"Needing to know. That's what got us kicked out of the Garden Of  Eden... Eve."

Ballerina takes place in the rather colorful world of John Wick, and it almost appears to me that it's being sold as a kind of John Wick 4/2 or perhaps more accurately John Wick 3 ½. With Keanu Reeves seeming to be going back and forth on a potential John Wick 5, there has been a lot of mining in that world while they decide. Of course, there will be a John Wick 5. There's just too much money to be made, and the streaming series The Continental didn't really work out as well as everybody hoped it would. The answer is obvious. No one wants to see the John Wick Universe. They want to see John Wick. So this second foray into spin-off territory was padded by making sure Keanu Reeves would show up. Understand: he's not the main character, and this film takes place during John Wick 3 Parabellum and between that film and John Wick 4.

It would seem that ever since Hereditary came out in 2018, it kind of paved the way for the new sub-genre of horror, “grief-horror”, basically horror films that delve into the emotional horror of losing loved ones and the reckless attempts people may make to reach out to them in the afterlife. This isn’t subject matter most horror fans enjoy; for me I find an odd sense of comfort with these films. When Talk to Me came out, that film especially struck a nerve with me, and I absolutely loved that film from the first-time Australian filmmakers and brothers Danny and Michael Philippou.  Talk To Me managed to bring something new to the supernatural genre, and the grief the main character was going through was very relatable for me, so of course I was going to be a little excited about what this duo would do next (at least before they tackled their sequel to Talk To Me). As it would turn out, I wouldn’t have to wait long for their next film, and Bring Her Back tackles the horror of grief in a manner that has stuck with me since exiting the theater.

This Memorial Day weekend, Netflix dropped the new horror film Fear Street: Prom Queen. For those who may not be familiar with the Fear Street brand, it was a series of horror stories penned by RL Stine for his readers who were aging out of his Goosebumps series but were not quite ready for the heavy hitters of horror like Clive Barker and Stephen King. These stories were fantastic as a gateway to horror, typically filled with gruesome deaths, but still not crossing the line with too many adult themes. In 2021 Netflix first released a trilogy of Fear Street films. Personally, I only liked the first two, and the third was relatively forgettable. Now Netflix has released Prom Queen, and while my expectations weren’t exactly high, I still was hoping for something better than what we got.

From the moment I saw the first trailer for Sinners, I was totally sold on this film, it looked like it was going to be From Dusk Till Dawn, only set in the Jim Crow era, and I was absolutely excited for it. As an added cherry on top, the film was shot on film and with large-format cameras. This was a film that easily was one of the films I was most looking forward to seeing this year, and it broke my heart having to miss out on seeing it opening weekend because I was sick. Now that I’ve finally seen it, did it live up to my expectations? The hype surrounding this film is insane, especially when you see the box office numbers this film is bringing in and people already wanting to call this the best horror film of the year, and despite it only being May, people are talking about this getting some awards nominations. It’s not surprising when you consider the writer and director is Ryan Coogler, who managed to get Black Panther an Oscar nomination.

"Good evening, Ethan. This is your President. Since you won't reply to anyone else, I thought I'd reach out directly. First, I want to thank you for a lifetime of devoted and unrelenting service; were it not for the tireless dedication of you and your team, the earth would be a very different place. It might not even be here at all. Every risk you've taken, every comrade you've lost in the field, every personal sacrifice you made, has brought this world another sunrise. It's been 35 years since circumstances brought you to us and you were given the choice -- since the IMF saved you from a life in prison. And though you never followed orders, you never let us down. You were always the best of men in the worst of times. I need you to be that man now."

I imagine this is how it happened. It's January of 2019, and Tom Cruise has just popped into the bathroom to shave.

“Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind.”

So, the thing I’ve noticed works best for these live action adaptation of Disney movies is continuity, which is something that Lilo and Stitch adheres to very well. I suppose that it wasn’t hard to do when the live action is written and directed by Chris Sanders, the person responsible for the writing and directing of the original beloved animated movie on which this adaptation is based. I should also mention that Sanders voiced the Stitch character himself, something he repeats for this film. So, as I said, continuity is key for this movie. It helps to have the right person at the wheel, and I can’t imagine a better person to be at the wheel than the person ultimately responsible for Lilo and Stitch’s initial creation.

"We can find you some good guy material."

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been in a transition. Transitions are OK, but for Marvel this one appears to have lasted several years. There have been more misses than hits. Last I checked we were in the fifth phase of the MCU, and so far the results have been underwhelming. I mean, when even a Captain America movie with Harrison Ford turning into a Red Hulk doesn't capture the box office numbers that were once considered automatic, something is wrong. The fifth phase is now coming to an end with the release of Thunderbolts*. Honestly, my expectations were low, and it appeared that even Marvel was already training us to ignore the last five years and get ready for big things with the launch this summer of The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Robert Downey Jr.'s return as Doom in the next series of Avengers films.