The Cinematic Review-verse

With numerous new characters and story ideas to expand its original concept, “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” proved that everything is awesome again five years later. Through a catchy pop music soundtrack, consistent humor, and radiant animation, it was worth nearly two hours of watching. Following the cliffhanger from the first film, Bricksburg has transitioned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Only Emmett Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt) remains optimistic, much to girlfriend Lucy/Wyldstyle’s (voiced by Elizabeth Banks) chagrin. But Emmett must be ready to change his attitude when a new threat begins to wreak havoc and takes away his loved ones. Lucy (voiced by Elizabeth Banks) and Emmett Brickowski (voiced by Chris Pratt) having coffee at Apocalypseburg in 'The Lego Movie 2'. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. There to assist Emmett is adventurer Rex Dangervest (also voiced by Pratt). The inclusion of Rex into Emmet’s life reminded me of the adventures in “Guardians o...

All the different identities of Spider-Man gathered together: Peni Parker (voiced by Kimiko Glenn), Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Ham (voiced by John Mulaney), Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), Peter B. Parker, (voiced by Jake Johnson) and Spider-Man Noir (voiced by Nicolas Cage). Photo courtesy of gizmodo.com With tremendous humor, enrapturing action sequences, a heartfelt story, talented cast selection, and a passionate hip hop soundtrack, Sony and Marvel's  Spider-Man Into the Spider Verse  was a delightful cinematic debut of one of the newest Spider-Men, Miles Morales. It's great to see a powerful animated film that's not Warner Bros., Universal, or Pixar for a change. Given each actors' delivery in the film, I think "The Man" Stan Lee would be proud of them all. This film is both a recreation and an update of prior “Spider-Man” films, as Afro-Latino teenager Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) is bitten by ...

Photo Courtesy of imdb.com Fifty-four years from the 1960s classic was worth the wait in Disney's latest project, "Mary Poppins Returns". There are parallels between the film, Christopher Robin, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Be that as it may, Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda's singing voices brought an outpouring of wonder that audiences must see. "Mary Poppins Returns" takes place in 1930s London, where a now grown-up, widowed Michael Banks, played by Ben Whishaw, is struggling to keep his home and his children intact. When all seems lost, the children, Annabel, John, and Georgie, played by Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson, cross paths with Michael's former nanny, the esteemed Mary Poppins, played by Emily Blunt. Through her magic umbrella, and the assistance of affable lamplighter Jack, played by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Michael's optimistic sister Jane, played by Emily Mortimer, the Banks children can save their ...

Official Poster of "Bumblebee" starring Haille Steinfeld and John Cena. Photo Courtesy of imdb.com While I have liked seeing the Autobots overcome the Decepticons, it recently hit me that the story had lost some of its spark. But, the "Transformers" franchise made a fresh restart in the form of "Bumblebee". With its numerous 1980s-era pop culture references, an emotional and invigorating performance by Hailee Steinfeld, and packs of action, "Bumblebee" may be the inventiveness to bring the Transformers films back to light. Taking place in 1987, Autobot B-127 (voiced by Dylan O'Brien) crash lands on planet Earth after a war with the Decepticons consumes his home planet, Cybertron. Once he loses his memory and vocal processor, he befriends rebellious teenager Charlie Watson played by Hailee Steinfeld. But the friendship between human and machine is threatened by a paranoid government agent, Jack Burns, played by John Cena, and two Dece...

“Ralph Breaks the Internet” movie poster. Photo courtesy of movies.disney.com I was filled with laughter and admiration when I saw “Ralph Breaks the Internet”. The film was abundant in laughter, great reprisals from the original film mixed with new ones, and a vivacious score by Henry Jackman. While the main character may have broken the Internet, he has built up my enthusiasm. Throughout the film, I really appreciated the chemistry between John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman’s characters of Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz, respectively. To me, their friendship challenges make them stronger than any fancy Internet excitement viewers can find. Following their victory against the Cy-Bug invasion, Ralph (voiced by Reilly) and Vanellope (voiced by Silverman) are troubled with how to live in and out of the game world, their days becoming plain and less exciting. That all changes when Mr. Litwak (voiced by Ed O’Neill) plugs in a Wi-Fi router at their arc...

Photo of Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan as Rocky Balboa and Adonis Creed, respectively. Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures "Creed II" brings back familiar elements from the previous "Rocky" films. While it is more predictable than original, it allowed the main character, Adonis Creed, to mature and bring back the eye of the tiger that hasn't been seen in a long time. With a surprising story and the right cast to tell it, "Creed II" went the distance of entertainment and succeeded. After battling and earning the respect of "Pretty" Ricky Conlan, Adonis Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan) has risen to the world heavyweight championship. But it's time for him to preserve his title, in and out of the ring, against Viktor Drago (played by Florian Munteanu), son of Ivan Drago (played by Dolph Lungdren), the man who beat his father to death in 1985. Through his trainer, Rocky Balboa (played...

Twentieth Century Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody was both entertaining and confusing at the same time. It was entertaining when displaying the chemistry of the members of Queen and their smash hits, but confusing over what the main story was about.  All hail the talented Rami Malek for his performance as lead vocalist Freddie Mercury. What director Bryan Singer could have done better was give equal focus on the rest of the band, talk more about Mercury’s drug abuse, and, though I have no idea what it could be, a different title of the biography. However, the performances of the cast, costumes, and music made Bohemian Rhapsody sensational. Bohemian Rhapsody chronicles Queen’s beginnings as Mercury (played by Malek) meets guitarist Brian May (played by Gwilym Lee), drummer Roger Taylor (played by Ben Hardy), and bass guitarist John Deacon (played by Joseph Mazzello). Mercury defies distrustful businessmen and personal life struggles to lead this band to rock stardom in England and the ...