The Substance “Review”

Release date: September 18, 2024 (USA)

Director: Coralie Fargeat

Distributed by: Mubi, Metropolitan Filmexport

Cinematography: Benjamin Kracun

Music by: Raffertie

Production companies: Working Title Films; Blacksmith

The Brief “Review”

Use this “Review” for those that don’t want to ruin their appetite before devouring the candy that’s going to be presented to them. Healthy substance in the lack of substance holding back the onion from being peeled? What does all that mean?

Let’s begin!

I went into this film blind to only seeing the above poster. With a perfect time slot at the theatre I went to check out this movie which upon reflection could very well be my favorite new horror movie in quite some time.

I call it – The Everything Everywhere All At Once Candy Corn? Confused? So am I. Let’s keep it brief. It’s not for everyone but for those that enjoy this. It’ll be staying with your horror-loving self for years to come. It’s going into my top 10 movies of the year and I’ll even lock in an Oscar nomination while we’re at it.

Want some more?

If Everything Everywhere All At Once was a horror movie on society’s creation of individuals in the spotlight. By the way, the movie I’m referencing was my favorite movie of the year that it was released. 9/10 – Cinema

The “More” In-depth “Review”

The opening of this movie focused on an egg being injected and splitting into two, which was the most fabulous and bizarre experience entering a movie. I praise how brilliant it was coming out at the end. Most surreal and clever use of cinematography that just captivated me from the start.

What’s this movie about without spoilers and giving too much away? It’s your 50th birthday and after being in the spotlight for so many dozens of years you’ve noticed those around you have grown tired of what’s being offered and seek for a replacement. Someone younger and “Hotter” to be the eye candy going into future years to come.

Well, good news! I have the substance of your answer. So impactful you’ll birth yourself a younger one.

Loved the chapter-like story introducing Elizabeth Sparkle and introducing the layers of this tale forever being peeled back revealing so many different layers that the creativity was insane how deep the writing and creativity went.

The Substance is VERY R Rated and I’d recommend you be comfortable with your party members that you’re watching this title with. You’ll get to know ALL about these characters on an up-close and personal level. Spotlighted on and more in the frame than any other movie currently out at Theatres.

I mentioned it above but I’d lock in my Oscar nomination on this title. The category that instantly jumps out is that of the editing and sound effects/music. I’d have to display the categories before me to truly pick but I’d lock this title in for nomination for sure.

Remember you are one! This movie was horror done smart and I freaking loved it! It’s not for everyone. But those that enjoy cinema and horror can truly get to sit back and enjoy this combination as something new and horrifying in so many ways. The eye of beauty and the beholder of such envision can only come from within when faced with such hatred and ugliness in the world.

The onion layers will speak for itself. Will it affect you as you dive deeper in? Only by watching The Substance will you be able to tell. I was back and forth between a 8.5 and a 9 but the ending and the bow tie that I’m all about. I went with a fucking love it 9/10. Lets freaking GO! With that we have 2 8.5’s remaining on the top 10 of 2024 and I’m excited to see how this list wraps up going into November before we finalize the entries in order by end of December.

Thank you all for reading this “Review” of The Substance. Did you check this title out? Think I’m crazy for comparing it to Everything Everywhere All At Once? Then I’d love to hear in the comments section. This has been Prowen with another solid batch of Popped! “Reviews”.

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Transformers One “Review”

Release date: September 20, 2024 (USA)

Director: Josh Cooley

Story by: Andrew Barrer; Gabriel Ferrari

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Adapted from: Transformers

Budget: $75 million

Welcome back, fellow movie goers!

I was fortunate enough to watch the first hour of this title early, re-watching that first hour and getting to watch the finale act was well worth the long wait to see how this movie ends.

The fact I enjoyed re-watching the first hour placed this solidly in my re-watch category of an 8/10. The ending is that good with a juicy end credit scene placed this at an 8.5/10 for me personally.

Going back before this month my battle with Transformers One was with Wild Robot. Without going off on a tangent I felt the ad campaigns for these movies worked in extremely opposite ways. The more Wild Robot revealed, the less I was interested. The more I saw of Transformers including the epic voice cast, I was very much intrigued.

Having been blessed to see that first hour I was hooked on what can come from this version of Transformers. I LOVED the first live-action but sadly that magic was lost on its sequels. This animated version of Transformers introduced some very fun and entertaining avenues for characters I’ve seen a dozen times before and throws in easter eggs and lore that I never knew before this origin story.

For those big into Transformers lore, does Transformers Two come after or is there a significance with Transformers One title? Love to know in the comments.

Quick shoutout to this feature’s music as I caught myself several times, jamming to its tunes and having a blast. A “Bad Ass A Tron” blast :D.

By the month’s end, I’ll also be adding a couple of scoring tabs to combine all the ratings for each categorized “Review” score if you’d be interested to see what else was rated at the same level as one another. This will be helpful for me later on, not only for reference but also for those interested in checking out another title in a list of my “Reviewed” movies of each year.

Thank you for taking the time to come on by Popped for your “Review” of Transformers One and I’ll be looking forward to returning with the next batch later next week.

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The 4:30 Movie “Review”

Release date: September 13, 2024 (USA)

Director: Kevin Smith

Distributed by: Saban Capital Group

Produced by: Joshua Bachove; Liz Destro; Jordan Monsanto

Production companies: Destro Films; SMODCO

Didn’t even know this movie existed until yesterday as I saw there’s a 4:30pm showing of a movie called The 4:30 Movie. I had to check it out. Directed and Edited by Kevin Smith this movie was such a joy to watch.

The start of this movie hit the period perfectly on the head and I was in love. The young relationship in this movie was FU*^ING CUTE AF AND ADORABLE! I loved the performance by the actors Siena Agudong, who played Melody Barnegat, and Austin Zajur, who played Brian David. Loved them loved them loved them.

Brian’s friends were also greatly cast and had a lot of fun. This coming-of-age movie was such a delight. The music was spot on. Writing is emotional and funny. I honestly loved the beginning of this film. I was thinking of buying the Blu-Ray. Sadly the middle was rather mid when Melody and Brian’s friendship was not on screen and the brotherhood was let loose in a movie theatre.

Some entertaining cameos for those that have followed Kevin Smith’s career but had a bit of a lull never swooping below an 8 but pendulum between an 8 and 9. With a solid beginning and a lovely ending, I would call this a great movie at an 8/10. Loved it! Would totally watch this again and recommend others give this a watch at 4:30pm at the movies or catch it streaming down the road.

Increasing the number of movies I watch in a year, results in catching movies like this that either release out of nowhere or so I can catch delightful movies that I may have skipped otherwise. Stay till the end of the credits for some bonus footage, bloopers if you will? Or is it? 😉

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Speak No Evil “Review”

Release date: September 13, 2024 (USA)

Director: James Watkins

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Based on: Speak No Evil; by: Christian Tafdrup; Mads Tafdrup

Budget: $15 million

Music by: Danny Bensi; Saunder Jurriaans

The cast of the movie does an excellent job throughout this feature.

I honestly fell in love with these couples and the friendships created at the beginning of this film. Watched the trailer? Still plenty of surprises in store despite clueing you in to something going on. Haven’t seen the trailer? No worries, nothing will be spoiled here even from the previous line and the pictures used.

A similar pacing to that of blink twice which was a good film and worth checking out. I enjoyed the slower setup with Speak No Evil over Blink Twice as I loved the characters. James McAvoy is SOLID and brings out so much emotion from all the cast from the children Ant & Agnes played by Dan Hough & Alix West Lefler along with the Agnes’s parents played by Scoot McNairy & Mackenzie Davis. Last but not least the partner of McAvoy’s character (Paddy) Ciara played by Aisling Franciosi. Solid performances and without going into spoilers, had me experiencing many sets of emotions throughout.

Blum house & Universal have another solid good film on their hands and I’m excited as we step ever closer to Black Phone 2 coming next October to (Fingers Crossed) to see the world that their developing into a universe of Blum house horror. Universal Horror Nights will either have an amazing set of mazes next year or 2026 will be the reveal of what’s to come for Blum house Universe.

I’m so pumped and excited to hear what you all thought of this title. M3GAN 2.0 releases next year along with Black Phone 2 among a couple of other titles in 2025 which ends the year with Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December.

I’d give Speak No Evil an 8/10 for doing such a great job. An American psychological thriller film that I’ll look forward to returning to one day. Maybe it’s time to checkout the original 2022 Danish Film that this remakes on.

Thank you all for your time coming by for another Popped “Review” and I’ll see you in the next batch with Transformers One which I’m very excited to Watch…..More on that during the “Review”.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice “Review”

Release date: September 6, 2024 (USA)

Director: Tim Burton

Story by: Alfred Gough; Miles Millar; Seth Grahame-Smith

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

Based on: Characters; by: Michael McDowell; Larry Wilson

Cinematography: Haris Zambarloukos

Leading up to this sequels release I re-watched the first movie once more since it’s been forever since it came out, 1988 if you can believe it!

I felt the whole tone and vibe of the movie didn’t miss a beat. I just came off the ride and then jumped right back on with a new paint and editions and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Script was good. Characters felt true to the character. Despite a reviewer being in my head about the movie not being politically correct. Having just watched a movie that walked this line extremely well in my previous “Review” I felt that this movie delt with those issues to its truest form with being real with these characters.

Enough about that and if you want to know what the above is about. Go checkout Beyond the trailer’s review. Or don’t if you want to watch the movie for the movie and not be peeling back the covers on being immersed in this world and constantly checking your alignment with the real world.

Honestly if you’re a fan of the original. Adams Family. Tim Burton. Then you’re going to enjoy this movie. Nothin at the end of the credits but I did enjoy how this movie ended. Will there be a 3rd installment? I’m unsure. As long as there’s a point to having a 3rd then I’ll be waiting to watch it at the theatre.

Appreciate you coming by and reading this latest batch of “Reviews” on Popped! I’m going to hit the pillow as I’m up in 4 hours time. But this feature is a good movie scoring 7/10. The ending of Blink Twice was solid placing it above Beetlejuice. However across the board I enjoyed Beetlejuice with a solid 7. Love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Blink Twice “Review”

Release date: August 23, 2024 (USA)

Director: Zoë Kravitz

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Amazon MGM Studios

Box office: $17.3 million

Cinematography: Adam Newport-Berra

Music by: Chanda Dancy

Little late on this one but glad I managed to see it. Trailers had me interested but wowzer was the trailers holding back on this feature.

No Spoilers on this one go in as blind as possible because this is one spicy movie once the ground work has been established. Going to be a little quick on this as its 2:36am at time of writing and I work in the morning haha.

For some viewers I’d add a trigger warning on this title. It pushes boundaries to the point of being uncomfortable but keeps you there short enough where you’re able to get back into the movie and not be holden to view something truly disturbing.

Again go in blind but if certain subject matter affects you then maybe have someone screen the title before. Despite this my wife said the movie was amazing despite having a subject matter in the movie. Slow burn, not quite to the amount of boring but slow enough where you may drift off. That is until the premise sinks in and you’re in for a horrific ride.

Movie has a very strong ending despite above average to good start. I came away from Blink Twice at a 7.5 making this a solid good batch. Great performances and premise I actually preferred it over the next “Review” coming right up. (Just by a smidge).

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Alien: Romulus “Review”

Release date: August 16, 2024 (USA)

Director: Fede Álvarez

Distributed by: 20th Century Studios

Based on: Characters; by: Dan O’Bannon; Ronald Shusett

Budget: $80 million

Cinematography: Galo Olivares

It’s been a minute since I’ve watched anything Alien. That changes with Alien: Romulus as I’ll be going back too Prometheus and rewatching this series again for all those juicy easter eggs and awesomeness.

Was there scenes that had my mouth a jaw….YES!

Was there scenes that had me cheering for our crew….Hell Yea!

Do I recommend you watch this in IMAX…..JUST DO IT!

Haha seriously there was some scenes in IMAX that had me feeling I was in 4DX because how visually beautiful the image and sound was working in unison.

I watched some scenes while at Comic Con that got me intrigued for this feature. I watched the trailers and was intrigued. I listened to the cast during Comic Con Hall H and felt like they were rather young group of individuals but was intrigued. Nothing really set my expectations to a high just at a good level.

After watching this movie I was honestly blown away. The cast was great and loved getting to know them…if not for long :S. Loved David Jonsson whom plays Andy which was incredible! Cailee Spaeny did a great job as Rain Carradine, these two are setup as siblings in the movie with Rain’s friends getting them involved in a mission to get them off a mining planet.

Not going to get into spoilers. Just go watch this movie and have a blast!

Awesome alien scenes, great tension and awesome use of sound. Tons to dive into if you’d like to talk easter eggs / spoilers but that’s for another section.

Summer isn’t over yet with Deadpool & Wolverine being out as Alien: Romulus is here to party and has a pretty nice window to own the month until Beetle Juice 2 arrives in early September.

There was moments of placing this in the 9/10 bracket for 2024 however with some tid bits without saying much of the middle/end this title became a 8.5 sitting nicely with Dune Part 2 which is incredible! I’d get these two titles in Blu-ray for sure.

Thank you all for coming by Popped for my “Review” which is more of less just a message of hype to get out and watch this epic edition to the Alien franchise. May more titles like this come which fits in-between and around the main Alien franchise. Love the world building and how much this creator captured the essence of Alien within Romulus.

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Cuckoo “Review”

Release date: August 9, 2024 (USA)

Director: Tilman Singer

Distributed by: Neon, Weltkino Filmverleih

Budget: $7 million

Music by: Simon Waskow

Produced by: Markus Halberschmidt; Josh Rosenbaum; Maria Tsigka; Ken Kao; Thor Bradwell

WOW! Just seeing this cost 7Mill compared to Borderlands 100+ Mill is insane. This is a great film straight up. Great characters, excellent suspense and actually an evil that is scary.

Going to be vague to allow mystery for your viewing experience. No spoilers here. One of my fave Neon movies in quite some time.

Little about the story setup: Seventeen-year-old Gretchen reluctantly leaves America to live with her father at a resort in the German Alps.

Some unsettling scenes, twisted and creepy characters mixed with great writing. Character growth and development. It was such a great breath of fresh air after watching Borderlands.

Plagued by strange noises and bloody visions this resort has some deep layers to pull back truly Alice in wonder land style with how deep does this rabbit hole go.

It’s been a minute that I’ve felt uneasy and a little scared in a horror movie. I’m happy this film brings that feeling back and gets an almost perfected batch of popped popcorn in horror granted to this feature. I was close to giving this a 9/10 however some flaws weakening the end with such a strong beginning and middle. I dropped it down to a 8.5/10 as it ends solidly despite a slight hiccup.

Save your Borderlands money and go watch Cuckoo. Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and I’ll see you again real soon with Alien.

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Borderlands “Review”

Release date: August 9, 2024 (USA)

Director: Eli Roth

Budget: $110–120 million

Distributed by: Lionsgate, Lionsgate Films

Based on: Borderlands; by Gearbox Software

Music by: Steve Jablonsky

Short “Review“: So bad it’s good? So bad don’t waste your time?? So bad go watch the next movie I post about??? Go play the games and don’t waste your time nor money on this feature???? Watch the first 15 minutes and bounce??

Main “Review”:

Okay you’ve got the picture from the above. Lets begin the “Review”.

From 0% RT Score to currently standing at 6% this is a movie that starts surprisingly strong…..for 15 minutes and then jumps into a train and drives eyes wide open into a wreckage of steaming thresher sh*t.

Cate Blanchett playing Lilith started strong and held this movie up for the majority of the film. Ariana Greenblatt playing Tiny Tina which I didn’t even know was Tina from Tina’s Wonderland was a cool surprise. I’ve always been interested in the games without playing them so I didn’t get all the easter eggs and surprises but the writing for this film was awful.

Meeting Claptrap voiced by Jack Black was 20% okay and 80% annoying! This was just before we met backup with Tiny Tina due to her dad in search for her and requested the aid from Lilith to recover her from Kevin Hart’s character Roland & Florian Munteanu playing Krieg.

I have no idea if the backdrop was green screened/CGI or what not but these scenes were so off. The explosions that Tiny Tina controls with her stuffed rabbits and the cars interacting with terrain was odd.

The actions scenes were paired with great music but the scenes felt like riding the transformers ride at Universal Studios. No danger was felt, just buckle up in this simulated ride and watch the explosions and actions go by as you jam to the music.

The first few scenes within the 15 minute mark I was honestly having a good time like a 7/10 and was confused how this got a 0/100 %. I kept watching and I kept buckled up on this trainwreck of a ride.

20 Minutes into this movie I went down to a 5.5/6 out of 10. Krieg felt like a knock off Drax found on temu. By 45minutes I was getting bored. Some good scenes here and there but that mostly ends when we connect the entire group. I’d love to have a bounty hunter movie based around Lilith and ignore the rest of the cast. Writing is just awful and continues to get worse as the trainwreck continues.

By the hour mark I was down to 5/10 then 4.5/10. Forceful emotional scenes despite not creating any connection to characters. By the time they attempt to do such connection the movies to far gone and I just couldn’t care less.

Tools and pieces of the movie to progress the story was just handed over to characters. Nothing was earned, gained or rewarded just handed over within seconds of requiring said item. Such awful development for both story and characters. Such terrible writing and script this movie had. Good thing we have Cate Blanchett right…..right!?

Bad guys just switch sides for no reason given as their immediately killed providing NOTHING to the scene nor story. 4/10 WTF. How and Why was this movie made? Go make the Warcraft sequel rather than making this BS.

Cate Blanchett saves us from this movie please end good……..Cate…. Cate!! No Cate they got you to! Awful twist fucking terrible let this trainwreck continue to fly into the poop. 3.5/10. You started at a 7 come on!

You ruined the progression video game movies climbed up and succeeded to finally be seen as good. Now were two steps forward 5 steps back. Please don’t mess this up for Sonic 3 at the end of the year. I’ll be PISSED! This movie disrespects the viewer and throws thresher piss all over them.

We’ve entered stream or walk out territory. I honestly can’t place a score between 1 – 3 out of 10. I’ll say just place it in the background at home and watch it. If you like it then cool. If not, you didn’t waste your time nor money on this awful film. I can see why it’s sitting at a 6% on RT and applaud all those that make it through to the end of this feature.

If you choose to watch this title still then good luck, have fun and I’ll see you on the other side. Kind of curious to check out the steam sale currently going on for the borderlands franchise to see how it compares.

Thanks for reading and coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Stay tuned for Cuckoo coming right up next.

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Trap “Review”

Release date: August 2, 2024 (USA)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

Cinematography: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

Music by: Herdís Stefánsdóttir

Production company: Blinding Edge Pictures

How should we start this “Review”. It’s M. Night Shyamalan’s best movie post 2020? Not on the level of Split but maybe Glass? If that gives a pictures lets open the door to Trap.

I applaud the trailer for setting up this movie. It does a great job of setting the scene and informing the viewer what this movie is about. The movie dives a little deeper in than the trailer reveals but the intro and the trailer work nicely hand in hand to one another without revealing anything futher.

Thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic relationship between the daughter and her dad as we navigated the scenes developing during this feature. I can’t go into much detail to contain the trap and the inner webbing of threads revealed throughout the movie.

I was very entertained throughout the majority of this feature. Hitting 8/10. Sadly without going into much detail the “plot twist” that M. Night placed on this movie could have audiences split. It brought my score down to a 7.5. However depending what they do next with this world/universe could bring it up or drop further without some solid writing.

I recommend everyone interested in the trailer / film go watch it. Then lets discuss the feature afterwards because there’s a lot to be discussed. A small post feature scene before the credits fully role. Nothing to stick around for at the end of the credits. Save yourself 5 minutes :D.

Appreciate you for reading this Popped “review” and next up should be Borderlands next week sometime after the movie premiers Thursday 8th.

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