Daddy Mojo at the Movies

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, it’s exactly what you want it to be

The thing about monster, horror or Fast & Furious movies is that you don’t expect them to be great, you just don’t want them to be bad. A bad mixture for each of them depends on what thing isn’t added. Monster movies, like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire need to have monsters smashing lots of things, numerous objects or scenery that illustrates their massive size and not have too many humans, or at least too many annoying humans. Using that criteria, and the guidance of our son, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire checks off all of those boxes and is the sort of film where middle school ages and non-critics will enjoy it.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is monster fun, monster big and monster expectations. It won’t change minds, but it’ll entertain fans of the genre.

Godzill and Kong sitting in a tree……

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire builds on the quality and fun of Afterlife

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a very good movie. It’s a film that’s better than its predecessor, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Frozen Empire starts with action and very rarely lets its foot off of the entertainment gas. These are important things to state from the get-go because the high hopes for Afterlife were, for the most part, met by audiences and critics. Thus, it’s surprising that Frozen Empire doesn’t fumble the franchise and manages to be a very entertaining film that will exceed the expectations of fans of the first and fourth entries. Moreover, even if you’ve never seen a Ghostbusters film, Frozen Empire is a solid film that delivers popcorn, and escapist fun that people go to the cinema for.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a very good film that’s the popcorn sort of fun you want at the cinema with enough nostalgia for the ‘classic’ fans. — Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire poster, courtesy of Sony Pictures.

Who ya gonna call, Paul rudd to the rescue

There’s Something in the Barn, horror fare that serves two masters

The line between peanut butter and chocolate mixture is a fine one, isn’t it? I try to make chocolate, and peanut butter pretzels every December, and while edible, they always fall short of how perfect they should taste. Christmas horror films are like my erstwhile Reese’s concoction too; if there’s too much horror and gore then it will limit its audience, but if it aims for the funnier route then the jokes have to hit. There’s Something in the Barn has a great premise and nails the first hour; but then, akin to the cake that’s risen well up until the end, it falls just a bit flat.

There’s Something in the Barn has a great premise and will satiate holiday horror fans at a base level, but leave them wanting more.

It’s enjoyable, but we wanted more

The Equalizer 3 is the rare third entry that doesn’t lose steam

I was three minutes into The Equalizer 3 and invited my wife to sit beside me. “This looks too John Wicky”, my wife said. I assured her that it was not in that same vein, but that it would have things in common with it. I also reminded her that she saw the first two Equalizers and that really enjoyed them. Not content to take the recommendation of her loving husband, she continued quietly doing ancillary things around the living room. “Wow, that’s gorgeous scenery”, “That’s Denzel Washington isn’t it?” and other quotes continued to echo around the sofa until her resistance to the film proved futile and she joined me for the remaining 90 minutes of The Equalizer 3.

The Equalizer 3 is the rare third entry into a series that doesn’t lose momentum and continues quality storytelling with action.

Denzel, Denzel, you do it again

Gran Turismo is a motivational film that’s better than you think

“Why would he (our 12-year old son) want to see Gran Turismo?”, mused my wife. I snickered just a little bit too because I too had momentarily interchanged Gran Torino with Gran Turismo. To make matters even more challenging for the marketing of the film, Gran Turismo is a movie based on the real-life story of , who was good at playing Gran Tourismo, the video game, and then became a real-life race car driver. I’ve seen this movie before, Rock Star, with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Anniston, you older movie fans might be thinking to yourself. But, before you dismiss Gran Tourismo as something that you’ve seen before, here this, it’s actually quite refreshing and has more in common with Rocky, than the cheesy gamer film you’ve imagined.

Gran Turismo overcomes the based-on-a-true-story and the from-gamer-to-racer curse to deliver an entertaining and motivational film.

C’mon in, the water’s fine

Oppenheimer sits alongside the best films ever made

Oppenheimer, the film by Christopher Nolan has usurped Russians from Dream of the Blue Turtles as the leading edge of cultural awareness for “father of the atomic bomb”. In that song, Sting flippantly introduced the subject as “Oppenheimer’s deadly toy”. In reality, his relationship was much more complex with nuclear weapons than that; but kudos to Sting for introducing a name to millions of folks who otherwise wouldn’t have heard it until now. Oppenheimer is a big film in the most Christopher Nolan manner possible. It’s a three-hour dramatic tour de force that grabs viewers by their shirt collars and maintains its grip for the vast majority of its run time.

Oppenheimer is a massive 3-hour movie that introduces a man who you probably don’t know, tells you why you should care and has parallels to today’s times.

You will remember the first time that you saw it

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, take two, a little good and lots bad

Why would I go see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny a second time? Cult classics get better over time, a bad movie that’s just been released doesn’t need to be seen again. Let’s be clear, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not a cult classic. However, my extended and immediate family loves the Indiana Jones character, and its 90 degrees outside, so what the heck. A second viewing of the film didn’t change my initial opinion of the film, but it certainly explained a couple of aspects regarding the character’s fandom.

Nostalgia bait, this time with family

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, we expected worse

If you’ve read any reviews of spoilers about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny they’re all true. It kind of falls under the idiom of, whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right. There are some great moments in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. There are some pointless moments, instances of human physical impossibility, a case study of why de-aging characters is a horrible choice, and examples of why adding more cooks to the kitchen never results in a better quality film. However, thanks to Mads Mikkelsen, the score by John Williams and, to an extent, Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny isn’t the train wreck that resembled Crystal Skull.

It’s not rocket science, but it jumps a low bar