Category: Good Solid Movie

Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass “Review”

Release date: September 4, 2026 (USA)

Director: Gang Zhang

Running time: 1h 30m

Languages: Chinese, English

Production companies: China Film Group, Warner Bros. Discovery

MPAA rating: PG

Despite lasting only a week in theatres and low scores… I had a good time 😛

I’ve not watched Tom & Jerry in quite some time. So maybe my experience differed from that of current viewers, which could explain the disparity in our scores. A game of cat & mouse activates a forbidden compass, transporting the duo into a realm where they find themselves amidst a 300 year old feud.

One side wants revenge for being betrayed in his attempt to protect his city. The other has been banished from heaven and wants to find his way back. Tom & Jerry find themselves on both ends, but will friendship over come evil / temptation?

There’s a lot of gooey goodness here on both sides of the conflict. Phoenix master vs Rat Lord, this was a fun watch.

A jarring, odd rap occurred over dinner was an interesting choice, but I loved the Chinese musical themes and settings. First hour I honestly had a great time. Sadly last 30 minutes felt extremely rushed and dropped my score. Popped score of 7.5 which honestly maybe the highest I’ve seen out there but I honestly had such a fun time. Maybe having the theatre to myself raised my experience but you’ll have to check it out and see for yourself.

*Edit* – Changing to a 7 after watching Shaun the Sheep

Stay tuned for what’s coming next. Some awesome movies are still releasing after the summer wrapped!

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It Ends “Review”

Release date: August 21, 2026 (USA)

Director: Alexander Ullom

Running time: 1h 29m

Distributed by: Neon

92% This must be good!…..right?

4 friends driving down a straight road never found their turn-out. It Ends takes you on a dark purgatory story of what-if scenarios. Continuing forth is the only available route. To track backwards leads to dead ends. When people in the woods start to awaken from the car noise, acting like zombies screaming for help. What do you do other than continue to drive forward down the straight road?

I hope you enjoy these 4 characters because you’re locked in as much as they are with one another. There are some interesting ideas here, but do they ever really get developed or delved into to enrich the story? For me personally, it’s what dragged this movie down into the 7’s. When the formula ran stale, we got a change-up for both the viewer and actors. That’s sadly about where things didn’t change up and ended the movie with a weak 7 mostly; it’s a fine movie.

Just checked the audience score and seeing a 50%. Seems like I’m in the middle, so curious where It Ends lands with you all? Planning on checking it out on streaming? Let us know in the comments below.

Final “Review” to come of this weeks batch, The Legend of the White Dragon :D.

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Buddy “Review”

Release date: August 28, 2026 (USA)

Director: Casper Kelly

Cinematography: Zach Kuperstein

Distributed by: Roadside Attractions

Executive producers: Gideon Tadmor, Roberto Linck, Dexter Braff, Adam J. Wilde, Geoff Yaw, Kevin Flanigan

Genre: Horror

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, combined with Barnie….. Let’s discuss!

I had a good time with this one despite there being a potential rant for those interested :D. Alas, Buddy got a 7.5/10 Popped score, missing the 8 on it’s final acts.

You start within a kids’ show (Barnie of sorts or Blue Clues), watching episodes with a narrative focus before resetting with a song of loving Buddy. That’s until you get to see the behind-the-scenes of the show and expand on what occurs with Buddy when the cameras aren’t on him. Creating cracks within the seams that continue to grow each episode, affecting those who saw.

This had the inner makings of creating something epic on the scale of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. Sadly, they focused on adding some trigger-warning scenes for some viewers, which, within the setting of a kids show (yes, despite it being R-rated horror), felt really unnecessary and could have better been spent on setting up more of the lore / behind the scenes of how this all came to be. Possibly set up for sequels if popular, but I really would have preferred that over (Spoilers Rant).

Regardless, this was a good time with a 7.5/10. I can see it doing well on streaming for sure.

Appreciate you coming by Popped for your movie Reviews!. We just hit 10k views on the site since starting this project :D. Appreciate you all taking the time! Stick around as we’re just halfway through this week’s batch of movie “Reviews”.

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Ice Cream Man “Review”

Release date: August 7, 2026 (USA)

Director: Eli Roth

Language: English

Running time: 1h 27m

Producers: Eli Roth, Christopher Woodrow, Kate Harrison

Distributed by: Iconic Events

Wish they didn’t reveal AI was used in the making of this film. Saw no hate before that announcement. Then I see 31% on RT. I’ve got a different score for Popped. Let’s dive into the scoop …unless the prior comment puts you off. For everyone else – Let’s discuss… 😀

Eli Roth & Snoop Dogg have the makings to entertain a small niche audience, and I’m here for it. Between this and what I saw during the trailers for “Don’t go in that house, Bitch!”. I honestly enjoyed their humor. This isn’t a great movie by any means. Yeah, some effects were weak, and the story wasn’t the best. But that’s okay when it comes to horror, especially on a small budget or horror like this, where you may have seen it on Shudder before but fits well in theatres with an audience ready to be entertained…. even if the audience doesn’t show up :(. Think it was me and 2 others in there.

There are moments I thought were honestly great. Scenes where I felt like I was watching an awesome zombie movie but with kids being kids while the gore was turned up to an 11. Playing jump rope with intestines. Massing up children to kill their parents in brutal ways. The humor was spot on, and I loved it.

[*Small Spoiler* – The kids believe they’re watching cartoons and the horrific scenes the audience is watching are a part of the show.]

This fits on the B horror shelf, and I’d honestly not be mad watching it again if someone asked me to come check it out or watch it later at home with a group. You’re not going to praise it for an Oscar nomination. I couldn’t imagine the creators thought it was when revealing the use of AI.

About the use of AI. I’m not trained to see when AI is, or isn’t, used. But, honestly, if anyone watched this movie without knowing that prior. What are you complaining about to give it a 30%? A critic on RT said it’s the worst movie of the year…. Gosh darn, I wish it was because I was hoping that to be true with the hate on AI….but alas for Popped, I’m giving Ice Cream Man a 7/10. Very curious to see the audience score on this one.

Do you plan to, or have you watched, Ice Cream Man yet? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Thank you for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Also releasing this weekend is One Night Only, which I “Reviewed” last week. Go check it out if you’re lactose intolerant for this title. Next week I’ll be getting my implant, so we’ll see if anything releases that brings me back to the theatre. Maybe a second round of Spider-Man BND? I do need to re-review it for that potential 9….hmmmm let’s see shall we.

Until next time though fellow movie-goers, happy movie-going! 😀 Be careful not to get brain freeze…

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The Invite “Review”

Release date: June 26, 2026 (USA)

Director: Olivia Wilde

Producers: Megan Ellison, David Permut, Ben Browning

Screenplay: Will McCormack, Rashida Jones

Executive producers: Glen Basner, Saul Germaine, Patrick Chu, Alex G. Scott, Shayne Fiske, Andy Kim, Alex Astrachan

Story by: Cesc Gay

Didn’t expect ants to be invited over during my hiatus! So let’s make this quick!

This was a lot of fun. Barrels of laughs with some genuine surprises throughout. Combined with the music/sound design, it felt like a tango back and forth between our 4 cast members.

Getting to the end unlocks a second watch. No spoilers, but I honestly want to watch it again to pick up on little nuances established at the start, prior to the couple’s meeting.

Imagine coming home from work to find your wife has invited the neighbors over. Which are very much not your typical neighbor… or are they 😀 :P.

7.5/10 solid good time with this one. Possibly a weak 8/10.

Stick around for The Odyssey – My joint contender for movie of the year thus far 😀

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Moana 2026 “Review”

Release date: July 9, 2026 (USA)

Director: Thomas Kail

Producers: Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia

Running time: 1h 56m

Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Thought I was going to hate this but that sound track carries this movie hard…let’s discuss!

As mentioned above, the soundtrack is amazing, just as it was 10 years ago. Everything with Catherine Laga’aia, who’s playing the live-action Moana, was amazing. Honestly loved her. The rock wasn’t even as bad as I had expected prior. He’s still not Maui to me. But he doesn’t do as bad a job as I thought prior to watching.

I had a good time with this. A personal 7/10 one time watch good time. It doesn’t hold a candle to the original. But, going in with a 36% RT score my expectations were set extremely low and I walked away honestly having a good time with the soundtrack. Maybe I had rose-tinted glasses on due to it? But if I pulled up the original alongside this like I did getting home from live action Lilo & Stitch, maybe I can tear it apart. But watching it as a movie with the animated version deep into my past memories I walked away having a good time.

Nothing at the end of this title, so maybe no live-action Moana 2. Honestly, Disney needs to stop with these live-action remakes. They’re never done better or add anything to the discussion. The soundtrack carries it, and the lead, Catherine, does a great job of capturing this story in live action.

Thank you for coming by Popped for your movie “reviews”. Did you checkout Moana in theatres? Love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Still to come from this weeks batch is The Invite. Next week we have the 3 hour long Odyssey before having a week away with no/limited releases for Comic Con weekend then the big Spider-Man to wrap up July :D.

Looking forward to those yet to come. What movies are you looking forward to after Spiderman at the end of the month? Let us know in the comments below.

Until next time though, fellow movie-goers. Happy Movie-Going :D.

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Evil Dead Burn “Review”

Release date: July 10, 2026 (USA)

Director: Sébastien Vaniček

Producers: Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert

Screenplay: Sébastien Vaniček, Florent Bernard

Cinematography: Philip Lozano

Production companies: Ghost House Pictures, New Line Cinema, Screen Gems

Preferred this over Lee Cronin’s The Mummy – Was actually good gory fun 😀

Watched a ScreenCrush recap before watching this yesterday. Was a good watch. Plenty of gory gory moments, kills, action of variety 😉 was a good time despite weak character depth / attachment.

New to Evil Dead maybe this is a hard watch. Otherwise this is very much inline for an Evil Dead feature. Got the gore, horror, comedy (Thanks grandma :D) and action to boot. Sadly weak on the characters but did enjoy the connection between the two intros we get connecting our cast and villain together.

Deadites are back and their after the family of their grandfather that stole from them many many years prior….. nothing at the end to stick around for from what I saw but otherwise a good one time watch of 7/10. Gore fest lovers will enjoy :D.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Stick around as we dive from the depths of hell into the depths of the ocean with Moana live action :D.

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Minions & Monsters “Review”

Release date: July 1, 2026 (USA)

Director: Pierre Coffin

Running time: 1h 29m

Prequel: Minions: The Rise of Gru

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Trey Parker voices a character in this movie – As soon as Goomi spoke – I couldn’t unhear SouthPark 😛

Another Minions movie, this time we’re set in the 1920’s, 48 years before the 2015 Minions movie. For the most part, this movie was a good, solid time. It had great moments, which I’d love to give an 8, but also a lot of okay parts, bringing the Popped score to a 7.5/10.

Two storylines combine into a great ending, but the story mostly told through the trailer had already been shown and was my personal weakest interest. So it’s a good thing that the second storyline was a gem to experience. Loved that to bits, but for spoiler reasons, I’ll keep that a surprise in the comments to be discussed.

The Rise of Gru, for the sake of memory, was a better movie, but I’d have to go back and rewatch it. Seeing the review scores thus far, Monsters is performing stronger, so make of that as you will :D. Toy Story 5 is still my Oscar choice for Best Animated Feature this year; however, Wildwood from Laika, releasing at the end of the year, is my most anticipated animated movie.

Until October 23rd 2026, another potential hit is coming on September 25th with Forgotten Island.

Thank you for coming to Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Just a short one as this series has had several sequels already so should know what kind of movie this is. First time watching a minion movie? That’s why I still like to keep the surprise for your watching experience :D.

Until next time though fellow movie-goers. Happy movie-going! 😀

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Supergirl “Review”

Release date: June 26, 2026 (USA)

Director: Craig Gillespie

Screenplay: Ana Nogueira

Budget: 170 million USD

MPAA rating: PG-13

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment

Why all the hate for Supergirl? – Let’s discuss shall we 😀

Let’s jump straight to it. It’s a weak, good 7/10 one-time watch movie. Maybe there’s something to rewatch. (For me personally, it’s the action scenes). But otherwise, I wouldn’t watch this again, sadly.

I feel bad for saying this, but the 13-year-old girl, Eve Ridley, playing Ruthye Marye Knoll, held this movie back. Having Kara (Supergirl, played by Milly Alcock) constantly babysitting her and bubble wrapping her to keep from being hurt. She has a freaking cool sword and …. (Scream in disappointed outrage!) Ruthye is out for revenge!

There’s no end scene or mid-credits scene. Just walk out afterwards. It would have been cool tying in Lanterns as it releases next month.

More Lobo, please! Came off cooler in the trailers than in the movie. Felt like Jack Black’s Bowser was on screen. I did enjoy his scenes, but I wanted more. The babysitting is getting in the way Ruthye had me over this film. Main lesson of Supergirl – Men are bad! Not to be trusted, nor those with an interior motive! Could probably count on 1 hand the number of good male characters in this film.

Personally, I prefer Supergirl from the CW (At least the first few seasons). That’s not to say Supergirl is a bad movie. It’s got some good moments to it. But outside of a 1 time watch. I’d be fine skipping it and waiting for something like Clay Face, which is taking an intriguing villain and elevating the origins for new and current DC fans alike.

I’m sure I could go on. But to keep this spoiler-free, I’ll wrap it up here and love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. As mentioned at the top, 7/10 Popped score.

Thank you for coming by Popped for your movie reviews 😀 – Checked out Supergirl? Lets discuss it in the comments below. Hopefully you enjoy it more than the critics have thus far.

Next up should be Jackass? But that depends on whether I’m enticed enough to go or play more Kingdom Hearts BBS.

Until next time, though, fellow movie-goers – Happy Movie-Going!

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Backrooms “Review”

Release date: May 29, 2026 (USA)

Director: Kane Parsons

Cinematography: Jeremy Cox

Distributed by: A24

Editor: Greg Ng

Executive producers: Kane Parsons, Alayna Glasthal, Jenni DePiero

FNAF type experience? – Let’s Discuss! Shall We 😀

To the Point!?

I really enjoy the Five NIGHTS at Freddy’s. Not so much the made-up movie adaptation storyline outside of the FNAF universe. Same thing with this feature. When the movie opens, it captures that feeling of playing a horror video game. This experience, however, someone else is driving at the helm, so I can’t back away. Then an hour of long, stretched out character story that I couldn’t care less about, before exploring more of the Backrooms. I’m torn between a fine & good one-time watch rating. – 7/10 Popped Score.

The “Deeper” Dive In

Mentioned above. But the sense and atmosphere from the intro captured what I expected this movie to feel and be about. Loved the setup & ending. The middle hour felt extremely long and drawn out, meant to string the audience along with sequels to get the full picture. They could have combined movies 1 & 2 into this for a complete, worthwhile experience.

Sadly, it focused on (For me personally) the wrong things. Leaving many questions unsolved and unanswered to focus on characters and their story, which felt had no impact on the backroom story and lore being dropped. Took me out of the experience each and every time, which made this hour-and-45-minute-long movie a bit of a bore. When there are movies out there like Obsession, coming in 3 minutes longer, it feels much more entertaining and worth your time & money. 7/10, it’s a one-time watch for me personally.

Thank you for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Checking out Backrooms this weekend? Love to know your thoughts in the comments below. Lots of movies releasing this weekend, so let’s see if we’re able to hit 3 or even 4 movies in this week’s batch :D.

Until next time, though, fellow movie-goers, happy movie-going 😀

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