Tag: reviews

Hurry Up Tomorrow “Review”

Release date: May 16, 2025 (USA)

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Running time: 1h 45m

MPAA rating: R

Screenplay: Trey Edward Shults

Producers: The Weeknd, Reza Fahim, Kevin Turen, Harrison Kreiss

What’s the story about? Or at least the purpose of this movie? I had no idea going in…. still no idea coming out. Let’s discuss, Hurry Up Tomorrow.

PSA – If you’re sensitive to strobe effects / flashing lights. Please be warned going into this movie. I’ve never had a movie display a warning card prior to the films beginning on this. I even had to close my eyes during some scenes in the first half.

I’ll be frank with this one. Unless the context is in the music. I have no idea the purpose of this feature. It started to get good with Ortega’s character Anima going all out. She was so good…. then the movie ended and sizzled and I even looked at my watch minutes before the title card popped up as the ending didn’t seem insight but I lost track of how long the movie had been playing for.

It’s okay at best. If I’m being fair it’s a weak 6. With a somewhat okay enough plot with curious to learn characters that you’ll keep with it. But the purpose and potential felt wasted with the ending. To be honest if it wasn’t for the weak ending it maybe a watch this weekend. With how the ending left me though I’d say its a streaming movie at best unless you want to see Jenna Ortega in a good roll unlike Death of a Unicorn.

There’s better movies to check out this weekend but if you do see Hurry Up Tomorrow. What did you think of it? Did I miss a lot from not understanding the lyrics to the songs being sung? (My wife calls my tone deaf when it comes to music) Placing this at a 3 with a combined 6 depending on who’s watching it.

It’s better than death of a unicorn so I’m knocking that down to a 2.5 so this stands above it.

To the point, pretty quick. But thanks for coming to Popped for your Hurry Up Tomorrow “Review”. Those were my thoughts and I’m hopeful for tomorrow’s feature to be at least good with Final Destination.

P.S No end scene to H.U.T so feel free to walk out after the title card.

Thank you again and see you next batch.

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Shadow Force “Review”

Release date: May 9, 2025 (USA)

Director: Joe Carnahan

Starring: Kerry Washington; Omar Sy; Mark Strong; Da’Vine Joy Randolph; Cliff “Method Man” Smith

Running time: 1h 44m

Executive producers: Christopher Woodrow, B. Quinn Curry, K. Blaine Johnston, Danielle Reardon, Jennifer Wiley-Moxley.

Distributed by: Lionsgate Films

When you’re unsure on checking a movie out. Make the call. Sometimes you may end up checking out a decently good movie :D. Let’s discuss.

First off, let’s discuss our loving family. I’m not sure why Shadow Force wasn’t pushed as the mothers day movie this weekend but Kerry Washington playing Kyrah will protect her family with no limits. Leaving her husband and son to take down the organization Shadow Force from getting to them and keep them safe. Omar Sy playing Isaac the loving husband and incredible father is put into a situation to save his son that strikes the ignition to Shadow Force finding out their location.

I absolutely loved this families dynamic. Having the mother doing all the action while Isaac and his son get to bond was very touching and created feelings/ bonds between the viewer and characters on screen. Getting attached to this family wont make or break your experience but if you get involved with them then your experience will most certainly be well enjoyed.

Next up the action! Comparing to a recent movie – Fight or Flight, this movie brought the characters, emotions, story and action! When the action gets going it’s awesome. Great sound and music while enjoying lots of cool scenes. Great cast of villains for sure lead by Jack (Played by Mark Strong). Yea the movie feels a little long by 5/10 minutes but the feeling kicks in right as the action kicks off / story begins to wrap up, so the feeling is short lived.

I’m more on the side of Fandango viewers as they gave it a 81%, but mind you the other side of this goes as low as 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. So pick your path :D.

I had a good time. Well enjoyed. Loved the son! Loved the family. Which gives Shadow Force in the eyes of Popped a solid good 7/10. Worth watching / checking out for sure. Either it be on streaming down the road or in theatres, the ultimate way to experience movies.

Appreciate you checking out Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Stick around for another tomorrow with Hurry up Tomorrow. Do I know what it’s about? Nope. Have I seen the trailer? Yup, plenty of times. Still no idea. So let’s check it out and report back :D. Thursday – Final Destination!

Watched Shadow Force yet? Love to hear your thoughts below. Check out Clown in a Cornfield? Let me know 😀 – As always though, see you next batch.

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Fight or Flight “Review”

Release date: May 9, 2025 (USA)

Director: James Madigan

Executive producers: Melissa Bale, D. J. Cotrona, Alastair Burlingham, Danny Chan, George Bennett

MPAA rating: R

Producers: Tai Duncan, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christopher Milburn

Running time: 1h 41m

Seeing on the poster, From the Producers of John Wick, I was ready to go. Coming out from Clown in a Cornfield I was ready for what I thought was going to be the better movie of the two…. let’s discuss.

Want to know a similar experience – Check out my Love Hurts “Review” – Outside of the combat and fight scenes I was bored. I felt like I missed an entire story prior to this as the feature opens in mid fight on a failing plane. Then goes back 12 hours. All the story elements are discussed rather than shown throughout the title. Famous saying “Show don’t tell” should have been discussed with the storyboard.

Our main leads are totally fine. They had fun and I loved the energy during the fighting. Josh Hartnett plays Lucas Reyes a recruited member of the FBI to track down “The Ghost” escaping on a plane to San Francisco. Thing is, when arriving in the plane he finds out the entire plane has been filled with assassins assigned to kill “The Ghost” also. Charithra Chandran plays Isha a flight attendant that gets herself mixed up in this mess when knocking on the bathroom at the wrong time.

Summed up, that’s the story. Sit back and get through all the discussion of why their after The Ghost. The relationship between Lucas and the head FBI agent assigning this task to him and have fun with all the action scenes and surprises.

More action than Love Hurts which helps in the hour and 41minute run time. Feature sets up a sequel if you’re left wanting more but no end scene on this one.

Popped score of 6/10, it’s okay. Fun action, some fun jokes but little of anything else outside of that. I probably wont be back for a sequel unless I need it for my 100 films of that release year.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and with this double batch I’ll catch you next week for Final Destination: Bloodlines & Hurry Up Tomorrow. That is unless I catch Rosario / Shadow Force during the week.

Planned for the remainder of May is Lilo & Stitch, Mission Impossible. Bring Her Back, Friendship? If I can find somewhere playing it & Karate Kid: Legends.

Did I miss anything I need to see prior to June? Let me know in the comments below!

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Clown in a Cornfield “Review”

Release date: May 9, 2025 (USA)

Director: Eli Craig

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1h 36m

Distributed by: Shudder, RLJE Films

Music by: Brandon Roberts; Marcus Trumpp

Round 2 for Shudder this year in theatres. Bringing us this time Clown in a Cornfield, a horror film based upon the novel (Of which I found out there’s 3 in this series).

I thought this was going to another # toward 100. Another 2.5 tier movie which may have something going for it but fails horribly. But wait….outside of the intro which started off like any other type of slasher movie. We open up after this point with our main leads….. of which I actually liked!

So lets go from there. The cast. Everyone did a fine job. It’s a Shudder movie mind you but one worthy of the big screen. It’s no Sinners but something worth checking out for sure. Aaron Abrams plays the father Dr. Maybrook and new Doctor of this town moving in with his daughter Quinn Maybrook (Played by Katie Douglas). Total legend Will Sasso is playing Dunne, the Sherriff of Kettle Springs down.

We shortly learn the kids that will be apart of Quinn’s friend group and the tension between the adults of the town vs the youth. A local legend of the town is that of a killer clown which the group make popular viral videos on Youtube of. That story leads us to the main plot of this feature. Clown in a Cornfield. Sit back, enjoy some Popcorn and have fun with this title. It wasn’t really scary nor overly gory. BUT. It’s gory and impactful in the right moments and makes those scenes count. Not throwing them at you desensitizing the audience for what’s to come but instead create an environment that entices and intrigues the audience into what’s to come and wanting more.

It’s actually all the fun which this film has with itself and audience which doesn’t get boring when the movie feels a little long. It kept me entertained and enjoying the scenes playing out despite feeling a little long. There’s no end scene to enjoy but rest assured there are more titles in this novel series so something to look forward to down the road.

Popped Score of 7/10 strong good movie, possibly even 7.5 with a repeat viewing but solidly 7.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and stay tuned, today we have a double batch viewing, coming up next. Fight or Flight.

Let me know in the comments your thoughts on Clown in a Cornfield and if you have read the novel and how it compares. Should I read it? Because I’m totally in :D.

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The Surfer “Review”

Release date: May 2, 2025 (USA)

Director: Lorcan Finnegan

Starring: Nicolas Cage; Julian McMahon; Nic Cassim; Miranda Tapsell; Alexander Bertrand; Justin Rosniak

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1h 43m

Producers: Nicolas Cage, Leonora Darby, Robert Connolly · See more

Solid trailer got me in the theater to check this title out.

The Surfer had me mesmerized throughout. Let’s discuss 😀

Avoid spoilers at all costs, but also, if you were told what goes down in this movie. You probably wouldn’t believe them anyway. This is a good kind of bizarre and weird. The type of weird I’m happy to lose myself within for hours as I navigate the story and what’s going on.

The Surfer, staring Nicolas Cage (In what could be his best movie since 2020? I’ve missed a few since then but this is on another level) as The Surfer :p is a father taking his son to surf on an Australian beach in Cage’s childhood beach. This is until the locals “politely” let them know “Don’t live here, Don’t surf here” before you go on an adventure.

Story wise I’m leaving it here. Go explore. Try not get heat stroke and attempt to stay grounded. Reading some reviews online this is going to be very divided. Again, this is the type of weird and bizarre shit that I’ll shovel into my mouth for breakfast and be cracked out on sugar for the entire day. Loved it!

I’ll need to watch it again to connect more dots and dissect this feature but damn was it a Gooden. Buckle in for a trippy ride and either enjoy it or it seems totally hate it? No middle ground with this one. Socials have it from 45% on Fandango to 87 on RT.

For popped I’m placing this in with last years “Last Stop In Yuma County” with a 9/10 and entering my top 10 list for 2025 thus far.

Fantastic performance all around. Great pacing and tone. Loved the build up and pay offs along the way. Setups and all, loved this title. Can’t wait to watch again with others and discuss.

Speaking of which. Like to discuss this in the comments below I’d be curious your thoughts. Keep spoilers labeled and let’s have fun with it.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and we’ll see you next batch Thursday with a couple of interesting ones all going well. Fight in Flight & Clown in the Cornfield.

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Thunderbolts* “Review”

Release date: May 2, 2025 (USA)

Director: Jake Schreier

Running time: 2h 6m

Story by: Eric Pearson

MPAA rating: PG-13

Distributed by: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Is Marvel back or some may say are the Avengers back? If you read my Cap 4 “Review” you know my stance with current Marvel and Thunderbolts was on my list of hope… was hope for breakfast or served spoilt milk…. let’s discuss.

The quick review (Non Spoiler)

Super fun time, would watch again, stay until the very end. Want to watch again. Lots of scenes stuck with me that I’d love to hear from others their reactions and thoughts on.

Non Spoiler “Review” – Cucumber is my safe word 😀

Loved these characters, want to spend more time with them and excited to get back to the Thunderbolts* in repeat viewings / future content.

Personal stand outs, Yelena (Played by Florence Pugh) – Fantastic with the team, great character development and lots of cool scenes to explore. Red Guardian – (Played by David Harbour) Yelena’s father is so funny and love the continued development between himself and Yelena. Epic Duo loved them but there’s more. U.S Agent – (Played by Wyatt Russell) Surprisingly a hit. Coming from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier back in 2021. We have my glue between Yelena & The next person on my stand out list. Loved their introduction sequence and that brings us to Bob – (Played by Lewis Pullman) know him or not I think Bob is going to be a fan favorite. Plenty of setup to be intrigued and enough to pull back on to explore this new character randomly thrown into the mix.

MCU – The Marvel Cinematic Universe feels like it’s back. It has it’s Universe back. No longer feeling like a stand alone title. Without going into spoilers. This feels apart of the overall story and I’m ready for what’s to come.

End Credit Scene – Non Spoiler – Stay to the very end. The mid scene this time around is the fun one. Stay to the end. You wont want to miss it. Trust me 😀

What’s next to discuss? You want some more? How about some vague but crazy lines to get you intrigued but beware of potential spoilers? Then stick around to the very end. Mind you, we’ve got to give a score. With me wanting to return and watch again. I’m giving Thunderbolts* a Popped score of 8/10.

Thank you – For coming by Popped for your movie “Review” of Thunderbolts*. Planned for this week is Surfers among many random titles releasing over this weekend and next. But until then. Enjoy watching Thunderbolts* it’s a lot of fun and feels like the MCU is back. See you next batch. Let’s get Thunderbolts* to at least 80Mill opening weekend…100 would be awesome – Beating Minecraft would be juicy :D.

Potential Spoilers – Beware – Some fun little comments

DC has some competition with this team with an upcoming superhero of theirs. Who will win? Goku* VS Superman?

Marketing felt like old time Marvel marketing 😉 nice one! Let’s keep this up and not return to Captain America 4 territory.

New discussion unlocked – Who’s the real Avengerz? Or even, who’s your Avengers?

2026 gunna be a good freaking year for Marvel and I’m honestly feeling pretty good. Fab 4 has some work for me to get into. But Thunderbolts* is carrying 2025 on it’s back.

The Sound Track! :OMG I HEARD IT!

Enjoy 😀

Potential Spoilers – Beware – Some fun little comments

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Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing “Review”

Release date: April 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Hiroyuki Hata

Art director: Kurumi Suzuki

Cinematography: Kazuya Iwai

Distributed by: Shochiku

Editor: Ayumu Takahashi

Only got on my radar due to being a movie and not a concert exclusive movie. I’ve seen nothing of Miku content. I don’t watch V-Tubers outside of Ironmouse so I’m probably not the targeted audience for this title. With that caveat said. Shall we jump into this “Review”?

I’m going to compare this to Colors Within for comparison as “Reviewing” an anime movie focused around music. Firstly before that. I did love the messaging and get the point behind what Miku was attempting. I just didn’t connect with her song which impacted my experience.

Side Note for readers: You’re going to hear the word SEKAI a lot in this movie. A potential drinking game? I’ve only heard this in reference to Isekai’s. SEKAI in Japanese means “World” or “Universe” which you’re going to be jumping around a lot which was a little jarring at first to know if the characters were the same people or different versions of one another.

The story / premise of this movie is based around Miku wanting to reach those in need of support and form a deeper connection through emotional music. (Sadly her song didn’t hit with me unlike Colors Within) In order to achieve this due to having difficulty connecting with those surrounded in darkness, she reaches out to others that are able to reach people through their music (Which I did enjoy once you finally get there).

For around 45minutes this movie was okay. Then it started to “Cook” as people say. Some very interesting story and character development occurs that got me interested in the title….which was sadly ruined by repetitive conversation going over and over what Miku’s mission was and how they were going to achieve her mission and reach her and others alike.

The reason why I compare this to Colors Within is because this process setting up the concert was extremely drawn out and should have been cut down. While Colors Within was enjoyable and the music did connect with me which kept me engaged wanting to see their performance. Miku can’t sing was sadly not resonating with me but maybe that’s because I knew nothing of these characters. I disliked the robotic voiced characters over the human ones. (Apologize if these people are big in this world. I’ve no idea.)

For me personally it was good overall. I’d give it a 7/10. But fans are loving this title. Socials are from 6.4 on IMBd to 96% on RT & Fandango. Fun fact for those wanting more after the credits. There’s an after show which plays for an additional 10-15minutes. (Which was weird as the lights up go up during the credits. So having an anchor concert in bright lights was off).

Did you checkout this title? Have plans to? Seen Colors Within? Love to hear your thoughts below. Colors Within is $10 right now on Amazon Prime which I may actually go purchase to revisit their music.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” and I’ll see you next batch :D. Big one next week! Thunderbolts. – Spoilers are all over the internet so be careful if you’re hiding from them.

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Until Dawn “Review”

Release date: April 25, 2025 (USA)

Director: David F. Sandberg

MPAA rating: R

Running time: 1h 43m

Producers: David F. Sandberg, Gary Dauberman, Asad Qizilbash, Lotta Losten, Roy Lee, Carter Swan, Mia Maniscalco

Distributed by: Sony Pictures Releasing

Loved the video game, little silly it got remastered the next system generation rather than making a sequel. Now we have a movie based on the video game. Will a sequel movie arrive before the game?

Played the video games and interested in this feature? Or saw the trailer and wanted to check it out? Let’s discuss Until Dawn for both, then dissect which experience I’d recommend.

Clover’s sister has disappeared for a year when Clover and her friends go searching in her sisters last known area for answers. While traveling down this road they go through a wall of water that reveals a place of shelter to figure this strange situation out.

What comes next for our group of 5, is nightly resets full of terror that resets upon everyone’s death if the group doesn’t survive until dawn.

From here enter the scares? / Many dozens of villains which will differ between game to movie. For those that played the game. Stick with the game experience. This doesn’t really offer you anything new unless you’re interested in seeing a sequel setup which (From my experience) the game left pretty open ended depending on your ending unlocked.

For those interested in the trailer and never played the game. Check it out, maybe it’ll get you to play the video game which does a vastly better job at creating atmosphere, tension and the horror experience.

By throwing so many enemies at the audience it didn’t allow the film to setup each enemy to have it’s time to play and create scares. There are some surprises and cool moments but sadly when comparing to the game. It didn’t succeed in my eyes.

Not an entirely bad watch but nothing more than above average at best. Popped score for Until Dawn at a 6/10. Socials have this from 53% to 6/10 on IMBd.

Did you play or checkout the movie of Until Dawn? Love to hear your thoughts below. Did you get any easter eggs from the movie that I missed? I only played the game through once so I’m sure there’s a lot there I didn’t see but loved my playthrough over watching this feature when comparing them.

Thanks for coming to Popped for your movie “Reviews”. Stick around if you’re on the fence of Colorful Stage! The Movie:- Unless you’re already watched / locked in then maybe my “Review” isn’t for you.

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The Accountant 2 “Review”

Release date: April 25, 2025 (USA)

Director: Gavin O’Connor

Starring: Ben Affleck; Jon Bernthal; Cynthia Addai-Robinson; Daniella Pineda; J. K. Simmons

Running time: 2h 5m

MPAA rating: R

Distributed by: Amazon MGM Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

How’s this getting lower scores than The Legend of Ochi! Something smells off here. The Legend of stolen Sneaks got flipped with Accountant 2 while Ochi got flipped with Sneaks 😀

Been a minute since the first title but this started and ended with the same energy as the first. Thoroughly enjoyed this feature. Loved the chemistry between Ben Affleck & Jon Bernthal. Brothers to the end :D.

Not going to dive into this story. It’s literally the movies adventure to discover. So sit back and enjoy. Don’t miss the beginning as it sets up all the adventure.

Heard this is apart of a trilogy and I’m ready for what’s to come. No post credit scene so feel free to leave straight after the title ends. Loved how this continued development from characters in the first installment.

Only critique is some scenes felt a little long but added to character growth / setup for fun scenes shortly to come from them :D.

More substance than action movies like A Working Man. Some material can be heavy for some audiences so be prepared for that. It had me on the edge of my seat along with many others when looking around the theatre.

Was hovering around an 8 to 8.5 but going to place The Accountant 2 at a 8/10 great watch. May watch again. For sure would revisit if watching this as a trilogy. Socials are giving this from 7.3/10 on IMBd to 92% on Fandango.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews”. More to come tomorrow as I catch up with Until Dawn & A Miku Who Can’t Sing. Didn’t check it out at first thinking it was a concert. Found out it’s an actual movie. Stay tuned for tomorrow on that :D.

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The Legend Of Ochi “Review”

Release date: April 18, 2025 (USA)

Director: Isaiah Saxon

MPAA rating: PG

Running time: 1h 35m

Cinematography: Evan Prosofsky

Distributed by: A24

A24 is back at it again with another title. Is this being praised by fans or are movie goers actually enjoying this? I’d love to know if this is a Joker 2 situation or am I completely out of touch these days liking Sneaks and ….. Let’s get into it 😉

The trailer didn’t interest me but I have a mission to 100 so checked out Legend of Ochi.

With a dark intro into this world of Ochi and the gang of young boys lead by Willem Dafoe (Playing Maxim) going against this “Evil?” creature I was optimistic! That was short lived. Not going to harp on a young actor. The main lead Yuri (Played by Helena Zengel) seemed to have her dialogue out of sync with her lip sync. In addition to her character being annoying.

The story and hope for Ochi and his clan was what got me…..sadly (Some Minor Spoilers?) You don’t get to see them much compared to the humans….

Our human group Maxim and his son Petro (Played by Finn Wolfhard) along with daughter Yuri among the many boys of this village are hunting / defending the village from these creatures. Maybe I missed the why behind Maxim’s motives but I had enjoyment / investment into these human characters. I wanted to see Ochi and the story behind them all.

My comparison or reference is going to see Gremlins and having their story forgotten about or not written in for the sake of this humans and their journey.

For my personally this missed massively where I wouldn’t even stream it or at least watch the beginning scene and ending 15/20 mins. The remainder was a slog. I looked up how long this feature was. 1 Hour and 35minutes. I felt like this was longer than 2 hours. People were shocked I liked Sneaks. :O If you liked Ochi more than Sneaks or even liked Ochi and didn’t watch Sneaks. I’ve lost it 😀

The Legend of Ochi felt like a waste of time that offered me nothing. I could do a spoiler “Review” if interested and the further reasons why I didn’t like this title. I came for the legend and got a hunt to extinct Ochi. 2.5/10 Popped score on this one. Going to bump Cap 4 up as it doesn’t belong in it’s placement currently. Ochi is going down in my bottom 5 list of 2025 thus far.

Maybe a little harsh but compare this with Sneaks. Let me know what you preferred and I’d be curious to see if I’m out of touch with the general viewing audience or if we have a Joker 2 situation occurring with A24 fans here.

IMBd had this title at 6.2/10 up to RT score of 80%.

Thanks for coming by Popped for your movie “Reviews” stay tuned right after this for The Accountant 2 “Review” :D.

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