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It’s Planet Of The Apes meets Cujo, and it sure isn’t pretty. Part of me actually loves this kind of thing, but it has more to do with when the film is than how good or bad the film happens to be. For a lot of critics, we have just spent the better part of our holiday season being inundated by awards bait in one form or another. Everyone wants your attention right now. I have to vote in two guilds, and honestly by the time it’s over and I’ve managed to cram 60-70 films or more into my Holiday activities, I’m honestly more than a little burned out. So after that little break as January begins, I always welcome that first film that asks nothing more of me than to sit there and soak it in. There aren’t going to be any Best Picture nominations here. No one is going to be buzzing about Primate when we start talking Best Actors and Cinematography.
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 “Everybody deserves a second chance.”

In some parts of the country there’s a saying. If you don’t like the weather wait a few minutes. It’ll change. That’s exactly how I felt by the time my two hours watching M3GAN 2.0 was through. It was entertaining, to be sure, but I felt like I had been through about five movies before it was finally over. It’s hard to imagine that is has been three years since we first met the robot/children’s toy gone berserk, but it really has. It was my hope that everyone was just waiting until they had a great new idea before they trotted the killer doll out again. Most of the characters and actors who survived their first encounter with M3GAN returned for the sequel, with at least one of them being somewhat of a surprise appearance, and just like that first movie, you really have to be careful who you trust, because killer dolls aren’t the only things that are dangerous here. The humans can actually be a lot worse, and that just might be the point, as M3GAN 2.0 gets a head start in the upcoming heated competition for the coming summer blockbuster season. We’re just weeks away from a DC and Marvel one-two combination, but will M3GAN 2.0 survive the punches? Not likely, I’m afraid.
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Director Jaume Collet-Serra has been a director I’ve been following for some time now. For me he just consistently puts out films that are in my wheelhouse that I just know I’ll have fun with. His films just remind me of what it was like to watch the action films of the 90s, and I kind of feel he’s like the new Renny Harlin, and I say this with love. If you compare the two filmmakers’ resumes the similarities are pretty incredible. Both have a shark film, both have an adventure film involving a boat that sadly was a commercial failure despite being fun, both have an action film at an airport during Christmas, and now come to find out Collet-Serra is remaking Cliffhanger, which happens to be a Renny Harlin film. I mean, seriously, what are the odds of that happening? The moment I found out that Netflix released the new Jaume Collet-Serra film, I couldn’t be more excited to check this film out and take a break from the awards season films and just enjoy some popcorn-friendly cinema. Was it a hit, or did it crash and burn?
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“There’s an ounce of truth in every myth.”

Why am I not surprised? It is true to form that the sixth and final film in the Sony Spiderman Universe (SSU) would be my favorite. I’m sure that will be a unpopular opinion, as Venom has the popular vote, and while I did enjoy Venom, it is tainted by the sequels, which in the end left me with the opinion that the franchise should have just been the a one-and-done like the other installments in the SSU are fated to become. Ironic, as Kraven The Hunter served as a very good origin story, and the story set up what could have been a very interesting future confrontation in a sequel. However, Sony’s decision to pivot away from the SSU essentially means that this Aaron Taylor-Johnson-led film will be the only film to follow the character. Pity, as Taylor-Johnson gave a great performance, and the story quality was well executed. As I said, I expect my opinion is an unpopular one as Kraven The Hunter falls victim of the fruit of the poisonous-tree stigma. Because of the disappointing execution of the films set in the same universe, Kraven The Hunter is fated to be painted with the same brush. So my advice to anyone interested in seeing this film is that you have to put the others out of your mind and see this as it was intended to be: a standalone film.
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Paramount has been getting into the Halloween horror spirit each October. Last year they released a group of horror films on UHD/4K and called it Paramount Scares. I didn’t get a chance to check out that set but they’re back again with a Paramount Scares Vol. 2 and we got a look at it here at the Upcomingdiscs ranch. The set includes both a Blu-ray copy of each film along with the featured UHD Blu-ray in 4K. You get some nice gifts along the way. There are patches that represent each film. There’s a glow in the dark Paramount Scares pin along with an issue of Fangoria Magazine that contains just articles on the films in the set. There’s a big sticker and a mini-poster. It all comes in a rather stylish box covered in a ghoulish collage. The films have their own case in coordinated slip covers. The movies offered this year are Friday The 13th Part 2, Breakdown, World War Z and Orphan: first Kill. Pick it up and invite some friends over for a Paramount horror marathon.

Here are the films:
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“I will not accept a life I do not deserve.”

In 2022 writer and director Ti West gave horror fans the gift of the one/two horror punch of the films X and Pearl. From those two films came the rise of Mia Goth, who has since become horror royalty, and since the rumors began to rumble about a third film in this horror series, it has been hard to not get excited. Ever since the announcement of MaXXXine and hearing the cast of the film, it’s been the horror film I’ve been most looking forward to. I’ve been a big fan of Ti West ever since 2009 when I saw The House of the Devil. I adore that film, to the point where I have a Mondo poster of it hanging in my living room, and then he did The Innkeepers, which for me cemented his awesomeness, and that he wasn’t simply a fluke. When you look at his filmography and you watch his films, you can see the man has talent, but for some reason he’s not a bigger name in the industry. But I feel like that’s going to change soon, and it seems like A24 knows that West can deliver the goods, especially when you consider that they are releasing the film over 4^th of July weekend, typically a spot meant for huge tentpole movies … or am I just being delusional?
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The films of the 1960’s and 1970’s began an era of what have been called exploitation films. There are many examples of films that pushed the R to X boundaries and have been referred to as Sexploitation films. Today we might call them soft porn, and examples of those early films includes Daughter Of The Sun (1963) and The Twilight Girls (1961). There were also films that took advantage of a certain aspect of black culture in the 70’s and made to appeal to the young, “hip” blacks of the decade but also became quite popular with the mainstream audiences. Films from that genre include iconic movies like the Shaft and Dolemite franchises. There’s another of these kinds of films that hasn’t gotten quite the attention and aren’t as well remembered. That group of films from mainly the 60’s were called Hicksploitation. These films provided heavy stereotyping like the Blacksploitation films did
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“It’s the things we love most, that destroy us.”

It’s actually a little hard to believe that it’s been eight years since last we visited Suzanne Collins’ future dystopian world of The Hunger Games. The last two films were shot and released as two parts of the final book in the saga, and I think most of us had laid the soul of Katniss Everdeen and her rebellion to rest. Of course, not without the franchise doing quite a bit of damage at the box office. Not counting home video releases, the franchise generated a total box office of about $1.4 billion. That’s a lot of scratch, and if you understand the movie business at all, you know that finishing a franchise for good is like leaving money sitting on the table.
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“What do you think evil is? I’ll tell you what I think evil is…”

It’s sequels/reboots made by filmmakers who haven’t got one single clue what made the original such a classic. The Exorcist was a masterpiece of filmmaking and is truly one of the most compelling horror films even 50 years later. There are a lot of reasons for that. Unfortunately, David Gordon Green couldn’t name a single one if you gave him a cheat sheet in one hand and William Friedkin’s complete notes in the other. Blum House took a huge risk after they finished their Halloween trilogy. The films were hit and miss with some good moments. But most fans of the original never could completely bond with the films. So Blum House decided they liked this 3 film reboot/sequel idea and took a chance on committing $400 million for a trilogy of The Exorcist. Like the Halloween trilogy it would ignore all but the original film and take it’s story directly from that moment onward.
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“Most ghost stories have some basis in truth.”

Essentially an amalgamation of tropes from previous beloved horror films. Like if you took those films and put them into a blender. There are elements of Candyman; I don’t just mean because of Tony Todd’s involvement. Additionally, there were elements of Halloween, with an uncompromising killer wielding a shovel. Points for weapon originality. Of all the weapons that my mind could have conceived, a shovel wouldn’t have been at the top of my list. However, all things considered, it proved to be effective weapon. The film gets off to a bad start as it essentially drops us in the middle of situation with no understanding of what has supposedly occurred. Makes it quite difficult to become invested when things start off so disjointed. The Devilreaux is presented as a modern day boogeyman (another element of the film). However, prior to the mention of his name, we have no frame of reference of who or what he is. I suspect the goal was to build intrigue, but given that the killer strikes within the opening scenes, it would have been nice to have some context to the character.
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“I remember when I was 17, my father asked me what I wanted to be. Would I like to be a barber like him? I laughed in his face. I wanted to be a successful gangster. In retrospect I asked myself if what I chose was worth 25 years of my life. The answer is no, not 25 seconds. I married this life, and after keeping my mouth shut for all these years, I’m gonna see if it married me back.” 

Sylvester Stallone plays mob guy Dwight “The General” Manfredi. It’s his first television role, and he couldn’t have chosen better than to appear in a Taylor Sheridan show on Paramount +. Sheridan pretty much owns the streaming service, all of it except maybe the Star Trek shows. He knows how to create characters and to then put the right actor in that role. I’ve seen it happen a thousand times now, from Yellowstone to Mayor of Kingstown and a couple of Yellowstone spin-offs. The part appears made just for Sly, and he makes it worth everything he has, all the while making it look effortless.
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Yeah, this film didn’t really do it for me. Of late I’ve been on the prowl for a quality horror or suspense movie. Something with a compelling story, and while I didn’t initially believe that Ghost of Monday would live up to that desire, I left the door open to be surprised. As it turns out, I could have left that door closed with the lock latched. The Ghost of Monday is a slow-burning tale that I never really connected with. For one, the premise is a bit anti-climatic and has been addressed with box office films such as The Invitation and Ready Or Not, which I found to be the best. In this instance, a television director (Mark Huberman, Vikings Vahalla) travels to a supposed haunted hotel for the purpose of making a television pilot. Eventually, he and his crew find themselves wrapped up in a supernatural conspiracy that could have life or death consequences for them. Did you catch my use of the word “eventually”? Stay tuned, I’ll explain that in a bit. The biggest intended draw for the film was probably the inclusion of Julian Sands of Warlock fame, but his role is secondary in relation to the overall film. All in all, I’m still on the lookout for a quality horror or suspense film.
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One of my favorite things about being a critic is when I get to discover a film from the past that I’ve never heard of and it turns out to be a gem. The Asphyx is one of those films that I decided to give a shot, and afterwards I can’t believe I’ve never even heard of this film until recently. The film definitely dabbles in the horror genre as well as science fiction, and to be honest it is one of the more clever and original films that toys with the idea of immortality. The Kino release of the film came with two versions, one that is 86 minutes and the other a 99-minute cut.  The longer cut of the film  has its additional scenes cut in from a 35 mm print; the additional scenes are easy to pick out due to the poor quality (it is a very jarring  difference), but to be fair, it didn’t impact my experience.
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I usually don’t go in for mockumentary series. I missed the boat when it comes to series like The Office and Parks and Rec. However, there was something about Abbott Elementary that captured my interest. So much so that upon completing the first season, I immediately binged the available episodes for the second season. It would appear I’m not the only who has become captivated by the series, as it cleaned up on the award circuit, to include a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Sheryl Lee Ralph), and more impressively, a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (for show creator, writer, executive producer, lead actress Quinta Brunson). And after watching the show in its entirety, all I can say is those awards were well deserved. Abbott Elementary is a breath of fresh air that has become my new Wednesday night pleasure.
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This film gives you two separate options for your viewing pleasure. Firstly, you can view the watch the 98-minute international cut (originally known as (Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan) or the -minute U.S. cut, which is more formally known as Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World. It’s nice to have options. If I were you, I’d opt for the shorter version, because if I’m being honest, even with a shorter run time, the film seemed to drag on. On the other hand, with an additional 22 minutes to play, it is difficult to imagine that greater context was not provided. I will say the international cut has the original score, for which a significant portion was retained for the U.S. version. I think fans of the original film will be better with how the film was originally intended.
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I don’t think Hollywood is ready to stop shooting movies centered around World War 2 any time soon, even if it seems they’ve filmed just about every story under the sun that you can tell about that that war.  I get it, Nazis are simply put some of the greatest villains you can have in a film, because they took part in some of the most wicked atrocities towards men and women, so you really don’t have to do much in the way of character development to get your audience to hate them. I don’t think anyone is interested in a story about a sympathetic Nazi, but is it so hard to ask for a character that comes off the screen that seems to at least have a personality? I mean, Tarantino did it with Col. Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds (2009) with a terrific performance from Christoph Waltz, but since then the movies have been afraid to do this, and that’s the kind of thing that is so desperately missing from Wolf Hound. It’s not just the Nazis who are lacking in personality, but the entire cast of characters that reek of cliché and lazy writing that it mystifies me how this ever got made.
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I think I see your problem. You have this list. It’s a list of people you need/want to buy a Christmas gift for. The trouble is that they’re into home theatre, and you don’t know Star Trek from Star Wars. You couldn’t tell a Wolf Man from a Wolverine. And you always thought that Paranormal Activity was something too kinky to talk about. Fortunately, Upcomingdiscs has come to the rescue every Christmas with our Gift Guide Spotlights. Keep checking back to see more recommendations for your holiday shopping. These gift guides ARE NOT paid advertisements. We take no money to publish them. With conditions as they are, shopping won’t be easy this season. The nice thing about discs is that they’re so easy to get from places like Amazon that you can give a great gift and stay perfectly safe while you do it. Warner Brothers release of The Mad Max Anthology
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“Aliens from the future gave us magic powers. It was staring me in the face.”

This was a series that managed to catch me completely off guard. I’m still in a state of shock for how much I loved this show. Beforehand, I heard little about the show. I think I may have caught a glimpse of a commercial for it or the odd promo, but I never paid attention to it. I expected that it would be dreary and flat. Now, I’ve gone from thinking this was something I would have to endure for six episodes, to chomping at the bit to get my hand on the second set of six episodes. There were so many elements and themes that were combined with rich and complex characters. All the pieces came together to make this Lauren Donnelly and Ann Skelly-led series a masterpiece of entertainment.
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Too much of what comes out of the entertainment industry today is remakes/reboots/revivals and sequels. There’s certainly a place for some of that but if you are like me you are hungry for originality. I found it in the unusual film Fried Barry. Filmed in South Africa the film pays a lot of homage to many iconic film moments without losing its own originality. I had the chance to talk with director/writer Ryan Kruger and it was a blast. He’s doing his own thing out there and that made for some interesting conversation, to be sure. You can listen in on my conversation with Ryan Kruger and then go out and find the film. Bang it here to listen to my conversation with: Ryan Kruger.
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I grew up a big fan of the kids’ adventure films that populated the cinemas of the 80’s.  These kinds of films for the most part disappeared up until this 80’s revival has occurred over the past decade. It’s been a nice nostalgic wave for me, but it’s also become overused. Some of these films and shows are being done by those who weren’t even around, and it just is starting to feel generic. The Water Man, for the most part, has seemed to grasp what makes these films work without overindulging on the 80’s revival craze, and it’s simple. It just focused on doing a good kids’ adventure without treating the audience like toddlers or attempting to fill it with slapstick gags. I’m not sure when it happened that studio executives decided a family film needed to simply treat the audience like a sputtering, drooling toddler, but it’s a big reason why these films are mostly critically panned and, well, are not big blockbuster affairs. It’s all about marketing, and I feel in a non-pandemic world, The Water Man could have been more than a box office blip and a movie that will struggle to find an audience in a DVD and streaming world.
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Gerard Butler vs. Comets. Well, I suppose Butler has been making a habit of overcoming insurmountable odds in recent years. I mean, he has managed to save two different presidents in three movies, and it’s not like this is his first time facing down a natural disaster (remember Geostorm), but even with that said, this is quite the thing to have to overcome. Greenland tells the story of the Garrity family as they try to make it to an underground bunker in Greenland before an extinction-level event. While this premise does have some intrigue, I’m pretty sure that most of us would have been trying to find a place to survive a little closer to home. Needless to say, that wouldn’t make for a very good movie, so here we are. Normally we watch Butler face adversity alone, but this time he has help in the form of Deadpool’s Morena Baccarin, as they both have odds to face separately as well as together. While I did struggle with the overall concept of the movie quite a bit as well it mainly just feeling like a rehash of former disaster movies, I was never bored, as the special effects go a long way to creating a realistic and intense experience.
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Ben 10 seems to be the Batman of animated shows, not that they have anything in common with their plots or characters but by how many times the character of Ben Tennyson has been in movies and shows and then rebooted all over again. It’s a fun series, and the few movies I’ve seen I’ve liked them, but the one major complaint I have towards the character and series is how repetitive it all is.  Sure, this is a problem in most children’s shows, and the issue bleeds into shows for adults, but with all the repetition it raises the question of why bother rebooting, rebranding or doing it all over again if all you’re going to do is retread the same material.  It’s because of the recycled plots and the all-too-familiar story trends that I was hesitant about bothering to review kids’ series. So what does Ben 10 Versus the Universe- the Movie bring to the table?  Well, for the series it does present a new narrative. For those even slightly familiar with the Marvel films you’ll see a familiar trope, but for the most part it works here.
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Ultraman is a huge part of Japanese culture and pretty much has been since the original live-action show in 1966. Perhaps Godzilla started the ball rolling, but Ultraman brought us these monsters on a regular basis. In Japan, Ultraman is like our Superman. He’s an iconic hero and a huge part of the pop culture. Since the 60’s he has appeared in many forms, most of them animated. But it is this 1966 series that made a ton of us kids fall in love with him and an entire genre. Yes, there were many from the era: Space Giants featured a giant fighting robot who fought monsters and sometimes converted into a spaceship (yes, before transformers were ever thought of); Johnny Socko had his giant robot; and the list goes on. But it was Ultraman who started it. Eiji Tsuburaya, who created the original Godzilla, formed a new company outside of Toho Pictures. Ultraman was pretty much the first thing out of the new shop.
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“Murder is Murder. Don’t matter who you are.”

Naomie Harris lives by these words as she finds herself hunted by her own in Black and Blue. Fortunately, she is not alone, as Tyrese Gibson is also there to lend a hand in this real-life commentary that pulls no punches. We all know that there is a brotherhood within the police force. They are a family, and family looks out for family. This film examines what happens when family crosses a line that they cannot come back from. Harris portrays a rookie police officer who stumbles across an execution by her fellow cops.  In that moment she goes from being blue to black. Joining her on the cast is Gibson, Frank Grillo, Mike Colter, and Black Lightning’s Nafessa Williams in a role that will make you hate her.
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