MOVIE REVIEW! - "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"

The Fantastic Four finally arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! This time, they are set in an alternate 1960s timeline outside of the main MCU timeline. The Fantastic Four have been around for a minute and this time, they must try to stop Galactus, a huge planet devouring entity that is set to make Earth his next meal.

I did really enjoy the movie, but there were a couple of glaring criticisms that I need to get out of the way. The first is that the special effects are great for the most part, but there were some effects that definitely needed more time in the oven before the movie was released.

To go into the biggest problem with the effects would be to venture into spoiler territory, which I’m not going to do here. I will say, however, that this is not the bigger of my two main criticisms of the movie.

The Fantastic Four race to face Galactus in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps".

The biggest criticism is the lack of development for Galactus. We get a brief summary of who he was before he became the planet devourer, but it’s vague and only talked about and not seen. For a film that is just shy of two hours, including credits, they could have spent more time with this character than they did.

This means that Galactus follows a long line of underdeveloped MCU villains that are simply used to be the threat for our heroes and nothing more.

In spite of the two problems I had with the movie, I definitely enjoyed the hell out of it overall. The performances are, dare I say, fantastic all around. Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards and Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm definitely have the chemistry and Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm and Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm bring the humor and more heart to the movie.

Julia Garner is the Silver Surfer in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps".

In the effects department, I want to reiterate that for the most part, I liked them. The Human Torch looked great, Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer was smooth, and this is the best representation we’ve seen yet for the Thing. The 1960s aesthetic was also a perfect choice for the movie’s setting as it matches the 1960s origin of the comic book series.

The action sequences are pretty solid when they happen and they don’t go too overboard with the group’s various powers. This is especially true of Reed Richards whose ability to stretch has been a hard thing to convey in the live-action films up to this point.

At the end of the day, the movie is one of the better Marvel movies out there. I can honestly say that I may have liked “Thunderbolts*” more than this one, but it was also a much stronger film than “Captain America: Brave New World” from earlier this year.

It’s not a perfect movie, but it is (here I go again) pretty fantastic and a fun time at the movies.

MOVIE REVIEW! - "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (2025)

In 1996, “Scream” hit the theaters and resuscitated the horror franchise at the box office. Along with that film’s success came a series of “Scream” clones that included flicks such as “Urban Legend”, “The Faculty”, “Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later”, etc.

The biggest clone of them all was “I Know What You Did Last Summer” in 1997. They followed the “Scream” notebook to a tee. They grabbed a young actress from television (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to star in the movie, she was surrounded by a good looking bunch of up-and-comers within the industry, and the screenplay was even written by Kevin Williamson, the screenwriter of “Scream”.

The movie was already followed by a sequel in 1998, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer”. The sequel was an abomination and it effectively killed any future plans aside from an unrelated third film that went straight-to-video.

Well, now the series is back with a new legacy sequel starring a new cast that gets a little help from those who came before.

A new group of young people are targeted by a killer who knows their secret.

In the latest “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, a new group of young, rich, and beautiful people are involved in an accident on July 4 and make a pact not to tell anyone else what happened. 

The next year, the group finds themselves being stalked by a new Fisherman killer after receiving the ominous note, “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. The group is also joined by both Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., the only two survivors of the 1997 massacre due to how similar the new events are to the past.

Speaking of which, that is one of the primary problems I have with the new film. Like other legacy sequels, it does stay to the tried-and-true formula it followed 28 years ago, but unlike other legacy sequels, it doesn’t really add anything new to the proceedings to justify its existence.

The new gang is assisted by Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Ray, a survivor from the original film.

The movie is a paint-by-numbers slasher flick that can’t get out of its own way. Now, that’s not to say that there is nothing here that might entertain hardcore fans of the slasher subgenre if they’re hard up for a new flick.

The cast is good for the most part even though I found that I didn’t really care for them as much as I did the original cast. Also, there are a couple of kills that are pretty good, but on the flipside of that, the other kills are pretty standard and boring.

Speaking of the original cast members, Prinze Jr. has more to do here than Hewitt. In fact, had they not brought Hewitt back at all, the movie probably wouldn’t have suffered from her lack of involvement.

I can say, before I get out of here, that there is a pretty unique twist for this legacy sequel. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to the twist and the overall story is pretty average.

Unless you’re a hardcore slasher fan, I can easily say that you can skip this latest entry in the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” series.

MOVIE REVIEW! - "Superman" (2025)

Very rarely, but on occasion, I regret the star rating that I give to a movie. Today is one of those occasions. After watching "Superman" for a second time, I realized that the criticisms I had, while there, aren't even close for me to give this movie a demerit.

There for, I've upgraded the score for "Superman" to five out of five stars! This is simply an incredible movie.

James Gunn finally gets to kick start his new DC Universe with a new “Superman” film. In the movie, Superman is trying to face the backlash from a decision he made about a foreign country. Meanwhile, the genius billionaire Lex Luthor is absolutely obsessed with taking down the Man of Steel once and for all.

The first thing to note about this movie is that after a very brief set up about the new DCU and how Superman got to Earth, Superman hits the ground (literally) and we are officially off to the races. Beyond a few earned moments where the film slows down for a minute, the rest of the film moves faster than a speeding bullet.

Now, I do have a couple of minor criticisms for the movie and they are minor, but they are noticeable enough to mention here and get it out of the way. There were a couple of times when Superman was flying where the camera was a little too jerky and it didn’t seem real enough and I was very briefly taken out of the movie.

In addition to those (again, very) few shots, there was also an action sequence where things got a little too messy and I was kind of wondering what was happening. It’s not a deal breaker and in a film filled with amazing action sequences, if this was weakest, then we’re still in good hands here.

Superman and Krypto in the Fortress of Solitude in "Superman"!

If you’ve seen any of Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, you can definitely tell that this is Gunn’s movie. He successfully includes several characters and they all get their chance to shine, but they never take the focus completely off of Superman himself.

Make no mistake, while the trailers showed that there would be several other characters such as Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific, Superman is definitely the star of his own show.

There are a couple of scene stealers worth mentioning, though. Krypto the Superdog is every bit as charming and mischievous as he could be and the special-effects artists are to be praised for work that brought the character to life.

Then there is Mr. Terrific, played perfectly by Edi Gathegi, he is both serious and has a dry sense of humor. Beyond Superman, he also has more time onscreen than other superheroes featured here and I really do hope we get a Mr. Terrific movie at some point because he killed it here.

Superman gets a little assistance from some fellow superheroes in "Superman"!

Now, to our main stars. David Corenswet is, without a doubt, the best actor to have played the role on the big screen since Christopher Reeve himself. Superman is a kind, altruistic superhero and the Big Blue Boyscout comes out in a massive way thanks in large part to Corenswet’s performance and Gunn’s fantastic script.

Rachel Brosnahan is also the best person to play Lois Lane in a long time. She’s got a little bit of an edge to her character and is quickly established as a no holds barred and respectable journalist. She is also contending with the fact that she has just started dating a superhero and what that might mean for their future, if there is one.

Of course, every great superhero needs a great supervillain and Nicholas Hoult gives us just that as the maniacal Lex Luthor. Make no mistake about it, this is one dangerous villain that will stop at nothing in order to try and kill Superman and there are moments where you might even believe, even for just a second, that he may just pull off that feat.

I mentioned before that there are several action sequences that are simply amazing. I don’t want to talk about them for the sake of spoilers, but there were several moments during these scenes where I wanted to get up on my feet and exclaim, “Now, this is Superman!”

And I think that’s ultimately the point. This is the Superman film I have been waiting on for a long time to receive. As it turns out, all those noble and good traits that some claim make Superman boring end up being his greatest assets in a movie that is not only a fantastic Superman movie, but it may just be one of the best superhero films of all time.