Watchmen: Chapter 1 (2024) Film Review

In an alternate world, the murder of a government sponsored superhero draws his outlawed colleagues out of retirement, into a mystery that threatens their lives and the world itself.

Watchmen: Chapter 1 is directed by Brandon Vietti director of Superman: Doomsday (2007), Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery (2014) and Batman: Death in the Family (2020).

Not a real lot to say here, Watchmen: Chapter 1 is a very competent adaption to the comics. What the movie has going for it is mostly the animation which really fits for Watchmen there are some quite beautiful moments that really do bring this story to life and it’s incredibly nice to see this story being told with this animation. It keeps things a bit fresh since we have already seen Watchmen be done before twice now in live action.

Having that said the movie itself when it comes to the writing is just fine, there really isn’t anything here mind blowing. It’s a very basic retelling of the story that fans know and love, for newcomers this isn’t necessarily a bad way to have your first exposure to Watchmen in fact I would go as far as to say that it’s actually a solid way. It’s short, simple and doesn’t complicate things at all.

Some of the action scenes are a bit off and the movie does have it’s hiccups with some of the animation at certain points, but for the most part the movie does a good job and works with what’s given. The voice cast does a decent job and the pacing is just right, the movie is a very quick 83 minutes long and wraps up as much as it needs to.

Having that said this is chapter 1 of a two chapter story (Chapter 2 coming next year). So we don’t quite have the full picture as of yet, but for now it’s decent enough!

Watchmen: Chapter 1 is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Despicable Me 4 (2024) Film Review

Gru welcomes a new member to the family, Gru Jr., who’s intent on tormenting his dad. However, their peaceful existence soon comes crashing down when criminal mastermind Maxime Le Mal escapes from prison and vows revenge against Gru.

Despicable Me 4 is directed by Chris Renaud director of Despicable Me (2010), The Lorax (2012), Despicable Me 2 (2013), The Secret Life Of Pets (2016) and The Secret Life Of Pets 2 (2019). This film serves as the fourth installment of the main series (sixth overall film in the franchise and serves as a sequel to Despicable Me 3 (2017).

By this point everyone and their dog knows what the Despicable Me franchise is, it’s arguably at least in the top 10 moneymaking modern franchises. The films range from being pretty cute to bad. Despicable Me 4 is quite honestly more of the same thing from other entries, which might not be bad for fans of the series but will quickly become tiring for everyone else.

I really have to give Steve Carell so much credit for sticking with this series for so long, because he is once again one of the best parts about it. Some lines in this movie that would be otherwise terrible end up being somewhat funny due to Carell’s delivery. The rest of the voice cast are solid although do not have anything really special about them.

One thing I will say this movie does a pretty good job with is Gru’s character, we get to learn even more about his past and old rivals as well. Even if this has been done before in earlier entries and spinoffs, they still manage to come up with at least something somewhat interesting. The subplot about the minions becoming superheroes is forgettable, sure there’s a few funny moments but it’s not anything that’s going to be fondly remembered.

Honestly the best way I could describe Despicable Me 4 is a kid on a sugar rush, it’s very fast paced and could be enjoyable largely depending on the viewer. It could be a fun sugar rush for some people or it can be a very dull one to get through.

Overall there really is not a whole to say about Despicable Me 4 it’s a below average sequel that’s completely harmless for kids. It gets the job done for the most part but at the end of the day is just another Despicable Me movie.

Despicable Me 4 is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024) Film Review

When Bikini Bottom is scooped out of the ocean, Sandy and SpongeBob head to Sandy’s home state of Texas and enlist her family to help save Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs and the rest of the gang.

Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is directed by Liza Johnson director of Return (2011), Hateship Loveship (2013) and Elvis & Nixon (2016)

Look I’m not the target audience for this movie and I haven’t really cared about SpongeBob for awhile now, but I really have to ask what exactly happened here? For all of Sponge On The Run (2020) faults at the very least it had some fun moments and the characters were fun as well. This movie does not do any of that and instead makes baffling decision after baffling decision.

For starters for a movie that has Sandy Cheeks in the title it really is not about her, yes she is the main character but we only get a brief backstory and the movie itself really does not do all that much with her family. Who seem like fun characters but we are given very little information about them or spend any time developing them into fully fleshed out characters. I’m not expecting a character piece written about each of the members of the family but at least let the viewer spend a lot more time with them.

The movie itself is very ugly, I’m willing to put good money down that the 85% of the budget went into getting celebrities such as Wanda Sykes to be in this movie. The animation isn’t even the worst part…it’s when the movie attempts to combine live action and animation together you get some of the most horrifying results you will see in a movie this year, it’s so ugly and horrifying that it makes any of the Spy Kids movies look like Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022) in comparison I really wish I was kidding.

The writing is abysmal and quite honestly some of the worst I’ve heard in a movie so far this year. Any charm that Spongebob as a series had in the past is nowhere to be found in this movie, I have heard modern SpongeBob has been a decline in quality for awhile now but I have to imagine it’s far better than whatever this was.

Overall Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is hands down the worst Spongebob movie and it’s not even close. Abysmal, ugly, annoying and downright horrendous this makes it an easy contender for worst movie of the year.

Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is available on Netflix.

Disgrace To Cinema F

The Garfield Movie (2024) Film Review

After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, a scruffy street cat, Garfield is forced to leave his perfectly pampered life in order to take part in a high-stakes heist. And an incredible outdoor adventure begins!

The Garfield Movie is directed by Mark Dindal director of Cat’s Don’t Dance (1997), The Emperor’s New Grove (2000) and Chicken Little (2005).

The Garfield Movie is not as bad as expected as there are some pretty solid moments, the problem is most of the movie just really loses what made Garfield so lovable in the first place.

The first 10 minutes are the movie’s best moments, we get a quick backstory that’s decently emotional. There’s some genuinely touching moments between the dialogue and the short but sweet interaction that John and Garfield have that grow into what we know today. After that is when the movie falls off a cliff and honestly doesn’t really feel like a Garfield movie. It would be hard to make a 101 minute movie of Garfield just lazily lying in bed all day, but turning this into a very typical heist mission with training montages, a cliched betrayal and dull dialogue is not an effective approach to Garfield.

Having that said the movie does have it’s positives, the voice cast is honestly not too bad here although Nicholas Hoult as John was very surprising and I’m still not sure if I was surprised in a good or bad way. Samuel L. Jackson was fine enough here and Chris Pratt gives a very middle of the road performance. It’s definitely not as bad as I was expecting, but it’s not exactly something I would great either. The best compliment I can say is that it gets the job done.

As for everything else this quite honestly just feels like a heist movie with Garfield slapped on to it, it’s a very odd approach like I said before and I’m not sure what exactly why they went with this decision. At times there’s a few funny gags but a lot of the time it’s very forgettable.

Overall The Garfield Movie just sort of exists, it’s ultimately a very harmless movie for kids but for everyone else it’s quite forgettable.

The Garfield Movie is available on all VOD platforms.

4/10 D+

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Three (2024) Film Review

The Anti-Monitor attacks the remaining Earths and their inhabitants. Heroes and villains across time and space join the Justice League for a final stand against the epitome of evil.

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Three is directed by Jeff Wamester who previously directed Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (2024), Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two (2024), Justice League Warworld (2023), Legion Of Super-Heroes (2023), Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022) and Justice Society: World War II (2021).

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Three serves as the third part of the eighth and final installment to the Tomorrowverse, well it sure is better than the last two parts that’s for certain…look I had very expectations going into this one. The last two parts especially part two were incredibly lacking mainly due to just how rushed the Tomorrowverse really was and a lot of the exact same problems apply with part three unfortunately.

I will say that at the very least this movie had some sort of emotional depth when it came to it’s characters, although these scenes are very far and few in between there was at least some level of attempt to get the viewer to actually care for these characters. The scene that people are rightfully talking about and will probably be the most memorable is Kevin Conroy’s Batman and Mark Hamill’s Joker towards the end of the movie. It’s a very nice tribute to Kevin Conroy who sadly passed away in 2022, this movie is his last performance as Batman (despite what clickbaiters would tell you that Suicide Squad video game is NOT his last performance as Batman) and he does a really good job here. Although the script isn’t very strong he makes the most of it and actually really does land tons of great moments.

Everything else about the movie kind of reflects the exact problem with the trilogy, a great story taken from the comics but just adapted so lazily that it fails to make the viewer care what is exactly going on. The animation is again a hit or miss, sometimes it looks okay and other times it really makes you question why they went with this style. As far as an ending to a film series and universe goes it’s not exactly as grand as you would expect. Sure it does wrap up some plot points and the ending pretty much does confirm “yes this is the ending of the Tomorrowverse. But it really does seem tact on as an excuse to just end the series, which considering what has been going on with the DC division at Warner Bros lately I’m not exactly surprised.

Overall this part is far better than the last two but like I said shares a lot of the exact same problems. Definitely not as bad as you would expect, but definitely not a worthy finale.

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Three is available on all VOD platforms.

4/10 D+

Ultraman Rising (2024) Film Review

When Tokyo is threatened by giant monsters, an all-star athlete reluctantly returns home to take on the mantle of Ultraman, and become a legendary hero.

Ultraman Rising is directed by Shannon Tindle which is his directorial debut.

I don’t know much about Ultraman I’ve seen maybe one or two of the films, so I went into this one blindly. Luckily it does seem like (from what I’ve read from people who are fans) is that this movie takes place in a new timeline.

What sticks out immediately is the animation which is quite beautiful and incredibly fun to look at, there’s a lot of attention to detail with the character designs that add to the film’s characters. Plus the world the film takes place in has a lot of style, which only adds to the film’s already high level of charm. So when it comes to style Ultraman Rising nails it completely but what about script and character wise?

Well the characters and script are quite fun as well, there’s this whole parental/child story that’s quite charming. Ken (voiced by Christopher Sean) is quite an interesting character he juggles around being a father, a baseball player and Ultraman during the course of the film. Which ultimately leads into some quite touching moments.

The film is much more about parents and children than it is about fighting monsters, which was actually surprised about but it’s a very welcoming choice that while not every single viewer will get behind if you dig these types of stories and are looking for more than just fighting giant monsters you get that here.

While I don’t think the film is doing anything brand new with the parent and children plot line, it’s charming enough to grab the viewer’s attention and really invest into these characters.

Ultraman Rising is available on Netflix.

7/10 B

Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths Part Two

An endless army of shadow demons seeks to destroy all realities. What mysterious force drives them; and do Monitor and Supergirl’s secrets threaten to crush the heroes’ last defense?

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two is directed by Jeff Wamester who previously directed Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One (2024), Justice League Warworld (2023), Legion Of Super-Heroes (2023), Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022) and Justice Society: World War II (2021).

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two serves as the second part of the eighth and final installment of the Tomorrowverse, a lot of what I said about part one can be applied here. What’s baffling here is part two is a step down from part one which was already a poor opening to the trilogy.

There is a few fine enough action scenes and much like the first part the voice acting is serviceable, but they are so far in between that it ultimately doesn’t matter. We are yet again shown characters who we haven’t been able to really connect with since the Tomorrowverse is ending in the next and final part. One problem throughout the movie that becomes very noticeable is it really can’t decide who our main protagonist should be between Jensen Ackle’s Batman, Darren Criss’s Superman or Meg Donnelly’s Supergirl the movie constantly jumps back and forth between subplots with none of the characters actually getting any real time to shine.

It’s not just the main characters either, the side characters get no real development here either, which is baffling considering how many heroes and villains the movie has access to. The whole movie really seems like it’s not interested in exploring these characters (outside of some very cliched backstories) and if the movie isn’t interested why should the viewer?

I really don’t know what else I can say without repeating my issues that I had with the first part. Part two somehow ends up being far more messy, disjointed and lacking than part one. At least part one had some good moments with The Flash and at the very least attempted to try and say something, part two is as if somebody put something together at the very last second and called it a day. Will this trilogy end on a high note? Guess we will wait and see with part three which is expected to come out later this year.

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two is available on all VOD platforms.

2/10 F

Stopmotion (2024) Film Review

A talented stop-motion animator becomes consumed by the grotesque world of her horrifying creations — with deadly results.

Stopmotion is directed by Robert Morgan which is his feature-length debut. It is worth noting that he did direct “D is for Deloused” in ABCs Of Death 2 (2014).

Robert Morgan’s work is truly neat, if you have watched his short stop motion animation films you probably have a very good idea of what Stopmotion has in store. It combines stop motion and live action wonderfully and really does a good job of having the two compliment each other storywise.

The performance from Aisling Franciosi is quite fantastic, she gives a surprisingly raw performance that captures the film’s creepy atmosphere. The gore is quite great and adds to the already suspenseful and creepy atmosphere as well, Caoilinn Springall who plays a character simply known as “Little Girl” is also quite great. Much like everything else I’ve talked about so far she adds to the atmosphere.

The film’s weapon of choice it likes to use…is it’s atmosphere, when you combine the performances, gore, the stop motion animation and such you get such a dark and creepy atmosphere that sticks with you throughout the film. The direction from Robert Morgan is also quite fascinating as well, while not exactly using anything new narrative wise. He does end up making it work due to the stop motion connecting with the live action, it’s some very interesting touches Morgan went with.

The main flaw here is mostly in the script, the story itself is a very traditional slow burn horror film. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing (far from it) it does leave a bunch of missed opportunities at the door to try and do something a lot more with the story. Some of the supporting characters are forgettable and don’t have a whole lot going on. The character arc combined with the narrative beats are on the predictable side of things as well.

Despite the flaws however I still do recommend giving Stopmotion a go, the artistry is absolutely there and the movie itself is still quite interesting. Just do not go into it expecting a masterfully written story.

Stopmotion is available on all VOD platforms.

7/10 B

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) Film Review

Po must train a new warrior when he’s chosen to become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. However, when a powerful shape-shifting sorceress sets her eyes on his Staff of Wisdom, he suddenly realizes he’s going to need some help. Teaming up with a quick-witted corsac fox, Po soon discovers that heroes can be found in the most unexpected places.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is directed by Mike Mitchell director of Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), Lego Movie 2 (2019) and a few others. Kung Fu Panda 4 is the fourth installment of the Kung Fu Panda franchise and is a sequel to Kung Fu Panda 3.

Kung Fu Panda has a been a consistently great series, it might not be some of my favorite animated films but they are always a blast and work mainly due to the mix of jokes, action and the cast. The third movie is definitely the weakest of the trilogy but it still had its charming moments and was honestly a nice wrap up to the story.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is what happens when you try to replicate what the trilogy did but somehow fall short, what mainly works here is Jack Black, Viola Davis, James Hong and Bryan Cranston turning in great performances. Jack Black of course does a fantastic job as Po, even if the writing is much weaker this time around he still manages to squeeze in his charm. Viola Davis plays the villain of the movie which while Davis gives a strong performance the villain “The Chameleon” is just such a disappointing villain. Kung Fu Panda has always had some really solid villains in the past so it’s huge let down to see this one go to waste. The Chameleon is lacking in personality despite Viola Davis’s best efforts.

The action scenes are quite neat combined with the animation complimenting them quite well, there’s no denying the movie looks great. Unfortunately what hurts Kung Fu Panda 4 is the writing issues and the many odd decisions this movie went with. For starters a lot of character absences are very noticeable, which while they are technically in the movie they are turned into nostalgia bait and cameos. Particularly The Furious Five who are pretty much cameos as well as Tai Lung being used for nostalgia bait.

The main idea of the movie is Po deciding who will be his successor unfortunately Zhen (played by Awkwafina is the one, I like the idea of the character but the character development is just not there at all, it doesn’t help that yet again Awkwafina turns in another lacking performance that really just feels like she’s playing herself.

It’s really no wonder there was so much behind the scenes drama with the script and which characters were going to be used in the movie. Because a lot of the decision making feels incredibly rushed and last minute, which is such a huge disappointment because the previous three movies had such great pacing and never felt poorly put together.

Overall there is really nothing that standouts with Kung Fu Panda 4 it has it’s positives and isn’t the worst movie out there, but when you compare it to the trilogy it’s a huge let down.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is available in theaters.

5/10 C

Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate (2024) Film Review

When Megamind’s former villain team the Doom Syndicate returns, the newly crowned blue hero must keep up evil appearances until he can assemble his friends (Roxanne, Chum and Keiko) to stop his old teammates from launching Metro City to the moon.

Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate is directed by Eric Fogel who’s done a few My Scene movies (yes those actually exist) and The Barbie Diaries (2006). The movie also serves a sequel Megamind (2010) and is a pilot to the series Megamind Rules.

Megamind is a film that over the years has gained a cult following, while it got mostly positive reviews it was one of Dreamworks’s lowest growing films of the 2010s which is more than likely why a sequel never came to be…that is until one day a trailer popped up and all hell broke loose. To say fans were not happy would be understatement, from the completely different voice cast, to the much cheaper quality that pretty much equals to those straight to DVD sequels Disney was doing for awhile. The movie itself is somehow a lot worse than the trailers made it out to be.

I’m not going to pretend like Megamind (2010) is one of my favorite animated movies ever made, I think it’s a solid movie with some actually pretty strong character work and decently funny jokes. With that said even if you aren’t a fan of the first movie the way they completely changed everything is flat out character assassination.

For starters the cast from the first movie being very noticeably missing does not help at all, part of what made the first movie work was Will Farrell, Tina Fey and David Cross they actually went into their characters and gave plenty of character moments. In this movie all of that character growth that was present is gone and completely replaced with tired tropes such as Megamind being a complete and total jerk and then later learning that he should not be one. It both completely takes away everything that Megamind learned from the first movie and the purpose of it all. There was a balance of good vs evil in the first movie, this whole movie doesn’t seem to know what it’s trying to say outside of cliched plot points that have been done to death.

Roxanne is reduced to a typical side character who has absolutely nothing going for her outside of being a plot device, I’m not trying to say Roxanne had this deep and rich character development from the first movie. But at least she had a point and was genuinely enjoyable, her and Megamind just talking was genuinely funny and she was more than a love interest.

The voice acting is just not good here I’m sure the cast tried the best they could with such an uninspired script which bafflingly enough is from the exact same writers as the first movie. As I said before this movie is basically the equivalent of one of those terrible straight to DVD sequels Disney use to release, only this time it’s straight to streaming since we live in the streaming age.

The villains in this movie are just terrible, they all have one personality trait which is their power and that’s it Lady Doppler manipulates the weather, Pierre Pressure is a mime who uses hypnosis, Lord Nighty-Knight manipulates shadows and Behemoth is a giant lava monster. A complete downgrade from Hal Stewart in the first movie.

The movie also ends on a cliffhanger which sets into the series that was released on the same day which is Megamind Rules. Which I have not seen anyone else can be my guest because Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate was quite enough.

Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate is available on Peacock.

Disgrace To Cinema F