie. Now for another component of this movie, the sound track! The sound track was so insanely good! Loved it loved it loved it!

Pacing, story telling and the sound track were my top highlights of this feature. I honestly felt this was a perfect movie. That being said I’m giving it a 9/10 for I have an idea between 9 and 10 to come as a showdown toward the end of the year. That’s when my top 10 list will battle it out with 2 lists. An initial impressions and a rewatched and refined list. I’ll only be giving 9’s until November ish time when the showdown for 2024 top 10 truly begins.

This movie read the assignment and understood it. The bow tie was there and I recommend this title to all looking for a solid flick. Popped to the freshest caliber.

April 28, 2024 0