2025 Mid-Way look “Review”

Welcome fellow movie goers, this Pop Date will go over a look at 2025 thus far and what’s planned to be reviewed. Maybe some hidden secret gems. Some disappointments? We’ll review in 2025 December to see the outcome.

By each month in bold will be movies I’ll lock in a review of, all going well. The Italic number is either a polled or a surprise random movie watch to add to months reviews.

August 2025 – 8 | 3

September 2025 – 4 | 2

October 2025 – 7 | 1

November 2025 – 5

Predator | Running Man | See Me 3 | Wicked | Zootopia 2

December 2025 – 4

Freddy’s 2 | Avatar 3 | SpongeBob | Housemaid

This was using firstshowing.net on August 6th – 100 Movies for 2025 is looking certain!

Currently at 82 with 2 of those movies having caveat – 1 Streamer 1 Released 2024 Christmas going wide in America 2025 January…. Does it count ? :p either way 80 currently with a potential of adding at least 25 movies form the bold minus the re-releases. Yet along bonus movies and surprises along the way :D.

Top 5 thus far from 2025:

Ne Zha 2, F1 & Bring Her Back (Wasn’t even on my radar!) | Sinners | Life of Chuck (Glad I Watched) | (Betterman if allowed)

My hopes of a top 10:

Dark Horse Shoutouts:

Captain America (In a different universe) | Looney Tunes (Still had fun!) | Mickey 17 (Ouch) | Minecraft (HAHAHAHA Dark Horse – slayed) | Until Dawn ( It is what it was) | M3GAN 2.0 (Way to not read the room) | Fantastic Four (Can we switch marvel movies to Thunderbolts :D) | Mortal Kombat 2 (Let’s GO!! There’s still hope!)

Love to hear your thoughts on this list – Anything stick out / Missing from the list?

Lots added to wrap the year up. Podcast R.I.P haha. Happy Watching All ❤

Last shout outs:

Weapons | Long Walk | Predator | Wicked | Avatar 3

My last hopefuls to make the top 10 list of 2025 – Let’s see if there’s any surprises and fails.

Thus far, here’s my personal bottom 5:

1	Screamboat – 2.5/10
2	The Legend of Ochi – 2.5/10
3	A Minecraft Movie – 2.5/10
4	Death of a Unicorn – 2.5/10
5	Hurry Up Tomorrow – 3.0/10

How’s your 2025 looking thus far? In line with your expectations or having surprises along the way like Ne Zha 2 did for myself :D.

August 7, 2025 0

Sketch “Review”

Release date: August 6, 2025 (USA)

Director: Seth Worley

MPAA rating: PG

Producers: Tony Hale, Steve Taylor, Stephen James Taylor, Daryl C. Lefever, Katelyn Botsch

Running time: 1h 32m

Genres: Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy

I’m a little old for this one but totally get the messaging and can see this being a solid good or even great watch for those with children / children dealing with loss. – Rapid “Review”

When a little girl is dealing with the loss of her mother. A sketch book with extremely dark thoughts is her form of coping and release of those inner feelings. While her dad and brother bottle those feelings in and try to focus on her coping mechanism the story of this family is truly a touching tale.

Throw in a magical pool of water that heals and restores creations to life and those sketch’s you get a surprisingly dark yet touching story. It’s PG but maybe for the younger ones have a parent watch this with you. Felt like Zooapocalypse was so much? Maybe watch this in a bright room or when you’re a little older.

6/10 but others I can see rating this 7/10

With Sketch, we’re all caught up and ready to get back to regular “Reviews” – Weapons & maybe Freakier Friday to come over this weekend.

Thank you all for coming by Popped for your movie “Review”. Apologize for the rapid catch up but I’m back and on track to hit 100 Movies for 2025 :D.

Shout Out to Ne Zha 2 releasing in English Dub in a couple of weeks 😀 Super hyped!

August 6, 2025 0

Eddington “Review”

Release date: July 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Ari Aster

Screenplay: Ari Aster

Cinematography: Darius Khondji

Running time: 2h 25m

MPAA rating: R

Wanted to watch this for the actors – Didn’t know how deep during Covid times this movie re-played. So that’s a hurdle – Rapid Fire “Review”.

The first hour and half is setting up what’s to go down in the final hour. It’s a heated watch but you’ve got to replay 2020 during Covid and get involved in the tension and fighting between the sides of masks vs non masks. Despite feeling like this movie just kept going on and on. It was a fine watch.

Great acting from all. Just a hard subject matter to jump back into. Maybe worth a watch in theatres for the incredible sets and visuals but it’s going to be leaving pretty soon if you haven’t checked it out yet. 6.5/10

Want a longer “Review” we can discuss in comments but otherwise let’s get caught up with the final “Review” of an Angel studios movie – Sketch.

August 6, 2025 0

The Naked Gun “Review”

Release date: August 1, 2025 (USA)

Director: Akiva Schaffer

Starring: Liam Neeson; Pamela Anderson; Paul Walter Hauser; Danny Huston; CCH Pounder; Kevin Durand

MPAA rating: PG-13

Running time: 1h 25m

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Naked Gun & Bad Guys 2 what a week for comedy – Non the less, did Naked Gun capture the energy and laughs of the original? – Rapid Fire “Review” coming up.

So Final Destination had a 14 ish year gap from it’s prior release. I know what you did last summer had a gap of several years. Naked Gun had a 30 year gap from it’s third movie and this rebooted sequel.

2/3 of the 3 captured the originals and brought it into modern times with the same energy and good times….Naked Gun & Final Destination are back and shining examples of bringing old IP into the current era.

Looking for a fun time go check out Naked Gun. Even check out the first movie then the ending of the third and jump into this one or even watch them all. Police Squad is back and a barrel of laughs – 8/10

2 Movies left to get caught up – Eddington followed by Sketch – Staggering these throughout the day to not mass publish 😀 – See you in the comments or next proper “Review”.

August 6, 2025 0

The Bad Guys 2 “Review”

Release date: August 1, 2025 (USA)

Director: Pierre Perifel

Running time: 1h 44m

Prequel: The Bad Guys

MPAA rating: PG

Adapted from: The Bad Guys

3/6 of the rapid fire “Review” batch and here we have Bad Guys 2 😀 Loved the first title so how’d the sequel do to follow?

Watched this panel at Comic Con and was very much excited to watch this.

Overall this was a fun time. Even moments of greatness and some nice surprises.

Enjoyed the first one then you should watch this because the next title has the setup to be a master piece :D… I hope haha.

You know what was missing… a solid sound track. Bad guys playing in a Bad guys movie was awesome and just hit! This time around everything was good, but didn’t match the original.

Between the music and the villains which again were still good but just didn’t hit like our evil Professor Rupert this movie was a solid good, almost great with a 7.5/10.

Let’s keep with comedy…some zany comedy 😀 you know it at – The Naked Gun

August 6, 2025 1

Together “Review”

Release date: July 30, 2025 (USA)

Director: Michael Shanks

Producers: Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Erik Feig, Tim Headington, Andrew Mittman, Mike Cowap, Julia Hammer, Max Silva

Running time: 1h 42m

Distributed by: Neon

MPAA rating: R

I think my experience was affected by the Talk to Me experience – Let’s explain in this rapid fire “Review” batch.

Reviews for this title came out hot like 99/100 % hot. It was hyped as the greatest horror known on earth! Well…. I found Substance executed it way better. The trailer had me hooked…but the trailer showed the movie. Yea there’s some extra deets sprinkled in from the trailer which is a good watch. However it doesn’t push the bar past what’s already been shown.

It’s a good watch but very little replay value for me personally. Placing Together at a 7/10.

How’s that for a rapid fire? – Let’s discuss more in the comments if interested.

Next up a very much different change of vibe – Bad Guys 2 😀

August 6, 2025 0

The Fantastic Four: First Steps “Review”

Release date: July 25, 2025 (USA)

Director: Matt Shakman

Running time: 1h 55m

Adapted from: Fantastic Four

MPAA rating: PG-13

Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

It may have been just over a week since my last “Review” but I’ve been watching a lot of movies. Let’s catch up shall we with a rapid fire “Review” session…..that doesn’t bold well for what’s to come :S.

The short of it was that I found the movie to be, just okay. Yea the marketing killed this for me just like Captain America Brave New World…… kind of a buzz kill after actually enjoying Thunder Bolts :S.

Since this is a rapid fire to catch up let’s put it this way.

It’s better than BNW but story and plot points I felt like it could have been skipped. I enjoyed the family but Incredibles did it better.

Fell asleep during space birth and felt like I didn’t miss much with silver surfer.

My wife thoroughly enjoyed it though having not even seen a trailer and likes this version of Fantastic 4 more than any previous version.

So if you want to enjoy Disney Marvel movies I need to avoid the trailers…somehow :S. 6/10

This batch isn’t bad but it’s certainly a luke warm batch.

Appreciate you coming by Popped and apologize for the rapid fire catch up. 6 movies in under 2 weeks was a grind after returning from Comic Con :D.

Love to discuss more thoughts in the comments if anyone’s interested.

Next up – Together

August 6, 2025 0

Smurfs “Review”

Release date: July 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Chris Miller

Music composed by: Rihanna, Henry Jackman

Producers: Rihanna, Tyran Smith, Ryan Harris, Jay Brown

Running time: 1h 32m

MPAA rating: PG

Going to make this quick as need to pack for Comic Con! 😀

Quick thoughts. Movie was overall okay. It had good content and fun scenes within it. For a short movie it sure got boring at moments. Could have cut the Rihanna songs personally for the classics but we eventually got some :D.

Loved the Sponge Bob short at the beginning. Also cool setup for a sequel in the mid credit scene. Thought the multiverse stuff would be explored more from what’s shown in the trailer but alas it’s mainly the worlds been shown from the trailer.

MVP goes to the turtle, loved him. Also was cool for No Name Smurf to have his journey. Was a little distracting having James Corden be the voice as a No Name character. His voice actor certainly isn’t.

It’s got some lore building to the world which is cool and I’m down for a sequel. It’s an okay to fine movie at best. 6/10 for Smurfs Popped.blog “review” :D.

Thank you all for coming by Popped.blog. I’ve seen an increase in traffic to the sight recently and appreciate all those recent subscribers 😀 Once live and Comic Con have been caught up on. Let’s dive into the second half of the year like I WANTED TOO back in late June early July :D.

A las until next time movie goers. I’ll see you, next time. Happy Fantastic 4 viewings this weekend and excited to see if this keeps momentum for the MCU or the ride to Dooms Day is going to be a dry spell of nothingness.

July 22, 2025 0

I Know What You Did Last Summer “Review”

Release date: July 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Prequel: I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1h 51m

Distributed by: Sony Pictures Releasing

Watched this on Thursday and here we are on a Tuesday night so you can probably see my thoughts of this title from that. Let’s quickly get into this…..

If this was Thursday I’d have a rant and a comparison for you in two routes. Borderlands & Final Destination. How this movie joined one while the other was the how to tale of bringing old properties back the right way.

Yea this movie freaking sucked and it could have been okay. But once the scooby doo nature was revealed and the incredibly awful writing continued to expose this awful story. You come away having wasted your time and been insulted by the movie.

To say this was a streaming movie doesn’t do it this movie right. I’m considering switching a 1 and a 4 around. This movie to be fair is a 4 at best. 1 Currently ranking would be a awful streaming movie to have on in the background. I wouldn’t even waste my time with it even in the background.

Check out the most recent Final Destination and forget this property existed. Worst yet. They want a sequel :S.

Gotta be quick as I need to pack for Comic Con so here’s you rapid fire “Review” – Up next – Smurfs 2025 :D. (Sorry Eddington, I may not get to you :S. – Fantastic 4 Hopefully Sunday I’ll be checking it out)

With that a 1 / 4 you pick out of 10. Stick around for Smurfs and as always, thank you for coming by Popped :D.

July 22, 2025 0

Superman “Review”

Release date: July 11, 2025 (USA)

Director: James Gunn

Starring: David Corenswet; Rachel Brosnahan; Nicholas Hoult; Edi Gathegi; Anthony Carrigan; Nathan Fillion; Isabela Merced

MPAA rating: PG-13

Running time: 2h 9m

Distributed by: Warner Bros.

Today’s the day we finally have James Gunn’s Superman, the first of many Gunn DC Verse movies. So how was it? How’d the trailer do? Did I like it? Let’s discuss shall we 😀

The short Answer – Did I like it? (Non Spoiler)

Yes! I did like the movie, had moments of greatness I’d like to watch again. Overall – It’s a good movie worth checking out.

A little more? – Sure, lets discuss before splitting open the…

For a Superman Movie….why is Superman & Lois Lane my weakest felt component? – That’s not to say I didn’t like them. It took some time to grow and work on me. But having the relationship be already established, the magic wasn’t felt…nor was it ever but I’ll let you experience that for yourself to decide.

Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor was awesome and nailed the role. Love to have more of him in this universe. Love the Harley Quinn animated show and Lex is great in that. Mister Terrific was also awesome and loved his scenes. At first I wasn’t digging his intro but then I got it!

The trailer does a good job by the way also which is rare for some comic book movies….. cough … Marvel.. cough :D. Had some surprises and treats to enjoy specially in the second half. Although she feels young for her character. I did enjoy Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl. It’s interesting as 6 years ago she was playing Dora in Dora the explorer. At 24 years of age I kept thinking of Hawkman & Hawkgirl combo which are adults. Yes 24 is an adult but she’s playing alongside 40 & 50 year old actors which makes her feel even younger. She’s great, I’d like to see more down the road but felt odd when comparing to the animated shows of the past I was raised on in my youth. She’s the weakest member of the Justice Gang though sadly.

Let’s split open the ….. 😀 and dive in deep – Turn away if you’ve got what you’d like from this “Review”….

The origins of the universe / story was quickly summed up in a few sentences at the start of the movie. I’d love to have seen some of it as a rapid fire play through but it’s fine. You see Superman starting off being beaten down badly. To then get backup and destroyed once more.

David Corenswet is a good Superman but took awhile for me to get into as those intro moments setting up Lex and his gang. I wanted more! But had to get through the Lois and Clark parts before getting back to the villains which totally carried this movie at the start (For me personally).

Lots of profanity in this movie for those with small children. Heads up – Sh*t is used several times.

I haven’t mentioned it but… Krypto was great! Loved him 😀 Such a good boy. Had lots of fun scenes and I’m ready for more of Superman and Krypto… 😀 hehe. Enjoy!

Go have fun! I want to chat more but don’t want to get into spoilers soooooo go have fun. Get your popcorn, sit back and enjoy the ride. From the lowest of okays to good to the highs of greatness. There’s going to be something or someone for your enjoyment in this movie.

Two end credit scenes. A mid and a end scene. Both are fun but the end is a gaff. Mister Terrific was the main MVP of this movie along with Lex Luthor for me personally :D. Let’s see how this weekend does as Popped score Superman a 7.5/10.

Thank you as always for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Have you checked out Superman yet? Love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

This is my biggest Summer Movie of 2025 so curious to see how it goes. We have 3 movies out next week then the following week is Fantastic 4 before pretty much wrapping up Summer. Bad Guys 2 first week of August.

Almost time to retrospect the first half of 2025. Comic Con may or may not drop some exciting news for movies and shows to come for the second half. But thus far what’s been your fave ?

Until next time though, happy movie going!

July 10, 2025 1