Theatrical Review: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Date: Saturday, April 4 2026
Time: 11am
Party: 2 (my sister & I)

Feels like just yesterday the first movie came out. I don’t think anyone expected it to be the big success it was. And when it became the success story it did, there was no doubt there’d be a sequel.
Now there are endless possibilities for potential sequels. I’m just hoping Nintendo movies don’t become the next MCU and we end up drowning in sequels a decade from now.

So far, though, they’re two for two with Mario movies. My sister thought this was better than the original. I’d say they’re both really good in different ways.


I just had one minor nitpick- Rosalina needed more screen time.
Back when one of our favorite YouTube gamers played the game this movie took inspiration from, it was maybe my favorite Mario game from the play throughs we’d watched. The worlds were really imaginative, varied and graphics looked AMAZING. I liked Rosalina right away as Mario’s guide on his journey to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. But part of it was because her whole look and demeanor reminded me so much of Elsa from Frozen (which came out a few years before that playthrough was uploaded).

In the movie, Rosalina got some good setup and got to show off what a badass she can be. Unfortunately it’s not enough to prevent her from being kidnapped. I’m sure someone online will calculate this but I’m pretty sure Luigi got more screen time in the previous movie during the time he was kidnapped.


For maybe the first half hour of the movie, I was enjoying it but it oddly felt too predictable. The way Rosalina is kidnapped, how the Bros. meet Yoshi… plus we get a fun but silly montage of Mario and Luigi looking after the Mushroom Kingdom while Princess Peach and Toad go off to save Rosalina.
Then we get to Gateway Galaxy and things finally start getting good. Although I’m sure some people will say they borrowed a little too much from Star Wars in terms of plot points… I made this connection right away but I didn’t mind. These moments included Peach’s fight scene in the casino (a den of villains much like Mos Eisley) and the scene before that reminded me of a scene from one of the prequels where there’s a chase scene in flying vehicles in a city at night.
But most notably- casting Fox McCloud as the lovable rouge Han Solo character. (I wasn’t a big fan of Glen Powell’s Top Gun character but this role suited him perfectly!!) It was a stroke of genius and his scenes had many callbacks to Star Fox 64, including barrel rolls galore. If he gets his own movie, we can only hope it includes his comrade Falco quipping “hey Einstein I’m on your side”- which he says when you accidentally shoot him too many times in the game.
The major plot point of the movie and why Rosalina is kidnapped… Bowser Jr. wants to power his own Death Star, which he calls his “boomsday device”, and plans to blow up all the galaxies so he and Bowser can regain their reputation.

At the end of the previous movie, Bowser is essentially removed as a threat. No worries, though, he does get restored to his former glory and Jack Black does his thing if not better than the first movie. No musical numbers, sadly, although “Peaches” would be hard to top.

Just like with the first movie, there are tons of Easter eggs and references. Characters from different Mario games and Nintendo franchises. One character fills a similar role to the sloths in Zootopia and somehow makes it even funnier. Another winds up participating in the final battle against the Bowser duo. I don’t know what franchises they’re from but both are playable in Super Smash Bros.
Which makes me wonder if a movie based on that game is on the horizon. The look Fox and Mario give each other before teaming up gave the impression they were remembering a previous life they weren’t on such friendly terms.

By far my favorite parts were whenever the art style changed and was just as impressive to watch. One included actual 8-bit game play while the characters went through obstacles.

As a foe, Bowser Jr. is very formidable and it’s almost more terrifying than dealing with Bowser himself. Then of course Kamek is back as a doting minion.

The trailer showed a scene where the Bros. are babies and I wondered if time travel was involved, which would be a reference to the Partners in Time game, or they simply got transformed. Either way, it leads to a crucial moment where Toad finally gets over whatever jealousy he felt toward Yoshi when he joined the group.

Overall, it was another enjoyable theater trip. The room was maybe half full and people were into it. One moment that stood out was right before the heroes win and a girl shouted “yes!” a second or two before they dealt the finishing blow.

Grade: B+


Then with the trailers… it’s almost like the theater realized “wait a bunch of people are going to see this movie, let’s preview EVERYTHING that’s coming out this year.” It had to have been 20 minutes of trailers and maybe one or two movies will be any good.


Supergirl

• this takes place before the recent Superman movie and it looks like John Wick except in this case, the dog doesn’t die but Kara still goes on the war path to save Krypto
• There’s also a story about a girl whose family is killed by villains or something and Kara tries to talk her out of seeking revenge
• This looks like it might be better than the Superman movie last year but I’m not holding my breath

Paw Patrol: the Dino Movie 

• my sister is still tuned into shows like this so she knew the title before it came up

Sonic 4

• coming next year and this was more of a teaser

The upcoming Mandolarian movie 

• my mom and I are big Star Wars fans but we don’t have Disney+ and only saw this series the one time ABC showed it. So, we may or may not see this

Minions and Monsters 

• I think I’d rather wait for this to come to cable

The live-action Moana remake 

• all that mattered was that Dwayne Johnson was still playing Maui. Now that that’s been confirmed, we’re definitely going to see this one. 
• Also, didn’t Moana just come out? That was 10 years ago?!

The Breadwinner

• again, hard pass

Animal Farm- a cautionary tale 

• so I just read the book a year ago for the first time… I liked it to a point and then it just kept getting worse and I hated the ending. So while an animated version looks promising and entertaining, I’m going to look up spoilers when this comes out. Unless they change the ending, I have zero interest.

Forgotten Island

• I sat through a two minute YouTube trailer for this, possibly the one time I didn’t hit the Skip Ad button ever. It opened with the song from the Breakfast Club- how I could say no? Long story short, I’m definitely interested in seeing this one later in the year when it hits theaters

Why am I extra sad when my favorite female characters leave?

I still haven’t figured this one out.

I thought maybe it was just a phase I was in or just something my younger self got caught up in… but one of the 3 is more recent so it’s not just a passing fancy.
I’m sure the same would apply for all characters I like leaving a franchise or series at the end but there’ve been 3 specific characters, all female, I missed terribly when they went away at the end.

I loved the “Land Before Time” series to death as kid- although that love fell off a bit after they changed the voice cast in the 5th installment.
My favorite character only had ONE appearance in all of the 13 installments. Something I’m still a little bitter about. Chomper the baby TRex had 2 appearances… technically the only guest character to recur in the films but still!
And i honestly couldn’t say now why Ali was my favorite. But I liked her so much that I was sad at the end of part 4 when she and her family left. And I had recurring dreams about tracking down her voice actress just so I could say how much I loved her work in that one movie. I never found her in any of the dreams and in real life, Julianna Hansen only had that one acting credit. I still can’t believe that.

Next was Elora from the second Spyro game. I was still exhilarated when I beat the game the first time, I didn’t count on how much it’d hit me that she just disappeared from the overworld once you 100% the game.
Don’t know why that hit me so hard but I found myself drawing her to make myself feel better.
The saddest part was the epilogue book that says Spyro missed his chance with her… I thought they’d be cute together, why did they have to do that?
So of course I was thrilled she made a cameo in the post credits of the next game.
But fast forward years later with Reignited, she has a new look and new voice and I didn’t feel that same spark as I had for the older version. I still like her of course and it’s nice that she’s more of a love interest this time around but it’s not quite the same.

Finally Serena from Pokemon,
I loved her story arc because it felt like a page out of my own life. A random dream sparked my Pokemon fanfiction idea before I fell in love with my subject. The fact that Serena followed Ash because of her crush on him- I couldn’t help but relate. I loved all those cute amourship moments with them.
And yeah it was sad seeing my favorite season end, the end of any of the Pokemon seasons is a bit sad. But this one was more devastating.
I’d only seen this final episode twice. The second time which was a few years ago… I think I was more broken up about Serena going her own way than the season ending. It was extra emotional and I’m not sure why.
Plus, this was a few years ago. The other two were when I was 10 and maybe 14. So clearly it’s something I haven’t grown out of.

So now I’m trying to figure out if there’s some sort of pattern to this or I just form random lesbian crushes on certain characters. Elora being a faun and Ali being a brontosaurus also makes this a bit more complicated- if you want to go that route. I’m not.

Maybe it’s all in the voice and I have a thing for voices like Julianna Hansen and Melissa Disney (Elora). But Melissa was also the lead in “as told by ginger” and I liked her a lot but not to this degree.
Or maybe I felt a personal kinship with them and that’s the reason for it. Again, only 2 of the 3. Ali was super shy, just like I am. And Serena was shy and harboring a crush and was hesitant to share with her mom that she had a different dream than her. Things I can all relate to. But I had nothing in common with Elora.

Ali and Serena had a commonality where i preferred them as a love interest for another character or just preferred to them a regular female character in the cast. (Elora could almost fit this argument too except I never played the Legend of Spyro series with Cynder- although between the two I’d picked Elora even though she’s not a dragon like Spyro).
With land before time, Cera was always my least favorite character because she bullied Littlefoot in the original movie and challenged every decision he made. While no longer a bully who put him down, she was still the one character who didn’t want to go along with his plans.
Obviously it’s a kids series so there’s no romance involved but these were the same reasons why I didn’t like Misty in Pokemon. And this was before I found out about her rumored crush on him… if anything I made me feel more antagonistic toward her. He deserved better than the girl who was a bully and only followed him because of her stupid bike. But then you could make the same case for Helga from hey Arnold and I ship for the two of them despite her constant berating of him. I could explain that away for a few reasons but the main one is I understand why she does and she even expresses remorse for doing so. Misty never walked back a rude comment she made to Ash, at least not to him personally.
I’m sure I liked Serena because of her having the crush more than her being a better pairing than Misty but it became more about that later on.
Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if I would’ve picked up on Misty’s feelings if I hadn’t heard her song on the Pokemon soundtrack. And I wonder if I would’ve been more amiable toward her and open to her being a potential love interest if I picked up on that on my own. It was just thrown in my face and it occurred to me that maybe I like him and that’s why I reacted the way I did.
Also in general, I’m a main character girl and it’s a pet peeve when other characters pick on the main character or say they’re not good enough to achieve their goals. Cera putting down Littlefoot bothered me a lot but not nearly as much as Misty… where it felt like that was her one purpose on the show. Friends should be comfortable telling their friends when they’re getting ahead of themselves and need to rethink things but the way it always came off to me is “you’re being stupid, that’ll never work”. Sometimes she’s right but it’s more satisfying when he proves her wrong.
And of course I’ll admit when Ash makes mistakes. I’m just as annoyed as anyone else when he brings out a Pokemon who has a distinct type disadvantage in a fight. He makes it work sometimes but I’m always asking WHY? I don’t understand it but I don’t give him a hard time over it because he’ll either make it work or not. It would just be a little less annoying if he learned his lesson and made better choices going forward. But I’m fairly certain that he used Chikorita in 2 or 3 ill advised fights, like he didn’t learn from the mistake the previous time.
Ultimately this all became part of his training style. Going for unexpected matchups and using quirks in the battlefield to his advantage… when it works, it’s mind blowing and I love it. And it’s even sweeter when the people around him compliment him on it. Even without Serena, the Kalos series was my favorite because Ash had companions that took him seriously and admired him and he didn’t get a super swelled head about it. Not nearly as badly as when he was just starting out.

It’s crazy to think I’d been done with my fanfiction series for a couple years now, but the fact I’m his biggest cheerleader hasn’t changed at all. But I’d also been in his corner since I was 13, which is 2 thirds of my life. The kind of thing that never goes away.
I still haven’t written my retrospective with him leaving the series but I also haven’t seen the finale- but I’m also not in a hurry to see it because I know it’ll be emotional.
I gave up the series for a while when Veronica Taylor and the original cast left but i definitely cannot see the series going forward without him. I won’t do it.

Theatrical Review: A Minecraft Movie

Date: Saturday, April 5 2025
Location: Stroud Mall cinemark
Time: 12pm (12:26 after the trailers)
Party: 3 (my sister, mom and I)

Review

Something I was feeling while sitting through the trailers leading up to this movie- new movies aren’t as fun as they used to be. They’re all big budget action movies, unnecessary sequels and live action remakes nobody asked for. There’s just not as much incentive to go to the movies as there used to be…
Then the main movie started and all of that cynicism essentially flew out the window. “Minecraft” isn’t the best movie ever and it isn’t necessarily groundbreaking in any way.
But it had one big thing going for it- it was FUN

My sister and I have gone out to see a bunch of these video games adaptations at the movies. All have been great even when all we know about them going in is from pop culture or we’d seen let’s plays on YouTube by our favorite content creators.
This might be the first time we’re going into one of these movies with absolutely no context.
The rest of the people in the theater more than picked up the slack. I’d venture to say that this is the liveliest theater we’d been in in a long time… and it was awesome. THIS is what movie theaters are all about.

The story begins with Steve (Jack Black) and his lifelong fascination with the mines. It’s only when he becomes an adult and he’d had enough of his deadend office job he’s able to go and explore. He goes into the actual Minecraft world and gets to create the life he’d always wanted— literally.

Minecraft is what a lot of gamers refer to as a “sandbox game” where you have the freedom to make whatever world you want. Life simulation games like animal crossing and stardew valley (I’ve put hundreds of hours into playing both of these) do the same thing but Minecraft was one of the first games to do this.
After a montage of mechanics that people who’d actually played this game would recognize, Steve is captured by the denizens of the Nether (it’s sort of a take on hell complete with fire and brimstone) and he has his pet wolf Dennis hide the power cube to keep the pigs from using it to take over the overworld.
Both this game and Angry Birds cast pigs as the villains for some reason. But after recently reading animal farm, I may have an idea why…

Fast forward- the rest of the main characters are introduced.
Jason Momoa plays Garett, whose one accomplishment that he’ll never stop bragging about is the fact he won a fighting game in a national championship. His nickname is “the garbage man” because of his signature move in the game. Sadly he’d recently fallen on hard times financially and he’s about to lose his vintage video game store.
Henry and his sister Natalie are moving to Cutlass Idaho to start a new life after their mom died. Their realtor, Dawn (who has a traveling petting zoo as a side hustle) is the first friend they make in a new town. Both siblings have their first days (Henry at school and Natalie at her new job) and they both run into problems.
Henry’s art teacher made me think of a line from another Jack Black movie- “those who can’t teach, teach gym.” I figure this dude is one step away from being relegated to that position. He gives an assignment to do a still life and gives Henry grief for being “too creative” with his assignment and the other kids bully him as a result.
Then his attempt to prove everyone wrong by actually designing a jet pack that works… it not only goes awry but it directly impacts his sister’s new job.
I’d ask “what are the odds?” but this is a movie and it takes place in a small town so I’d have to say- very good.

Luckily Henry had met Garett on the way to school so he not only gets him to pose as an uncle to take him home from school but he gets to hang out in his store.
While there, he comes across the cube, one of several things Garett won in a storage unit auction (basically all the stuff from Steve’s bedroom because he’d been gone for a long time). Before Garett can fully read the accompanying warning (written by Steve) about not putting the blue cube and the earth cube together, both of them get dragged into the mine.
Natalie and Dawn follow them there and get dragged in themselves. Before they get too enamored by the look of the place or have a chance to return home through the portal, night falls and they have to fight off the skeletons and zombies that come out after dark. Henry does his first ever build with a pretty decent tower that holds them off for a while but Steve arrives to save them before it’s too late. Although he did have a little help with the sun coming back up but whatever…

The moment he introduces himself… clearly this is a line from the game because in perfect unison, nearly everyone else in the theater said “I am Steve” alongside him.
Seriously, it was a cool moment- you had to be there.


As they travel together, Steve gives them a lowdown on the bad guys and a tutorial on crafting mechanics.
The leader of the pigs ascended to her position in a similar fashion to some notable bad guys from our own history… her talent was not appreciated by her peers so her only other option is to ruin creativity for everyone else. And since the pigs turn to stone when they go into the overworld, she wants to use the cube to cast eternal night so they can roam and pillage freely.
Since the earth cube got destroyed during the melee with the zombies, the heroes’ objective is to go on a journey in order to obtain a new one. Garett is also on a personal quest for diamonds in order to pay back all his debts.

There’s also a side story we go back to throughout the movie involving the vice principal (played by Jennifer Coolidge) and one of the pacifist villagers who comes into the real world through the portal when the heroes get sucked into his world. And surprisingly they hit it off.
I can only guess her newfound popularity from being in the white lotus series was behind this casting choice. But also, Jack Black and Mike White (the White Lotus creator) did school of rock together so that connection probably helped as well. Either way, it was a fun little thing to sprinkle it through the movie.

We may not have had an inkling of what we were getting with this movie but we’d seen enough Jack Black movies and know his humor well enough to know we were bound to have a good time.
Naturally this includes a few random songs he made up on the spot- none as good as “Peaches” or the school of rock stuff but Jack Black through and through.
We hadn’t seen much of Jason Momoa except some of his DC stuff and the commercials he’s in. He’s very hammy and over the top (as any dude stuck in his glory days from the 80s would be) but he makes it work. The chemistry of the whole main cast is really good.
Dennis the wolf takes a while to come back into the story. He’s great as well but I’m always a sucker for a good wolf character. Particularly when a wolf isn’t cast as the villain in a cartoon— that’s one cliche I’d love to do away with entirely.

Another reference the audience got really excited over despite it being in a bunch of the trailers- when the chicken jockey showed up in the boxing ring.
The experience of watching this movie- my mom would probably say that’s the way she feels when she watches other nerdy stuff with us. And honestly it was kinda fun being in the same boat, not really knowing what was going on. It allowed us to take things as they came without any expectations.
Of course there were a bunch of things that were predictable and cliched but with the special effects and stuff, you stop caring and just enjoy the ride.

In the end, the good guys win, bad guys lose and the good guys take the skills (and diamonds) they learned from the Minecraft world and took them into reality.

Sonic 3 was about the importance of teamwork (particularly with Sonic, Tails and knuckles working together for the first time). The Mario movie was about how anyone, no matter how small or how much other people underestimate them, can make a difference in the world.
I suppose one key thing people can take away from this movie- whether they’re part the Minecraft fandom or not- is that maintaining a sense of creativity and finding joy in it is one of the most important things we have and should never be taken for granted.

Grade- a solid B+


Did it make me want to try the game myself?
Maybe… I’ll have to check YouTube to see what the switch version is like
Would I be any good at it?
Debatable… I really enjoyed the other cozy sandbox games I’ve played but there’s always that pang of comparison envy when I compare my builds to what I see on the internet.

Trailers


How to train your dragon (live action)

-the first time I’m seeing the full trailer and yeah, it looks impressive


King of kings

-it’s that time of year where there’s a limited release of a movie that leans heavily on the Christian theme.
-This one actually goes into the story of Jesus and all that leads to his crucification on Good Friday and him rising from the dead three days later on Easter. But this time it’s told as an animated bedtime story, which gives it a fresh new take it hasn’t had in a while… if ever.


Lilo and Stitch (live action)

-I mean, it looks fun and definitely faithful to the original movie. But I’m getting the feeling people are over live action remakes. Especially with how badly the little mermaid and Snow White movies were received


Smurfs

-we had a couple movies with animated Smurfs in a live action environment. This one seems to be all animated… but nonetheless feels pointless


Mission impossible- The Final Reckoning

-thankfully this was only a teaser trailer… seen the full one more than enough times


Jurassic World- rebirth

-ugh! Why?
-I have so many cliches I could use here involving extinction… I’ll leave it for everyone else to decide which one to use


Superman

-ok, at least this trailer offered something new… I thought it was going to just be Superman being saved by Krypto, followed by the same stupid montage flashing all of the movie scenes in a span of 90 seconds. The montage still happened with probably the same scenes in the exact same order but at least this time we got an epic reveal of the fortress of solitude

-Depending on the reception it gets, I might go out and see this one… considering how many superman reboots that’ve been attempted this century (not an exaggeration- we’ve had at least 4 movies featuring Superman come out since the mid 2000s), I’m kinda hoping we have one that finally works. If not, Hollywood should just stop trying to “make fetch happen” and let the Christopher Reeve movies represent the character as originally intended.

Theatrical Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Date: Sunday, December 22 2024
Time: 10:30am
Party: 2 (my sister and I)

(Shadow's the first hedgehog I've drawn... and he won't be the last ;) )

Review:

(includes some minor spoilers)

The two of us have seen all of the Sonic movies thus far, but all on DVD. The mini-series "Knuckles," which had previously been exclusive to streaming, was shown over the course of a week on Nickelodeon earlier this year.
So needless to say, there was a lot of anticipation for this theater trip. And it was absolutely worth the trip. My sister really enjoyed it, calling it by far the best of the three movies.
Me, I don't remember Sonic 2 as well because we only watched it once so far, but I've been pleased with all the movies so far. Including this one.

If you'd seen all of the movies so far, you pretty much know what you're going to get. Lots of fast-paced action sequences, sometimes ending with big explosions. Heartfelt sentimental moments. The occasional dramatic backstory. And plenty of laughs to be had in between. Most of them from the comedic genius of Jim Carrey. As if it wasn't already inherently obvious, he has a line in the movie that shatters the 4th wall into oblivion. Something about "two characters being played by the same character".

Yeah, we'd been doing this self-aware meta humor for so long we're not even trying to hide it anymore. But in this instance, the movie poking fun at this move was well-played.
Jim Carrey plays double-duty as the Dr. Ivo Robotnik we've come to know from the previous films as well as his grandfather, Dr. Gerald Robotnik. Both equally zany and entertaining to watch.

For the most part, this movie is about the characters and the jokes. The story moves the plot, obviously, but the characters are why you stick around to see how it unfolds. This isn't the type of movie where it's important for the plot to make complete sense, but it kinda bugs me that some of it didn't make sense.
Particularly with this govt agency, GUN, and their connection with Shadow. He arrived on Earth inside a meteor 50 years ago and they were running experiments with him. He was particularly close with elder Dr. Robotnik and his granddaughter Maria. Then the trio makes for an escape sometime later, which results in Maria getting killed and the other two imprisoned. All of that makes sense plus the fact Shadow was too powerful for them to trust out in the world. 
Maybe this is me overthinking things, but I kept waiting for someone to spell out some elaborate plot for GUN to seize world domination with Shadow's powers. Or that it was an Area 51 thing and they didn't want their secrets to become known to the public.

Anyway, I was having a hard time figuring out who the bad guy was supposed to be in this movie until the giant laser was activated and launched into space. And elder Dr. Robotnik revealed what he really wanted to do with it. A much bigger act of revenge than simply destroying the agency's headquarters in London. 

Again, these movies really are about the characters, getting to know their different personalities and quirks, and seeing how they interact with one another.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all had their moments to shine. Which I appreciated a lot because in my limited memory of the second movie, Tails was out of commission for a fair chunk of it so he didn't get as much screen time in his theatrical debut.

Keanu as Shadow-- the most genius casting choice since Jim Carrey as Robotnik. I'm not as well acquainted with him as my sister (who'd seen the 4Kids Sonic series and more YouTube videos of this franchise than I have) but it's easy to see why the fanbase has fallen in love with him. He's got a tragic backstory, which has unfortunately warped his judgement, but you still root for him and want to see him succeed. Just maybe not at the cost of the whole planet getting blown up like Alderaan.
The flashback scenes with him and Maria were sweet and from the little I'd seen on YouTube, they felt pretty close to the original canon. The only difference was that the govt base where they lived had been in space and she had some fatal uncurable disease. Otherwise the plots felt very similar and Shadow's role to play at the end of it fit his character perfectly.

Minus the Robotniks, most of the human characters are minor and secondary to the plot. But they still had fun little moments. The best for Tom and Maddie (aka Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady) was the mountain of hobbies they'd amassed in the short amount of time the trio was working for GUN. Not sure which was funnier- Tom's humorous attempt at ventriloquism or Maddie's knitting (where she actually croqueted a sweater for him that says "Donut Lord" with little croqueted donuts sewn into it)... 
Tom also gives a nice speech early in the movie where he talks to Sonic about how he didn't let his past (losing his mentor before coming to Earth) change his heart... although it's one of those speeches that sounds like it was tailor-made for a movie with its not-so-subtle foreshadowing. Shadow's whole thing is that he and Sonic look like they could be twins, but the big difference between them is how they handle their past traumas. Using it to be better hedgehogs or fuel for revenge.

And Robotnik's assistant, Agent Stone, he got to have a mix of humorous and sentimental moments. The dynamic between him and Robotnik are still there, but the introduction of elder Robotnik throws a wrench into that and suddenly he's the third wheel and feels less than appreciated as a result.
I'm not sure all Sonic fans feel the same, but for the two of us, we'd been fans of Agent Stone from his first appearance. (The scene in the first movie where Robotnik does a dance break and is interrupted when Stone brings him a latte- comedy gold!). As a minion, he's extremely loyal, but he's become so much more than a minion through the course of these movies.

... and yeah, it should be noted that there is a mid-credits scene hinting at the next movie. And yet another new character is introduced. Which begs the question, at least from me, how many movies are they planning to make? How many characters are we going to introduce? Because at some point, surely, they're going to run out of new characters, right? 
From the little I've seen of Sonic X, there's a sizeable cast so we might be here a while.

Grade: A- 

Trailers:

• Dogman

According to my sister, this character came from the same author as the "Captain Underpants" series... to me, a dog's head being attached to a cop's body kinda says Hollywood's run out of ideas

• Captain Amerca- Brave New World

It's been a while since I forgot they were making this movie. Looks like it'll be impressive so it might be enough to bring me back to the theater for a Marvel movie. (I'd seen at least 2 Marvel movies in theaters since Endgame and a few more on DVD. But since I'm not running out to see every single movie anymore for fear of missing out on a crucial story element, I'm clearly not as involved as I used to be)

• Lilo & Stitch (which they showed twice for some weird reason)

We saw the poster on the way in. And as far as teaser trailers go, it's pretty good. CGI Stitch looks so realistic. 
But why the heck did the theater show this twice? Not sure if that was on purpose or not. Hopefully not...

• Elio

Pixar's latest movie. Not really sure what to make of it just based on the trailer. There's a lot of bright colors. A kid who spends more time staring at the stars than with other people gets abducted by aliens and he has adventures. The funniest part was when he says one area is beautiful and someone tells him "um, this is the toilet" and they get flushed and it's like an amusement ride.

• Karate Kid Legends

This trailer starts circulating a few days ago and it's literally everywhere now. It brings together Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, who come together to help Jackie Chan's newest student.
I hadn't seen any of the newer movies or Cobra Kai. One is streaming and we don't stream. And the other... the original Karate Kid is perfect. I didn't want to see it remade.
I just hope this sequel bringing everything together lives up to the hype because I might see it at some point, whether it's in a theater or HBO.

• The Legend of Ochi

Saw the same trailer during "Wicked"... It doesn't hold any interest for me so I have no further comment

• Superman

With James Gunn from "Guardians of the Galaxy" fame at the helm of this, hopefully we finally break the streak of inferior non-Christopher Reeves Superman movies. 
But I'm not one to talk because I'd only seen the original 1978 film and the widely panned Justice League movie.
Based on the trailer, this looks REALLY good but I'm sure the fans won't be shy telling everyone who'll listen their unfiltered thoughts.

• Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

Whether or not this will be the final Mission Impossible movie EVER, it's hard to be sure. I'm sure Tom Cruise will continue to make them as long as he's alive. 
I saw the original so long ago I have no memory of it and I think I saw Shadow Protocol because Jeremy Renner was in it. I've had no incentive to see any of the others, but who knows? There's a chance one day I might sit down and watch the rest of them. It's a lot more likely than seeing a single Fast & Furious movie... all of them are car chases and explosions, anyway.

Speaking of movies I might get around to seeing one day... I haven't seen a single John Wick movie and I really should see at least the first one. The trick is finding it on cable, preferably without commercials.

Theatrical Review: Super Mario Bros. Movie

Date: Saturday, April 15 2023
Location: Cinemark Theater
Time: 11:50am (began at 12:12 after all the trailers and ads)
Party: 2 (my sister and I)

Review:

With the recent success of bringing Sonic the Hedgehog to the big screen, there’s no doubt there’d be a lot of pressure on Mario to do the same.
I’m not super familiar with the sonic franchise (or really any video game franchise other than Pokémon) but I enjoyed both movies that’ve come out so far.
Comparing the two for a moment, Sonic still has the better story and villain (Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik is really hard to beat). But both were a lot of fun to watch.

I’ve played a handful of Mario games (and seen even more on YouTube as Let’s plays). I wouldn’t necessarily call myself an expert. I don’t know what the lore behind Mario and Luigi is but I honestly didn’t expect this to be a fish out of water type story. Where both were plumbers from Brooklyn get sucked into Nintendo land and consequences unfold as a result.

The story overall is ok. Nothing super ground breaking. The main characters (Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong) are recognizable and their voice actors match their personalities pretty well. Really, the best part of this movie was the set designs and trying to find as many Easter eggs as you can.

And any time they throw in gameplay mechanics, it’s super cool seeing that in movie format. Like how when Mario meets princess peach, she puts him through an obstacle course to prove he can handle the journey ahead. And the Super Smash brawl between Mario and Donkey Kong where they use different power ups.

My sister and I have also seen several Donkey Kong Let’s plays on YouTube so the whole Kong island scene was a highlight. Peach and Mario go there to enlist an army to help them defeat Bowser. Seeing Cranky get a big role and Diddy and Dixie getting brief cameos (two of our favorite YouTubers nicknamed them Crinkles, Diddles and Dixels respectively) was a blast.
The antagonism between DK and Mario is fun to watch and it only gets better as they evolve into allies.

Of course, Jack Black as Bowser… you don’t get much better casting than that (except Jim Carrey as Robotnik… that just bears repeating).
We see all parts of Bowser’s character, including a little known sensitive side. The last thing anyone expected was a piano ballad somewhere in the middle of this movie… wouldn’t be surprised if Jack Black wrote the whole thing himself.

Easily the best part of the whole movie was the big battle scene at the end. I won’t give everything away but Mario and Luigi (who spent much of the movie being kidnapped) both get to shine in battle. And Bowser gets the whooping that’s coming to him.

Whether or not we’ll get a sequel, I’m not sure but the potential is absolutely there.


Grade: A-


Trailers:

It's almost like some executive thought: this movie is going to be huge so let's overstuff it with trailers that cater to kids and their parents.

The one cool thing they did do was add a couple of Nintendo Switch ads during the 5 minutes of commercials. One for the Legend of Zelda series and another for Mario Kart.


Ruby Gilman: Teenage Kraken

It’s an interesting idea, reimagining krakens as the good guys and mermaids as the villains. But as someone who grew up loving Ariel, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this…

Barbie 

easily one of the most talked about movies coming this year. It looks very pink, very colorful. Like your classic Frankie/Annette beach movie… not sure if I’d spend money on a movie ticket but Margot Robbie looks perfect for this role
This also makes me wish they made a "Birds of Prey" sequel cuz I loved that movie

About my father

another Robert DeNiro vehicle where he meets his son’s new in laws. 

The one memorable thing about this trailer was that the other family had a pet peacock and things don’t end well for it

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3

this will be our next theater trip for sure and we’ll have plenty of company

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 

I’m not sure if this is a sequel to the Oscar winning animated film from a couple years ago, but it clearly was.
Like with the last Suicide Squad, the titles were so similar it wasn’t inherently obvious. Whatever happened to just putting the next sequential number in the title? So we don’t have to second guess ourselves
All that said, I’m sure this movie will do just as well as the original. And it did very well


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

As much as I wanna say “do we REALLY need another reboot of this series?”, there’s a very good chance we’ll probably be seeing it. They do bring back Bebop and Rock Steady from the original animated series and the turtles are actual teenagers this time.
I may be in the minority but my favorite is still the 4kids version. Having Michelangelo being voiced by Wayne Grayson who also did Joey wheeler in Yu-Gi-Oh! was a stroke of genius. (And maybe I’m biased but Veronica Taylor was also a good April O’Neil- minus that iconic yellow jumpsuit from the original series)

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

This was a teaser trailer if anything. I’m not sure if it’s another Michael Bay “all explosions, no substance” affair or if it’ll be closer to the Bumblebee movie but it’s sure to make its money back either way.

(Looked it up- "Bumblebee" was a Transformers prequel and this movie is a sequel to that. Michael Bay isn't directing, but is one of the producers so there'll probably be plenty of explosions)

Book Club: the next chapter

The original was a cheeky idea. A group of older women getting into "50 shades of grey" and their love lives reaping the benefits from it. This one is likely to feature more “old lady” humor. The one good joke from the trailers was Candice Bergen saying how the ruins they're visiting in Italy are falling apart faster than she is. 
I didn't remember Jane Fonda being in the original so I had to double-check to confirm she was. In that case, I'm kinda surprised we saw the original. My folks have boycotted everything she's been in because of some political controversy from decades ago. (Something I know nothing about and therefore cannot/do not wish to add further comment)

Trolls: Band Together 

Ok... So the trolls are back but now we’re going into the boy band angle. Something about how Branch was the Michael in their Jackson 5 and the other members abandoned him and now they want to do a reunion
As a huge 90s boy band fan, I’m all about this… but if this is going to be Justin’s way of rewriting his own history, that’s not cool. HE is the reason *NSYNC broke up, not the other way around. Never mind that his solo music is 99% garbage… 

Migration 

honestly I spent almost this whole trailer expecting this to turn into a Duck Hunt movie. It was released alongside the original Mario game for the original Nintendo system way back when. Ergo, I don’t remember anything about what this movie is actually meant to be about, haha

Theatrical Review: Pixels

Date: Saturday, August 1 2015
Time: 2:20pm
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and myself)

Cast:
Brenner- Adam Sandler
Cooper- Kevin James
Ludlow- Josh Gad
Fireblaster- Peter Dinklage
Violet- Michelle Monaghan
Lady Lisa- Ashley Benson

Director: Chris Columbus (Harry Potter, Step-Mom, Mrs. Doubtfire)
Based on a short  film by Patrick Jean

Duration: 106 minutes (+ 3? previews)

Write-up:

Opening Remarks
When we first arrived, the theater was empty and the previews had already begun. By the time the opening credits started, a family or two filed in behind us and laughed along with us. Granted, the laughs were few, but we all were kind of on the same ride.

I mentioned on previous reviews that I looked forward to this movie based on the trailer alone. Thought it was going to be one of the biggest nerdgasms EVER-- seeing old 80's video games come to life, even if they were here to kill us.
Then we found out that it was this year's Adam Sandler/Happy Madison production...

Much Ado about Adam Sandler

I've reviewed Adam Sandler twice already. "50 first dates" was my favorite of his chick-flick movies (and my favorite Drew Barrymore movie). And he was great in "Spanglish" as a dramatic actor, but he wasn't the biggest draw of the movie.
Nowadays, when you hear he's attached to a movie, there's a collective GROAN and echo of "How does this idiot kept getting movies made?"
The only logical answer: he's lucky enough to have his own production company. Happy Madison is named after two of his successful 90's movies: Billy Madison & Happy Gilmore.
His brand of comedy, I'll call, PG-obnoxiousness, idiocy and self-deprecation. Those two films succeeded because they were well-written and dealt from an emotional core.
But all the latest movies he'd put together, the "Grown Ups" movies, "Jack & Jill," etc., his brand of comedy has gotten so ridiculously blown out of proportion... :sigh:

What's the point of all this?
While the comedy of this movie was good, the fact Adam Sandler was attached to it pretty much doomed it to fail. No matter how cool the special effects are. In fact, it might have been worth to see this in 3D for the Centipede and Pac-Man sequences.
But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Story

We start in 1982.
Seth Gordon being one of the executive producers was a smart move if only for this opening scene-- he's behind "The Goldbergs," an ABC sitcom set in the 80's, which I LOVE as someone who loves the 80's.

So in 1982, we see younger versions of our four male leads participate in an Arcade Game tournament. Eddie aka "Fireblaster" is the egomaniac champ with an entourage and he winds up psyching Adam Sandler out in the final round (Donkey Kong), taking the trophy.
Also to remember in this tournament: it will be videotaped and sent into space by NASA.

In the present, all of our gamers have more or less become losers... although it is pretty cool that Adam Sandler knows how to install big screen TV's and video game systems. His electronic talents haven't gone completely to waste.
For whatever ungodly reason, Kevin James becomes our next president and he happens to one trying to promote literacy when his reading level is in the basement. I don't know about you, but any universe where Kevin James is president has me worrying about our future.

As it turns out, the videotape we sent into space, an alien race took that as a declaration of war and sent all these video game characters to Earth to destroy us.
Challenges are issued rather cleverly, combining 80's celebrity icons with Bad Lip Reading. The department of defense even says that anyone could have done that with their computers to create a hoax... they can do it, they have the technology...

But the threat soon enough becomes credible and the so-called losers finally get to use their video-gaming skills for something important.

Characters and Actors
First of all, it is so nice to not have Sean Bean die in this. He plays the Colonel in charge of the army.

Michelle Monaghan, who I'd praised in my "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" review, holds her own here as the army's Lieutenant and the first scene she and Adam Sandler share together is pretty funny. But I'd have to agree with another review I read (written by a woman I'm willing to bet is a feminist): she isn't given enough to do and her character is more or less confined to female stereotypes. (What I didn't agree with was her harping about no strong female characters in this movie... speaking as a woman myself, I'm sorry, but we can't always have that luxury. Besides, it's not as if girls played video games in the 80's... that I know of..).

Another review said Adam Sandler was on auto-pilot throughout this. I didn't think he was all that bad, compared to the recent movies I refused to watch based on their trailers. But I was in this movie more for the different "levels" and "challenges" than him.

If any actors stood out, it was Josh Gad... ever-so-lovable and funny... Olaf is going places ;)
and Peter Dinklage. He's the only reason my mom came with us to this movie :P He's a bad-ass character in "Game of Thrones" and it's fun seeing him in this type of role-- where he can crack a smile and a joke. And considering his character spent the past several years in prison for tax evasion and such, you never really know what to expect from him. Let's just say he does some things that don't really come as a surprise, but I praise the writers for it.

Video Games
When I got my Playstation for Christmas, it came with Crash Bandicoot: Warped (which I sold cuz I couldn't beat it and the disc was glitchy), Frogger (which I played a lot with my friends back in the early 2000's) and Namco Arcade Museum.
So I know some of my vintage 80's video games. I'm good at Galaga and decent at Pac-Man and we saw some of these characters throughout the movie.
As I said before, the special effects in the battle sequences were nerdgasm worthy. So cool seeing them in person and so realistic.
The final battle scene where it's all-out war... not so much. Maybe because it was too chaotic or I didn't recognize as many of the characters anymore.

But I loved how the writing included just about everything about video gaming that nerds have been aware of for decades: everything from cheat codes to patterns to old vs. new. Adam Sandler shares some scenes with Michelle Monaghan's son where they talk about how video games have changed over the years. When it became less about patterns and more about "pretending you're the guy and you don't want to die."

We also address how some nerds fall in love with pixels and Josh Gad sees his personal fantasy come to life in the form of Lady Lisa. Granted, she's there to kill him, but that was a nice touch.
As was the inclusion of Q*Bert as a character.

Final Word
When it comes to bringing video game characters to life... just maybe you're better off leaving Adam Sandler and his gang out of it...
"Wreck-It Ralph," on the other hand, would be a much more worthy venture if seeing video games brought to life is your cup of tea. The writing's super clever, it has a lot of heart and the nerdgasms are more prevalent... plus there's a wicked twist at the end that still blows my mind :P

And FYI, it is worth sticking through some of the credits: they replay the entire movie within 2 minutes using vintage 8-bit video game animation. It's pretty cool.

Grade: B