The Cinematic Review-verse

  'Here' poster. Taken by William Beavers, copyright 2024, Sony Pictures Entertainment. In Robert Zmeckis' latest directing vehicle with Tom Hanks leading the cast, 'Here' talks about a house whose land had importance from the Jurassic era to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically being the area where Indigenous people, Benjamin Franklin's family, or Hanks' and Robin Wright's family lived and/or died. It was based on a graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire.  Though there were times I was thrown off by the nonlinear storytelling, the film not moving the camera away from the one spot till the end, and that it was mostly a retelling of 'Forrest Gump' (most of the same cast and crew), I actually liked the movie. It was sweet, sentimental, and poignant, and it was good to redo 'Forrest Gump' to show Hanks and Wright's characters still being peas and carrots after over 30 years. Paul Bettany (from the back), Robin Wright, and Tom H...

‘Transformers One’ poster. Taken by William Beavers. Copyright 2024, Paramount Pictures.  “What defines a Transformer is not the cog in its chest, but the spark in its core.” Josh Cooley of Toy Story 4 fame directed Transformers One , an epic, tragic, funny origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron and their factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons , respectively. Watching Transformers One felt like watching Marvel Studios films and Disney animated classics all rolled into one, and it was the best film I’ve seen in 2024 and the best portrayal of Transformers . Chris Hemsworth voices Orion Pax/Optimus Prime in 'Transformers One.' Courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Brian Tyree Henry is the voice of D-16/Megatron in 'Transformers One.' Courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Transformers One was an origin story of Orion Pax and D-16, voiced by Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry, as brother-in-arms before becoming Optimus Prime and Megatron. As the young automatons so...

On Saturday morning, September 14, 2024, I had the funny, chilling, and thrilling pleasure of watching James McAvoy steal the show in the latest Blumhouse production, Speak No Evil . McAvoy began as an uninhibited hipster, then brought out his inner monster on the family led by Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy . Then Davis and McNairy brought the thunder in protecting their kids similar to Fox's The Gifted  TV series, and let’s just say it’s awesome that both the adults and their kids went toe-to-toe with James McAvoy. James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi as Paddy and Ciara in 'Speak No Evil.' Courtesy of Universal Pictures. While on vacation in Italy, the Dalton family, consisting of Louise, Ben, and their daughter Agnes, played by Davis, McNairy, and Alix West Lefler , respectively, met Paddy, Ciara, and their son Ant, played by McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi , and Dan Hough . The interaction went well, despite the Dalton parents being put off by Paddy's unhinged friendly ...

Michael Keaton returns as the lead in Tim Burton's 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.' Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Despite some good undead makeup and laughs brought back by returning Michael Keaton , Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was not a sequel that needed to happen. Most of the cast was funny and goodhearted, the new addition Willem Dafoe, in particular, but the problems were Beetlejuice being stuck in his old ways instead of evolving, and the plot was confusing. It wasn't better than the first film. Taking place almost 40 years after the original Beetlejuice, a now-grown Lydia Deetz (played by Winona Ryder ) has a daughter, Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega , Wednesday . And though not as big with the undead as in her teenage years, she is still haunted by Beetlejuice, played by Keaton. And Beetlejuice has his own hauntings to deal with now that a soul-sucking ghost, played by Monica Bellucci, has a bone to pick with him. Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder, ...

From a John Wick- style fight with "Bye Bye Bye" in the background to the tricky yet humorous inclusion of past Marvel characters, Deadpool and Wolverine did have its great moments in showing the characters played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman embracing their inner heroes, even with more than their fair share of bloodshed on the battlefield and rocky budding friendship along the way. After his last time-travel adventure, Wade Wilson/Deadpool, played by Reynolds, finds himself in trouble with the Time Variance Authority from Loki. He switches from time-traveling to multiverse traveling to stop a corrupt TVA agent, Paradox, played by Matthew McFayden, and protect his loved ones. Along the way, a variant of Logan/Wolverine, played by Jackman, ends up reluctantly teaming with Deadpool while he's dealing with some baggage of his own. And I don't just mean Logan hiding his insecurities behind beer or cigars. I didn't think too highly of the movie at first because I...

'Borderlands' movie poster. Taken by William Beavers. Courtesy of Lions Gate Ent., Inc. In one of the newest video game-to-screen adaptations, Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart led a quirky Guardians of the Galaxy tribute in Lionsgate’s Borderlands , directed by Eli Roth . Blanchett was Lilith, a bitter bounty hunter in a Blade Runner -esque planet who gets called to rescue a titan’s daughter, Tina, played by Ariana Greenblatt . But just because she’s a youth, doesn’t mean Tina’s to be trifled with. Wait till you see her unleash her exploding bunnies. She's like Louise Belcher from Bob's Burgers with a face that resembles a young Zendaya. Tina's first protector was Roland, played by Hart, who showed more action initiative than his prior character in Central Intelligence. Adding to this unlikely band of merry heroes were the seldom speaking yet ready-to-rumble Drax knockoff Krieg, played by Florian Munteanu from Creed II , C-3PO/R2-D2/Wall-E wisecracking Claptrap, vo...

In a great step away from her tenure as Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson starred in and produced a well-executed Space Race romantic dramedy, 'Fly Me to the Moon. I enjoyed her getting a chance to be the funny one, alongside a dedicated NASA employee played by Channing Tatum. The beautiful, breathtaking story along with jazzy scoring by Daniel Pemberton, swinging pop and soul songs, and clashing romantic times between Johansson and Tatum's characters were the highlights that made 'Fly Me to the Moon' a dazzling spectacle. Scarlett Johansson as Kelly Jones and Channing Tatum as Cole Davis in 'Fly Me to the Moon'. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In a retelling of the Apollo 11 mission, marketing expert Kelly Jones, played by Johansson, and mission director Cole Davis, played by Tatum, had their own ideas for how the story should be told to the American public. Jones saw it as a chance to make Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins look great on commercials for ite...

Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, is back in 'Despicable Me 4'. Courtesy of Universal Pictures. On Friday, July 5, I watched Universal and Illumination's latest work, 'Despicable Me 4.' I felt like they were returning to the original film's roots with Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, being superbad and a super dad, along with cool original songs from Pharrell Williams, clever voice acting and characters, and humor and action that reminded me of 'The Incredibles' with slapstick. In this sequel, Gru is back in the Anti-Villain League and must contend with a villain without sea creatures, mutation serums, or a keytar. That villain was Maxime Le Male, voiced by Will Ferrell, a primadonna rival who plans to conquer the world with cockroaches. Gru must protect his wife Lucy, voiced by Kristen Wiig, daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes, voiced by Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Madison Polan, respectively, and newborn son, Gru, Jr, voiced by Tara Strong. And of course, t...

Gal Gadot reprising her role as Diana of Themyscira in 'Wonder Woman'. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. When I watched Wonder Woman back in 2017, I was probably looking for a cool summer movie to watch at the time. Now that I've seen some behind-the-scenes footage, I appreciate it better. When I watched the DVD, I thought Gal Gadot's reprisal of Diana of Themyscira was like watching 'Captain America' and 'Mulan'. Her intense training also reminded me of Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. And it was funny watching her struggle to blend in with humans with help from Steve Trevor, played by Chris Pine.  Chris Pine as Steve Trevor from 'Wonder Woman.' Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. But now, I get that this film was not just made to fill a Warner Bros./DC quota. It was and still is important to augment the "wonder" that is Wonder Woman. From director Patty Jenkins trying to stay true to the original character's iconic story to ful...

One of the posters for  The Bikeriders. Photo courtesy of William Beavers. Austin Butler  and Tom Hardy  did a great job acting in Focus Features'  The Bikeriders . There was occasional Johnny Cash and June Carter Walk the Line- esque chemistry between Jodie Comer and Butler's characters, enjoyable humor watching Butler act like Patrick Swayze and Hardy act like Robert De Niro, and amazing blues and rock and roll music depicted in the film. The Bikeriders  was also a great combination of tragedy and togetherness when it told the tales of humanity and inhumanity in members of a biker gang in the 1960s American Midwest. Based on a book by real-life photographer Danny Lyon, played by Mike Faist from Challengers,   The Bikeriders  tells the story of the Chicago chapter of the Vandals motorcycle club , led by Johnny, played by Hardy. One of his members and closest friends, Benny, played by Butler, is caught between enjoying the life of a dangerous bi...

' Inside Out 2'. Copyright 2024, Disney/Pixar. Good afternoon, everyone. This morning, I saw Inside Out 2 . From a scene that resembles Pandora from  Avatar  to a good blend of emotion, real-life perspective, and humor, it was a well-executed sequel courtesy of Pixar Animation Studios. After the original Inside Out , Riley Andersen , now voiced by Kensington Tallman, is 13, at hockey camp, and on the cusp of puberty and an identity crisis.  Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), Disgust (voiced by Liza Lapira), Fear (voiced by Tony Hale), and Anger (voiced by Lewis Black) in Disney/Pixar's Inside Out 2 . Courtesy of Disney. Even though Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust are working well together now, more complex emotions such as Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke , have run amok, and they all must find a way to solve Riley's identity crisis together. Embarrassment (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser), Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke), Envy (voiced by Ay...

Chris Pratt's latest voice-acting venture as the leading lazy cat we know and love as Garfield was very humorous, and it had a few good twists to add more to the one-dimensional character. In addition to said twists, there were funny characters voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and Ving Rhames. 'The Garfield Movie' began showing Garfield's abandonment as a kitten, adopted by Jon Arbuckle (voiced by Nicholas Hoult, Beast from 'X-Men: First Class'), and modernizing his slacker behavior with food drone delivery and Netflix. But his routine, mundane albeit happy life took a change for the worse and better when his birth father, Vic, voiced by Jackson, gets into some trouble and needs his son's help. The film began as funny with Garfield's usual overeating lasagna and allusion to past Garfield media, such as his birthplace in Mamma Leoni's restaurant and former voice actor Lorenzo Music. Between the poignant piano music score by John Debney and Garfield trying ...

Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in 'Rain Man', directed by Barry Levinson. Copyright 1988, United Artists. On Sunday night, I watched Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in the Academy Award-winning 'Rain Man'. To those who are unfamiliar, Tom Cruise plays Charlie Babbitt, a troubled, shady Lamborghini dealer who's hoping for some inheritance money from his recently deceased, estranged father to pay the bills. But he gets more than he bargained for when he discovers the trustee of said money is his unknown brother, Raymond, played by Dustin Hoffman, an autistic savant with unique memorization skills, but often troubled mannerisms in socializing. Hoping to get Raymond to give him half his father's money, Charlie attempts to whisk him away to Los Angeles. But when he is forced to drive Raymond from Ohio instead of flying, a bond begins to grow between the brothers. At first, I didn't like Charlie's exasperated and greedy attitude toward Raymond. I also couldn'...

Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino from 'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Photo courtesy of Dazed. Good evening. So, on Saturday night, I finally watched 'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion' starring Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow. The ladies played two late twenty-somethings returning to Arizona for their high school reunion. 10 years prior, they were "outcasts". And 10 years later, Romy works as a cashier at a Jaguar dealership while Michele is unemployed. On the good side, Michele is quirky yet offbeat like Kudrow's Phoebe Buffay from 'Friends.' So they make up some lies and dress like businesswomen to fool the crowd. That's where I finally got the quote "Um, I invented Post-its" which I see at my movie theater. But in the end, they dressed as their usual selves, won over their former classmates, and opened their own boutique. What was great about the movie was the humor with the women trying to come up in their adulting jou...

  Good morning, people.  On Thursday, May 16, I saw 'The Fall Guy' starring Ryan Gosling (also a producer) and Emily Blunt. Based on a show from the early 1980s starring Lee Majors, Gosling played Colt Seavers, a stuntman. Though he had a tough injury that put his job on hold, he got back, but here's the twist: While covering for an actor played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Colt accidentally gets mixed up with some of the actor's enemies and ends up on a 'Central Intelligence' type adventure around Australia. If that's not enough, he's got to patch up some broken romance with Emily Blunt's character, Jody. Jody has more drama than that with a major directorial film debut job and an overbearing producer, played by Hannah Waddingham, pressuring her to make a hit. The excellent parts came when Gosling's fight scenes reminded me of 'Central Intelligence', 'Scott Pilgrim', and 'Fast and the Furious'. Not only that, I enjoyed how th...

Guy Ritchie 's latest direction escapade, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare , was a good feat with jazzy scoring, scene stealing by Eiza González , and good-hearted rebellious heroism courtesy of Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson, whom you may/may not have forgotten was Raphael in the 2014-16 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Set in the early 1940s, the film tells a fictionalized tale of Operation Postmaster. Similar to Magnificent Seven, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sets up the operation as a black ops group where several unconventional warriors were to thwart Nazi warships receiving supplies and help the United Kingdom effort in World War II .  While it was funny in the beginning with Cavill and Ritchson as Gus March-Phillipps and Anders Lassen outsmarting the Nazis with commando initiative and humor, the real appeal in the film came to me with Eiza González as Special Ops Executive agent Marjorie Stewart . I haven't heard a lot about females...

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire final poster. Courtesy of Sony Pictures. Though the Ectomobile looked fresh as it was speeding towards a crazy sewer dragon, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was not as fresh as Afterlife. It wasn’t too much fun for the most of the film with Phoebe Spengler ’s ( McKenna Grace ) dramatic change, but closer to the end, busting still made me feel good. The new Ghostbusters chase a sewer dragon in New York City in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire . Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures. Frozen Empire takes place 3 years after Afterlife . Walter Peck ( William Atherton ) is back and determined to put the Ghostbusters, both past and present, in the grave. Peck also gets Phoebe benched because she’s not legally old enough, and Phoebe’s mother Callie Spengler ( Carrie Coon ) and her former teacher Gary Grooberson ( Paul Rudd ) agree because they want her to have a normal teenage life instead of the burden of Ghostbusting. As Phoebe tires to fill her loneliness, some ancie...

Teaneck High School's production of Mamma Mia . Photo taken by William Edward Beavers, V. The evening of March 22, 2024 was a disco inferno when Mamma Mia came to Teaneck High School . From vigorous singing voices by the main and supporting cast to the astounding pop rock from the stage band, it was a well-executed musical production to bring to the Township of Teaneck . A great direction by THS alumnus Ari Hiller , co-direction by Mr. Todd Murphy , and musical direction by Mrs. Molly Neff . To those who are not familiar, Mamma Mia tells the tale of young bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan , played by Lula Najera , who has no idea who her birth father is. It could be one of her taverna owner mother Donna's ex-lovers Sam Carmichael , Harry Bright or Bill Austin , played by Henry Hietikko-Parson , Nate White and Hamish White . On the other hand, Donna Sheridan , played by Maggie Smith , wonders if the party’s over now that her disco days are behind her and Sophie’s ready to move...