Companion “Review”

Release date: January 31, 2025 (USA)

Producers: Zach Cregger, Raphael Margules, J. D. Lifshitz, Roy Lee

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

Budget: $10 million

Cinematography: Eli Born

When you have the day off to watch films and it happens to coincide with a horror secret movie. You just gotta take the Mrs to go check it out :D.

In my head I thought Companion was the virtual reality AI movie that’s coming up but I was wrong. I did hear lots of positive buzz so did go in with higher than usual expectations.

My wife and I had a good time in this movie. It’s a good one time watch about a group of friends going out into the middle of nowhere to hangout. I’ll keep it spoiler free so I’ll keep it short. If you enjoy Jack Quaid staring in another upcoming movie Novocaine or Lukas Gage who was in Smile 2 along with Sophie Thatcher in the recent release of Heretic, then you’re going to have a good time. Great performances from everyone.

The plot/story points can be weak and pulled apart but overall it’s not bad. A good one time watch movie I’m sitting between a 7/7.5 on this title. With the audience reaction to certain scenes I can see some enjoying this more than others. I’m feeling this sits nicely at a 7 when looking back on this feature and if I’d watch it again.

That’s been this weeks latest batch of “Reviews”, pretty short but don’t want to spoil the experience here as that’s the whole point of this title. Keep an eye on Popped.blog for another “Review” staring that of Dog Man to wrap up the first month of 2025.

Overall a good month of movies. Definitely starting stronger than 2024 and something I’m excited to see more from as we get nearer to the summer with big block busters releasing.

January 29, 2025 1

Flight Risk “Review”

Release date: January 24, 2025 (USA)

Director: Mel Gibson

Budget: $25 million

Distributed by: Lionsgate Films

Music by: Antônio Pinto

Production companies: Icon Productions; Davis Entertainment Company

I was curious to see how entertaining this movie would be, considering it’s mostly taking place on this plane and between 3 individuals. To my surprise it wasn’t all that bad. Good enough to say that it’s now created a new Popped rating tier of “Fine”.

Flight Risk is a movie focused around 3 individuals, a U.S Marshal played by Michelle Dockery, Winston our “Witness” protection fugitive played by Topher Grace, and lastly the guy that keeps this title entertaining and possibly even worth watching, our “Pilot” played by Mark Wahlberg.

The movie just goes, quickly showing us Winston for moments cooking his cup noodles before the doors come crashing down with our U.S Marshall taking him into custody. Apparently he’s been avoiding them quite some time and been quite a nuisance to catch up to.

Introductions into the film brief as they were it would have been nice to learnt more about them prior to setting up this interaction before getting to our In Flight Entertainment for the next hour and a bit. For an hour and half feature. They did a good job keeping the viewer somewhat entertained.

Despite some questionable actions from the U.S Marshall which made me feel like she wasn’t well trained to be a field agent. The cast did fairly well outside of Markie Mark. Just like with Presence, having this be a shorter movie I wont go into spoilers even if shown in the trailer.

What little enjoyment there is outside of the trailers setup, I’ll allow you to experience that fresh. We had 1 guy clap for this movie upon entering the credits but no one joined in. Make of that as you will haha.

With all this said I’ve painted a picture of my experience but I’d love to hear how your movie going experience was. At a 6.5/10 I feel as I need to create a tier between above average and good. Thus the “Fine” tier will be born :D. I’ll slowly convert the 6.5’s to the fine tier going forward but now I must rest as tomorrow holds a big day of movie going enjoyment.

The Brutalist, The Colors Within, along with a mystery secret movie all await :D. Going to be a journey, but a journey I’ll take in order to experience this beautiful industry of creating movie magic. Even if the magic on the tin sometimes comes with an expired warranty.

January 26, 2025 0

Presence “Review”

Distributed by: Neon

Budget: $2 million

Music by: Zack Ryan

Produced by: Julie M. Anderson; Ken Meyer

I’m writing this at 1:18am so let’s hurry this along so it doesn’t play on my mind haha. You know what they say about 3am :S. Without further ado, Presence “Review”.

Presence takes place in the POV of “Casper” the “Friendly” ghost as we don’t fully know who this presence is. I’m going to name it Casper for this “Review”. The film starts of almost to floaty as we navigate around this home. Never leaving while always looking out. Our “Happy” family comes for a house tour to setup the stage for this feature prior to making a purchase and living there for the remainder.

I’m not going to get deep with this one to avoid spoilers / the journey. For such a short film I’ll leave the door open for the experience while giving my impressions of the film. (Maybe a small segment to end with a slight spoiler).

Picture Paranormal Identity photography style of filming for this title set within this home. Focused on this family of Mum & Dad with their Son & Daughter. I hated the Mum & Son while became attached to the Dad & Daughter. This title is rather slow and can be boring if not “attached” or connected with a character in the film. Without that connection I can see this movie having little to nothing for you as a viewing experience.

It’s Paranormal Activity with little to light Activity and more Paranormal Presence with a Family Drama being viewed from the sidelines.

I’d say its not a bad movie. But the ending did keep it from getting a good rating for a Popped score of 6.5/10. It’s unfortunate as I was interested in this story / journey. It’s just a shame that ending kind of fell apart. (More in the spoilers segment below).

Spoiler ish Segment

Beware!

Let’s Begin.

It’s established early ish on that this Presence is able to interact with objects in the real world. Then is able to be felt / be known to certain individual/s. Soooo how comes the ending threw that aside to deliver such a jawing outcome O.o.

Also, a character sets up a clue to be solved by stating a Window that cannot be opened…..the window I’m assuming they allure to at the end was never mentioned being unable to be opened… Sooo, why drop that “Clue”.

I’m sure you can break into some more than that but I’ll leave it there and await your thoughts below.

Spoiler ish Segment Fin

Thanks for reading and coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” :D. Stay tuned for the next batch coming at you real soon.

Tomorrow night planning for Flight Risk. Monday I’m planning for The Brutalist, Colors Within & A Secret Movie :O :D. Wednesday & Thursday have some surprises instore also so stay tuned for a jam packed movie week.

We’re thus far OnTrack to 4x our 2024 January watched numbers :O which is insane!. 300 Movies in 2025 if we kept up that pace haha. I kid I kid, 100 is a pretty reasonable goal for 2025. See you tomorrow night!

January 26, 2025 0

One of Them Days “Review”

Release date: January 17, 2025 (USA)

Director: Lawrence Lamont

Producers: Issa Rae, Sara Rastogi, Deniese Davis, Poppy Hanks, James Lopez

Distributed by: Sony Pictures Releasing

Budget: $14 million

Production companies: TriStar Pictures; Hoorae Media; ColorCreative; Big Boss; MACRO

Mainly watched this movie due to seeing Morgan Peter Brown in the trailer for this feature. It may have taken almost 45 minutes to see him but loved! That he was in a big screen title :D.

I’m not going to lie, this movie wasn’t for me. The humor wasn’t hitting with me and I’m probably just not the audience for this feature as younger movie goers were loving it.

Took 40minutes before I genuinely laughed to give you context going in on my experience. It’s an okay movie personally. I prefer the Friday movies & Dude Where’s My Car for buddy duo’s getting up to crazy events in their daily lives.

Keke Palmer playing Dreux & SZA playing Alyssa are our buddy duo as they come to find themselves in a bit of trouble having 9 hours to pay their rent or get evicted. Coming up with ways to both find and earn the money had its charm. I enjoyed certain characters over others. It’s mainly just the jokes weren’t hitting for me which was hard to get through some scenes.

Where I sat in the theatre was mostly quiet but maybe this is for the younger crowd? I have no idea. Check it out if you have time. I wanted it to be on par with Wolf Man slightly under but the amount of time for a short hour and 37 minute title that I felt mid just getting through the scenes / checking my watch waiting for Morgan Brown to turn up was to much to say this id slightly above average at best with a 5.5/10 Popped Score.

I hope you enjoy the jokes and all but it wasn’t for me. I’m hoping for a better experience next week with Flight Risk & Presence? Possibly The Brutalist if I’m able to find somewhere close to watch it for last years potential best picture? The Colors Within would be nice to see also if the theatres near by get booked.

However, until then, expect to see some Anime “Reviews” coming soon. Sakamoto Days, My Happy Marriage Season 2, and potentially Solo Leveling Season 2. Thanks for coming by Popped. Blog and enjoy your movie going week.

January 16, 2025 0

Wolf Man “Review”

Release date: January 17, 2025 (USA)

Director: Leigh Whannell

Budget: $25 million

Adapted from: The Wolf Man

Producers: Ryan Gosling, Jason Blum

Distributed by: Universal Pictures

I had low expectations going in. I had some moments that I enjoyed, moments that I appreciated, and a whole lot of mid-moments. Shall we begin?

The trailers didn’t entice me to watch this. Just the dangling hope for that Universal Horror-Verse coming after Black Phone 2 for Blum house features. Will this be selected for that Universe?

Wolf Man introduces us to a child version of Blake going hunting with his father before skipping 30 years into the future. I rather enjoyed this setup and loved the characters being introduced and the lore setup along with it.

Then the time skip happens. I didn’t like the dynamic of this family from the trailers. As much as I enjoy Julia Garner from Ozarks whom plays Charlotte, Blakes wife. I didn’t connect to their chemistry. The daughter was just fine with her mother but had much better chemistry with her father. Matilda Firth did just fine as Ginger.

Overall this title felt like a monster movie of the week. It’s just a fine movie with elements of being good. Something that sets this slightly above is the unique perspective of Blake changing into the Wolf Man and his wife Charlotte having different outlooks on the situation. Sadly this didn’t occur enough but I appreciated this attempt.

There was tension during this movie, even when the enemy was shown on screen, which is usually lost after the main “Scary” villain is shown. I enjoyed some story aspects that this movie had. It’s just a fine movie. I’d like to have seen a different ending but it’s just fine.

If you enjoy your monster movies then have a blast otherwise. An above-average movie at best. 6.5/10 Popped Score.

You can’t always have a Better Man of a Good time but it’s not a Borderlands bad time 😀 Thanks for reading and checking out Popped. Blog for your movie “Reviews”.

January 16, 2025 0

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl “Review”

Release date: 3rd January 2025 (Netflix)

Directors: Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham

Distributed by: Netflix, BBC

Music by: Lorne Balfe; Julian Nott

Production company: Aardman Animations

This guy above us was what intrigued me to watch this title. I remember episodes being shorter, I thought 40mins tops but back then Wallace & Gromit episodes were 24 to 30 minutes long. This was perfect in my youth…. so how’s it now? Being 3 times the length and on Netflix?

Just like how Mufasa played the Nostalgia play. Vengeance Most Fowl certainly pulled all the punches to get you in the feels. From the music, imagery and their relationship. It had it all…. and sadly some bloated stuff to boot.

Sorry Norbot but I’d have cut most of your scenes out to relive Wallace & Gromit The Wrong Trousers as a reboot. Shoot I’d love to see that updated with these graphics and go right into this sequel rather than watch 40minutes of bloat to see its sequel.

I’m being harsh to be honest but it’s mainly due to wanting to talk about the next title 😀 which was SO GOOD! haha. Honestly though its not bad. It’s just not great like what came before it.

Wallace & Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl has a popped score of 7/10. It’s good. But just good. Condense the episodes and stick to a concise plot and I’ll be back. Otherwise it’s a streaming film and there’s a reason why Cinema / Theatre has a different caliber than streamers.

Thanks for coming to Popped.blog, whether you came due to the Popped Cast or a fellow movie goer that enjoys reading these “Reviews”. I appreciate having you here. Check out the next “Review” where I plunge into the movie Better Man. Which was incredible. I’ll explain why over there :D.

January 9, 2025 0

Flow & Mufasa “Review”

Release date: October 30, 2024 (France)

Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Language: English

Distributed by: UFO Distribution

Box office: US$6.8 million

Latvian: Straume

Music by: Gints Zilbalodis; Rihards Zaļupe

Missed this one upon release however with this title winning best animated movie for the golden globes I had to check it out.

Flow is a beautiful movie not only in visuals but in its heart and soul. Flow sets us up with an introduction to this cute cat shown in the image above. Very quickly we’re introduced to an array of characters that either serve as a threat or established entity in this world.

When a natural disaster? Occurs we find ourselves in a world that continues to flood. Higher and higher the water level rises and the journey that flows ahead of us is a journey of our cat and companion animals that shows even your enemies can be your closest friend.

Loved this journey, however I’d give it a solid one of watch with maybe a repeat viewing down the road. Worthy of praise but to beat Wild Robot! COME ON haha, but seriously it’s really good. Better than Inside Out 2 for a 1 time watch but couldn’t imagen checking this out again.

With no dialogue anyone can watch this title and enjoy the visuals and story on screen.

I’d give it an 8.5/10 but could be an 8 with how much I’d like some information established that goes unanswered along the way.

Release date: December 20, 2024 (USA)

Director: Barry Jenkins

Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Adapted from: The Lion King

Box office: $481.6 million

Music by: Dave Metzger; Nicholas Britell (score); Lin-Manuel Miranda (songs)

Doing a double batch here as these titles came out last year. Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to talk about them specially with the Oscars coming up and Flow maybe among them?

I had no interest with Mufasa, however an annoying but catchy song/saying was in my mind. I always wanted a brother…..I always wanted a brother…. I always …okay okay I get it. Let’s watch this thing and give it context.

This was a rollercoaster of a score / experience. On one hand, when it’s hitting your nostalgia play this title felt so good but played on it so cheaply. If it wasn’t for the epic journey ahead this title wouldn’t have been as good. Hmmm kind of feels like Furiosa doesn’t it with Fury Road.

Loved the mini sequel that starts this title. Kind of lost me when we went into the backstory. That was until we meet Mufasa and his brother Taka. I thoroughly enjoyed the “Evil” lion tribe the white lions. These were awesome and actually had my favorite song “Good Bye” :D. Felt like a threat and gave so much weight to Mufasa and his actions.

Mufasa felt like such a giga Chad which was cool to see. Loved his journey and despite Taka being a cowardly entitled character. Loved the switch into his Scar alter ego which we’ve known from the original Lion King.

I’d give Mufasa a solid 7/10 but that’s mainly due to Nostalgia and with how the movie ended making me want to watch the original once more. I never saw the “Live Action” version of Lion King so I look forward to checking it out now. Will a sequel come from this ? Unsure.

If they re-wrote or cut like 30minutes from this title a potential 8 could have been scored for Mufasa but sadly the lows and ehh moments kept it from being great and just a solid good. Better than I expected that’s for sure.

Thank you all for coming by Popped.blog and checking out this latest batch. We come nearer to the Oscar nominations and I’m excited to see what outcome comes for 2024 movies.

Looking ahead for 2025, tomorrow I’ll be checking out Better Man and curiously hopeful to have A Complete Unknown experience but we’ll have to wait and see.

Until next batch, enjoy The Popped Cast and look forward to a Wallace & Gromit “Review” real soon :D.

January 8, 2025 0

2025 Early look ahead

Welcome fellow movie goers, this update will go over an early look at 2025 currently and break down month to month 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.

January 2025 – 6 | 2

I usually don’t cover movies released outside the theatre but maybe 2025 will have exceptions?

The Damned – Reviewed | Wallace & Gromit (Netflix) | Better Man | One of Them Days |

Wolf Man? | Flight Risk | The Colors Within? | Dog Man

February 2025 – 7 | 3

March 2025 – 3 | 1

Mickey 17 | Night Zoopocalypse | Black Bag? | Novocaine | Suggestions?

April 2025 – 5 | 1

May 2025 – 5 | 2

June 2025 – 5

Ballerina | Elio | Train Your Dragon | 28 Years Later | M3GAN 2.O

July 2025 – 5 | 1

August 2025 – 4 | 1

Bad Guys 2 | Naked Gun | Freakier Friday | Nobody 2? | Insidious Tale

September 2025 – 1

Conjuring | Eeep please release more movies this month

October 2025 – 4

Tron | Black Phone 2 | Good Fortune | Mortal Kombat 2

November 2025 – 4

Predator | See Me 3 | Wicked | Zootopia 2

December 2025 – 3

Freddy’s 2 | Avatar 3 | SpongeBob

This was using firstshowing.net on January 5th so hoping more releases get added toward middle of the year. Some months look bare :S.

52 Locked in movies with possible 63 with the added 11. 2024 the goal was 50 movies. We ended up reviewing 75 Movies! – Maybe 100 would be a lot? However I’d like to hit 75 Movies again in 2025 with the hope of hitting 100 😀 – All depends on those lack luster months mentioned above.

Top 5 from the above list I feel will be:

Avatar 3 | Wicked 2 | Black Phone 2 | Bad Guys 2 | Superman ?

My hopes of a top 10:

Dark Horse Shoutouts:

Love to hear your thoughts on this list – Anything stick out / Missing from the list? Lets jump into 2025 with awesome movies ahead of us. Lots to be added I’m sure so keep an eye on the podcast for future announcements or on his update tab :D. Happy Watching All ❤

January 5, 2025 0

The Damned “Review”

Release date: January 3, 2025 (USA)

Director: Thordur Palsson

Language: English

Distributed by: Vertical

Production companies: Elation Pictures; Netop Films; Wild Atlantic Pictures; Ley Line Entertainment

A very enticing trailer hauntingly got into my mind. This drew me into watching this feature, which kind of came from nowhere until last month before popping up.

So where do I start before suddenly stopping the review. Without spoilers I wont just suddenly leave you in limbo confused / working out what just happened. Did it hurt the overall score? Yes! But worthy watch for anyone interested in putting in the work during lots of slow build up.

Enticed or not, let’s get into The Damned “Review”. 19th-Century widow is forced to make an impossible choice, during an extremely cruel winter where you’ve succumbed to eating not only your reserved food but also the bait in which to harvest the food. Seeing a ship sinking off the coast, do you save those that may cause risking what’s left of the village’s dwindling supplies?

Odessa Young, playing our main lead “Eva” does a very good job in establishing herself in this world and involving her cast and the viewer through these haunting scenes. The sense of bitter winds, faced against odds. Hope only comes from those within your family and unable to trust or allow trust from any unknown sources.

Game of Thrones – Rory McCann does an excellent job here with Odessa fleshing out the opening scenes and creating bonds between the viewer and this family that’s against all odds coming into the winter season.

If you’re able to give this feature a chance. Just know the pacing can be slow but deliberate. Intentional to create several feelings within you along the way. Are these characters slowly losing it? Have their decisions come to haunt them. Are these visions/horrors something of paranormal or physiological? This film will have you questioning yourself by the end and that journey will be what makes or breaks this experience.

Is this a good movie? A close miss? A mid-range like that of our first movie of 2024 Night swim? If Night Swim is to be our 5/10 average middle of the pack film. I feel like the cinematography and direction from Thordur Palsson sets this feature above the pack at a 6.5/10. An above-average title that had moments of solid goodness but depending on your takeaway, narrowly or massively misses the mark and keeps itself from getting out of this tier for a Popped review.

Not a bad start to 2025 and happy new year to all those returning to Popped. Blog for another year. I appreciate all those that followed us here throughout 2024 and I’m excited to see our top 10 list slowly come together as we navigate 2025.

A trial and error pilot episode of the official Popped.blog podcast is out with another episode to come later into the weekend ahead. We’ll be discussing this title a little more and breaking down what’s to come throughout January for Popped.

Check out The Popped Cast by clicking this link.

Don’t forget to cast your votes for January’s Poll on the top menu of the page. Decide on which Anime/Movie you’d like reviewed outside of the mentioned or announced ones currently spoken of.

Thanks again and see you in the next batch.

January 2, 2025 0

A Complete Unknown “Review”

Release date: December 25, 2024 (USA)

Director: James Mangold

Producers: Timothée Chalamet, James Mangold, Bob Bookman · See more

Budget: $60–70 million

Distributed by: Searchlight Pictures

Based on: Dylan Goes Electric!; by Elijah Wald

Not going to lie, this film if it wasn’t for all the buzz around Oscar nomination. I probably would have skipped it. Well I’m glad I didn’t. What a great movie! Fun, entertaining and educational.

A complete unknown starts us of with Timothee Chalamet (Playing Bob Dylan) getting out a taxi in New York 1961. In search for his hero Woody Guthrie (Played by Scoot McNairy) who just got sentenced to hospital. With a lot of luck or extreme coin sequences, he meets up with Pete Seeger (Played by Edward Norton) who takes him in and pretty much places Bob Dylan on the map when he later gets introduced / plays after Joan Baez (Played by Monica Barbaro).

The film did a good job to entertain and educate me on the history of Bob Dylan while keeping me engaged. I was never bored despite, again, not having any interest in checking this movie out, outside the Oscar discussions.

A switch was flicked on once at entered 1965 and the gears started to really turn for Bob Dylan in several ways. It was awesome seeing Bob become his own musician rather than recording other peoples tracks. A line hit me when his girlfriend Sylvie Russo (Played by Elle Fanning) said that someone has to create the classics (As he was recording music deemed as classic), this got me as it’s true. Without someone today creating new songs the future wouldn’t have the classics of the 2000’s as nothing would have been created from the first existence of music.

This got me thinking of older actors and the newer generation of movie stars. Timothee Chalamet is for sure on my “Movie Star” list. He’s been fantastic in all his works and I’m excited to see more. (The next review also has an actors I’ve enjoyed for quite some time and would include here also).

Honestly if you’re on the fence then check this title out. If you loved/enjoyed the music from this era then you’re going to have a blast revisiting it all again. Great actors across the board.

Great movie a well deserved 8.5/10

December 28, 2024 0