MOVIE: Inside Out 2 (2024)

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Inside Out 2Year: 2024Rating: PGLength: 96 minutes / 1.60 hours Inside Out 2 (2024) is one of those rare sequels that build upon the first movie in new ways that expand the narrative of the world. There were already hints of a puberty subplot at the end of the first Inside Out (2015), but adding new emotions to the mix really helped round out that teenager experience. As a parent, I loved how the first film made it easy to talk to my kids about emotions, but now there's a whole extra level of parenting I can unlock by using this movie as well. Most of my gripes about Inside Out 2 are minor—partly because the first movie had these issues as well. For a head full of emotions, there really is only room for a story about one or two of them. That there were four new characters added in this movie felt a bit much, especially when most of the...
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MOVIE: A Quiet Place – Day One (2024)

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A Quiet Place: Day OneYear: 2024Rating: PG-13Length: 99 minutes / 1.65 hours It's wild to think that it's been six years since A Quiet Place (2018) released. The concept was unique and fresh and lent itself to plenty of suspenseful moments. And while I thought both it and its 2021 sequel could have been trimmed down to a single, albeit somewhat long movie, I still loved the idea of a modern "silent film" that relies on its imagery as much as its lack of verbal dialogue. But did this really need a prequel? One of the great parts of the original Quiet Place was that it didn't explain how things came to be this way, it just dealt with surviving in this new reality. In A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), humanity first faces the threat of these aliens who attack any noise that might catch their attention. It's still unknown why these aliens came to Earth or what their goal is,...
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MOVIE: Thelma (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
ThelmaYear: 2024Rating: PG-13Length: 98 minutes / 1.63 hours Thelma (2024) is one of those rare movies that I knew little about, but saw the trailer a few times and saw it on a whim. I was glad I did, because it's definitely my favorite film of this year. With so many action movies, it's nice to see one like this that makes fun of the tropes in the best way possible. And to top it all off, the message it gives is as heartwarming as it is important. The premise of Thelma is that the titular character (played by June Squibb) got scammed out of $10,000. After taking the normal steps one would after realizing the mistake, she realizes she can take matters into her own hands and retrieve her stolen money with some help from her elderly friends. It's part heist, part chase, and way funnier than it has any right to be. This is partly due to how the common...
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MOVIE: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Kingdom of the Planet of the ApesYear: 2024Rating: PG-13Length: 145 minutes / 2.42 hours With how difficult it is to pull of a trilogy that doesn't have any significantly bad entries, it's almost impossible to make a successful movie that sits as the fourth entry outside that trilogy. Plenty of "fourth" films never hit the mark their predecessor trilogy did. This was why I had to roll my eyes when Hollywood added another movie on top of the already well-done Planet of the Apes prequel trilogy. Well, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) proved me wrong. By giving itself enough distance from the Caesar story arc, Kingdom threads that needle that connects the lead-up events to the very first film in the franchise. Even if most of the fundamental concepts have already been covered in this franchise, there are still enough surprising moments here to make it an excellent entry—which is also what made the original 1968 movie so memorable....
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MOVIE: The Fall Guy (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
The Fall GuyYear: 2024Rating: PG-13Length: 126 minutes / 2.10 hours I have a bit of a soft spot for movies that focus on the creative act of making movies. Most of the time, these "behind the scenes" films focus on the more managerial aspects of movies. In The Fall Guy (2024), there's a fun meta that ties together stunts for the movie being made and stunts in the "real world" that may bring down the entire production. As a pseudo-heist movie, The Fall Guy is a fun action romp that I found entertaining and educational. Anyone who has seen Ryan Gosling in Barbie (2023) knows that he has the comedic chops to hold up his side of a film. Honestly, he was the main reason I wanted to see this film, as I was expecting "Ken" levels of machismo, but with maybe a little more intelligence. Gosling definitely delivers, and this is a great film to watch for fans of his work....
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MOVIE: Furiosa – A Mad Max Saga (2024)

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Fuirosa: A Mad Max SagaYear: 2024Rating: RLength: 148 minutes / 2.46 hours Having seen most of the original Mad Max films, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) was such a shocking visual smorgasbord that it only made sense to capitalize on its success. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) attempts to give us more of the setting, characters, and aesthetic from Fury Road, but with less of the tight octane-fueled pacing of its predecessor. It's not bad by itself, but its premise certainly rides on Fury Road's coattails for much of its runtime. While it's crazy that it's almost been a decade since Fury Road came out, I can accept that Anya Taylor-Joy was a passable version of a younger Charlize Theron. The real surprise was how much Chris Hemsworth stole the show, leaning heavily into his Australian roots to give some amazingly authentic craziness to Dementus. That there were so many common elements to Fury Road here meant that it was entertaining...
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MOVIE: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly WarfareYear: 2024Rating: RLength: 122 minutes / 2.03 hours It feels like I've been waiting for a Guy Ritchie film that is a return to form. I loved his earlier works, but have found his latest projects mostly disappointing. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) Feels like one of those early Ritchie films, which I truly appreciated. However, despite being based on actual events, it felt a bit like a watered down Inglorious Basterds (2009). The cast and action were great, but the stakes somehow felt shallow and forgettable. I truly enjoyed the parts of the film that held onto Ritchie's original style. The ridiculous action sequences and the machismo of the main cast (Henry Cavill, especially) are the kinds of things that I enjoyed in Ritchie's earlier works. That any of this was even close to what really happened makes it an impressive event that should inspire people to learn more about the history. Including the brief reference...
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MOVIE: Civil War (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Civil WarYear: 2024Rating: RLength: 109 minutes / 1.82 hours With Alex Garland's latest film, Civil War (2024), I still maintain my belief that his films use the medium of movies to ask, "What makes us human?" In his previous sci-fi works like Ex Machina (2014) and Annihilation (2018), the genre did most of the heavy lifting with that question. For Civil War, the current heated political climate is the backdrop that shines a harsh mirror on humanity during armed conflict. The framing, however, is truly what makes this film stand out—and it's not about politics at all. As a photographer, I understand what it takes to capture a moment without being part of the moment. You need to be present, but neutral. Civil War pushes this concept to its limits within the context of war photography. How does the press capture these atrocious moments while standing by to let them happen? Is documenting the war more important than stopping it? On top...
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MOVIE: Boy Kills World (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Boy Kills WorldYear: 2024Rating: RLength: 111 minutes / 1.85 hours Video game movies are gaining some respect after the disastrous jump to the silver screen in the 1990s. It's interesting, then, that Boy Kills World (2024) takes all the cliches of the beat-'em-up and hack-and-slash video games from the arcades and makes a movie out of a game that doesn't exist. The problem is this movie also adheres to a lot of the tropes that made the video game movies of the 1990s sub-par to the ones that exist today. Don't get me wrong here. Boy Kills World is fun if you just turn off your brain and enjoy the ridiculous ride. Bill Skarsgard is great as the "silent protagonist"—made even better by H. Jon Benjamin's narration of the character's internal thoughts. The action is intense and there are a few set pieces that play to the strengths of the more interesting characters. And as a video game movie, its structure of...
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MOVIE: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Year: 2024 Rating: PG-13 Length: 115 minutes / 1.92 hours Having never seen the original Japanese series of Godzilla movies, I only have a loose sense of their progression from serious to silly. I've seen random clips that I couldn't take seriously, but I also know some of the first films in the franchise were a grim analogy of nuclear war. While Godzilla Minus One (2023) nailed the serious side of Godzilla, the Monsterverse movies have steadily been drifting toward unhinged territory. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) is merely the latest proof. There were so many things going on in this movie, it felt like a shotgun approach to see if anything would stick. It was a bit frustrating that the headliner, Godzilla, barely appeared until the third act. The humans were even more caricature-like than previous entries, and I hardly cared about their stories or struggles. When the universe can support any random thing happening, the...
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MOVIE: Dune – Part Two (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Dune: Part TwoYear: 2024Rating: PG-13Length: 166 minutes / 2.77 hours Years ago, when I first read Dune, I struggled to get through the first half of the book. There was so much exposition and world building I had to get through that when the action finally began, I devoured the rest of the story. While I understand the need to split this epic novel into two movies, it meant I was eagerly anticipating Dune: Part Two (2024) after the excellent job Denis Villeneueve did adapting the first half in 2021. I appreciate that movies have multiple chances to become the iconic versions that their source material deserves. The original Dune (1984) has its own cult status among its fans (many of which are merely David Lynch fans). But the wide audience appeal of an epic story that stands the test of time is the high standard most filmmakers strive for. Few have been able to pull it off, but I think time...
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