The Reel World

The Naked Gun (2025) is a beautifully absurd film that had me and everyone in the theater laughing in tears. It is both a continuation and reboot to the original franchise that introduces a new generation of characters, which still honors the classic formula of deadpan delivery, absurd plotlines, and visual gags that gave the original its significance. It was like a breath of fresh air in a lackluster era of Hollywood which felt seriously rich in soul. I can’t even joke; my face was hurting from laughing and smiling throughout the entire movie! Initially, I was apprehensive about the movie because it starred faces I’ve honestly grown tired of seeing in Hollywood, notably Neeson and Huston. It is a star-studded cast with Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin, Jr. and Pamela Anderson as Beth Davenport. Additionally, Seth MacFarlane is part of the production with Fuzzy Door Productions in partnership with Paramount Pictures. Even though I didn’t care for Neeson having the main role, his acting wasn’t washed up at all and was far better seeing him in a comedy—same with Huston.

I have to admit it is hard to believe that Happy Gilmore came out nearly 30 yeas ago. It’s a hard pill to swallow, because I remember seeing it in the theater with my friends, and, well, that pretty much reminds me that I’m getting old. I’ve been a fan of Adam Sandler since his time on SNL, and it’s been interesting seeing how his career has grown. For me, I’ve remained a loyal fan not because I feel his films are great; honestly, he’s had quite a few duds along the way, but it’s because he seems to be one of the few guys in Hollywood who hasn’t changed with fame. You never hear about scandals. He just seems like a down-to-earth guy who really isn’t so different from his fans. When it comes to Happy Gilmore 2, this film has been something fans have been wanting for a while, though many of us just really didn’t think it was going to happen. After 30 years, was it worth the wait? Well, I’ll say this much: this film was certainly made for the fans.

"I'm not giving up. We will face this together. We will fight it together... as a family."

In November of 1961 I wasn't quite five months old when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the first team of superheroes. Long before a Justice League or Avengers team was created, The Fantastic Four delivered a family of superheroes, and while it would be a few years before I would read my first issue, they created an impression along with Spider-Man, that has given me the love of comics and this kind of entertainment for the remainder of my life. The team first found themselves on film via a cheap Roger Corman film that was never released but found itself on the sci-fi convention circuit for decades.

When it comes to video game adaptations, I learned a long time ago to not get my hopes up. Sure, there have been a few films that manage to do the source material justice, but for the most part the films tend to just fail in spectacular fashion. Until Dawn is honestly a game I never expected to see turn into a film or TV show, mostly because the game play is basically like a “choose your own adventure” style, and it just didn’t seem like something that could work. The approach the film takes  is something different and takes the story into a Groundhog Day direction, only every time the characters re-spawn  it becomes a different sub-genre of horror film. While I feel this is a terrible videogame adaptation, this actually turned out to be a fun premise for a film. So how does the film stand on its own? Well, a lot better than I had anticipated.

I have to admit that when I heard about Heads of State being a buddy action film with John Cena as the President of the United States and Idris Elba as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, I was totally on board. Then when I saw that this was heading directly to Amazon Prime, my excitement fizzled. When you have an action film with those two on the marquee, it just seems like the perfect summer film, and with the director of Nobody and Hardcore Henry at the helm, it just adds to the expectation of pure dumb popcorn bliss. Only Amazon Studios can find a way to mess this up. Still, I tried to go into this with an open mind, but the end result is an action comedy that underwhelmed in such spectacular fashion that I’m somewhat impressed at how mediocre this film turned out despite all its opportunities to impress.

"I can guarantee your safety... more or less." 

Some things can not be beat, and they sure as heck can't be repeated. An old vintage cola commercial used to tell us, "Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby". And Jurassic World Rebirth is going to do anything it can for 134 minutes to try and tell you that isn't true, but we know better, don't we? Anyone who has seen the original Jurassic Park has their favorite moments, but one scene has always stood out for me and so many other film fans I've spoken to. When the camera pans to that peaceful swamp pasture and you see tons of dinosaurs walking about without a care in the world. If you didn't know how to react there, Sam Neill as Dr. Grant showed you how.

“Memento Mori, it means you must die.”

This movie has been a long time coming and is quite possibly the most anticipated movie of the summer. Fans (myself included) have been waiting almost twenty years for this addition to the franchise to materialize. Since the Rage virus was introduced to the audience back in 2002 with 28 Days Later, we, the audience, have been captivated by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s gritty zombie tale that filled a much-needed hole left behind by George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead franchise. To their credit, the duo did follow up 28 Days Later with the aptly-titled 28 Weeks Later, which if I’m honest, was my favorite of the franchise, to include this latest installment. That isn’t to diminish this addition; I’m just very fond of the Weeks’ film because it was the movie that really made me pay attention to Jeremy Renner. True to its predecessors, 28 Years Later features a brand-new cast of characters to include Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Jack O’Connell, Ralph Fiennes, and Alfie Williams in his first leading role.

Right on cue Disney’s Pixar is back on the animation scene with its latest and quite possibly one of its most original stories with Elio. True to form, for the last three years, Pixar has delivered and had a film release in the month of June. There was Lightyear in 2022, Elemental in 2023, Inside Out 2 for 2024, and now Elio in 2025. Now that is consistency. Not going to lie, I haven’t been impressed with the latest releases from Pixar, and it felt as though they’d been trading on their reputation in recent years. After all, who would dare speak against the studio that gave us Toy Story, A Bugs Life, The Incredibles, and Finding Nemo? It would be fair to say that the company deserved a little grace. Now we have Elio, and as I mentioned earlier, I rank this among the most original animated stories I’ve seen in recent years and one of the best kid-friendly movies I’ve seen this year thus far.

“I am large; I contain multitudes.” 

I know it may only be June, and it seems strange to be talking about awards season already, but if The Life of Chuck doesn’t take home an armful of awards this year, it will be a criminal shame. I first read the Stephen King novella when it was released in his collection If It Bleeds (2020), it was a story that you can tell King wrote during the COVID-19 panic. I remember liking the story, but it wasn’t one of my favorites in the collection. What stood out the most was the unique way he wrote the story about the end of the world. It didn’t really surprise me that the story was being adapted into a film considering just how many Stephen King stories are brought to the big screen and streaming every year. It was the fact that Mike Flanagan signed on to write and direct that got me excited about this project.