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.

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Boy Kills World “Review”

Release date: April 26, 2024 (USA)

Director: Moritz Mohr

Story by: Arend Remmers; Moritz Mohr

Distributed by: Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate Films

Box office: $1.7 million

Music by: Ludvig Forssell

For a movie not even on my radar a couple weeks back, the word of mouth and late feedback this week drew me in to watching this movie yesterday. I watched the trailer afterwards and wow that’s a fun entertaining trailer.

The movie opens up with a narrative voice over almost to that of Sin City meets Dead Pool humor. Throughout the movie this voice sat with me and then it hit! This is Bob from Bob’s Burgers. This honestly may have been what stole the entire film for me as I loved! Watching this movie with his commentary over the top.

Back to the opening however the story was to that of a Hunger Games meets Squid Games. Within this world is a yearly event called “The Culling” when people are rounded up based upon a list and killed. The villains in control of this entire thing is a family called Van Der Koy which have some interesting personalities. Sadly not enough to have kept me entertained when the fantastic H. Jon Benjamin isn’t voicing over the scenes occurring.

Without Boys voice over the later half of the movie does get a little boring and I waited for the next scene we get to have him back.

The reason why the voice over is so important and crucial to this movie is due to “Boy” played by Bill Skarsgård who’s also staring in the upcoming Crow movie. Is deaf and mute only able to read lips, which is rather funnily implemented and used during this feature. Boy is raised by a shaman due to loosing his entire family in The Culling and has one mission and purpose in life. To Kill Hilda Van Der Koy!

With his voice over inspired by a video game voice over from Boy’s childhood I love his interactions with other individuals throughout the movie. The fight choreography and cinematography used in this film is excellent and worth checking out as you go along this revenge plot with some intriguing tid bits that I’ll leave out for your discovery as you watch Boy Kills World.

Again word of movie drew in me into watch this title so I had a score in mind I wanted it to be at. In addition to having the bar set high with Challengers the previous day I was thinking of this title around an 8. Until sadly the lack of Boy’s voice over was truly felt and sadly the Van Der Koy family not being engaging enough for me personally when Boy isn’t interacting with them.

I couldn’t get to an 8 personally so felt 7.5 for Boy Kills World felt right sitting along side Monkey Man for 2024. Now if you’re not into the voice over for some reason this maybe a harder watch but maybe the action and other aspects of the film will be enjoyable enough viewing experience for you.

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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.

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Spy x Family Code: White “Review”

Release date: April 19, 2024 (USA)

Director: Takashi Katagiri

Distributed by: Toho Co., Ltd.

Adapted from: Spy × Family

Animation by: Kyoji Asano

Box office: US$45.9 million

If you enjoy the Spy Family Anime you’re going to enjoy this movie. Spy Family is a Solid A show with episodes of S tier. This movie would be inline with it’s A tier content rather than an S.

Who’d have thought a treasure disguised in chocolate could go so wrong but thus this wacky movie used that as it’s fuel for the steam to power ahead. Anya is one of my favorites along with Bond the families pet dog however the storyline written for her goes completely insane and focuses VERY much on the youth audience rather than her more detailed calculated adventures from the anime series.

I did appreciate no homework being required as new comers of the series can easily jump in here. Do minimal research on the side characters but can easily jump in and know about this family and begin connecting with their favorite characters.

Maybe an 8 is to high maybe a 7.5 is to low but considering I love this show and the movie was more of the continued awesome show in a longer format I’d have to personally go with an 8/10. Had a blast and don’t over think the decisions along the way. It looked cool, the characters are cool. Nothing needs to make sense or be grounded to being real after the crazy stuff I saw.

Code: White….more like Code: Brown…. yea I’ll let you digest that for a bit and come to your own conclusions. See you after my surgery with either Challengers or The Fall Guy in the next popped “review”.

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Civil War “Review”

Release date: April 12, 2024 (UK)

Director: Alex Garland

Distributed by: A24, Entertainment Film Distributors

Budget: $50 million

Cinematography: Rob Hardy

Produced by: Andrew Macdonald; Allon Reich; Gregory Goodman

When Grace from beyond the trailer dropped an early review stating how bad this film was. I knew something controversial was upon us leading up to release. Once others started to review this film and praising it the other way I had tampered my expectations but never actually looked at the reviews other than their scores.

Apparently the add campaign was an issue giving misleading message on this film? I understood going in that we were following these journalist within a Civil War setting as they complete their objective story.

Apparently others thought we were going to see a War Film filmed around the Civil War. Not sure how the Press part was missed from that but anyway that’s the story being told.

I’ve absolutely loved Kirsten Dunst since Spiderman days and even further back to the days of Jumanji in 1995. I haven’t seen her since Melancholia unless I just forgot movies since 2011? Which is interesting as 2012 was when I moved to America from England. Looking up her Bio I see 2016 Hidden Figures however totally don’t remember her in that movie sadly.

This movie had very impactful moments which will grasp you in intense ways of fear and awe. From the chilling sounds of gun fire or the breath taking silence as you’re left waiting in knowingly what’s to come fear of an uncontrollable action.

All the actors played their roles well most of the movie. For two thirds of this movie I was with our characters on their journey from NYC to DC in attempts to interview the president on answers for how he’s dealing with this Civil War. A War mind you that has California & Texas on the same side :O what happened! I have no idea as this movie placed the viewer within the midst of the battle without any lead up or information outside what we’re seeing with our Press characters.

Maybe that’s where the dip in ratings for this movie comes from. The lack of context for the war or information on everything surrounding it. It was a great ride worth watching at least once. Sadly that final act went from a 7 to an 8 and back down to a 7 real quick as those epic action moments and final revelations of the strings being pulled quickly snapped and all came loose with odd direction and sadly unbelievable character decisions which came out of no where. Maybe another scene for them to develop those decisions but sadly wasn’t it for me.

I had a great time though and believe Civil War was a solid movie being scored personally as a 7/10. It offered something different of a War film but left me wanting a stronger conclusion on what was an intense enticing journey.

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Monkey Man “Review”

Release date: April 5, 2024 (USA)

Director: Dev Patel

Budget: 10 million USD

Producers: Dev Patel, Jordan Peele, Samarth Sahni, Erica Lee, MORE

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

Music by: Jed Kurzel

Monkey Man was a rollercoaster on where to rate this feature. I had a personal journey ranging between a 7 and an 8 /10.

Monkey Man is an intriguing entry into the revenge-thriller genre that manages to differentiate itself enough to stand on its own. Many individuals prior to my performance compared this to the John Wick series. This film, while steeped in the same visceral action and relentless pursuit of justice, deviates by weaving a more spiritual tapestry around its narrative core.

I found Monkey Man had strength in it’s ability to oscillate between its action packed sequences and the more serene moments of philosophical contemplation.

Unlike John Wick’s more personal vendetta, the protagonist is driven by a broader mission to avenge not just his own losses but the sufferings of others who have been wronged by the same villains.

Hearing after my viewing that no one wanted to pick this title up I was rather happy and thankful that Jordan Peele came to Dev Patel’s aid in producing this feature.

It may bounce between a 7 and an 8 in various aspects. I felt a 7.5 feels right for a movie that offers a satisfying blend of action and a deeper spiritual quest. A journey well worth taking those seeking more than just bullets and bloodshed.

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Late Night With the Devil “Review”

Release date: March 22, 2024 (USA)

Directors: Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes

Distributed by: Umbrella Entertainment

Box office: $4.4 million

Cinematography: Matthew Temple

Produced by: Mat Govoni; Adam White; John Molloy; Roy Lee; Steven Schneider; Derek Dauchy

For a movie that wasn’t on my radar. Then the amount of buzz surrounding opening week put this film on my radar. I’ll have 2/3 different reviews for this feature from non spoiler to somewhat spoiler.

Non Spoiler Review: – The setting wasn’t for me but I’m glad I stuck with it.

Non Spoiler with more info Review: – The 70’s look of the film. The biography style intro to the host and his Night Owl passed before getting into the main show was off putting for myself. I was honestly ready to leave if it wasn’t for the first act of the main late night show bringing my attention back to the film.

Honestly I don’t want to say to much with this title for those on the fence as to not influence your experience. I’m glad I stuck with it and the first 20minutes (Guessing time frame) were the most slow / dryer parts to get through.

Before going into some spoiler info in the next section I came out with this feature for myself is a 6.5/10. I class this as a niche film like that of Lisa Frankenstein which I’ve yet to review. This could be someone’s most favorite movie of the year however not for all, specially those having a hard time getting into the beginning of the film. Which is important mind you for the show itself.

Spoiler ish Review: – Late Night With the Devil is set in the 70’s and focuses on Jack Delroy played by David Dastmalchian (Poker dot man from suicide squad) hosting a late night talk show and aiming to grow his numbers and beat the top competition.

The parts at the beginning setup his past / history which is used later for the film. It did drag me out of the film and needed some time to cook for me to get back into the experience.

The premise of Jack Delroy late night show is around a Halloween episode and focuses on proving a skeptic of the supernatural wrong in his skeptic beliefs.

I won’t go any further than that as I want you to experience the film and make your decision. I personally went from a 4 up to a 5 and slowly climbed to a 7 before settling at a 6.5/10 for my rating. Which is slightly below that of Lisa Frankenstein which got a 7/10 but fits in that niche horror/comedy genre.

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Sting (2024) “Review”

I was rather lucky to have seen this movie ahead of it’s release. My local theatre started to run mystery movies and this was the first in their mystery horror line up.

Going in I thought the movie was The Last Omen until I saw the trailer play prior. Once this title begun I was rather excited to finally see a new movie that I had not seen a single trailer for prior. In fact I’ve seen very little being mentioned of this title leading up to it’s release on April 12th.

I absolutely loved the setup of this feature introducing us to the situation and then going back 4 days prior to how these events unfold.

Now I’d like to keep this spoiler free but there’s a giant spider in front of our faces so let’s address that first. Despite Charlotte’s grand mother calling the exterminator to deal with noises going on within her walls. Charlotte is introduced as a meteor crashes though the attic window and reveals to her in a form of a spider (Alien Spider? o.O) lets name it “Sting”.

Charlotte is a rebellious 12 year old girl who takes quite a liking and fascination of this spider and uses the pipes to descend down from this apartment building of flats to her living quarters with her mother, brother and mothers boyfriend. The cinematography was remarkable and I can see this movie either being a niche film with strong followers or a solid good film for the masses.

As the poster suggests, this fear just gets bigger and I’ll allow you to dive into this 1 Hour 30 Minute feature to see just how deep this tale goes and if you’re strong enough to prevail against the webbing and do battle with moth balls.

On the descent down to Charlotte’s room I loved the use to get glimpses into all our supporting characters and taking perfect snap shots of their daily lives to grow and connect with throughout. I was pleasantly surprised by this feature and happily give it 7.5. Let’s not bash Imaginary once more but considering this was an R rating film you can see what having that safety net what can be done with your big bad.

Look forward to this title coming April 12th hopefully to a theatre near you. This was a first getting to review a title early and hope I intrigued and left mystery for you to enjoy what horror’s to come.

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Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire “Review”

Release date: March 29, 2024 (USA)

Director: Adam Wingard

Distributed by: Toho Co., Ltd., Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Pictures

Based on: Godzilla; by Toho Co., Ltd.

Budget: $135 million

Music by: Tom Holkenborg; Antonio Di Iorio

How does one begin to write this other than going all in with a mighty titan rawr!

Godzilla X Kong is a monster movie through and through. Switch off your brain. Grab the bag of popcorn and let’s get into some mighty titan action in this epic feature. The New Empire maybe crossed over with ghostbusters Frozen Empire last week but that doesn’t get in the way with introducing the epicnes that is Godzilla & Kong.

Since their battle with Mecha Godzilla in the last installment Godzilla now watches over and protects that of the human world. Kong has resided to the hollow earth and protects its lands whilst in search for his family and home.

Sadly once these beautiful titans have been introduced we have the humans. Which are the weakest point of this film and could have easily been reduced by half their screen time for a better monster flick.

For those that have seen the trailer you’ve seen a lot of beats from the film including the poster. However this movie can’t really be spoiled as the amount of depth / lore is king of tarnished by the humans storylines. Kong easily has the best story and reminds me of Kong X God Of War.

Speaking of human storylines, we’re introduced to our merry band of human characters when Kong goes to the dentist. A mini series I’d love to watch as a joke. Kong despite taking a beating from Godzilla in the previous movie seems to be in more pain going to the dentist than almost dying to Godzilla.

Something is calling to Jia whom is connected to Kong, she’s an orphaned Iwi Native to Skull Island. In addition something is calling to Godzilla as he goes around powering himself up against other titans.

Godzilla X Kong is a beautiful movie and truly something to behold. Each time we visit locations on earth and Hollow Earth its breath taking. Diving back to Hollow Earth Kong enters into a deeper earth undiscovered and finds a tribe of other Kong’s before epic battles with rather funny attacks with a certain new friend.

This is where I couldn’t see Kong outside of him playing Kratos and our new friend being Atreus. Which I absolutely loved and would have cut all the humans out of the movie from here out to just see more Kong and Godzilla.

Godzilla took the meme a little far with “ima firin mah lazer” which was so cool to see but got comical. If the humans took a backseat I’d have given this movie an easy 8/10 however I settled with a 7.5 due to how cool Kong’s scenes / story were. How epic the battles got with Kong & Godzilla and all the visuals which I’d love to see this movie once more for.

I won’t go into spoilers from here despite seeing a lot of this in the trailers / poster. I’ll just say that after Kong finds the movies big bad it’s voiced over in my head as “It was at this point this movie became a popcorn action monster movie and went over 9000% insane!”

I’ll sum it up as Kong going into the MCU and securing the infinity gauntlet and thors hammer. Godzilla came from power rangers and called out It’s Rawring time. Other characters maybe X Avatar? But what do I know the scenes were insane!

Nothing to stay for at the ending, no mid nor end credit scene. Movie ends pretty nicely and I’m curious where the series can go from here? For those that know this lore. What Titans are yet to appear or lands yet to be discovered? Love to hear in the comments.

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire “Review”

Release date: March 22, 2024 (USA)

Director: Gil Kenan

Distributed by: Sony Corporation

Based on: Ghostbusters; by: Dan Aykroyd; Harold Ramis

Box office: $7,521 (Iceland)

Budget: $100 million

Is 2024 picking up? Well it’s definitely improving with our new contender Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. The opening to this film was such a fantastic setup. Loved the mood, the atmosphere the scene created and the tension felt entering 1904 within a very familiar location ;).

Walter Peck is back and still hates the ghostbusters finding any little thing to bring them down and destroy their ghost corp. 40 years later and still gunning for them 😛 gotta love William Atherton.

I have to give it to Gil Kenan for being able to navigate between Ghostbusters of the 80’s and weaving in the modern story that Afterlife setup. At times this felt so ghostbusters in areas and I love it! So many throw backs and returning characters to enjoy and discover along the way.

If Ghostbusters is PG13 horror then Imaginary was a G rating in comparison because there was so many good spooky tension and ghosts in this movie. Thoroughly enjoyed the expanded world, almost felt like I just watched the first movie and jumped forward in time to 2024 and seeing how this Ghostbusters universe had grown since saving New York city.

I’d compare the universe being that of GB 1 being Jurassic Park and GB Frozen Empire being Jurassic World. Maybe this will pay off down the road if more sequels get created? Will the series have an end point or left open to continue exploring? As long as the story is good I’m down to keep watching.

This title explores and develops lore for 4000 years which you can imagen many stories can be told if their going back that far. Did it weaken the ending? I felt so, bringing down something that felt like a potential 8 to a 7/10. The wrap up of the conflict was kind of weak sauce and didn’t feel right with how quick things progressed.

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire was a fun ride and I’d return for another or a repeat viewing for sure. Hopefully this family continues and maybe give room for other characters to be allowed to be developed going forth?

If you’re still sitting in the theatre past the first end credit scene then save yourself some time and leave already. Nothing at the end of the credits just a mid credit scene.

Enjoy yourself a spooky fun ghostbuster time and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments.

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